OF MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE. COMPRISING HIS ESSAYS, JOURNEY INTO ITALY, AND LET- BY W. HAZLITT. A NEW AND CAREFULLY REVISED EDITION, EDITED BY 0. W. WIGHT. Viresque acquirit eundo. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW YORK HURD AND HOUGHTON, 401 BROADWAY BOSTON: WILLIAM VEAZIE MDCCCLXIV vi EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. The final Appendix contains references to the principal opinions that have been passed upon Montaigne and his works. From the more important of these opinions copious extracts have been given. It is, we believe, the completest list of works to be consulted with reference to Montaigne, anywhere to be found. The changes in form, then, consist in the distribution of the matter of Mr. Hazlitt's prolegomena into the two Appendices. We have omitted portions of his longer quotations-especially of those in foreign languages, and have added much that is new. As to the corrections, aided by our intelligent printers, we have verified the quotations in the Essays, not only by recurring to the best French editions, but also to the originals. In this important regard, we sincerely believe that our edition is the most accurate hitherto published, whether in French or English. The completion-already indicated-of the bibliographical and critical notices, the Abridgment of Mr. St. John's Biography, and several letters more recently discovered, and published in no previous English edition of Montaigne's Works, constitute the additions we have made to the edition of Mr. Hazlitt. The Indices have been prepared with unusual care. The typography speaks for itself. We hope the lovers of the wise old Gascon Essayist will find in this edition all they could desire, and to them we cordially dedicate it. O. W. WIGHT. February, 1859. |