As a nation they have an excellent disposition, even towards those who [do not][44] agree with them. M. de Montaigne, in order to make full trial of diverse manners and customs of the countries he visited, always conformed to local usage, however greatly such a usage may have irked him. Nevertheless, in Switzerland he said that he suffered no inconvenience except that he had at table, by way of napkin, only a piece of linen half a foot long: moreover, the Swiss themselves only unfold this napkin at dinner when many sauces and divers sorts of soup are served; but, on the other hand, they always provide as many wooden spoons with silver handles as there are guests. And a Swiss will always be provided with a knife with which he will eat everything, and never put his fingers in his plate. In almost all the towns the proper arms of the place are displayed, and above them those of the Emperor and of the house of Austria, but the greater part of the towns have been detached from the archduke aforesaid by ill policy. They say that all members of the Austrian house, except the Catholic king, have been brought to great poverty, even the Emperor,[45] who is held very lightly in Germany. On the Wednesday the host bought a large quantity of fish, and being asked by M. de Montaigne the reason why, he replied that the greater part of the people of Baden ate fish on Wednesdays on religious grounds, a remark which confirmed what he had before heard on this subject: to wit, that those who have remained Catholics are confirmed in their faith by the fact that they have to reckon on an opposition. The host added, when division and religious strife shows itself in a particular town, and infects the governing body, the bond of good feeling is loosened, and the effect of this admixture is felt in individual families, as has been manifested in Augsburg and in the imperial cities. But when a town has one central government--and every Swiss town has its separate laws and administration, is dependent on its neighbours for the preservation of order, and keeps up alliance and union only for purposes affecting the whole community--those towns which possess special civic rights, with a separate civil government complete in all parts, find therein a support for their strengthening and upholding. Towns in this case undoubtedly become stronger, closing their ranks and recruiting their forces through the contagious shock of conflicts near at hand.