G5S 



MONTAIGNE. 



Montaigr.e. and a Gentian domestic, unacquainted with the French 

 '~""Y~ 1 ' language, taught him to express his first ideas in La- 

 tin. At the age of six years, he was sent to the Col- 

 lege of Bourdeaux, then conducted by the most cele- 

 brated preceptors in France, one of whom was our 

 distinguished countryman, George Buchanan Mon- 

 taigne's knowledge of Latin, acquired in a manner so 

 uncommon, was here of some avail to him ; and though 

 we niay be allowed to doubt his assertion, that the 

 masters ' were afraid to accost him,' the instructions 

 of his nurse must have materially contributed to form 

 that minute and extensive acquaintance with classical 

 literature, and that strong tinge of Latinity, for which 

 his writings are SD remarkable. 



After seven years occupied in such studies, Mon- 

 taigne, with the view of becoming a lawyer, engaged 

 in the requisite course of preparation ; but his love of 

 jurisprudence, and his progress in that science, appear 

 to have been equally small. The Parliament of Bour- 

 deaux seldom witnessed his official exertions ; and after 

 his elder brother's death, from the stroke of a tennis- 

 ball, he gladly exchanged the advocate's gown for the 

 sword of a country gentleman. A short time after 

 1560, he married Francoise, daughter of a celebrated 

 pleader, Joseph de la Chassagne ; and, possessing the 

 Chateau de Montaigne, which his father bequeathed 

 to him in 1569, enjoying a competent fortune and do- 

 mestic happiness, he had full leisure to combine rural 

 and intellectual employment, in the most suitable pro- 

 portion. Study seems, however, to have attracted 

 nearly all his attention ; riding afforded a healthful 

 and favourite exercise; he lived remote from the 

 political quarrels which, at that period, distracted his 

 country ; and few avocations enticed him from reading, 

 or committing to paper such reflections as that reading 

 excited, in whatever order they occurred. Before the 

 decease of his father, Montaigne had translated the 

 Natural Theology of Raymond de Sebonde ; and, in 

 1571, he superintended the posthumous publication of 

 his friend, the Sieur de la Boetie's works. He did not 

 appear in the character of an original author, till 1580, 

 when the fruit of his meditations was published under 

 the title of Essays, at Bourdeaux. Eight years after- 

 wards, in a new edition prepared under his eve at 

 Paris, the work was augmented by a third book, and 

 many additions to the part already published. 



In this singular production, Montaigne completely 

 fulfils the promise of ' painting himself in his natural 

 and simple mood, without study or artifice.' And 

 though Scaliger might perhaps reasonably ask, " What 

 matters it whether Montaigne liked white wine or cla- 

 ret ?" a modern reader will not easily cavil at the pa- 

 tient and good-natured, though exuberant, egotism, 

 which brings back to our view ' the form and pressure' 

 of a time long past. The habits and humours, the 

 mode of acting and thinking which characterized a 

 Gascon gentleman in the sixteenth century, cannot fail 

 to amuse an enquirer of the nineteeth; while the faith- 

 ful delineation of human feelings in all their strength 

 and weakness, will serve as a mirror to every mind 

 capable of self-examination. But if details, otherwise 

 frivolous, are pardoned, because of the antique charm 

 which is about them, no excuse or even apology of a 

 satisfactory kind, can be devised for the gross indeli- 



cacy which frequently deforms" these Essays; and as Monfaipmj 

 Montaigne, by an abundant store of bold ideas, and a > ^y^' 

 deep insight into the principles of our common nature, 

 deserves to be ranked high among the great men of his 

 own original age, he also deserves the bad pre-eminence, 

 in love at once of coarseness and obscenity. 



The desultory, careless mode, in which the ma- 

 terials of the Essays are arranged, indicates a feature 

 in the author's character to which his style has likewise 

 a resemblance. With him, more than with any other, 

 words may be called the garment of thought; the ex- 

 pression is frequently moulded to fit the idea, never the 

 idea to fit the expression. The negligence, and occa- 

 sional obscurity of his manner, are more- than compen- 

 sated by the warmth of an imagination, bestowing on 

 his language a nervousness, and often a picturesque 

 beauty, which we should in vain seek elsewhere. 



From the perusal of those Essays, it is natural to in- 

 fer, that the author must have studied men, not only 

 in the closet but the world. Accordingly, we find, that 

 Montaigne had travelled over France, entertained the 

 King in his chateau, and more than once visited the 

 court, where Charles IX. gratified him by spontaneously 

 bestowing the collar of the order of St. Michel. After 

 the first publication of his Essays he did not Jong con- 

 tinue stationary. In this case, however, the desire of 

 viewing foreign countries was but secondary to that of 

 freeing himself from a nephritic disorder which had 

 afflicted him for several years, and which, having no 

 faith in physicians, he sought to alleviate by the use of 

 mineral waters. With this intention he left home in 

 1581, and, attended by several of his friends, traversed 

 Lorrain, Switzerland, Bavaria, and Italy. From the 

 baths of Plombiere, Baden, and Lucca, he came to 

 Rome, where, among other honours that awaited him, 

 he received the freedom of the city, and soon after- 

 wards received intelligence that his countrymen ot 

 Bourdeaux had elected him their mayor*. At the 

 King's command, he returned from Italy to undertake 

 this office ; and his constituents signified their approba- 

 tion of his conduct in it by continuing his appoint* 

 ment for another two years. 



The remaining portion of Montaigne'* life was chief- 

 ly spent in revising his Essays. It was disturbed by 

 the tumults of the League, and finally by the ravages 

 of the pestilence, which compelled him for a short pe- 

 riod to leave his home. One of his last journeys was 

 to Paris for the publication of his works ; and during 

 his return, he remained some days at Blois, to witness 

 the proceedings of the States-General assembled there 

 in 1588. He is said to have predicted to his friend, 

 the famous de Thou, that Henry IV. would embrace 

 the catholic religion, and restore peace to France. 



But the use of mineral waters had not banished 

 Montaigne's hereditary distemper; and his constitu- 

 tion, weakened by it, was unable to sustain the attack 

 of an inflammation of the throat, which seized him in 

 September, 1592. On the 17th of that month, the dis- 

 order had deprived him of the use of speech; but aa 

 his mental faculties remained unimpaired, he desired his 

 wife, in writing, to send for certain of his neighbours, 

 that he might bid them farewell. After the arrival of 

 these persons, mass was said in his chamber. At the 

 elevation of the host, Montaigne, with an effort, raised 



* About fifty years ago, a manuscript account of this journey was accidentally found in the chateau which Montaigne inhabited. Be- 

 ing ascertained to be his composition, it was published in 1774. But neither tlie curiosity attached to every thing which bears the name 

 of Montaigne, nor the learned notes of M. Querlon, are sufficient to make us relish the insignificant and often disgusting contents of a 

 work that seems never to have been at all intended for meeting general inspection. 



