Book xii

. c. 58.

[36] The Aar to Brugg.

[37] This sentence is confused and incorrect. The reference is manifestly to the abbey of Königsfelden, close to Brugg, which was founded in 1310 by the Empress Elizabeth and her daughter Agnes, Queen of Hungary, on the spot where Albert of Austria, husband of the former, was killed by John of Suabia in 1308. Duke Leopold and sixty of the knights who fell at Sempach in 1386 were buried here, but were disinterred by the order of Maria Theresa in 1770, and re-entombed at St. Blasien, in the Black Forest. Querlon mistakes it for the abbey of Mouri.

[38] Reuss.

[39] At this date there were thirteen cantons in the Confederation.

[40] Eaux-Chaudes, in Béarn.

[41] A village in the Department of the Gers.

[42] The ancient name was Aquæ Helvetiæ. In the time of Nero, according to Tacitus (_Hist._, i. 67), it had all the appearance of a town: “In modum municipii extructus locus, amœno salubrium aquarum usu frequens.” But nothing is said about the personal investigations of Tacitus, to which Montaigne alludes.

Querlon, in a note on this passage, remarks: “Je ne sais où l’écrivain a pris cela. La mémoire trompoit quelquefois Montaigne come tous ceux qui citent beaucoup, car on ne peut mettre cette érudition que sur son compte.”

[43] In the spring of 1416 Poggio Bracciolini visited Baden, and during his stay wrote to his friend, Niccolo Niccoli, a description of the place, which is one of the most graphic and vivid pictures of contemporary life. It is given in Shepherd’s “Life of Poggio.”

[44] “... à ceus qui se conforment à eux.” But sense seems to show that a “_ne_” must have slipped out of the text.

[45] Rodolf II.

[46] 21 batzen = 1 Rhenish florin.

[47] Probably Charles, the younger brother of Henry II., who died in 1545.

[48] According to Querlon this gentleman was Charles de Montmorenci, afterwards Duc d’Anville and Admiral of France, son of the Constable, Anne de Montmorenci.

[49] _Fouasses_, which Querlon describes as “espèce de galettes.” See also Rabelais,