Montesquieu cherry-picked obscure Oriental examples to support any argument

Evidence

Samuel Johnson was, like Anquetil-Duperron, suspicious of Montesquieu’s manner of argument and he remarked to Boswell that Montesquieu was always able to find some obscure Oriental example to back up anything that he wanted to say. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 223

Categorization

• CANDY: A delightful, quotable Johnson jab at cherry-picked evidence that works in casual conversation.