These are some of the characteristics of Elia, one essentially an
essayist, and of the true family of Montaigne, "never judging," as he
says, "system-wise of things, but fastening on particulars;" saying all
things as it were on chance occasion only, and by way of pastime, yet
succeeding thus, "glimpse-wise," in catching and recording more
frequently than others "the gayest, happiest attitude of things;" a
casual writer for dreamy readers, yet always giving the reader so much
more than he seemed to propose. There is something of the follower of
George Fox about him, and the Quaker's belief in the inward light coming
to one passive, to the mere wayfarer, who will be sure at all events to
lose no light which falls by the way--glimpses, suggestions, delightful
half-apprehensions, profound thoughts of old philosophers, hints of the
innermost reason in things, the full knowledge of which is held in
reserve; all the varied stuff, that is, of which genuine essays are
made.
And with him, as with Montaigne, the desire of self-portraiture is,
below all more superficial tendencies, the real motive in writing at
all--a desire closely connected with that intimacy, that modern
subjectivity, which may be called the _Montaignesque_ element in
literature.
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