About the court walls, are carved in stone and painted the blazons of the
Consuls of all the nations, that from time to time have had that charge
and honor in the University, which at my being there was my worthy friend
Dr. Rogers, who here took that degree.
The Schools for the lectures of the several sciences are above, but none
of them comparable, or so much frequented, as the theater for anatomy,
which is excellently contrived both for the dissector and spectators. I
was this day invited to dinner, and in the afternoon (30th July) received
my _matricula_, being resolved to spend some months here at study,
especially physic and anatomy, of both which there were now the most
famous professors in Europe. My _matricula_ contained a clause, that I,
my goods, servants, and messengers, should be free from all tolls and
reprises, and that we might come, pass, return, buy, or sell, without any
toll, etc.
The next morning, I saw the garden of simples, rarely furnished with
plants, and gave order to the gardener to make me a collection of them
for an _hortus hyemalis_, by permission of the Cavalier Dr. Veslingius,
then Prefect and Botanic Professor as well as of Anatomy.
This morning, the Earl of Arundel,[35] now in this city, a famous
collector of paintings and antiquities, invited me to go with him to see
the garden of Mantua, where, as one enters, stands a huge _colosse_ of
Hercules. From hence to a place where was a room covered with a noble
cupola, built purposely for music; the fillings up, or cove, between the
walls, were of urns and earthen pots, for the better sounding; it was
also well painted. After dinner, we walked to the Palace of Foscari all'
Arena, there remaining yet some appearances of an ancient theater, though
serving now for a court only before the house. There were now kept in it
two eagles, a crane, a Mauritanian sheep, a stag, and sundry fowls, as in
a vivary.
[Footnote 35: The celebrated Thomas, Earl of Arundel, part of whose
collection was eventually procured for the University of Oxford by
Evelyn, and is distinguished by the name _Marmora Arundeliana_.]
[Sidenote: VENICE]
Three days after, I returned to Venice, and passed over to Murano, famous
for the best glasses in the world, where having viewed their furnaces,
and seen their work, I made a collection of divers curiosities and
glasses, which I sent for England by long sea. It is the white flints
they have from Pavia, which they pound and sift exceedingly small, and
mix with ashes made of a seaweed brought out of Syria, and a white sand,
that causes this manufacture to excel. The town is a Podestaria by
itself, at some miles distant on the sea from Venice, and like it, built
on several small islands. In this place, are excellent oysters, small and
well tasted like our Colchester, and they were the first, as I remember,
that I ever could eat; for I had naturally an aversion to them.
At our return to Venice, we met several gondolas full of Venetian ladies,
who come thus far in fine weather to take the air, with music and other
refreshments. Besides that, Murano is itself a very nobly built town, and
has divers noblemen's palaces in it, and handsome gardens.
In coming back, we saw the islands of St. Christopher and St. Michael,
the last of which has a church enriched and incrusted with marbles and
other architectonic ornaments, which the monks very courteously showed
us. It was built and founded by Margaret Emiliana of Verona, a famous
courtesan, who purchased a great estate, and by this foundation hoped to
commute for her sins. We then rowed by the isles of St. Nicholas, whose
church, with the monuments of the Justinian family, entertained us
awhile; and then got home.
The next morning, Captain Powell, in whose ship I was to embark toward
Turkey, invited me on board, lying about ten miles from Venice, where we
had a dinner of English powdered beef and other good meat, with store of
wine and great guns, as the manner is. After dinner, the Captain
presented me with a stone he had lately brought from Grand Cairo, which
he took from the mummy-pits, full of hieroglyphics; I drew it on paper
with the true dimensions, and sent it in a letter to Mr. Henshaw to
communicate to Father Kircher, who was then setting forth his great work
"Obeliscus Pamphilius," where it is described, but without mentioning my
name. The stone was afterward brought for me into England, and landed at
Wapping, where, before I could hear of it, it was broken into several
fragments, and utterly defaced, to my no small disappointment.
The boatswain of the ship also gave me a hand and foot of a mummy, the
nails whereof had been overlaid with thin plates of gold, and the whole
body was perfect, when he brought it out of Egypt; but the avarice of the
ship's crew broke it to pieces, and divided the body among them. He
presented me also with two Egyptian idols, and some loaves of the bread
which the Coptics use in the Holy Sacrament, with other curiosities.
8th August, 1645. I had news from Padua of my election to be _Syndicus
Artistarum_, which caused me, after two days idling in a country villa
with the Consul of Venice, to hasten thither, that I might discharge
myself of that honor, because it was not only chargeable, but would have
hindered my progress, and they chose a Dutch gentleman in my place,
which did not well please my countrymen, who had labored not a little to
do me the greatest honor a stranger is capable of in that University.
Being freed from this impediment, and having taken leave of Dr. Janicius,
a Polonian, who was going as physician in the Venetian galleys to Candia,
I went again to Venice, and made a collection of several books and some
toys. Three days after, I returned to Padua, where I studied hard till
the arrival of Mr. Henshaw, Bramstone, and some other English gentlemen
whom I had left at Rome, and who made me go back to Venice, where I spent
some time in showing them what I had seen there.
26th September, 1645. My dear friend, and till now my constant
fellow-traveler, Mr. Thicknesse, being obliged to return to England upon
his particular concern, and who had served his Majesty in the wars, I
accompanied him part of his way, and, on the 28th, returned to Venice.
29th September, 1645. Michaelmas day, I went with my Lord Mowbray (eldest
son to the Earl of Arundel, and a most worthy person) to see the
collection of a noble Venetian, Signor Rugini. He has a stately palace,
richly furnished with statues and heads of Roman Emperors, all placed in
an ample room. In the next, was a cabinet of medals, both Latin and
Greek, with divers curious shells and two fair pearls in two of them;
but, above all, he abounded in things petrified, walnuts, eggs in which
the yoke rattled, a pear, a piece of beef with the bones in it, a whole
hedgehog, a plaice on a wooden trencher turned into stone and very
perfect, charcoal, a morsel of cork yet retaining its levity, sponges,
and a piece of taffety part rolled up, with innumerable more. In another
cabinet, supported by twelve pillars of oriental agate, and railed about
with crystal, he showed us several noble intáglios of agate, especially a
head of Tiberius, a woman in a bath with her dog, some rare cornelians,
onyxes, crystals, etc., in one of which was a drop of water not
congealed, but moving up and down, when shaken; above all, a diamond
which had a very fair ruby growing in it; divers pieces of amber, wherein
were several insects, in particular one cut like a heart that contained
in it a salamander without the least defect, and many pieces of mosaic.
The fabric of this cabinet was very ingenious, set thick with agates,
turquoises, and other precious stones, in the midst of which was an
antique of a dog in stone scratching his ear, very rarely cut, and
comparable to the greatest curiosity I had ever seen of that kind for the
accurateness of the work. The next chamber had a bedstead all inlaid with
agates, crystals, cornelians, lazuli, etc., esteemed worth 16,000 crowns,
but, for the most part, the bedsteads in Italy are of forged iron gilded,
since it is impossible to keep the wooden ones from the cimices.
[Sidenote: PADUA]
From hence, I returned to Padua, when that town was so infested with
soldiers, that many houses were broken open in the night, some murders
committed, and the nuns next our lodging disturbed, so as we were forced
to be on our guard with pistols and other firearms to defend our doors;
and indeed the students themselves take a barbarous liberty in the
evenings when they go to their strumpets, to stop all that pass by the
house where any of their companions in folly are with them. This custom
they call _chi vali_, so as the streets are very dangerous, when the
evenings grow dark; nor is it easy to reform this intolerable usage,
where there are so many strangers of several nations.
Using to drink my wine cooled with snow and ice, as the manner here is, I
was so afflicted with an angina and sore throat, that it had almost cost
me my life. After all the remedies Cavalier Veslingius, chief professor
here, could apply, old Salvatico (that famous physician) being called,
made me be cupped, and scarified in the back in four places; which began
to give me breath, and consequently life; for I was in the utmost danger;
but, God being merciful to me, I was after a fortnight abroad again,
when, changing my lodging, I went over against Pozzo Pinto; where I
bought for winter provision 3,000 weight of excellent grapes, and pressed
my own wine, which proved incomparable liquor.
This was on 10th of October. Soon after came to visit me from Venice Mr.
Henry Howard, grandchild to the Earl of Arundel, Mr. Bramstone, son to
the Lord Chief Justice, and Mr. Henshaw, with whom I went to another part
of the city to lodge near St. Catherine's over against the monastery of
nuns, where we hired the whole house, and lived very nobly. Here I
learned to play on the theorb, taught by Signor Dominico Bassano, who
had a daughter married to a doctor of laws, that played and sung to nine
several instruments, with that skill and address as few masters in Italy
exceeded her; she likewise composed divers excellent pieces: I had never
seen any play on the Naples viol before. She presented me afterward with
two recitativos of hers, both words and music.
31st October, 1645. Being my birthday, the nuns of St. Catherine's sent
me flowers of silkwork. We were very studious all this winter till
Christmas, when on Twelfth-day, we invited all the English and Scots in
town to a feast, which sunk our excellent wine considerably.
[Sidenote: VENICE]
1645-46. In January, Signor Molino was chosen Doge of Venice, but the
extreme snow that fell, and the cold, hindered my going to see the
solemnity, so as I stirred not from Padua till Shrovetide, when all the
world repair to Venice, to see the folly and madness of the Carnival; the
women, men, and persons of all conditions disguising themselves in
antique dresses, with extravagant music and a thousand gambols,
traversing the streets from house to house, all places being then
accessible and free to enter. Abroad, they fling eggs filled with sweet
water, but sometimes not over-sweet. They also have a barbarous custom of
hunting bulls about the streets and piazzas, which is very dangerous, the
passages being generally narrow. The youth of the several wards and
parishes contend in other masteries and pastimes, so that it is
impossible to recount the universal madness of this place during this
time of license. The great banks are set up for those who will play at
bassett; the comedians have liberty, and the operas are open; witty
pasquils are thrown about, and the mountebanks have their stages at every
corner. The diversions which chiefly took me up was three noble operas,
where were excellent voices and music, the most celebrated of which was
the famous Anna Rencia, whom we invited to a fish dinner after four days
in Lent, when they had given over at the theater. Accompanied with an
eunuch whom she brought with her, she entertained us with rare music,
both of them singing to a harpsichord. It growing late, a gentleman of
Venice came for her, to show her the galleys, now ready to sail for
Candia. This entertainment produced a second, given us by the English
consul of the merchants, inviting us to his house, where he had the
Genoese, the most celebrated bass in Italy, who was one of the late opera
band. This diversion held us so late at night, that, conveying a
gentlewoman who had supped with us to her gondola at the usual place of
landing, we were shot at by two carbines from another gondola, in which
were a noble Venetian and his courtesan unwilling to be disturbed, which
made us run in and fetch other weapons, not knowing what the matter was,
till we were informed of the danger we might incur by pursuing it
farther.
Three days after this, I took my leave of Venice, and went to Padua, to
be present at the famous anatomy lecture, celebrated here with
extraordinary apparatus, lasting almost a whole month. During this time,
I saw a woman, a child, and a man dissected with all the manual
operations of the chirurgeon on the human body. The one was performed by
Cavalier Veslingius and Dr. Jo. Athelsteninus Leonoenas, of whom I
purchased those rare tables of veins and nerves, and caused him to
prepare a third of the lungs, liver, and nervi _sexti par_: with the
gastric veins, which I sent into England, and afterward presented to the
Royal Society, being the first of that kind that had been seen there,
and, for aught I know, in the world, though afterward there were others.
When the anatomy lectures, which were in the mornings, were ended, I went
to see cures done in the hospitals; and certainly as there are the
greatest helps and the most skillful physicians, so there are the most
miserable and deplorable objects to exercise upon. Nor is there any, I
should think, so powerful an argument against the vice reigning in this
licentious country, as to be spectator of the misery these poor creatures
undergo. They are indeed very carefully attended, and with extraordinary
charity.
20th March, 1646. I returned to Venice, where I took leave of my friends.
22d March, 1646. I was invited to excellent English potted venison, at
Mr. Hobbson's, a worthy merchant.
23d March, 1646. I took my leave of the Patriarch and the Prince of
Wirtemberg, and Monsieur Grotius (son of the learned Hugo) now going as
commander to Candia; and, in the afternoon, received of Vandervoort, my
merchant, my bills of exchange of 300 ducats for my journey. He showed me
his rare collection of Italian books, esteemed very curious, and of good
value.
The next day, I was conducted to the Ghetto, where the Jews dwell
together in as a tribe or ward, where I was present at a marriage. The
bride was clad in white, sitting in a lofty chair, and covered with a
white veil; then two old Rabbis joined them together, one of them holding
a glass of wine in his hand, which, in the midst of the ceremony,
pretending to deliver to the woman, he let fall, the breaking whereof was
to signify the frailty of our nature, and that we must expect disasters
and crosses amid all enjoyments. This done we had a fine banquet, and
were brought into the bride-chamber, where the bed was dressed up with
flowers, and the counterpane strewn in works. At this ceremony, we saw
divers very beautiful Portuguese Jewesses, with whom we had some
conversation.
I went to the Spanish Ambassador with Bonifacio, his confessor, and
obtained his pass to serve me in the Spanish dominions; without which I
was not to travel, in this pompous form:
"_Don Caspar de Teves y Guzman, Marques de la Fuente, Señor Le
Lerena y Verazuza, Commendador de Colos, en la Orden de Sant Yago,
Alcalde Mayor perpetuo y Escrivano Mayor de la Ciudad de Sevilla,
Gentilhombre de la Camara de S. M. su Azimilero Mayor, de su
Consejo, su Embaxador extraordinario a los Principes de Italia, y
Alemania, y a esta serenissima Republica de Venetia, etc. Haviendo
de partir de esta Ciudad para La Milan el Signior Cavallero Evelyn
Ingles, con un Criado, mi han pedido Passa-porte para los Estates
de su M. Le he mandado dar el presente, firmando de mi mano, y
sellado con el sello de mis armas, por el qual encargo a todos los
menestros de S. M. antes quien le presentase y a los que no lo son,
supplico les dare passar libramente sin permitir que se le haya
vexation alguna antes mandar le las favor para continuar su viage.
Fecho en Venecia a 24 del mes de Marzo del an'o 1646._
_Mar. de la Fuentes, etc._"
Having packed up my purchases of books, pictures, casts, treacle, etc.
(the making an extraordinary ceremony whereof I had been curious to
observe, for it is extremely pompous and worth seeing), I departed from
Venice, accompanied with Mr. Waller (the celebrated poet), now newly
gotten out of England, after the Parliament had extremely worried him for
attempting to put in execution the commission of Array, and for which the
rest of his colleagues were hanged by the rebels.
The next day, I took leave of my comrades at Padua, and receiving some
directions from Dr. Salvatico as to the care of my health, I prepared for
my journey toward Milan.
It was Easter-Monday that I was invited to breakfast at the Earl of
Arundel's. I took my leave of him in his bed, where I left that great and
excellent man in tears on some private discourse of crosses that had
befallen his illustrious family, particularly the undutifulness of his
grandson Philip turning Dominican Friar (since Cardinal of Norfolk), and
the misery of his country now embroiled in civil war. He caused his
gentleman to give me directions, all written with his own hand, what
curiosities I should inquire after in my journey; and, so enjoining me to
write sometimes to him, I departed. There stayed for me below, Mr. Henry
Howard (afterward Duke of Norfolk), Mr. J. Digby, son of Sir Kenelm
Digby, and other gentlemen, who conducted me to the coach.
The famous lapidaries of Venice for false stones and pastes, so as to
emulate the best diamonds, rubies, etc., were Marco Terrasso and Gilbert.
An account of what Bills of Exchange I took up at Venice since my
coming from Rome, till my departure from Padua:
11th Aug., 1645 200
7th Sept. 135
1st Oct. 100
15th Jan., 1646 100
23d April 300
---
835 Ducati di Banco.
In company, then, with Mr. Waller, one Captain Wray (son of Sir
Christopher, whose father had been in arms against his Majesty, and
therefore by no means welcome to us), with Mr. Abdy, a modest and learned
man, we got that night to Vicenza, passing by the Euganéan hills,
celebrated for the prospects and furniture of rare simples, which we
found growing about them. The ways were something deep, the whole country
flat and even as a bowling-green. The common fields lie square, and are
orderly planted with fruit trees, which the vines run and embrace, for
many miles, with delicious streams creeping along the ranges.
Vicenza is a city in the Marquisate of Treviso, yet appertaining to the
Venetians, full of gentlemen and splendid palaces, to which the famous
Palladio, born here, has exceedingly contributed, having been the
architect. Most conspicuous is the Hall of Justice; it has a tower of
excellent work; the lower pillars are of the first order; those in the
three upper corridors are Doric; under them, are shops in a spacious
piazza. The hall was built in imitation of that at Padua, but of a nobler
design, _à la moderne_. The next morning, we visited the theater, as
being of that kind the most perfect now standing, and built by Palladio,
in exact imitation of the ancient Romans, and capable of containing 5,000
spectators. The scene, which is all of stone, represents an imperial
city, the order Corinthian, decorated with statues. Over the Scenario is
inscribed: "_Virtuti ac Genio Olympior: Academia Theatrum hoc à
fundamentis erexit Palladio Architect: 1584_." The scene declines eleven
feet, the _soffito_ painted with clouds. To this there joins a spacious
hall for solemn days to ballot in, and a second for the Academics. In the
piazza is also the _podesta_, or governor's house, the _facciata_ being
of the Corinthian order, very noble. The piazza itself is so large as to
be capable of jousts and tournaments, the nobility of this city being
exceedingly addicted to this knight-errantry, and other martial
diversions. In this place are two pillars in imitation of those at St.
Mark's at Venice, bearing one of them a winged lion, the other the statue
of St. John the Baptist.
In a word, this sweet town has more well-built palaces than any of its
dimensions in all Italy, besides a number begun and not yet finished (but
of stately design) by reason of the domestic dissensions between them and
those of Brescia, fomented by the sage Venetians, lest by combining, they
might think of recovering their ancient liberty. For this reason, also,
are permitted those disorders and insolences committed at Padua among the
youth of these two territories. It is no dishonor in this country to be
some generations in finishing their palaces, that without exhausting
themselves by a vast expense at once, they may at last erect a sumptuous
pile. Count Oleine's Palace is near perfected in this manner. Count
Ulmarini is more famous for his gardens, being without the walls,
especially his _cedrario_, or conserve of oranges, eleven score of my
paces long, set in order and ranges, making a canopy all the way by their
intermixing branches for more than 200 of my single paces, and which
being full of fruit and blossoms, was a most delicious sight. In the
middle of this garden, was a cupola made of wire, supported by slender
pillars of brick, so closely covered with ivy, both without and within,
that nothing was to be perceived but green; between the arches there
dangled festoons of the same. Here is likewise a most inextricable
labyrinth.
I had in this town recommendation to a very civil and ingenious
apothecary, called Angelico, who had a pretty collection of paintings. I
would fain have visited a palace, called the Rotunda, which was a mile
out of town, belonging to Count Martio Capra; but one of our companions
hastening to be gone, and little minding anything save drinking and
folly, caused us to take coach sooner than we should have done.
A little from the town, we passed the Campo Martio, set out in imitation
of ancient Rome, wherein the nobles exercised their horses, and the
ladies make the Corso; it is entered by a stately triumphal arch, the
invention of Palladio.
[Sidenote: VERONA]
Being now set out for Verona, about midway we dined at Ostaria Nova, and
came late to our resting-place, which was the Cavaletto, just over the
monument of the Scalageri,[36] formerly princes of Verona, adorned with
many devices in stone of ladders, alluding to the name.
[Footnote 36: Or della Scala.]
Early next morning, we went about the city, which is built on the gentle
declivity, and bottom of a hill, environed in part with some considerable
mountains and downs of fine grass, like some places in the south of
England, and, on the other side, having the rich plain where Caius Marius
overthrew the Cimbrians. The city is divided in the midst by the river
Adige, over which are divers stately bridges, and on its banks are many
goodly palaces, whereof one is well painted in _chiaro-oscuro_ on the
outside, as are divers in this dry climate of Italy.
The first thing that engaged our attention and wonder, too, was the
amphitheater, which is the most entire of ancient remains now extant. The
inhabitants call it the ARENA: it has two porticos, one within the other,
and is thirty-four rods long, twenty-two in breadth, with forty-two ranks
of stone benches, or seats, which reach to the top. The vastness of the
marble stones is stupendous. "_L. V. Flaminius, Consul. anno. urb. con.
liii._" This I esteem to be one of the noblest antiquities in Europe, it
is so vast and entire, having escaped the ruins of so many other public
buildings for above 1,400 years.
There are other arches, as that of the victory of Marius; temples,
aqueducts, etc., showing still considerable remains in several places of
the town, and how magnificent it has formerly been. It has three strong
castles and a large and noble wall. Indeed, the whole city is bravely
built, especially the Senate house, where we saw those celebrated statues
of Cornelius Nepos, Æmilius Marcus, Plinius, and Vitruvius, all having
honored Verona by their birth; and, of later date, Julius Cæsar Scaliger,
that prodigy of learning.
In the evening we saw the garden of Count Giusti's villa where are walks
cut out of the main rock, from whence we had a pleasant prospect of
Mantua and Parma, though at great distance. At the entrance of this
garden, grows the goodliest cypress, I fancy, in Europe, cut in a
pyramid; it is a prodigious tree both for breadth and height, entirely
covered, and thick to the base.
Dr. Cortone, a civilian, showed us, among other rarities, a St. Dorothea,
of Raphael. We could not see the rare drawings, especially of Parmensis,
belonging to Dr. Marcello, another advocate, on account of his absence.
Verona deserved all those elogies Scaliger has honored it with; for in my
opinion, the situation is the most delightful I ever saw, it is so
sweetly mixed with rising ground and valleys, so elegantly planted with
trees on which Bacchus seems riding as it were in triumph every autumn,
for the vines reach from tree to tree; here, of all places I have seen in
Italy, would I fix a residence. Well has that learned man given it the
name of the very eye of the world:
"_Oscelle mundi, Sidus Itali coeli,
Flos Urbium, flos cornicuumq' amoenum,
Quot sunt, eruntve, quot fuere, Verona._"
The next morning we traveled over the downs where Marius fought and
fancied ourselves about Winchester, and the country toward Dorsetshire.
We dined at an inn called Cavalli Caschieri, near Peschiera, a very
strong fort of the Venetian Republic, and near the Lago di Garda, which
disembogues into that of Mantua, near forty miles in length, highly
spoken of by my Lord Arundel to me, as the most pleasant spot in Italy,
for which reason I observed it with the more diligence, alighting out of
the coach, and going up to a grove of cypresses growing about a
gentleman's country-house, from whence indeed it presents a most
surprising prospect. The hills and gentle risings about it produce
oranges, citrons, olives, figs, and other tempting fruits, and the waters
abound in excellent fish, especially trouts. In the middle of this lake
stands Sermonea, on an island; here Captain Wray bought a pretty nag of
the master of our inn where we dined, for eight pistoles, which his wife,
our hostess, was so unwilling to part with, that she did nothing but kiss
and weep and hang about the horse's neck, till the captain rode away.
[Sidenote: BRESCIA]
We came this evening to Brescia, which next morning we traversed,
according to our custom, in search of antiquities and new sights. Here, I
purchased of old Lazarino Cominazzo my fine carbine, which cost me nine
pistoles, this city being famous for these firearms, and that workman,
Jo. Bap. Franco, the best esteemed. The city consists most in artists,
every shop abounding in guns, swords, armorers, etc. Most of the workmen
come out of Germany. It stands in a fertile plain, yet the castle is
built on a hill. The streets abound in fair fountains. The Torre della
Pallada is of a noble Tuscan order, and the Senate house is inferior to
few. The piazza is but indifferent; some of the houses arched as at
Padua. The Cathedral was under repair. We would from hence have visited
Parma, Piacenza, Mantua, etc.; but the banditti and other dangerous
parties being abroad, committing many enormities, we were contented with
a Pisgah sight of them.
We dined next day, at Ursa Vecchia, and, after dinner, passed by an
exceeding strong fort of the Venetians, called Ursa Nova, on their
frontier. Then by the river Oglio, and so by Sonano, where we enter the
Spanish dominions, and that night arrived at Crema, which belongs to
Venice, and is well defended. The Podesta's Palace is finely built, and
so is the Duomo, or Cathedral, and the tower to it, with an ample piazza.
[Sidenote: MILAN]
Early next day, after four miles' riding, we entered into the State of
Milan, and passed by Lodi, a great city famous for cheese, little short
of the best Parmeggiano. We dined at Marignano, ten miles before coming
to Milan, where we met half a dozen suspicious cavaliers, who yet did us
no harm. Then, passing as through a continual garden, we went on with
exceeding pleasure; for it is the Paradise of Lombardy, the highways as
even and straight as a line, the fields to a vast extent planted with
fruit about the inclosures, vines to every tree at equal distances, and
watered with frequent streams. There was likewise much corn, and olives
in abundance. At approach of the city, some of our company, in dread of
the Inquisition (severer here than in all Spain), thought of throwing
away some Protestant books and papers. We arrived about three in the
afternoon, when the officers searched us thoroughly for prohibited goods;
but, finding we were only gentlemen travelers, dismissed us for a small
reward, and we went quietly to our inn, the THREE KINGS, where, for that
day, we refreshed ourselves, as we had need. The next morning, we
delivered our letters of recommendation to the learned and courteous
Ferrarius, a Doctor of the Ambrosian College, who conducted us to all the
remarkable places of the town, the first of which was the famous
Cathedral. We entered by a portico, so little inferior to that of Rome
that, when it is finished, it will be hard to say which is the fairest;
the materials are all of white and black marble, with columns of great
height, of Egyptian granite. The outside of the church is so full of
sculpture, that you may number 4,000 statues, all of white marble, among
which that of St. Bartholomew is esteemed a masterpiece. The church is
very spacious, almost as long as St. Peter's at Rome, but not so large.
About the choir, the sacred Story is finely sculptured, in snow-white
marble, nor know I where it is exceeded. About the body of the church
are the miracles of St. Charles Borromeo, and in the vault beneath is his
body before the high altar, grated, and inclosed, in one of the largest
crystals in Europe. To this also belongs a rich treasure. The cupola is
all of marble within and without, and even covered with great planks of
marble, in the Gothic design. The windows are most beautifully painted.
Here are two very fair and excellent organs. The fabric is erected in the
midst of a fair piazza, and in the center of the city.
Hence, we went to the Palace of the Archbishop, which is a quadrangle,
the architecture of Theobaldi, who designed much for Philip II. in the
Escurial, and has built much in Milan. Hence, into the Governor's Palace,
who was Constable of Castile. Tempted by the glorious tapestries and
pictures, I adventured so far alone, that peeping into a chamber where
the great man was under the barber's hands, he sent one of his negroes (a
slave) to know what I was. I made the best excuse I could, and that I was
only admiring the pictures, which he returning and telling his lord, I
heard the Governor reply that I was a spy; on which I retired with all
the speed I could, passed the guard of Swiss, got into the street, and in
a moment to my company, who were gone to the Jesuits' Church, which in
truth is a noble structure, the front especially, after the modern. After
dinner, we were conducted to St. Celso, a church of rare architecture,
built by Bramante; the carvings of the marble _facciata_ are by Annibal
Fontana, whom they esteem at Milan equal to the best of the ancients. In
a room joining to the church, is a marble Madonna, like a Colosse, of the
same sculptor's work, which they will not expose to the air. There are
two _sacristias_, in one of which is a fine Virgin, of Leonardo da Vinci;
in the other is one of Raphael d'Urbino, a piece which all the world
admires. The Sacristan showed us a world of rich plate, jewels, and
embroidered copes, which are kept in presses.
Next, we went to see the Great Hospital, a quadrangular cloister of a
vast compass, a truly royal fabric, with an annual endowment of 50,000
crowns of gold. There is in the middle of it a cross building for the
sick, and, just under it, an altar so placed as to be seen in all places
of the Infirmary.
There are divers colleges built in this quarter, richly provided for by
the same Borromeo and his nephew, the last Cardinal Frederico, some not
yet finished, but of excellent design.
In St. Eustorgio, they tell us, formerly lay the bodies of the three
Magi, since translated to Cologne in Germany; they, however, preserve the
tomb, which is a square stone, on which is engraven a star, and, under
it, "_Sepulchrum trium Magorum_."
Passing by St. Laurence, we saw sixteen columns of marble, and the ruins
of a Temple of Hercules, with this inscription yet standing:
"_Imp. Cæsari L. Aurelio Vero Aug. Arminiaco Medio Parthico Maxi
Tribi Pot. VII. Impi IIII. Cos. III. P. P. Divi Antonini Pij Divi
Hadriani Nepoti Divi Trajani Parthici Pro-Nepoti Divi Nervæ
Abnepoti Dec. Dec._"
We concluded this day's wandering at the Monastery of Madonna delle
Grazie, and in the refectory admired that celebrated _Coena Domini_ of
Leonardo da Vinci, which takes up the entire wall at the end, and is the
same that the great virtuoso, Francis I., of France, was so enamored of,
that he consulted to remove the whole wall by binding it about with ribs
of iron and timber, to convey it into France. It is indeed one of the
rarest paintings that was ever executed by Leonardo, who was long in the
service of that Prince, and so dear to him that the King, coming to visit
him in his old age and sickness, he expired in his arms. But this
incomparable piece is now exceedingly impaired.
Early next morning came the learned Dr. Ferrarius to visit us, and took
us in his coach to see the Ambrosian Library, where Cardinal Fred
Borromeo has expended so vast a sum on this building, and in furnishing
with curiosities, especially paintings and drawings of inestimable value
among painters. It is a school fit to make the ablest artists. There are
many rare things of Hans Breugel, and among them the Four Elements. In
this room, stands the glorious [boasting] inscription of Cavaliero
Galeazzo Arconati, valuing his gift to the library of several drawings by
Da Vinci; but these we could not see, the keeper of them being out of
town, and he always carrying the keys with him; but my Lord Marshal, who
had seen them, told me all but one book are small that a huge folio
contained 400 leaves full of scratches of Indians, etc. But whereas the
inscription pretends that our King Charles had offered £1,000 for
them,--the truth is, and my Lord himself told me, that it was he who
treated with Galeazzo for himself, in the name and by permission of the
King, and that the Duke of Feria, who was then Governor, should make the
bargain; but my Lord, having seen them since, did not think them of so
much worth.
In the great room, where is a goodly library, on the right hand of the
door, is a small wainscot closet, furnished with rare manuscripts. Two
original letters of the Grand Signor were shown us, sent to two Popes,
one of which was (as I remember) to Alexander VI. [Borgia], and the other
mentioning the head of the lance which pierced our Blessed Savior's side,
as a present to the Pope: I would feign have gotten a copy of them, but
could not; I hear, however, that they are since translated into Italian,
and that therein is a most honorable mention of Christ.
We revisited St. Ambrose's church. The high altar is supported by four
porphyry columns, and under it lie the remains of that holy man. Near it
they showed us a pit, or well (an obscure place it is), where they say
St. Ambrose baptized St. Augustine, and recited the _Te Deum_; for so
imports the inscription. The place is also famous for some Councils that
have been held here, and for the coronation of divers Italian Kings and
Emperors, receiving the iron crown from the Archbishop of this see.[37]
They show the History by Josephus, written on the bark of trees. The high
altar is wonderfully rich.
[Footnote 37: Bonaparte afterward took it, and placed it on his own
head.]
Milan is one of the most princely cities in Europe: it has no suburbs,
but is circled with a stately wall for ten miles, in the center of a
country that seems to flow with milk and honey. The air is excellent; the
fields fruitful to admiration, the market abounding with all sorts of
provisions. In the city are near 100 churches, 71 monasteries, and 40,000
inhabitants; it is of a circular figure, fortified with bastions, full of
sumptuous palaces and rare artists, especially for works in crystal,
which is here cheap, being found among the Alps. They have curious
straw-work among the nuns, even to admiration. It has a good river, and a
citadel at some small distance from the city, commanding it, of great
strength for its works and munitions of all kinds. It was built by
Galeatius II., and consists of four bastions, and works at the angles and
fronts; the graff is faced with brick to a very great depth; has two
strong towers as one enters, and within is another fort, and spacious
lodgings for the soldiers, and for exercising them. No accommodation for
strength is wanting, and all exactly uniform. They have here also all
sorts of work and tradesmen, a great magazine of arms and provisions. The
fosse is of spring water, with a mill for grinding corn, and the ramparts
vaulted underneath. Don Juan Vasques Coronada was now Governor; the
garrison Spaniards only.
There is nothing better worth seeing than the collection of Signor
Septalla, a canon of St. Ambrose, famous over Christendom for his
learning and virtues. Among other things, he showed us an Indian wood,
that has the perfect scent of civet; a flint, or pebble, that has a
quantity of water in it, which is plainly to be seen, it being clear as
agate; divers crystals that have water moving in them, some of them
having plants, leaves, and hog's bristles in them; much amber full of
insects, and divers things of woven amianthus.
Milan is a sweet place, and though the streets are narrow, they abound in
rich coaches, and are full of noblesse, who frequent the course every
night. Walking a turn in the portico before the dome, a cavaliero who
passed by, hearing some of us speaking English, looked a good while
earnestly on us, and by and by sending his servant, desiring we would
honor him the next day at dinner. We looked on this as an odd invitation,
he not speaking to us himself, but we returned his civility with thanks,
though not fully resolved what to do, or indeed what might be the meaning
of it in this jealous place; but on inquiry, it was told us he was a
Scots Colonel, who had an honorable command in the city, so that we
agreed to go. This afternoon, we were wholly taken up in seeing an opera
represented by some Neapolitans, performed all in excellent music with
rare scenes, in which there acted a celebrated beauty.
Next morning, we went to the Colonel's, who had sent his servant again to
conduct us to his house, which we found to be a noble palace, richly
furnished. There were other guests, all soldiers, one of them a
Scotchman, but we could not learn one of their names. At dinner, he
excused his rudeness that he had not himself spoken to us; telling us it
was his custom, when he heard of any English travelers (who but rarely
would be known to pass through that city for fear of the Inquisition), to
invite them to his house, where they might be free. We had a sumptuous
dinner; and the wine was so tempting, that after some healths had gone
about, and we had risen from the table, the Colonel led us into his hall,
where there hung up divers colors, saddles, bridles, pistols, and other
arms, being trophies which he had taken with his own hands from the
enemy; among them, he would needs bestow a pair of pistols on Captain
Wray, one of our fellow-travelers, and a good drinking gentleman, and on
me a Turkish bridle woven with silk and very curiously embossed, with
other silk trappings, to which hung a half moon finely wrought, which he
had taken from a bashaw whom he had slain. With this glorious spoil, I
rode the rest of my journey as far as Paris, and brought it afterward
into England. He then showed us a stable of brave horses, with his menage
and cavalerizzo. Some of the horses he caused to be brought out, which he
mounted, and performed all the motions of an excellent horseman. When
this was done, and he had alighted,--contrary to the advice of his groom
and page, who knew the nature of the beast, and that their master was a
little spirited with wine, he would have a fiery horse that had not yet
been managed and was very ungovernable, but was otherwise a very
beautiful creature; this he mounting, the horse, getting the reins in a
full _carriere_, rose so desperately that he fell quite back, crushing
the Colonel so forcibly against the wall of the menage, that though he
sat on him like a Centaur, yet recovering the jade on all fours again, he
desired to be taken down and so led in, where he cast himself on a
pallet; and, with infinite lamentations, after some time we took leave of
him, being now speechless. The next morning, going to visit him, we found
before the door the canopy which they usually carry over the host, and
some with lighted tapers; which made us suspect he was in a very sad
condition, and so indeed we found him, an Irish Friar standing by his
bedside as confessing him, or at least disguising a confession, and
other ceremonies used _in extremis_; for we afterward learned that the
gentleman was a Protestant, and had this Friar, his confidant; which was
a dangerous thing at Milan, had it been but suspected. At our entrance,
he sighed grievously, and held up his hands, but was not able to speak.
After vomiting some blood, he kindly took us all by the hand, and made
signs that he should see us no more, which made us take our leave of him
with extreme reluctancy and affliction for the accident. This sad
disaster made us consult about our departure as soon as we could, not
knowing how we might be inquired after, or engaged, the Inquisition being
so cruelly formidable and inevitable, on the least suspicion. The next
morning, therefore, discharging our lodgings, we agreed for a coach to
carry us to the foot of the Alps, not a little concerned for the death of
the Colonel, which we now heard of, and who had so courteously
entertained us.
The first day we got as far as Castellanza, by which runs a considerable
river into Lago Maggiore; here, at dinner, were two or three Jesuits, who
were very pragmatical and inquisitive, whom we declined conversation with
as decently as we could; so we pursued our journey through a most
fruitful plain, but the weather was wet and uncomfortable. At night, we
lay at Sesto.
The next morning, leaving our coach, we embarked in a boat to carry us
over the lake (being one of the largest in Europe), and whence we could
see the towering Alps, and among them the great San Bernardo, esteemed
the highest mountain in Europe, appearing to be some miles above the
clouds. Through this vast water, passes the river Ticinus, which
discharges itself into the Po, by which means Helvetia transports her
merchandizes into Italy, which we now begin to leave behind us.
Having now sailed about two leagues, we were hauled ashore at Arona, a
strong town belonging to the Duchy of Milan, where, being examined by the
Governor, and paying a small duty, we were dismissed. Opposite to this
fort, is Angiera, another small town, the passage very pleasant with the
prospect of the Alps covered with pine and fir trees, and above them
snow. We passed the pretty island Isabella, about the middle of the
lake, on which is a fair house built on a mount; indeed, the whole island
is a mount ascended by several terraces and walks all set above with
orange and citron trees.
[Sidenote: ISOLA]
The next we saw was Isola, and we left on our right hand the Isle of St.
Jovanni; and so sailing by another small town built also on an island, we
arrived at night at Margazzo, an obscure village at the end of the lake,
and at the very foot of the Alps, which now rise as it were suddenly
after some hundreds of miles of the most even country in the world, and
where there is hardly a stone to be found, as if Nature had here swept up
the rubbish of the earth in the Alps, to form and clear the plains of
Lombardy, which we had hitherto passed since our coming from Venice. In
this wretched place, I lay on a bed stuffed with leaves, which made such
a crackling and did so prick my skin through the tick, that I could not
sleep. The next morning, I was furnished with an ass, for we could not
get horses; instead of stirrups, we had ropes tied with a loop to put our
feet in, which supplied the place of other trappings. Thus, with my
gallant steed, bridled with my Turkish present, we passed through a
reasonably pleasant but very narrow valley, till we came to Duomo, where
we rested, and, having showed the Spanish pass, the Governor would press
another on us, that his secretary might get a crown. Here we exchanged
our asses for mules, sure-footed on the hills and precipices, being
accustomed to pass them. Hiring a guide, we were brought that night
through very steep, craggy, and dangerous passages to a village called
Vedra, being the last of the King of Spain's dominions in the Duchy of
Milan. We had a very infamous wretched lodging.
The next morning we mounted again through strange, horrid, and fearful
crags and tracts, abounding in pine trees, and only inhabited by bears,
wolves, and wild goats; nor could we anywhere see above a pistol shot
before us, the horizon being terminated with rocks and mountains, whose
tops, covered with snow, seemed to touch the skies, and in many places
pierced the clouds. Some of these vast mountains were but one entire
stone, between whose clefts now and then precipitated great cataracts of
melted snow, and other waters, which made a terrible roaring, echoing
from the rocks and cavities; and these waters in some places breaking in
the fall, wet us as if we had passed through a mist, so as we could
neither see nor hear one another, but, trusting to our honest mules, we
jogged on our way. The narrow bridges, in some places made only by
felling huge fir trees, and laying them athwart from mountain to
mountain, over cataracts of stupendous depth, are very dangerous, and so
are the passages and edges made by cutting away the main rock; others in
steps; and in some places we pass between mountains that have been broken
and fallen on one another; which is very terrible, and one had need of a
sure foot and steady head to climb some of these precipices, besides that
they are harbors for bears and wolves, who have sometimes assaulted
travelers. In these straits, we frequently alighted, now freezing in the
snow, and anon frying by the reverberation of the sun against the cliffs
as we descend lower, when we meet now and then a few miserable cottages
so built upon the declining of the rocks, as one would expect their
sliding down. Among these, inhabit a goodly sort of people, having
monstrous gullets, or wens of flesh, growing to their throats, some of
which I have seen as big as an hundred pound bag of silver hanging under
their chins; among the women especially, and that so ponderous, as that
to ease them, many wear linen cloth bound about their head, and coming
under the chin to support it; but _quis tumidum guttur miratur in
Alpibus?_ Their drinking so much snow water is thought to be the cause of
it; the men using more wine, are not so strumous as the women. The truth
is, they are a peculiar race of people, and many great water drinkers
here have not these prodigious tumors; it runs, as we say, in the blood,
and is a vice in the race, and renders them so ugly, shriveled and
deformed, by its drawing the skin of the face down, that nothing can be
more frightful; to this add a strange puffing dress, furs, and that
barbarous language, being a mixture of corrupt High German, French, and
Italian. The people are of great stature, extremely fierce and rude, yet
very honest and trusty.
[Sidenote: MOUNT SAMPION]
This night, through almost inaccessible heights, we came in prospect of
Mons Sempronius, now Mount Sampion, which has on its summit a few huts
and a chapel. Approaching this, Captain Wray's water spaniel (a huge
filthy cur that had followed him out of England) hunted a herd of goats
down the rocks into a river made by the melting of the snow. Arrived at
our cold harbor (though the house had a stove in every room) and supping
on cheese and milk with wretched wine, we went to bed in cupboards so
high from the floor, that we climbed them by a ladder; we were covered
with feathers, that is, we lay between two ticks stuffed with them, and
all little enough to keep one warm. The ceilings of the rooms are
strangely low for those tall people. The house was now (in September)
half covered with snow, nor is there a tree, or a bush, growing within
many miles.
From this uncomfortable place, we prepared to hasten away the next
morning; but, as we were getting on our mules, comes a huge young fellow
demanding money for a goat which he affirmed that Captain Wray's dog had
killed; expostulating the matter, and impatient of staying in the cold,
we set spurs and endeavored to ride away, when a multitude of people
being by this time gotten together about us (for it being Sunday morning
and attending for the priest to say mass), they stopped our mules, beat
us off our saddles, and, disarming us of our carbines, drew us into one
of the rooms of our lodging, and set a guard upon us. Thus we continued
prisoners till mass was ended, and then came half a score grim Swiss,
who, taking on them to be magistrates, sat down on the table, and
condemned us to pay a pistole for the goat, and ten more for attempting
to ride away, threatening that if we did not pay it speedily, they would
send us to prison, and keep us to a day of public justice, where, as they
perhaps would have exaggerated the crime, for they pretended we had
primed our carbines and would have shot some of them (as indeed the
Captain was about to do), we might have had our heads cut off, as we were
told afterward, for that among these rude people a very small misdemeanor
does often meet that sentence. Though the proceedings appeared highly
unjust, on consultation among ourselves we thought it safer to rid
ourselves out of their hands, and the trouble we were brought into; and
therefore we patiently laid down the money, and with fierce countenances
had our mules and arms delivered to us, and glad we were to escape as we
did. This was cold entertainment, but our journey after was colder, the
rest of the way having been (as they told us) covered with snow since the
Creation; no man remembered it to be without; and because, by the
frequent snowing, the tracks are continually filled up, we passed by
several tall masts set up to guide travelers, so as for many miles they
stand in ken of one another, like to our beacons. In some places, where
there is a cleft between two mountains, the snow fills it up, while the
bottom, being thawed, leaves as it were a frozen arch of snow, and that
so hard as to bear the greatest weight; for as it snows often, so it
perpetually freezes, of which I was so sensible that it flawed the very
skin of my face.
Beginning now to descend a little, Captain Wray's horse (that was our
sumpter and carried all our baggage) plunging through a bank of loose
snow, slid down a frightful precipice, which so incensed the choleric
cavalier, his master, that he was sending a brace of bullets into the
poor beast, lest our guide should recover him, and run away with his
burden; but, just as he was lifting up his carbine, we gave such a shout,
and so pelted the horse with snow-balls, as with all his might plunging
through the snow, he fell from another steep place into another bottom,
near a path we were to pass. It was yet a good while ere we got to him,
but at last we recovered the place, and, easing him of his charge, hauled
him out of the snow, where he had been certainly frozen in, if we had not
prevented it, before night. It was as we judged almost two miles that he
had slid and fallen, yet without any other harm than the benumbing of his
limbs for the present, but, with lusty rubbing and chafing he began to
move, and, after a little walking, performed his journey well enough. All
this way, affrighted with the disaster of this horse, we trudged on foot,
driving our mules before us; sometimes we fell, sometimes we slid,
through this ocean of snow, which after October is impassible. Toward
night, we came into a larger way, through vast woods of pines, which
clothe the middle parts of these rocks. Here, they were burning some to
make pitch and rosin, peeling the knotty branches, as we do to make
charcoal, reserving what melts from them, which hardens into pitch. We
passed several cascades of dissolved snow, that had made channels of
formidable depth in the crevices of the mountains, and with such a
fearful roaring as we could hear it for seven long miles. It is from
these sources that the Rhone and the Rhine, which pass through all France
and Germany, derive their originals. Late at night, we got to a town
called Briga, at the foot of the Alps, in the Valteline. Almost every
door had nailed on the outside and next the street a bear's, wolf's, or
fox's head, and divers of them, all three; a savage kind of sight, but,
as the Alps are full of the beasts, the people often kill them. The next
morning, we returned to our guide, and took fresh mules, and another to
conduct us to the Lake of Geneva, passing through as pleasant a country
as that we had just traveled was melancholy and troublesome. A strange
and sudden change it seemed; for the reverberation of the sunbeams from
the mountains and rocks that like walls range it on both sides, not above
two flight-shots in breadth, for a very great number of miles, renders
the passage excessively hot. Through such extremes we continued our
journey, that goodly river, the Rhone, gliding by us in a narrow and
quiet channel almost in the middle of this Canton, fertilizing the
country for grass and corn, which grow here in abundance.
[Sidenote: SION]
We arrived this night at Sion, a pretty town and city, a bishop's seat,
and the head of Valesia. There is a castle, and the bishop who resides in
it, has both civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Our host, as the
custom of these Cantons is, was one of the chiefest of the town, and had
been a Colonel in France: he treated us with extreme civility, and was so
displeased at the usage we received at Mount Sampion, that he would needs
give us a letter to the Governor of the country, who resided at St.
Maurice, which was in our way to Geneva, to revenge the affront. This was
a true old blade, and had been a very curious virtuoso, as we found by a
handsome collection of books, medals, pictures, shells, and other
antiquities. He showed two heads and horns of the true capricorn, which
animal he told us was frequently killed among the mountains; one branch
of them was as much as I could well lift, and near as high as my head,
not much unlike the greater sort of goat's, save that they bent forward,
by help whereof they climb up and hang on inaccessible rocks, from whence
the inhabitants now and then shoot them. They speak prodigious things of
their leaping from crag to crag, and of their sure footing,
notwithstanding their being cloven-footed, unapt (one would think) to
take hold and walk so steadily on those horrible ridges as they do. The
Colonel would have given me one of these beams, but the want of a
convenience to carry it along with me, caused me to refuse his courtesy.
He told me that in the castle there were some Roman and Christian
antiquities, and he had some inscriptions in his own garden. He invited
us to his country-house, where he said he had better pictures, and other
rarities; but, our time being short, I could not persuade my companions
to stay and visit the places he would have had us see, nor the offer he
made to show us the hunting of the bear, wolf, and other wild beasts. The
next morning, having presented his daughter, a pretty well-fashioned
young woman, with a small ruby ring, we parted somewhat late from our
generous host.
Passing through the same pleasant valley between the horrid mountains on
either hand, like a gallery many miles in length, we got to Martigni,
where also we were well entertained. The houses in this country are all
built of fir boards, planed within, low, and seldom above one story. The
people very clownish and rusticly clad, after a very odd fashion, for the
most part in blue cloth, very whole and warm, with little variety of
distinction between the gentleman and common sort, by a law of their
country being exceedingly frugal. Add to this their great honesty and
fidelity, though exacting enough for what they part with: I saw not one
beggar. We paid the value of twenty shillings English, for a day's hire
of one horse. Every man goes with a sword by his side, the whole country
well disciplined, and indeed impregnable, which made the Romans have such
ill success against them; one lusty Swiss at their narrow passages is
sufficient to repel a legion. It is a frequent thing here for a young
tradesman, or farmer, to leave his wife and children for twelve or
fifteen years, and seek his fortune in the wars in Spain, France, Italy,
or Germany, and then return again to work. I look upon this country to be
the safest spot of all Europe, neither envied nor envying; nor are any of
them rich, nor poor; they live in great simplicity and tranquillity;
and, though of the fourteen Cantons half be Roman Catholics, the rest
reformed, yet they mutually agree, and are confederate with Geneva, and
are its only security against its potent neighbors, as they themselves
are from being attacked by the greater potentates, by the mutual jealousy
of their neighbors, as either of them would be overbalanced, should the
Swiss, who are wholly mercenary and auxiliaries, be subjected to France
or Spain.
[Sidenote: BEVERETTA]
[Sidenote: GENEVA]
We were now arrived at St. Maurice, a large handsome town and residence
of the President, where justice is done. To him we presented our letter
from Sion, and made known the ill usage we had received for killing a
wretched goat, which so incensed him, that he swore if we would stay he
would not only help us to recover our money again, but most severely
punish the whole rabble; but our desire of revenge had by this time
subsided, and glad we were to be gotten so near France, which we reckoned
as good as home. He courteously invited us to dine with him; but we
excused ourselves, and, returning to our inn, while we were eating
something before we took horse, the Governor had caused two pages to
bring us a present of two great vessels of covered plate full of
excellent wine, in which we drank his health, and rewarded the youths;
they were two vast bowls supported by two Swiss, handsomely wrought after
the German manner. This civility and that of our host at Sion, perfectly
reconciled us to the highlanders; and so, proceeding on our journey we
passed this afternoon through the gate which divides the Valais from the
Duchy of Savoy, into which we were now entering, and so, through Montei,
we arrived that evening at Beveretta. Being extremely weary and
complaining of my head, and finding little accommodation in the house, I
caused one of our hostess's daughters to be removed out of her bed and
went immediately into it while it was yet warm, being so heavy with pain
and drowsiness that I would not stay to have the sheets changed; but I
shortly after paid dearly for my impatience, falling sick of the smallpox
as soon as I came to Geneva, for by the smell of frankincense and the
tale the good woman told me of her daughter having had an ague, I
afterward concluded she had been newly recovered of the smallpox.
Notwithstanding this, I went with my company, the next day, hiring a bark
to carry us over the lake; and indeed, sick as I was, the weather was so
serene and bright, the water so calm, and air so temperate, that never
had travelers a sweeter passage. Thus, we sailed the whole length of the
lake, about thirty miles, the countries bordering on it (Savoy and Berne)
affording one of the most delightful prospects in the world, the Alps
covered with snow, though at a great distance, yet showing their aspiring
tops. Through this lake, the river Rhodanus passes with that velocity as
not to mingle with its exceeding deep waters, which are very clear, and
breed the most celebrated trout for largeness and goodness of any in
Europe. I have ordinarily seen one of three feet in length sold in the
market for a small price, and such we had in the lodging where we abode,
which was at the White Cross. All this while, I held up tolerably; and
the next morning having a letter for Signor John Diodati, the famous
Italian minister and translator of the Holy Bible into that language, I
went to his house, and had a great deal of discourse with that learned
person. He told me he had been in England, driven by tempest into Deal,
while sailing for Holland, that he had seen London, and was exceedingly
taken with the civilities he received. He so much approved of our
Church-government by Bishops, that he told me the French Protestants
would make no scruple to submit to it and all its pomp, had they a king
of the Reformed religion as we had. He exceedingly deplored the
difference now between his Majesty and the Parliament. After dinner, came
one Monsieur Saladine, with his little pupil, the Earl of Caernarvon, to
visit us, offering to carry us to the principal places of the town; but,
being now no more able to hold up my head, I was constrained to keep my
chamber, imagining that my very eyes would have dropped out; and this
night I felt such a stinging about me, that I could not sleep. In the
morning, I was very ill, but sending for a doctor, he persuaded me to be
bled. He was a very learned old man, and, as he said, he had been
physician to Gustavus the Great, King of Sweden, when he passed this way
into Italy, under the name of Monsieur Gars, the initial letters of
Gustavus Adolphus Rex Sueciæ, and of our famous Duke of Buckingham, on
his returning out of Italy. He afterward acknowledged that he should not
have bled me, had he suspected the smallpox, which broke out a day after.
He afterward purged me, and applied leeches, and God knows what this
would have produced, if the spots had not appeared, for he was thinking
of bleeding me again. They now kept me warm in bed for sixteen days,
tended by a vigilant Swiss matron, whose monstrous throat, when I
sometimes awakened out of unquiet slumbers, would affright me. After the
pimples were come forth, which were not many, I had much ease as to pain,
but infinitely afflicted with heat and noisomeness. By God's mercy, after
five weeks' keeping my chamber, I went abroad. Monsieur Saladine and his
lady sent me many refreshments. Monsieur Le Chat, my physician, to excuse
his letting me bleed, told me it was so burnt and vicious as it would
have proved the plague, or spotted fever, had he proceeded by any other
method. On my recovering sufficiently to go abroad, I dined at Monsieur
Saladine's, and in the afternoon went across the water on the side of the
lake, and took a lodging that stood exceedingly pleasant, about half a
mile from the city for the better airing; but I stayed only one night,
having no company there, save my pipe; so, the next day, I caused them to
row me about the lake as far as the great stone, which they call
NEPTUNE'S ROCK, on which they say sacrifice was anciently offered to him.
Thence, I landed at certain cherry gardens and pretty villas by the side
of the lake, and exceedingly pleasant. Returning, I visited their
conservatories of fish; in which were trouts of six and seven feet long,
AS THEY AFFIRMED.
The Rhone, which parts the city in the midst dips into a cavern
underground, about six miles from it, and afterward rises again, and runs
its open course, like our Mole, or Swallow, by Dorking, in Surrey. The
next morning (being Thursday) I heard Dr. Diodati preach in Italian, many
of that country, especially of Lucca, his native place, being inhabitants
of Geneva, and of the Reformed religion.
The town lying between Germany, France, and Italy, those three tongues
are familiarly spoken by the inhabitants. It is a strong, well-fortified
city, part of it built on a rising ground. The houses are not despicable,
but the high pent-houses (for I can hardly call them cloisters, being
all of wood), through which the people pass dry and in the shade, winter
and summer, exceedingly deform the fronts of the buildings. Here are
abundance of booksellers; but their books are of ill impressions; these,
with watches (of which store are made here), crystal, and excellent
screwed guns, are the staple commodities. All provisions are good and
cheap.
The town-house is fairly built of stone; the portico has four black
marble columns; and, on a table of the same, under the city arms, a
demi-eagle and cross, between cross-keys, is a motto, "POST TENEBRAS
LUX," and this inscription:
_Quum anno 1535 profligatâ Romanâ Anti-Christi Tyrannide,
abrogatisq; ejus superstitionibus, sacro-sancta Christi Religio hìc
in suam puritatem, Ecclesiâ in meliorem ordinem singulari Dei
beneficio repositâ, et simul pulsis fugatisq; hostibus, urbs ipsa
in suam libertatem, non sine insigni miraculo, restituta fuerit;
Senatus Populusq; Genevensis Monumentum hoc perpetuæ memoriæ causâ
fieri atque hoc loco erigi curavit, quod suam erga Deum
gratitudinem ad posteros testatum fuerit._
The territories about the town are not so large as many ordinary
gentlemen have about their country farms, for which cause they are in
continual watch, especially on the Savoy side; but, in case of any siege
the Swiss are at hand, as this inscription in the same place shows,
toward the street: