^n&er a 2)ogwoo& witb /iDontafgne 



The gaie science of the troubadours, still 

 madly pursued amid wars and plagues, was 

 no exception ; he partook of it and sophis- 

 ticated it with the essence of Montaigne. 



It is but carping to deny a man's ori- 

 ginahty by going a-nosing far along the 

 days, years, centuries behind him, sniff- 

 ing for a scent of something remotely 

 similar to his work. Theocritus invented 

 the pastoral, Montaigne invented the es- 

 say, Villon invented the personal ballad. 

 Doubtless Montaigne had in his library 

 many a book of disquisitions like Cicero's, 

 of causeries like those of Aulus Gellius, 

 and goodly editions of classics by Henri 

 Estienne; but in none of these was there 

 a model for him. Villon's enormous frank- 

 ness may have captivated him. I can 

 imagine with what unctuous and grim 

 satisfaction a man like Montaigne would 

 read " Regrets de la belle Heaulmiere," 

 " Ballade des pendus," and even the 

 doubtful " Les repues franches " ; for he 

 had a taste quickly attracted by human 

 depravity unblushingly confessed. Yet the 

 amorphous beauty of his " Essais " was, 

 252 



