as a preacher. He even thought
of embracing the monastic life--a waste of ability which the
ecclesiastical authorities, conscious of their need of eloquent
advocates, did not permit. Charron belonged rather to the moderate or
_politique_ party than to the fanatics of Catholicism, and he directly
attacked the League in his _Discours Chretiens_, published in 1589. Five
years later appeared a regular theological treatise entitled _Les Trois
Verites_, affirming, first, the unity of God, and consequently of
orthodox religion; secondly, the sole authority of Christianity among
religions; thirdly, the sole authority of Catholicism among Christian
churches and sects. He held various preferments, and was a member of the
special synod held to admit Henri IV. to the Roman communion. The only
work by which he is generally remembered, the treatise _De la Sagesse_,
was published in 1601. Charron died two years later, after preparing a
second and somewhat altered edition of the book. Charron was a personal
friend of Montaigne, was undoubtedly his disciple, and borrowed largely,
and in many cases verbally, from the _Essais_. His book, however, is far
inferior both in style and matter to his master's, and Pope's praise of
'more wise Charron' can be due only to the fact that it is much more
definitely sceptical. In curious contrast to its author's dogmatically
theological treatise, _De la Sagesse_ goes to prove that all religions
are more or less of human origin, and that they are all indebted one to
the other. The casuistry of the Renaissance on these points was,
however, peculiar; and it has been supposed, with great show of reason,
that Charron regarded orthodoxy as a valuable and necessary condition
for the common run of men, while the elect would prefer a refined
Agnosticism.

[Sidenote: Du Vair.]

These sceptical opinions were by no means the invention of Montaigne;
they were part of the new learning grafted by the study of the classics
on the thought of the middle ages, and had been long anticipated, not
merely in Italy but in France itself. The poet and tale-teller,
Bonaventure des Periers, had, as has been said, almost directly
satirised Christianity in the _Cymbalum Mundi_, which created so great a
scandal. On the other hand, Guillaume du Vair, a lawyer and speaker of
eminence, sought, by combining Stoicism and Christianity, to oppose this
sceptical tendency. Du Vair was a writer of great merit, who exactly
reversed the cour