Year: 1641 (Page 2 of 7)

The 9th, we arrived at Ostend by a straight and artificial river. Here, with leave of the captain of the watch, I was carried to survey the river and harbor, with fortifications on one side thereof: the east and south are mud and earth walls. It is a very strong place, and lately stood a memorable siege three years, three months, three weeks, and three days ((The Siege of Ostend was a three-year siege of the city of Ostend during the Eighty Years’ War and one of the longest in history. Described as a “long carnival of death”, it is remembered as the bloodiest conflict of the war, and culminated in a Spanish victory by General Spinola. It is said “the Spanish assailed the unassailable; the Dutch defended the indefensible.” -Wikipedia. Austin Dobson remarks “From 1601 to 1604, when it finally yielded to Spinola, but only by command of the States-General, who, owing to its obstinate resistance, had gained their ends. ‘)). I went to see the church of St. Peter, and the cloisters of the Franciscans.

I passed by a boat to Bruges, taking in at a redoubt a convoy of fourteen musketeers, because the other side of the river, being Contribution-land, was subject to the inroads and depredations of the bordering States. This river was cut by the famous Marquis Spinola, and is in my judgment a wonderful piece of labor, and a worthy public work, being in some places forced through the main rock, to an incredible depth, for thirty miles. At the end of each mile is built a small redoubt, which communicates a line to the next, and so the whole way, from whence we received many volleys of shot, in compliment to my Lord Marshal, who was in our vessel, a passenger with us. At five that evening, we were met by the magistrates of Bruges, who came out to convey my Lord to his lodgings, at whose cost he was entertained that night.

The morning after we went to see the Stadt-house and adjoining aqueduct, the church, and market-place, where we saw cheeses and butter piled up in heaps; also the fortifications and graffs, which are extremely large.

Being the morning I came away, I went to see the Prince’s Court, an ancient, confused building, not much unlike the Hofft, at the Hague: there is here likewise a very large hall, where they vend all sorts of wares. Through this we passed by the chapel, which is indeed rarely arched, and in the middle of it was the hearse, or catafalque, of the late Archduchess, the wise and pious Clara Eugenia. Out of this we were conducted to the lodgings, tapestried with incomparable arras, and adorned with many excellent pieces of Rubens  ((he [Rubens] was court painter to the Archduke and his wife)) old and young Breugel ((Pieter Brueghel the Younger and his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder – GS)), Titian, and Stenwick ((possibly one of the  Dutch painters with the surname Steenwijk including Hendrik van Steenwijk I and II as well as Harmen Steenwijck -GS)), with stories of most of the late actions in the Netherlands.

By an accident we could not see the library. There is a fair terrace which looks to the vineyard, in which, on pedestals, are fixed the statues of all the Spanish kings of the house of Austria. The opposite walls are painted by Rubens, being an history of the late tumults in Belgia: in the last piece, the Archduchess shuts a great pair of gates upon Mars, who is coming out of hell, armed, and in a menacing posture; which, with that other of the Infanta taking leave of Don Philip IV., is a most incomparable table.

From hence, we walked into the park, which for being entirely within the walls of the city is particularly remarkable: nor is it less pleasant than if in the most solitary recesses; so naturally is it furnished with whatever may render it agreeable, melancholy ((Evelyn probably means “retired,” “suited to contemplation.” –AD)), and country-like. Here is a stately heronry, divers springs of water, artificial cascades, rocks, grots; one whereof is composed of the extravagant roots of trees, cunningly built and hung together with wires. In this park are both fallow and red deer.

From hence, we were led into the Menage, and out of that into a most sweet and delicious garden, where was another grot of more neat and costly materials, full of noble statues, and entertaining us with artificial music; but the hedge of water, in form of lattice-work, which the fountaineer caused to ascend out of the earth by degrees, exceedingly pleased and surprised me; for thus, with a pervious wall, or rather a palisade hedge of water, was the whole parterre environed.

There is likewise a fair aviary; and in the court next it are kept divers sorts of animals, rare and exotic fowl, as eagles, cranes, storks, bustards, pheasants of several kinds, and a duck having four wings. In another division of the same close are rabbits of an almost perfect yellow color.

There was no Court now in the palace; the Infante Cardinal, who was the Governor of Flanders, being dead but newly, and every one in deep mourning. ((Ferdinand of Spain, Governor of Flanders from 1633 to 1641, on the 9th November in which latter year he died at Brussels. He was the third son of Philip III., and brother of Philip IV. –AD))

At near eleven o’clock, I repaired to his Majesty’s agent, Sir Henry de Vic, who very courteously received me, and accommodated me with a coach and six horses, which carried me from Brussels to Ghent, where it was to meet my Lord of Arundel, Earl Marshal of England ((As already stated at p. 19, the Earl had brought Marie de Médiicis to the Continent. In February, 1642, he left England again for good, ostensibly acting as escort to Henrietta Maria and Princess Mary (see post, under August, 1645). –AD)),  who had requested me when I was at Antwerp to send it for him, if I went not thither myself.

Thus taking leave of Brussels and a sad Court, yet full of gallant persons (for in this small city, the acquaintance being universal, ladies and gentlemen, I perceived had great diversions, and frequent meetings), I hastened toward Ghent. On the way, I met with divers little wagons, prettily contrived, and full of peddling merchandise, drawn by mastiff dogs, harnessed completely like so many coach horses; in some four, in others six, as in Brussels itself I had observed. In Antwerp I saw, as I remember, four dogs draw five lusty children in a chariot: the master commands them whither he pleases, crying his wares about the streets. After passing through Ouse, by six in the evening, I arrived at Ghent. This is a city of so great a circumference, that it is reported to be seven leagues round; but there is not half of it now built, much of it remaining in fields and desolate pastures even within the walls, which have strong gates toward the west, and two fair churches.

Here I beheld the palace wherein John of Gaunt ((In 1338-39 it had been the residence of Edward III., and thus became the birthplace of Queen Philippa’s son-AD)) and Charles V. were born ((John of Gaunt or Ghent was born in St Bavon Abbey -GS)); whose statue ((It was destroyed in 1792; and its site is now occupied by a bronze statue of Jacques van Artevelde, by P. Devigne-Quyo (1863) –AD)) stands in the market-place, upon a high pillar, with his sword drawn, to which (as I was told) the magistrates and burghers were wont to repair upon a certain day every year with ropes about their necks, in token of submission and penance for an old rebellion of theirs; but now the hemp is changed into a blue ribbon. Here is planted the basilisco, or great gun, so much talked of. The Lys and the Scheldt meeting in this vast city, divide it into twenty-six islands, which are united by many bridges, somewhat resembling Venice. This night I supped with the Abbot of Andoyne, a pleasant and courteous priest.

(Evelyn may have made an error with the dates between 6th – 8th October.  He skips from the 5th to the 7th and then includes the 8th twice.  It’s possible that this day refers to the 7thth October -GS)

We arrived at Brussels at nine in the morning. The Stadt-house, near the market place, is, for the carving in freestone, a most laborious and finished piece, well worthy observation. The flesh-shambles ((The term “flesh-shambles” likely refers to the shelves used to display wares at the market’ the phrase is probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels (literally ‘flesh-shelves’), the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. -GS)) are also built of stone. I was pleased with certain small engines, by which a girl, or boy, was able to draw up, or let down, great bridges, which in divers parts of this city crossed the channel for the benefit of passengers. The walls of this town are very entire, and full of towers at competent distances. The cathedral is built upon a very high and exceeding steep ascent, to which we mounted by fair steps of stone. Hence I walked to a convent of English Nuns, with whom I sat discoursing most part of the afternoon.

(Evelyn may have made an error with the dates between 6th – 8th October.  He skips from the 5th to the 7th and then includes the 8th twice.  It’s possible that this day refers to the 6th October -GS)

I visited the Jesuits’ School, which, for the fame of their method, I greatly desired to see. They were divided into four classes, with several inscriptions over each: as, first, Ad majorem Dei gloriam ((abbreviation AMDG, is the Latin motto of the Jesuits. The motto is translated into English as “For the greater glory of God”.)); over the second, Princeps diligentiæ ((Latin: “Prince of diligence, or attention”)); the third, Imperator Byzantiorum ((Latin: the Byzantium Emperor)).; over the fourth and uppermost, Imperator Romanorum ((Latin: the Roman Emperor)).  Under these, the scholars and pupils and their places, or forms with titles and priority according to their proficiency. Their dormitory and lodgings above were exceedingly neat. They have a prison for the offenders and less diligent; and, in an ample court, to recreate themselves in, is an aviary, and a yard, where eagles, vultures, foxes, monkeys, and other animals are kept, to divert the boys withal at their hours of remission. To this school join the music and mathematical schools, and lastly a pretty, neat chapel. The great street is built after the Italian mode, in the middle whereof is erected a glorious crucifix of white and black marble, greater than the life. This is a very fair and noble street, clean, well paved, and sweet to admiration.

The Oesters house, belonging to the East India Company, is a stately palace, adorned with more than 300 windows. From hence, walking into the Gun-garden, I was allowed to see as much of the citadel as is permitted to strangers. It is a matchless piece of modern fortification, accommodated with lodgments for the soldiers and magazines. The graffs, ramparts, and platforms are stupendous. Returning by the shop of Plantine, I bought some books, for the namesake only of that famous printer.

But there was nothing about this city which more ravished me than those delicious shades and walks of stately trees, which render the fortified works of the town one of the sweetest places in Europe (([Upon this Southey comments as follows:—“ Long will it be before any traveller can again speak of the delicious shades and stately trees of Antwerp! Carnot, in preparing to defend the place, laid what was then its beautiful environs as bare as a desert ” (Quarterly Review, April, 1818, p. 5). Southey visited Antwerp in the Waterloo year. –AD])); nor did I ever observe a more quiet, clean, elegantly built and civil place, than this magnificent and famous city of Antwerp. In the evening, I was invited to Signor Duerte’s, a Portuguese by nation, an exceeding rich merchant, whose palace I found to be furnished like a prince’s. His three daughters entertained us with rare music, vocal and instrumental, which was finished with a handsome collation.

I took leave of the ladies and of sweet Antwerp, as late as it was, embarking for Brussels on the Scheldt in a vessel, which delivered us to a second boat (in another river) drawn or towed by horses. In this passage, we frequently changed our barge, by reason of the bridges thwarting our course. Here I observed numerous families inhabiting their vessels and floating dwellings, so built and divided by cabins, as few houses on land enjoyed better accommodation; stored with all sorts of utensils, neat chambers, a pretty parlor, and kept so sweet, that nothing could be more refreshing. The rivers on which they are drawn are very clear and still waters, and pass through a most pleasant country on both the banks. We had in our boat a very good ordinary, and excellent company. The cut is straight as a line for twenty English miles. What I much admired was, near the midway, another artificial river, which intersects this at right angles, but on an eminence of ground, and is carried in an aqueduct of stone so far above the other as that the waters neither mingle, nor hinder one another’s passage.

We came to a town called Villefrow, where all the passengers went on shore to wash at a fountain issuing out of a pillar ((I think this the fountain at Drie Fonteinen, Vilvoorde -GS))., and then came aboard again. On the margin of this long tract are abundance of shrines and images, defended from the injuries of the weather by niches of stone wherein they are placed.

We sailed by several Spanish forts, out of one of which, St. Mary’s port, came a Don on board us, to whom I showed my Spanish pass, which he signed, and civilly dismissed us. Hence, sailing by another man-of-war, to which we lowered our topsails, we at length arrived at Antwerp.

The lodgings here are very handsome and convenient. I lost little time; but, with the aid of one Mr. Lewkner, our conductor, we visited divers churches, colleges, and monasteries. The Church of the Jesuits is most sumptuous and magnificent; a glorious fabric without and within, wholly incrusted with marble, inlaid and polished into divers representations of histories, landscapes, and flowers. On the high altar is placed the statue of the Blessed Virgin and our Savior in white marble, with a boss in the girdle set with very fair and rich sapphires, and divers other stones of price. The choir is a glorious piece of architecture: the pulpit supported by four angels, and adorned with other carvings, and rare pictures by Rubens, now lately dead, and divers votive tables and relics ((St. Carlo Borromeo. It’s pictures by Rubens, with exception of three altar-pieces, now in the Imperial Museum of Vienna, were destroyed by lightning in 1718. Rubens died May 30, 1641 –AD)).

Hence, to the Vroù Kirk, or Nôtre Dame of Antwerp: it is a very venerable fabric, built after the Gothic manner, especially the tower, which I ascended, the better to take a view of the country adjacent (( [“The view from the upper gallery [of the steeple] takes in the towers of Bergen-op-Zoom, Flushing, Breda, Mechlin, Brussels, and Ghent ” (Murray’s Handbook for Belgium, etc.,1852, p. 54).] –AD)); which, happening on a day when the sun shone exceedingly bright, and darted his rays without any interruption, afforded so bright a reflection to us who were above, and had a full prospect of both land and water about it, that I was much confirmed in my opinion of the moon’s being of some such substance as this earthly globe: perceiving all the subjacent country, at so small an horizontal distance, to repercuss such a light as I could hardly look against, save where the river, and other large water within our view, appeared of a more dark and uniform color; resembling those spots in the moon supposed to be seas there, according to Hevelius ((Hevelius: John Hevelius, or Hevelke, of Dantzic, 1611-87. Evelyn refers to his Selenographies, in Sculptura –AD)), and as they appear in our late telescopes. I numbered in this church thirty privileged altars, that of St. Sebastian adorned with a painting of his martyrdom.

[We went to see the Jerusalem Church, affirmed to have been founded by one who, upon divers great wagers, passed to and fro between that city and Antwerp, on foot, by which he procured large sums of money, which he bestowed on this pious structure. ((This notice, slipped by accident into the entries which refer to Antwerp, belongs to those of Bruges. –AD))]

Hence, to St. Mary’s Chapel, where I had some conference with two English Jesuits, confessors to Colonel Jaye’s regiment. These fathers conducted us to the Cloister of Nuns, where we heard a Dutch sermon upon the exposure of the Host. The Senate-house ((Evelyn’s standard term for the stadhuis or townhall -source: Vermeer and the Delft School by Axel Rüger.)) of this city is a very spacious and magnificent building.

The next morning I embarked for Lillo, having refused a convoy of horse which was offered me. The tide being against us, we landed short of the fort on the beach, where we marched half leg deep in mud, ere we could gain the dyke, which, being five or six miles from Lillo, we were forced to walk on foot very wet and discomposed; and then entering a boat we passed the ferry, and came to the castle.

Being taken before the Governor, he demanded my pass, to which he set his hand, and asked two rix-dollars for a fee, which methought appeared very exorbitant in a soldier of his quality. I told him that I had already purchased my pass of the commissaries at Rotterdam; at which, in a great fury, snatching the paper out of my hand, he flung it scornfully under the table, and bade me try whether I could get to Antwerp without his permission: but I had no sooner given him the dollars, then he returned the passport surlily enough, and made me pay fourteen Dutch shillings to the cantone, or searcher, for my contempt, which I was glad to do for fear of further trouble, should he have discovered my Spanish pass, in which the States were therein treated by the name of rebels. Besides all these exactions, I gave the commissary six shillings, to the soldiers something, and, ere perfectly clear of this frontier, thirty-one stivers to the man-of-war, who lay blocking up the river between Lillo [see also: Fort Lillo] and the opposite sconce called Lifkinshoeck.

With a gentleman of the Rhyngraves, I went in a cart, or tumbrel ((A two-wheeled cart or wagon typically designed to be hauled by a single horse or ox. Their original use was for agricultural work; in particular they were associated with carrying manure – Wikipedia))  (for it was no better; no other accommodation could be procured), of two wheels and one horse, to Bergen-op-Zoom, meeting by the way divers parties of his Highness’s army now retiring toward their winter quarters; the convoy skiffs riding by thousands along the harbor. The fort was heretofore built by the English.

but it was the 1st of October ere I could get back. At Keele, I numbered 141 vessels, who durst not yet venture out; but, animated by the master of a stout bark, after a small encounter of weather, we arrived by four that evening at Steenbergen. In the passage we sailed over a sea called the Plaats, an exceeding dangerous water, by reason of two contrary tides which meet there very impetuously. Here, because of the many shelves, we were forced to tide it along the Channel; but, ere we could gain the place, the ebb was so far spent, that we were compelled to foot it at least two long miles, through a most pelting shower of rain.

Failing of an appointment, I was constrained to return to Dort for a bill of exchange ((An unconditional written order from one person to another to pay a specified sum of money to a designated person -GS))