Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 3, Issue 17, March, 1859 | Page 2

took two; a magistrate's of the upper house, three; a lady, four; a
baroness, five; a countess, six; and what a duchess, if one ever appeared
there, did to maintain her dignity in the eyes of God and man, unless
she mounted into the pulpit, it is quite impossible to conjecture. Aeneas
Sylvius gives it as his opinion that these things were used as a
protection against the cold, which to his Italian blood seemed very
great But that notion was surely instilled into the courtly churchman by
some fair, demure Bâloise; for had it been well-founded, the
sentry-boxes would have risen and fallen with the thermometer, and not
with the rank of the occupant.
The walls of the churches were hung around with the emblazoned
shields of knights and noblemen, and the roofs were richly painted in
various colors, and glowed with splendor when the rays of the sun fell
upon them. Storks built their nests upon these roofs, and hatched their
young there unmolested; for the Bâlois believed, that, if the birds were
disturbed, they would fire the houses.
The dwellings of men of any wealth or rank were very curiously
planned, elaborately ornamented, richly painted, and adorned with
magnificent tapestry. The tables were covered with vessels of wrought
silver, in which Sylvius confesses that the Bâlois surpassed even the
skilful and profuse Italians. Fountains, those sources of fantastic and
ever-changing beauty, were numerous,--so numerous, says our
afterward-to-be-infallible authority, that the town of Viterbo, in

Tuscany, had not so many,--and Viterbo was noted for its beauty, and
for being surrounded with the villas of wealthy Italians, who have
always used water freely in the way of fountains.
Bâle, although it then--four hundred and twenty years
ago--acknowledged the Emperor for its sovereign, was a free town, as it
is now; that is, it had no local lord to favor or oppress it at his pleasure,
but was governed by laws enacted by representatives of the people. The
spirit of a noble independence pervaded the little Canton of which it
was and is the capital. Though it was fortified, its stone defences were
not strong; but when Sylvius tells us that the Bâlois thought that the
strength of their city consisted in the union of its inhabitants, who
preferred death to loss of liberty, we see what stuff its men were made
of, and why the town was free.
Among its peculiarities, Bâle had no lawyers,--this happy and united
Bâle. The Bâlois did not trouble themselves about the Imperial law,
says Sylvius; but when disputes or accusations were brought before the
magistrates, they were decided according to custom and the equity of
each case. They were nevertheless inexorably severe in administering
justice. A criminal could not be saved either by gold, or by intercession,
or by the authority and influence of his family. He who was guilty must
be punished; and the punishments were terrible. Criminals were
banished, hung, beheaded, broken on the wheel, drowned in the Rhine,
(a bad use to which to put that "excellent river,") left to starve on a
gradually diminished supply of bread and water. To compel
confessions, tortures inconceivably horrible were used, to which the
alternative of death would have been a boon; and yet there were not
wanting those among the Bâlois who would endure these torments
rather than utter their own condemnation.
They were devoted to religion, and held in great reverence the pictures
and images of the Saints; but not on account of any admiration of the
skill of painter or sculptor; for they cared little for the arts, and were so
ignorant of literature that "no one of them had ever heard of Cicero or
of any other orator."
The men of Bâle were of noble presence, and dressed well, although
they avoided magnificence. Only those of knightly rank wore purple;
the wealthy burghers confined themselves to black velvet; but their
wives, on fête-days, blazed in splendid silk and satin and jewels. The

boys went with naked feet, and, adds the reverend divine, the women
wore upon their white legs only shoes. There was no distinction of age
by costume, among the women,--a very great singularity in those days,
when every stage and rank of life was marked by some peculiar style of
dress; but in Bâle the face alone distinguished the young girl from the
matron of mature years. It may, however, be doubted by some, whether
this is peculiar to the town of Bâle or to the time of Sylvius. The men
were addicted to voluptuous pleasures; they lived sumptuously, and
passed a long time at table. In the words of our churchman, "They were
too much devoted to Father Bacchus and Dame Venus,"--faults which
they deemed venial. But he adds, that they were jealous of their honor,
and held