VOLUME I

Page 69 Florio’s version begins thus: “The most vsuall waie to appease those minds wee have offended when revenge lies in their hands, and that we stand at their mercie, is by submission to move them to commiseration and pity; Nevertheless, courage, constancie, and resolution (means altogether opposite) have sometimes wrought the same effect.” I do not pretend to follow the text of Florio, which is grossly inaccurate and illiterate; I merely furnish a few comparative extracts.

Page 79 This turn of sentiment is noticed elsewhere; and compare Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice.

“BASS. Antonio I am married to a wife,
Which is as dear to me as life itself;
But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
Are not with me esteem’d above thy life;
I would lose all—ay, sacrifice them all
Here to this devil, to deliver you.”

Page 83 A surprise of unexpected joy does likewise often produce the same effect:—

“When she beheld me advancing, and saw, with stupefaction, the Trojan arms around me, terrified with so great a prodigy, she

fainted away at the very sight: vital warmth forsook her limbs: she sinks down, and, after a long interval, with difficulty speaks.”

Aeneid.

Page 179 This essay may be advantageously compared with passages in Hamlet, and Measure for Measure.

Page 186 This was in virtue of an ordinance of Charles IX in 1563. Previously the year commenced at Easter, so that the 1st of January 1563 became the first day of the year 1564.

Page 187 Montaigne speaks of him as if he had been a contemporary neighbor, perhaps because he was Archbishop of Bordeaux. Bertrand le Goth was Pope under the title of Clement V., 1305-14.

Page 195 Montaigne, when he went to Italy, carried his Essays with him, probably for the sake of making additions or corrections, as they occurred to his mind; but in his shorter absences from home he seems to have used tablets for current memoranda, as his English contemporaries did. These tablets are mentioned by Shakespeare in Hamlet.

Page 206 Compare Shakespeare, Hamlet.

“Ham. Denmark’s a prison.

“Ros. Then is the world one.

“Ham. A goodly one: in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one of the worst.

“Ros. We think not so, my lord.

“Ham. Why, then, it’s none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

“Your grandsires saw no other things, nor will your nephews.”

Page 229 The Emperor Claudius, who, however, according to Seutonius, only intended to authorise this singular privilege by an edict.

Page 240 Let us take Florio’s rendering of this curious passage: “My opinion is, that he conveied aright of the force of custome, that first invented this tale, how a countrey-woman, having enured herselfe to cherish and beare a young calfe in her armes, which continuing, shee got such a custome, that when he grew to be a great oxe, shee carried him still in her arms.”

Page 242 Compare Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice.

“Lor. . . . . . Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold,
There’s not the smallest orb which thou beholdest,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims.”

QUOTATIONS

Cicero-97-113-138-139-141-143-184-242-247-272-274. Pliny-241. Horace-120-141-162-183-184-187-189-191-195-202. Aeneid-81-106-115-119-151-168-196. Manlius-205-207. Lucan-101-102-120-139. Livy-271. Martial-120. Ovid-81-174-197-217-233-268. Propertius-161-191. Seneca-83-85-99-180-194-205-276. Virgil-234. Lucretius-90-176-177-185-193-196-197-205-206-208-210-240-261. Catullus-82-193. Mithridates-190-206-208-209. Macrobius-176. Petrarch-82. Aristo-115. Ennius-99-107-172. Florus-106. Curtius Quintus-170. La Brebis-133.