Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne was a Gascon nobleman and magistrate who retired at thirty-eight to the tower of his château to read and write, and invented the essay, the trial of one’s own thoughts on a subject. The Essays, on cannibals, friendship, cruelty, experience, and above all himself, grew through three editions between 1580 and his death, becoming more personal and more sceptical, with the question what do I know as their motto. He was mayor of Bordeaux and a go-between in the wars of religion. Shakespeare read him in Florio, Pascal argued with him, and every essayist since has been his descendant.