Boucquey Thierry (General Editor). Encyclopedia Of World Writers. 3 volumes

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Much of his personal writing is taken up with his

inner struggles, but he expresses his feelings most

forcefully in his poetry.

Michelangelo’s long life came to an end on Feb-

ruary 18 in Rome, and he was buried in Florence.

During the course of his life, he had witnessed as-

tonishing changes in the world around him and

had created some of the greatest works of art the

world has ever known.

Critical Analysis

Michelangelo is known to history because of his

extraordinary achievements in sculpture and

painting, and it is said that he preferred the phys-

ical labor involved with both. However, he wrote

numerous works, including letters, diary entries,

and poems. While his letters and diary entries are

often overlooked, they reflect his complicated and

contradictory personality, as well as his view of

the world, which was shaped by the time in which

he lived.

His literary abilities are most marked in his po-

etry, which he wrote throughout his long life.

Many of his poems are addressed to both men and

women, while his mystical religious poems are ad-

dressed to no one in particular. Dealing with deep

emotional issues, his poetry is not so subtle as that

of many other poets, which perhaps is a reflection

of his artistic inclinations.

At times, Michelangelo wrote of his sculpting,

giving form to the thoughts and emotions he ex-

perienced while performing his master talent. In

“On the Painting of the Sistine Chapel,” for exam-

ple, he describes the physical demands of painting

on a ceiling:

In front my skin grows loose and long; behind,

By bending it becomes more taut and strait;

Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow. . . .

(trans. by W. S. Merwin)

At other times, he speaks of love—either for

sculpting stone or for God. He combines both pas-

sions in “‘Night’ in the Medici Chapel”:

Sleep’s very dear to me, but being stone’s

Far more, so long as evil persevere.

It’s my good fortune not to see nor hear:

Do not wake me; speak in the softest tones.

(trans. by William Jay Smith)

Some of his best poetry was addressed to a

woman named Vittoria Colonna, who was a cul-

tured woman, poet, and Michelangelo’s closest

friend. The two of them engaged in an enduring

exchange of letters and poems, celebrating their

friendship and respect for each other, combining

their mutual interests of Platonic philosophy and

devout Catholicism. Their relationship was appar-

ently entirely platonic in nature.

Michelangelo also wrote numerous

SONNETS

and other poems to various men that subtly re-

flect his underlying homosexuality. His style

seems to have been influenced by PETRARCH and

POLIZIANO.

Although Michelangelo will forever be known

for his sculpture and paintings, his poetry is also

an expression of his brilliant mind. The influence of

his creative talents continues to change the percep-

tions of what art and artists are supposed to be.

English Versions of Works by

Michelangelo Buonarroti

The Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Michelan-

gelo. Translated by Creighton E. Gilbert and edited

by Robert N. Linscott. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton

University Press, 1990.

The Drawings of Michelangelo. Introduction by Irving

Stone. Master Draughtsman Series. Los Angeles:

Borden Publishing, 1999.

The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation.

Translated by James M. Saslow. New Haven,

Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993.

Works about Michelangelo Buonarroti

Bull, George. Michelangelo: A Biography. New York:

St. Martin’s Griffin, 1995.

Cagno, Gabriella di, et al. Michelangelo. New York:

McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Michelangelo Buonarroti 187

Symonds, John A. Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,

2001.

Milton, John (1608–1674) poet, essayist,

dramatist

John Milton was born in London and educated at

Christ Church College, Oxford. In the years fol-

lowing college graduation, he wrote several endur-

ing poetic works, including Comus (1634), a

masque or verse play, with musical interludes; Ly-

cidas (1637), an elegy for a drowned classmate; and

L’All eg ro and Il Penseroso (ca. 1632), a contrasting

pair of poems celebrating, respectively, convivial

pleasures and the solitary, contemplative life.

A journey to France and Italy, begun in 1638,

was cut short by the political situation in England.

King Charles I’s long-brewing conflict with Parlia-

ment was about to explode in the English Civil

War, which would culminate in Charles’s execution

(1649) and a period of non-monarchical govern-

ment called the Commonwealth, in which Milton

became an important official.

Milton devoted much of his early career to

writing polemical tracts. Among the more famous

is The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1642), in

which he argues that the grounds for divorce

should include spiritual incompatibility. The essay

was probably inspired by his estrangement from

his wife, Mary Powell, who returned to her par-

ents shortly after her marriage to Milton. Mary

later reunited with her husband and bore him

three daughters before her death, at age 27, in

1652. Milton married twice more. His second wife

died in childbirth in 1658, which led Milton, in his

sorrow, to write the moving SONNET that begins,

“Methought I saw my late espoused saint....”

The title of the Areopagitica (1644) refers to a

tract of the same name by Isocrates. The essay was

a response to an act of Parliament that instituted

prepublication censorship. Milton argues that

truth can emerge through only debate:

Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew

Truth put to the worse in a free and open en-

counter?

Although it had little impact in its day, the Are-

opagitica influenced the arguments of many later

proponents of freedom of the press, including the

framers of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

One of Milton’s most famous sonnets, “On His

Blindness,” was composed during this period. By

1652, Milton’s eyesight, which had been failing for

many years, was gone. After this, Milton wrote

through dictation.

Milton’s greatest works, published during the

late 1660s and early 1670s, are the epic poem Par-

adise Lost (1667), which tells the story of the fall of

Adam and Eve; its sequel, Paradise Regained

(1671), which deals with the redemption of hu-

manity through Christ; and the drama Samson Ag-

onistes (1671), which portrays the revenge of the

blind biblical hero Samson.

Many consider Paradise Lost one of the greatest

poetic works in English and world literature, sub-

lime in both subject and style. Milton summarizes

the poem in his opening invocation to the muse, in

which he urges her to sing:

Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast

Brought Death into the World, and all our

woe....

He concludes the first section with a plea to the

muse to help him “justifie the wayes of God to

men.”

The action opens in Hell, as Satan and his fol-

lowers recover from defeat after their rebellion

against God. Satan vows to continue his revenge on

Earth and to tempt Adam and Eve to evil. Despite

warnings by Raphael, Eve succumbs to Satan’s

praise of her beauty and the seeming reasonable-

ness of his arguments. She then tries to convince

Adam to do as she has done and taste the forbid-

188 Milton, John

den fruit. Despite his understanding of the conse-

quences, Adam eats the fruit because he cannot

bear to have eternal life while Eve is condemned to

die. The central dilemma of faith at the heart of

Milton’s epic is that human reason is flawed, for

God’s truth cannot be arrived at by reason.

Many scholars and critics who have read Par-

adise Lost have been seduced by Satan fully as

much as Eve was. The Romantics, in particular,

found Satan to be magnificent in his defiance and

admirable in his rebellion. In the 20th century,

Milton’s Eve has inspired almost as much contro-

versy as his Satan. Although modern readers may

be somewhat put off by many of Milton’s attitudes

toward women, which are indicative of his time,

no one with a taste for poetry can ignore the sheer

beauty of his verse.

Works by John Milton

Areopagitica and Other Prose Works. Whitefish,

Mont.: Kessinger, 2004.

The Poetical Works of John Milton. IndyPublish.com,

2003.

The Riverside Milton. Edited by Roy Flannagan. New

York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Works about John Milton

Fish, Stanley Eugene. How Milton Works. Cambridge,

Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Lewalski, Barbara. The Life of John Milton: A Critical

Biography. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.

Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)

(1622–1673) playwright, actor

Molière was born the oldest of six children at the

so-called Monkey House, a large, centuries-old

dwelling in an elegant quarter of Paris near the

Louvre, to Jean Poquelin the younger, King Louis

XIII’s tapissier (master merchant upholsterer/fur-

nisher), and Marie Cressé, the daughter of a pros-

perous colleague in the trade who also carried the

title of bourgeois de Paris, an honor bestowed on

those Parisians who attained a certain level of af-

fluence and social refinement. Molière lost his

mother at age 10, his stepmother Catherine

Fleurette at age 14, and both his maternal grand-

parents at age 16.

As an adolescent, he attended the Collège de

Clermont located in the Latin Quarter near the

Seine River. This large, competitive Jesuit school at-

tended by the elite was the trendiest secondary

school in Paris at the time, offering a rigorous clas-

sical humanities curriculum including Latin and

Greek, rhetoric, acting, debate, philosophy, science,

and theology. Evidence suggests he later studied law,

possibly at Orléans, and perhaps philosophy as well.

On December 14, 1637, Molière inherited his

father’s title and office of tapissier du roi and spent

at least one summer on the royal military cam-

paign trail by the Mediterranean shores. He was in

charge of arranging one of two tents that served as

royal field palaces and contained identical sets of

King Louis’s furnishings. But the lure of the stage,

stimulated by his grandfather Cressé’s passion for

the theater, the many plays staged at the Collège

de Clermont, and the numerous street perform-

ances he undoubtedly witnessed in his native Paris

neighborhood, proved too intense for the young

Jean-Baptiste to ignore. In 1643 he ceded his royal

office to his brother Jean, equally shedding the sta-

tus of a potential law career, and formed the Illus-

tre Théâtre troupe with his mistress, Madeleine

Béjart, a beautiful and talented actress four years

his elder. The troupe’s beginnings, however, were

fraught with difficulty. Catering to the tastes of the

time, the actors performed traditional tragedies

featuring male heroes, with Madeleine as their star

actress. They produced their plays inside a leased

indoor tennis court, yet they failed to attract a suf-

ficiently large audience. Soon they could not make

ends meet. Molière was arrested and jailed until a

friend posted bail, and after only two years the Il-

lustre Théâtre was doomed.

For the next 13 years, Molière and Madeleine

lived the lives of itinerant artists, mostly in the

Molière 189

southern provinces where they obtained the pa-

tronage of the prince de Conti, under whom

Molière embarked on his career as a playwright.

In 1658 the actors returned to Paris to perform at

court under the protection of Monsieur, King

Louis XIV’s brother. Molière’s first successful play,

Les Précieuses ridicules (The Folly of Affection),

which ran for 34 almost-sold-out consecutive per-

formances, testified to the author’s extraordinary

talent and ingenuity for comedy. King Louis XIV

was enthralled by the play, and henceforth Molière

was destined to become, as Judd Hubert remarks

in his Molière and the Comedy of Intellect, “by far

the greatest creator of dramatic forms in the en-

tire history of French literature, comparable in this

respect to Shakespeare.”

Molière worked incessantly, completing 19 plays

in quick succession, most of them commissioned,

during a decade that witnessed a series of magnifi-

cent masterpieces such as The Misanthrope, Dom

Juan, Tartuffe, The School for Wives, The Would-be

Gentleman, and The Miser. Besides his busy role as

author, he functioned as manager and accountant

of his troupe, as well as producer, director, and

main actor of its plays. The band performed theater

in Paris but also provided often elaborate enter-

tainments—such as the renowned Pleasures of the

Enchanted Isle—featuring sophisticated set design,

music, dance, fireworks, reflecting pools, fountain

shows, and dramatic amusement. All of this enter-

tainment was provided at the king’s behest during

special festivals at various châteaux when the court

resided outside the capital.

When he was 40, Molière married Armande Bé-

jart, 20 years his junior and daughter of his former

mistress, Madeleine, and, some unconventional

historians intimate, perhaps his very own. In his

writing, he turned completely to comedy, and the

public, both noblemen and bourgeois, regularly

thronged the Palais-Royal Theater to see his plays.

However, the plays’ increasingly satirical vein and

strong social criticism, which often clashed with

traditional morality as well as religious and social

norms, made Molière some enemies. In Molière,

A Theatrical Life, Virginia Scott states, “Molière

argues that since the duty of comedy is to correct

men while diverting them, he had thought it ap-

propriate to render this service to the honorable

people of the kingdom.” He mocked the high aris-

tocracy, the nouveaux-riches, physicians, pedants,

cuckolds, précieuses (women espousing a style of

excessive refinement), and, of course, religious

hypocrites. The notable Tartuffe controversy pit-

ting the author against ecclesiastical authority

raged for five years until Louis XIV finally allowed

a modified version of the play to be staged. Later,

Molière’s falling-out with composer Lully, with

whom he had a very successful partnership for the

production of comédie-ballets, caused him the loss

of his rights to several of his works. But Molière

also had influential courtly and literary allies at

Versailles, such as LA FONTAINE, RACINE, and

BOILEAU, not to mention the Sun King himself.

On February 17, 1673, an ill and weak Molière

acted the role of the Hypochondriac in the fourth

performance of the play by the same name. Aware

of his feebleness, his wife begged him not to per-

form that day but he refused to let down all the the-

ater workers who depended on him for their

livelihood. He managed to get through nearly all his

lines until he was seized with a convulsion, which

he attempted to cover up with laughter. He died an

hour later while awaiting the arrival of a priest; be-

cause he had not renounced his life as an actor, Ar-

mande had to appeal to the king to be allowed to

bury her husband in consecrated ground, albeit in

a nighttime ceremony. The very chair in which

Molière acted during his last performance remains

on display to this day at the Comédie-Française.

In his Life of Monsieur de Molière, Mikhail Bul-

gakov tells of his colleague Zotov recounting a scene

that may well have taken place between Molière’s

friend, the prince de Condé, and King Louis XIV:

“The king is coming. He wishes to see Molière.

Molière! What’s happened to him?” the prince

asks.

“He died,” someone tells him.

The prince, running to Louis, exclaims,

“Sire, Molière is dead!”

190 Molière

Louis removes his hat and states with con-

fidence: “Molière is deathless!”

Seven years after his death, Molière’s troupe

merged with two other Parisian companies, giving

birth to the illustrious Comédie-Française, to this

day the premier stage in all of France and the right-

ful “House of Molière.”

Critical Analysis

Virginia Scott recounts Molière biographer

Grimarest’s recording of the following exchange

between Louis XIV and Molière at a court din-

ner: “Look, isn’t that your doctor? What does he

do for you?”“Sire,” answered Molière,“we reason

together; he orders remedies for me; I don’t take

them, and I get well.” Discouraged by his declin-

ing health and the inability of the medical pro-

fession to cure him, Molière satirizes its

inefficient and dogmatic procedures in his last

comédie-ballet entitled Le Malade imaginaire

(The Hypochondriac; The Imaginary Invalid).

Ever the sharp observer of society, Molière once

again chose a major character flaw as his com-

edy’s subject. Its star is Argan, played by Molière

himself, who lives among his potions and drugs,

and surrounds himself with a bevy of doctors

and apothecaries. They rule his world, often con-

fusing medicine with religion, as they require

strict adherence to a barrage of ritual bleedings,

purges, and prescriptions. When Argan misses

one of his treatments, the irate doctor Purgon

chastises him and condemns him to a litany of

ailments and even death: “dysentery, dropsy, and

deprivation of life.” Against the wishes of his dis-

traught daughter, Argan vows to provide himself

with a physician son-in-law to have at his beck

and call.

In step with a recurrent leitmotiv in Moliere’s

plays, here, too, the servant provides the voice of

reason amidst the madness. Keenly aware that pre-

tense can be cured only by make-believe, chamber-

maid Toinette enters her master’s realm of fakery

by impersonating an illustrious physician in this

famous exchange from Act III, Scene 10:

TOINETTE: What on earth are you doing with

this arm?

ARGAN: What?

TOINETTE: There is an arm I would cut off

straight away if I were you.

ARGAN: But why?

TOINETTE: Don’t you see that it is taking all

of the nutrients, and that it is keeping the other

side from benefiting?

The play ends in a frenzied grand finale where the

hypochondriac is consecrated as a doctor during a

farcical music and dance ceremony conducted in

hilarious macaronic Latin. Here comedy and en-

tertainment reign supreme, and while it is perhaps

the greatest comedic irony and paradox that

Molière died in the very role of an imaginary in-

valid—during which he actually impersonated a

corpse—this very fact underscores more than any-

thing, in Hallam Walker’s words, that “his final

physical efforts, like his whole existence, had been

dedicated to the service of his art.”

English Versions of Works by Molière

Doctor in Spite of Himself. Translated by S. H. Landes

and edited by William-Alan Landes. Studio City,

Calif.: Players Press, 2003.

Misanthrope. Translated by Charles H. Wall. Studio

City, Calif.: Players Press, 2003.

Tartuffe. Translated by Ranjit Bolf. New York: Theatre

Communications Group, 2003.

The Blunderer. Holicong, Pa.: Wildside Press, 2003.

The Imaginary Invalid (Le Malade Imaginaire). Indy-

Publish.com 2004.

Works about Molière

Koppisch, Michael S. Rivalry and the Disruption of

Order in Molière’s Theater. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh

Dickinson University Press, 2004.

Polsky, Zachary. The Comic Machine, the Narrative

Machine, and the Political Machine in the Works of

Molière. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003.

Scott,Virginia. Molière, A Theatrical Life. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Walker, Hallam. Molière. Boston: Twayne, 1990.

Molière 191

Weiskel, Portia Williams, and Harold Bloom. Molière.

Langhorne, Pa.: Chelsea House, 2003.

Montaigne, Michel de (1533–1592)

moralist, essayist

Celebrated for more than 400 years as the father of

the essay form, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne was

born on February 28 to an influential family in

Bordeaux. The family was named to the nobility

when Montaigne’s great-grandfather Raymon

Eyquem acquired the land and house of Montaigne

in 1477, located about 30 miles from Bordeaux.

Montaigne was born to a Catholic father and a

Protestant mother at a time when Catholic-Protes-

tant tensions were mounting in many parts of Eu-

rope. The marriage between Pierre Eyquem de

Montaigne and Antoinette de Louppes withstood

religious friction, although family relations were

not always harmonious. Catholic Montaigne spoke

little about his mother, and Antoinette expressed

marked bitterness toward her children and mar-

riage after her husband’s death.

Montaigne’s education was thorough, marked

by the singularity that he was trained to speak and

write Latin by his tutors, family, and others as if it

were the everyday language of the region. This is

not to say, however, that Montaigne was not in-

structed in other languages or that he was not en-

couraged to learn French. His lower-class

godparents taught him French and, at the same

time, humility.

Montaigne was sent at age six to the Collège de

Guyenne, where he acquired over a period of seven

years a distaste for the structured educational sys-

tem and its methods of discipline. From there, he

continued his education, but exactly where and for

what duration scholars are uncertain.

In the mid-1550s, Montaigne received a

counselorship when his father, who had pur-

chased a seat in the Cour des Aides of Périgueux,

resigned the position. When the court was in-

corporated into the parliament of Bordeaux in

1557, Montaigne and fellow Pirigordians were

met with political hostility. He persevered for 13

years in various positions before resigning, find-

ing his work largely unmeaningful and unreward-

ing. Nonetheless, one of the greatest events of

Montaigne’s life occurred while he was in Bor-

deaux: He met Étienne de La Boétie, who became

his most cherished friend and confidant.

For two years, Montaigne sought more reward-

ing employment in Paris, to no avail, and in 1565

he married Françoise de la Chassaigne, with

whom he had six girls, only one of whom survived

childhood. His relationship with his wife, which

continued until his death, never matched his great

friendship with La Boétie, which reveals, in part,

Montaigne’s tepid attitude toward marriage.

Shortly after his marriage to Françoise, his father

died in 1568, and Montaigne inherited the title

and estate. He persisted in seeking service in Paris

that he judged to be of merit, but he returned

home at age 38. The adjustment to such living was

not an easy one. During this period, Montaigne

began to contemplate the composition of Essays,

although it would take him several years to realize

his project fully.

Critical Analysis

The death of Montaigne’s dearest friend in 1563

served as a catalyst for his most well-known and

superior achievement, the Essays. The first edition,

including books one and two only, was printed on

March 1, 1580, in Bordeaux. Two subsequent edi-

tions were printed thereafter, with the third edition

of 1588, including books one, two, and three, pub-

lished in Paris. This third edition is known as the

“Bordeaux Copy.”

The title of Montaigne’s Essays derives from the

Latin exagium, meaning “a weighing.” In this sense,

then, essays are explorations wherein attitudes to-

ward a particular subject are weighed, measured,

and considered. Each of the three books of Essays

contains many essays, what Montaigne calls “chap-

ters.” Book one is composed of 57 chapters; book

two has 37; and book three has 13. Although these

chapters appear to be haphazardly arranged and

attempts to understand the essays according to an

overall philosophical pattern invariably fall short,

192 Montaigne, Michel de

their arrangement suggests some development.

Pierre Villey, for example, argues that the work

moves from the stoic to the skeptical to the natural,

and Marcel Tetel observes that “[a]s the essays

progress...,Montaigne exhibits more and more

intimate details about himself,” such as “[t]he

wines and dishes he likes or does not like.” Donald

Frame’s remark that “Montaigne resists simple def-

initions” is most compelling.

Montaigne began writing essays with the intent

to keep a record of his past and present experiences

as well as his thoughts and observations, but the Es-

says function additionally as mirrors to the human

condition, reflecting its follies, foibles, hardships,

habits, pleasures, and relationships. The chapters

are rich in variation both within themselves and in

juxtaposition and comparison to one another. To-

gether, they form a mosaic that offers readers vehi-

cles for exploring the self. As readers engage

Montaigne’s revolving habit-of-mind, they find

themselves delving into their own minds as well.

Several essays begin with “Of” followed by

some state of being, such as “Of Idleness,” “Of

Constancy,” “Of Drunkenness,” “Of Anger,” “Of

Conscience,” and “Of Repentance.” Other chapter

titles take the form of a proverb, such as “That the

Taste of Good and Evil Depends in Large Part on

the Opinion We Have of Them,”“Fortune is Often

Met in the Path of Reason,” and “That Our Desire

Is Increased by Difficulty.” These titles reflect the

then-popular pastime of recording aphoristic

statements in small books and memorizing and

reciting such sayings and pithy statements to oth-

ers as if the words spring instantly to mind.

In “Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions,” Mon-

taigne comments on the contradiction of human

actions, stating,“irresolution seems to me the most

common and apparent defect of our nature.” He

goes on to say: “In all antiquity it is hard to pick

out a dozen men who set their lives to a certain and

constant course, which is the principal goal of wis-

dom.” Throughout the essay, Montaigne quotes

such ancient philosophers and writers as Horace,

Lucretius, Homer, and Tibullus; yet, in the end, he

shows a somewhat humorous bent:

[A] sound intellect will refuse to judge men

simply by their outward actions; we must

probe the inside and discover what springs set

men in motion. But since this is an arduous

and hazardous undertaking, I wish fewer peo-

ple would meddle with it.

In another essay on the theme of human incon-

stancy titled “Apology for Raymond Sebond,”

Montaigne states that “Presumption is our natural

and original malady. The most vulnerable and frail

of all creatures is man, and at the same time the

most arrogant.”

Then, in the essay, “Of Repentance,” Montaigne

states what perhaps can be considered his purpose

for writing—to simply tell others what is on his

mind:

Let me here excuse what I often say, that I

rarely repent and that my conscience is content

with itself—not as the conscience of an angel

or a horse, but as the conscience of a man; al-

ways adding this refrain, not perfunctorily but

in sincere and complete submission: that I

speak as an ignorant inquirer, referring the de-

cision purely and simply to the common and

authorized beliefs. I do not teach, I tell.

Often an essay’s content does not initially ap-

pear to relate to the piece’s respective title. Such is

the case with “Of Cannibals,” which opens with an

account of Roman history, then moves to discuss

a person who had dwelled in Brazil, or “Antartic

France”as the area was known during Montaigne’s

time. From there, Montaigne discusses an act of

cannibalism and then behavior he deems bar-

barous, observing “[t]he most valiant are some-

times the most unfortunate.”

Montaigne’s meandering, detached, and ironi-

cal style, while awkward to most present-day read-

ers unfamiliar with the Essays, was not unique to

this work. His essays reflect a keen, discerning eye

and a thorough understanding of history, litera-

ture, and philosophy. His displays of knowledge

border on the encyclopedic, which discourages

Montaigne, Michel de 193

readers who regard copious examples and quota-

tions as impediments to understanding the essay’s

points. But these examples are essential to grasping

the context of the Essays and function as important

keys to understanding their messages.

Montaigne influenced such writers as DIDEROT

and ROUSSEAU. His ability to combine personal

thoughts and beliefs with quotations, allusions,

theories, and interpretations not only gives readers

of later ages a glimpse into the progression of one

man’s intellect, but also makes his Essays a classic

in French and world literature.

English Versions of Works by Michel

de Montaigne

Apology for Raymond Sebond. Translated by Marjorie

Glicksman Grene and Roger Ariew. Indianapolis,

Ind.: Hackett Publishing, 2003.

Autobiography of Michel de Montainge. Edited by

Marvin Lowenthal. Boston: David R. Godine,

1999.

The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Translated by

Donald M. Frame. Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford Uni-

versity Press, 1965.

Works about Michel de Montaigne

Hartel, Anne. Michel de Montaigne: Accidental

Philosopher. New York: Cambridge University

Press, 2003.

Hoffmann, George. Montaigne’s Career. Oxford: Ox-

ford University Press, 1998.

Leschemelle, Pierre. Montaigne: The Fool of the Farce.

Translated by William J. Beck. New York: Peter

Lang, 1995.

Sichel, Edith. Michel de Montaigne. La Vergne, Tenn.:

University Press of the Pacific, 2003.

Tetel, Marcel. Montaigne. Boston: Twayne, 1990.

Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de

Secondat, baron de

(1689–1755)

novelist, philosopher

Born into an old and aristocratic French family,

young Charles-Louis was schooled near Paris, where

he was first exposed to ENLIGHTENMENT ideals. He

studied at the University of Bordeaux, married, and

in 1716 inherited the estate of Montesquieu. The es-

tate entailed a position in parliament, and Mon-

tesquieu settled down to practice law.

He published his first important work in 1721,

Lettres Persanes (Persian Letters). This bold and

witty satire features two fictitious visitors from

Persia who travel the world and write letters home,

commenting on what they see. Following the suc-

cess of the work, Montesquieu undertook a grand

tour of Europe, and returned home convinced that

his best contributions to the world of ideas could

be made through literature.

In 1734 he printed The Universal Monarchy,

later revoked, and Reflections on the Romans, in

which he analyzes the causes for the grandeur and

decline of the Roman Empire. By far his most in-

fluential work was The Spirit of Laws (1748), which

became a classic text of political philosophy and

outlines Montesquieu’s theory of government.

Using a historical approach to examine different

forms of government, Montesquieu concludes that

the animating principle of a government was ei-

ther honor or fear. He advocates the separation of

powers into executive, legislative, and judicial bod-

ies, and he suggests that a country’s climate influ-

ences its policy. The immense work also includes a

discussion of religion and an analysis of the cre-

ation of French law.

The Spirit of Laws won Montesquieu a place

among the greatest figures of the Enlightenment.

Controversy led him to publish a Defense in 1751,

but his fame was secure. He wrote his last work,

Essay on Taste, for the ENCYCLOPEDIA of Denis

DIDEROT and Jean Le Rond d’ALEMBERT.

Montesquieu’s political ideals have become a

permanent feature of democracy: His belief in the

separation of powers influenced the French Revo-

lution and was incorporated into the American

Constitution.

English Versions of Works by Charles-Louis

de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu

Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the

Romans and Their Decline. Translated by David

194 Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de

Lowenthal. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Publishing,

1999.

The Spirit of Laws. Edited by Anne M. Cohler. Cam-

bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Persian Letters. Translated by C. J. Betts. New York:

Penguin, 1977.

Works about Charles-Louis de Secondat,

baron de Montesquieu

Carrithers, David Wallace, Michael A. Mosher, and

Paul A. Rahe, eds. Montesquieu’s Science of Poli-

tics. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.

Conroy, Peter V. Montesquieu Revisited. New York:

Twayne, 1992.

Moore, Milcah Martha (1740–1829)

poet, pedagogical writer

Milcah Martha Moore’s Book circulated in the 18th

century but appeared in print only recently. Moore

was both a contributor to and primary organizer

of this handwritten “commonplace” book, which

consists of poetry and prose by more than 16 dif-

ferent authors. The book is “a documentary testa-

ment to the significance of women’s literacy for

forming relationships and expressing sentiments”

about politics, marriage, housework, and life dur-

ing the American Revolution (Wulf).

The daughter of Richard Hill and Deborah

Moore, both Quakers from Maryland, Milcah

Martha Moore was born in the town of Funchal on

the island of Madeira. In 1751 Moore’s mother

died, and her aunt escorted her and her brother

back to Philadelphia, where she entered a house

full of sisters and new relations. In 1767 Moore

married her cousin, Dr. Charles Moore. The Quak-

ers at the time were attempting to move away from

intermarriage. Thus, Moore’s marriage was not

sanctioned, and she and her husband were for-

mally removed from the Quaker Society of

Friends. However, Moore remained a Quaker her

entire life and rejoined the society after her hus-

band’s death in 1801.

Moore corresponded with numerous women

during her day, including the other prominent

contributors to the book: Susanna Wright, Hannah

Griffits, and Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson. Their let-

ters often included poems, excerpts from books

they were reading, jottings from religious texts,

and “trifles.” These writings were used for enter-

tainment purposes as well as spiritual instruction.

Often, religious and political sentiments were ex-

pressed, either in prose or poetic form. Though

shared and passed around, these books were rarely

formally published.

Due to their belief in pacifism, many Quakers

including Moore had mixed feelings about Amer-

ica’s war for independence. Though they sympa-

thized with the patriots, their religious beliefs

mandated neutrality. Some of the contributors to

the book were clearly loyal to the British cause, but

others expressed support for the colonists. Much

of the poetry found in Milcah Martha Moore’s

Book “expresses this ambivalence” (Wulf). It is in-

teresting to note that Moore copied everything

into her book during the American Revolution.

During the war, Moore and her husband moved

from Philadelphia to the Montgomery township in

the northern area of the county. Her husband

practiced medicine while she kept at her corre-

spondence. She also opened a school for girls, and

in 1787 published an educational primer called

Miscellanies, Moral and Instructive.

Moore’s contribution to early American litera-

ture has only recently been acknowledged. Her

Book testifies to the importance and role of educa-

tion and written communication among women

within the Quaker foundations of early America.

A Work by Milcah Martha Moore

Le Courreye, Blecki, and Karin A. Wulf, eds. Milcah

Martha Moore’s Book: A Commonplace Book from

Revolutionary America. University Park: Pennsyl-

vania State University Press, 1997.

Moquihuitzín (Macuilxochitzín)

(ca. 1435–unknown) poet

Moquihuitzín was the daughter of Tlacaélel, a

powerful adviser to the leaders of Mexico-

Moquihuitzín 195

Tenochtitlán. She was named after the goddess of

art, song, and dance, so that from birth she seemed

destined to be a great poet.

Moquihuitzín lived at the time when Tenochti-

tlán had become an important commercial center

and dominated the Mexica (Aztec) Empire, then at

its peak. As a woman of noble birth, she most cer-

tainly enjoyed a life of leisure and could devote

herself to traditional arts and crafts, but she also

took an uncommon interest in her father’s politi-

cal activities.

In the capacity of chief adviser to the rulers of

Tenochtitlán, Tlacaélel had planned the successful

series of military campaigns that helped Tenochti-

tlán to assert its power in the region. During one of

these conquests, AXAYACATL, the leader of Tenochti-

tlán, was seriously wounded by an Otomi captain.

It was only the sudden arrival of the Mexica army

that saved him. Moquihuitzín, who followed affairs

of state with great interest, composed the song

“Macuilxochitzín Icuic,” or “Song of Macuilxocitl,”

to record this event for posterity. She begins it by

giving thanks to the supreme god of the Mexica

people:

I raise my songs,

I, Macuilxochitl

with these I gladden the Giver of Life,

may the dance begin!

This celebratory song is also notable for telling the

story of the Otomi women who pleaded with Axay-

acatl to spare the life of the man who wounded him:

He was full of fear, the Otomi,

but then his women made supplication for

him to

Axayatacl.

Such details indicate that her interest in public af-

fairs was so deep that she took trouble to be inti-

mate with even the secondary incidents connected

with important matters.

No other poems of Moquihuitzín survive. The

chronicler Tezozomoc writes that “of her was born

the prince Cuauhtlaptalzén.” But little else is

known; though it is likely that she lived out the re-

maining years of the century. The survival of her

song is confirmation of the claims of the Mexican

chroniclers that women too were highly educated

and skilled in the art of poetry.