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
So much for the Average Tourist at work. Let us now see how he spent
his spare time. It goes without saying that the degree to which the
foreigner enjoyed himself was more or less dependent on the behaviour
of natives. Let us see, first, then, what reception he might expect.
Small boys, of course, are the same yesterday, to-day and forever, but
they were, if possible, somewhat more outspoken then. An ambassador's
wife went to the Hague once, never again, "by reason of the boys and
wenches who much wondered at her huge farthingales and fine gowns, and
saluted her at every turn of the street with their usual caresses of
'Hoore! hoore!'" Concealing herself from view was impossible, no cart
would hold her farthingale. And although with all the detail that is
poured forth concerning the Venetian constitution, the feature in it
which, though informal, has outlasted all the others, that of the
limited despotism of the small boys, is ignored, yet in practice it
was felt; Sastrow, for one, did not forget being pursued with "Tu sei
tedesco, perciò Luterano."
As regards the adults, Frenchmen, or any one dressed in French
fashions, had to beware of the Italian towns where the French had been
masters for a time, and although Strassburg had a gate on the west,
any one coming from the French side had to enter by the east gate.
Commercial quarrels were even more bitter than political. When, for
instance, the English removed their "staple" from Hamburg to Stade,
nearer the mouth of the Elbe, it was not safe for an Englishman to be
seen at Hamburg after the citizens had reached their mid-day stage of
drunkenness. As for theological enmity, a Roman Catholic was saying
his prayers one evening in Frisia with the windows open; an old woman
marked it and came across the street to spit at his inn; the next
morning she came again, to spit at him, and he had to put up with it
for fear of worse happening.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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