The memory of his father, however, and the commands of the king induced Montaigne to accept the mayoralty; and he seems to have discharged it neither better nor worse than an average magistrate. He was re-elected at the close of his term. His second term of office terminated in 1585; and in 1588 after a visit of some length to Paris, the third book of the Essays was published, together with the former ones considerably revised. The new essays, as has been remarked, differ strikingly from the older ones in respect of length ; and the whimsical unexpectedness of the titles reappears in but two of them : "Des Coches" and "Des Boiteux." They are, however, identical with the earlier ones in spirit, and make with them a harmonious whole—a book which has hardly been second in influence to any of the modern world.
lifetime, was reprinted by MM. Dezeimeris and Burckhausen in 187o. That of Le Clerc (3 vols., 1826-28) and in a more compact form that of Louandre (4 vols., 1854) have been most useful; but that of MM. Courbet and Royer (1872-19oo) is at present the standard ; a more recent edition is by P. Villey (1922). The Journal, long neglected and still (vide supra) doubtful, was re-edited by Professor A. d'Ancona (Citta. di Castello, 1895) and translated into English by W. G. Waters (1903). The Oeuvres completes were edited by A. Armaingaud in 1924. Modern books of importance are P. Bonnefon's Montaigne, l'homme et l'oeuvre (1893) and P. Stapfer's Montaigne (1895) in the Grands ecrivains, the latter a book of remarkable excellence. Edme Champion's Introduction aux essais may also be noticed, and Professor Dowden's Montaigne (19o5), which has an excellent bibliography. The
somewhat earlier Montaigne of M. E. Lowndes (Cambridge, 1898) is noteworthy in especial for its attention to his life and character.
In England Montaigne was early popular. It was long supposed that the autograph of Shakespeare in a copy of Florio's translation showed his study of the Essays. The autognaph has been disputed, but divers passages, and especially one in The Tempest, show that at first or second hand the poet was acquainted with the essayist. The book best worth consulting on this head is J. Feis's Shakespeare and Montaigne (1884). Towards the latter end of the 17th century, Cotton, the friend of Izaak Walton, executed a complete translation, which, though not extraordinarily faithful, possesses a good deal of rough vigour. It has been frequently reprinted with additions and alterations; W. C. Hazlitt's edition (1892) was reprinted in 1923. Reprints of Florio are also numerous. One in the "Tudor Translations" (1893) has an introduction by G. Saintsbury ; a recent translation of the essays is by E. J. Trechmann (2 vols., 1927). An English biography of Montaigne by Bayle St. John appeared in 1858, and Walter Pater's unfinished Gaston de Latour borrows from Montaigne and his story. The most noteworthy critical handling of the subject in English is unquestionably Emerson's in Representative Men. See also E. Sichel, Michel de Montaigne 0910 ; J. Prevost, La Vie de Montaigne (1926).