French essayist whose changing reflections explore judgement, custom and friendship. The historical English anthology label is retained alongside contextual reading.
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) developed his Essays across successive editions rather than presenting a closed system. His friendship with Étienne de La Boétie is part of the background to his writing, and he also served as mayor of Bordeaux. Attending to revision and circumstance helps a reader avoid turning one observation into a final rule for every situation. The archive retains its historical English spelling of his name.
In the linked Cotton translation edited by Hazlitt, Book I’s “Of Custom” asks how familiar practices shape judgement. “Of Friendship” reflects on a particular bond rather than offering a general recipe for every relationship. Read the complete essay, including changes of example and the quoted voices within it. This edition supplies related context; the anthology’s wording and references remain their own historical record.
Read one complete essay before collecting its memorable sentences. The two selected Bartlett passages carry references to custom and friendship; their 1562 timeline coordinate is a documented lifetime midpoint, not the composition date of either passage. Cotton’s linked text provides related reading without a claim that it supplied Bartlett’s exact wording. Other Montaigne attribution labels remain separate and unresolved; no quotation wording or dates are backfilled.
Subjects to explore
Editorial reading connections, distinct from the archive’s word matching.
Original agent-assisted editorial profile, checked 2026-10-05. No human review is recorded. Life dates are recorded to the year; they do not date individual quotations.
Checked historical English edition for original reading guidance. Related reading does not authenticate every archive attribution; no new book text or image imported. Reference checked 2026-10-05.