W. C. Hazlitt says of Montaigne--"he was without being aware of it, the leader of a new school in letters and morals" and "the first modern man." He has been universally admired in his time and since. In his essays, Montaigne "has the courage to say as an author what he feels as a man", and as such is the forerunner to modern literary non-fiction, and he remains the most accessible and relevant renaissance author. This edition contains Montaigne's complete essays, and a collection of letters.