A German diet, or, The ballance of Europe wherein the power and vveaknes ... of all the kingdoms and states of Christendom are impartially poiz'd : at a solemn convention of som German princes in sundry elaborat orations pro & con ... / by James Howell, Esq.

THE ORATION OF THE Lord ERNEST SCHAFELISKI against HUNGARY.

Most Illustrious, and Highborn Princes,

THE Noble Henricus Albertus, Baron of Limburg, hath detained your attentions a good while in setting forth the praises of Hungary, and so to make her capable of the principality of Europe; but therein he hath labour'd to put a Giants head upon a Pygimes shoulders, or Hercules Buskins upon a Childs leggs. For, as by unanswerable ar∣guments I shall endeavour to prove, she hath no reason in the World to aim at such a Prerogative.

For the Kingdom of Hungary, although it enjoy a fat and fertile soil, and almost every where Productive, yet by the fury of Mars, and neighbourhood of the common Enemy, her agriculture and Mines have extremely suffer'd for many Ages. Besides, her air is found unwholsom, and disagreeable to all strangers, for the grossnesse of it in some seasons, and the tenuity of it in others. Therefore they cannot continue in one place above a month without danger, least the languor Hungaricus, the Hungarian faint∣nesse seize upon them; which is prevented by frequent remove of stations; that disease of the Hungarian languor or lithernes, having begun in the army at Co∣morra, dispers'd it self to Iavarin, and so the contagion did expand it selfe a∣mong the Germans, Bohemians, Belgians, French, and Italians, where it ex∣tremely raged for a while. And as at Buda (then which besides Possonium there is scarce a City worthy the view of a stranger in all the Kingdom) there be some sulphureous Waters of such an intense heat, that will singe hoggs if they be thrown into them, yet there are peculiar sorts of fish that are there generated, with certain kinds of froggs, but if you throw other Rivers fish or froggs into them, they presently die and turn up their bellies. So the air of Hungary agrees by decree of nature with the inhabitants themselves, but it is averse, pestilentiall and intollerable to other people. What shall I say of those kinds of lice, which are the ofspring of the Hungarian air, which much infest all people? for it is found there by experience, that if one take a Nap∣kin and wash it there in pond water, and expos'd to drying in the Sun, it will be presently full of Vermine. Nay, if one sweat never so little, the moisture of his body will turn to lice by the pravity of the Hungarian air. Adde here∣unto, that besides the Malignity of the air, the waters are also there of an ill quality both Fountaines and Rivers, all for the most part except the Danube,

whose streames are wholsom and potable: The River Rabniza which ming∣leth with the Danube about Iavarin, runns with such unwholsome waters, that the fish and crabbs which are caught there do cast an ill sent, yea, after they are boyl'd. But as Parents, if they have a child either crump-shoulderd, hopperhipp'd, bleareyd, or mark'd with any other deformity, do make her a compensation for it in an extraordinary Dowry, which is able to make a sow appear like Susanna; So Nature and Fortune have made Hungary some a∣mends for these her imperfections, and furnished her with patches to put up∣on her Moles.

Now touching the Inhabitants of Hungary, I pray be pleas'd to hear what Otto a grave Bishop of Frisinghen saith of them. Hungari sunt facie tetri, pro∣fundis oculis, statura humiles, moribus & linguâ barbari & feroces, ut jure fortu∣na culpanda, vel potius divina patientia sit admiranda, quae ne dicam hominibus, sed talibus hominum monstris tam delectabilem exposuit terram. The Hungarians saith the Bishop (and Bishops should not lie) are commonly of a tetrique countenance, hollow eyd, low statur'd, barbarous and fierce in their behavi∣our and speech; That either Fortune may be justly blam'd, or the Divine pro∣vidence admir'd, that such a delightfull Country should be expos'd to such men, or rather Monsters of men. The Hunns, which are birds of a feather with the Hungarians, if antient writers may be believ'd, had their Originall from a sort of Demons. For, as not only tradition, but the story goes, Filimer King of the Goths having in his army a huge vast-bodied woman which was accus'd of impudicity; he banish'd her to a Wilderness beyond the Maeotis, where meeting with Satyres and Demons, she coupled with them and brought forth a nume∣rous issue, which were afterwards call'd Hunns. But certain it is that both Hunns and Hungarians came at first from the extremest parts of the North, out of a Province call'd Iuharia, or Iurha, which were subject to the Moscovite; who in quest of a hotter clime came as farre as the banks of the Danube, to that part of the Continent now call'd Ungaria, which took its name from Iuharia; for in that Province of Iuharia, they speak to this day the same lan∣guage as the Hungars do: of these Iuharians Claudian speakes.

—quo non deformius ullum Arctos alit, turpes habitus, obscaena{que} visu Corpora.

Marcellinus calls them Bipedes bestias, vel quales in commarginandis pontibus effigiati stipites dolantur incompti in hominum figuras; They are two footed beasts, or rough-hewn trunks effigiated in the form of men, which use to stand upon the margen of bridges.

Now their Intellectualls are as ugly as their bodies. There were never be∣fore nor after such Martins, and such Hieroms, as Hungary had the happe once to produce, which were two columns of Christianity. What a bloody tyrant of Christians was that Decius you extoll so highly? what a fierce Perse∣cutor was Dioclesian? Valentinianus though a Christian was a Tyrant, and Va∣lens an Arrian. But Attila you say was that unparalleld Heroe, yet I pray hear what Lucan speakes of him.

Terrarum fatale malum, & sydus iniquum Gentibus—

That Attila was a prodigious Blasphemer; he was us'd to belch out that, as Olaus hath it, he would make stellas prae se cadere, terras tremere; the starrs to fall before him, and the Earth to tremble. In his Publique diplomas, and warrants he stil'd himself to be Attila filius Beneduci, Nepos magni Nemroth, nutritus in Engaddi, Dei gratia Rex Hunnorum, Medorum, Gothorum, Dacorum, flagellum Dei, metus & malleus Orbis. Attila the Son of Beneduc, Nephew to great Nemroth, nurs'd in Engaddi, by the grace of God King of the Hunns,

Medes, Gothes, Dacians, the scourge of God, the terror and hammer of the World. He had an Army of 700▪ thousand men, yet fearing to be taken once, by Aëtius the Roman Generall, he had caus'd many saddles to be put in a place, that if need were, a fire might be made of them to burn him: but it pleas'd God to throw away this iron rodd in the height of his pride; for being to be married to the daughter of the King of the Bactrians, this bloody Tyrant was choak'd in his bed the night before by a sudden flux of blood.

You well know, my Noble Princes, how these Hungarians were for many ages like Goads in our Ancestors sides; how prone they have alwaies been to rush into Germany to breath better air; but stories tell how magnanimously our Emperors have repell'd and routed them. Among others, how did Hen∣ricus Auceps, and Otto the great trounce them? They grew so insolent as to demand tribute of the Emperor, who in disdain of them, sent them a lame old scabby dogg; whereupon they came into the field with a formidable Ar∣my, but Heaven was so auspicious to Henricus Auceps, that he utterly dis∣comfited them with the death of 150. thousand, and 50. thousand taken pri∣soners; yet they made head again, and invaded the confines of Germany by the incitement of Horoldus Bishop of Salisburg, with such a numerous Army, that they vapour'd in these words, nisi Caelum cadens nos obruat, aut Terra de∣hiscens nos absorbeat, nulla vis humana tanta erit quae vel aspectum nostrum susti∣nere possit: Unlesse the Heaven fall down and overwhelm us, or the Earth gape and swallow us, there is no humane power never so great dare look us in the face. But Otto the Great pricked the Tympany of their pride, utterly o∣verthrew them, took their King Bultzko prisoner, with their 4. chief Gene∣rals, Lelius, Sura, Toxus and Schaba. This Signall and mighty victory did so abate their spirits, that they could never since be elevated to that height a∣gainst Germany; but that which confounded them most, was, that their But sco should be hang'd before that Gate in Ratisbone which looks towards Hungary. There is a proverb that Hungarus multum lupi in se habet, The Hungarian hath much of the Wolf in him: this alludes to his immanity, fiercnesse and cruel∣ty. Therefore one gave Uladislaus this advice, as Bonfinius hath it; Hungaros non clementia & impunitate, sed ferrea virga continendos esse, The Hungarian was to be kept in aw, not by mildnesse and impunity, but with an Iron rodd. Much more might be spoken of the odd humors of the Hungarians, but I will here cut off the thred of my discourse, for feare I should abuse the ears of so gentle an Auditory with such abrupt matter. And, most Noble Baron of Lim∣burg, this presumption of Hungary in demanding the precedence of other Kingdoms, is like that of Weiderad the Abbot of Fuldo, when in a Diet at Mentz, he demanded Priority of the Archbishop of Colen, who answered, sure this Imperiall Councell will not think it fitting, that an Archbishop should give the place to an Abbot, nor a Prince Elector to a Monk.