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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3, The Rise of the English Essay- Page 113-211.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does Montaigne retire to study and write?
(a) A boat on the river Seine.
(b) A castle in Scotland.
(c) A flat in Germany.
(d) The family estate.

2. In "Of Books," why does Montaigne quote other writers?
(a) To show how inferior other authors' works are to his own.
(b) To provide fanciful stories that break up the monotony of the personal essay.
(c) To include love poetry for his most important reader, his wife.
(d) To further expand upon points he is making.

3. What does Montaigne conclude in "Of a Monstrous Child?"
(a) Deformed babies should be killed at birth.
(b) Doctors are nothing but charlatans and quacks.
(c) Towns should pursue an "eye for eye" system of justice.
(d) Nothing is contrary to nature; everything is natural.

4. What is Richard Steele's message in his essay "Twenty-four Hours in London"?
(a) Hedonism, in the form of drinking and carousing, is the greatest good.
(b) One's attitude toward the world should be one of simple enjoyment, rather than desire for material gain.
(c) Londoners are cruel, petty people.
(d) Everything that should be seen in London can be seen in the span of twenty-four hours.

5. Beyond the Monstrous Child, who else is discussed in "Of a Monstrous Child?"
(a) A man who claimed to see demons in his sleep.
(b) A man who grows too much hair like a wolf.
(c) A woman who sleeps with men and then steals their money.
(d) A man in his thirties with no genitalia.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does a woman's level of attachment to a man depend upon, according to Sei Shonagon?

2. What does Montaigne have in common with Saint Augustine?

3. What kind of family background did Montaigne come from?

4. In addition to a personal essayist, what kind of essayist is Samuel Johnson.

5. Plutarch is known as the first great what?

(see the answer key)

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