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his Thought, that it almoft tempts a Man to believe the Tranfmigration of Souls, and that his being used to Hills, is come into the Moor-Lands, to reward us here ' in England, for doing him more Right than his Country ⚫ will afford him. He hath by your Means, mended his first Edition. To tranfplant and make him ours, is not ⚫ only a valuable Acquifition to us, but a just Censure of the critical Impertinence of thofe French Scriblers, who have taken Pains to make little Cavils and Exceptions to leffen the Reputation of this great Man, whom Nature hath made too big to confine him to the Ex⚫actness of a ftudied Stile. He let his Mind have it's 'full Flight, and fheweth, by a generous Kind of Negligence, that he did not write for Praise, but to give the World a true. Picture of himself, and of Mankind. He ⚫ fcorned affected Periods, or to please the mistaken Reader with an empty Chime of Words. He hath no Affec⚫tion to fet himself out, and dependeth wholly upon the ⚫ natural Force of what is his own, and the excellent Application of what he borroweth.

You fee, Sir, I have Kindness enough for Monfieur de Montaigne to be your Rival; but No-body can now pretend to be in equal Competition with you: I do willingly yield it is no fmall Matter for a Man, to do to a more profperous Lover; and if you will repay this Piece of Juftice with another, pray believe, that he who can tranflate fuch an Author without doing him wrong, muft not only make me glad, but proud of being his

Very humble Servant,

HALLIFAX."

To the Commendation of Montaigne, and his ingenious Tranflator, by fo great a Man, it will be needless to add more; but it may be prefumed the Reader will here expect to be fatisfied, wherein this is fo much preferable to any of the former Editions in English.

Mr. Cotton indeed fucceeded to a Miracle in his Tranflation of fo celebrated a Piece: And we are thoroughly

perfuaded

6

perfuaded that very few Frenchmen, except perhaps fome Natives of Guienne, were they to undertake the Task, would find themselves capable of turning Montaigne's Effays into modern French, with the fame Spirit, and the fame Juftice to the Author; but yet our Tranflator was far from infallible. He had certainly one of the most difficult Books in the World to ftruggle with, as he complained himself in his Preface, when he fays, the Language of his Original, was in many Places fo ungrammatical and abftruse, that though he understood • French as well as any Man, he had fometimes been forced to grope for his Meaning." It is no Wonder then that his Tranflation was often miftaken in the true Senfe of the Author, any more than that the Stile of it fhould after above seventy Years, appear in many places uncouth and obfolete. Indeed the latter was polished or rather modernized in fome Pages of our laft Edition, but in the present one, it is corrected and improved throughout, befides the rectifying of many Miftakes, which Mr. Cotton probably would not have been guilty of, if he had been affifted by thofe Dictionaries published fince his Time, that are the beft Explainers of the Gafcon Language, which was Montaigne's Mother Tongue.

This new Edition of ours will, it is prefumed, be received by the Publick, with the more Favour, not only because the Editor had thofe Helps fo neceffary for explaining the Author's true Meaning, but because this Edition is made conformable to that accurate French Edition of these Effays, in 1724 (the laft and beft that ever was made) by PETER COSTE, who formerly tranflated many of Mr. LOCKE's excellent Tracts with Applaufe, into the French Language, and was therefore encouraged in the Compiling of the faid Edition of Montaigne's Effays, by the Subscription of many of our Chief Nobility and Gentry.

After fubmitting our beft Efforts for doing it Justice, to the Candor of the Publick, we refer them to what Mr. Cofte himself has faid, of the Preference of his to all the other French Editions.

PREFACE of PETER de COSTE,

TO HIS

French Edition of MONTAIGNE'S ESSAY S.

A

LL Men of good Senfe have been long agreed as to the Meritof MONTAIGNE's Effays. For my own Part, I do not pretend to make a formal Harangue in their Praife, nor to enter into a Difcuffion of the Criticisms that have been paffed upon them: For as to their Merit, I can add nothing to what has been already faid of it by others; and a perfuaded, that fuch as fhall read the Work, with any Application, will be eafily convinced of the Weakness of most of thofe Criticisms.

But there is one Thing upon which I cannot help making. fome Reflections, before I fhew the Advantages of this Edition above those which have been published hitherto; and that is the noble Candour Montaigne has demonftrated throughout the whole Book, and from which he has not once departed.

Montaigne has been very much cenfured for having made himself so much the Subject of his Book: But this Objection has been refuted a thousand Times, and I have heard it very often repeated in Company, where I could eafily perceive, that they who made it were not very well acquainted with Montaigne's Manner of Painting himself, in this Book. He has done it with fo much Sincerity, that there is all the Reason in the World, to believe that he engaged in fo difficult an Undertaking, not so much out of Vanity, as to communicate Inftruction. 'Tis however certain, that the Picture he has here drawn of. bimfelf, is in the Nature of a faithful Mirror, wherein all Men may discover some of their own Features, if they will but take the Trouble to view themselves in it atten

tively,

tively, and with an honeft Defign to fee what they are in reality. And to good Purpose will it be; for in this World, a Man must be very careful to infpect himself, or by living at Random, be inceffantly expofed to the Derifion of other Men, and be a Prey to his own Foibles, always in Uneafinefs and Confufion, and always repining at Evils, of which he will neither know the Caufe, nor the proper Remedy. If as Montaigne fays, very well upon this Occafion, the World complains, that I fpeak too much of myself, I complain that they do not fo much as think of themfelves. Would Men but try to imitate Montaigne's Freedom, and paint themselves in their genuine Colours, they will foon perceive the Undertaking not to be fo blameable, as it is difficult to

execute.

The Generality of Mankind are fo blinded by a false Complaifance to themselves, and by an unjustifiable Kind of Shame, that, far from being able to unmask themselves to the Publick, with that amiable Sincerity which appears in Montaigne, they have not even the Courage to pry into the fecret Receffes of their own Hearts, in order to make a private Discovery to themselves of their own Foibles, Levities, and the true Motives of their Actions. That undoubtedly is the Reason why, of so many Writers who have appeared in print fince Montaigne, and of whom most have been but faint Imitators, (a Tribe which has ever been the most numerous in the Republick of Letters) there has not appeared one who attempted to walk in his Steps.

This is fo remarkable, that the Duke of Buckingham, Marquis of Normanby, &c. famous for a nice Difcernment, and a Judgment which was never fufpected of being clouded by an idle Complaifance, or ill grounded Prejudices, took Occafion from hence to pass a noble Compli ment upon Montaigne. For, after having mentioned CICERO and Lord Chancellor BACON, as two excellent Geniuses, whofe Conduct was fo inconfiftent with the wife Maxims which adorned their Writings, he says that thofe two celebrated Authors would have done much A 4

Book iii. Chap. ii.

more

*

more Service to the Publick, if they had given it a candid and particular Account of the true Caufes of that Contradiction. But he adds we must never expect so much Sincerity in any Writer, except the incomparable Montaigne, who is like to ftand alone to all Pofterity. I know very well continues the Duke of Buckingham, that Montaigne is charged with Vanity, but in my Opinion without Reafon-And suppofing it true that he has not been altogether exempt from it, never did any Perfon take fo right a Method to disguise it; for as all his Vanity was to publifh his Foibles and Imperfections as freely as his good Qualities, it was a Vanity of a very particular Species, and perhaps would deferve

another Name.

Montaigne fpeaks of his Book, with the fame Frankness as he does of himself.

Befides the Quotations with which he has inriched it, he confeffes ingenuously that he has concealed the Names of many celebrated Authors, whofe Reasons and Comparisons he has tranfplanted into his Work, purposely to awe those rafh Cenfurers, who no fooner fee a new Book come out, but they let about criticifing it; moreover, fo far was he from a Thought of appropriating the Sentiments of another Writer to himself, that he fayst, be fhould love any one that could by a clear Judgment strip him of his borrowed Feathers. For my own Part, I have not taken a great deal of Pains, to trace thofe foreign Thoughts, yet I have difcovered a good Number of them, in each Volume, tho' more by Chance, or by Memory, than by that Sort of Difcernment, which Montaigne requires in those who fhould undertake to diveft him of his Plumage.

He tells us with the fame Franknefs ‡, that he afpires every where to rife to an equality with his Thefts, and to go the fame Pace with them, but he adds, 'tis as much owing to bis Application, as his Invention. Indeed his Book abounds with Paffages taken from the best Authors, which he has made his own, by cloathing them in a Drefs quite new, and often more delicate and fplendid than what they wear

in

* Vol. 2. p. 266, of the Works of John Sheffield Duke of Buckingham. + Vol. 2. of Montaigne's Effays, Chap. x. Of Books. Vol. 1. Chap. xxv. Of the Education of Children.