When we ascended again to the court of the castle, the custodian,
abetted by his wife, would have interested us in two memorable wells
there, between which, he said, Hugo was beheaded; and unabashed by the
small success of this fable, he pointed out two windows in converging
angles overhead, from one of which the Marquis, looking into the
other, discovered the guilt of the lovers. The windows are now walled
up, but are neatly represented to the credulous eye by a fresco of
lattices.

Valery mentions another claim upon the interest of the tourist which
this castle may make, in the fact that it once sheltered John Calvin,
who was protected by the Marchioness Renée, wife of Hercules II.; and
my _Servitore di Piazza_ (the one who knows how to read and write)
gives the following account of the matter, in speaking of the domestic
chapel which Renée had built in the castle: "This lady was learned in
belles-lettres and in the schismatic doctrines which at that time were
insinuating themselves throughout France and Germany, and with
which Calvin, Luther, and other proselytes, agitated the people,
and threatened war to the Catholic religion. Nationally fond of
innovation, and averse to the court of Rome on account of the
dissensions between her father and Pope Julius II., Renée began
to receive the teachings of Calvin, with whom she maintained
correspondence. Indeed, Calvin himself, under the name of Huppeville,
visited her in Ferrara, in 1536, and ended by corrupting her mind and
seducing her into his own errors, which produced discord between
her and her religious husband, and resulted in his placing her in
temporary seclusion, in order to attempt her conversion. Hence, the
chapel is faced with marble, paneled in relief, and studied to avoid
giving place to saints or images, which were disapproved by the almost
Anabaptist doctrines of Calvin, then fatally imbibed by the princess."