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Faces, Countenances, the ordinary Words and Fortunes of my Ancestors? How attentively fhould I liften to it! In Truth, it would be Ill-nature to defpife even the Pictures of our Friends and Predeceffors, the Fashion of their Cloaths, and of their Arms. I preferve my Father's Writings, his Seal, and one particular Sword of his, and have not thrown the long Staves he used to carry in his Hand, out of my Closet. Clofet. Paterna veftis, et annulus, tanto charior eft pofteris, quanto erga parentes major affectus. A • Father's Robe and Ring are so much the dearer to his Pofterity, in Proportion to the Affection they retain for him.' If my Pofterity, nevertheless, fhall be of another Mind, I fhall be even with them; for they cannot care lefs for me, than I fhall then do for them. All the Traffic that I have, in this, with the Public, is, that I borrow their Writing Tackle, as it is more easy, and at Hand; and, in Recompence, fhall, peradventure, keep a Dish of Butter from melting in the Market.

* Ne toga cordyllis, ne penula defit olivis, Et laxas fcombris fæpe dabo tunicas ‘.

i. e.

I'll furnish Plaice and Olives with a Coat,
And cover Mack'rel when the Sun fhines hot.

Montaigne

talks fo much of himself, that he might the better know himself, and give his own true Character

And though No-body should read me, have I lost my Time in entertaining myself fo many idle Hours, in Thoughts fo pleafing and ufeful? In moulding this Figure upon myself, I have been fo oft constrained to curry and turn myself, as it were, infide out, that the Copy is truly taken, and has, in fome fort, formed itself, But, as I paint for others, I reprefent myself in more exquifite Colouring than in my own natural Complexion. I am as much formed by my Book, as my Book is by me: 'Tis a Book confubftantial with the Author; of a peculiar Tenor; a Member of my Life, and whofe Bufinefs is not defigned for others,

i Aug. de Civitate Dei, lib. i. c. 13. Catullus, Ep. 92. v. 8,

k Mart, lib. xiii. Ep. 1. v. 1.

.

Book II. of Paris, and of his King, in their Service, against his nearest Relations, at the Head of an Army, through his Conduct, Victorious, and with Sword in Hand, at fo extreme an Old-age, merits, methinks, to be recorded amongst the most remarkable Events of our Times: As also the conftant Goodness, Sweetness of Behaviour, and confcientious Facility of Monla Noue. fieur De la Noue, in fo great an Injustice of armed Parties, (the true School of Treafon, Inhumanity, and Robbery) wherein he always kept up the Reputation of a great and experienced Captain.

And of M. De

e

I have taken a Delight to publish, in feveral Places, the Hopes I have of Mary de Gournay le Fars, And of Mary de Gournay. my adopted Daughter, and certainly beloved by me with more than a paternal Love, and involved in my Solitude and Retirement, as one of the best Parts of my own Being. I have no Regard to any Thing in this World but her; and, if a Man may prefage from her Youth, her Soul will, one Day, be capable of the nobleft Things; and, amongst others, of the Perfection of the facred Friendship, to which we do not read that any of her Sex could ever yet arrive; the Sincerity and Solidity of her Manners are already fufficient for it; her Affection towards me is more than fuperabundant, and fuch, in short, as that there is nothing more to be wifhed, if not that the Apprehenfion fhe has of my End, being now Five and fifty Years old, might not so cruelly afflict

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As to the Meaning of thefe Words, Adopted Daughter, fee the Article Gournay in Bayle's Dictionary; where you will find, that this young Lady's Opinion of the firft Effays of Montaigne gave the Occafion for this Adoption, long before the ever faw Montaigne. But here I can't help tranfcribing Part of a Paffage, which Mr. Bayle quoted from M. Pafquier, in the Note A, which contains fome remarkable Particulars of this Sort of Adoption. Montaigne, fays Pafquier, having, in 1588, made a long Stay at • Paris, Mademoiselle de Jars came thither, on Purpose to fee his Perfon; and the and her Mother carried him to their Houfe at Gournay, where ⚫he spent two Months in two or three Journeys, and met with as hearty a • Welcome as he could defire; and, finally, that this virtuous Lady, being informed of Montaigne's Death, croffed almost thro' the whole Kingdom of France, with Paffports, as well from her own Motive, as by Invitation from Montaigne's Widow and Daughter, to mix her Tears with theirs, whofe Sorrows were boundless."

afflict her. The Judgment fhe made of my first Effays, being a Woman fo young, and in this Age, and alone in her own Country, and the famous Vehemency wherewith The loved, and defired me upon the fole Esteem she had of me, before she ever faw me, is an Accident very worthy of Confideration.

Other Virtues have had little or no Credit in this Age, but Valour is become popular by our Civil Valour is beWars; and in this Refpect we have Souls come popular in France. brave, even to Perfection, and in fo great Number, that the Choice is impoffible to be made. This is all of extraordinary, and not common, that has hitherto arrived at my Knowledge.

WE

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CHA P. XVIII.

Of giving the LYE.

• This De

Why Montaigne peaks Jo often of himJelf in this

Work.

ELL, but fome one will say to me, fign of making a Man's Self the Subject of his Writing were excufable in rare and famous Men, who, by their Reputation, had given others a Curiofity to be fully informed of them.' It is moft true, I confefs it, and know very well, that Artificers will scarce lift their Eyes from their Work to look at an ordinary Man, when they will forfake their Workhouses and Shops to ftare at an eminent Perfon, when he comes to Town: It mifbecomes any Perfon to give his own Character, except he has Qualities worthy of Imitation, and whofe Life and Opinions may ferve for a Model. The great Actions of Cafar and Xenophon were a juft and folid Bafis on which to fix and found their Narratives: And it were also to be wished, that we had the Journals of Alexander the Great, and the Commentaries that Auguftus, Cato, Sylla, Brutus, and others have left of their Actions. We love and contemplate the very Statues of

Gg 4

fuch

fuch Perfonages, both in Copper and Marble. This Remonftrance is very true, but it very little concerns me.

"Non recito cuiquam, nifi amicis, idque rogatus *; Non ubivis, coramve quibuflibet: In medio qui Scripta foro recitant, funt multi, quique lavantes.

i. e.

I feldom do rehearse, and when I do
'Tis to my Friends, and with Reluctance too,
Not before every one, and every-where ;
We have too many that Rehearsers are,

In Baths, the Forum, and the public Square,

}

I do not here form a Statue to erect in the Centre of a
City, in the Church, or any public Quadrangle.

Non equidem hoc ftudeo, bullatis ut mihi nugis
Pagina turgefcat:

b

Secreti loquimur ».

i. e.

With pompous Trash to fwell the frothy Line
Is not, indeed, my Friend! what I defign:
Whatever be the Secrets I indite,

To you I trust, to you alone I write.

'Tis for fome Corner of a Library, or to entertain a Neighbour, a Kinsman, or a Friend, that has a mind to renew his Acquaintance and Familiarity with me in this my Picture. Others have been encouraged to speak of themselves, because they found the Subject worthy and rich; I, on the contrary, am the bolder, by reason my Subject is fo poor and fterile, that I cannot be suspected of Oftentation, I judge freely of the Actions of others I give little of my own to judge of, because of their Nothingness I am not fo confcious of any Good in myself, as to tell it without Blushing, What Contentment would it be to me to hear any thus relate to me the Manners, Faces,

:

f Hor. lib. i. Sat. 4. v. 73, &c.

Inftead of coactus, as Horace has it in the firft Verfe, Montaigne haş fubftituted rogatus, which more exactly expreffes his Thought,

Perf. Sat. v. v. 19:

Faces, Countenances, the ordinary Words and Fortunes of my Ancestors? How attentively fhould I listen to it! In Truth, it would be Ill-nature to defpife even the Pictures of our Friends and Predeceffors, the Fashion of their Cloaths, and of their Arms. I preferve my Father's Writings, his Seal, and one particular Sword of his, and have not thrown the long Staves he used to carry in his Hand, out of my Clofet. Paterna veftis, et annulus, tanto charior eft pofteris, quanto erga parentes major affeclus'. ‘A Father's Robe and Ring are fo much the dearer to his Pofterity, in Proportion to the Affection they retain for him.' If my Pofterity, nevertheless, fhall be of another Mind, I fhall be even with them; for they cannot care less for me, than I fhall then do for them. All the Traffic that I have, in this, with the Public, is, that I borrow their Writing Tackle, as it is more easy, and at Hand; and, in Recompence, fhall, peradventure, keep a Dish of Butter from melting in the Market.

k

* Ne toga cordyllis, ne penula defit olivis,

Et laxas fcombris fæpe dabo tunicas'.

i. e.

I'll furnish Plaice and Olives with a Coat,
And cover Mack'rel when the Sun fhines hot.

Montaigne

talks fo much of himself, that he might the better know himself, and give his own true Character,

And though No-body should read me, have I lost my Time in entertaining myfelf fo many idle Hours, in Thoughts fo pleafing and ufeful? In moulding this Figure upon myself, I have been fo oft conftrained to curry and turn myself, as it were, infide out, that the Copy is truly taken, and has, in some fort, formed itself, But, as I paint for others, I reprefent myself in more exquifite Colouring than in my own natural Complexion. I am as much formed by my Book, as my Book is by me: 'Tis a Book consubftantial with the Author; of a peculiar Tenor; a Member of my Life, and whofe Bufinefs is not defigned for others,

i Aug. de Civitate Dei, lib. i. c. 13. ! Catullus, Ep. 92. v. 8,

* Mart, lib. xiii. Ep. 1. v. 1.

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