Place this next after the Epistle Dedicatory .

SInce the Death of the Ingenious Translator of these Essays , an imperfect Transcript of the following Letter was intended for the Press , but having the good fortune to meet with a more correct Copy , I thought my self under a necessity of Publishing it with this Third Edition , not only to do Iustice to his Memory , but to the Great Person he Chose for his Patron .

I have to long delay'd my Thanks to you for giving me such an obliging Evidence of your Remembrance : that alone would have been a welcome Present , but when join'd with the Book in the World I am the best entertain'd with , it raiseth a strong desire in me to be better known , where I am sure to be so much pleased . I have till now thought Wit could not be Translated , and do still retain so much of that Opinion , that I believe it impossible , except by one whose Genius cometh up to that of the Author . You have so kept the Original Strength of his Thought , that it almost tempts a Man to believe the Transmigration of Souls , and that his being us'd to Hills , is come into the Moor-Lands to Reward us here in England , for doing him more Right then his Country will afford him . He hath by your means mended his First Edition : To transplant and make him ours , is not only a Valuable Acquisition to us , but a Just Censure of the Critical Impertinence of those French Scribblers who have taken pains to make little Cavils and Exceptions , to lessen the Reputation of this great Man , whom Nature hath made too big to Confine himself to the Exactness of a Studied Stile . He let his Mind have its full Flight , and sheweth by a generous kind of Negligence that he did not Write for Praise , but to give to the World a true Picture of himself and of Mankind . He scorned affected Periods , or to please the mistaken Reader with an empty Chime of Words . He hath no Affectation to set himself out , and dependeth wholly upon the Natural Force of what is his own , and the Excellent Application of what he borroweth .

You see , Sir , I have Kindness enough for Monsieur de Montaigne to be your Rival , but no Body can now pretend to be in equal Competition with you : I do willingly yield , which is no small matter for a Man to do to a more prosperous Lover ; and if you will repay this piece of Justice with another , pray believe , that he who can Translate such an Author without doing him wrong , must not only make me Glad but Proud of being his

MY Design in attempting this Translation , was to present my Country with a true Copy of a very brave Original . How far I have succeeded in that Design is left to every one to judge ; and I expect to be the more gently censured , for having my self so modest an Opinion of my own Performance , as to confess that the Author has suffered by me , as well as the former Translator : though I hope , and dare affirm , that the misinter pretations I shall be found guilty of , are neither so numerous , nor so gross . I cannot discern my own Errours , it were unpardonable in me if I could , and did not mend them ; but I can see his ( except when we are both mistaken ) and those I have corrected ; but am not so ill natur'd as to shew where . In truth , both Mr. Florio , and I are to be excused , where we miss of the sence of the Author , whose Language is such in many Places , as Grammar cannot reconcile , which renders it the hardest Book to make a justifiable version of that I yet ever saw in that , or any other Language I understand : ●nsomuch , that though I do think , and am pretty confident , I understand French as well as many Men , I have yet sometimes been forc'd to grope at his meaning . Peradventure the greatest Critick would in some Places have found my Author abstruse enough . Yet are not these Mistakes I speak of either so many , or of so great importance , as to cast any scandalous blemish upon the Book , but such as few Readers can discover , and they that do , will I hope easily excuse .

The Errors of the Press , I must in part take upon my self , living at so remote a distance from it , and supplying it with a slubber'd Copy from an illiterate Amanuensis ; the last of which is provided against in the Quires that must succeed .

THE Race of Michael Seigneur de Montaigne , in Perigord , was Noble , but Noble without any great lustre till his time : As to Estate , he was seiz'd of above two thousand Crowns of yearly Revenue . He was born to his Father the third in order of Birth of his Children , and by him delivered to Gossips of the meanest Condition to be baptized , with a Design rather to oblige , and link him to those who were likely to stand in need of him , than to such as he might stand in need of : He moreover sent him from his Cradle to be brought up in a poor Village of his , and there continued him all the while he was at Nurse , and longer , forming him to the lowest , and most common manner of Living : Wherein he certainly so well inur'd himself to Frugality and Austerity , that they had much ado , during all the time of his Infancy especially , to correct the refusals he made of things that Children of his age are commonly greedy of ; as Sugars , Sweet-meats , Marchpanes , and the like .

No doubt the Greek and Latin Tongues are a very Fair , and a very great Advance ; but , as he himself observes , they are now adays too dear bought . His Father having made all diligent inquiry that possibly could be amongst the Learned Men for an exquisite method of Education , was caution'd of the inconvenience then in Use , and told , that the tedious time that is employ'd in the Languages of the Ancient Greeks and Romans , which cost them nothing , is the only reason , that we cannot arrive to that grandeur of Soul , and perfection of Knowledge that was in them . The expedient that he found out for this was , that whilst he was at Nurse , and before he began to Speak , he delivered him to the Care of a German , who since died a famous Physician in France , totally ignorant of our Language , and very well vers'd in the Latin Tongue . This Man , that he had brought out of his own Country , and entertain'd with a very great Salary for this purpose , had the Child continually in his Arms , to whom there were added two others more moderately Learned , to attend him , and to Relieve the fir●● , which three entertain'd him with no other Language but Latin . As to the rest of the Family , it was an inviolable Rule , that neither his Father , nor so much as his Mother , Man or Maid , spoke any Word in his hearing , but such as every one had learn'd only to prattle with him . And 't is not to be believ'd how all of them profitted by this Method ; his Father and Mother learn'd by this means Latin enough to understand , and to serve themselves withal at need , as also those Servants did , who were most about his Person . To be short , they did Latin it at such a Rate , that it overflowed to the Neighbouring Villages , where , by Use , several Latin Appellations of Artizans and their Tools , have got footing , and there remain to this day . For his part , he was above six years old before he understood any more of French , or Perigordin , than of Arabick , and without Art , Books , Grammar , or Precepts , without Whipping , and without Tears , he had learn'd to speak as pure Latin as his Master , for he could neither alter it nor mix it . If , for Example , they gave him a Theme , after the College Mode they gave it to others in French , but they were fain to give it him in ill Latin to put it into good : And Nicholas Gronchi , who has writ a Book de Commitiis Romanorum , Guiliaume Guerente , who has writ a Commentary upon Aristotle , George Buchanan , that great Scotch Poet , and Mark Anthony de Mureta , whom both France and Italy acknowledge for the best Orator of his Time , his Domestick Tutors , have oft since told him , that he had that Language in his Childhood so ready , and at hand , they were afraid to accost him .

As to the Greek , his Father design'd to have it taught him by Art , but by a new Method , and that by way of Sport and Recreation , they tost their Declensions to and fro , after the manner of those , who by certain Tricks upon the Chess board , learn Arithmetick , and Geometry : so , amongst other things , he had been advis'd to make him relish Learning and Duty , by an unforc'd Will , and his own Device , and to Educate his Soul with all Sweetness and Liberty , without Austerity or Compulsion . Which he also did to such a degree of Superstition , that seeing some are of Opinion , that it troubles the Brains of Children to be suddenly rous'd in a Morning , and to be snatch'd away from sleep , wherein they are much deeper plung'd than men , with haste and violence ; he always caused him to be waked by the sound of some Musical Instrument , and was never unprovided of a Musician for that purpose .

But as they who are impatient to be cur'd , submit to all sorts of Remedies , and every ones Advice ; the good Man , being extreamly timorous of failing in a thing he had so much set his Heart upon , suffered himself at last to be carried away by the common Opinion , which like Cranes always follow that which went before , and submitted to Custom , having now no more those Persons about him , who had given him the first Instructions , that he had brought out of Italy . And about the sixth Year of his Age sent him to the College of Guyenne , at that time very flourishing , and the best in France . And there it was not possible to add any thing to the Care he had in choosing for him the best Chamber-Tutors , and in all other Circumstances of Education , wherein he reserv'd several particular Forms , contrary to the College Usance ; but so it was , that it was a College still , and this unusual method of Education , was here of no greater advantage to him , than at his first coming to preferr him to one of the higher Classes , for at thirteen Years of Age , he had run thorough his whole Course .

At the Age of three and thirty he married a Wife , though , might he have been left free to his own Choice , he would have avoided marrying , even Wisdom her self , had she been willing . But 't is to much purpose , says he , to resist Custom , and the common Usance of Life will have it so . Nevertheless , this Marriage of his was not Spontaneous , he was put upon it , and led to it by odd Accidents . And as great a Libertine as he confesses himself to be , he more strictly observ'd his Matrimonial Vow , than he expected from , or had propos'd to himself .

His Father left him Montaigne in Partage as the eldest of his Sons , Prophesying that he would Ruine it , considering his Humour ; so little dispos'd to live at home : But he was deceiv'd for he liv'd upon it as he entred into it , excepting , that it was something better , and yet without Office , or any other Foreign helps . As to the rest , if Fortune never did him any violent or extraordinary Offence , so she never shewed him any signal Favour : Whatever he had in his House that proceeded from her Liberality , was there before he came to it , and above a hundred Years before his Time : He never in his own particular had any solid and essential Advantages , for which he stood indebted to her Bounty . She shew'd him Airy , Honorary , and Titular Favours , without Substance ; She procur'd for him the Collar of the Order of St. Michael , which , when young , he covered above all other things , it being at that time the utmost mark of Honour of the French Nobless , and very Rare . But of all her Favours , there was none with which he was so well pleas'd , as an Authentick Bull of a Roman Burgess , that was granted to him with great civility and bounty , in a Journey he made to Rome , which is transcrib'd in Form in the sixth Chapter of the third Book of his Essays .

Messieurs de Bourdeax , elected him Mayor of their City , being then out of the Kingdom , and at Rome , and yet more Remote from any such Expectation , which made him excuse himself ; but that would not serve his turn , and moreover the King interpos'd his Command . 'T is an Office that ought to be look'd upon with the greatest Esteem , as it has no other Perquisits and Benefits belonging to it , than the meer honour of its Execution . It lasts but two years , but may , by a second Election , be continued longer , though that rarely happens . It was to him , and had been so twice before , once some years since to Monsieur de Lausac , and more lately to Monsieur de Byron , Mareschal of France , in whose place he succeeded , and lest his to Monsieur de Matiguon , also Mareschal of France , proud of so noble a Fraternity . His Father , a Man of great Honour and Equity , had formerly also had the same Dignity . All the Children his Wife brought died at Nurse saving Leonor an only Daughter whom he dispos'd in marriage some two Years before his Death .

The first printing of his Essaies was in the Year 1580 , at which time the publick Applause gave him , as he says , a little more assurance than he expected . He has since added , but corrected nothing : His Book having been always the same , saving that upon every new Impression , he took the Privilege to add something , that the Buyer might not go away with his Hands quite empty . His Person was strong , and well knit ; his Fa●e not fat , but full , his Complexion betwixt Jovial and Melancholick , moderately Sanguine and hot ; his Constitution healthful and spritely , rarely troubled with Diseases , till he grew into Years , that he begun to be afflicted with the Cholick and Stone . As to the rest , very obstinate in his hatred , and contempt of Physicians Prescriptions ; an hereditary Antipathy ; his Father having liv'd threescore and fourteen Years , his Grand-father threescore and nine ; and his great Grandfather almost fourscore Years , without having ever tasted any sort of Medicine .

He died in the Year 1592 ▪ the 13th . of September , a very constant , and Philosophical Death , being aged fifty nine Years , six Months , and eleven Days ; and was buried at Bourdeaux , in the Church of a Commendary of St. Anthony , now given to the Religious Feuillantines : where his Wife Francoise de la Cassaigne , and his Daughter , have erected for him an honourable Monument , having , like his Ancestors , past over his Life and Death in the Catholick Religion .