XHnDer a H)0GW00b wttb /IDontaigne 



condemned him outright; he fought so 

 cleverly for and against both. The doc- 

 tors of divinity fared as doubtfully at 

 his hands as the dispensers of drugs; yet 

 who treated religion more honestly than 

 he? 



Montaigne was a lord ; he lived at a 

 time and in a country not the least suited 

 to our present political ideas, certainly not 

 encouraging to democratic liberty. In 

 some way, however, he reached a point of 

 view from which he looked over into the 

 fair domain of human brotherhood. While 

 stickling for the distinction of conventional 

 nobility he laid down the broad rule of 

 individual liberty and manhood equality. 

 Freedom was a personal right, as he re- 

 garded it, a self-privilege, with the function 

 of examining and deciding all things. 

 What is seen is seen through one's self; 

 what is known is known through one's self. 

 The man is all men to himself. '' La plus 

 grande chose du monde, c'est de scavoir 

 estre a soy." (*' The greatest thing in the 

 world is to know how to belong to one's 

 self.") Upon this sort of foundation- 

 282 



