ers and such a drunken
set, no discord arises, no tumults, no partisanship, no conspiracies,
and no swearing. The men allow their wives to be toyed with, and see
them pairing off with entire strangers, but it does not discompose or
surprise them; they think it is all in an honest and housewifely way.

"How different are these manners from ours! We put the worst
construction upon everything: we find a pleasure in slander and
calumny; the slightest suspicion is sufficient for us, and equivalent
to a clear transgression. I often envy the composure of the people
here, and curse our perversity, always restlessly seeking, and
restlessly desiring. We compass heaven, earth, and ocean, to procure
money, are contented with no gain, satisfied with no profit. We are
continually in fear of future disaster, and are cast down by unceasing
mischances and anxieties, and in order to preserve ourselves from being
unhappy, we never cease to be so. But here they live for the day,
contented with a little; every day is a festival, they desire no great
riches, which would be of no use to them, but they enjoy what they
have, and fear not the future. If they meet with misfortune they bear
it with good courage. But enough, it is not my purpose to praise them
and blame ourselves. I wish this letter to be lively in order that you,
my distant friend, may find in it some portion of the amusement I have
enjoyed at the baths."

Here we have the elegant representation of the Italian statesman. The
fifteenth century was truly a time of luxury and refined enjoyment, but
what the foreigner relates is not so bad as the way in which he relates
it.

The Reformation came. It exercised an influence even on the frivolous
people who visited the baths. Life became more earnest and thoughtful,
and the superintendence exercised by the authorities and pastors more
strict. The number of married persons became greater, for it was one of
the favourite tenets of the Protestant opposition, to promote marriage
and domestic discipline. Much fewer became the number of those prelates
and their ladies, monks and roving women, who were not joined in lawful
matrimony. Thus after the time of Luther and Zwinglius, towards the end
of the sixteenth century, we have a very different description of the
baths of Baden, written by an honest German, the doctor of medicine
Pantaleon, a Basle man, rector of the high school and of the
philosophical faculty. Here follow some characteristi