It was perhaps under these circumstances that Montaigne addressed to him the present letter.]--the King's Councillor in his Court and Parliament of Paris.
MONSIEUR,--The business of the Sieur de Verres, a prisoner, who is extremely well known to me, deserves, in the arrival at a decision, the exercise of the clemency natural to you, if, in the public interest, you can fairly call it into play.

He has done a thing not only excusable, according to the military laws of this age, but necessary and (as we are of opinion) commendable.

He committed the act, without doubt, unwillingly and under pressure; there is no other passage of his life which is open to reproach.

I beseech you, sir, to lend the matter your attentive consideration; you will find the character of it as I represent it to you.

He is persecuted on this crime, in a way which is far worse than the offence itself.