Michel Montaigne

The Essays of Montaigne, Book 2 Michel Montaigne

Of all egotists, Montaigne, if not the greatest, was the most fascinating, because, perhaps, he was the least affected and most truthful. What he did, and what he had professed to do, was to dissect his mind, and show us, as best he could, how it was made, and what relation it bore to external objects. He investigated his mental structure as a schoolboy pulls his watch to pieces, to examine the mechanism of the works; and the result, accompanied by illustrations abounding with originality and force, he delivered to his fellow men in a book. Eloquence, rhetorical effect, poetry, were alike remote from his design. He did not write from necessity, scarcely perhaps for fame. But he desired to leave France, nay, and the world, something to be remembered by, something which should tell what kind of a man he was-what he felt, thought, suffered-and he succeeded immeasurably, I apprehend, beyond his expectations. [Wm. C. Hazlitt, from the Preface to the 1877 edition] This is a well-formatted edition of the 1877 edition, designed for those who simply want to enjoy reading the essays. This volume incorporates Book Two (essays 1-37) of the three books in the Essays.