Essays are brief works written in prose, elaborating on a selected topic. The word 'essay' is derived from the French term 'essai,' meaning 'attempt.' The French writer Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592), was the first person to describe his works as essays. He published the first edition of his book entitled Essais in two volumes in 1580. Francis Bacon is hailed as the first English writer who wrote essays. He pulished his essays in book form in the years 1597, 1612 and 1625. Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walter Bagehot, George Orwell, E.B. White and Aldous Huxley are among the prominent essayists in English.
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