722 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
are his descriptions of countries and nations. The following extracts give a fair idea, and have some bearing on the church history of the times : —
" The Spaniard is of a restless disposition, apt enough of understanding, but learning imperfectly or amiss, so that you shall find a learned Spaniard almost anywhere sooner than in Spain. ^ Half-informed, he thinks himself brimful of information, and always pretends to more knowledge than he has in fact. He is much given to vast projects never realized ; and in conversation he delights in subtleties and sophistry. Teachers commonly prefer to speak Spanish rather than Latin in the schools and colleges of the country ; but the people in general have little taste for letters, and produce few books themselves, mostly procuring those they want, from France. . . . The people have many barbarous notions and usages, derived by implication from their old Moorish conquerors and fellow-denizens. . . . The women have a custom, that would be held barbarous in France, of piercing their ears and hanging gold rings in them, often set with precious stones. They besmirch their faces, too, with minium and ecruse — red and white lead — and walk about on clogs a foot or a foot and a half high, so that they seem to walk above rather than on the earth. The people are extremely temperate, and the women never drink wine. . . . Spaniards are notably the most superstitious people in the world in their religious notions ; but they are brave in the field, of signal endurance under privation and difficulty, and by their voyages of ■discovery have spread their name over the face of the globe."
" England is wonderfully well-peopled, and the inhabitants are longlived. Tall in stature, they are fair in complexion, and have blue eyes. They are brave in war, and admirable bowmen. . . ."
"The people of Scotl.\nd are hot-tempered, prone to revenge, and fierce in their anger ; but valiant in war, and patient beyond belief of cold, hunger, and fatigue. They are handsome in person, and their clothing and language are the same as those of the Irish; their tunics being dyed yellow, their legs bare, and their feet protected by sandals of undressed hide. They live mainly on fish and flesh. They are not a particularly religious people. . . ."
"The Italians make use in their everyday talk of the most horrid oaths and imprecations. Holding all the rest of the world in contempt, and calling them barbarians, they themselves have nevertheless been alternately the prey of the French, the Spaniards, and the Germans. . . ." ^
" Germany is overgrown by vast forests, and defaced by frightful swamps. Its climate is as insufferably hot in summer as it is bitterly cold in winter. . . .
1 " Ut alibi potius quam in ipsa Hispania Hispanum doctum invenias."
2 " Zrrident Neapolitani Calabros, Calabri Appulos, hos autem omnes Romani, Romanos Hetrusci, quos et alii vicissim irrident : quin et mortales cceteros omnes irrident I tali, contemnunt et bai'baros appellant : cum sint ipsi tainen nunc Hispanis, 7iunc Gallis, nunc Germanis prcedce expositi. . . . Italia in universum magis adhuc mperstitiosa gens quam pugnat. Superba Ro7tia, gentium imperio viduata, sedes facta summi pontijicis."
§ 143. SERVETUS AS A PHYSICIAN. 723
Hungary is commonly said to produce oxen; Bavaria, swine; Franconia, onions, turnips, and licorice; Swabia, harlots; Bohemia, heretics; Switzerland, butchers; Westphalia, cheats; and the whole country gluttons and drunkards. . . . The Germans, however, are a religious people ; not easily turned from opinions they have once espoused, and not readily persuaded to concord in matters of schism ; every one valiantly and obstinately defending the heresy he has himself adopted." i
This unfavorable account of Germany, borrowed in part from Tacitus, was much modified and abridg-ed in the second edition, in which it appears as "a pleasant country with a temperate climate." Of the Swabians he speaks as a singularly gifted people.^ The fling at the ignorance and superstition of the Spaniards, his own countrymen, was also omitted.
The most interesting part of this geographical work on account of its theological bearing, is the description of Palestine. He declared in the first edition that "it is mere boasting and untruth when so much of excellence is ascribed to this land ; the experience of merchants and travellers who have visited it, proving it to be inhospitable, barren, and altogether without amenity. Wherefore you may say that the land was promised indeed, but is of little promise when spoken of in everyday terms." He omitted this passage in the second edition in deference to Archbishop Palmier. Nevertheless, it was made a ground of accusation at the trial of Servetus, for its apparent contradiction with the Mosaic account of the land " flowing with milk and honey."