Thelema is also a way of life first written about by François Rabelais (16th century) in his famous books of fiction, Gargantua and Pantagruel. The core of this way of life was summed up in the phrase ""Do what thou wilt"" ("fay çe que vouldras" in the original old French). This idea was later put into practice in the mid 18th century by Sir Francis Dashwood at Medmenham.