Montaigne's "Solitarium" On this day in 1592 Michel de Montaigne died. His Essays introduced a new literary genre to European letters, and the tower retreat in which he wrote them -- his "solitarium" -- continues to be a popular stop for the literary traveler. Among the forty-eight quotations Montaigne had carved in its roof-beams is his, "I am Human, let nothing human be foreign to me."
