Amongst the curiosities of Leyden, I did not take the trouble of seeing the shopboard of the celebrated John of Leyden, a character distinguishable for its ambition, enterprize, and ferocity: those who have furnished us with an account of this aspiring monster, relate that his name was Bucold; that from being the son of a taylor, and brought up to his father’s trade, he resolved upon becoming a king; that accordingly he first tasted of royalty on the board of a strolling company of comedians in the character of a prince, which affording him much gratification, he connected himself with a baker of Amsterdam, a fanatic, who called himself God’s vicegerent upon the earth, and declared that he was sent to illuminate the world. This fellow, previous to his becoming the associate of John of Leyden, assumed the name of Thomas Munster, and impregnated a number of Germans with his religious phrenzy, which aimed at the demolition of the doctrine of Luther: this fanatic faction spread with incredible celerity, until the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, and the duke of Brunswick, resolved upon drawing the sword against these furious zealots. The prophet Munster was taken prisoner and lost his head; but soon after, as if inspirited by this blow, John of Leyden took Munster at the head of a troop of sanguinary bigots, and ordered himself to be proclaimed king. After this ceremony was performed he committed the most horrible outrages: in the name of God, he battered down all the churches, and changed the religion of the country; he recommended polygamy, and kept a seraglio of sixteen wives, one of whom endeavoured to assassinate the Bishop of Waldeck, who fortunately seized the poniard from her hand, and plunged it into her own bosom; and another, John himself put to death for hesitation in complying with his wishes. When he appeared in the streets of Munster, he wore a crown upon his head, carried a sword in one hand, and the New Testament in the other, and was preceded on horseback by a group of dancing boys, whilst the sides were by his mandates, crowded with the prostrate terrified citizens, who were punished with instant death if they stood, or remained covered in his presence. The reign of this petty tyrant was brief: the Bishop of Munster besieged the town, which suffered nearly the same horrors which I have described to have occurred at Leyden, when the Spaniards sat down before it; the living fed upon the dead, and a look that intimated a wish to surrender was punished with instant death. The miseries which surrounded him, served only to inflame the fanatical spirit of the monster; at last, however, the town was taken by surprise, and John and the ministers of his bloody ambition were conducted before the victorious prelate, to whom, after being charged with the enormities which he had committed, he is said to have replied, with the craft of a coward, in the following manner: “The