mnber a Boawoo^ wttb /IDontaigne 



From a Royal Street second-hand book- 

 stall I had brought a large one-volume 

 copy of ** Essais de Michel de Montaigne" 

 (1854). The pages were exquisitely mil- 

 dewed, and some former owner, probably 

 a priest, had marked and annotated many 

 passages not especially orthodox. Three 

 or four other books, all of them about 

 Montaigne, made up the pile, the latest 

 in date being *' Michel de Montaigne : A 

 Biographical Study. By M. E. Lowndes." 

 A book of genuine interest. Is it Miss, 

 Mrs. or Mr. Lowndes? I do not know; 

 but a womanly literary note predominates 

 on every page, wherefore I risk the fem- 

 inine pronoun in acknowledging my in- 

 debtedness. It is a book densely packed 

 with well-digested information culled from 

 widely scattered and, not infrequently, 

 unexpected sources. To be sure, what 

 the French admirers of Montaigne had 

 left for any newcomer to pick at in the 

 way of original investigation was scarcely 

 worth searching after ; but what this author 

 has done will be pleasantly acceptable to 

 English readers. She has brought to- 

 244 



