TUnSer a DogwooJ) witb /iDontafgne 



among plebeian children, while Latin was 

 dinned in his ears by tutors who could not 

 speak French. At the same time Greek 

 had a turn at him with the aid of an ob- 

 ject-lesson performance. 



Montaigne, the chateau where Michel 

 was born, a little way from Bordeaux, at- 

 tracted attention in those days, and has 

 ever since, being one of the favored spots 

 sought out by distinguished wayfarers and 

 avoided by plunderers. The boy had his 

 run there before going down to the Col- 

 lege de Guienne, where he began in his 

 seventh year, with such teachers as George 

 Buchanan and Marc Antoine Muret, the 

 curious course then set for pupils of tender 

 age. And for seven years he was ground 

 between the upper and nether stones of 

 that huge mill, where two thousand boys 

 like him swelled a universal tide of longing 

 for release. Then, not yet fourteen, he 

 escaped from the college and took up the 

 study of law! A year later we find him 

 watching the progress of a riot in Bor- 

 deaux ; and when he was about twenty- 

 five he saw the siege of Thionville, at 

 290 



