good fortune in that, having no premonition of the search which awaited him, and having passed through Germany where forbidden books abound, he had not brought away with him a single one of these, notwithstanding the curious interest which often possessed him with regard to divers of them. Certain gentlemen from Germany informed him that had any such volume been found, he would have paid the penalty by losing all his books. On Christmas Day we went to hear the Papal Mass at St. Peter’s, M. de Montaigne being accommodated with a seat from which he could behold at his ease all the ceremonial. They used certain particular forms; to wit, they read the Gospel and the Epistle first in Latin and then in Greek, a custom followed also on Easter Day, and on the feast of St. Peter. The Pope himself[74] let divers others communicate, and with him officiated the Cardinals Farnese,[75] Medici,[76] Caraffa,[77] and Gonzaga. In taking the cup they use a certain instrument to prevent danger of poison.[78] It seemed strange to M. de Montaigne that, at this mass and at others beside, the Pope and cardinals and other prelates kept seated with heads covered and talked together the while. The whole ceremony indeed was marked by splendour rather than by devotion. Touching the beauty of the Roman ladies, M. de Montaigne affirmed that this was not notable enough to raise the reputation of this city beyond all others; moreover that, as in Paris, the most remarkable beauty belonged to those who made a market of the same.