Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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Nürnberg, which appeared at Strassburg, 1525, with fifty charts, but
contains considerable improvements, and gave to the author great
reputation. It is a very remarkable work, considering that Servetus was
then only twenty-six years of age. A year later Calvin astonished the world
with an equally precocious and far more important and enduring work—
the Institutes of the Christian Religion.
The most interesting features in the edition of Villeneuve are his
descriptions of countries and nations. The following extracts give a fair
idea, and have some bearing on the church history of the times: —
“The SPANIARD is of a restless disposition, apt enough of understanding,
but learning imperfectly or amiss, so that you shall find a learned Spaniard
almost anywhere sooner than in Spain. f1056 Half-informed, he thinks
himself brimful of information, and always pretends to more knowledge
than he has in fact. He is much given to vast projects never realized; and in
conversation he delights in subtleties and sophistry. Teachers commonly
prefer to speak Spanish rather than Latin in the schools and colleges of the
country; but the people in general have little taste for letters, and produce
few books themselves, mostly procuring those they want, from France … .
The people have many barbarous notions and usages, derived by
implication from their old Moorish conquerors and fellow-denizens … .
The women have a custom, that would be held barbarous in France, of
piercing their ears and hanging gold rings in them, often set with precious
stones. They besmirch their faces, too, with minium and ecruse—red and
white lead—and walk about on clogs a foot or a foot and a half high, so
that they seem to walk above rather than on the earth. The people are
extremely temperate, and the women never drink wine … . Spaniards are
notably the most superstitious people in the world in their religious
notions; but they are brave in the field, of signal endurance under privation
and difficulty, and by their voyages of discovery have spread their name
over the face of the globe.”
“ENGLAND is wonderfully well-peopled, and the inhabitants are long-lived.
Tall in stature, they are fair in complexion, and have blue eyes. They are
brave in war, and admirable bowmen ....”
“The people of SCOTLAND are hot-tempered, prone to revenge, and fierce
in their anger; but valiant in war, and patient beyond belief of cold, hunger,
and fatigue. They are handsome in person, and their clothing and language
are the same as those of the Irish; their tunics being dyed yellow, their legs