Touring in 1600: A Study in the Development of Travel as a Means of EducationBates, E. S. (Ernest Stuart)
History
Touring in 1600: A Study in the Development of Travel as a Means of Education
Bates, E. S. (Ernest Stuart)
Europe -- Description and travel; Europe -- Social life and customs; Travel -- History
It should be mentioned that in this last paragraph I am paraphrasing
Gruberus only, and presume he is confining himself to what the
young tourist should discover before breakfast; otherwise he is but
a superficial instructor compared to Plotius. The latter draws up
a series of questions, which include enquiries about weights and
measures; about the clergy, how many and what salaries; religion, is
it "reformed"? if so, what has happened to monks and nuns; how often
Communion is administered; and whether strangers are received thereat;
arrangements for burial. This last question would seem more in place at
the end, but it is only number thirty-six, and there are one hundred
and seventeen questions altogether. Then, is there a University?
and, if so, may the rector whack the students? and concerning the
professors, what they teach and what they are paid. As for local
government, the enquiries exhaust possibilities. Also, how many houses;
and what about night-watchmen; legal procedure; "ancient lights," the
right to use water, executors' duties, grounds for divorce, dress,
military training? Furthermore: are the roads clean, and can children
marry without their parents' consent? concerning methods of cookery,
and antiquity of the town; whether the position of an officer of
justice is a respected one or not; concerning notaries public; and
whether the water used in cooking comes from river, fountain, well, or
rain; how many varieties of grain are used in bread-making; and what
means have they for dealing with fires; their sanitary arrangements
and public holidays, with the reasons for the latter; care of paupers,
orphans, and lepers; what punishments for what crimes.
It must not be imagined that Gruberus and Plotius thought of all this
by themselves: they copied others, being but two among many. Where the
copying reached its most uncritical extreme was in the origins ascribed
to towns: Paris, the guide-books say, was founded by a Gaul of that
name who lived two hundred years before his namesake of Troy; Haarlem
is also named after its founder "Herr (_i.e._, Mr.) Lem"; Toulouse
dated from the time of the prophetess Deborah; and so on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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