I am firmly convinced that the fumes of this water both in drinking and in bathing—though I hold drinking to be the worse—are very bad for the head, and even worse for the stomach. And on this account the patients here are forced to take medicines to correct the action of the water. On the Thursday I gave up drinking and rode in the morning to see Costrone, a large village in the mountains. I found many fine and fertile level spaces and pasturage to the very tops of the mountains. To this village are attached several hamlets with comfortable houses roofed with stone. On my way back I made a long circuit through the hills.
My head meantime continued in its usual condition—to wit, a bad one; I began to get weary of these baths, and if I had received from France news for which I had been waiting—indeed for four months I had heard nothing at all—I should have set forth at once and finished my autumn cure in some other bath. In travelling towards Rome the baths of Bagno Acqua, Siena, and Viterbo would lie but little off the main road; and towards Venice I should pass near those of Bologna and Padua.
In Pisa I had had my arms drawn in fine colours and gilded for the cost of a French crown and a half, and I now pasted the drawing on wood—it was done on canvas—and this wooden tablet I caused to be carefully nailed to the wall of the chamber I had occupied, with the understanding that the device should be held to be given to the room itself, and not to Captain Paulino the proprietor, and that it should not be taken down whatever might befall the house in the future. This the captain promised, and confirmed his promise with an oath.
On Sunday, September the 3rd, I spent more than an hour in the bath, and was much troubled by wind, but without pain. In the night and on Monday morning I had toothache so badly that I feared it must arise from a decayed tooth. I chewed mastic all the morning without relief.
During the night I sent for an apothecary, who gave me some aqua vitæ, and bade me hold it to the spot where the pain was sharpest. The relief I got was marvellous; for, as soon as I took it into my mouth, the pain ceased; but as soon as I spat out the spirit the pain returned, wherefore I was forced to keep the glass always at my lips. I could not keep the spirit in my mouth continually, for, as soon as the pain was reduced, I would through weariness fall into a heavy sleep, and then some drops of the spirit would run down my throat and choke me so that I was forced to get rid of it. Just at daybreak the pain seemed to leave me.
On the Tuesday morning all the gentlemen staying at the bath came to see me as I lay in bed. I afterwards caused a plaster of mastic to be put on my left temple, where the throbbing pain had been worst, and had less pain during the day. At night they applied lint to the cheek and the left side of the head, and my sleep was painless though disturbed.
On the Wednesday I had constant toothache and pain in the left eye, and on Thursday I spent an hour in the large bath. This same morning there came to hand, by way of Rome, a letter from M. de Tausin, written from Bordeaux on August 2nd, in which he informed me that, on the preceding day, I had been chosen to be Mayor of that city by public choice, and begged me that, out of my goodwill for the city, I would take up this burden.[95]
On Sunday, September 10th, I spent an hour in the ladies’ bath, which, being rather hot, caused me to perspire, and after dinner I went on horseback to visit some places in the neighbourhood, and a little town called Gragnaiola, situated on the top of one of the highest mountains of this group. As I rode along these heights the slopes around appeared to me the fairest and most fertile that the world could show. In course of conversation with some of the peasantry I inquired of a very old man whether the baths were much used by the inhabitants; whereupon he answered that the people about Lucca were like those living near the Madonna of Loreto, who very rarely go on pilgrimages to the shrine there; in like fashion the baths of Lucca enjoyed little favour, except from foreigners and people coming from afar. Moreover, there was one matter which gave him disquiet, to wit, that for some years past there had appeared manifest signs that the baths had done more harm than good to those who used them. He declared the cause of this to be that, whereas in former days there was no apothecary in the whole district and physicians were rarely seen, these gentry, now swarmed; and, having an eye to their own gain, established the doctrine that the baths would prove of no service unless the patient take medicine, not only before and after but at divers times during the operation of the waters, which would not easily assimilate if taken by themselves. He declared that the clearest proof of this appeared in the fact that, of the people who used these baths, more died than were cured; and that in a short time the place would fall into disrepute and neglect.
On September 12th, 1581, we set forth early from Bagni della Villa and arrived at Lucca in time for dinner, after riding fourteen miles. They were just beginning to gather the grapes. The feast of Santa Croce is the great one of this city, and during eight days all who may be proscribed on account of debt are suffered to return without hurt to their homes, so as to attend to their devotions. In all Italy I have never found a barber who could shave me or cut my hair properly.
On Wednesday evening we went to hear vespers and see the processions in the cathedral, where a vast multitude of the citizens were assembled. There was an exhibition of the Volto Santo, which is here held in the highest reverence because of the antiquity of the cultus, and of the many miracles due thereto; indeed the cathedral was built especially for the sake of this relic, and the little chapel where it is preserved still stands in the centre of the great church in an incongruous position, and in violation of all the canons of architecture.[96] As soon as the vespers were ended the whole of the congregation went to another church, which was formerly the cathedral.[97]