[Diary Excerpt]

18th.—On the 18th, his princely Grace having heard of a museum arranged by a gentleman, Master Kopf, we drove there and found a great many wonderful objects, as various arms and weapons used in India orientali.

Some crowns worn by the Queen in America, a number of shields and swords. A dagger entirely made of steel had a scabbard made wholly of black lac or Spanish wax.

Further, two teeth of the sea-horse, the horn of a rhinoceros, was not long but bent upwards, also the tail with very coarse hair.

Many strange worms, birds, and fishes, a salamander scolopendra, a little Indian bird phosphorescent by night; the celebrated little fish, Remoram, had scales almost square like a stone perch, a head like an eel-pout; also a cauda Delphini, and a mummy.

We further saw many Indian manuscripts and books, a passport given by the King of Peru to the English, neatly written on wood, various strange cucumber plants.

The musical instrument celebrated in ancient times, and called cymbalum, was round like a globe of brass or steel; when touched it gave forth a sound like a triangle, but it is not now known how it was used in early times.

This gentleman also spends a good deal on artistic paintings; some of them had cost not less than fifty or eighty crowns. Thence we went to The Children's Comoediam, the argument treated of a castam viduam, and was the story of a royal widow of England.

The origin of this Children's Comoediam is this: the Queen keeps a number of young boys who have to apply themselves zealously to the art of singing and to learn all the various musical instruments, and to pursue their studies at the same time. These boys have special praeceptores in all the different arts, especially very good musicos.

And in order that they may acquire courteous manners, they are required to act a play once a week, for which purpose the Queen has erected for them a special theatrum with an abundance of costly garments. Those who wish to see one of their performances must give as much as eight shillings of our [Stralsund] money, but there are always a good many people present, many respectable women as well, because useful argumenta, and many good doctrines, as we were told, are brought forward there. They do all their plays by [artificial] light, which produces a great effect. For a whole hour before [the beginning of the play] a delightful performance of musicam instrumentalem is given on organs, lutes, pandores, mandolines, violins, and flutes; and a boy's singing cum voce tremula in a double-bass so tunefully, that we have not heard the like of it on the whole journey, except perhaps the nuns in Milan did it better.