How to Live (56 page)

1
On early nineteenth-century responses, especially to Montaigne’s friendship with La Boétie, see Frame,
Montaigne in France
17–23. Sand: Sand, G.,
Histoire de ma vie
(Paris: M. Lévy, 1856), VIII: 230–1. Lamartine: “All that I admire in him,” “because it is you,” and “friend Montaigne”: Lamartine to Aymon de Virieu, May 21 [1811], July 26, 1810, and Nov. 9, 1809, respectively, in Lamartine I:290, I:235, I:178.

2
On visits to the tower, see Legros. On the state of the château before nineteenth century: Willett 221.

3
Compan and Gaillon: cited Legros 65–75.

4
“I have no great experience”: II:12 520. “I like temperate and moderate natures”: I:30 177. “My excesses do not carry me very far away”: III:2 746. “The most beautiful lives”: III:13 1044.

5
Lamartine turns against Montaigne: Lamartine to Aymon de Virieu, 21 May [1811], in Lamartine I:290. Sand “not Montaigne’s disciple”: George Sand to Guillaume Guizot, July 12, 1868, in Sand, G.,
Correspondance
(Paris: Garnier, 1964–69), V: 268–9.

6
On Tasso: II:12 441. Poetry requires “frenzy”: II:2 304. But “The archer who overshoots the target”: I:30 178.

7
“No poet”: Chasles, P.,
Etudes sur le XVIe siècle en France
(Paris: Amyot, 1848), xlix. “Stoic indifference”: Lefèvre-Deumier, J.,
Critique littéraire
(Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1825–45), 344. On both, see Frame,
Montaigne in France
15–16. “Moderation sees itself as beautiful”: Nietzsche,
Daybreak
167 (Book IV, s. 361).

8
On Renaissance ecstasy, see Screech 10.

9
“Transcendental humors frighten me”: III:13 1044.

10
Mediocrity: III:2 745. Human and subhuman: III:13 1044.

11
Living appropriately: III:13 1037. “There is nothing so beautiful”: III:13 1039.

12
West, R.,
Black Lamb and Gray Falcon
(London: Macmillan, 1941), II:496–7.

1
On the question of who was behind the attack on Coligny, see Holt 83–5. On the St. Bartholomew’s massacres in general, see Diefendorf, and Sutherland, N. M.,
The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew and the European Conflict 1559–72
(London: Macmillan, 1972). Montaigne says nothing about the massacres in the
Essays
, but he may have written about them in his diary, the Beuther
Ephemeris
—pages are missing for August 24 and October 3, the dates of massacres in Paris and Bordeaux, respectively. Perhaps he regretted what he had written and removed the pages, or perhaps his descendants did. See Nakam,
Montaigne et son temps
192.

2
The story of the Lussaults is quoted in Diefendorf 100–2. On purification by fire and water: Davies, N.Z., “The rites of violence,” in her
Society and Culture
152–87, esp. 187.

3
On the death toll, see Holt 94 and Langer, U., “Montaigne’s political and religious context,” in Langer (ed.),
Cambridge Companion
14.

4
The Bordeaux massacres: Holt 92–4. Singing and lutes in Orléans: Holt 93. Interpretation of children’s involvement, superhuman scale of events, and Roman medal: Crouzet II: 95–8. Charles IX’s medals: Crouzet II: 122–3.

5
Jean La Rouvière: cited in Salmon, J. H. M., “Peasant revolt in Vivarais, 1575–1580,” in
Renaissance and Revolt
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 221–2. See Holt 112–14.

6
Imminent Apocalypse: see Cunningham and Grell 19–91, which also analyzes each “horseman” in turn. Werewolf, twins, and nova: Crouzet II: 88–91. “Final ruin”: Gournay,
Apology for the Woman Writing
[etc.] 138. Postel: Crouzet II: 335.

7
The Devil’s last great effort: see Clark 321–6. Wier: Wier, J.,
De praestigis daemonum
(Basel: J. Oporinus, 1564), cited in Delumeau, 251. Bodin and witches: Bodin, J.,
On the Demon-Mania of Witches
, tr. R. A. Scott (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 1995), a translation of
De la Démonomanie des sorciers
(Paris: I. Du Puys, 1580), 200 (“legal tidiness”) and 198 (public rumor “almost infallible”). On revival of medieval techniques such as swimming and searing: Clark 590–1. The witch panic would remain at its height until around 1640, peaking at
different times in different parts of Europe, and resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Torture is useless: II:5 322–3. “Putting a very high price”: III:11 961.

8
Antichrist: Africa/Babylon story reported in Jean de Nury’s
Nouvelles admirables d’un enfant monstre
(1587), cited Crouzet II:370. Raemond: Raemond,
L’Antichrist
. See Magnien-Simonin, C., “Raemond, Florimond de,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
849–50.

9
Zeal: Crouzet II: 439–44.

10
Radical Protestant publications of this period include François Hotman’s
Francogallia
(mostly written earlier, but published 1573 and very popular in the wake of the massacre), Theodore de Bèze’s
Du Droit des magistrats sur leurs subiets
(1574) and the
Vindiciae contra tyrannos
of 1579, by Hubert Languet, though some attribute it to Philippe Duplessis-Mornay. See Holt 100–1.

11
Stories of Henri III’s sartorial and behavioral excesses are mostly based on Pierre de L’Estoile, an intermittently reliable Protestant memoirist. L’Estoile, P. de,
The Paris of Henry of Navarre as seen by Pierre de l’Estoile
, ed. N. Lyman Roelker (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958). Eating with forks, wearing nightclothes, washing hair: Knecht,
Rise and Fall
489.

12
Montaigne on penitential processions: I:26 140. On the vagueness of predictions: I:11 34–5. Witchcraft as imagination: III:11 960–1.

13
Dangers of imagination: Del Rio, M.,
Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex
(1599) and Lancre, P. 212
De l’Incrédulité et mescreance du sortilège
(1622), both cited in Villey,
Montaigne devant la postérité
360, 367–71. See Courcelles, D. de, “Martin Del Rio,” and Legros, A., “Lancre, Pierre Rostegui de,” both in Desan,
Dictionnaire
243–4, 561–2.

14
Politiques:
Crouzet II:250–2. “He wears the skin of a lamb”: Dieudonné, R. de,
La Vie et condition des politiques et athéistes de ce temps
(Paris: R. Le Fizelier, 1589), 17.

15
Politiques’
accusations against Leaguists: see e.g.
Lettre missive aux Parisiens d’un Gentilhomme serviteur du Roy
 … (1591), 4–5, cited in Crouzet II:561. Montaigne: “Our zeal does wonders” and “There is no hostility”: II:12 393–4.

16
Politiques
thought everything would calm down: see e.g. Loys Le Caron’s
De la Tranquillité de l’esprit
(1588), Saint-Germain d’Apchon’s
L’Irenophile discours de la paix
(1594), and Guillaume du Vair’s
La Constance et consolation ès calamitez publiques
(1594–95). Crouzet II: 555–7.

17
Foremost among critics who consider Montaigne’s experience as dominated by war is Frieda Brown: see Brown, F.,
Religious and Political Conservatism in the
Essais
of Montaigne
(Geneva: Droz, 1963). On this issue, see Coleman, J., “Montaigne and the Wars of Religion,” in Cameron (ed.),
Montaigne and his Age
107. Montaigne: “I am amazed to see” and “Whoever considers”: I:26 141. “It will be a lot”: II:16 577. “I do not despair about it”: III:9 892.

18
Lipsius letters: Justus Lipsius to Montaigne, Aug. 30, 1588, and Sept. 18, 1589, cited Morford, M. P. O.,
Stoics and Neostoics: Rubens and the Circle of Lipsius
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), 160.

19
Zweig unimpressed by
Essays
at first: all these remarks from Zweig, “Montaigne” 8–9.

20
Zweig’s exile: Zweig,
World of Yesterday
430–2. “I belong nowhere”: ibid. xviii.

21
“The similarity of his epoch”: Zweig to Jules Romains, Jan. 22, 1942, cited Bravo Unda, G., “Analogies de la pensée entre Montaigne et Stefan Zweig,”
Bulletin de la Société des Amis de Montaigne
11, no.2 (1988), 95–106. “In this brothership”: Zweig, “Montaigne” 10.

22
The question for a person of integrity: Zweig, “Montaigne” 14. “He has none of the rolling tirades”: ibid. 15. Montaigne’s use of his failings: ibid. 76.

23
Rules extracted by Zweig: Zweig, “Montaigne” 55–8.

24
Suicide note: reproduced in appendix to Zweig,
World of Yesterday
437.

25
Nothing left but one’s naked existence: Zweig, “Montaigne” 10. “Only a person”: ibid. 7. Leonard Woolf: Woolf, L. 18–19.

26
Macé-Scaron: Macé-Scaron 76.

27
Flaubert: Gustave Flaubert to Mlle Leroyer de Chantepie, June 16, 1857, cited Frame,
Montaigne in France
61.

1
Details of all early
Essays
editions in “Sources”; also see Sayce and Maskell. Millanges: see Hoffmann 66–83. On both Millanges editions (1580 and 1582), see Blum, C., “Dans l’Atelier de Millanges,” in Blum & Tournon (eds),
Editer les
Essais
de Montaigne
(79–97). On the first edition’s print run: Desan, P., “Édition de 1580,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
297–300, this 300.

2
La Croix du Maine: La Croix du Maine 329. The
Essays
also featured in Antoine Du Verdier’s similar bibliography,
La Bibliothèque d’Antoine Du Verdier, seigneur de Vauprivas
(Lyon, 1585), entry on “Michel de Montaigne,” 872–81. The
Essays
did better than Montaigne expected: III:9 895. “A public article of furniture”: III:5 781.

3
“Sir, then Your Majesty must like me”: La Croix du Maine 329. Cf. Montaigne’s description of his book as “consubstantial with its author”: II:18 612.

4
Red wine: Scaliger and Dupuy both cited in Villey,
Montaigne devant la postérité
73. From red to white to red: III:13 1031. “Effrontery”: Malebranche,
La recherche de la vérité
(1674), 369, cited Marchi 48. Pascal: Pascal,
Pensées
no. 534, p. 127.

5
Pattison: Pattison, M., review article in
Quarterly Review
198 (Sept. 1856), 396–415, this 396. “Twaddling”: St John, B.,
Montaigne the Essayist
(London: Chapman & Hall, 1858), I: 316–17. “The very man,” “the kernel”: Sterling 323–4.

6
“I turn my gaze inward”: II:17 606. On this passage, see Starobinski 225–6. Also see Coleman 114–15, disputing this translation. On the
Essays
as a Baroque or Mannerist work, see: Buffum; Butor; Sayce, R.A., “Baroque elements in Montaigne,”
French Studies
8 (1954), 1–15; Nakam, G., “Montaigne manieriste,” in her
Le dernier Montaigne
195–228; Rigolot, F., “Montaigne’s anti-Mannerist Mannerism,” in Cameron and Willett (eds),
Le Visage changeant de Montaigne
207–30. Montaigne: “Grotesques” and “Monstrous bodies”: I:28 164. Horace on poetry: Horace,
Ars poetica
1–23.

7
Writing with rhythm of conversation: II:17 587. He speaks of his
“langage coupé”
in his instructions to the printer in the Bordeaux copy: see Sayce 283.

8
“Of a hundred members and faces”: I:50 266.

9
“Of Coaches”: III:6 831–49. On the title of this essay: see Tournon, A., “Fonction et sens d’un titre énigmatique,”
Bulletin de la Société des Amis de Montaigne
19–20 (1984), 59–68, and his entry “Coches,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
175–6. “Of Physiognomy”: III:12 964–92.

10
Thackeray: see Dédéyan I:288. “Often they only denote it by some sign” and “words … in a corner”: III:9 925. See McKinley, M. B.,
Words in a Corner: Studies in Montaigne’s Latin Quotations
(Lexington, KY: French Forum, 1981).

1
“Perpetual variety of the forms of our nature”: III:9 904. “Honest curiosity”: I:26 139. Feeling presence of his classical heroes: III:9 928. “Rub and polish”: I:26 136.

2
Sluicing out stones: Travel Journal, in
The Complete Works
, tr. D. Frame, 1243. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather: II:37 702. Venetian turpentine: Travel Journal 1143. The goat: II:37 718–19. On spas: II:37 715–16.

3
On his route and dates of travel, see the Travel Journal, in
The Complete Works
, tr. D. Frame.

4
Mattecoulon took part in two killings, while acting as second in someone else’s duel. He was saved from prison only by the French king’s direct intervention. All this, as Montaigne commented, in obedience to a code of honor that made no sense. II:27 639; Travel Journal 1257. On another young man who left in Padua, M. de Cazalis, see Travel Journal 1123.

5
On traveling conditions: Heath, M., “Montaigne and travel,” in Cameron (ed.),
Montaigne and His Age
121–32; Hale 145–8. Montaigne’s change of route: Travel Journal 1130.

6
Montaigne’s preference for riding: III:6 833–4. On river travel: III:6 834, Travel Journal, 1092 and 1116. On seasickness: Travel Journal, 1123. Riding more comfortable during a kidney-stone attack: III:6 833–4, III:5 811.

7
Going with the flow: III:9 904–5. “If it looks ugly on the right”: III:9 916. On Virginia Woolf: Woolf, L.,
Downhill All the Way
(London: Hogarth, 1968), 178–9. “Roll relaxedly”: II:17 605.

8
No path: Travel Journal, 1115.

9
Late starts: III:9 905; III:13 1024. Eats local food in local style, and wishes he had his cook: Travel Journal 1077, 1086–7.

10
Other travelers closed up in themselves: III:9 916–17. “In truth there entered”: Travel Journal 1087.

11
Keeping the journal in Italian: III:5 807. His Italian was good, though not flawless, and early published editions of the Journal tidied it up somewhat. See Garavini, F., “Montaigne: écrivain italien?” in Blum and Moreau (eds),
Études montaignistes
117–29, and Cavallini, C., “Italianismes,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
515–16. Handkerchief in Augsburg: Travel Journal 1096–7.

12
Christening: Travel Journal, 1094–5. Synagogue: ibid. 1119. Circumcision: ibid. 1152–4.

13
White beard and eyebrow: Travel Journal 1063. Cross-dressing and sex changes: ibid. 1059–60.

14
Swiss table manners and bedrooms: Travel Journal 1072, 1077.

15
Birdcage: Travel Journal 1085. Ostriches: ibid. 1098–9. Hair-duster: ibid. 1096. Remote-control gates: ibid. 1099–100.

16
Fugger gardens: Travel Journal 1097–8.

17
Michelangelo: Travel Journal 1133.

18
The Travel Journal: after being found and published, it was deposited in the royal library and should now be in the Bibliothèque nationale, but at some point it went missing. We now have only the 1774 published version, plus a handwritten copy with a different text. See Moureau, F., “La Copie Leydet du
Journal de Voyage,”
in Moureau, F. and Bernouilli, R. (eds.),
Autour du Journal de voyage de Montaigne
(Geneva & Paris: Slatkine, 1982), 107–85; and his “Le manuscrit du
Journal de Voyage:
découverte, édition et copies,” in Michel et al. (eds),
Montaigne et les
Essais
1580–1980
289–99; and Rigolot, F.,
“Journal de voyage,”
in Desan,
Dictionnaire
533–7. “Three stools”: Travel Journal 1077. “In front and behind”: ibid. 1078. “As big and long as a pine nut”: ibid. 1243. Swiss stoves: ibid. 1078.

19
On the secretary: see Brush, C. B., “The secretary, again,”
Montaigne Studies
5 (1993), 113–38, esp. 136–8.
The secretary probably came from Montaigne’s own household: he shows familiarity with local towns around the estate: Travel Journal 1089, 1105. Long speeches: Travel Journal 1068–9, 1081.

20
Poland or Greece, and “I never saw him less tired”: Travel Journal 1115.

21
Venice: Travel Journal 1121–2. On Franco, see Rigolot, F., “Franco, Veronica,” in Desan,
Dictionnaire
418.

22
Ferrara: Travel Journal 1128–9. Meeting Tasso: II:12 441. Fencing in Bologna: Travel Journal 1129–30. Trick gardens: ibid. 1132, 1135–6.

23
Entering Rome: Travel Journal ibid. 1141–3.

24
Inquisition officials: Travel Journal 1166. “It seemed to me”: 1178.

25
Rome intolerant but cosmopolitan: Travel Journal 1142, 1173. Roman citizenship:
Essays
II:9 930; Travel Journal 1174.

26
Sermons, disputations, and prostitutes: Travel Journal, 1172. Vatican library: ibid. 1158–60. Circumcision: ibid. 1152–4.

27
Audience with Pope: Travel Journal 1144–6.

28
Penitential procession: Travel Journal 1170–1.

29
Exorcism: Travel Journal 1156. Execution of Catena: ibid. 1148–9; cf. II:11 382 on violence to dead bodies.

30
Tops of walls: Travel Journal 1142. Tops of columns: ibid. 1152.

31
Spoils of Seneca and Plutarch: II:32 661. Mental exertion required: Travel Journal 1150–1.

32
Goethe: Goethe, J. W.,
Italian Journey
, tr. W. H. Auden and E. Mayer (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970; repr. 1982): “All the dreams”: 129 (entry for Nov. 1, 1786); “I am now in a state of clarity”: ibid. 136 (entry for 10 Nov. 1786). Freud: Freud, S., “A disturbance of memory on the Acropolis,” in
Works
, tr. and ed. J. Strachey (London: Hogarth, 1953–74), 22 (1964), 239–48, this 241. “The Rome and Paris that I have in my soul”: II:12 430. “I enjoyed a tranquil mind”: Travel Journal 1239.

33
Loreto: Travel Journal 1184–5. La Villa: ibid. 1210, 1240–6.