As soon as he had crossed the Alps on his homeward way Montaigne evidently looked upon his journey as over. The entries in the “Journal” are merely memoranda of the various stopping places, and the note of sadness in these closing sentences is very evident. All interest in the places he passed is now vanished, and the humours of the road appeal to him no more. He is going home, an old man afflicted by an ailment which has proved incurable, with only the prospect of a few years of invalid life before him, and he may well be excused for falling into a mood which throws a darker shade over the last pages of his record.
THE JOURNAL OF MONTAIGNE’S TRAVELS IN ITALY
BY WAY OF SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY[1] in 1580 and 1581
I
FRANCE
... Monsieur de Montaigne sent Monsieur Mattecoulon[2] with his squire by post to pay a visit to the count[3] aforesaid, whom they found wounded, but not mortally. At Beaumont M. d’Estissac joined our party for the sake of company, our routes being the same. He had with him a gentleman, a valet-de-chambre, two lackeys, a muleteer and a mule, an addition equal in number to our own party, the outlay being equally divided. On Monday, September 5th, we left Beaumont after dinner, and rode in one bout to Meaux, where we arrived in time for supper.
MEAUX
To face p. 26, vol. i.
Meaux is a small and handsome town on the Marne, divided into three parts. The town itself and its suburbs are on this side of the river towards Paris, and over the Marne lies another portion—the third—a large suburb known as the Marché, surrounded on all sides by the river and a well-constructed ditch, and containing many houses and inhabitants. This place was formerly strongly fortified by high and formidable walls and towers, but in the second period of our Huguenot troubles, the greater part of the inhabitants being of that party, all these defences were thrown down. This quarter also withstood the attack of the English, the other portions of the town being ruined, and by way of reward the inhabitants of the Marché are still exempted from payment of taille and other taxes. They point out in the Marne an island, two or three hundred feet in length, which was, they say, originally an embankment made by the English as a position from which the fortress of the Marché might be bombarded by warlike engines, the artificial work having become firm ground in the course of time.[4] In this faubourg we saw the abbey of Saint Faron, a building of great antiquity, where they show certain chambers in which Ogier the Dane[5] is said to have dwelt. There is also an ancient refectory, with tables of stone, very long and massive, and of an unwonted size, and in the middle of this hall was formerly a spring of fresh water which served for drinking. To this day most of the monks are men of gentle birth. Amongst other things is to be seen an ancient and stately tomb, upon which are carved in stone the figures of two knights of abnormal stature, and legend says that these represent Ogier the Dane and one of his paladins. It has neither inscription nor armorial device, nothing save a sentence in Latin which an abbot caused to be set thereon some hundred years ago, recording that two unknown heroes lie buried below; and in the treasury they still show the bones of these knights, the bone of the arm, from shoulder to elbow, being about the length of the entire arm of a man of average stature in these days, and a little longer than that of M. de Montaigne. They show likewise two of their swords, about the length of our own two-handed swords, the edges gapped by strokes of battle. At Meaux, M. de Montaigne paid a visit to the treasurer of the church of St. Stephen, one Juste Terrelle,[6] a man of note amongst the savants of France, a little old man, sixty years of age, who has visited Egypt and Jerusalem, and lived seven years in Constantinople. He showed us his library and the curiosities of his garden, where the most wonderful thing we saw was a tree of box of round growth, and so thick by artificial cutting, that it seemed to be a circular ball, massive and trim, about a man’s height.
From Meaux, where we took our dinner on the Tuesday, we set out and slept at Charly, seven leagues distant. On Wednesday after dinner we went on to sleep at Dormans, seven leagues farther on, and on the morrow we arrived in time for dinner at Esprenei.[7] After our arrival M. de Montaigne and M. d’Estissac went to the church of Notre Dame to hear Mass, as was their wont. M. de Montaigne had taken note that when M. de Strozzi[8] was slain some years ago at Thionville they had buried his body in this church, wherefore he now inquired what manner of sepulture had been given him, and found that he had been buried in a spot in front of the high altar which was marked neither by memorial nor tombstone, nor armorial device, nor epitaph. They told us, moreover, that the queen[9] had caused him to be buried thus simply because this was his desire. The day being the feast of our Lady of September[10] the office was said by the bishop of Rennes, one of the Parisian family of Hanequin and abbé of this church. After the Mass was finished, M. de Montaigne met in the church M. Maldonat,[11] a Jesuit well known to fame by reason of his philosophical and theological learning. They held divers learned discourses together during and after dinner in M. de Montaigne’s lodging, whither Maldonat had come to see him. Amongst other matters Maldonat described the baths of Spa, near by to Liège, where he had recently sojourned in company with M. de Nevers. These are exceedingly cold, and it is there considered that the colder the water the better. The springs are so cold that some who drink thereof fall into a trembling and shuddering, but soon after the water causes a fine feeling of warmth in the stomach. In his case he took a hundred ounces; the glasses being supplied by the attendants of whatever measure each particular visitor may require. The waters may be drunk fasting and also after a meal, and their effect seemed to be similar to those of Gascony. As to his own experience he gave certain observations concerning their strength, and as to the hurt which had befallen him through drinking the same when sweating and fatigued. He marked how frogs and other small animals died immediately they were thrown into the water, and how a handkerchief, which was placed over a glass filled with the same, quickly became yellow. The shortest course of treatment is fifteen days or three weeks. It is a place where excellent accommodation and lodgment may be found, and is most salutary in cases of gravel or obstruction. Nevertheless neither the speaker nor M. de Nevers got any relief from the waters.