In each district it is the custom to hold a military assembly every month. The colonel commanding this district, from whom I have received a world of courtesy, held his assembly here, having a gathering of some two hundred pikemen and arquebusiers. He let them engage in a sham fight, and it seemed to me they were, for peasants, very expert; but his principal duty is to instruct them in military formation and discipline. The people here are divided into the French and Spanish factions, and weighty questions with regard to this matter were constantly arising; moreover they make public profession of their party. In these parts the men and women of our party wear bunches of flowers, and their caps and their locks of hair down over the right ear, while those who favour the Spaniards wear them on the left. The peasants and their wives all go clad like gentle-folk. You never see a woman who does not wear white shoes, fine-thread stockings, and a coloured sarcenet apron. They dance and cut capers and twirl about marvellously well.
In this country when they talk of the prince they mean the Council of one hundred and twenty[52]. The colonel aforesaid could not get married without leave of this “prince,” and he only gained permission with great difficulty, because the authorities were loth that he should make friends or connections in the country; moreover, he cannot buy any property. No soldier can leave the country without leave. In the mountainous parts are many people who beg for money, and out of what they gather thus they buy their arms.
On the Wednesday I went to the bath and remained there more than an hour. I sweated a little, bathing my head at the same time, and I saw how handy the German fashion was in winter time for warming clothes and other things at the stoves they use, for there the bathman, having put a little coal into a chafing dish, the lid of which was raised by a brick inserted so as to admit air to ventilate the fire, managed to dry the bath clothes expeditiously and well, much more conveniently than at a fire like ours here, which is made in one of our basins. Here they call the girls and boys children till they are ripe for marriage. The boys are always lads till their beards are grown.
On Thursday I was a little more on the alert and bathed somewhat earlier. In the bath I sweated fairly well and gave my head a douche under the spout. The bath left me rather weak, with a feeling of heaviness about the reins, and I voided gravel continually and some phlegm likewise as if I had drunk of the spring, indeed it struck me that this water used in the bath produced the same effect as when drunk. I bathed again on the Friday. Vast quantities of the water of this spring and of the other one, the Corsena, are despatched every day for sale in various regions of Italy. These people are not the great meat-eaters that we are, and they use nothing but the common sorts of flesh, upon which they set but little store, that is to say, while I was there I bought a choice leveret for six of our sous without any bargaining. They do not hunt or bring game hither, because no one would buy it. On the Saturday, because the weather was bad, and the wind so high that I felt the want of casements, either of linen or glass, I neither bathed nor took the waters. Here I observed a marked result of the use of this bath, forasmuch as my brother,[53] who had never passed any gravel either in common way or while drinking the water at any other bath in my company, now passed a large quantity.
On the Sunday morning I took another bath, without bathing my head, and after dinner I gave a ball, with presents for the guests, according to the custom of these baths. I was anxious to give the first ball of the season. Five or six days before this date I had caused notice of my entertainment to be given in all the neighbouring villages, and on the day previous I sent special invitations to all the gentle-folk then sojourning at either of the baths. I bade them come to the ball, and to the supper afterwards, and sent to Lucca for the presents, which are usually pretty numerous, so as to avoid the appearance of favouring one lady above all the rest, and to steer clear of jealousy and suspicion. They always give eight or ten to the ladies, and two or three to the gentlemen. Many ventured to jog my memory, one begging me not to forget herself, another her niece, another her daughter.
On the day previous Messer Giovanni da Vincenzo Saminiati, a good friend of mine, brought me from Lucca, according to my written instructions, a leathern belt and a black cloth cap as presents for the men. For the ladies I provided two aprons of taffetas, one green and the other purple (for it must be known that it is always meet to have certain presents better than the bulk, so as to show special favour where favour seems to be due), two aprons of bombazine, four papers of pins, four pairs of shoes—one pair of which I gave to a pretty girl who did not come to the ball, a pair of slippers, which I put with one of the pairs of shoes to form one prize, three head-dresses clear woven, and three netted, which together stood for three prizes, and four small pearl necklaces. Thus I had altogether nineteen gifts for the ladies, the cost of which was six crowns; little enough. I engaged five pipers, giving them their food for the day, and a crown amongst the lot, a good bargain for me, seeing that they will rarely play here at such a rate. The prizes aforesaid were hung up on a hoop, richly ornamented, and visible to all the company.
We began the dance on the piazza with the people of the place, and at first feared we should lack company, but after a little we were joined by a great number of people of all parties, and notably of the gentle-folk of the land, whom I received and entertained to the best of my powers; and I succeeded so far that they all seemed well content. As the day waxed somewhat warm we withdrew to the hall of the Palazzo Buonvisi, which was excellently suited for the purpose. At the decline of day, about the twenty-second hour, I addressed the ladies of the greatest consequence who were present, and said that I had neither wit nor confidence enough to give judgment between these young ladies so richly endowed with beauty and grace and politeness, wherefore I begged them to undertake the duty of deciding, and to award the prizes according to the deserts of the company. We had long discussion over this formal matter, as at first the ladies refused to accept this office, deeming that I had offered it to them merely out of courtesy. At last we agreed to add this proviso, to wit, that they might, if they were so minded, call me into their council to give my opinion. The end was that I went about, glancing now at this damsel and now at that, never failing to allow due credit for beauty and charm, but at the same time determining that graceful dancing meant something else than the mere movement of the feet; that it necessitated also appropriate gestures, a fine carriage of the whole body, a pleasant expression, and a comely charm. The presents, great and small, were distributed on this principle according to desert, one of the ladies aforementioned presenting them to the dancers on my behalf, while I disclaimed all merit thereanent, and referred them to her as the Lady Bountiful. My entertainment passed off in the usual fashion, except that one of the girls would not take her present, but sent to beg me that I would give it with her love to another girl; but this I would not permit to be done, as the damsel in question was not over well favoured. The girls were called one by one from their places to come before the lady and myself, sitting side by side, whereupon I gave to the signora the gift which seemed appropriate, having first kissed the same. Then the signora, taking it in her hand, gave it to the young girl, and said in friendly fashion, “This is the gentleman who is giving you this charming present, thank him for it.” I added, “Nay, rather your thanks are due to the gracious signora who has designated you out of so many others as worthy of reward. I much regret that the offering made to you is not more worthy of such merit as yours.” I spoke somewhat in these terms to each according to her qualifications. The same order was followed in the case of the men.
The ladies and gentlemen had no part in this distribution though they all joined in the dance. In sooth it was a rare and charming sight to us Frenchmen to look upon these comely peasants dancing so well in the garb of gentle-folk. They did their best to rival the finest of our lady dancers, albeit in a different style. I invited all to supper, as the meals in Italy are like the lightest of our repasts in France, and on this occasion I only provided a few joints of veal and a pair or two of fowls. I had as guests also the colonel of the Lieutenancy, Signor Francesco Gambarini, a gentleman of Bologna, who had become to me as a brother. I also found a place at table for Divizia, a poor peasant woman who lives about two miles from the baths, unmarried, and with no other support than her handiwork. She is ugly, about thirty-seven years of age, with a swollen throat, and unable either to read or write; but it chanced that in her childhood there came to live in her father’s house an uncle who was ever reading aloud in her hearing Ariosto and others of the poets, wherefore she seemed to find a natural delight in poetry, and was soon able, not only to make verses with marvellous readiness, but likewise to weave thereinto the ancient stories, the names of the gods of various countries, of sciences and of illustrious men, as if she had received a liberal education. She recited divers lines in my honour, which, to speak the truth, were little else than verses and rhymes, but the diction was elegant and spontaneous.
I entertained at my ball more than a hundred strangers, albeit the time was inconvenient for them, seeing that they were then in the midst of the silk harvest, their principal crop of the year. At this season they labour, heedless of all feast days, at plucking, morning and evening, the leaves of the mulberry for their silkworms, and all my peasant guests were engaged in this work.
On Monday morning I went somewhat late to my bath, as I was shaved and had my hair cut, and I bathed my head for more than a quarter of an hour by holding it under the principal spout.