slept on straw. In the morning we went to Berkenried, then to
Unterwalden, and over the Brünig into the valley of Hasli. Then I said
to him, "Now you have a good road to Thun, and from thence to Berne and
Basle." So we parted, and I crossed the Grimsel to St. Gall. When I
came to Visp, Captain Simon was there, who was very favourably inclined
towards me. He was Master of Arts at Cologne; had read Cicero's Officia
at the Academy at Basle; afterwards had business ten years in Rome with
the Pope, and was well versed in the Latin language. He said to me, "I
shall take the bath at Briegen to cure the gout; bathe with me, and I
will pay for you." I went with him; for the bath is not half a mile
distant from Visp. At first several of us had to carry him into the
bath; but when he had bathed about two hours he could walk out on two
crutches. There came thither also the Captain of the Guard of the Duke
of Milan, who had physicked away nine hundred ducats on one leg without
being any the better: he also bathed, and in three days his ankle was
well, and remained so from that hour. That I saw with my own eyes, and
other things besides; so that I could relate wonders enough concerning
it. The bath did me a great deal of good, except that I lost all
appetite, and could scarcely eat any thing but rye bread; neither could
I drink any wine, for it was too strong for me. I complained of that to
the host. Captain Peter Oweling, who was a wonderfully fine man, and
had also studied in Milan; and he said to him, "Oh! if you only had
sour wine!" He ordered wine for me from Morrill, which was dreadfully
sour; for it is there very wild, and is the highest wine that grows in
that country. When the wine came, the host said to me, "Platter, I will
make you a present of that wine." It was about two saum. He then gave
me a pretty crystal glass, which held nearly a measure of wine: with
this I went into the cellar, and drank the largest draught I ever
remember to have swallowed in my life before, for I had been a long
time very thirsty, because I drank nothing but warm bath water, and
there was also an eruption on my skin. When I had taken that draught I
lost all wish for any more of that wine; but my appetite for eating and
drinking had returned again. Captain Simon received many presents in
the bathing place, and amongst others seventy and odd pheasants, some
feathers of which I brought to Basle. As I had no opportunity of
sending letters to Basle, and remained away nine weeks, they said that
I had certainly perished on the mountain. When the bath cure was over I
went again to Basle, and became, as before, corrector of the press to
Dr. Heerwag, and professor at the Pædagogium. I afterwards, in
partnership with Dr. Oporinus, Balthasar Ruch, and Ruprecht Winter,
bought the printing establishment of Andrew Cratander, and became a
master-printer. That trade I followed several years with much sorrow
and trouble, particularly on account of the debts I had to contract,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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