xan&er a 2)ogwoo& xoitb /iDontafgne 



tury, it is amazing to review the range 

 and variety of Montaigne's facts. He dug 

 at the root of everything in sight — with a 

 primitive hoe, to be sure ; and the bulbs he 

 unearthed have been but slightly modified 

 by three centuries of tireless cultivation. It 

 is his way of whistling and soliloquizing 

 while at work, however, that most capti- 

 vates us ; there his humor breaks forth, and 

 there his gentle virility flowers ; we look 

 ahead, while deep in his philosophy, for the 

 next shallowing and rippling of the stream, 

 — almost any figure will serve in speak- 

 ingof the " Essais," — and are not in the least 

 surprised no matter what comes to the 

 surface ; for his materials, although they 

 appear hopelessly incongruous, somehow 

 fall together and generate beautiful affini- 

 ties, or some filament of delicious sophistry 

 joins them as a spider's web links drops of 

 dew and dangling flies. 



In the forty-sixth essay of the first book 

 we have a peep at the method used by 

 Montaigne in collecting his materials. It 

 is not an essay, but the outline of one, a 

 succession of items with running remarks 

 294 



