In the first the author shews what is an aristocratical government: In the second he gives the history of the ancient Batavi, whose government, he says, was aristocratical, under the command of a head, who was sometimes styled King.

He explains, in the third, the state of the Republic of the Batavi in the time of the Roman empire; and building on a passage of Tacitus he pretends they were allies, and not subjects of the Romans.

In the fourth he enquires into the government of the Batavi after the fall of the Roman empire; from which aera till the establishment of the Counts of Holland we know very little of that nation.

The author treats, in the fifth chapter, of the government of Holland in the time of the Counts.

The first elected to that dignity was named Diederic, of Friesland, and was Count of the whole nation: He was not a vassal of the Empire, and, as Philip of Leyden observes, he was Emperor in his County.