experience, for, as they were walking about therein and marking its
curiosities, the gardener for a certain purpose withdrew, and while
they stood gazing at some marble statues, there sprang up under their
feet and between their legs an infinite number of tiny jets of water,
so minute that they resembled exactly drops of rain, and with this they
were sprinkled all over. It was produced by the working of subterranean
machinery which the gardener, being two hundred paces distant, set in
motion. So delicately was it constructed that he was able from where he
was stationed to raise and depress the outflow as he willed. The same
device is to be found in divers other places. They saw also the great
fountain which finds a channel through two vast bronze figures, one of
which, clasped by the other in a violent embrace, seems half-fainting,
and, with head thrown back, belches forth the stream from his mouth.
So great is the force that the column of water rises some thirty-seven
fathoms above the top of these figures, which are themselves twenty
feet high. Here is a little chamber made amongst the boughs of an
evergreen tree of a much more luxuriant growth than any other they
had yet seen. It is entirely clipped out of the green boughs of the
tree aforesaid, so that there is no prospect to be got therefrom, save
through certain apertures which it has been necessary to make here and
there, by clearing away the branches. In the midst of the chamber, from
pipes which are concealed, rises a fountain which is set in the middle
of a marble table. By a certain device the water made music, but this
they were not able to hear, for it would have been too late for people
who had to return to the city. They saw likewise the coat-of-arms of
the duke over a gateway, excellently formed from the branches of trees
fostered and restrained in their natural growth by certain ligaments
which could scarcely be discerned. Their visit was paid in the season
when gardens have their worst aspect, wherefore the wonder was all
the greater. Besides the things described above they saw a beautiful
grotto, in which were fashioned all sorts of animals after nature,
every one of which gave out the water of the fountains, either from
the beak or the wing, or the talon, or the ear, or the nostril. I
forgot to say that in the palace of this prince there is the figure
of a quadruped in bronze after nature, of a very strange form, which
is set up on a column.[57] The foreparts are scaly, and upon the back
are members of a fashion I cannot describe--somewhat like horns. The
story is that it was discovered in a cave in the adjacent mountains
and brought hither alive several years ago. We saw likewise the palace
of the Queen Mother[58]; and M. de Montaigne, according to his wont,
was minded to test the capabilities of the city by looking at rooms
which were to let and boarding-houses, but he found none worth notice.
From what was told him it appeared that lodgings were only to be had
at the hostelries, and the private apartments which he saw were far
more costly than those of Paris, or even of Venice. The table was
mean, and cost more than twelve crowns per mensem for the gentlefolk.
In this city no seemly diversion was to be had, neither in arms, nor
horsemanship, nor letters.[59] Pewter ware is very scarce in these
parts, the service being made on vessels of painted earthenware none
too clean.
VI
JOURNEY TO ROME
On the morning of Thursday, November 24, we departed and found
ourselves in a country fairly fertile, thickly peopled, and everywhere
under tillage. The road was uneven and stony, and, after a very long
journey, we arrived late at night at Siena, thirty-two miles, or four
posts, which here they reckon of eight miles, somewhat longer than
ours usually are. On the Friday we examined the place carefully,
especially with respect to our own military operations therein.[60]
The site of the city is very irregular, for it is built on the
ridge of a hill, where most of the streets are to be found. Other
thoroughfares lead down the slopes on either side by means of steps,
some of these mounting the opposite hill to various levels. The city
is about the same size as Florence, and one of the fairest of Italy,
but not of the first order, its great antiquity being proclaimed by
its aspect. Everywhere fountains are plentiful, but it is said that
individual persons draw water privately from the conduits for their
particular use. Here are to be found fine cool cellars. The Dome,
which is scarcely inferior to that at Florence, is covered almost
entirely within and without with marble of the place: square pieces,
some a foot thick, some less, are used for panelling the same, for they
always cover thus buildings of brick, the common building material
of this land. The most beautiful portion of the city is the circular
market-place, a fine expanse which slopes from all sides towards
the palace, which in itself forms one of the segments of the circle,
somewhat less curved than the rest. In front of the palace, and at the
highest point of the market-place, is a very beautiful fountain, which
discharges itself by several pipes, and fills a great basin where any
one may take at will the purest water.[61] Several streets open into
this place, the pavement being set in steps. In the town are many
streets, certain of them being very ancient. The chief of these is the
Piccolomini, then the Tolomei, the Colombini and the Cerretani.[62]
We saw indications of an antiquity of three or four hundred years. The
arms of the city, which are displayed on columns in several places,
represent the she-wolf which gave suck to Romulus and Remus.
The Duke of Florence treats with courtesy the nobles who are in our
interest, and keeps about his person Silvio Piccolomini, a gentleman
who is better endowed than any other of our day in all sorts of science
and in the practice of arms.[63] The duke being chiefly concerned in
guarding himself from his own subjects, leaves to his various cities
the duty of fortifying themselves, but keeps a hold on the citadels,
which are provisioned and guarded with great outlay of money and
labour, and with such watchful suspicion that few people are allowed
to approach them. The women mostly wear bonnets, and we marked some
who, by way of reverence, removed their headgear like the men at
the moment of the elevation of the Host. We found lodging at the
“Crown,”[64] which was fairly good, but we had no glass or even linen
windows.
M. de Montaigne, when he was asked by the house-steward at Pratellino
whether he was not amazed at the beauty of the place, replied,
after certain words of praise, that he was greatly offended by the
ill-seeming of the doors and windows, and of the great pinewood tables,
without shape or ornament; with the rude and insecure locks, like those
used in our villages, and with the roofs of hollow tiles. Moreover, he
declared that, if it were found impossible to conceal these tiles by
the use of slate or lead or brass, they might at least keep them out
of sight by the arrangement of the building, and the steward said he
would carry this counsel to his master.
The duke leaves unmolested the ancient marks and devices of the city,
which everywhere echo the cry of “Liberty.” Again, as to the tombs
and epitaphs of the French who died here, they have removed them to a
remote corner of the town, under the pretence of some reconstruction
and rebuilding of the church wherein they were placed. On Saturday the
26th, after dinner, we went twelve miles through a country resembling
the last we traversed, and arrived in time for supper at Buonconvento,
a Tuscan _Castello_, a word they apply to the walled villages which,
from their smallness, do not merit the name of town. Early on Sunday
morning we departed therefrom, and because M. de Montaigne desired
to see Montalcino, on account of the associations of the French
therewith, he turned off the road to the right and, with M. d’Estissac,
M. de Mattecoulon, and M. du Hautoy, repaired to the town aforesaid,
which they described as an ill-built place, about the size of Saint
Emilion,[65] situated on the top of the highest mountain of the
district, but still accessible. They heard High Mass which was being
said there. At one end of the town is a castle garrisoned for the duke,
but M. de Montaigne was of opinion that it was faulty as a stronghold,
being commanded on one side by another mountain some hundred paces
distant.
In the duke’s dominions the people hold the French in such great
affection that the awakening of any memory of our country will almost
certainly bring tears to their eyes. It would seem that they prefer
even war, with some form of freedom, to the peace they enjoy under
their tyrant. M. de Montaigne inquired whether there were not certain
French tombs in the town,[66] and was informed that these formerly
were in the church of S. Agostino, but that by the command of the
duke the remains had been buried in the earth. Our road lay through a
mountainous, stony country for twenty-three miles, and in the evening
we came to La Paille, a little village of five or six houses, at the
foot of sterile and forbidding mountains. Early next morning we resumed
our journey, traversing a deep and very stony valley, and passing and
repassing a hundred times a torrent which flowed through the same. At
the limit of the duke’s territory we came to a fine bridge, built by
Pope Gregory,[67] and entered the States of the Church, coming first to
Acquapendente, a small town which, as I believe, takes its name from a
torrent hard by which falls from the rocks down on to the plain. Then
we passed a _Castello_, called S. Lorenzo, and another, Bolsena, and
turning round the Lake of Bolsena, which is thirty miles long, ten
wide, and has in its midst islands on which they say are monasteries,
we went in one bout of twenty-six miles over a rocky and barren road
to Montefiascone, a little town placed on the summit of one of the
highest mountains in the country. It is very small, but shows signs of
great antiquity. We quitted it next morning, and crossed a fine fertile
plain, in which is situated Viterbo, part of the town being built on
the crest of a hill. This is a fine place, about the size of Senlis, in
which we observed many handsome houses, numerous workmen, fair pleasant
streets, and three very beautiful fountains in divers parts of the
town. On account of the beauty of the place M. de Montaigne would fain
have tarried there, but his baggage mule, which he sent in advance,
had already passed onward. Here we began the ascent of the flank of a
high mountain, and at the end of the descent on the farther side we
came upon the little Lake of Vico. Then, having traversed a delightful
valley, bordered by gentle hills rich in wood--a commodity very rare
in these parts--and by the lake aforesaid, we found ourselves in good
time at Rossiglione,[68] after riding nineteen miles.
This is a small town, with a castle belonging to the Duke of Parma;
indeed, along this road are to be found several mansions and estates
belonging to the Farnese family. Lodging on this road is of the best,
inasmuch as it is the great post road. They charge five giulios[69] for
the hire of a horse, and two for the post, and they make the same terms
if the horses are hired for two or three posts, or for several days,
in which case the hirer has no trouble about the horses; for, from
one place to another, the innkeepers take charge of those belonging
to their neighbours, and, moreover, they will make a contract under
which you may be supplied with a fresh horse elsewhere on the road
in case one of your own should fail. At Siena we saw for ourselves
how a man trusted a horse to a certain Fleming, who was travelling
in company with us, alone, unknown, and a stranger to the owner of
the horse, simply on the condition that the horse hire should be paid
before starting. In every other respect the horse is at your disposal,
under your promise that you will leave him where you have agreed. M.
de Montaigne, adapting himself, as was his wont, to the custom of the
country, fell into the way of dining early and supping late, for in the
good houses the dinner is only served at noon, and the supper at nine
o’clock; for instance, in these places where we found playhouses the
acting began by torchlight at six, and lasted two or three hours; then
we returned to sup. M. de Montaigne would remark that this was a good
country for lazy folk, seeing the hour of rising was so late.
On the morrow we set forth three hours before daybreak, so keenly
was M. de Montaigne set on seeing the Roman plain by day. He found
the cold air of morning as hurtful to his stomach as that of the
evening,[70] and was ill at ease till sunrise, though the night was
fine. After the fifteenth milestone we caught sight of the city of
Rome: then we lost it for some long time. On the road we passed several
villages and inns. We came upon some portions of road, elevated and
paved with large stones, having about them a certain look of antiquity;
and nearer to the city we remarked some masonry, evidently of great
age, and stones which the Popes had caused to be reinstated on account
of their antiquarian interest. The greater part of the ruins--the
baths of Diocletian, for instance--are of bricks, small and plain like
those we use, and not of the size and thickness of those we see in the
ancient ruins of France and elsewhere. On our road the city did not
show itself very plainly. Far on the left hand were the Apennines, the
aspect of the country being unpleasing, rugged, full of deep clefts,
and unfitted for the passage of troops or ordnance. All the land is
treeless, and a good part of it sterile, and lying open for ten miles
and more, the houses being very sparse, as in all countries of this
sort. Travelling thus we went thirty miles, and arrived on the last day
of November--Saint Andrew’s day--at the Porta del Popolo of Rome.
VII
ROME
Here they raised difficulties as in other places concerning the plague
raging at Genoa. We went to lodge at the “Bear,”[71] and stayed there
the following day also, and on the 2nd of December we hired apartments
in the house of a Spaniard in front of Santa Lucia della Tinta.[72] We
were well accommodated in three fine chambers, a living room, a larder,
a stable, and a kitchen, for twenty crowns a month, the host finding in
addition a cook and fire in the kitchen. Here the apartments are as a
rule furnished somewhat better than in Paris, inasmuch as they use much
gilded leather in the upholstering of all houses of consideration.
We might have had lodging at the “Vaso d’Oro” hard by at the same
price, furnished with silk and cloth of gold such as kings use, but
M. de Montaigne objected, first because the chambers had no separate
entrances, and next because the magnificence of this furniture was not
only useless in itself, but liable to give great trouble in keeping it
from hurt, each bed being of the value of four or five hundred crowns.
At our lodging we made a bargain for a supply of linen, as we should
have done in France, but of this, as is the way of the country, they
were somewhat sparing.
[Illustration: THE ROMAN FORUM FROM THE CAPITOL
_From Piranesi’s Views of Rome_
_To face p. 74_, vol. ii.
]
M. de Montaigne was annoyed to find such great number of Frenchmen
in Rome,[73] so great that almost every person he met in the streets
addressed him in his own tongue. He found novelty in the sight of so
mighty a court, thronged with prelates and churchmen, and declared that
Rome was far fuller of rich men and coaches and horses than any other
city he had ever seen, and that the seeming of the streets in various
ways, and notably in the crowds of people, reminded him more of Paris
than of any other place. The present city is placed along either bank
of the Tiber. The hilly quarter, where the ancient city stood, and
whither M. de Montaigne went every day to walk and to survey the site,
is now divided between certain churches, and rich houses and gardens
belonging to the cardinals. He found clear evidence to show that the
configuration and slopes of the hills had altogether changed since
ancient times. He judged from the height of the ruins, and was fully
assured that in certain places we were walking over the roof-ridges
of houses still intact; indeed it is easy to see by the state of the
Arch of Severus that we now stand more than two pikes’ length above the
ancient level, and that we walk on the tops of the old walls, which the
rains and the coach wheels occasionally bring into sight.
M. de Montaigne would not admit that liberty existed in Rome equal to
that enjoyed in Venice, and would advance by way of arguments the facts
that houses were so insecure against robbers that people who might
bring home with them a large amount of property usually determined to
give their purses in charge of the bankers of the city so as not to
find their strong boxes rifled, which mishap had befallen many; that
it was by no means safe to walk abroad by night; that in this month
of December the General of the Cordeliers had been suddenly deprived
of his office and imprisoned because in his preaching, at which were
present the Pope and the cardinals, he had censured the sloth and
luxury of the prelates of the Church, and this without mentioning
names and simply using commonplace remarks on the subject with a
certain harshness of voice; that his own boxes had been searched by the
tax-officers on entering the city and turned over even to the smallest
articles of apparel, while in the other towns of Italy the officers
had been satisfied by the presentation of the boxes for search; that
in addition they had seized all the books they found there with the
view of inspecting them, over which task they spent so much time that
any one in different case might well have given up the books as lost.
Again the regulations were so extraordinary that one of these books,
the “Hours of our Lady,” having been printed at Paris and not in Rome,
was looked at with suspicion, as were certain books against heretics by
German doctors who, in argument, happened to make mention of the errors
of their opponents. At this juncture he congratulated himself over his
good fortune in that, having no premonition of the search which awaited
him, and having passed through Germany where forbidden books abound, he
had not brought away with him a single one of these, notwithstanding
the curious interest which often possessed him with regard to divers
of them. Certain gentlemen from Germany informed him that had any such
volume been found, he would have paid the penalty by losing all his
books.
On Christmas Day we went to hear the Papal Mass at St. Peter’s, M. de
Montaigne being accommodated with a seat from which he could behold at
his ease all the ceremonial. They used certain particular forms; to
wit, they read the Gospel and the Epistle first in Latin and then in
Greek, a custom followed also on Easter Day, and on the feast of St.
Peter. The Pope himself[74] let divers others communicate, and with
him officiated the Cardinals Farnese,[75] Medici,[76] Caraffa,[77]
and Gonzaga. In taking the cup they use a certain instrument to
prevent danger of poison.[78] It seemed strange to M. de Montaigne
that, at this mass and at others beside, the Pope and cardinals and
other prelates kept seated with heads covered and talked together the
while. The whole ceremony indeed was marked by splendour rather than
by devotion. Touching the beauty of the Roman ladies, M. de Montaigne
affirmed that this was not notable enough to raise the reputation of
this city beyond all others; moreover that, as in Paris, the most
remarkable beauty belonged to those who made a market of the same.
On December 29th M. d’Abein,[79] our ambassador, a learned gentleman
and a longstanding friend of M. de Montaigne, advised him to go
and kiss the feet of the Pope. M. de Montaigne and M. d’Estissac
went in the coach of the ambassador, who, after he had been granted
an audience, caused them to be called by the Pope’s chamberlain.
According to custom, only the ambassador was with the Pope, who had by
his side a bell which he would ring when he might wish any one to be
introduced. The ambassador was seated, uncovered, at his left hand;
the Pope himself never uncovers before any one, nor can any ambassador
remain covered in his presence. M. d’Estissac entered first, then M. de
Montaigne, then M. de Mattecoulon, and last M. d’Hautoy. After taking a
step or two into the chamber, in a corner of which sits the Pope, the
incomer, whoever he may be, kneels and waits for the Pope to give him
benediction. This done, he will rise and advance to the middle of the
room, but a stranger rarely approaches the Pope by going direct across
the floor, the more ordinary practice being to turn to the left on
entering, and then, after making a détour along the wall, to approach
his chair. But when the stranger has gone half the distance he must
kneel again on one knee, and, having received a second benediction,
next advances as far as the thick carpet spread out some seven or eight
feet in front of the Pope. Here he must kneel on both knees, while the
ambassador who presents him kneels on one, and moves back the Pope’s
robe from his right foot, which is shod in a red shoe with a white
cross thereupon. The kneeling stranger must keep himself in the same
posture until he is close to the Pope’s foot, and then bend down to
kiss it. M. de Montaigne declared that the Pope raised the point of his
foot a little. They all kissed it one after the other, making room for
each other after the ceremony was done. Then the ambassador covered the
Pope’s foot, and, having risen to his seat, said what seemed necessary
on behalf of M. d’Estissac and M. de Montaigne. The Pope, with
courteous expression of face, admonished M. d’Estissac to cultivate
learning and virtue, and M. de Montaigne to maintain the devotion he
had always exhibited towards the Church and the interests of the most
Christian King: whatever service he could do them they might depend on,
this being an Italian figure of speech. They said nothing, but, having
been blessed again before rising as a sign of dismissal, they went back
in the same order. Each one retreats as it seems best, but the ordinary
custom is to go backward, or at least sideways, so as always to look
the Pope in the face. As in entering, each one kneels half-way on one
knee for another benediction, and again at the door for the last.
The Pope in speaking Italian betrays his Bolognese descent, the idiom
of this city being the worst in Italy; and besides this, his speech
is halting by nature. In other respects he is a very fine old man, of
medium height, and upright, with a face full of majesty, and a long
white beard. His age is over eighty, and for his years he is the most
healthy and vigorous man possible, troubled neither with gout nor
colic nor stomach complaints nor oppression of any kind. By nature he
is kind, caring little about affairs of state, a great builder, and in
the last-named capacity he will leave a memory highly honoured in Rome
and elsewhere. In almsgiving he is somewhat excessive. Amongst other
proofs of this, [it may be recorded that he is wont to help any girl
of the lower orders in furnishing her home on her marriage, and report
says that he shows the same liberality in ready money.][80] Besides
this, he has built colleges for the Greeks, the English, the Scots, the
French, the Germans, and the Poles, endowing each one with a perpetual
revenue of ten thousand crowns, over and beyond the vast cost of
building. This he has done to bring back to the Church the sons of the
nations aforesaid, who were corrupted by evil opinions hostile to her.
There the pupils are lodged, fed, clothed, and taught, and provided
with everything without the expense of a single quattrino of their own
on any account. Vexatious public duties he readily lets fall on the
backs of others, and shrinks from troubling himself therewith. He gives
as many audiences as are demanded. His replies are brief and decisive,
and it is loss of time to oppose them by fresh reasoning. Nothing will
move him from a decision which he believes to be a just one; and even
for his own son,[81] whom he loves passionately, he will not stir a
finger against his idea of justice.[82] He gives advancement to his
relatives, but without trenching upon the rights of the Church, which
he preserves intact. He has done magnificent work in public buildings
and in remodelling the streets of the city. In sooth, it may be said
that his life and doings call for no special remark, neither in one nor
in the other respect, but that his leaning is strongly towards good.
On the last day of December these two[83] dined with M. le Cardinal de
Sens, who is more strict in his observance of Roman ceremonies than any
other Frenchman. The _Benedicite_ and the graces were very long, and
were said by two chaplains, who responded one to the other as if they
were saying the office in church, and during the repast a paraphrase in
Italian of the gospel of the day was read. Both before and after dinner
they all washed their hands, and to each one a napkin was served for
use at table. Before the guests who sat beside or facing the host--as
a mark of special honour--they placed the large silver trays with salt
cellars, made like those which are put before guests of worship in
France. Upon these trays was a napkin folded in four, and on the napkin
was laid bread, a knife, a fork, and a spoon, and over all another
napkin for use at table, the one first-named being left undisturbed.
After the guests had seated themselves another plate of silver or
earthenware would be placed beside the silver tray aforesaid, and this
the guest would use during the repast. The carver gives a portion of
whatever is served at table to all those seated, who never touch the
dishes with their hands. Moreover, the dish set before the host is
rarely shared by any of the guests.
To M. de Montaigne they served drink as they usually served it at the
ambassador’s house whenever he dined there; that is, they brought him a
silver basin in which was a glass with wine, and a little bottle about
the size of those used for ink full of water. He took the glass in his
right hand, and in his left the bottle, from which he poured as much
water as he desired into the glass, and then replaced the bottle in the
basin. When he drank the servant who waited on him held the basin below
his chin, and afterwards replaced the glass in the basin aforesaid,
such ceremony being observed only in the case of one or two sitting
near the host. After the grace the table broke up at once, and the
chairs were arranged along one side of the hall, where M. le Cardinal
made them sit after he had seated himself. Two churchmen, finely clad,
and bearing in their hands certain instruments of a kind I had never
seen before, now appeared; and, having knelt down, they recited a
church service of some kind or other. The cardinal said nothing to
them, but as they rose to depart, after having finished their service,
he slightly moved his cap. A short time afterwards he took his guests
in his coach to the Consistory Hall, where the cardinals were assembled
for vespers. The Pope came also, and robed himself there to attend the
service; the cardinals did not kneel at his benediction, as the people
did, but acknowledged it with a profound inclination of the head.