My white beard gives warmth to my breast." With a charming simplicity, Talpa informs us of certain circumstances in his life and some features in his character.

"Descended," he tells us, "from a noble family, and destined from childhood for the ecclesiastical state, I was taught grammar and music.

I learnt to read under the guidance of a master who was called Amicus, and who would have been better named Inimicus.

As I did not easily attain to a knowledge of my letters, he beat me violently with rods so that I can say that he printed the alphabet in strokes upon my back." In another passage Talpa confesses his natural inclination towards pleasure.

These are his expressive words: "In my youth the ardour of my senses was such that in the shadow of the woods I experienced a sensation of boiling in a pot rather than of breathing the fresh air.