MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533-92)
The Essayes, or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses
1603RCIN 1084734
It is likely that William Shakespeare knew the Italian translator and lexicographer John Florio, as they had the same patrons. Certainly Shakespeare knew Florio’s work: his later plays show the influence of Florio’s translation of Montaigne’s Essayes, particularly Of the Caniballes, a passage of which is made use of by Shakespeare in The Tempest. This copy of Montaigne’s Essayes has been annotated and marked by early readers.