which he called "The Voluntary Servitude," but others have very properly re-baptized it,

Against the Government of one Person* :" a piece written in his younger years, by way of essay, in honour of liberty, which has since been commended by men of great learning and judgment, though it is far inferior to what his abilities would have produced in the mare ad-. vanced age, when I had the happiness to know him. Had he adopted my plan, of committing bis thoughts to writing, we should have perused many curious things, which would have rivalled the best writers of antiquity; for in natural parts he never had his equal.

To this treatise I owe a particular obligation, although it came to me by chance, for I believe he never sew it after it went out of his hands. I read it long before I had the good fortune to know him; it gave me the first knowledge of his name, and was the cause of a friendship which was maintained and improved as long as God was pleased to continue us together; a friendship so perfect, that there is hardly its

*It does not appear in this essay, and Montaigne gives his reasons for the omission.

refem

refemblance in ancient ftory, or in the present

age.

But, upon better consideration, I shall not insert this essay, as I have since discovered that it is already printed, with a malicious design, by those who, under pretence of reform, use all the artifice in their power to molest and overturn the present state of our government. As they have added to this essay some of their own leaven, I desist from my purpose, that the memory of the real author may not suffer in the minds of those who were unacquainted with his principles., He wrote this in his early years, by way of exercise only, as a subject already discussed in a thousand books. I make no doubt that he believed what he wrote, being so conscientious, that he would not lie even in jest.

But he had another maxim deeply imprinted on his mind, which was, religiously to obey and submit to the laws under which he was born. There never was a better citizen, nor a man more attached to his country; nor was there ever a greater enemy to all the commotions and innovations of his time: doubt.

lefs,

lefs, therefore, he would much rather have employed his talents in extinguishing those civil flames, than have added fuel to them; for he had a mind framed on the model of better ages.

But to return to my treatise on Friendship. There is nothing to which we are by nature more strongly inclined than to society; and Aristotle says, that good legislators have more respect to friendship than to justice.

What is generally called friendship, does not, indeed, deserve that appellation. It is not purchased by pleasure, cabal, by public or private interrerence; and is neither derived from nature, social intercourse, hospitality, or love.

The correspondence of parts, manners, and inclinations, which is the source of true and perfect friendship, does not always occur among relations; and, moreover, as these friendships are sanctioned by law, we have so much the less choice of voluntary affection.

The attachment of children to parents is rather respect than friendship, by reason of the great disparity, betwixt them. The secret thoughts of fathers should not be communicated to children, lest an improper familiarity should

be

be created: neither can advice and reproof, which is one of the principal offices of friendship, be properly given by the son to the father.

The name of brother does indeed carry with it an amicable and affectionate found; but the complication of interest, the division of estates, the probability of pursuing the same profession for their advancement in life, greatly slacken

the fraternal tie.

I should be unjust, however, if I did not confess that I have in my own person experienced all that can possibly be expected from the natural ties of relationship; having had the best and most indulgent father, even to an extreme old age, who was descended from a family long famous and exemplary for parental, filial, and brotherly concord.

Cicero observes, "real friendships are fortified and confirmed by judgment and length of time." But in our intercourse with the world, those whom we usually call our friends, are' only familiar acquaintance, and do not create or nourish the generous flame, because they mix other designs than simple or pure friendfhip. But the attachment to which I allude,

has

has no other idea than that of itself, and is so interwoven into one piece, that there is no appearance of the seam by which the component parts were first united. If I should be importuned to give the reason for my regard, I can no otherwise express myself than because it was he, because it was I *. The characters which we heard of each other wrought forcibly upon our affections long before we met; we sought an introduction, and on our first accidental

*This quotation, from the elegant author of Fitzosborne's Letters, may not be unacceptable to the reader.

"I do not recollect that any of the moderns have raised their notions of friendship to these extravagant heights, except only a very singular French author, the honest Montaigne, who talks in a more romantic strain upon this subject than even the ancients themselves. But I never knew a sensible man in my life that was not an enthusiast upon some favourite point; as indeed there is none where it is more excusable than in the article of friendship. It is that which affords the most pleasing sun-shine of our days; if, therefore, we see it now and then break out with a more than reasonable warmth, who is there that will not be inclined to pardon an excess, which can only flow from the most generous principles "

meeting