[20] This statement helps to account for the curious brevity of Montaigne’s stay in Venice. The abbey in question is Praglia, a Benedictine house of great repute for its wealth and liberality.
[21] Nicola di Cusa, a learned mathematician, a German by birth. His work deals chiefly with statics, or rather with the weight of bodies in water. He also put forth an ingenious hypothesis as to the motion of the earth. His works were published at Basel in 1565.
[22] San Pietro Montagnon, a bath still in use. There is another San Pietro in Bagno near Cesena.
[23] Probably Prèchac, a bath much frequented, lying near Dax in Navarre. Munster, Cosmog., i. 375, commends the baths of this region.
[24] Luigi d’Este, brother of Alfonso II. of Ferrara. He was one of Tasso’s earliest patrons, and took him to Paris in 1570. He was only in deacon’s orders, and, from Montaigne’s remarks, was evidently a free liver. In 1561 he was made cardinal, and died in 1586.
[25] Battaglia, about five miles beyond Abano.
[26] Frassine, a canalised river, which joins the Fratta and runs parallel with the Adige to the sea.
[27] The secretary.
[28] The baths of S. Elena. They were probably known to the Romans, but their modern use dates from the middle of the fifteenth century, when they were brought to notice by Giov. Dondi. Later on, in the seventeenth century, Il Dottore Selvatico restored the bath-houses, and greatly increased the repute of the place.
[29] San Pietro Montagnon, near Abano.