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22 MONTAIGNE
Like most sensible men, Montaigne
had an
unreasonable fondness for reason ; unlike
most, he possessed an intellect that showed him
the final consequences of his fancy. Not only
have we no sufficient reason for believing that
we know anything, we have none for affirming
that we know nothing. By sheer reasonable-
ness we are reduced to a state of pure Pyrrhonism,
where, like the poor donkey, we must die
of starvation midway between two equally
large and equally appetizing bundles of hay.
An affectation of superior ignorance has been
a favourite literary device from the days of
the Preacher to those of Anatole France.
Montaigne loves to tease and confound us with
a " Que scay-ie," he has the common literary
taste for humiliating unsympathetic readers ;
but he has also a taste for honesty not so
common, even in literature. Doubt is a mark
of good sense : honest doubt is a mark of
genius almost. In his reflective moments the
reasonable man inclines to believe that reason
can prove nothing except what he believes.
How fearlessly did those nineteenth-century
apostles of Reason make havoc in the parlours
of meek curates and spinsters, thundering
against the altogether insufficient grounds on
which were accepted the surprising adventures
of Noah and his Ark ! But when they were
told that Reason was as unfriendly to their