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.
BASEL
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.