Chapter IV: Introduction (2)

On the 27th of September, after dinner, we set forth and traversed a mountainous country, the soil of which resounded under our horses’ feet as if we were going over a vault, or even as if men were beating drums all around us. At the end of two leagues we stopped for the night at Remiremont, a fair little town, where we found excellent lodging at the “Unicorn”: indeed, in all the towns of Lorraine, and this was the last of them, the traveller finds as convenient lodging and as excellent fare as in any part of France. At Remiremont is that famous abbey of religious women of the same rank as those of Poussai before described. They claim, as against M. de Lorrene,[26] the sovereignty and ownership of this town. M. d’Estissac and M. de Montaigne paid them a visit very soon after their arrival, and inspected several of the sets of lodgings, all of which were very seemly and well furnished. The abbess, of the family of D’Inteville, had lately died, and they were about to elect another to the office, the sister of the Count de Salmes being a candidate. They also went to see the _doyenne_, a member of the house of Lutre, a lady who had done M. de Montaigne the honour of sending to greet him while he was at Plommieres, despatching also a supply of artichokes and partridges, and a barrel of wine for his use. Messieurs were informed that certain neighbouring villages are bound to deliver on the day of Pentecost every year two bowls of snow; and, failing these, a cart equipped with four white oxen. It is said that they never fail to find snow for their rent, but it is certain that, when we were there, the heat was as great as is felt at any season in Gascony. The nun’s dress is a white veil, worn on the head, and a little lappel of crape over it. Their robes are black, made of any stuff and pattern they may choose, while on the premises, but otherwise they may wear colours, petticoats to their liking, and shoes and pattens; and dress their hair under the veil in ordinary fashion. Each nun must be descended from at least four noble houses on the father’s side and the mother’s as well. Messieurs took leave of the ladies at eventide. Early on the morrow we set forth, and after we had mounted, the _doyenne_ sent a gentleman to M. de Montaigne begging him to go to her. He went, and this visit cost us an hour’s delay. This society of ladies gave him procuration to deal with their affairs at Rome. After we left we followed for some distance a lovely and pleasant valley, skirting the banks of the Moselle, and reached Bossan,[27] four leagues distant, in time for dinner.

This is a little ugly town, the last place where French is spoken. Here M. d’Estissac and M. de Montaigne, clad in garments of linen which were lent to them, went to see the silver mines which M. de Lorenne possesses in this place, situated some two thousand paces up a mountain gorge. After dinner we took a road through the mountains, where they pointed out to us, amongst other things, the nests of the goshawks perched on inaccessible rocks [the birds aforesaid being worth about three testoons], and the source of the Moselle. We arrived, after travelling four leagues, in time for supper at Tane.[28]

This is a handsome town, the first over the German frontier, and subject to the Emperor. The following morning we found ourselves in a fine wide plain, bounded on the left hand by slopes full of vineyards, fair and excellently cultivated, and of such extent that the Gascons who were with us declared they had never seen the like. This was the time of vintage.

II

SWITZERLAND

We travelled two leagues farther to dinner at Melhouse,[29] a fair little Swiss town of the canton of Basle. There M. de Montaigne went to visit the church, the people of this town being no longer Catholics. This he found, as elsewhere in the country, in good condition, for scarcely any change has been made, except with regard to the altars and the images, the churches themselves having suffered no defacement. He was vastly pleased to behold the liberty and order prevalent among these people; how our host of the “Grapes” returned from the council board of the town, held in a magnificent palace, over which he had presided, to do service to his guests at table; and to hear how this man, without any following or office, who poured out the wine at dinner, had formerly led four troops of footmen into France under Casimir to fight against the king, and was now the king’s pensioner, having received three hundred crowns per annum for the last twenty years.[30] While M. de Montaigne was sitting at table, this gentleman talked to him, without the least pretentiousness or affectation, of his condition and way of life; and how he and others found that their religion was no bar to their serving the king, even against the Huguenots. This we heard likewise from others whom we met in our travels, and also at the siege of La Fère[31] more than fifty of these people served with us, and that they made no scruple of being married by a priest to Catholic women, who were never required to change their religion. After dinner we set out travelling through a fine country, abundant, very fertile, and ornamented with divers pretty villages and hostelries, and arrived at Basle, three leagues’ journey, in time for bed.

_From Civitates Orbis Terrarum_

_To face p. 62_, vol. i.
]

Basle is a fine town, about the size of Blois, and divided into two parts, for the Rhine flows through the midst under a large wooden bridge of great width. The city authorities did the honour to M. d’Estissac and M. de Montaigne of sending a present of wine by one of their officers, who made a long speech to them as they sat at table. M. de Montaigne made a similar reply in the presence of certain Germans and Frenchmen, who were seated with them round the stove, the host serving as interpreter. The wines were very good. We went in separate parties to the house of a certain physician, named Felix Plater, which was painted and decorated in delicate French fashion with the utmost care. This house the aforesaid physician had built for himself in very large, ample, and sumptuous style. Amongst other work he was preparing a book of simples, which was then well advanced, and it was his practice, instead of painting like other botanists the plants according to their natural colours, to glue the same upon paper with so great care and dexterity that the smallest leaves and fibres should be visible, exactly as in nature. He can turn the leaves of this book without fear of any plant falling out, and he showed us certain simples which had been fastened therein more than twenty years ago. At this house, and in the public school as well, we saw entire skeletons of men.

They have a custom in the town, but not in the suburbs, that the clocks shall strike one hour in advance of the true time, to wit, if it should strike ten, the time would be really nine. They say the reason of this custom is that in past years an attempt against the city miscarried on account of a similar fault of the town clock. It is called _Basilee_,[32] not from the Greek word, but because _Base_ in German means _passage_. We saw many learned men: Grynæus,[33] and the author of the _Theatrum_, and Platerus the physician already mentioned, and Francis Hottoman.[34] The two last-named supped with M. de Montaigne the day after his arrival. From answers given to certain questions he put, M. de Montaigne gathered that there was in Basle considerable religious discord, some calling themselves Zwinglians, some Calvinists, and others Martinists, while many, as he was informed, had in their hearts a hidden liking for the Roman religion. The ordinary form of administering the sacrament is to place it in the mouth, but at the same time any one, who so wishes, may reach out his hand for it, the ministers being chary of stirring up afresh the antagonisms of religion. The interiors of the churches are like those I have heretofore described. The exteriors are still garnished with images and with ancient tombs unmutilated, and inscribed with prayers for the souls of the departed. The organs, the bells, the crosses on the bell towers, and all the different images in the painted windows are whole as ever they were, as well as the benches and the seats of the choirs. The Calvinists place the baptismal font where the high altar stood aforetime, and build at the head of the nave another altar to serve for their Lord’s Supper; the one at Basle being beautifully arranged. The church of the Carthusians is a very fine building, preserved and kept up most carefully; the same furniture and ornaments are still there, a circumstance which the reformers bring forward as a testimony of their good faith, seeing that they gave a promise to maintain these at the time of their agreement. The bishop of the place, who is strongly inimical to them, lives outside the city, and holds the greater part of the country people to the ancient religion. He enjoys an income of fifty thousand livres from the city, and thus the succession to the bishopric is kept up.

Certain of the people lamented to M. de Montaigne over the dissolute carriage of the women, and the prevalent drunkenness of the city. We witnessed an operation for rupture done by a surgeon on the child of a poor man, who was very roughly handled by the operator, and likewise saw the very fine public library overlooking the river in a pleasant situation. We spent one more day at Basle, and on the next after dinner we took the road along the Rhine for some two leagues. Then we left it on our left hand and traversed a fertile country. In these parts springs abound, and no village or crossroads lack fair running water; in Basle indeed they number some three hundred. Balconies are so common in all houses, even in Lorraine, that in building they always leave between the windows of the chambers doorways looking over the streets, with the view of letting a balcony be built thereto at some future time. All through the country beyond Espine even the smallest cottages have glass windows, and the good houses are well fitted with the same, excellently arranged both within and without, the glass being made in various fashions. There is abundance of iron, and the workers thereof are very skilful, greatly in advance of ourselves, and furthermore the smallest church will always have a magnificent clock and dial. Their work in tiles is excellent, and on this account the roofs of the houses are decorated with a medley of tiles, glazed in various colours, and the floors of their chambers are the same. Moreover it would be impossible to find more delicate work than that of their stoves, which are of pottery. They make much use of pine wood and are skilled carpenters, their casks being all carven and many of them varnished and painted. They are very lavish in stoves, that is to say, in the public dining-rooms. In all rooms of this sort, which are always well furnished, there will be five or six tables fitted with benches at which all the guests will dine together, each party at its own particular table. The smallest houses of entertainment will have three or four well-appointed rooms of this kind. They are pierced for many windows which are filled with rich glass, but on the whole it seems that the hosts concern themselves more with the dinner than with aught else, for the bed-chambers are often mean enough, the beds never curtained and always placed three or four together, the rooms being without chimneys, and only heated from the general stove. Beyond this there is no sign of a fire, and they take it very ill if a stranger should go into their kitchens. There is much want of cleanliness in their bed-chambers, and he who gets a white sheet may deem himself fortunate: moreover, it is their fashion never to cover the pillow with sheeting; there is rarely any other covering than a feather quilt, which is very dirty.

They are good cooks, of fish especially. In fine weather or in storm their houses have no other protection from the weather than bare glass windows without wooden shutters. The houses are well windowed and very light, both below and in the chambers, the windows being rarely closed even at night. Their service at table differs greatly from ours. They never mix water with their wine, and they are justified in this practice, for their wines are so thin that our gentlemen found them less potent than those of Gascony when diluted. They are, however, very light and delicate.

The body-servants dine either at their master’s table or at one close by, one valet being enough to attend to the high table, seeing that each gentleman has always his own goblet or silver cup beside him, wherefore the servant only needs to fill this as soon as it may be empty, without moving it. For this purpose they use a vessel of pewter or wood with a long spout. As to the meat, they serve only two or three dishes thereof, cut in slices. Unlike our fashion, they serve in the same dish divers sorts of well-dressed meats; sometimes indeed they bring to table one course with the other, using certain appliances of iron made with long legs, in which they carry one dish above and one below. Some of their tables are round and some square, but all are very wide, so that it is very difficult to place the dishes thereon. The valet, however, can easily manage dishes arranged as above named, letting them follow, two by two, up to six or seven changes.

A fresh dish is never served till the foregoing one shall have been finished; and as to the plates, as soon as the service of viands has come to an end and the dessert is ready, the valet puts on the table a large wicker basket on a vessel of painted wood into which the chief person present first puts his plate; the others follow suit, the order of rank being closely observed. The valet removes this vessel without difficulty, and then serves the fruit in two dishes all mixed together like the other courses. At this stage they often serve radishes, and with your roast meat you will most likely have been offered cooked pears. Amongst other edibles they give a high place to the crayfish, and honour it by serving it in a covered dish, a tribute they pay to hardly any other viand. The whole country abounds in these fish, and they are served every day, and rated as a delicacy.

They take no care to wash on sitting down or on rising from table. Most people go to a little laver, set in a corner of the room as in a monastery. In most places they use wooden plates and pots, clean and white as they can be made; but in some they set on the wooden plates others of pewter, until they serve the fruit, for which wood is always used. They serve this wooden ware only from custom, for in the same houses where it is seen they give their guests silver goblets in any quantity. They clean and polish their wooden furniture with great care and even the boards of their chambers. The beds are so high that steps are generally needed to mount the same, and nearly everywhere small beds are placed beside the large ones.

Seeing that they are such excellent smiths, nearly all their spits are made to revolve by springs, or by weights like clocks, or even by wooden fans fixed in the chimney and made to turn by the draught of the smoke and the vapour of the fire. These appliances cause the roast to revolve gently and slowly. They over-roast their meat somewhat. These smoke-jacks[35] are only worked in large hostelries which burn great fires, as at Baden, and they turn at a uniform and steady pace. After leaving Lorrenne we found the chimneys built in a fashion different from ours. They build up the hearths in the middle or in the corner of the kitchen, using almost the entire width of the place for the chimney flue. This is a vast opening seven or eight paces square, which becomes narrower as it rises to the top of the house. This structure gives them the chance to place in position their large wheel, which, in chimneys built like ours, would occupy so much room in the flue that the smoke would not be able to find a passage. The lightest repasts last three or four hours, because of the method of service aforesaid, and in sooth these people eat vastly more leisurely than we do, and in more healthful manner. There is everywhere abundance of provisions, of flesh and fish, and every table is sumptuously spread--at least this was our experience. On Fridays no flesh is served, and report says that in these parts the people willingly abstain therefrom entirely, the practice of fasting being similar to that in France round about Paris. As a rule they give their horses more fodder than they can eat. We travelled four leagues and arrived in time for bed at Hornes.

This is a small village in the duchy of Austria. On the morrow, as it was Sunday, we went to Mass, and observed that in church the women sat on the left-hand side of the church and the men on the right, without mixing. The women have several rows of seats, set reversed, one behind the other, of a convenient height for sitting, and upon these they kneel, and not upon the ground, wherefore they seem to be upright. The men have also pieces of wood in front of them to lean upon, and they only kneel upon the chairs which are in front of them. Instead of joining the hands as we do at the elevation, they stretch them out apart, and open and keep them thus raised until the priest exhibits the pyx. They assigned to M. d’Estissac and M. de Montaigne the third bench on the men’s side, while those of less worship in our company were afterwards given seats amongst the lesser folk; and the same on the women’s side. It seemed to us that the front rows were not held in the highest honour. The interpreter and guide whom we engaged at Basle, a sworn messenger of the city, went to the Mass with us, and showed by his carriage that he had come there with great longing and devout feeling. After dinner we crossed the river Arat[36] to Broug, a fair little town belonging to the seigniory of Berne, and beyond that we went to see an abbey which Queen Catherine of Hungary gave to the lords of Berne in 1524,[37] where are buried Leopold, Archduke of Austria, and a great number of gentlemen who were overthrown by the Swiss in 1386. Their arms and names are there inscribed, and their remains kept with great care. M. de Montaigne held converse with the Bernese gentleman in charge of the place, who ordered that everything should be shown to him. In this abbey slices of bread and soup are always ready at hand for any wayfarer who may demand the same, and no refusal has ever been made by the heads of the abbey. From this place we crossed by a boat, which is attached by an iron pulley to a rope stretched high above the Reix,[38] a river flowing out of the Lake of Lucerne, and arrived, after a journey of four leagues, at Baden, a little town with a suburb adjoining, where there are baths.

_To face p. 76_, vol. i.
]

Baden is a Catholic town, under protection of the eight[39] Swiss cantons, in which divers great gatherings of princes have taken place. We did not lodge in the town but in the suburb, which lies at the foot of the mountain on the bank of the Limmat, a stream, or rather torrent, which flows out of the Lake of Zürich. There are two or three uncovered public baths, which are frequented only by poor folk. Of the other kind there are great number within the houses, divided into small private rooms, both closed and open, which are let with the lodgings, and are as dainty and well fitted as possible, hot water being drawn from the water-courses for each bath. The lodgment is magnificent. In the house where we stayed three hundred mouths had to be fed every day; and, while we were there, beds were made for a hundred-and-seventy sojourners. It possessed seventeen stoves and eleven kitchens, and in the house adjoining were fifty furnished chambers, the walls of all the rooms being hung with the coats-of-arms of the gentry who had lodged therein. The town, perched high on the crest of a hill, is small and very fair, like almost all the towns of this country. Moreover, they build their streets wider and more open than ours, and their market-places more ample, and there is a wealth of richly-glazed windows everywhere. They paint almost all the houses outside with various devices, and the towns consequently are very pleasant to look upon. Again, there is scarcely a town without running water in the streets, and at every cross-street will be found a handsome fountain, built either in stone or in wood, and on this account their towns are much fairer to view than those of France. The water of the baths gives out an odour of sulphur like those of Aigues-Caudes[40] and certain others. The heat is tempered as at Barbotan[41] or Aigues-Caudes, and for this reason the baths are very soft and pleasant.

Ladies who are fain to take their bath with daintiness and decency can repair to Baden with confidence, for they will be alone in the bath, which is like an elegant cabinet, light, with glazed windows, painted panelling, and clean flooring. Everywhere are chairs and small tables for reading or gaming while in the bath. The bather may empty and fill the bath as often as he likes, and will find a chamber adjoining. There are fine walks along the river, besides artificial ones under galleries. These baths are placed in a valley commanded by the slopes of high mountains, which nevertheless are fertile and well cultivated. The water when drunk tastes rather flat and soft, like water heated up, and there is a smell of sulphur about it, and a certain prickling flavour of salt. Amongst the people of the place it is chiefly used in the bath, in which they subject themselves also to cupping and bleeding, so that I have at times seen the water in the two public baths the colour of blood. Those who drink it by habit take a glass or two at the most. The guests as a rule stay six or seven weeks, and some or other frequent the baths all through the summer. No country sends so many visitors as Germany, from whence come great crowds.

The practice of bathing here is of high antiquity and is remarked by Tacitus,[42] who searched to the utmost to find the chief spring, but could get no knowledge thereof; but apparently the springs rise from a great depth below the level even of the river. The water is less clear than that of the other springs we have seen, and when drawn from the spring it shows certain minute fibres. Moreover, it contains no sparkling bubbles like other sulphurous waters when the glass is filled; like those of Spa, for instance, of which M. de Maldonat told us. M. de Montaigne took some of it on the Monday morning after we arrived, seven small glasses, and on the next day five large glasses, amounting to ten of the aforesaid. On this same day, Tuesday, at nine in the morning, while the others were at table, he took a bath and fell into a heavy sweat in bed afterwards, having stayed in the bath only half-an-hour. The people of the country, who stay all day in the bath playing and drinking, stand only up to the middle in water, but M. de Montaigne lay full length and was covered to the neck.[43]

On this day departed from the baths a certain Swiss gentleman, an excellent servant of our State, who all the day before had held converse with M. de Montaigne concerning Swiss affairs, and had shown him a letter which the French ambassador, son of our President du Harlay, had written from Souleure, where he was staying, committing to him the king’s interests while he himself should be absent. The ambassador had been summoned by the queen to meet her at Lyons, in order to devise some plan of checkmating the schemes of Spain and the late Duke of Savoy. The duke shortly before his death had allied himself with certain of the cantons, an alliance which our king had resisted, alleging that the cantons, being already pledged to him, could incur no fresh obligations without his leave. Some of the cantons, when this was pointed out to them by the Swiss gentleman aforesaid, drew back from the alliance. Indeed, all through this country they showed great respect and friendship to our king’s name and the utmost civility to ourselves. The Swiss gentleman had a train of four horses. His son, who is also in the king’s service, on one, a valet on another, his daughter, a tall, handsome girl, on another, with a horsecloth and footboard in French fashion, a trunk on the crupper, and a bonnet box on the saddle-bow, without any waiting-maid, though they were two long days’ journey from their abode, which is in a town where the gentleman aforesaid was the governor. He himself rode the remaining horse.

The common dress of the women does not seem to me so becoming as that usually worn in France, nor the headgear either. This is a bonnet, _à la cognard_, turned up before and behind, and having in front a slight peak enriched with stripes of silk and fur trimmings. The hair hangs down behind in a braid. If you should jestingly take off this bonnet--for it is lightly attached as with us--they will show no offence, and you will see the head quite uncovered. The younger women wear simple garlands in lieu of a bonnet. There is little difference of attire to make the distinction of classes, and the habit is to salute by kissing the hand, and by offering to touch the lady’s. Otherwise, if in passing you give a greeting and bow they will generally make no sign of acknowledgment, according to ancient usage, but some will bow the head slightly by way of returning the salutation. They are for the most part well-favoured women, tall, and fair.

As a nation they have an excellent disposition, even towards those who [do not][44] agree with them. M. de Montaigne, in order to make full trial of diverse manners and customs of the countries he visited, always conformed to local usage, however greatly such a usage may have irked him. Nevertheless, in Switzerland he said that he suffered no inconvenience except that he had at table, by way of napkin, only a piece of linen half a foot long: moreover, the Swiss themselves only unfold this napkin at dinner when many sauces and divers sorts of soup are served; but, on the other hand, they always provide as many wooden spoons with silver handles as there are guests. And a Swiss will always be provided with a knife with which he will eat everything, and never put his fingers in his plate.

In almost all the towns the proper arms of the place are displayed, and above them those of the Emperor and of the house of Austria, but the greater part of the towns have been detached from the archduke aforesaid by ill policy. They say that all members of the Austrian house, except the Catholic king, have been brought to great poverty, even the Emperor,[45] who is held very lightly in Germany. On the Wednesday the host bought a large quantity of fish, and being asked by M. de Montaigne the reason why, he replied that the greater part of the people of Baden ate fish on Wednesdays on religious grounds, a remark which confirmed what he had before heard on this subject: to wit, that those who have remained Catholics are confirmed in their faith by the fact that they have to reckon on an opposition. The host added, when division and religious strife shows itself in a particular town, and infects the governing body, the bond of good feeling is loosened, and the effect of this admixture is felt in individual families, as has been manifested in Augsburg and in the imperial cities. But when a town has one central government--and every Swiss town has its separate laws and administration, is dependent on its neighbours for the preservation of order, and keeps up alliance and union only for purposes affecting the whole community--those towns which possess special civic rights, with a separate civil government complete in all parts, find therein a support for their strengthening and upholding. Towns in this case undoubtedly become stronger, closing their ranks and recruiting their forces through the contagious shock of conflicts near at hand.

Their custom of warming the houses by stoves pleased us greatly, and none of our company complained thereof; for, after you have taken in a breath or two of the air which indeed may seem strange on entering a room, you are sensible only of a soft and regular heat. M. de Montaigne, who slept in a room with a stove, was loud in its praises, saying that all night he felt a pleasant moderate warmth. In warming yourself you burn neither your face nor your boots, and are free from the smoke of a French fireplace. At home we put on our warm furred dressing-gowns when we enter our apartments, but here people appear in doublet and bareheaded in the warm rooms, and put on thick garments before going into the air. On the Thursday M. de Montaigne drank the same quantity of water, which acted well and rid him of a small amount of gravel. Still, he found these waters more powerful than any others which he had ever tried--whether from the strength of the water itself or from the present habit of his body--and accordingly he drank them more sparingly.

On this same Thursday he held discourse with a minister from Zürich, a native of that city, and heard from him that the religion there was formerly Zwinglian, but that now it had come nearer to Calvinism, a somewhat milder creed. Being questioned as to predestination, he replied that they kept the mean between Geneva and Augsburg, but that their people were free to debate this question. For his own part he inclined rather to the side of Zwingli, praising him highly as one who came the nearest to primitive Christianity.

On Friday, October 7th, at seven in the morning, after breakfast, we quitted Baden; and, before we set out, M. de Montaigne drank the same quantity of the water as he had taken on five previous occasions. With regard to the operation of the same, concerning which he was more sanguine than he was in the case of any other bath he had visited (both as to the bathing and the drinking), he was free in his praise of these baths beyond all the rest, not only because the place itself, and the baths and the private apartments, are comfortably and conveniently managed, but also because, in all apartments, visitors are always able to go to their own rooms without passing through the rooms of other people. Moreover, persons of small means may find quarters to suit them quite as easily as those who are rich. Bathrooms, kitchens, cabinets, and chapels may be hired for a large retinue, and at the house adjacent to our own, the Cour de la Ville--ours being the Cour de derrière--there are public apartments belonging to the cantonal authorities, and occupied by lodgers. This same house has several chimneys built in French fashion, and there are stoves in all the chief apartments. The demand for payment from strangers is a little arbitrary, as in all countries and notably in our own. Four furnished chambers, with nine beds in all, two of which had stoves and one bath besides, cost us a crown a day for the masters, and for the servants four batzen:[46] that is to say, a little more than nine sous apiece; the horses cost six batzen, about four sous, but in addition to this they added certain nonsensical charges which were not customary. A guard is kept in the town and even in the bath quarter, which is nothing but a village, and every night two sentinels make the round of the houses, not so much to keep off the foe, as for fear of fire or other disturbance. When the hour strikes one of them is bound to cry out at the top of his voice to the other, and ask what is the hour, whereupon the other in like manner tells him the hour, and adds that he is keeping good watch. The women do their washing in the open in the public place, bringing out their little wooden tubs to the river side where they heat water and do their work excellently; they also clean the earthenware far better than do our French women in the inns. Here each chambermaid and each valet has a special charge.

One disadvantage of travel is that with ever so great diligence it is impossible for a stranger to ascertain from the people of the country whom he may meet--I speak of the cultivated folk as well as the vulgar--what objects of interest may be worthy of a visit, and to make them understand what he may ask. I write thus because, after we had spent five days at Baden, and had inquired curiously concerning everything there which might be worth seeing, we were told naught about a certain object of interest which we saw by chance afterwards as we were leaving the town. This was a stone, about the height of a man, apparently a portion of some column, without adornment or workmanship, placed at the angle of a house, and easily visible to any passer-by on the high-road. There was a Latin inscription, which I was not able to decipher fully, but it seemed to be a simple dedication to the Emperors Nerva and Trajan. We crossed the Rhine at Kaiserstuhl, a Catholic town and allied to the Swiss, and onward thence we traversed a fine flat country until we came to some rapids where the river is broken up by rocks, which they call cataracts, like those of the Nile. And below Schaffhausen there is in the Rhine a gulf full of vast rocks where it becomes rapid, and farther down, amongst the same rocks, it comes to a fall of two pikes’ length, where it makes a mighty leap, foaming and roaring marvellously. This fall stops the boats, and interrupts the navigation of the river. We travelled four leagues at a stretch, and came in time for supper to Schaffhausen.

This town, the capital of a Swiss canton, has the same form of religion as Zürich. On our departure from Baden we left on our right hand Zürich, whither M. de Montaigne had determined to journey, the town being not more than two leagues distant. But word was brought to him of an outbreak of plague there. At Schaffhausen he saw naught which interested him. The citizens were erecting a citadel which promised to be a good work; and they have, moreover, a butt for crossbow practice, and a place for this exercise, as fine and large and shady and well provided with seats and galleries and rooms as man could desire. There is also a similar place for shooting with the arquebus, and water-mills for the sawing of wood, like those we have seen elsewhere, and others for the scutching of flax and the shelling of millet. Likewise a tree of the sort we saw at Baden and elsewhere, but not so large. Out of the lowest branches they contrive to make the floor of a sort of circular gallery, twenty paces or so in diameter. They next braid these branches together in an upward direction so as to form the side of the gallery aforesaid, and likewise let them grow upwards as high as possible. They afterwards clip the tree, and prevent the growth of any branch from the trunk, so far as it passes through the gallery, which is for the space of ten feet. They take the upper branches of the tree, and these they lay down upon supports of willow in order to form a roof to the little chamber. Then branches are plaited from below, and at last joined to those which grow upward from the contrary direction: thus the whole space is filled with green growth. Then they clip the tree as high as the top branches, which they allow to grow naturally. The tree brought into this form is a very beautiful object. In addition they have made spring up at its feet a fountain of water which mounts up as high as the floor of the gallery already mentioned.

M. de Montaigne paid a visit to the burgomasters of the town, who afterwards, to show him courtesy, came with certain other public officers to sup at our apartments, when they brought a present of wine for him and M. d’Estissac, and certain speeches were made on both sides. The chief burgomaster was a man of good family who had been brought up as a page in the house of M. d’Orléans,[47] and had now quite forgotten French. This canton professed to be well affected towards our interests, and had given proof of this disposition by a refusal to join the league of the other cantons, which the late Duke of Savoy had tried to bring about, and of which mention has been made already. On Saturday, October 8th, we set forth at eight in the morning, after breakfast, from Schaffhausen, where we had found excellent lodgment at the “Crown.” One of the most learned men of the place had a conversation with M. de Montaigne, and told him, amongst other matters, that in truth the people of the town were not over well disposed to our Court, forasmuch as whenever he had listened to discourse concerning an alliance with our king, the majority of the people were always disposed to break it, but that by the intervention of certain rich citizens the opposite policy had hitherto been adopted. As we left the town we saw an engine made of iron, like certain others we had seen elsewhere, by the help of which carts could be loaded with heavy stones without the aid of human muscles. We passed along beside the Rhine, leaving it on our right hand, as far as Stein, a small town, the ally of the cantons, and of the same religion as Schaffhausen. Also on the road we observed many stone crosses. Here we again crossed the Rhine by a wooden bridge and, still keeping beside the river on the left, we passed by another small town allied to the Catholic cantons. Here the Rhine spreads out to a vast width, equal to that of the Garonne at Blaye, and then narrows itself till the approach to Constance, a distance of four leagues.

_From Civitates Orbis Terrarum_

_To face p. 96_, vol. i.
]

III

THE EMPIRE

We arrived at Constance at four o’clock. This town, which is about the size of Châlons, belongs to the Archduke of Austria, and holds to the Catholic religion, though up to thirty years ago it was in the hands of the Lutherans, whom the Emperor Charles V. drove out by force. The churches still show signs of images, and the bishop is a gentleman of the country, who lives at Rome, and as a cardinal draws from this benefice an income of forty thousand crowns. There are canonries, too, of the church of Notre Dame, which are worth fifteen hundred crowns, and are held by men of gentle family. We saw one of these on horseback coming in from the country, attired gallantly like a gentleman-of-arms; and report says that in the town are many Lutherans. We ascended the clock tower, which is very high, and there found a man as fixed sentinel, who is shut therein and not suffered to quit his post, whatever may call him thence. They were constructing beside the Rhine a large covered building, fifty feet long and forty wide, or thereabouts, and fixing therein twelve or fifteen great wheels, by means of which they propose to raise continuously a large quantity of water up to a wooden tower, one storey higher, where will be an equal number of iron wheels (the lower ones are of wood), which will raise the water from the first floor to the one above. The water, having been lifted to the height of some fifty feet, will discharge itself by a large artificial channel and flow down into the town, and set several mills to work. The artisan who has the direction of this building had for his labour alone five thousand seven hundred florins, and wine to boot. In the deep water they were fixing a strong wooden erection all around to break the current; so that, when the force of the water should be moderated, they might be able to draw it upwards more easily. There was also an arrangement of machinery by which the whole system of wheelwork can be raised or lowered according to the level of the water.

At this point the stream is not called the Rhine, for by the upper part of the city it spreads out into a lake full four German leagues in width and five or six in length. There is a fine terrace overlooking this lake where merchandise is stored, and about fifty paces from the shore stands a finely-built lodge, where a sentinel is always on duty. A chain is here prepared, by which the way of access to the bridge may be closed, and high palisades are set, which enclose on both sides that part of the lake in which boats lie and take in cargo. Near the church of Notre Dame there is a conduit by which water from the Rhine higher up finds its way to the suburbs of the town.

We perceived that we were leaving behind us the country of the Swiss, for the reason that, shortly before we came to the entrance to the town, we saw several noblemen’s dwellings, such as are seldom or never seen in Switzerland; and as to the private houses, both in town and country, we found them beyond all comparison better than in France, and they seem to lack nothing except slate roofs. To speak more particularly of the hostelries, they might perhaps provide a somewhat better style of entertainment; moreover, with regard to certain deficiencies which we found in the service, these could not have been the result of poverty. What we had seen of their way of life in other respects forbade us to believe this, seeing that it is hard to name a place where they do not drink from fine silver cups, gilded and chased; wherefore, what seemed to us strange, was simply local custom. The country is very rich, especially in wine. To return to the town of Constance, we were badly lodged at the “Eagle,” and we got from our host a sample of the barbaric German arrogance and independence over the quarrel of one of our serving-men with our guide from Basle. And when the question came before the judges to whom the guide made an appeal, it chanced that M. de Montaigne asked the provost of the place, an Italian gentleman, married and settled there for a long time with full right of citizenship, whether the servants he had with him could give evidence on our behalf. The provost answered that they could, provided M. de Montaigne should have discharged them from his service. He might, of course, re-engage them immediately afterwards; a reply which seemed full of subtlety.

On the following day, Sunday, on account of this tumult, we only tarried until after dinner, and then changed our quarters to the “Pike,” where we fared excellently. The son of the captain of the town, who was brought up as a page in the household of M. de Meru,[48] was always in attendance upon Messieurs at table and elsewhere. He did not know a word of French. The service at table is very often varied. They gave us here, and subsequently in other places, after the cloth was removed, other courses with our wine. The first what the Gascons call _canaules_, then spiced bread, and lastly white bread cut into slices, but still holding together. In the cuttings they put plenty of spices and salt, as also in the crust of the bread. There are many lepers in this country, the highways being full of them. The villagers give their workmen for mid-day meal large flat loaves,[49] made with fennel, and spread upon these a mess of bacon, cut very small and mixed with cloves of garlic. The Germans, when they would do honour to a man, always place themselves on his left side, whatever seat he may occupy, and maintain that to sit on his right hand is to put an insult on him, saying that to show true deference to a man it is necessary to leave his right side free, so that he may easily put his hand to his arms. After dinner on the Sunday we quitted Constance, and after crossing the lake at a point about a league from the town, we reached Smardorff in time for bed, after travelling two leagues.

Smardorff[50] is a small Catholic town. We had lodging at the “Standard of Cologne,” a post-house which is kept here for the Emperor’s route into Italy. There, as in other places, they fill the mattresses with the leaves of a certain tree, which serves the purpose better than straw and lasts longer. The town is surrounded by a wide plain of vineyard which produces excellent wine. On Monday, the 10th October, we started after breakfast; for M. de Montaigne was persuaded by the beauty of the day to change the plan he had made of going to Ravensburg, and make a day’s journey to Lindau instead. M. de Montaigne never took breakfast, but caused to be brought to him a piece of dry bread which he would eat during the journey, adding thereto occasionally such grapes as he could get on the road, the vintage being still in course of gathering in this region even up to the outskirts of Lindau. Their practice is to train the vines up on trellises, and they leave therein divers verdurous alleys which are delightful to the view. We passed through Sonchem,[51] an imperial Catholic town on the bank of the Lake of Constance, to which all the wares of Ulm and Nuremburg and divers other places are brought in waggons, thence to be conveyed through the lake to the Rhine route. After travelling three leagues we arrived about three in the afternoon at Linde.[52]

The little town is situated some hundred paces out into the lake, which distance is traversed over a stone bridge. There is no other entrance, all the rest of the town being surrounded by the lake, which is at least a league in width, and on the other side rise the mountains of the Grisons. The lake and all the streams are low in winter and full in summer on account of the melting of the snow. All through these parts the women cover their heads with bonnets of fur like our skull-caps, each costing about three testoons;[53] the outside being trimmed with some seemly grey fur, and the inside with lambs’-wool. The opening which in our caps is in front is in theirs behind, and through it may be seen their hair tucked up. Their favourite foot-gear is boots, and these are either red or white, each sort suiting the wearer not amiss. Both religions are followed. We went to see the Catholic cathedral, built in 866, where all things are as they have always been, and we saw also the church served by the Lutheran ministers. All the imperial towns have liberty in the matter of the two religions, Catholic and Lutheran, according to the leanings of the people, and they devote themselves more or less to that form which they prefer. At Lindau, from what the priest told M. de Montaigne, there are not more than two or three Catholics. The priests do not fail to draw their incomes and to perform the service, and the nuns who are there do the same. M. de Montaigne had some talk also with the minister, from whom he got but little information, except to learn that the common hatred against Zwingle and Calvin was prevalent here likewise. It seems clear that almost every separate place holds for its belief some particular view; and, under the authority of Martin, whom they hail as their head, they set up divers disputes on the interpretation of the meaning of Martin’s works.

We lodged at the “Crown,” a good house. Near the stone on the panelled wall there was a sort of wooden cage for the keeping of a vast number of birds. It was fitted with hanging perches made of copper wire, which gave room for the birds to shift from one end to the other. The furniture and woodwork of their houses is generally made of pine, the most common forest tree, but they paint and varnish and polish it carefully, and even use hair brushes for the furbishing of their chairs and tables. They have great abundance of cabbages, which they shred with a tool made for the purpose, and then salt the same in vessels for making soup in the winter. At this place M. de Montaigne made trial of the feather coverlets, such as they use in bed, and was full of praise thereof, finding them light and warm at the same time. It was a saying of his that people of fastidious taste had more occasion to complain when travelling of their bed furniture than of aught else, and he commended those who carried a mattress or curtains amongst the baggage when visiting strange countries.

As to fare at table, they have such vast abundance of provisions, and vary the service so widely in the matter of soups, sauces, and salads, that nothing in our own way of living can be found to equal it. They gave us soups made of quince, of apples cooked and cut into strips, and cabbage salad. They make pottage of all sorts, one of rice which they eat in common, having no separate service of this dish, an excellently flavoured one. The kitchens are incomparably superior to those of our great houses, and the sitting-rooms are better furnished than with us.

They have abundance of excellent fish, which is served at the table with the meat. Of trout they only eat the liver, and they have also great plenty of game, hares, and woodcocks, which they dress in a fashion differing from our own, but a good one all the same; indeed I have never met with meat so tender as that which was commonly set before us. They serve with the meat cooked plums and slices of apples and pears, sometimes putting the roast first and the soup last, and sometimes reversing this order. As to their fruits, they have only pears and apples, which are both good, and nuts and cheese. During the meat course they hand round a utensil, made either of silver or tin, having four compartments filled with divers sorts of spices. They also use cummin, or some similar grain with a hot stinging savour, as an admixture to their bread; this bread being made for the most part with fennel added thereto. After the meal they replace the glasses filled full on the table, and offer two or three sorts of eatables which serve to provoke thirst.