Here on account of the Manifest and bill of health we were kept a long time at the gate, a delay which had also happened to us at other places. The city is about the size of Tours and lies in a very level country. The palaces are numerous; the greater part of the streets are wide and straight and very scantily peopled. On the Wednesday morning M. de Montaigne and M. d’Estissac went to kiss the duke’s[33] hands; their intention having been made known to him, he sent a gentleman of the court to receive them and conduct them into his cabinet, where he was with two or three others. We went through several private chambers, in which we saw divers well-dressed gentlemen, and then entered the duke’s presence. We found him standing by a table awaiting us. He raised his hand to his cap when we entered and remained uncovered during the whole of the conversation, which was somewhat lengthy. First of all he asked of M. de Montaigne whether he could speak the language of the country, and, being answered affirmatively, he said in most eloquent wise, speaking Italian, that it pleased him greatly to see gentlemen of our nation, he himself being the very obedient servant of his most Christian Majesty. They conversed together on several other matters, and then we retired, the duke having kept himself uncovered all through the interview. In one of the churches we saw an effigy of Ariosto,[34] the face being somewhat fuller than in the one given in his works. He died at the age of fifty-nine on June 6, 1533. Here they served us fruit on plates. The streets are all paved with bricks, but the arcades, which are everywhere to be found in Padua, and are vastly convenient for walking at all times under cover and free from mire, are wanting. In Venice the streets are paved in similar fashion and on the slope, so there is never any mud. I forgot to remark that the day we quitted Venice we met a number of boats filled with fresh water, the contents of a boat being worth a crown in Venice, where it is used for drinking or dyeing cloth. After we got to Fusina we saw how the water was raised from a stream and turned into a canal by means of a wheel kept going without ceasing by horses. The boats aforesaid lie beneath the mouth of the canal and are there loaded with water.