Montaigne 1.36
Men in various clothes, ca. 1782, from the Wellcome Collection
Now, all things being exactly furnished else-whence with all necessaries to maintaine this being, it is not to be imagined that we alone should be produced in a defective and indigent estate, yea, and in such a one as cannot be maintained without forrain helpe. My opinion is, that even as all plants, trees, living creatures, and whatsoever hath life, is naturally seene furnished with sufficient furniture to defend it selfe from the injurie of all wethers…
While making less of clothing than, say, Carlyle, Montaigne does use clothing for his own ends, as a great equalizer because a matter of custom rather than nature. The fruit trees of Alexander, wrapped up for the winter, are somewhat a surprise, but no more so than any other of Montaigne’s oddities.