This doctor went afterwards in company with M. de Montaigne to visit a grand and sumptuous monastery, where Mass was being said, and he entered and bided there without removing his headgear until M.
d’Estissac and M. de Montaigne had finished their prayers. They next went to view in a cellar of the abbey a long cylinder-shaped fragment of stone,[59] which apparently had once formed part of a column. On it, written in easily legible Latin letters, was an inscription telling how the Emperors Pertinax and Antonius Verus had repaired all the roads and bridges for a distance of eleven thousand paces around Campidonium, that is to say, Kempten, whither we were bound for the night. This stone might have been set up to record some later repair of the road, for report says that this village of Isny is of no great antiquity.
In any case, having inspected all the roads about Kempten, we could find no repairs worthy of such artificers, and there was not a single bridge. We certainly remarked that a way had been cut through some of the hills, but this work was not of prime importance.
Kempten, three leagues farther on, is a town as big as St. Foy, handsome, populous, and abounding in good lodgings. We stayed at the “Bear,” an excellent house. At our meals they brought in great silver vessels of various kinds (these in sooth were intended to serve merely as ornaments, being richly worked and covered with the arms of divers gentlemen), the sort of plate which is only to be seen in houses of high quality. Here it was that we were brought to see the truth of an observation which M. de Montaigne had made elsewhere, to wit, that if foreigners ignore certain usages favoured by ourselves, it is because they hold these usages in slight esteem. For instance, these people, though they possess vast store of pewter utensils as well scoured as those at Montaigne, will only make use of wooden platters, which indeed are both well made and well kept. In all these countries they put cushions on the seats in the evening, and nearly all the panelled ceilings of the apartments are vaulted half-moon fashion, which gives them a very graceful appearance. As to the linen, concerning which we had previously made certain complaints, we had no occasion to be dissatisfied; indeed, as far as my master was concerned,[60] I never failed to procure enough of the same wherewith to fashion a pair of curtains for his bed, and whenever he happened to want an extra towel it was always given to him. In this town lives a certain merchant who carries on a traffic of a hundred thousand florins annually in linen. M. de Montaigne, on leaving Constance, would fain have visited that canton of Switzerland[61] which supplies linen for the whole of Christendom, if there had not been four or five hours needed for crossing the lake and back to Lindau. This town (Kempten) is Lutheran, and here, as at Isne, the strange custom obtains that the Catholic church is most sumptuously served, notwithstanding the lack of worshippers. On the morrow, Thursday, a working day, the Mass was said at the abbey outside the town, as it is given in Notre Dame, at Paris, on Easter Day, with organ music, though none were present but priests.
Those who dwell outside the imperial towns are not free to change their religion, and many in this case attend the service aforesaid on feast days. This is a very magnificent abbey.[62] The abbot holds the same as a prince, and receives therefrom an income of fifty thousand florins yearly, the present abbot being of the house of Estain. All the brethren are of gentle birth. The abbey was founded in 783 by Hildegarde, the wife of Charlemagne, who is buried there and honoured as a saint; and her bones have been disinterred from the vault in which they were laid to be placed elsewhere in a shrine.
On the same Thursday morning M. de Montaigne went to the Lutheran church, which was similar to others of the same sect and of the Huguenots, except that close by the altar, which is at the head of the nave, there are several wooden benches, with stools below, so that those who receive the supper may kneel, as is their custom. M. de Montaigne found there two ministers, elderly men, of whom one preached in German to a scanty congregation. When he had finished they sang a psalm in German, to music differing somewhat from what we use. After each verse the fine organ, which had recently been erected, made a response in music, and whenever the preacher named the name of Christ he and all his hearers uncovered themselves. The sermon being finished, the other minister placed himself in front of the altar with his face towards the people, holding in his hand a book. A young woman with bare head and loosened hair approached him, and, after saluting him in the way these people use, remained standing before him. Soon afterwards a young man, an artisan with a sword by his side, presented himself, and stood beside the young woman. The minister spoke a few words into the ear of each, directed them both to repeat a paternoster, and then began to read from his book. There were certain ceremonies to be undergone by those seeking marriage, and next the minister made them take each other by the hand without kissing. When this ceremony was finished the minister went his way, and M. de Montaigne caught him up, and they held a long discourse together after he had taken M. de Montaigne to his house, which was seemly and well appointed. His name was Johannes Tillianus, a native of Augsburg. M. de Montaigne asked concerning a new Confession, lately formulated by the Lutherans to which all the doctors and princes who supported it have put their names; this however, is not written in Latin. When they were leaving the church a company with violins and tambourines came to meet the newly-married pair and escorted them home. On being asked if they permitted dancing, the minister exclaimed, “And why not!” and again to the question: Why had they let Jesus Christ be represented in the windows of the church, and upon the organs newly built? and why had they set up divers images?
he replied that they did not condemn the use of images as warnings and examples, but only as objects of worship. Again, when he was asked why they had removed from the churches the ancient images, he answered that it was not they who had done this, but their worthy disciples the Zwinglians, who had occupied the churches in the first instance, and, being stirred up by a spiteful humour, had done this outrage and divers others to boot. The same explanation was given to M. de Montaigne by other members of this confession during his travels, the doctor at Isne to wit, who, when he was asked whether he hated the figure and effigy of the Cross, cried out straightway: “How can I be such an atheist as to hate this figure so full of joy and glory to all Christians!
Opinions like these are of the devil.” And as they sat at ease at table all declared the same: that they would rather hear a hundred masses than take part in the Calvinist supper. At this place they served us white hares at table. The town is on the river Isler,[63] and, after taking our dinner there on the Thursday aforesaid, we travelled four leagues over a rocky, sterile road to Frienten,[64] a small village, Catholic like all the rest of this country, which is under the Archduke of Austria.
When treating of Linde, I forgot to say that at the entrance of the town there is a large wall bearing signs of great antiquity, and having naught written thereon that I see. I heard that its name in German signified “the old wall.”
On this Friday morning, though our lodging was a very mean one, we did not fail to find plentiful provision. It is the habit of these people to warm neither their sheets before going to bed nor their clothes before getting up, and they take it ill if any one should have a fire lighted in the kitchen for this service, or even make use of such fire as may be burning. This was one of the chief causes of wrangling we encountered in the houses where we lodged; indeed, even in the depths of the mountains and forests, where ten thousand feet of pinewood could be bought for less than fifty sous, they were just as ill disposed to let us make a fire as elsewhere. On the Friday morning we departed, and followed the more easy road to the left, instead of taking the mountain path which leads direct to Trent, M. de Montaigne being minded to make a détour of several days in order to visit certain fine cities of Germany; and annoyed that, when at Vanguen, he had altered his plan which he had first made of going direct to Germany, and had taken another route. On our road we saw, as in divers other places, certain water-mills which have water brought to them simply by wooden troughs, which take in the water at the foot of some mountain, and then, being raised and propped high above the ground, discharge the stream down a very steep incline from the end of the last trough. After going a league on the road, we stopped to dine at Frissen.[65] This is a small Catholic town, belonging to the bishop of Augsburg. We found there numerous members of the train of the Archduke of Austria, who was paying a visit to the Duke of Bavaria in a castle hard by.[66] It was decided to leave there on the banks of the Lech our heavy baggage, and that I and certain others should take them on to Augsburg on a raft, as they term the trunks of trees bound together, which they break up when in harbour. There is an abbey in which they showed to Messieurs a chalice and a stole which they hold to be relics. These belonged to a saint named Magnus,[67] who was, as they declare, the son of a king of Scotland, and a disciple of Columbanus. Pepin founded this monastery for the benefit of this Magnus, whom he made the first abbot.
He likewise caused to be written there on the roof of the nave this inscription, and below the same notes of music to which it might be sung: “_Comperta virtute beati Magni fama, Pipinus Princeps locum quem Sanctus incoluit regia largitate donavit._” Charlemagne subsequently enriched the place still further, as an inscription in the monastery records. After dinner we all met at Chonguen[68] at bedtime, after a journey of four leagues.
Chonguen is a small town under the Duke of Bavaria, and consequently entirely Catholic; for this prince, beyond any other in Germany, has kept his jurisdiction free from all touch of religious innovation, and is stiffly set in his views. There is excellent lodging at the “Star,” where we found a new fashion at table. On a square board they arrange the salt-cellars from one corner to another, the candlesticks being set between the two other corners, thus forming a Saint Andrew’s cross.
They never serve eggs, or at least only when boiled hard and cut in quarters in the salads, which are of the best, the vegetables being quite fresh. The wine is drunk new, as a rule, immediately after it is made. They thresh out the corn in the barns as they may want it, using in this work the heavy end of a flail. On the Saturday we journeyed four leagues and dined at Lanspergs,[69] a small town belonging also to the Duke of Bavaria aforesaid, and situated on the banks of the Lech, the town, the suburbs, and the castle alike exhibiting a remarkably fine aspect. We arrived there on a market day, when the place was crowded with people, and remarked in the middle of a very large square a fountain which sent up water through a hundred pipes to the height of a pike shaft, and scattered the jets in elaborate fashion, according to the manipulation of the pipes. There is a very fine church in the town and another in the suburb, both high up on the hill, which is very steep, and the castle is similarly situated. M. de Montaigne went thither to visit the Jesuit college, finely housed in quite a new building, to which they are about to add a church. M. de Montaigne spent as much time as he had to spare in conversing with the Jesuits.
The Count of Helfenstein[70] was in command at the castle. Here, if any one should favour another religion than the Roman, he would be wise to keep silent thereanent. On the gate between the town and the suburb there is a long inscription in Latin, written in the year 1552, which declares that the _Senatus populusque_ of the town built this monument to the memory of the brothers William and Louis, dukes _utriusque Boiariæ_. Here there are many conceits after the following fashion: “_Horridum militem esse decet, nec auro cœlatum, sed animo et ferro fretum_;” and at the top thereof, “_Cavea stultorum mundus_.”
And in another place, very conspicuous, are certain words taken from some Latin historian,[71] concerning the battle which the Consul Marcellus lost to a king of this nation: “_Carolami Boiorumque Regis cum Marcello Cos. pugna quâ eum vicit_,” &c. Besides these there are divers appropriate mottoes in Latin over the doors of private houses.
These people constantly refurbish their towns and churches, which in consequence have a most prosperous look; and, as it happened most seasonably for the amenity of our visit, everything had been newly set in order in this place three or four years before; for they always put the date upon their work. The clock of this town, like those in many other towns in this country, sounds all the quarters; and they say there is one in Nuremburg which sounds the minutes. We left the town after dinner, and after going four leagues over a lengthy plain of pasture, very level, like the plain of La Beausse, we arrived at Augsburg.
This is reckoned the fairest town of Germany, as Strasburg is the strongest. The first sight we got of their household arrangements was a strange one, but it assuredly bore witness to their cleanliness. This was when we found the steps of the staircase of our lodging covered with pieces of linen cloth, upon which we were required to walk in order that we might not soil the steps aforesaid, seeing that they had just washed and polished them, as is their wont to do every Saturday.
We saw no trace of cobweb or of mud in our lodging: in certain of the rooms were curtains which any one may at will draw over the windows. It is rare to find tables in the chambers, save those which are attached to the foot of the bed, and these are made to go with hinges so they can be raised or lowered at pleasure. The footboards of the beds are elevated two or three feet above the frame, and are often as high as the bolsters, beautifully carven in pinewood, but the pine they use is inferior to our walnut. They make use of pewter plates polished bright, but they put inside these other plates of wood, and on the walls, beside the beds, they often hang up linen cloths and curtains in order that the walls may not be sullied by the spitting of the guests. The Germans set great store on coats-of-arms, and in every apartment may be found a great number of these which the gentlefolk of the country on their travels have left behind; the glass in the windows, moreover, is often garnished with the same. The routine of table service varies greatly. Here they gave us first crayfish of a wonderful size, but in other places this dish has always come last. In many of the large inns they bring everything in covered dishes. The reason why their window glass is so brilliant is that they have no set window-frames like ours, but casements which open at will and which they clean often.
On the following morning, which was Sunday, M. de Montaigne went to see several churches. He went to some which were Catholic, and everywhere he found the service very well done. Six of the churches are Lutheran and are served by sixteen ministers, two of these churches being taken from the Catholics, and four built by the Lutherans themselves. One of the last-named he visited in the morning, and found it like the great hall of a college, with neither images nor organs nor cross, but with the walls covered with inscriptions in German taken from the Bible. There were two chairs, one for the minister or for whomsoever might preach, and another one placed lower for the leader in singing the psalms. At every verse the people wait for the leader aforesaid, who gives the note. They sing in haphazard fashion, each one according to his humour, and with head bare or covered. After the singing, a minister who had been in the assembly went to the altar, and read from a book several prayers, at certain of which the people stood up and clasped their hands, and made deep reverence at the name of Jesus Christ. After he had finished his reading to the assembly, he put before him on the altar a napkin, a basin, and a saucer, in which was water. A woman, followed by a dozen others, brought to him a child, swaddled and with face bare, whereupon the minister thrice took the water in the saucer and sprinkled it on the child’s face and said certain words. This being finished, two men approached and each one of them placed two fingers of the right hand upon the child; the minister then addressed them, and this was all.
M. de Montaigne held a conversation with this minister after he left the church, and was informed that the ministers receive no stipend from the church, their salary being paid by the Senate as a public charge; that there was a greater crowd of worshippers in this one church than in two or three of the Catholic churches together. We did not see a single handsome woman. The women wear a vast variety of attire, and in the case of the men it is a hard matter to say who is noble and who is not, forasmuch as all sorts of men wear bonnets of velvet and carry swords by the side. We had our lodging at the sign of the “Linde,” called after a tree of the country, which stands adjoining the palace of the Foulcres.[72] A certain member of this family, who died some years ago, left a sum of two millions of French crowns to his heirs, and these heirs made over to the Jesuits of the city thirty thousand florins for prayers for the soul of the deceased, with which sum the Jesuits are very handsomely equipped and provided. This house of the Foulcres is roofed with copper: as a rule the houses are much finer, larger, and higher than in any French town, and the streets much wider.
M. de Montaigne estimated the population of Augsburg to equal that of Orléans.
After dinner we went to see a show of fencing in the public hall, where there was a vast crowd. We had to pay for entrance as to a puppet show, and for our seats in addition. They showed us some play with the poignard, with the two-handed sword, with the quarter-staff, and with the hanger. Afterwards we saw them shooting for a prize with bow and crossbow, on a ground far finer than that of Schaffhausen. Beyond this place, at the city gate by which we had entered, we observed a copious stream of water which was brought into the city from outside and led under the bridge used for traffic. It is conveyed by a wooden aqueduct built below the bridge aforesaid, and is thus carried over the stream which forms the city ditch. This current in its course turns a number of water-wheels attached to pumps which, by means of two leaden pipes, raise the water of a spring, which rises in a hollow, to the top of a tower some fifty feet in height. On the top of this tower the water is poured into a great stone cistern, and from this cistern it runs down through divers pipes and is distributed all over the city, which in consequence is abundantly supplied with fountains. Private persons, if it be their wish, may have a right of water for their own use on payment of an annual rent of ten florins to the city, or for two hundred florins paid down. The city was enriched by this magnificent work about forty years ago.[73] Marriages of Catholics with Lutherans are common, and the one most keenly set on marriage commonly conforms to the faith of the other.
There are thousands of marriages of this sort. Our host was a Catholic and his wife a Lutheran. Here they clean the glasses with a hairbrush fixed to the end of a stick. According to report, excellent houses may be bought for forty or fifty crowns apiece. The city guard did M. de Montaigne and M. d’Estissac the honour of presenting to them fourteen large vessels of wine for supper. This was brought by seven sergeants clad in uniform and an officer of worship, whom our gentlemen invited to sup, as is the custom in such cases. Something, moreover, is always given to the bearers of the offering, and the sergeants aforesaid got a crown. The officer who remained to supper told M. de Montaigne that the city maintained three officials whose duty it was to greet strangers of quality who came to visit the place, and that on this account they always took care to ascertain the quality of each visitor, so that he might receive the honours due to him. Moreover, they offered more wine to some than to others. If a duke should arrive in the city, one of the burgomasters would attend to bid him welcome. Us they took for barons and knights. For certain reasons M. de Montaigne was inclined to assume this counterfeit dignity, and to keep silence as to our real quality.
He spent the whole of the day walking through the town by himself, and was convinced that he was treated with greater consideration on account of the aforesaid subterfuge. A like honour indeed was paid by all the German towns.
As he was passing through the church of Notre Dame on a very cold day (for, after having enjoyed the finest weather possible up to our departure from Kempten, we had of late been sharply pricked by the cold), he carried, without thinking thereof, his handkerchief at his nose, deeming that, being alone and plainly dressed, no one would remark him; but after he had become more familiar with certain of the citizens, they told him that the church officers had found his carriage on the morning aforesaid very strange. Thus he committed the fault he was ever most studious to avoid, to wit, that he had made himself conspicuous by a trick alien to the taste of those who remarked the same; for, as far as in him lay, he always conformed and brought himself in line with the manners of whatever place he might frequent; indeed, while he was in Augsburg he always wore a fur cap when he went about the town. Augsburg, they say, is free from the mice and large rats with which the rest of Germany is infested, and they tell many wonderful stories thereanent, attributing this immunity to one of their bishops who is buried there, and affirming that the earth from his tomb, which is sold in little portions the bigness of a nut, will drive away the vermin aforesaid from any place to which it may be taken.[74] On the Monday we repaired to the church of Notre Dame to witness the marriage of a rich young lady of the city--albeit ill-favoured--to a certain Venetian, a factor in the house of the Foulcres. Amongst the guests there was not one good-looking woman. This family is a very numerous one; they are all very rich, and hold the highest position in this city. We visited two apartments in their house, one high, of grand measurement, and paved with marble, and the other low-ceilinged, enriched with medals, both ancient and modern, and having a small room at the end. These are the most sumptuous rooms I ever beheld.
At the gathering after the wedding we saw some dancing, and they danced nothing but _Alemandes_. They constantly stop dancing and lead the ladies back to their seats, which are ranged in double rows against the walls and covered with red cloth; but the gentlemen do not sit there with them. After a slight pause they take their dames out again, kissing their hands, which salutation the ladies accept without returning it; and then, having placed the arm under the ladies’ armpits, they embrace them, and the ladies put their right hands on the gentlemen’s shoulders. They dance and chat together with heads bare and in sober attire.
We saw more houses belonging to the Foulcres in other parts of the city, which is beholden to this family for the great outlay of money they spend in its adornment. These houses are summer residences. In one we saw a clock which was worked by the flow of water which serves as a counterpoise. At the same place were two large covered fish-ponds full of fish, and twenty paces square. Round the brink of each of the ponds are divers small pipes, some straight and others curving upwards, and through each of these water is poured in very pleasant wise into the pond, some delivering it in a direct jet, and others spouting it upwards to the height of a pikestaff. Between the ponds is a space some ten paces in width floored with planks, and between these planks are hidden certain little taps of brass. Thus, at any time when ladies may go to divert themselves by seeing the fish play about the pond, it needs only the letting go a certain spring to make every tap aforesaid send a jet of water straight upward to the height of a man, and drench the petticoats and cool the thighs of the ladies. In another place there is a fountain pipe, contrived to play a merry jest upon the spectator, for, while you look at the same, any one who is so minded may turn on the water in tiny hidden jets, which will throw in your face a hundred little threads of water; and there is set up a Latin inscription: _Quæsisti nugas, nugis gaudeto repertis_. Near thereto is a large cage, twenty paces square and twelve or fifteen feet high, which is enclosed all round with copper wire, well knit and fastened, and inside are ten or twelve fir trees and a fountain. This cage is full of birds, amongst others Polish pigeons, which they call _D’inde_, and which I have seen elsewhere: these are large birds beaked like partridges.
We saw also the handiwork of a certain gardener who, foreseeing cold, inclement weather, had transported into a little shed a great quantity of artichokes, cabbages, lettuces, spinach, chicory, and other vegetables, which he had gathered as if to consume them at once, but in lieu thereof had set them by the root in soil, and hoped to keep them good and fresh three or four months; and indeed he had there a hundred artichokes, not the least withered, though they had been plucked more than six weeks. We saw also an instrument of lead bent and open at either end. If any one should fill this with water and, keeping both ends upwards, reverse it dexterously, so that one end shall suck up from a vessel filled with water, while the other shall discharge outside, they say that if the stream be once set going, the water will continuously rush into the tube and discharge itself at the other end, so as not to produce a vacuum in the tube.
The escutcheon of the Foulcres is a shield divided in the midst; on the left a _fleur de lys_ of azure on a golden ground; on the right a _fleur de lys_ of gold on an azure ground. These arms the Emperor Charles V. granted when he ennobled them. We went to see certain men who were conveying from Venice two ostriches to the Duke of Saxony. The male was the blacker of the two, and had a red neck; the female was of a grey colour and laid a great number of eggs. The men said that these beasts felt less fatigue than they themselves, and constantly contrived to escape, but they kept them in hand by means of a band which girt them round the back above the thighs, and another one above the shoulders. These bands held them in all round, and the guards had caused to be fastened thereto long reins, by means of which they could stop them, and make them turn as they desired. On the Tuesday the chief men of the city showed us with great courtesy a postern gate, through which all who wish may enter the city at any hour of the night, whether on horse or on foot, by simply giving his name, and the name of the citizen to whom he is going, or the name of the hostelry he purposes to visit. Two trusty men, paid by the city, keep guard, and horsemen on entering pay two batzen, and footmen one. The gate opposite to this one in the outer wall is covered with iron, and beside it, attached to a chain, is a handle, also of iron, which, being pulled, moves the chain and strikes a bell in the bedchamber of one of the porters in a high tower. The porter, though undressed and in bed, by means of machinery which he moves backwards and forwards can open the door aforesaid, albeit it is a hundred paces distant from his chamber. The incomer will find himself on a bridge, some forty paces long, covered throughout, which stretches over the city ditch. Along this bridge is a wooden casing, within which works the machinery devised to open the outside door, which is quickly closed behind the incomer. The bridge being passed, the next place is a small enclosure; and here a stranger will have to speak to the porter aforesaid and give his name and address.
Then the porter with a bell gives notice to his mate, who is lodged on a lower floor of the gate tower, which contains many apartments; and this porter, by working a spring in a gallery adjacent to his chamber, opens, in the first instance, a little iron gate; and next, by means of a great wheel, raises the drawbridge in such quiet fashion that no one can detect any movement (for everything works by means of weights on the walls and on the doors), and straightway everything closes again with a great clatter. Beyond the bridge a great door, very thick, opens by itself: this is of wood and strengthened by large sheets of iron.
The stranger now finds himself in a hall, and in all his passage he meets no one with whom he may speak. When he is shut up in this apartment another door, similar to the aforesaid, is opened for him, and he can enter a second hall, lighted, where he will find a brazen vessel, suspended by a chain, into which he casts the coin due for his entry, and this the porter hoists up to his chamber. If he is not content therewith he lets the stranger bide below till morning; but, if he be satisfied, he opens by similar means another great door, which closes immediately it has been passed by the stranger, who then finds himself in the town.[75] This is one of the most carefully wrought devices to be found anywhere, and the Queen of England sent thither a special ambassador to inquire of the city authority how it was worked, but the explanation of the secret was refused to her. Underneath this gateway there is a vast vault, in which can be stabled under cover five hundred horses, to be maintained and to be used in war without the knowledge or consent of the town council.
After our visit to this place we went to see the church of Sainte Croix, which is very beautiful. There at certain seasons they have a great ceremony on account of a miracle which came to pass some hundred years ago. It chanced that a woman instead of swallowing the body of our Lord, took the same from her mouth and put it, wrapped in wax, into a box. She confessed what she had done, and afterwards found what she had placed in the box had changed into real flesh. They bring forward divers testimonies to confirm the above statement, written both in Latin and German, in divers parts of the church. They exhibit this bit of wax enclosed in a crystal case and a little scrap of something red like flesh. This church, like the house of the Foulcres, is covered with copper, a thing not uncommon in these parts. The Lutheran church is built adjoining thereto, this religion being housed and established here, as in certain other places, almost in the cloisters of the Catholic churches. In the churchyard of this church they have set up the image of our Lady holding Christ in her arms, together with images of saints and infants, and this inscription: _Sinite parvulos venire ad me_, &c. In our lodging there was a machine made of iron fixed so as to reach down to the bottom of a very deep well. Then up above a servant, by working a handle which moves the machinery up and down within a space of three or four feet, produces a pressure on the water at the bottom of the well, and propels it by the pistons of the machine aforesaid, so that it is forced to ascend by a leaden pipe, which takes it to the kitchens and whithersoever else it may be needed. They have a paid cleaner who puts in order immediately any befoulment of the walls.
At table we were offered pasties, large and small, made in earthen dishes, of form and colour exactly resembling that of a pasty crust; and it is very rare to sit down to a meal without sweetmeats or boxes of confectionery. The bread is the best to be had anywhere, and the wines good. In this country the wine is, for the most part, white, and what we drank was not grown near Augsburg, but five or six days’ journey distant. For every hundred florins which an innkeeper lays out in wine, the city government takes sixty as a tax, and half this amount is demanded of a private person who only buys for his own consumption.
In many places they still retain the custom of putting perfumes in the bed-chambers and in the stoves.
Some time ago the town was entirely Zwinglian. But since the Catholics have been recalled,[76] those of the reformed faith take the second place, and at this time, though they are greatly superior in number to the Catholics, they are ousted from all authority. M. de Montaigne also paid a visit to the Jesuits, whom he found to be men of much learning.
On the morning of Wednesday, October 19, we took our breakfast, and M. de Montaigne was much grieved to depart and leave unvisited the Danube and the town of Ulm which it passes, seeing that he was only one day’s journey distant. He also desired to go to a bath some half-day’s journey farther on called Sourbronne,[77] which is in a level country, and has a spring of cold water, good both for drinking and for the bath when duly warmed. It has, moreover, a pleasant relish on the palate which makes it agreeable to drink, and it is excellent for distempers of the head and stomach. The bath is in great repute, and visitors can be most sumptuously housed there in fine apartments, the same as at Baden, according to what we were told thereanent; but the season of winter was now approaching, and this place lay in a direction opposite to that in which we were bound, wherefore it would have been necessary for us to retrace our steps to Augsburg, and M. de Montaigne was greatly averse from traversing the same road twice. I left a shield with the arms of M. de Montaigne in front of the door of the room he had occupied, marvellously well painted, at a cost of two crowns to the painter and twenty sous to the joiner. The town is on the banks of the river Lech, _Lycus_. We traversed a very fine country, fertile with cornfields, and after travelling five leagues, we arrived at Broug[78] in time for bed.
This is a large Catholic village, finely situated, and belonging to the duchy of Bavaria. We started on the morrow, Thursday, October 20, and after having traversed a vast plain of corn-land (for in this country no vines are planted), and then one of pasturage stretching as far as the eye could see, we arrived, after four leagues’ journey, in time for