Even my interest palls

Of the Force of Imagination.

I find myself bored; whether it is with Montaigne’s handling of the subject or with Cotton’s translation, I don’t know; or it might be because of the apparently inability of the age to subdivide its monographs into sections, and employ paragraphs so that the work might be more coherent as a result. Perhaps I’m just tired and my interest in him will be rekindled in due course.

Nonetheless, I can’t help but feel that Cotton’s translation bears much of the blame sometimes because, as I noted in the previous post, his rendering is overliteral and fails to satisfy the demands of English grammar (even allowing for differences between late 17th century English and that of the early 21st); other times because (although this is less obvious without examining the French) of his interpolations. For example, Montaigne says

Resverie germaine à celle de quoy nous parlons. Jacques Peletier m’avoit faict ce present singulier. (A daydream related to this thing we’re talking about. Jacques Peletier made this unusual present for me.)

which Cotton turns into

A Foppery Cozen-German to this of which I am speaking, was by Jaques Pelletier, who liv’d in my House, presented to me for a singular Rarety, and a thing of Sovereign Vertue.

Cotton (1711:116)

The 1759 edition is a little more restrained, but still includes the presence of James Pellatier [sic] in Montaigne’s home.

In IELTS writing, the general band descriptors include comments how the writing has a negative effect on the reader. That’s exactly the effect this has on me and why I’m inclining to turn my attention to Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding at the moment.