LANGUAGES. 



foundly imbued with Roman thought, a subtle and tempered savour of which 

 pervaded .his style. His erudition as a philosopher invigorated his genius 

 and his style; his independence, unfettered and yet flexible in its course of 

 action, preserved him from imitative servility ; a painter of the human mind, 

 he knew no model but nature, and could only speak the language which 

 corresponded with his thoughts. He expressed that language without trans- 

 lating it." Montaigne is, in fact, the writer who, before Pascal's time, made 

 the best and most remarkable use of the French language. 



Malherbe seems to have made it his task to free the language from the 

 servitude of Italianism and Hellenism. He did his work with unbending 

 sternness, and he restored to poetry its national characteristics, while main- 

 taining it in the regions of the most majestic lyrism. To him we owe French 

 verse which possessed the primordial features of the French language purity, 

 clearness, and truth. But Henry IV. did more than any one else to renovate 

 the old French language and French wit ; for that king, who hated affecta- 

 tion and despised Greek and Latin pathos, was the personification of common 

 sense. He thought like a philosopher, spoke like a soldier, and wrote at once 

 like Brantome and Amyot. The French language, which tended to become 

 Italian under the Valois, was being made Spanish during the League ; but it 

 once more became essentially French under Henry IV. 



Fig. 302. The Broken Jar. Token of Geoffrey Tory, Bookseller, at Paris, in the first Edition 

 of his " Champfleury," 1529, small folio. 



