An Early Reference by Montaigne to ‘coaches’ and its Possible Bearing on the Meaning of ‘Des coches’

Extract

Why Montaigne decided to use the title ‘Des coaches’ for one of the essays of Book III has never been clearly explained. Villey believes that the essay could have been divided into three distinct chapters, but that Montaigne ‘les a aboutés l'un à l'autre; il a entassé toutes ces réflexions sous un même titre. C'était trop; le cadre a éclaté.' He also suggests that ‘le luxe’ is really the ‘idée maîtresse qui revient de place en place comme un leit-motiv’ (Villey, II, 300), and which would have clarified matters for the reader had it been incorporated into the title. He concludes, however, that Montaigne was not aiming for clarity, and that ‘ce titre est là pour surprendre’ (Villey, II, 300).