(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux) JOHN CALVIN--(Born in 1509, died in 1564.) Of Freedom for the Will. (From the "Institutes") JOACHIM DU BELLAY--(Born about 1524, died in 1560.) Why Old French Was Not as Rich as Greek and Latin. (From the "Défense et Illustration de la Langue Françoise." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell) MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE--(Born in 1533, died in 1592.) I A Word to His Readers. (From the preface to the "Essays." Translated by John Florio) II Of Society and Solitude. (From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt) III Of His Own Library. (From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt) IV That the Soul Discharges Her Passions upon False Objects Where True Ones Are Wanting. (From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation) V That Men Are Not to Judge of Our Happiness Till After Death. (From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation) RENÉ DESCARTES--(Born in 1596, died in 1650.) Of Material Things and of the Existence of God. (From the "Meditations." Translated by John Veitch) DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD--(Born in France in 1613, died in 1680.) Selections from the "Maxims." (Translated by Willis Bund and Hain Friswell) BLAISE PASCAL--(Born in 1623, died in 1662.) Of the Prevalence of Self-Love. (From the "Thoughts." Translated by C. Kegan Paul) MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ--(Born in Paris in 1626, died in 1696.) I Great News from Paris. (From a letter dated Paris, December 15, 1670) II An Imposing Funeral Described. (From a letter to her daughter, dated Paris, May 6,1672) ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE--(Born in 1668, died in 1747.) I In the Service of Dr. Sangrado. (From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett) II As an Archbishop's Favorite. (From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett) DUC DE SAINT-SIMON--(Born in 1675, died in 1755.) I The Death of the Dauphin. (From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John) II The Public Watching the King and Madame. (From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John) BARON DE MONTESQUIEU--(Born in 1689, died in 1755.) I Of the Causes Which Destroyed Rome. (From the "Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans") II Of the Relation of Laws to Human Beings. (From the "Spirit of Laws." Translated by Thomas Nugent) FRANÇOIS AROUET VOLTAIRE--(Born in Paris in 1694, died in 1778.) I Of Bacon's Greatness. (From the "Letters on England") II England's Regard for Men of Letters. (From the "Letters on England") JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU--(Born in 1712, died in 1778.) I Of Christ and Socrates II Of the Management of Children. (From the "New Héloïse") MADAME DE STAËL--(Born in 1763, died in 1817.)