MONTAIGNE -MONTALEMBERT. 



chosen mayor of Bourdeaux, bestowed tlie greatest 

 care on the cultivation of young Michel's promising 

 talents, but adopted a peculiar mode of education. 

 In order to facilitate his son's acquisition of the 

 Latin language, which he had himself found difficult, 

 he employed a German tutor, entirely ignorant of 

 French, but complete master of Latin, before the 

 child had left the nurse's arms; and as all the family 

 were never permitted to speak any other language 

 in the presence of the child, he had the pleasure of 

 seeing the infant so completely matriculated into it 

 as to be obliged to learn the French as a foreign 

 tongue. " We all Latinized," says Montaigne, " at 

 the castle, in such a manner that several Latin ex- 

 pressions came into use in the villages around, which 

 exist to this time." Greek he learned in the usual 

 manner, after it had been attempted in vain to delude 

 him into a knowledge of it. The treatment of his 

 father was peculiar in some other respects ; thus he 

 caused him to be waked in the morning by the 

 sound of musical instruments, lest the genius of the 

 boy should be injured by his being roused too sud- 

 denly; he allowed him the most unrestrained indul- 

 gence in his plays, and endeavoured to lead him to 

 the faithful performance of his duties solely by in- 

 spiring him with a sense of right and wrong. Mon- 

 taigne always shows the greatest regard for his 

 father's memory. At the age of thirteen, he had fin- 

 ished his studies at the college of Bourdeaux, under 

 Grouchy, Buchanan, and Muret. His father destined 

 him for a judicial station, and married him somewhat 

 later to Frangoise de la Chassaigne, daughter of a 

 counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux. Montaigne 

 was for some time a parliamentary counsellor, but 

 his aversion to the duties of the station led him to 

 retire from it. The study of man was his favourite 

 occupation. To extend his observations, and to 

 restore his health, which had been shattered by the 

 attacks of a hereditary disease (the stone), he travel- 

 led in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and was 

 everywhere received with great distinction. At 

 Rome, which he visited in 1581, he received the 

 title of a Roman citizen. In 1582, he was chosen 

 mayor of Bourdeaux, and the citizens of that place 

 were so well satisfied with his administration, that 

 they sent him to the court (in 1584), to attend to 

 their interests there. Without doubt, the order of St 

 Michael was conferred on him by Charles IX., at 

 this time, without any solicitation on his part, as has 

 been reported. After making several other journeys of 

 business, he returned to his castle, and devoted him- 

 self entirely to philosophy. His quiet, however, was 

 disturbed by the troubles which distracted France in 

 consequence of the cruel persecutions of the Hugue- 

 nots ; his castle was plundered by the leaguers, and 

 he himself was ill treated^ by their adversaries. To 

 these causes of distress was added the plague, which 

 broke out in Guyenne, in 1586, and compelled him to 

 leave his estate, with his family, and wander through 

 the country, which was then the theatre of all kinds 

 of atrocities. He then resided some time in Paris, but 

 finally returned home, and died in 1592, after much 

 bodily suffering, with the composure of a philosopher. 

 Montaigne has described himself in his celebrated 

 Essais ; but he confesses only the lighter faults. He 

 acknowledges himself indolent and averse to re- 

 straint, and complains of the badness of his memory. 

 He had few of what are commonly called friends, 

 but to his chosen intimates he was warmly attached. 

 He loved to converse on familiar terms with educated 

 men, whose observations were teints d'un jugement 

 mdr et constant, et melts de bonte, de franchise, de 

 gaiete et d'amitie. He was also fond of the society of 

 handsome and intelligent women, although he says 

 one should be on his guard against them. The ima- 



gination lie considered a fruitful source of evil. He 

 liml many ideas on education which have been revived 

 in our times, without his receiving the credit of them ; 

 he wished that children should enjoy both physical 

 and moral freedom ; swathing he considered as inju- 

 rious, and was of opinion that habit would enable us 

 to dispense with all clothing. His views on legisla- 

 tion and the administration of justice enlightened his 

 own age and have been useful to ours. He endeav- 

 ouri-d to simplify the laws and legal processes, and 

 very justly remarks that laws are often rendered futile 

 or injurious by their excessive rigour. His moral 

 system was in general indulgent, but on some points 

 strict. Speculative philosophy he rejected, devoting 

 himself to the lessons of experience. He studied 

 human nature in children and illiterate peasants. 

 Equally removed from a general scepticism and from 

 dogmatism, he was accustomed to suggest possibilities 

 instead of making assertions, and to throw liirht on his 

 subject from every point. His motto was Que sais- 

 je ? His great work, his Essais (first published in 

 1580, and often republished and translated into many 

 languages), contains a treasure of wisdom. It may 

 still be deemed one of the most popular books in the 

 French language. The essays embrace a great vari- 

 ety of topics, which are touched upon in a lively en- 

 tertaining manner, with all the raciness of strong, 

 native good sense, careless of system or regularity. 

 Sentences and anecdotes from the ancients are inter- 

 spersed at random with his own remarks and opin- 

 ions, and with stories of himself, in a pleasant strain 

 of egotism, and with an occasional license, to which 

 severer casuists can with some difficulty reconcile 

 themselves. Their style, without being pure or cor- 

 rect, is simple, bold, lively, and energetic, and, 

 according to La Harpe, he " impressed on the 

 French language an energy which it did not before 

 possess, and which has not become antiquated, be- 

 cause it is that of sentiments and ideas, and not alien 

 to its idiom. It is not a book we are reading, but a 

 conversation to which we are listening ; and he per- 

 suades, because he does not teach." The best 

 edition is that of Coste (3 vols. 4to, London, 1724). 

 His style, though not always pure and correct, accu- 

 rate and elevated, is original, simple, lively, bold, 

 and vigorous. Besides his Essays, his Voyages 

 deserve mention, although not intended for publica- 

 tion. Montaigne also translated, at the request of 

 his father, a treatise on natural theology, by Ray- 

 mond Sebonde. There are two English translations 

 of the Essays, one by Charles Cotton, and an earlier 

 one by John Florio. 



MONTALEMBERT, MARC RENE, marquis de, 

 born at Angouleme, in 1714, entered the army in his 

 eighteenth year, served in the campaign of 1733, and 

 distinguished himself at the sieges of the Keiil and 

 Philippsburg. As a reward for his services, the 

 company of the prince of Conti's guards was given 

 him. After the peace, he devoted his leisure to the 

 sciences, and entered the academy in 1747, whose me- 

 moirs contain some of his papers, no less remarkable 

 for the originality of their ideas than for their purity 

 and elegance of style. During the seven years' war, 

 he was stationed with the Russian and Swedish 

 armies, and, at later periods, was sent to Brittany 

 and the isle of Oleron, the latter of which he fortified 

 on his new system. In 1779, he erected a wooden 

 fort on the island of Aix, which astonished scientific 

 men by its strength and completeness. His extrava- 

 gance obliged him, in 1790, to sell his estate in the 

 Angoumois, for which he received payment in as- 

 signats, and passed the rest of his life in poverty. 

 As a partisan of the revolution, he (1789) surren- 

 dered his pension, which had been conferred on him 

 on account of the loss of an eye. During the stormy 



