an principles and illusions is to be a sceptic,
Montaigne is the greatest sceptic that ever existed. But Montaigne's
scepticism is only a means to an end. On the ruin of all philosophies
and religions Montaigne, like Nietzsche, has built up a dogmatism of
his own. The foundation of that dogmatism in both is an unbounded
faith in life and in nature. Like Nietzsche, Montaigne is an optimist.
At the very outset of the "Essays" he proclaims the joy of life. He
preaches the _gaya scienza_, the _froehliche Wissenschaft_. All our
sufferings are due to our departing from the teachings of Nature. The
chapter on cannibalism, from which Shakespeare has borrowed a famous
passage in "The Tempest," and which has probably suggested the
character of Caliban, must be taken in literal sense. The savage who
lives in primitive simplicity comes nearer to Montaigne's ideal of
perfection than the philosopher and the saint.

VI.

And this brings us to the fundamental analogy between Nietzsche and
Montaigne. Like the German, the Frenchman is a pure pagan. Here,
again, we must not be misled by the innumerable professions of faith,
generally added in later editions and not included in the edition of
1580. Montaigne is uncompromisingly hostile to Christianity. His
Catholicism must be understood as the Catholicism of Auguste Comte,
defined by Huxley--namely, Catholicism minus Christianity. He
glorifies suicide. He abhors the self-suppression of asceticism; he
derides chastity, humility, mortification--every virtue which we are
accustomed to associate with the Christian faith. He glorifies
self-assertion and the pride of life. Not once does he express even
the most remote sympathy for the heroes of the Christian Church, for
the saints and martyrs. On the other hand, again and again he indulges
in lyrical raptures for the achievements of the great men of Greece
and Rome. He is an intellectual aristocrat. His ideal policy is the
policy of the Spartans--"almost miraculous in its perfection." His
ideal man is the pagan hero--the superman of antiquity--Alcibiades,
Epaminondas, Alexander, Julius Caesar.

III.--TREITSCHKE[14] AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRUSSIANISM.

[14] Treitschke, "History of Germany," Vols. I. and II.
(Jarrold.) Treitschke, "Politics," with Introduction by A. J.
Balfour: 2 vols, (Constable, London.)

There is a most baneful delusion which has misled the Allies from the
beginning of the war, and which is still being acte