The modern conception of the essay as a distinct literary form, and the use of the word "essay" to describe it, have their origin with definiteness in the work of Montaigne, who in 1580 published a volume of essays at Bordeaux; a second edition, with important additions, fol lowed in 1588. A considerable portion of these essays of Montaigne is in the classical and mediaeval tradition,— discourse on moral themes, illustrated with anecdotes and aphorisms col lected from a wide range of reading. But from this type of essay Montaigne developed the more personal type, discoursing on whatever subject came to hand from the standpoint of his individual experience and mood; so that he could say in his address "to the reader": I have no respect or consideration at all either to thy service or to my glory. . . . Myself am the groundwork of my book. It is then no reason thou shouldest employ thy time about so frivolous and vain a subject." To this sort of mood, and the essays that represent it, the whole later development of the "familiar" essay is universally traced.
Montaigne's essays were translated and widely read in England, and the new form became more important across the Channel than in its native land. In 1597 Francis Bacon borrowed the name Essay for a little collection which bore the subtitle (Relieous Meditations', — only 10 in all; in the edition of 1612 the number was increased to 38, in that of 1625 to 58. This collection also became popular, and has remained a classic; but Bacon held rather to the older tradition of the aphoristic essay than to the newer type of Montaigne. In his later writings he gives more unity, and some times more personality, to the form, yet never to the point of becoming *familiar.* S'r William Cornwallis, a contemporary of Bacon's, followed his work with a succession of essays on moral themes (1600, 1610, etc.). The chief successors of Bacon and Cornwallis, in the 17th century, were Felltham (who called his essays Resolves, about 1620), Cowley (who included 11 essays in his collected works of 1668), and Sir William Temple ((Miscellanea,' 1680, etc.). In the Restoration period Dryden may be said to have originated the modern critical essay, in the various prefaces on literary subjects which he was fond of prefixing to his writings. He also revived the dialogue form for the same purpose, in his 'Essay of Dra matic Poesy) (1667). Near the close of the century Defoe began to develop the essay form for the discussion of social, political and edu cational questions, notably in the 'Essay on Projects' (1697). One may also note two other literary types which, going back to much earlier periods, were highly valued in the 17th century and contributed to the art of the essay. The first of these is the "character," originated, as has been mentioned, by the Greek, Theophrastus, whose quasi-essays were now revived and imi tated in both England and France,— notably by Joseph Hall of Vices and Virtues,) 1608), John Earle raphie, or a Piece of the World Discovered in Essays and Characters,' 1628), and Jean La Bruvere caracteres, ou les mceurs de ce 1688). The second type is the epistle, also, as we have seen, of long-standing importance, and newly cultivated in the Re naissance and the succeeding age; notable ex amples of the development of this form in the direction of the literary essay are the Spanish letters of Guevara (d. 1545), which
were translated into English more than once, and came to be called the "Golden Epistles"; the French letters of Jean de Balzac (1624) ; and James Howell's
Ho-Elianm, Familiar Letters Domestic and Foreign' (1645 55). Finally, for the 17th century, it should be observed that the
The early 18th century saw a highly im portant development of the essay in connection with the growth of periodical literature. The beginnings of this movement may be observed in the work of Defoe and even earlier, but its first conspicuous representatives were Steele and Addison, in the several periodicals which they issued singly or jointly; indeed one might say that the new periodical essay was born in Steele's Taller, which began to appear in 1709. Addison presently became Steele's coadjutor, and in the Spectator, begun March 1711, his influence was paramount. The type of essay developed in these periodicals was of fairly fixed length, suited to reading at the breakfast table, and combined in an important way the qualities of the familiar and didactic essay: that is, its purpose was the serious and profit able discussion of social, ethical and literary topics, but the point of view was distinctly personal, being represented as that of a saga cious but whimsical character, named "Mr. Bickerstaff° in the earlier periodical and simply "The Spectator" in the later. The in fluence of these periodical essays of Addison and Steele can scarcely be exaggerated, and it persisted throughout the century, not only in England but on the continent. More than 200 English journals or essay-series of the Spec tator type have been counted for the century 1709-1809, and in France, Germany, Italy and even Russia it was also imitated. In France Marivaux first wrote Addisonian essays for the Mercure, then (1722) issued a Spectateur Francais. In Zurich appeared the Discourse der Mater (1721), essays written by the members of a club headed by Johann Bodmer, under pen-names adopted from famous artists; in Hamburg an essay-periodical called Der Patriot appeared in 1724, and at Leipzig in 1725 Gott sched's Verniinftige Tadlerinnen ("Sensible Fault-finders"). In the direction of literary criticism perhaps the finest results of the move ment in Germany are to be found in certain essays of Lessing's, such as the series called Litteraturbriefe (1759-65) and the Dramaturgy (1767-69). In England the most distinguished successors of Steele and Addison were Dr. Samuel Johnson, who issued The Rambler in 1750-52 and later wrote various series of essays for other periodicals, and Oliver Goldsmith, who contributed essays to The Bee, The Public Ledger, etc. (1759-61). work in the combined familiar and didactic essay is the only rival of the Spectator at its best, whether in charm of manner or quality of substance ; in particular, he develoned skilfully, in a series of essays called The Citizen of the World, an amusing method of commenting on contemporary life from the assumed stand point of a foreigner, which had been availed of by earlier critics, notably Montesquieu in the Lettres Persanes (1721).