Note 1 — THE JOURNAL OF MONTAIGNE’S TRAVELS IN ITALY

The MS. of the Journal was incomplete at the time of its discovery, certain leaves having been torn away from the beginning, but the concluding paragraphs supply the date at which Montaigne must have left home, i.e. June 22, 1580. He seems to have halted at the outset of his journey near La Fère, which was at that time besieged by the forces of the League under Marshal de Matigon, and to have gone thence to Beaumont-sur-Oise, where the Journal begins on September 4th. The siege of La Fère was undertaken by Henry III. as a counter-move to the recent capture of Cahors by the Huguenots. Operations were some time delayed by the shortness of money and by an outbreak of whooping-cough, the first recorded appearance of this distemper. The king, the greater part of the courtiers, and thousands of the people of Paris were attacked, and the whole city was panic-stricken. When the Catholic leaders were at length ready to move, they spoke of the task before them as “un siège de velours,” anticipating little difficulty or danger; but they lost two thousand men before the place fell on August 31st.