Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T04:29:24.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - The Possibility of Their Being Otherwise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2014

Elizabeth Guild
Affiliation:
Lectures in French at the University of Cambridge, and is a Fellow of Robinson College
Get access

Summary

Je ne hay point les fantasies contraires aux miennes

Consider this short passage from an early chapter in the first book of the Essais:

Feu mon pere, homme, pour n'estre aydé que de l'experience et du naturel, d'un jugement bien net, m'a dict autrefois qu'il avoit desiré mettre en train qu'il y eust és villes certain lieu designé, auquel ceux qui auroient besoin de quelque chose, se peussent rendre et faire enregistrer leur affaire à un officier estably pour cet effect, comme: Je cherche à vendre des perles, je cherche des perles à vendre. Tel veut compagnie pour aller à Paris; tel s'enquiert d'un serviteur … qui cecy, qui cela, chacun selon son besoing. Et semble que ce moyen de nous entr'advertir apporteroit non legiere commodité au commerce publique: car à tous coups il y a des conditions qui s'entrecherchent, et, pour ne s'entr'entendre, laissent les hommes en extreme necessité. (p. 223)

(My late father, a man of very clear judgement for one who had only experience and natural talent to draw on, once told me that he had wanted to arrange for there to be a designated place in our towns where those who needed something could go to register their requirements with an officer appointed for this purpose. For instance: I want to sell some pearls, I want to buy some pearls. Someone wants company for the journey to Paris; someone is looking for a servant … one man this, another that, each according to his need.

Type
Chapter
Information
Unsettling Montaigne
Poetics, Ethics and Affect in the Essais and Other Writings
, pp. 11 - 39
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×