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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:43:35 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:43:35 -0700 |
| commit | db27c578a05dd3d982df1b03c8493ce974aef112 (patch) | |
| tree | 386d1945fe92439c2753168e5347dbc23d880bce /14052-h | |
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diff --git a/14052-h/14052-h.htm b/14052-h/14052-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0827a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/14052-h/14052-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,26675 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rousseau, Vol. 1 and 2, by John Morley. + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i20 {display: block; margin-left: 20em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i31 {display: block; margin-left: 31em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14052 ***</div> + <h1> + ROUSSEAU + </h1> + <h3> + BY + </h3> + <h2> + JOHN MORLEY + </h2> + <h3> + VOL. I and II. + </h3> + <hr style="width: 35%;" /> + <p style="text-align: center"> + London<br /> MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> NEW + YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> 1905<br /> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <i>All rights reserved</i> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <i>First printed in this form 1886<br /> Reprinted 1888, 1891, 1896, 1900, + 1905</i><br /> + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + NOTE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + </h2> + <p> + This work differs from its companion volume in offering something more + like a continuous personal history than was necessary in the case of such + a man as Voltaire, the story of whose life may be found in more than one + English book of repute. Of Rousseau there is, I believe, no full + biographical account in our literature, and even France has nothing more + complete under this head than Musset-Pathay's <i>Histoire de la Vie et des + Ouvrages de J.J. Rousseau</i> (1821). This, though a meritorious piece of + labour, is extremely crude and formless in composition and arrangement, + and the interpreting portions are devoid of interest. + </p> + <p> + The edition of Rousseau's works to which the references have been made is + that by M. Auguis, in twenty-seven volumes, published in 1825 by Dalibon. + In 1865 M. Streckeisen-Moultou published from the originals, which had + been deposited in the library of Neuchâtel by Du Peyrou, the letters + addressed to Rousseau by various correspondents. These two interesting + volumes, which are entitled <i>Rousseau, ses Amis et ses Ennemis</i>, are + mostly referred to under the name of their editor. + </p> + <p> + <i>February, 1873.</i> + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + The second edition in 1878 was revised; some portions were considerably + shortened, and a few additional footnotes inserted. No further changes + have been made in the present edition. + </p> + <p> + <i>January, 1886.</i> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#volume1">VOLUME I.</a> + </h3> + <h3> + <a href="#volume2">VOLUME II.</a> + </h3> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CONTENTS_I" id="CONTENTS_I">CONTENTS</a> OF VOL. I. + </h2> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_I.">CHAPTER I.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">Preliminary</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The Revolution + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.1">1</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau its most direct speculative precursor + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.2">2</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His distinction among revolutionists + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.4">4</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His personality + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.5">5</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">Youth</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Birth and descent + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.8">8</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Predispositions + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.10">10</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + First lessons + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.11">11</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + At M. Lambercier's + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.15">15</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Early disclosure of sensitive temperament + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.19">19</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Return to Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.20">20</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Two apprenticeships + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.26">26</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Flight from Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.30">30</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Savoyard proselytisers + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.31">31</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau sent to Anncey, and thence to Turin + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.34">34</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Conversion to Catholicism + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.35">35</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Takes service with Madame de Vercellis + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.39">39</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Then with the Count de Gouvon + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.42">42</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Returns to vagabondage + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.43">43</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + And to Madame de Warens + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.45">45</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III.">CHAPTER III.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">Savoy</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Influence of women upon Rousseau + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.46">46</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Account of Madame de Warens + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.48">48</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau takes up his abode with her + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.54">54</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His delight in life with her + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.54">54</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The seminarists + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.57">57</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + To Lyons + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.58">58</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Wanderings to Freiburg, Neuchâtel, and elsewhere + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.60">60</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Through the east of France + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.62">62</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Influence of these wanderings upon him + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.67">67</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Chambéri + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.69">69</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Household of Madame de Warens + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.70">70</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Les Charmettes + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.73">73</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Account of his feeling for nature + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.79">79</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His intellectual incapacity at this time + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.83">83</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Temperament + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.84">84</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Literary interests, and method + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.85">85</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Joyful days with his benefactress + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.90">90</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + To Montpellier: end of an episode + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.92">92</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Dates + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.94">94</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">CHAPTER IV.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">Theresa Le Vasseur</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Tutorship at Lyons + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.95">95</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Goes to Paris in search of fortune + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.97">97</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His appearance at this time + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.98">98</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Made secretary to the ambassador at Venice + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.100">100</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His journey thither and life there + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.103">103</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Return to Paris + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.106">106</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Theresa Le Vasseur + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.107">107</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Character of their union + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.110">110</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's conduct towards her + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.113">113</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Their later estrangements + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.115">115</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's scanty means + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.119">119</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Puts away his five children + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.120">120</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His apologies for the crime + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.122">122</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Their futility + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.126">126</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Attempts to recover the children + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.128">128</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau never married to Theresa + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.129">129</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Contrast between outer and inner life + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.130">130</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_V.">CHAPTER V.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">The Discourses</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Local academies in France + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.132">132</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Circumstances of the composition of the first Discourse + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.133">133</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + How far the paradox was original + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.135">135</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His visions for thirteen years + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.136">136</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Summary of the first Discourse + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.138">138</a>-145 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Obligations to Montaigne + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.145">145</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + And to the Greeks + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.145">145</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Semi-Socratic manner + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.147">147</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Objections to the Discourse + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.148">148</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Ways of stating its positive side + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.149">149</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Dangers of exaggerating this positive side + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.151">151</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Its excess + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.152">152</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Second Discourse + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.154">154</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Ideas of the time upon the state of nature + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.155">155</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Their influence upon Rousseau + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.156">156</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Morelly, as his predecessor + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.156">156</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Summary of the second Discourse + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.159">159</a>-170 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Criticism of its method + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.171">171</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Objection from its want of evidence + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.172">172</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Other objections to its account of primitive nature + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.173">173</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Takes uniformity of process for granted + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.176">176</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + In what the importance of the second Discourse consisted + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.177">177</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Its protest against the mockery of civilisation + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.179">179</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The equality of man, how true, and how false + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.180">180</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + This doctrine in France, and in America + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.182">182</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's Discourses, a reaction against the historic method + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.183">183</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Mably, and socialism + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.184">184</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">CHAPTER VI.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">Paris</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Influence of Geneva upon Rousseau + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.187">187</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Two sides of his temperament + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.191">191</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Uncongenial characteristics of Parisian society + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.191">191</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His associates + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.195">195</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Circumstances of a sudden moral reform + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.196">196</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Arising from his violent repugnance for the manners of the time + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.202">202</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His assumption of a seeming cynicism + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.207">207</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Protests against atheism + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.209">209</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The Village Soothsayer at Fontainebleau + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.212">212</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Two anedotes of his moral singularity + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.214">214</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Revisits Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.216">216</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + End of Madame de Warens + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.217">217</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's re-conversion to Protestantism + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.220">220</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The religious opinions then current in Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.223">223</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Turretini and other rationalisers + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.226">226</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Effect upon Rousseau + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.227">227</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Thinks of taking up his abode in Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.227">227</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Madame d'Epinay offers him the Hermitage + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.229">229</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Retires thither against the protests of his friends + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.231">231</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">CHAPTER VII.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">The Hermitage</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Distinction between the old and the new anchorite + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.234">234</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's first days at the Hermitage + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.235">235</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rural delirium + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.237">237</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Dislike of society + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.242">242</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Meditates work on Sensitive Morality + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.243">243</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Arranges the papers of the Abbé de Saint Pierre + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.244">244</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His remarks on them + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.246">246</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Violent mental crisis + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.247">247</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + First conception of the New Heloïsa + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.250">250</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + A scene of high morals + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.254">254</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Madame d'Houdetot + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.255">255</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Erotic mania becomes intensified + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.256">256</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Interviews with Madame d'Houdetot + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.258">258</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Saint Lambert interposes + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.262">262</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's letter to Saint Lambert + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.264">264</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Its profound falsity + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.265">265</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Saint Lambert's reply + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.267">267</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Final relations with him and with Madame d'Houdetot + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.268">268</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Sources of Rousseau's irritability + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.270">270</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Relations with Diderot + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.273">273</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + With Madame d'Epinay + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.276">276</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + With Grimm + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.279">279</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Grimm's natural want of sympathy with Rousseau + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.282">282</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Madame d'Epinay's journey to Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.284">284</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Occasion of Rousseau's breach with Grimm + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.285">285</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + And with Madame d'Epinay + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.288">288</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Leaves the Hermitage + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.289">289</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">CHAPTER VIII.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">Music</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + General character of Rousseau's aim in music + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.291">291</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + As composer + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.292">292</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Contest on the comparative merits of French and Italian music + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.293">293</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's Letter on French Music + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.293">293</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His scheme of musical notation + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.296">296</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Its chief element + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.298">298</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Its practical value + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.299">299</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His mistake + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.300">300</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Two minor objections + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.300">300</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IX.">CHAPTER IX.</a> + </h3> + <h4> + <span class="smcap">Voltaire And D'Alembert</span>. + </h4> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Position of Voltaire + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.302">302</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + General differences between him and Rousseau + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.303">303</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau not the profounder of the two + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.305">305</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + But he had a spiritual element + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.305">305</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Their early relations + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.308">308</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Voltaire's poem on the Earthquake of Lisbon + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.309">309</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's wonder that he should have written it + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.310">310</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His letter to Voltaire upon it + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.311">311</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Points to the advantages of the savage state + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.312">312</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Reproduces Pope's general position + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.313">313</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Not an answer to the position taken by Voltaire + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.314">314</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Confesses the question insoluble, but still argues + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.316">316</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Curious close of the letter + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.318">318</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Their subsequent relations + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.319">319</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + D'Alembert's article on Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.321">321</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The church and the theatre + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.322">322</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Jeremy Collier: Bossuet + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.323">323</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's contention on stage plays + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.324">324</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rude handling of commonplace + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.325">325</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The true answer to Rousseau as to theory of dramatic morality + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.326">326</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + His arguments relatively to Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.327">327</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Their meaning + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.328">328</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Criticism on the Misanthrope + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.328">328</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rousseau's contrast between Paris and an imaginary Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.329">329</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Attack on love as a poetic theme + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.332">332</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + This letter, the mark of his schism from the party of the + philosophers + </td> + <td align="right"> + <a href="#Page_i.336">336</a> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CONTENTS_II" id="CONTENTS_II">CONTENTS</a> OF VOL. II. + </h2> + <h3> + <a href="#volume2">VOLUME II.</a> + </h3> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">Montmorency—The New Heloïsa.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Conditions preceding the composition of the New Heloïsa <a + href="#Page_1">1</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg <a href="#Page_2">2</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau and his patrician acquaintances <a href="#Page_3">4</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Peaceful life at Montmorency <a href="#Page_9">9</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Equivocal prudence occasionally shown by Rousseau <a href="#Page_12">12</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His want of gratitude for commonplace service <a href="#Page_13">13</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Bad health, and thoughts of suicide <a href="#Page_16">16</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Episode of Madame Latour de Franqueville <a href="#Page_17">17</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Relation of the New Heloïsa to Rousseau's general doctrine <a + href="#Page_20">20</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Action of the first part of the story <a href="#Page_25">25</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Contrasted with contemporary literature <a href="#Page_25">25</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And with contemporary manners <a href="#Page_27">27</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Criticism of the language and principal actors <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Popularity of the New Heloïsa <a href="#Page_31">31</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its reactionary intellectual direction <a href="#Page_33">33</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Action of the second part <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its influence on Goethe and others <a href="#Page_38">38</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Distinction between Rousseau and his school <a href="#Page_40">40</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Singular pictures of domesticity <a href="#Page_42">42</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Sumptuary details <a href="#Page_44">44</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The slowness of movement in the work justified <a href="#Page_46">46</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Exaltation of marriage <a href="#Page_47">47</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Equalitarian tendencies <a href="#Page_49">49</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Not inconsistent with social quietism <a href="#Page_51">51</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Compensation in the political consequences of the triumph of sentiment <a + href="#Page_54">54</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Circumstances of the publication of the New Heloïsa <a href="#Page_55">55</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Nature of the trade in books <a href="#Page_57">57</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Malesherbes and the printing of Emilius <a href="#Page_61">61</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's suspicions <a href="#Page_62">62</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The great struggle of the moment <a href="#Page_64">64</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Proscription of Emilius <a href="#Page_67">67</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Flight of the author <a href="#Page_67">67</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">Persecution.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's journey from Switzerland <a href="#Page_69">69</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Absence of vindictiveness <a href="#Page_70">70</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Arrival at Yverdun <a href="#Page_72">72</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Repairs to Motiers <a href="#Page_73">73</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Relations with Frederick the Great <a href="#Page_74">74</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Life at Motiers <a href="#Page_77">77</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Lord Marischal <a href="#Page_79">79</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Voltaire <a href="#Page_81">81</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's letter to the Archbishop of Paris <a href="#Page_83">83</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its dialectic <a href="#Page_86">86</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The ministers of Neuchâtel <a href="#Page_90">90</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's singular costume <a href="#Page_92">92</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His throng of visitors <a href="#Page_93">93</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Lewis, prince of Würtemberg <a href="#Page_95">95</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Gibbon <a href="#Page_96">96</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Boswell <a href="#Page_98">98</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Corsican affairs <a href="#Page_99">99</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The feud at Geneva <a href="#Page_102">102</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau renounces his citizenship <a href="#Page_105">105</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Letters from the Mountain <a href="#Page_106">106</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Political side <a href="#Page_107">107</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Consequent persecution at Motiers <a href="#Page_107">107</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Flight to the isle of St. Peter <a href="#Page_108">108</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The fifth of the <i>Rêveries</i> <a href="#Page_109">109</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Proscription by the government of Berne <a href="#Page_116">116</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's singular request <a href="#Page_116">116</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His renewed flight <a href="#Page_117">117</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Persuaded to seek shelter in England <a href="#Page_118">118</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">The Social Contract.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's reaction against perfectibility <a href="#Page_119">119</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Abandonment of the position of the Discourses <a href="#Page_121">121</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Doubtful idea of equality <a href="#Page_121">121</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Social Contract, a repudiation of the historic method <a + href="#Page_124">124</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Yet it has glimpses of relativity <a href="#Page_127">127</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Influence of Greek examples <a href="#Page_129">129</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And of Geneva <a href="#Page_131">131</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Impression upon Robespierre and Saint Just <a href="#Page_132">132</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's scheme implied a small territory <a href="#Page_135">135</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Why the Social Contract made fanatics <a href="#Page_137">137</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Verbal quality of its propositions <a href="#Page_138">138</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The doctrine of public safety <a href="#Page_143">143</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The doctrine of the sovereignty of peoples <a href="#Page_144">144</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its early phases <a href="#Page_144">144</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its history in the sixteenth century <a href="#Page_146">146</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hooker and Grotius <a href="#Page_148">148</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Locke <a href="#Page_149">149</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hobbes <a href="#Page_151">151</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Central propositions of the Social Contract—<br /> <br /> 1. Origin of + society in compact <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br /> Different conception + held by the Physiocrats <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /> <br /> 2. + Sovereignty of the body thus constituted <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> + Difference from Hobbes and Locke <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> The root + of socialism <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> Republican phraseology <a + href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> <br /> 3. Attributes of sovereignty <a + href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> <br /> 4. The law-making power <a + href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> A contemporary illustration <a + href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> Hints of confederation <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /> + <br /> 5. Forms of government <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> Criticism on + the common division <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> Rousseau's preference + for elective aristocracy <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br /> <br /> 6. + Attitude of the state to religion <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> + Rousseau's view, the climax of a reaction <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> + Its effect at the French Revolution <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> Its + futility <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> <br /> Another method of + approaching the philosophy of government—<br /> <br /> Origin of + society not a compact <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> <br /> The true + reason of the submission of a minority to a majority <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> + <br /> Rousseau fails to touch actual problems <a href="#Page_186">186</a><br /> + <br /> The doctrine of resistance, for instance <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> + <br /> Historical illustrations <a href="#Page_190">190</a><br /> <br /> + Historical effect of the Social Contract in France and Germany <a + href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> <br /> Socialist deductions from it <a + href="#Page_194">194</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">Emilius.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau touched by the enthusiasm of his time <a href="#Page_197">197</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Contemporary excitement as to education, part of the revival of naturalism + <a href="#Page_199">199</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + I.—Locke, on education <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> Difference + between him and Rousseau <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> Exhortations to + mothers <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> Importance of infantile habits <a + href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> Rousseau's protest against reasoning with + children <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> Criticised <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> + The opposite theory <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> The idea of property + <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> Artificially contrived incidents <a + href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> Rousseau's omission of the principle of + authority <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> Connected with his neglect of + the faculty of sympathy <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br /> <br /> II.—Rousseau's + ideal of living <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> The training that follows + from it <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> The duty of knowing a craft <a + href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> Social conception involved in this moral + conception <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> <br /> III.—Three aims + before the instructor <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br /> Rousseau's omission + of training for the social conscience <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> No + contemplation of society as a whole <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> + Personal interest, the foundation of the morality of Emilius <a + href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> The sphere and definition of the social + conscience <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> <br /> IV.—The study of + history <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br /> Rousseau's notions upon the + subject <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> <br /> V.—Ideals of life for + women <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> Rousseau's repudiation of his own + principles <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> His oriental and obscurantist + position <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br /> Arising from his want of faith + in improvement <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> His reactionary tendencies + in this region eventually neutralised <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> + <br /> VI.—Sum of the merits of Emilius <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> + Its influence in France and Germany <a href="#Page_251">251</a><br /> In + England <a href="#Page_252">252</a> + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">The Savoyard Vicar.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Shallow hopes entertained by the dogmatic atheists <a href="#Page_256">256</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The good side of the religious reaction <a href="#Page_258">258</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its preservation of some parts of Christian influence <a href="#Page_259">259</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Earlier forms of deism <a href="#Page_260">260</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The deism of the Savoyard Vicar <a href="#Page_264">264</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The elevation of man, as well as the restoration of a divinity <a + href="#Page_265">265</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + A divinity for fair weather <a href="#Page_268">268</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Religious self-denial <a href="#Page_269">269</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Savoyard Vicar's vital omission <a href="#Page_270">270</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His position towards Christianity <a href="#Page_272">272</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its effectiveness as a solvent <a href="#Page_273">273</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Weakness of the subjective test <a href="#Page_276">276</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Savoyard Vicar's deism not compatible with growing intellectual + conviction <a href="#Page_276">276</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The true satisfaction of the religious emotion <a href="#Page_277">277</a> + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">England.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's English portrait <a href="#Page_281">281</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His reception in Paris <a href="#Page_282">282</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And in London <a href="#Page_283">283</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hume's account of him <a href="#Page_284">284</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Settlement at Wootton <a href="#Page_286">286</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The quarrel with Hume <a href="#Page_287">287</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Detail of the charges against Hume <a href="#Page_287">287</a>-291 + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Walpole's pretended letter from Frederick <a href="#Page_291">291</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Baselessness of the whole delusion <a href="#Page_292">292</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hume's conduct in the quarrel <a href="#Page_293">293</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The war of pamphlets <a href="#Page_295">295</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Common theory of Rousseau's madness <a href="#Page_296">296</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Preparatory conditions <a href="#Page_297">297</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Extension of disorder from the affective life to the intelligence <a + href="#Page_299">299</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Confessions <a href="#Page_301">301</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His life at Wootton <a href="#Page_306">306</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Flight from Derbyshire <a href="#Page_306">306</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And from England <a href="#Page_308">308</a> + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">The End.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The elder Mirabeau <a href="#Page_309">309</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Shelters Rousseau at Fleury <a href="#Page_311">311</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau at Trye <a href="#Page_312">312</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + In Dauphiny <a href="#Page_314">314</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Return to Paris <a href="#Page_314">314</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The <i>Rêveries</i> <a href="#Page_315">315</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Life in Paris <a href="#Page_316">316</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Bernardin de St. Pierre's account of him <a href="#Page_317">317</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + An Easter excursion <a href="#Page_320">320</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's unsociality <a href="#Page_322">322</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Poland and Spain <a href="#Page_324">324</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Withdrawal to Ermenonville <a href="#Page_326">326</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His death <a href="#Page_326">326</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <a href="#INDEX"><b>INDEX</b></a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <a name="volume1" id="volume1"></a> + </p> + <h1> + ROUSSEAU + </h1> + <h3> + BY + </h3> + <h2> + JOHN MORLEY + </h2> + <h3> + VOL. I. + </h3> + <hr style="width: 35%;" /> + <p style="text-align: center"> + London<br /> MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> NEW + YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> 1905<br /> + </p> + <hr style="width: 45%;" /> + <h2> + JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> + Born + </td> + <td align="right"> + 1712 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Fled from Geneva + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>March</i>, 1728 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Changes religion at Turin + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>April</i>,     "    + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + With Madame de Warens, including various intervals, until + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>April</i>, 1740 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Goes to Paris with musical schemes + </td> + <td align="right"> + 1741 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Secretary at Venice + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>Spring</i>, 1743 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Paris, first as secretary to M. Francueil, then + </td> + <td align="right"> + {      1744 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> +      as composer, and copyist + </td> + <td align="right"> + {        to    + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + {      1756 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + The Hermitage + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>April 9</i>, 1756 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Montmorency + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>Dec. 15</i>, 1757 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Yverdun + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>June 14</i>, 1762 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Motiers-Travers + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>July 10</i>, 1762 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Isle of St. Peter + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>Sept.</i>, 1765 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Strasburg + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>Nov.</i>,     "    + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Paris + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>December</i>,     "    + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Arrives in England + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>Jan. 13</i>, 1766 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Leaves Dover + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>May 22</i>, 1767 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Fleury + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>June</i>,     "    + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Trye + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>July</i>,     "    + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Dauphiny + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>Aug.</i>, 1768 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Paris + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>June</i>, 1770 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Death + </td> + <td align="right"> + <i>July 2</i>, 1778 + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + PRINCIPAL WRITINGS. + </h3> + <table summary=""> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> + Discourse on the Influence of Learning and Art + </td> + <td align="right"> + <span class="smcap">Published</span> 1750 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Discourse on Inequality + </td> + <td align="right"> + "      1754 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Letter to D'Alembert + </td> + <td align="right"> + "      1758 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + New Heloïsa (began 1757, finished in winter of 1759-60 + </td> + <td align="right"> + "      1761 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Social Contract + </td> + <td align="right"> + "      1762 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Emilius + </td> + <td align="right"> + "      1762 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Letters from the Mountain + </td> + <td align="right"> + "      1764 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Confessions (written 1766-70) + </td> + <td align="right"> + { Pt. I 1781 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> +   + </td> + <td align="right"> + { Pt. II 1788 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + Rêveries (written 1777-78). + </td> + <td> +   + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <hr style="width: 45%;" /> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0"><i>Comme dans les étangs assoupis sous les bois,<br /></i></span><i> + <span class="i0">Dans plus d'une âme on voit deux choses à la + fois:<br /></span> <span class="i0">Le ciel, qui teint les eaux à + peine remuées<br /></span> <span class="i0">Avec tous ses rayons et + toutes ses nueés;<br /></span> <span class="i0">Et la vase, fond + morne, affreux, sombre et dormant,<br /></span> <span class="i0">Où + des reptiles noirs fourmillent vaguement.</span></i><span class="i0"><br /></span> + <span class="i20"><span class="smcap">Hugo</span>.<br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.1" id="Page_i.1">[i.1]</a></span> + </p> + <h1> + ROUSSEAU. + </h1> + <p> +   + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_I." id="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <h3> + PRELIMINARY. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">Christianity</span> is the name for a great variety of + changes which took place during the first centuries of our era, in men's + ways of thinking and feeling about their spiritual relations to unseen + powers, about their moral relations to one another, about the basis and + type of social union. So the Revolution is now the accepted name for a set + of changes which began faintly to take a definite practical shape first in + America, and then in France, towards the end of the eighteenth century; + they had been directly prepared by a small number of energetic thinkers, + whose speculations represented, as always, the prolongation of some old + lines of thought in obedience to the impulse of new social and + intellectual conditions. While one movement supplied the energy and the + principles which extricated civilisation from the ruins of the Roman + empire, the other supplies the energy and the principles which already + once, between the Seven Years'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.2" + id="Page_i.2">[i.2]</a></span> War and the assembly of the States General, + saved human progress in face of the political fatuity of England and the + political nullity of France; and they are now, amid the distraction of the + various representatives of an obsolete ordering, the only forces to be + trusted at once for multiplying the achievements of human intelligence + stimulated by human sympathy, and for diffusing their beneficent results + with an ampler hand and more far-scattering arm. Faith in a divine power, + devout obedience to its supposed will, hope of ecstatic, unspeakable + reward, these were the springs of the old movement. Undivided love of our + fellows, steadfast faith in human nature, steadfast search after justice, + firm aspiration towards improvement, and generous contentment in the hope + that others may reap whatever reward may be, these are the springs of the + new. + </p> + <p> + There is no given set of practical maxims agreed to by all members of the + revolutionary schools for achieving the work of release from the pressure + of an antiquated social condition, any more than there is one set of + doctrines and one kind of discipline accepted by all Protestants. Voltaire + was a revolutionist in one sense, Diderot in another, and Rousseau in a + third, just as in the practical order, Lafayette, Danton, Robespierre, + represented three different aspirations and as many methods. Rousseau was + the most directly revolutionary of all the speculative precursors, and he + was the first to apply his mind boldly to those of the social conditions + which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.3" id="Page_i.3">[i.3]</a></span> + revolution is concerned by one solution or another to modify. How far his + direct influence was disastrous in consequence of a mischievous method, we + shall have to examine. It was so various that no single answer can + comprehend an exhaustive judgment. His writings produced that glow of + enthusiastic feeling in France, which led to the all-important assistance + rendered by that country to the American colonists in a struggle so + momentous for mankind. It was from his writings that the Americans took + the ideas and the phrases of their great charter, thus uniting the native + principles of their own direct Protestantism with principles that were + strictly derivative from the Protestantism of Geneva. Again, it was his + work more than that of any other one man, that France arose from the + deadly decay which had laid hold of her whole social and political system, + and found that irresistible energy which warded off dissolution within and + partition from without. We shall see, further, that besides being the + first immediately revolutionary thinker in politics, he was the most + stirring of reactionists in religion. His influence formed not only + Robespierre and Paine, but Chateaubriand, not only Jacobinism, but the + Catholicism of the Restoration. Thus he did more than any one else at once + to give direction to the first episodes of revolution, and force to the + first episode of reaction. + </p> + <p> + There are some teachers whose distinction is neither correct thought, nor + an eye for the exigencies of practical organisation, but simply depth and + fervour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.4" id="Page_i.4">[i.4]</a></span> + of the moral sentiment, bringing with it the indefinable gift of touching + many hearts with love of virtue and the things of the spirit. The + Christian organisations which saved western society from dissolution owe + all to St. Paul, Hildebrand, Luther, Calvin; but the spiritual life of the + west during all these generations has burnt with the pure flame first + lighted by the sublime mystic of the Galilean hills. Aristotle acquired + for men much knowledge and many instruments for gaining more; but it is + Plato, his master, who moves the soul with love of truth and enthusiasm + for excellence. There is peril in all such leaders of souls, inasmuch as + they incline men to substitute warmth for light, and to be content with + aspiration where they need direction. Yet no movement goes far which does + not count one of them in the number of its chiefs. Rousseau took this + place among those who prepared the first act of that revolutionary drama, + whose fifth act is still dark to us. + </p> + <p> + At the heart of the Revolution, like a torrid stream flowing undiscernible + amid the waters of a tumbling sea, is a new way of understanding life. The + social changes desired by the various assailants of the old order are only + the expression of a deeper change in moral idea, and the drift of the new + moral idea is to make life simpler. This in a sense is at the bottom of + all great religious and moral movements, and the Revolution emphatically + belongs to the latter class. Like such movements in the breast of the + individual, those which stir an epoch have their principle in<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.5" id="Page_i.5">[i.5]</a></span> the same + craving for disentanglement of life. This impulse to shake off intricacies + is the mark of revolutionary generations, and it was the starting-point of + all Rousseau's mental habits, and of the work in which they expressed + themselves. His mind moved outwards from this centre, and hence the fact + that he dealt principally with government and education, the two great + agencies which, in an old civilisation with a thousand roots and feelers, + surround external life and internal character with complexity. + Simplification of religion by clearing away the overgrowth of errors, + simplification of social relations by equality, of literature and art by + constant return to nature, of manners by industrious homeliness and + thrift,—this is the revolutionary process and ideal, and this is the + secret of Rousseau's hold over a generation that was lost amid the broken + maze of fallen systems. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + The personality of Rousseau has most equivocal and repulsive sides. It has + deservedly fared ill in the esteem of the saner and more rational of those + who have judged him, and there is none in the history of famous men and + our spiritual fathers that begat us, who make more constant demands on the + patience or pity of those who study his life. Yet in no other instance is + the common eagerness to condense all predication about a character into a + single unqualified proposition so fatally inadequate. If it is + indispensable that we should be for ever describing, naming, classifying, + at least it is well, in speaking of such a<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.6" id="Page_i.6">[i.6]</a></span> nature as his, to enlarge + the vocabulary beyond the pedantic formulas of unreal ethics, and to be as + sure as we know how to make ourselves, that each of the sympathies and + faculties which together compose our power of spiritual observation, is in + a condition of free and patient energy. Any less open and liberal method, + which limits our sentiments to absolute approval or disapproval, and fixes + the standard either at the balance of common qualities which constitutes + mediocrity, or at the balance of uncommon qualities which is divinity as + in a Shakespeare, must leave in a cloud of blank incomprehensibleness + those singular spirits who come from time to time to quicken the germs of + strange thought and shake the quietness of the earth. + </p> + <p> + We may forget much in our story that is grievous or hateful, in reflecting + that if any man now deems a day basely passed in which he has given no + thought to the hard life of garret and hovel, to the forlorn children and + trampled women of wide squalid wildernesses in cities, it was Rousseau who + first in our modern time sounded a new trumpet note for one more of the + great battles of humanity. He makes the poor very proud, it was truly + said. Some of his contemporaries followed the same vein of thought, as we + shall see, and he was only continuing work which others had prepared. But + he alone had the gift of the golden mouth. It was in Rousseau that polite + Europe first hearkened to strange voices and faint reverberation from out + of the vague and cavernous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.7" + id="Page_i.7">[i.7]</a></span> shadow in which the common people move. + Science has to feel the way towards light and solution, to prepare, to + organise. But the race owes something to one who helped to state the + problem, writing up in letters of flame at the brutal feast of kings and + the rich that civilisation is as yet only a mockery, and did furthermore + inspire a generation of men and women with the stern resolve that they + would rather perish than live on in a world where such things can be. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.8" id="Page_i.8">[i.8]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + YOUTH. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">Jean Jacques Rousseau</span> was born at Geneva, June + 28, 1712. He was of old French stock. His ancestors had removed from Paris + to the famous city of refuge as far back as 1529, a little while before + Farel came thither to establish the principles of the Reformation, and + seven years before the first visit of the more extraordinary man who made + Geneva the mother city of a new interpretation of Christianity, as Rome + was the mother city of the old. Three generations in a direct line + separated Jean Jacques from Didier Rousseau, the son of a Paris + bookseller, and the first emigrant.<a name="FNanchor1" id="FNanchor1"></a><a + href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a> Thus Protestant tradition in the Rousseau + family dates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.9" id="Page_i.9">[i.9]</a></span> + from the appearance of Protestantism in Europe, and seems to have exerted + the same kind of influence upon them as it did, in conjunction with the + rest of the surrounding circumstances, upon the other citizens of the + ideal state of the Reformation. It is computed by the historians that out + of three thousand families who composed the population of Geneva towards + the end of the seventeenth century, there were hardly fifty who before the + Reformation had acquired the position of burgess-ship. The curious set of + conditions which thus planted a colony of foreigners in the midst of a + free polity, with a new doctrine and newer discipline, introduced into + Europe a fresh type of character and manners. People declared they could + recognise in the men of Geneva neither French vivacity, nor Italian + subtlety and clearness, nor Swiss gravity. They had a zeal for religion, a + vigorous energy in government, a passion for freedom, a devotion to + ingenious industries, which marked them with a stamp unlike that of any + other community.<a name="FNanchor2" id="FNanchor2"></a><a + href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a> Towards the close of the seventeenth century + some of the old austerity and rudeness was sensibly modified under the + influence of the great neighbouring monarchy. One striking illustration of + this tendency was the rapid decline of the Savoyard patois in popular use. + The movement had not gone far enough when Rousseau was born, to take away + from the manners and spirit of his country their special quality and + individual note. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.10" id="Page_i.10">[i.10]</a></span> + The mother of Jean Jacques, who seems to have been a simple, cheerful, and + tender woman, was the daughter of a Genevan minister; her maiden name, + Bernard. The birth of her son was fatal to her, and the most touching and + pathetic of all the many shapes of death was the fit beginning of a life + preappointed to nearly unlifting cloud. "I cost my mother her life," + he wrote, "and my birth was the first of my woes."<a + name="FNanchor3" id="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a> Destiny + thus touches us with magical finger, long before consciousness awakens to + the forces that have been set to work in our personality, launching us + into the universe with country, forefathers, and physical predispositions, + all fixed without choice of ours. Rousseau was born dying, and though he + survived this first crisis by the affectionate care of one of his father's + sisters, yet his constitution remained infirm and disordered. + </p> + <p> + Inborn tendencies, as we perceive on every side, are far from having + unlimited irresistible mastery, if they meet early encounter from some + wise and patient external will. The father of Rousseau was unfortunately + cast in the same mould as his mother, and the child's own morbid + sensibility was stimulated and deepened by the excessive sensibility of + his first companion. Isaac Rousseau, in many of his traits, was a + reversion to an old French type. In all the Genevese there was an + underlying tendency of this kind. "Under a phlegmatic and cool air," + wrote Rousseau, when warning his countrymen against the<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.11" id="Page_i.11">[i.11]</a></span> + inflammatory effects of the drama, "the Genevese hide an ardent and + sensitive character, that is more easily moved than controlled."<a + name="FNanchor4" id="FNanchor4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a> And some + of the episodes in their history during the eighteenth century might be + taken for scenes from the turbulent dramas of Paris. But Isaac Rousseau's + restlessness, his eager emotion, his quick and punctilious sense of + personal dignity, his heedlessness of ordered affairs, were not common in + Geneva, fortunately for the stability of her society and the prosperity of + her citizens. This disorder of spirit descended in modified form to the + son; it was inevitable that he should be indirectly affected by it. Before + he was seven years old he had learnt from his father to indulge a passion + for the reading of romances. The child and the man passed whole nights in + a fictitious world, reading to one another in turn, absorbed by vivid + interest in imaginary situations, until the morning note of the birds + recalled them to a sense of the conditions of more actual life, and made + the elder cry out in confusion that he was the more childish of the two. + </p> + <p> + The effect of this was to raise passion to a premature exaltation in the + young brain. "I had no idea of real things," he said, "though + all the sentiments were already familiar to me. Nothing had come to me by + conception, everything by sensation. These confused emotions, striking me + one after another, did not warp a reason that I did not yet possess, but + they gradually shaped in me a reason of another cast and<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.12" id="Page_i.12">[i.12]</a></span> + temper, and gave me bizarre and romantic ideas of human life, of which + neither reflection nor experience has ever been able wholly to cure me."<a + name="FNanchor5" id="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5">[5]</a> Thus + these first lessons, which have such tremendous influence over all that + follow, had the direct and fatal effect in Rousseau's case of deadening + that sense of the actual relations of things to one another in the + objective world, which is the master-key and prime law of sanity. + </p> + <p> + In time the library of romances came to an end (1719), and Jean Jacques + and his father fell back on the more solid and moderated fiction of + history and biography. The romances had been the possession of the mother; + the more serious books were inherited from the old minister, her father. + Such books as Nani's History of Venice, and Le Sueur's History of the + Church and the Empire, made less impression on the young Rousseau than the + admirable Plutarch; and he used to read to his father during the hours of + work, and read over again to himself during all hours, those stories of + free and indomitable souls which are so proper to kindle the glow of + generous fire. Plutarch was dear to him to the end of his life; he read + him in the late days when he had almost ceased to read, and he always + declared Plutarch to be nearly the only author to whom he had never gone + without profit.<a name="FNanchor6" id="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a> + "I think I see my father now," he wrote<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.13" id="Page_i.13">[i.13]</a></span> when he had begun to + make his mark in Paris, "living by the work of his hands, and + nourishing his soul on the sublimest truths. I see Tacitus, Plutarch, and + Grotius, lying before him along with the tools of his craft. I see at his + side a cherished son receiving instruction from the best of fathers, alas, + with but too little fruit."<a name="FNanchor7" id="FNanchor7"></a><a + href="#Footnote_7">[7]</a> This did little to implant the needed + impressions of the actual world. Rousseau's first training continued to be + in an excessive degree the exact reverse of our common method; this stirs + the imagination too little, and shuts the young too narrowly within the + strait pen of present and visible reality. The reader of Plutarch at the + age of ten actually conceived himself a Greek or a Roman, and became the + personage whose strokes of constancy and intrepidity transported him with + sympathetic ecstasy, made his eyes sparkle, and raised his voice to heroic + pitch. Listeners were even alarmed one day as he told the tale of Scaevola + at table, to see him imitatively thrust forth his arm over a hot + chafing-dish.<a name="FNanchor8" id="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8">[8]</a> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau had one brother, on whom the spirit of the father came down in + ample measure, just as the sensibility of the mother descended upon Jean + Jacques. He passed through a boyhood of revolt, and finally ran away into + Germany, where he was lost from sight and knowledge of his kinsmen for + ever. Jean Jacques was thus left virtually an only child,<a + name="FNanchor9" id="FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9">[9]</a> and he + com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.14" id="Page_i.14">[i.14]</a></span>memorates + the homely tenderness and care with which his early years were surrounded. + Except in the hours which he passed in reading by the side of his father, + he was always with his aunt, in the self-satisfying curiosity of childhood + watching her at work with the needle and busy about affairs of the house, + or else listening to her with contented interest, as she sang the simple + airs of the common people. The impression of this kind and cheerful figure + was stamped on his memory to the end; her tone of voice, her dress, the + quaint fashion of her hair. The constant recollection of her shows, among + many other signs, how he cherished that conception of the true unity of a + man's life, which places it in a closely-linked chain of active memories, + and which most of us lose in wasteful dispersion of sentiment and poor + fragmentariness of days. When the years came in which he might well say, I + have no pleasure in them, and after a manhood of distress and suspicion + and diseased sorrows had come to dim those blameless times, he could still + often surprise himself unconsciously humming the tune of one of his aunt's + old songs, with many tears in his eyes.<a name="FNanchor10" id="FNanchor10"></a><a + href="#Footnote_10">[10]</a> + </p> + <p> + This affectionate schooling came suddenly to an end. Isaac Rousseau in the + course of a quarrel in which he had involved himself, believed that he saw<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.15" id="Page_i.15">[i.15]</a></span> + unfairness in the operation of the law, for the offender had kinsfolk in + the Great Council. He resolved to leave his country rather than give way, + in circumstances which compromised his personal honour and the free + justice of the republic. So his house was broken up, and his son was sent + to school at the neighbouring village of Bossey (1722), under the care of + a minister, "there to learn along with Latin all the medley of sorry + stuff with which, under the name of education, they accompany Latin."<a + name="FNanchor11" id="FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11">[11]</a> + Rousseau tells us nothing of the course of his intellectual instruction + here, but he marks his two years' sojourn under the roof of M. Lambercier + by two forward steps in that fateful acquaintance with good and evil, + which is so much more important than literary knowledge. Upon one of these + fruits of the tree of nascent experience, men usually keep strict silence. + Rousseau is the only person that ever lived who proclaimed to the whole + world as a part of his own biography the ignoble circumstances of the + birth of sensuality in boyhood. Nobody else ever asked us to listen while + he told of the playmate with which unwarned youth takes its heedless + pleasure, which waxes and strengthens with years, until the man suddenly + awakens to find the playmate grown into a master, grotesque and foul, + whose unclean grip is not to be shaken off, and who poisons the air with + the goatish fume of the satyr. It is on this side that the unspoken plays + so decisive a part, that most of the<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.16" id="Page_i.16">[i.16]</a></span> spoken seems but as dust + in the balance; it is here that the flesh spreads gross clouds over the + firmament of the spirit. Thinking of it, we flee from talk about the high + matters of will and conscience, of purity of heart and the diviner mind, + and hurry to the physician. Manhood commonly saves itself by its own + innate healthiness, though the decent apron bequeathed to us in the old + legend of the fall, the thick veil of a more than legendary reserve, + prevents us from really measuring the actual waste of delicacy and the + finer forces. Rousseau, most unhappily for himself, lacked this innate + healthiness; he never shook off the demon which would be so ridiculous, if + it did not hide such terrible power. With a moral courage, that it needs + hardly less moral courage in the critic firmly to refrain from calling + cynical or shameless, he has told the whole story of this lifelong + depravation. In the present state of knowledge, which in the region of the + human character the false shamefacedness of science, aided and abetted by + the mutilating hand of religious asceticism, has kept crude and imperfect, + there is nothing very profitable to be said on all this. When the great + art of life has been more systematically conceived in the long processes + of time and endeavour, and when more bold, effective, and far-reaching + advance has been made in defining those pathological manifestations which + deserve to be seriously studied, as distinguished from those of a minor + sort which are barely worth registering, then we should know better how to + speak, or how to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.17" id="Page_i.17">[i.17]</a></span> + silent, in the present most unwelcome instance. As it is, we perhaps do + best in chronicling the fact and passing on. The harmless young are + allowed to play without monition or watching among the deep open graves of + temperament; and Rousseau, telling the tale of his inmost experience, + unlike the physician and the moralist who love decorous surfaces of + things, did not spare himself nor others a glimpse of the ignominies to + which the body condemns its high tenant, the soul.<a name="FNanchor12" + id="FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12">[12]</a> + </p> + <p> + The second piece of experience which he acquired at Bossey was the + knowledge of injustice and wrongful suffering as things actual and + existent. Circumstances brought him under suspicion of having broken the + teeth of a comb which did not belong to him. He was innocent, and not even + the most terrible punishment could wring from him an untrue confession of + guilt. The root of his constancy was not in an abhorrence of falsehood, + which is exceptional in youth, and for which he takes no credit, but in a + furious and invincible resentment against the violent pressure that was + unjustly put upon him. "Picture a character, timid and docile in + ordinary life, but ardent, impetuous, indomitable in its passions; a child + always governed by the voice of reason, always treated with equity, + gentleness, and consideration, who had not even the idea of injustice, and + who for the first time experiences an injustice so terrible, from the very + people whom he most cherishes and respects! What a con<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.18" id="Page_i.18">[i.18]</a></span>fusion of ideas, what + disorder of sentiments, what revolution in heart, in brain, in every part + of his moral and intellectual being!" He had not learnt, any more + than other children, either to put himself in the place of his elders, or + to consider the strength of the apparent case against him. All that he + felt was the rigour of a frightful chastisement for an offence of which he + was innocent. And the association of ideas was permanent. "This first + sentiment of violence and injustice has remained so deeply engraved in my + soul, that all the ideas relating to it bring my first emotion back to me; + and this sentiment, though only relative to myself in its origin, has + taken such consistency, and become so disengaged from all personal + interest, that my heart is inflamed at the sight or story of any wrongful + action, just as much as if its effect fell on my own person. When I read + of the cruelties of some ferocious tyrant, or the subtle atrocities of + some villain of a priest, I would fain start on the instant to poniard + such wretches, though I were to perish a hundred times for the deed.... + This movement may be natural to me, and I believe it is so; but the + profound recollection of the first injustice I suffered was too long and + too fast bound up with it, not to have strengthened it enormously."<a + name="FNanchor13" id="FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13">[13]</a> + </p> + <p> + To men who belong to the silent and phlegmatic races like our own, all + this may possibly strike on the ear like a false or strained note. Yet a + tranquil appeal to the real history of one's own strongest im<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.19" id="Page_i.19">[i.19]</a></span>pressions + may disclose their roots in facts of childish experience, which remoteness + of time has gradually emptied of the burning colour they once had. This + childish discovery of the existence in his own world of that injustice + which he had only seen through a glass very darkly in the imaginary world + of his reading, was for Rousseau the angry dismissal from the primitive + Eden, which in one shape and at one time or another overtakes all men. + "Here," he says, "was the term of the serenity of my + childish days. From this moment I ceased to enjoy a pure happiness, and I + feel even at this day that the reminiscence of the delights of my infancy + here comes to an end.... Even the country lost in our eyes that charm of + sweetness and simplicity which goes to the heart; it seemed sombre and + deserted, and was as if covered by a veil, hiding its beauties from our + sight. We no longer tended our little gardens, our plants, our flowers. We + went no more lightly to scratch the earth, shouting for joy as we + discovered the germ of the seed we had sown." + </p> + <p> + Whatever may be the degree of literal truth in the Confessions, the whole + course of Rousseau's life forbids us to pass this passionate description + by as overcharged or exaggerated. We are conscious in it of a + constitutional infirmity. We perceive an absence of healthy power of + reaction against moral shock. Such shocks are experienced in many + unavoidable forms by all save the dullest natures, when they first come + into contact with the sharp tooth of outer cir<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.20" id="Page_i.20">[i.20]</a></span>cumstance. Indeed, a man + must be either miraculously happy in his experiences, or exceptionally + obtuse in observing and feeling, or else be the creature of base and + cynical ideals, if life does not to the end continue to bring many a + repetition of that first day of incredulous bewilderment. But the urgent + demands for material activity quickly recall the mass of men to normal + relations with their fellows and the outer world. A vehement objective + temperament, like Voltaire's, is instantly roused by one of these + penetrative stimuli into angry and tenacious resistance. A proud and + collected soul, like Goethe's, loftily follows its own inner aims, without + taking any heed of the perturbations that arise from want of + self-collection in a world still spelling its rudiments. A sensitive and + depressed spirit, like Rousseau's or Cowper's, finds itself without any of + these reacting kinds of force, and the first stroke of cruelty or + oppression is the going out of a divine light. + </p> + <p> + Leaving Bossey, Rousseau returned to Geneva, and passed two or three years + with his uncle, losing his time for the most part, but learning something + of drawing and something of Euclid, for the former of which he showed + special inclination.<a name="FNanchor14" id="FNanchor14"></a><a + href="#Footnote_14">[14]</a> It was a question whether he was to be made a + watchmaker, a lawyer, or a minister. His own preference, as his after-life + might have led us to suppose, was in favour of the last of the three; + "for I thought it a fine thing," he says, "to preach." + The uncle was a man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.21" id="Page_i.21">[i.21]</a></span> + of pleasure, and as often happens in such circumstances, his love of + pleasure had the effect of turning his wife into a pietist. Their son was + Rousseau's constant comrade. "Our friendship filled our hearts so + amply, that if we were only together, the simplest amusements were a + delight." They made kites, cages, bows and arrows, drums, houses; + they spoiled the tools of their grandfather, in trying to make watches + like him. In the same cheerful imitative spirit, which is the main feature + in childhood when it is not disturbed by excess of literary teaching, + after Geneva had been visited by an Italian showman with a troop of + marionettes, they made puppets and composed comedies for them; and when + one day the uncle read aloud an elegant sermon, they abandoned their + comedies, and turned with blithe energy to exhortation. They had glimpses + of the rougher side of life in the biting mockeries of some schoolboys of + the neighbourhood. These ended in appeal to the god of youthful war, who + pronounced so plainly for the bigger battalions, that the release of their + enemies from school was the signal for the quick retreat of our pair + within doors. All this is an old story in every biography written or + unwritten. It seldom fails to touch us, either in the way of sympathetic + reminiscence, or if life should have gone somewhat too hardly with a man, + then in the way of irony, which is not less real and poetic than the + eironeia of a Greek dramatist, for being concerned with more unheroic + creatures. + </p> + <p> + And this rough play of the streets always seemed<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.22" id="Page_i.22">[i.22]</a></span> to Rousseau a manlier + schooling than the effeminate tendencies which he thought he noticed in + Genevese youth in after years. "In my time," he says admiringly, + "children were brought up in rustic fashion and had no complexion to + keep.... Timid and modest before the old, they were bold, haughty, + combative among themselves; they had no curled locks to be careful of; + they defied one another at wrestling, running, boxing. They returned home + sweating, out of breath, torn; they were true blackguards, if you will, + but they made men who have zeal in their heart to serve their country and + blood to shed for her. May we be able to say as much one day of our fine + little gentlemen, and may these men at fifteen not turn out children at + thirty."<a name="FNanchor15" id="FNanchor15"></a><a + href="#Footnote_15">[15]</a> + </p> + <p> + Two incidents of this period remain to us, described in Rousseau's own + words, and as they reveal a certain sweetness in which his life unhappily + did not afterwards greatly abound, it may help our equitable balance of + impressions about him to reproduce them. Every Sunday he used to spend the + day at Pâquis at Mr. Fazy's, who had married one of his aunts, and + who carried on the production of printed calicoes. "One day I was in + the drying-room, watching the rollers of the hot press; their brightness + pleased my eye; I was tempted to lay my fingers on them, and I was moving + them up and down with much satisfaction along the smooth cylinder, when + young Fazy placed himself in the wheel and gave it a half-quarter<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.23" id="Page_i.23">[i.23]</a></span> turn + so adroitly, that I had just the ends of my two longest fingers caught, + but this was enough to crush the tips and tear the nails. I raised a + piercing cry; Fazy instantly turned back the wheel, and the blood gushed + from my fingers. In the extremity of consternation he hastened to me, + embraced me, and besought me to cease my cries, or he would be undone. In + the height of my own pain, I was touched by his; I instantly fell silent, + we ran to the pond, where he helped me to wash my fingers and to staunch + the blood with moss. He entreated me with tears not to accuse him; I + promised him that I would not, and Ï kept my word so well that twenty + years after no one knew the origin of the scar. I was kept in bed for more + than three weeks, and for more than two months was unable to use my hand. + But I persisted that a large stone had fallen and crushed my fingers."<a + name="FNanchor16" id="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16">[16]</a> + </p> + <p> + The other story is of the same tenour, though there is a new touch of + sensibility in its concluding words. "I was playing at ball at Plain + Palais, with one of my comrades named Plince. We began to quarrel over the + game; we fought, and in the fight he dealt me on my bare head a stroke so + well directed, that with a stronger arm it would have dashed my brains + out. I fell to the ground, and there never was agitation like that of this + poor lad, as he saw the blood in my hair. He thought he had killed me. He + threw himself upon me, and clasped me eagerly in his arms, while his tears + poured down his cheeks, and he uttered<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.24" id="Page_i.24">[i.24]</a></span> shrill cries. I returned + his embrace with all my force, weeping like him, in a state of confused + emotion which was not without a kind of sweetness. Then he tried to stop + the blood which kept flowing, and seeing that our two handkerchiefs were + not enough, he dragged me off to his mother's; she had a small garden hard + by. The good woman nearly fell sick at sight of me in this condition; she + kept strength enough to dress my wound, and after bathing it well, she + applied flower-de-luce macerated in brandy, an excellent remedy much used + in our country. Her tears and those of her son, went to my very heart, so + that I looked upon them for a long while as my mother and my brother."<a + name="FNanchor17" id="FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17">[17]</a> + </p> + <p> + If it were enough that our early instincts should be thus amiable and + easy, then doubtless the dismal sloughs in which men and women lie + floundering would occupy a very much more insignificant space in the field + of human experience. The problem, as we know, lies in the discipline of + this primitive goodness. For character in a state of society is not a tree + that grows into uprightness by the law of its own strength, though an + adorable instance here and there of rectitude and moral loveliness that + seem intuitive may sometimes tempt us into a moment's belief in a contrary + doctrine. In Rousseau's case this serious problem was never solved; there + was no deliberate preparation of his impulses, prepossessions, notions; no + foresight on the part of elders, and no gradual<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.25" id="Page_i.25">[i.25]</a></span> acclimatisation of a + sensitive and ardent nature in the fixed principles which are essential to + right conduct in the frigid zone of our relations with other people. It + was one of the most elementary of Rousseau's many perverse and mischievous + contentions, that it is their education by the older which ruins or wastes + the abundant capacity for virtue that subsists naturally in the young. His + mind seems never to have sought much more deeply for proof of this, than + the fact that he himself was innocent and happy so long as he was allowed + to follow without disturbance the easy simple proclivities of his own + temperament. Circumstances were not indulgent enough to leave the + experiment to complete itself within these very rudimentary conditions. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau had been surrounded, as he is always careful to protest, with a + religious atmosphere. His father, though a man of pleasure, was possessed + also not only of probity but of religion as well. His three aunts were all + in their degrees gracious and devout. M. Lambercier at Bossey, "although + Churchman and preacher," was still a sincere believer and nearly as + good in act as in word. His inculcation of religion was so hearty, so + discreet, so reasonable, that his pupils, far from being wearied by the + sermon, never came away without being touched inwardly and stirred to make + virtuous resolutions. With his Aunt Bernard devotion was rather more + tiresome, because she made a business of it.<a name="FNanchor18" + id="FNanchor18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18">[18]</a> It would be a distinct<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.26" id="Page_i.26">[i.26]</a></span> error + to suppose that all this counted for nothing, for let us remember that we + are now engaged with the youth of the one great religious writer of France + in the eighteenth century. When after many years Rousseau's character + hardened, the influences which had surrounded his boyhood came out in + their full force and the historian of opinion soon notices in his spirit + and work a something which had no counterpart in the spirit and work of + men who had been trained in Jesuit colleges. At the first outset, however, + every trace of religious sentiment was obliterated from sight, and he was + left unprotected against the shocks of the world and the flesh. + </p> + <p> + At the age of eleven Jean Jacques was sent into a notary's office, but + that respectable calling struck him in the same repulsive and insufferable + way in which it has struck many other boys of genius in all countries. + Contrary to the usual rule, he did not rebel, but was ignominiously + dismissed by his master<a name="FNanchor19" id="FNanchor19"></a><a + href="#Footnote_19">[19]</a> for dulness and inaptitude; his fellow-clerks + pronounced him stupid and incompetent past hope. He was next apprenticed + to an engraver,<a name="FNanchor20" id="FNanchor20"></a><a + href="#Footnote_20">[20]</a> a rough and violent man, who seems to have + instantly plunged the boy into a demoralised stupefaction. The reality of + contact with this coarse nature benumbed as by touch of torpedo the whole + being of a youth who had hitherto lived on pure sensations and among those + ideas which are nearest to sensations. There were no longer heroic Romans + in Rousseau's universe. "The vilest<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.27" id="Page_i.27">[i.27]</a></span> tastes, the meanest bits + of rascality, succeeded to my simple amusements, without even leaving the + least idea behind. I must, in spite of the worthiest education, have had a + strong tendency to degenerate." The truth was that he had never had + any education in its veritable sense, as the process, on its negative + side, of counteracting the inborn. There are two kinds, or perhaps we + should more correctly say two degrees, of the constitution in which the + reflective part is weak. There are the men who live on sensation, but who + do so lustily, with a certain fulness of blood and active energy of + muscle. There are others who do so passively, not searching for + excitement, but acquiescing. The former by their sheer force and plenitude + of vitality may, even in a world where reflection is a first condition, + still go far. The latter succumb, and as reflection does nothing for them, + and as their sensations in such a world bring them few blandishments, they + are tolerably early surrounded with a self-diffusing atmosphere of misery. + Rousseau had none of this energy which makes oppression bracing. For a + time he sank. + </p> + <p> + It would be a mistake to let the story of the Confessions carry us into + exaggerations. The brutality of his master and the harshness of his life + led him to nothing very criminal, but only to wrong acts which are + despicable by their meanness, rather than in any sense atrocious. He told + lies as readily as the truth. He pilfered things to eat. He cunningly + found a means of opening his master's private cabinet, and of<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.28" id="Page_i.28">[i.28]</a></span> using + his master's best instruments by stealth. He wasted his time in idle and + capricious tasks. When the man, with all the ravity of an adult moralist, + describes these misdeeds of the boy, they assume a certain ugliness of + mien, and excites a strong disgust which, when the misdeeds themselves are + before us in actual life, we experience in a far more considerate form. + The effect of calm, retrospective avowal is to create a kind of feeling + which is essentially unlike our feeling at what is actually avowed. Still + it is clear that his unlucky career as apprentice brought out in Rousseau + slyness, greediness, slovenliness, untruthfulness, and the whole ragged + regiment of the squalider vices. The evil of his temperament now and + always was of the dull smouldering kind, seldom breaking out into active + flame. There is a certain sordidness in the scene. You may complain that + the details which Rousseau gives of his youthful days are insipid. Yet + such things are the web and stuff of life, and these days of transition + from childhood to full manhood in every case mark a crisis. These + insipidities test the education of home and family, and they presage + definitely what is to come. The roots of character, good or bad, are shown + for this short space, and they remain unchanged, though most people learn + from their fellows the decent and useful art of covering them over with a + little dust, in the shape of accepted phrases and routine customs and a + silence which is not oblivion. + </p> + <p> + After a time the character of Jean Jacques was<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.29" id="Page_i.29">[i.29]</a></span> absolutely broken down. + He says little of the blows with which his offences were punished by his + master, but he says enough to enable us to discern that they were terrible + to him. This cowardice, if we choose to give the name to an overmastering + physical horror, at length brought his apprentice days to an end. He was + now in his sixteenth year. He was dragged by his comrades into sports for + which he had little inclination, though he admits that once engaged in + them he displayed an impetuosity that carried him beyond the others. Such + pastimes naturally led them beyond the city walls, and on two occasions + Rousseau found the gates closed on his return. His master when he + presented himself in the morning gave him such greeting as we may imagine, + and held out things beyond imagining as penalty for a second sin in this + kind. The occasion came, as, alas, it nearly always does. "Half a + league from the town," says Rousseau, "I hear the retreat + sounded, and redouble my pace; I hear the drum beat, and run at the top of + my speed: I arrive out of breath, bathed in sweat; my heart beats + violently, I see from a distance the soldiers at their post, and call out + with choking voice. It was too late. Twenty paces from the outpost + sentinel, I saw the first bridge rising. I shuddered, as I watched those + terrible horns, sinister and fatal augury of the inevitable lot which that + moment was opening for me."<a name="FNanchor21" id="FNanchor21"></a><a + href="#Footnote_21">[21]</a> + </p> + <p> + In manhood when we have the resource of our own will to fall back upon, we + underestimate the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.30" id="Page_i.30">[i.30]</a></span> + unsurpassed horror and anguish of such moments as this in youth, when we + know only the will of others, and that this will is inexorable against us. + Rousseau dared not expose himself to the fulfilment of his master's + menace, and he ran away (1728). But for this, wrote the unhappy man long + years after, "I should have passed, in the bosom of my religion, of + my native land, of my family, and my friends, a mild and peaceful life, + such as my character required, in the uniformity of work which suited my + taste, and of a society after my heart. I should have been a good + Christian, good citizen, good father of a family, good friend, good + craftsman, good man in all. I should have been happy in my condition, + perhaps I might have honoured it; and after living a life obscure and + simple, but even and gentle, I should have died peacefully in the midst of + my own people. Soon forgotten, I should at any rate have been regretted as + long as any memory of me was left."<a name="FNanchor22" + id="FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22">[22]</a> + </p> + <p> + As a man knows nothing about the secrets of his own individual + organisation, this illusory mapping out of a supposed Possible need seldom + be suspected of the smallest insincerity. The poor madman who declares + that he is a king kept out of his rights only moves our pity, and we + perhaps owe pity no less to those in all the various stages of aberration + uncertificated by surgeons, down to the very edge of most respectable + sanity, who accuse the injustice of men of keeping them out of this or + that kingdom, of which in truth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.31" + id="Page_i.31">[i.31]</a></span> their own composition finally + disinherited them at the moment when they were conceived in a mother's + womb. The first of the famous Five Propositions of Jansen, which were a + stumbling-block to popes and to the philosophy of the eighteenth-century + foolishness, put this clear and permanent truth into a mystic and + perishable formula, to the effect that there are some commandments of God + which righteous and good men are absolutely unable to obey, though ever so + disposed to do them, and God does not give them so much grace that they + are able to observe them. + </p> + <p> + If Rousseau's sensations in the evening were those of terror, the day and + its prospect of boundless adventures soon turned them into entire delight. + The whole world was before him, and all the old conceptions of romance + were instantly revived by the supposed nearness of their realisation. He + roamed for two or three days among the villages in the neighbourhood of + Geneva, finding such hospitality as he needed in the cottages of friendly + peasants. Before long his wanderings brought him to the end of the + territory of the little republic. Here he found himself in the domain of + Savoy, where dukes and lords had for ages been the traditional foes of the + freedom and the faith of Geneva, Rousseau came to the village of + Confignon, and the name of the priest of Confignon recalled one of the + most embittered incidents of the old feud. This feud had come to take new + forms; instead of midnight expeditions to scale the city walls, the + descendants of the Savoyard marauders of the sixteenth century were<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.32" id="Page_i.32">[i.32]</a></span> now + intent with equivocal good will on rescuing the souls of the descendants + of their old enemies from deadly heresy. At this time a systematic + struggle was going on between the priests of Savoy and the ministers of + Geneva, the former using every effort to procure the conversion of any + Protestant on whom they could lay hands.<a name="FNanchor23" + id="FNanchor23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23">[23]</a> As it happened, the + priest of Confignon was one of the most active in this good work.<a + name="FNanchor24" id="FNanchor24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24">[24]</a> He + made the young Rousseau welcome, spoke to him of the heresies of Geneva + and of the authority of the holy Church, and gave him some dinner. He + could hardly have had a more easy convert, for the nature with which he + had to deal was now swept and garnished, ready for the entrance of all + devils or gods. The dinner went for much. "I was too good a guest," + writes Rousseau in one of his few passages of humour, "to be a good + theologian, and his Frangi wine, which struck me as excellent, was such a + triumphant argument on his side, that I should have blushed to oppose so + capital a host."<a name="FNanchor25" id="FNanchor25"></a><a + href="#Footnote_25">[25]</a> So it was agreed that he should be put in a + way to be further instructed of these matters. We may accept Rousseau's + assurance that he was not exactly a hypocrite in this rapid complaisance. + He admits that any one who should have seen the artifices<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.33" id="Page_i.33">[i.33]</a></span> to + which he resorted, might have thought him very false. But, he argues, + "flattery, or rather concession, is not always a vice; it is oftener + a virtue, especially in the young. The kindness with which a man receives + us, attaches us to him; it is not to make a fool of him that we give way, + but to avoid displeasing him, and not to return him evil for good." + He never really meant to change his religion; his fault was like the + coquetting of decent women, who sometimes, to gain their ends, without + permitting anything or promising anything, lead men to hope more than they + mean to hold good.<a name="FNanchor26" id="FNanchor26"></a><a + href="#Footnote_26">[26]</a> Thereupon follow some austere reflections on + the priest, who ought to have sent him back to his friends; and there are + strictures even upon the ministers of all dogmatic religions, in which the + essential thing is not to do but to believe; their priests therefore, + provided that they can convert a man to their faith, are wholly + indifferent alike as to his worth and his worldly interests. All this is + most just; the occasion for such a strain of remark, though so apposite on + one side, is hardly well chosen to impress us. We wonder, as we watch the + boy complacently hoodwinking his entertainer, what has become of the Roman + severity of a few months back. This nervous eagerness to please, however, + was the complementary element of a character of vague ambition, and it was + backed by a stealthy consciousness of intellectual superiority, which + perhaps did something, though poorly enough, to make such ignominy less + deeply degrading. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.34" id="Page_i.34">[i.34]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + The die was cast. M. Pontverre despatched his brand plucked from the + burning to a certain Madame de Warens, a lady living at Annecy, and + counted zealous for the cause of the Church. In an interview whose + minutest circumstances remained for ever stamped in his mind (March 21, + 1728), Rousseau exchanged his first words with this singular personage, + whose name and character he has covered with doubtful renown. He expected + to find some gray and wrinkled woman, saving a little remnant of days in + good works. Instead of this, there turned round upon him a person not more + than eight-and-twenty years old, with gentle caressing air, a fascinating + smile, a tender eye. Madame de Warens read the letters he brought, and + entertained their bearer cheerfully. It was decided after consultation + that the heretic should be sent to a monastery at Turin, where he might be + brought over in form to the true Church. At the monastery not only would + the spiritual question of faith and the soul be dealt with, but at the + same time the material problem of shelter and subsistence for the body + would be solved likewise. Elated with vanity at the thought of seeing + before any of his comrades the great land of promise beyond the mountains, + heedless of those whom he had left, and heedless of the future before him + and the object which he was about, the young outcast made his journey over + the Alps in all possible lightness of heart. "Seeing country is an + allurement which hardly any Genevese can ever resist. Everything that met + my eye seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.35" id="Page_i.35">[i.35]</a></span> + the guarantee of my approaching happiness. In the houses I imagined rustic + festivals; in the fields, joyful sports; along the streams, bathing and + fishing; on the trees, delicious fruits; under their shade, voluptuous + interviews; on the mountains, pails of milk and cream, a charming + idleness, peace, simplicity, the delight of going forward without knowing + whither."<a name="FNanchor27" id="FNanchor27"></a><a + href="#Footnote_27">[27]</a> He might justly choose out this interval as + more perfectly free from care or anxiety than any other of his life. It + was the first of the too rare occasions when his usually passive + sensuousness was stung by novelty and hope into an active energy. + </p> + <p> + The seven or eight days of the journey came to an end, and the youth found + himself at Turin without money or clothes, an inmate of a dreary + monastery, among some of the very basest and foulest of mankind, who pass + their time in going from one monastery to another through Spain and Italy, + professing themselves Jews or Moors for the sake of being supported while + the process of their conversion was going slowly forward. At the Hospice + of the Catechumens the work of his conversion was begun in such earnest as + the insincerity of at least one of the parties to it might allow. It is + needless to enter into the circumstances of Rousseau's conversion to + Catholicism. The mischievous zeal for theological proselytising has led to + thousands of such hollow and degrading performances, but it may safely be + said that none of them was ever hollower than this. Rousseau avows that he + had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.36" id="Page_i.36">[i.36]</a></span> + brought up in the heartiest abhorrence of the older church, and that he + never lost this abhorrence. He fully explains that he accepted the + arguments with which he was not very energetically plied, simply because + he could not bear the idea of returning to Geneva, and he saw no other way + out of his present destitute condition. "I could not dissemble from + myself that the holy deed I was about to do, was at the bottom the action + of a bandit." "The sophism which destroyed me," he says in + one of those eloquent pieces of moralising, which bring ignoble action + into a relief that exaggerates our condemnation, "is that of most + men, who complain of lack of strength when it is already too late for them + to use it. It is only through our own fault that virtue costs us anything; + if we could be always sage, we should rarely feel the need of being + virtuous. But inclinations that might be easily overcome, drag us on + without resistance; we yield to light temptations of which we despise the + hazard. Insensibly we fall into perilous situations, against which we + could easily have shielded ourselves, but from which we can afterwards + only make a way out by heroic efforts that stupefy us, and so we sink into + the abyss, crying aloud to God, Why hast thou made me so weak? But in + spite of ourselves, God gives answer to our conscience, 'I made thee too + weak to come out from the pit, because I made thee strong enough to avoid + falling into it.'"<a name="FNanchor28" id="FNanchor28"></a><a + href="#Footnote_28">[28]</a> So the hopeful convert did fall in, not as + happens to the pious soul<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.37" + id="Page_i.37">[i.37]</a></span> "too hot for certainties in this our + life," to find rest in liberty of private judgment and an open Bible, + but simply as a means of getting food, clothing, and shelter.<a + name="FNanchor29" id="FNanchor29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29">[29]</a> The + boy was clever enough to make some show of resistance, and he turned to + good use for this purpose the knowledge of Church history and the great + Reformation controversy which he had picked up at M. Lambercier's. He was + careful not to carry things too far, and exactly nine days after his + admission into the Hospice, he "abjured the errors of the sect."<a + name="FNanchor30" id="FNanchor30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30">[30]</a> Two + days after that he was publicly received into the kindly bosom of the true + Church with all solemnity, to the high edification of the devout of Turin, + who marked their interest in the regenerate soul by contributions to the + extent of twenty francs in small money. + </p> + <p> + With that sum and formal good wishes the fathers of the Hospice of the + Catechumens thrust him out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.38" + id="Page_i.38">[i.38]</a></span> their doors into the broad world. The + youth who had begun the day with dreams of palaces, found himself at night + sleeping in a den where he paid a halfpenny for the privilege of resting + in the same room with the rude woman who kept the house, her husband, her + five or six children, and various other lodgers. This rough awakening + produced no consciousness of hardship in a nature which, beneath all + fantastic dreams, always remained true to its first sympathy with the + homely lives of the poor. The woman of the house swore like a carter, and + was always dishevelled and disorderly: this did not prevent Rousseau from + recognising her kindness of heart and her staunch readiness to befriend. + He passed his days in wandering about the streets of Turin, seeing the + wonders of a capital, and expecting some adventure that should raise him + to unknown heights. He went regularly to mass, watched the pomp of the + court, and counted upon stirring a passion in the breast of a princess. + À more important circumstance was the effect of the mass in awakening + in his own breast his latent passion for music; a passion so strong that + the poorest instrument, if it were only in tune, never failed to give him + the liveliest pleasure. The king of Sardinia was believed to have the best + performers in Europe; less than that was enough to quicken the musical + susceptibility which is perhaps an invariable element in the most + completely sensuous natures. + </p> + <p> + When the end of the twenty francs began to seem<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.39" id="Page_i.39">[i.39]</a></span> a thing possible, he + tried to get work as an engraver. A young woman in a shop took pity on + him, gave him work and food, and perhaps permitted him to make dumb and + grovelling love to her, until her husband returned home and drove her + client away from the door with threats and the waving of a wand not + magical.<a name="FNanchor31" id="FNanchor31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31">[31]</a> + Rousseau's self-love sought an explanation in the natural fury of an + Italian husband's jealousy; but we need hardly ask for any other cause + than a shopkeeper's reasonable objection to vagabonds. + </p> + <p> + The next step of this youth, who was always dreaming of the love of + princesses, was to accept with just thankfulness the position of lackey or + footboy in the household of a widow. With Madame de Vercellis he passed + three months, and at the end of that time she died. His stay here was + marked by an incident that has filled many pages with stormful discussion. + When Madame de Vercellis died, a piece of old rose-coloured ribbon was + missing; Rousseau had stolen it, and it was found in his possession. They + asked him whence he had taken it. He replied that it had been given to him + by Marion, a young and comely maid in the house. In her presence and + before the whole household he repeated his false story, and clung to it + with a bitter effrontery that we may well call diabolic, remembering how + the nervous terror of punishment and exposure sinks the angel in man. Our + phrase, want of moral courage, really denotes in the young<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.40" id="Page_i.40">[i.40]</a></span> an + excruciating physical struggle, often so keen that the victim clutches + after liberation with the spontaneous tenacity and cruelty of a creature + wrecked in mastering waters. Undisciplined sensations constitute egoism in + the most ruthless of its shapes, and at this epoch, owing either to the + brutalities which surrounded his apprentice life at Geneva, or to that + rapid tendency towards degeneration which he suspected in his own + character, Rousseau was the slave of sensations which stained his days + with baseness. "Never," he says, in his account of this hateful + action, "was wickedness further from me than at this cruel moment; + and when I accused the poor girl, it is contradictory and yet it is true + that my affection for her was the cause of what I did. She was present to + my mind, and I threw the blame from myself on to the first object that + presented itself. When I saw her appear my heart was torn, but the + presence of so many people was too strong for my remorse. I feared + punishment very little; I only feared disgrace, but I feared that more + than death, more than crime, more than anything in the world. I would fain + have buried myself in the depths of the earth; invincible shame prevailed + over all, shame alone caused my effrontery, and the more criminal I + became, the more intrepid was I made by the fright of confessing it. I + could see nothing but the horror of being recognised and declared publicly + to my face a thief, liar, and traducer."<a name="FNanchor32" + id="FNanchor32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32">[32]</a> When he says that he<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.41" id="Page_i.41">[i.41]</a></span> + feared punishment little, his analysis of his mind is most likely wrong, + for nothing is clearer than that a dread of punishment in any physical + form was a peculiarly strong feeling with him at this time. However that + may have been, the same over-excited imagination which put every sense on + the alarm and led him into so abominable a misdemeanour, brought its own + penalties. It led him to conceive a long train of ruin as having befallen + Marion in consequence of his calumny against her, and this dreadful + thought haunted him to the end of his life. In the long sleepless nights + he thought he saw the unhappy girl coming to reproach him with a crime + that seemed as fresh to him as if it had been perpetrated the day before.<a + name="FNanchor33" id="FNanchor33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33">[33]</a> Thus + the same brooding memory which brought back to him the sweet pain of his + gentle kinswoman's household melody, preserved the darker side of his + history with equal fidelity and no less perfect continuousness. Rousseau + expresses a hope and belief that this burning remorse would serve as + expiation for his fault; as if expiation for the destruction of another + soul could be anything but a fine name for self-absolution. We may, + however, charitably and reasonably think that the possible consequences of + his fault to the unfortunate Marion were not actual, but were as much a + hallucination as the midnight visits of her reproachful spirit. Indeed, we + are hardly condoning evil, in suggesting that the whole story from its + beginning is marked with exag<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.42" + id="Page_i.42">[i.42]</a></span>geration, and that we who have our own + lives to lead shall find little help in criticising at further length the + exact heinousness of the ignoble falsehood of a boy who happened to grow + up into a man of genius.<a name="FNanchor34" id="FNanchor34"></a><a + href="#Footnote_34">[34]</a> + </p> + <p> + After an interval of six weeks, which were passed in the garret or cellar + of his rough patroness with kind heart and ungentle tongue, Rousseau again + found himself a lackey in the house of a Piedmontese person of quality. + This new master, the Count of Gouvon, treated him with a certain unusual + considerateness, which may perhaps make us doubt the narrative. His son + condescended to teach the youth Latin, and Rousseau presumed to entertain + a passion for one of the daughters of the house, to whom he paid silent + homage in the odd shape of attending to her wants at table with special + solicitude. In this situation he had, or at least he supposed that he had, + an excellent chance of ultimate advancement. But advancement here or + elsewhere means a measure of stability, and Rousseau's temperament in his + youth was the archtype of the mutable. An old comrade from Geneva visited + him,<a name="FNanchor35" id="FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35">[35]</a> + and as almost any incident is stimulating enough to fire the restlessness + of imaginative youth, the gratitude which he professed to the Count of + Gouvon and his family, the prudence with which he marked his prospects, + the industry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.43" id="Page_i.43">[i.43]</a></span> + with which he profited by opportunity, all faded quickly into mere dead + and disembodied names of virtues. His imagination again went over the + journey across the mountains; the fields, the woods, the streams, began to + absorb his whole life. He recalled with delicious satisfaction how + charming the journey had seemed to him, and thought how far more charming + it would be in the society of a comrade of his own age and taste, without + duty, or constraint, or obligation to go or stay other than as it might + please them. "It would be madness to sacrifice such a piece of good + fortune to projects of ambition, which were slow, difficult, doubtful of + execution, and which, even if they should one day be realised, were not + with all their glory worth a quarter of an hour of true pleasure and + freedom in youth."<a name="FNanchor36" id="FNanchor36"></a><a + href="#Footnote_36">[36]</a> + </p> + <p> + On these high principles he neglected his duties so recklessly that he was + dismissed from his situation, and he and his comrade began their homeward + wanderings with more than apostolic heedlessness as to what they should + eat or wherewithal they should be clothed. They had a toy fountain; they + hoped that in return for the amusement to be conferred by this wonder they + should receive all that they might need. Their hopes were not fulfilled. + The exhibition of the toy fountain did not excuse them from their + reckoning. Before long it was accidentally broken, and to their secret + satisfaction, for it had lost its novelty. Their naked, vagrancy was thus + undisguised. They made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.44" + id="Page_i.44">[i.44]</a></span> their way by some means or other across + the mountains, and their enjoyment of vagabondage was undisturbed by any + thought of a future. "To understand my delirium at this moment," + Rousseau says, in words which shed much light on darker parts of his + history than fits of vagrancy, "it is necessary to know to what a + degree my heart is subject to get aflame with the smallest things, and + with what force it plunges into the imagination of the object that + attracts it, vain as that object may be. The most grotesque, the most + childish, the maddest schemes come to caress my favourite idea, and to + show me the reasonableness of surrendering myself to it."<a + name="FNanchor37" id="FNanchor37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37">[37]</a> It + was this deep internal vehemence which distinguished Rousseau all through + his life from the commonplace type of social revolter. A vagrant sensuous + temperament, strangely compounded with Genevese austerity; an ardent and + fantastic imagination, incongruously shot with threads of firm reason; too + little conscience and too much; a monstrous and diseased love of self, + intertwined with a sincere compassion and keen interest for the great + fellowship of his brothers; a wild dreaming of dreams that were made to + look like sanity by the close and specious connection between conclusions + and premisses, though the premisses happened to have the fault of being + profoundly unreal:—this was the type of character that lay unfolded + in the youth who, towards the autumn of 1729, reached Annecy, penni<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.45" id="Page_i.45">[i.45]</a></span>less + and ragged, throwing himself once more on the charity of the patroness who + had given him shelter eighteen months before. Few figures in the world at + that time were less likely to conciliate the favour or excite the interest + of an observer, who had not studied the hidden convolutions of human + character deeply enough to know that a boy of eighteen may be sly, + sensual, restless, dreamy, and yet have it in him to say things one day + which may help to plunge a world into conflagration. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> Here + is the line:— + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> +                     + Didier Rousseau.<br />                            |<br /> +                          Jean<br /> +                            |<br /> +                 + -----------------------<br />                 + |                            +     |<br />               + David.                    + Noah.<br />                 + |                               + |<br /> Isaac (b. 1680-5, d. 1745-7). Jean François.<br />                 + |                               + |<br />                 + |              +                 + --------------<br />                 + |                              +  |                  |<br /> +           <span + class="smcap">Jean Jacques</span>.       + Jean.      Theodore.<br /> + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + </div> + <p> + (<i>Musset-Pathay</i>, ii. 283.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> + Picot's <i>Hist. de Genève</i>, iii. 114. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> <i>Conf.</i>, + i. 7. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> <i>Lettre + à D'Alembert</i>, p. 187. Also <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, VI. v. 239. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> <i>Conf.</i>, + i. 9. Also Second Letter to M. de Malesherbes, p. 356. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> <i>Rêveries</i>, + iv. p. 189. "My master and counsellor, Plutarch," he says, when + he lends a volume to Madame d'Epinay in 1756. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 265. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> + Dedication of the <i>Discours sur l'Origine de l'Inégalité</i>, + p. 201. (June, 1754.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> <i>Conf.</i>, + i. 1. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> <i>Ib</i>, + i. 12. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor10">[10]</a> + The tenacity of this grateful recollection is shown in letters to her + (Madame Gonceru)—one in 1754 (<i>Corr.</i>, i. 204), another as late + as 1770 (vi. 129), and a third in 1762 (<i>Oeuvr. et Corr. Inéd.</i>, + 392). + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor11">[11]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, i. 17-32. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor12">[12]</a> + See also <i>Conf.</i>, i. 43; iii. 185; vii. 73; xii. 188, <i>n.</i> 2. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor13">[13]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, i. 27-31. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor14">[14]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, i. 38-47. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor15">[15]</a> + <i>Lettre à D'Alembert</i>(1758), 178, 179. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor16">[16]</a> + <i>Rêveries</i>, iv. 211, 212. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor17">[17]</a> + <i>Conf.</i> 212, 213. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor18">[18]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 102, 103. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor19">[19]</a> + M. Masseron. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor20">[20]</a> + M. Ducommun. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor21">[21]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, i. 69. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor22">[22]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, i. 72. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor23">[23]</a> + J. Gaberel's <i>Histoire de l'Église de Genève</i> (Geneva, + 1853-62), vol. iii. p. 285. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor24">[24]</a> + There is a minute in the register of the company of ministers, to the + effect that the Sieur de Pontverre "is attracting many young men from + this town, and changing their religion, and that the public ought to be + warned." (Gaberel, iii. 224.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor25">[25]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 76. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor26">[26]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 77. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor27">[27]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 90-97. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor28">[28]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 107 + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor29">[29]</a> + See <i>Émile</i>, iv. 124, 125, where the youth who was born a + Calvinist, finding himself a stranger in a strange land, without resource, + "changed his religion to get bread." + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor30">[30]</a> + In the <i>Confessions</i> (ii. 115) he has grace enough to make the period + a month; but the extract from the register of his baptism (Gaberel's <i>Hist. + de l'Église de Genève</i>, iii. 224), which has been recently + published, shows that this is untrue: "Jean Jacques Rousseau, de Genève + (Calviniste), entré à l'hospice à l'âge de 16 ans, le + 12 avril, 1728. Abjura les erreurs de la secte le 21; et le 23 du même + mois lui fut administré le saint baptême, ayant pour parrain le + sieur André Ferrero et pour marraine Françoise Christine Rora + (ou Rovea)." + </p> + <p> + A little further on (p. 119) he speaks of having been shut up "for + two months," but this is not true even on his own showing. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor31">[31]</a> + Madame Basile. <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 121-135. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor32">[32]</a> + <i>Conf.</i> ii. ad finem. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor33">[33]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 144. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor34">[34]</a> + Another version of the story mentioned by Musset-Pathay (i. 7) makes the + object of the theft a diamond, but there is really no evidence in the + matter beyond that given by Rousseau himself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor35">[35]</a> + Bacle, by name. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor36">[36]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii. 168. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor37">[37]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii. 170. A slightly idealised account of the situation is + given in <i>Émile</i>, Bk. iv. 125. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.46" id="Page_i.46">[i.46]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_III." id="CHAPTER_III."></a>CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <h3> + SAVOY. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">The</span> commonplace theory which the world takes + for granted as to the relations of the sexes, makes the woman ever crave + the power and guidance of her physically stronger mate. Even if this be a + true account of the normal state, there is at any rate a kind of + temperament among the many types of men, in which it seems as if the + elements of character remain mere futile and dispersive particles, until + compelled into unity and organisation by the creative shock of feminine + influence. There are men, famous or obscure, whose lives might be divided + into a number of epochs, each defined and presided over by the influence + of a woman. For the inconstant such a calendar contains many divisions, + for the constant it is brief and simple; for both alike it marks the great + decisive phases through which character has moved. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's temperament was deeply marked by this special sort of + susceptibility in one of its least agreeable forms. His sentiment was + neither robustly and courageously animal, nor was it an intellectual + demand for the bright and vivacious sympathies in<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.47" id="Page_i.47">[i.47]</a></span> which women sometimes + excel. It had neither bold virility, nor that sociable energy which makes + close emotional companionship an essential condition of freedom of faculty + and completeness of work. There is a certain close and sickly air round + all his dealings with women and all his feeling for them. We seem to move + not in the star-like radiance of love, nor even in the fiery flames of + lust, but among the humid heats of some unknown abode of things not + wholesome or manly. "I know a sentiment," he writes, "which + is perhaps less impetuous than love, but a thousand times more delicious, + which sometimes is joined to love, and which is very often apart from it. + Nor is this sentiment friendship only; it is more voluptuous, more tender; + I do not believe that any one of the same sex could be its object; at + least I have been a friend, if ever man was, and I never felt this about + any of my friends."<a name="FNanchor38" id="FNanchor38"></a><a + href="#Footnote_38">[38]</a> He admits that he can only describe this + sentiment by its effects; but our lives are mostly ruled by elements that + defy definition, and in Rousseau's case the sentiment which he could not + describe was a paramount trait of his mental constitution. It was as a + voluptuous garment; in it his imagination was cherished into activity, and + protected against that outer air of reality which braces ordinary men, but + benumbs and disintegrates the whole vital apparatus of such an + organisation as Rousseau's. If he had been devoid of this feeling about + women, his character might very possibly have remained sterile.<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.48" id="Page_i.48">[i.48]</a></span> That + feeling was the complementary contribution, without which could be no + fecundity. + </p> + <p> + When he returned from his squalid Italian expedition in search of bread + and a new religion, his mind was clouded with the vague desire, the + sensual moodiness, which in such natures stains the threshold of manhood. + This unrest, with its mysterious torments and black delights, was + banished, or at least soothed into a happier humour, by the influence of a + person who is one of the most striking types to be found in the gallery of + fair women. + </p> + <h3> + I. + </h3> + <p> + A French writer in the eighteenth century, in a story which deals with a + rather repulsive theme of action in a tone that is graceful, simple, and + pathetic, painted the portrait of a creature for whom no moralist with a + reputation to lose can say a word; and we may, if we choose, fool + ourselves by supposing her to be without a counterpart in the + better-regulated world of real life, but, in spite of both these + objections, she is an interesting and not untouching figure to those who + like to know all the many-webbed stuff out of which their brothers and + sisters are made. The Manon Lescaut of the unfortunate Abbé Prevost, + kindly, bright, playful, tender, but devoid of the very germ of the idea + of that virtue which is counted the sovereign recommendation of woman, + helps us to understand Madame de Warens. There are differ<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.49" id="Page_i.49">[i.49]</a></span>ences + enough between them, and we need not mistake them for one and the same + type. Manon Lescaut is a prettier figure, because romance has fewer + limitations than real life; but if we think of her in reading of + Rousseau's benefactress, the vision of the imaginary woman tends to soften + our judgment of the actual one, as well as to enlighten our conception of + a character that eludes the instruments of a commonplace analysis.<a + name="FNanchor39" id="FNanchor39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39">[39]</a> + </p> + <p> + She was born at Vevai in 1700; she married early, and early disagreed with + her husband, from whom she eventually went away, abandoning family, + religion, country, and means of subsistence, with all gaiety of heart. The + King of Sardinia happened to be keeping his court at a small town on the + southern shores of the lake of Geneva, and the conversion of Madame de + Warens to Catholicism by the preaching of the Bishop of Annecy,<a + name="FNanchor40" id="FNanchor40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40">[40]</a> gave + a zest to the royal visit, as being a successful piece of sport in that + great spiritual hunt which Savoy loved to pursue at the expense of the + reformed church in Switzerland. The king, to mark his zeal for the faith + of his house, conferred on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.50" + id="Page_i.50">[i.50]</a></span> the new convert a small pension for life; + but as the tongues of the scandalous imputed a less pure motive for such + generosity in a parsimonious prince, Madame de Warens removed from the + court and settled at Annecy. Her conversion was hardly more serious than + Rousseau's own, because seriousness was no condition of her intelligence + on any of its sides or in any of its relations. She was extremely + charitable to the poor, full of pity for all in misfortune, easily moved + to forgiveness of wrong or ingratitude; careless, gay, open-hearted; + having, in a word, all the good qualities which spring in certain generous + soils from human impulse, and hardly any of those which spring from + reflection, or are implanted by the ordering of society. Her reason had + been warped in her youth by an instructor of the devil's stamp;"<a + name="FNanchor41" id="FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41">[41]</a> + finding her attached to her husband and to her duties, always cold, + argumentative, and impregnable on the side of the senses, he attacked her + by sophisms, and at last persuaded her that the union of the sexes is in + itself a matter of the most perfect indifference, provided only that + decorum of appearance be preserved, and the peace of mind of persons + concerned be not disturbed.<a name="FNanchor42" id="FNanchor42"></a><a + href="#Footnote_42">[42]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.51" + id="Page_i.51">[i.51]</a></span> This execrable lesson, which greater and + more unselfish men held and propagated in grave books before the end of + the century, took root in her mind. If we accept Rousseau's explanation, + it did so the more easily as her temperament was cold, and thus + corroborated the idea of the indifference of what public opinion and + private passion usually concur in investing with such enormous + weightiness. "I will even dare to say," Rousseau declares, + "that she only knew one true pleasure in the world, and that was to + give pleasure to those whom she loved."<a name="FNanchor43" + id="FNanchor43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43">[43]</a> He is at great pains + to protest how compatible this coolness of temperament is with excessive + sensibility of character; and neither ethological theory nor practical + observation of men and women is at all hostile to what he is so anxious to + prove. The cardinal element of character is the speed at which its + energies move; its rapidity or its steadiness, concentration or + volatility; whether the thought and feeling travel as quickly as light or + as slowly as sound. A rapid and volatile constitution like that of Madame + de Warens is inconsistent with ardent and glowing warmth, which belongs to + the other sort, but it is essentially bound up with sensibility, or + readiness of sympathetic answer to every cry from another soul. It is the + slow, brooding, smouldering nature, like Rousseau's own, in which we may + expect to find the tropics. + </p> + <p> + To bring the heavy artillery of moral reprobation to bear upon a poor soul + like Madame de Warens is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.52" + id="Page_i.52">[i.52]</a></span> as if one should denounce flagrant want + of moral purpose in the busy movements of ephemera. Her activity was + incessant, but it ended in nothing better than debt, embarrassment, and + confusion. She inherited from her father a taste for alchemy, and spent + much time in search after secret elixirs and the like. "Quacks, + taking advantage of her weakness, made themselves her master, constantly + infested her, ruined her, and wasted, in the midst of furnaces and + chemicals, intelligence, talents, and charms which would have made her the + delight of the best societies."<a name="FNanchor44" id="FNanchor44"></a><a + href="#Footnote_44">[44]</a> Perhaps, however, the too notorious vagrancy + of her amours had at least as much to do with her failure to delight the + best societies as her indiscreet passion for alchemy. Her person was + attractive enough. "She had those points of beauty," says + Rousseau, "which are desirable, because they reside rather in + expression than in feature. She had a tender and caressing air, a soft + eye, a divine smile, light hair of uncommon beauty. You could not see a + finer head or bosom, finer arms or hands."<a name="FNanchor45" + id="FNanchor45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45">[45]</a> She was full of tricks + and whimsies. She could not endure the first smell of the soup and meats + at dinner; when they were placed on the table she nearly swooned, and her + disgust lasted some time, until at the end of half an hour or so she took + her first morsel.<a name="FNanchor46" id="FNanchor46"></a><a + href="#Footnote_46">[46]</a> On the whole, if we accept the current + standard of sanity, Madame de Warens must be pronounced ever so little + flighty; but a monotonous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.53" + id="Page_i.53">[i.53]</a></span> world can afford to be lenient to people + with a slight craziness, if it only has hearty benevolence and + cheerfulness in its company, and is free from egoism or rapacious vanity. + </p> + <p> + This was the person within the sphere of whose attraction Rousseau was + decisively brought in the autumn of 1729, and he remained, with certain + breaks of vagabondage, linked by a close attachment to her until 1738. It + was in many respects the truly formative portion of his life. He acquired + during this time much of his knowledge of books, such as it was, and his + principles of judging them. He saw much of the lives of the poor and of + the world's ways with them. Above all his ideal was revolutionised, and + the recent dreams of Plutarchian heroism, of grandeur, of palaces, + princesses, and a glorious career full in the world's eye, were replaced + by a new conception of blessedness of life, which never afterwards faded + from his vision, and which has held a front place in the imagination of + literary Europe ever since. The notions or aspirations which he had picked + up from a few books gave way to notions and aspirations which were shaped + and fostered by the scenes of actual life into which he was thrown, and + which found his character soft for their impression. In one way the new + pictures of a future were as dissociated from the conditions of reality as + the old had been, and the sensuous life of the happy valley in Savoy as + little fitted a man to compose ideals for our gnarled and knotted world as + the mental life among the heroics of sentimental fiction had done. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.54" id="Page_i.54">[i.54]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's delight in the spot where Madame de Warens lived at Annecy was + the mark of the new ideal which circumstances were to engender in him, and + after him to spread in many hearts. His room looked over gardens and a + stream, and beyond them stretched a far landscape. "It was the first + time since leaving Bossey that I had green before my windows. Always shut + in by walls, I had nothing under my eye but house-tops and the dull gray + of the streets. How moving and delicious this novelty was to me! It + brightened all the tenderness of my disposition. I counted the landscape + among the kindnesses of my dear benefactress; it seemed as if she had + brought it there expressly for me. I placed myself there in all + peacefulness with her; she was present to me everywhere among the flowers + and the verdure; her charms and those of spring were all mingled together + in my eyes. My heart, which had hitherto been stifled, found itself more + free in this ample space, and my sighs had more liberal vent among these + orchard gardens."<a name="FNanchor47" id="FNanchor47"></a><a + href="#Footnote_47">[47]</a> Madame de Warens was the semi-divine figure + who made the scene live, and gave it perfect and harmonious accent. He had + neither transports nor desires by her side, but existed in a state of + ravishing calm, enjoying without knowing what. "I could have passed + my whole life and eternity itself in this way, without an instant of + weariness. She is the only person with whom I never felt that dryness in + conversation, which turns<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.55" + id="Page_i.55">[i.55]</a></span> the duty of keeping it up into a torment. + Our intercourse was not so much conversation as an inexhaustible stream of + chatter, which never came to an end until it was interrupted from without. + I only felt all the force of my attachment for her when she was out of my + sight. So long as I could see her I was merely happy and satisfied, but my + disquiet in her absence went so far as to be painful. I shall never forget + how one holiday, while she was at vespers, I went for a walk outside the + town, my heart full of her image and of an eager desire to pass all my + days by her side. I had sense enough to see that for the present this was + impossible, and that the bliss which I relished so keenly must be brief. + This gave to my musing a sadness which was free from everything sombre, + and which was moderated by pleasing hope. The sound of the bells, which + has always moved me to a singular degree, the singing of the birds, the + glory of the weather, the sweetness of the landscape, the scattered rustic + dwellings in which my imagination placed our common home;—all this + so struck me with a vivid, tender, sad, and touching impression that I saw + myself as in an ecstasy transported into the happy time and the happy + place where my heart, possessed of all the felicity that could bring it + delight, without even dreaming of the pleasures of sense, should share + joys inexpressible."<a name="FNanchor48" id="FNanchor48"></a><a + href="#Footnote_48">[48]</a> + </p> + <p> + There was still, however, a space to be bridged between the doubtful now + and this delicious future.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.56" + id="Page_i.56">[i.56]</a></span> The harshness of circumstance is ever + interposing with a money question, and for a vagrant of eighteen the first + of all problems is a problem of economics. Rousseau was submitted to the + observation of a kinsman of Madame de Warens,<a name="FNanchor49" + id="FNanchor49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49">[49]</a> and his verdict + corresponded with that of the notary of Geneva, with whom years before + Rousseau had first tried the critical art of making a living. He + pronounced that in spite of an animated expression, the lad was, if not + thoroughly inept, at least of very slender intelligence, without ideas, + almost without attainments, very narrow indeed in all respects, and that + the honour of one day becoming a village priest was the highest piece of + fortune to which he had any right to aspire.<a name="FNanchor50" + id="FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50">[50]</a> So he was sent to the + seminary, to learn Latin enough for the priestly offices. He began by + conceiving a deadly antipathy to his instructor, whose appearance happened + to be displeasing to him. A second was found,<a name="FNanchor51" + id="FNanchor51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51">[51]</a> and the patient and + obliging temper, the affectionate and sympathetic manner of his new + teacher made a great impression on the pupil, though the progress in + intellectual acquirement was as unsatisfactory in one case as in the + other. It is characteristic of that subtle impressionableness to physical + comeliness, which in ordinary natures is rapidly effaced by press of more + urgent considerations, but which Rousseau's strongly sensuous quality + retained, that he should have remembered, and thought worth mentioning + years afterwards, that the first of his two teachers at the seminary<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.57" id="Page_i.57">[i.57]</a></span> of + Annecy had greasy black hair, a complexion as of gingerbread, and bristles + in place of beard, while the second had the most touching expression he + ever saw in his life, with fair hair and large blue eyes, and a glance and + a tone which made you feel that he was one of the band predestined from + their birth to unhappy days. While at Turin, Rousseau had made the + acquaintance of another sage and benevolent priest,<a name="FNanchor52" + id="FNanchor52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52">[52]</a> and uniting the two + good men thirty years after he conceived and drew the character of the + Savoyard Vicar.<a name="FNanchor53" id="FNanchor53"></a><a + href="#Footnote_53">[53]</a> + </p> + <p> + Shortly the seminarists reported that, though not vicious, their pupil was + not even good enough for a priest, so deficient was he in intellectual + faculty. It was next decided to try music, and Rousseau ascended for a + brief space into the seventh heaven of the arts. This was one of the + intervals of his life of which he says that he recalls not only the times, + places, persons, but all the surrounding objects, the temperature of the + air, its odour, its colour, a certain local impression only felt there, + and the memory of which stirs the old transports anew. He never forgot a + certain tune, because one Advent Sunday he heard it from his bed being + sung before daybreak on the steps of the cathedral; nor an old lame + carpenter who played the counter-bass, nor a fair little abbé who + played the violin in the choir.<a name="FNanchor54" id="FNanchor54"></a><a + href="#Footnote_54">[54]</a> Yet he was in so dreamy, absent, and + distracted a state, that neither his good-will nor his assiduity availed, + and he could learn nothing, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.58" + id="Page_i.58">[i.58]</a></span> even music. His teacher, one Le Mâitre, + belonged to that great class of irregular and disorderly natures with + which Rousseau's destiny, in the shape of an irregular and disorderly + temperament of his own, so constantly brought him into contact. Le Mâitre + could not work without the inspiration of the wine cup, and thus his + passion for his art landed him a sot. He took offence at a slight put upon + him by the precentor of the cathedral of which he was choir-master, and + left Annecy in a furtive manner along with Rousseau, whom the too + comprehensive solicitude of Madame de Warens despatched to bear him + company. They went together as far as Lyons; here the unfortunate musician + happened to fall into an epileptic fit in the street. Rousseau called for + help, informed the crowd of the poor man's hotel, and then seizing a + moment when no one was thinking about him, turned the street corner and + finally disappeared, the musician being thus "abandoned by the only + friend on whom he had a right to count."<a name="FNanchor55" + id="FNanchor55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55">[55]</a> It thus appears that a + man maybe exquisitely moved by the sound of bells, the song of birds, the + fairness of smiling gardens, and yet be capable all the time without a + qualm of misgiving of leaving a friend senseless in the road in a strange + place. It has ceased to be wonderful how many ugly and cruel actions are + done by people with an extraordinary sense of the beauty and beneficence + of nature. At the moment Rousseau only thought of getting back to Annecy + and Madame de Warens. "It is not," he<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.59" id="Page_i.59">[i.59]</a></span> says in words of + profound warning, which many men have verified in those two or three hours + before the tardy dawn that swell into huge purgatorial æons,—"it + is not when we have just done a bad action, that it torments us; it is + when we recall it long after, for the memory of it can never be thrust + out."<a name="FNanchor56" id="FNanchor56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56">[56]</a> + </p> + <h3> + II. + </h3> + <p> + When he made his way homewards again, he found to his surprise and dismay + that his benefactress had left Annecy, and had gone for an indefinite time + to Paris. He never knew the secret of this sudden departure, for no man, + he says, was ever so little curious as to the private affairs of his + friends. His heart, completely occupied with the present, filled its whole + capacity and entire space with that, and except for past pleasures no + empty corner was ever left for what was done with.<a name="FNanchor57" + id="FNanchor57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57">[57]</a> He says he was too + young to take the desertion deeply to heart. Where he found subsistence we + do not know. He was fascinated by a flashy French adventurer,<a + name="FNanchor58" id="FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58">[58]</a> in + whose company he wasted many hours, and the precious stuff of youthful + opportunity. He passed a summer day in joyful rustic fashion with two + damsels whom he hardly ever saw again, but the memory of whom and of the + holiday that they had made with him remained stamped in<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.60" id="Page_i.60">[i.60]</a></span> his + brain, to be reproduced many a year hence in some of the traits of the new + Heloïsa and her friend Claire.<a name="FNanchor59" id="FNanchor59"></a><a + href="#Footnote_59">[59]</a> Then he accepted an invitation from a former + waiting-woman of Madame de Warens to attend her home to Freiburg. On this + expedition he paid an hour's visit to his father, who had settled and + remarried at Nyon. Returning from Freiburg, he came to Lausanne, where, + with an audacity that might be taken for the first presage of mental + disturbance, he undertook to teach music. "I have already," he + says, "noted some moments of inconceivable delirium, in which I + ceased to be myself. Behold me now a teacher of singing, without knowing + how to decipher an air. Without the least knowledge of composition, I + boasted of my skill in it before all the world; and without ability to + score the slenderest vaudeville, I gave myself out for a composer. Having + been presented to M. de Treytorens, a professor of law, who loved music + and gave concerts at his house, I insisted on giving him a specimen of my + talent, and I set to work to compose a piece for his concert with as much + effrontery as if I knew all about it." The performance came off duly, + and the strange impostor conducted it with as much gravity as the + profoundest master. Never since the beginning of opera has the like + charivari greeted the ears of men.<a name="FNanchor60" id="FNanchor60"></a><a + href="#Footnote_60">[60]</a> Such an opening was fatal to all chance of + scholars, but the friendly tavern-keeper who had first taken him in did + not lack either hope or charity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.61" + id="Page_i.61">[i.61]</a></span> "How is it," Rousseau cried, + many years after this, "that having found so many good people in my + youth, I find so few in my advanced life? Is their stock exhausted? No; + but the class in which I have to seek them now is not the same as that in + which I found them then. Among the common people, where great passions + only speak at intervals, the sentiments of nature make themselves heard + oftener. In the higher ranks they are absolutely stifled, and under the + mask of sentiment it is only interest or vanity that speaks."<a + name="FNanchor61" id="FNanchor61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61">[61]</a> + </p> + <p> + From Lausanne he went to Neuchâtel, where he had more success, for, + teaching others, he began himself to learn. But no success was marked + enough to make him resist a vagrant chance. One day in his rambles falling + in with an archimandrite of the Greek church, who was traversing Europe in + search of subscriptions for the restoration of the Holy Sepulchre, he at + once attached himself to him in the capacity of interpreter. In this + position he remained for a few weeks, until the French minister at Soleure + took him away from the Greek monk, and despatched him to Paris to be the + attendant of a young officer.<a name="FNanchor62" id="FNanchor62"></a><a + href="#Footnote_62">[62]</a> A few days in the famous city, which he now + saw for the first time, and which disappointed his expecta<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.62" id="Page_i.62">[i.62]</a></span>tions + just as the sea and all other wonders disappointed them,<a + name="FNanchor63" id="FNanchor63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63">[63]</a> + convinced him that here was not what he sought, and he again turned his + face southwards in search of Madame de Warens and more familiar lands. + </p> + <p> + The interval thus passed in roaming over the eastern face of France, and + which we may date in the summer of 1732,<a name="FNanchor64" + id="FNanchor64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64">[64]</a> was always counted by + Rousseau<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.63" id="Page_i.63">[i.63]</a></span> + among the happy epochs of his life, though the weeks may seem grievously + wasted to a generation which is apt to limit its ideas of redeeming the + time to the two pursuits of reading books or making money. He travelled + alone and on foot from Soleure to Paris and from Paris back again to + Lyons, and this was part of the training which served him in the stead of + books. Scarcely any great writer since the revival of letters has been so + little literary as Rousseau, so little indebted to literature for the most + characteristic part of his work. He was formed by life; not by life in the + sense of contact with a great number of active and important persons, or + with a great number of persons of any kind, but in the rarer sense of free + surrender to the plenitude of his own impressions. A world composed of + such people, all dispensing with the inherited portion of human + experience, and living independently on their own stock, would rapidly + fall backwards into dissolution. But there is no more rash idea of the + right composition of a society than one which leads us to denounce a type + of character for no better reason than that, if it were universal, society + would go to pieces. There is very little danger of Rousseau's type + becoming common, unless lunar or other great physical influences arise to + work a vast change in the cerebral constitution of the species. We may + safely trust the prodigious <i>vis inertioe</i> of human nature to ward + off the peril of an eccentricity beyond bounds spreading too far. At + present, however, it is enough, without going into the general<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.64" id="Page_i.64">[i.64]</a></span> + question, to notice the particular fact that while the other great + exponents of the eighteenth century movement, Hume, Voltaire, Diderot, + were nourishing their natural strength of understanding by the study and + practice of literature, Rousseau, the leader of the reaction against that + movement, was wandering a beggar and an outcast, craving the rude fare of + the peasant's hut, knocking at roadside inns, and passing nights in caves + and holes in the fields, or in the great desolate streets of towns. + </p> + <p> + If such a life had been disagreeable to him, it would have lost all the + significance that it now has for us. But where others would have found + affliction, he had consolation, and where they would have lain desperate + and squalid, he marched elate and ready to strike the stars. "Never," + he says, "did I think so much, exist so much, be myself so much, as + in the journeys that I have made alone and on foot. Walking has something + about it which animates and enlivens my ideas. I can hardly think while I + am still; my body must be in motion, to move my mind. The sight of the + country, the succession of agreeable views, open air, good appetite, the + freedom of the alehouse, the absence of everything that could make me feel + dependence, or recall me to my situation—all this sets my soul free, + gives me a greater boldness of thought. I dispose of all nature as its + sovereign lord; my heart, wandering from object to object, mingles and is + one with the things that soothe it, wraps itself up in charming images, + and is intoxi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.65" id="Page_i.65">[i.65]</a></span>cated + by delicious sentiment. Ideas come as they please, not as I please: they + do not come at all, or they come in a crowd, overwhelming me with their + number and their force. When I came to a place I only thought of eating, + and when I left it I only thought of walking. I felt that a new paradise + awaited me at the door, and I thought of nothing but of hastening in + search of it."<a name="FNanchor65" id="FNanchor65"></a><a + href="#Footnote_65">[65]</a> + </p> + <p> + Here again is a picture of one whom vagrancy assuredly did not degrade:—"I + had not the least care for the future, and I awaited the answer [as to the + return of Madame de Warens to Savoy], lying out in the open air, sleeping + stretched out on the ground or on some wooden bench, as tranquilly as on a + bed of roses. I remember passing one delicious night outside the town + [Lyons], in a road which ran by the side of either the Rhone or the Saône, + I forget which of the two. Gardens raised on a terrace bordered the other + side of the road. It had been very hot all day, and the evening was + delightful; the dew moistened the parched grass, the night was profoundly + still, the air fresh without being cold; the sun in going down had left + red vapours in the heaven, and they turned the water to rose colour; the + trees on the terrace sheltered nightingales, answering song for song. I + went on in a sort of ecstasy, surrendering my heart and every sense to the + enjoyment of it all, and only sighing for regret that I was enjoying it + alone. Absorbed in the sweetness of my musing, I prolonged<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.66" id="Page_i.66">[i.66]</a></span> my + ramble far into the night, without ever perceiving that I was tired. At + last I found it out. I lay down luxuriously on the shelf of a niche or + false doorway made in the wall of the terrace; the canopy of my bed was + formed by overarching tree-tops; a nightingale was perched exactly over my + head, and I fell asleep to his singing. My slumber was delicious, my + awaking more delicious still. It was broad day, and my opening eyes looked + on sun and water and green things, and an adorable landscape. I rose up + and gave myself a shake; I felt hungry and started gaily for the town, + resolved to spend on a good breakfast the two pieces of money which I + still had left. I was in such joyful spirits that I went along the road + singing lustily."<a name="FNanchor66" id="FNanchor66"></a><a + href="#Footnote_66">[66]</a> + </p> + <p> + There is in this the free expansion of inner sympathy; the natural + sentiment spontaneously responding to all the delicious movement of the + external world on its peaceful and harmonious side, just as if the world + of many-hued social circumstance which man has made for himself had no + existence. We are conscious of a full nervous elation which is not the + product of literature, such as we have seen so many a time since, and + which only found its expression in literature in Rousseau's case by + accident. He did not feel in order to write, but felt without any thought + of writing. He dreamed at this time of many lofty destinies, among them + that of marshal of France, but the fame of authorship never entered into + his dreams.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.67" id="Page_i.67">[i.67]</a></span> + When the time for authorship actually came, his work had all the benefit + of the absence of self-consciousness, it had all the disinterestedness, so + to say, with which the first fresh impressions were suffered to rise in + his mind. + </p> + <p> + One other picture of this time is worth remembering, as showing that + Rousseau was not wholly blind to social circumstances, and as + illustrating, too, how it was that his way of dealing with them was so + much more real and passionate, though so much less sagacious in some of + its aspects, than the way of the other revolutionists of the century. One + day, when he had lost himself in wandering in search of some site which he + expected to find beautiful, he entered the house of a peasant, half dead + with hunger and thirst. His entertainer offered him nothing more restoring + than coarse barley bread and skimmed milk. Presently, after seeing what + manner of guest he had, the worthy man descended by a small trap into his + cellar, and brought up some good brown bread, some meat, and a bottle of + wine, and an omelette was added afterwards. Then he explained to the + wondering Rousseau, who was a Swiss, and knew none of the mysteries of the + French fisc, that he hid away his wine on account of the duties, and his + bread on account of the <i>taille</i>, and declared that he would be a + ruined man if they suspected that he was not dying of hunger. All this + made an impression on Rousseau which he never forgot. "Here," he + says, "was the germ of the inextinguishable hatred which afterwards<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.68" id="Page_i.68">[i.68]</a></span> grew + up in my heart against the vexations that harass the common people, and + against all their oppressors. This man actually did not dare to eat the + bread which he had won by the sweat of his brow, and only avoided ruin by + showing the same misery as reigned around him."<a name="FNanchor67" + id="FNanchor67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67">[67]</a> + </p> + <p> + It was because he had thus seen the wrongs of the poor, not from without + but from within, not as a pitying spectator but as of their own company, + that Rousseau by and by brought such fire to the attack upon the old + order, and changed the blank practice of the elder philosophers into a + deadly affair of ball and shell. The man who had been a servant, who had + wanted bread, who knew the horrors of the midnight street, who had slept + in dens, who had been befriended by rough men and rougher women, who saw + the goodness of humanity under its coarsest outside, and who above all + never tried to shut these things out from his memory, but accepted them as + the most interesting, the most touching, the most real of all his + experiences, might well be expected to penetrate to the root of the + matter, and to protest to the few who usurp literature and policy with + their ideas, aspirations, interests, that it is not they but the many, + whose existence stirs the heart and fills the eye with the great prime + elements of the human lot. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.69" id="Page_i.69">[i.69]</a></span> + </p> + <h3> + III. + </h3> + <p> + It was, then, some time towards the middle of 1732 that Rousseau arrived + at Chambéri, and finally took up his residence with Madame de Warens, + in the dullest and most sombre room of a dull and sombre house. She had + procured him employment in connection with a land survey which the + government of Charles Emmanuel III. was then executing. It was only + temporary, and Rousseau's function was no loftier than that of clerk, who + had to copy and reduce arithmetical calculations. We may imagine how + little a youth fresh from nights under the summer sky would relish eight + hours a day of surly toil in a gloomy office, with a crowd of dirty and + ill-smelling fellow-workers.<a name="FNanchor68" id="FNanchor68"></a><a + href="#Footnote_68">[68]</a> If Rousseau was ever oppressed by any set of + circumstances, his method was invariable: he ran away from them. So now he + threw up his post, and again tried to earn a little money by that musical + instruction in which he had made so many singular and grotesque + endeavours. Even here the virtues which make ordinary life a possible + thing were not his. He was pleased at his lessons while there, but he + could not bear the idea of being bound to be there, nor the fixing of an + hour. In time this experiment for a subsistence came to the same end as + all the others. He next rushed to Besançon in search of the musical + instruction which he wished to give to others, but his baggage was<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.70" id="Page_i.70">[i.70]</a></span> + confiscated at the frontier, and he had to return.<a name="FNanchor69" + id="FNanchor69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69">[69]</a> Finally he abandoned + the attempt, and threw himself loyally upon the narrow resources of Madame + de Warens, whom he assisted in some singularly indefinite way in the + transaction of her very indefinite and miscellaneous affairs,—if we + are here, as so often, to give the name of affairs to a very rapid and + heedless passage along a shabby road to ruin. + </p> + <p> + The household at this time was on a very remarkable footing. Madame de + Warens was at its head, and Claude Anet, gardener, butler, steward, was + her factotum. He was a discreet person, of severe probity and few words, + firm, thrifty, and sage. The too comprehensive principles of his mistress + admitted him to the closest intimacy, and in due time, when Madame de + Warens thought of the seductions which ensnare the feet of youth, Rousseau + was delivered from them in an equivocal way by solicitous application of + the same maxims of comprehension. "Although Claude Anet was as young + as she was, he was so mature and so grave, that he looked upon us as two + children worthy of indulgence, and we both looked upon him as a + respectable man, whose esteem it was our business to conciliate. Thus + there grew up between us three a companionship, perhaps without another + example like it upon earth. All our wishes, our cares, our hearts were in + common; nothing seemed to pass outside our little circle. The habit of + living together, and of living together<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.71" id="Page_i.71">[i.71]</a></span> exclusively, became so + strong that if at our meals one of the three was absent, or there came a + fourth, all was thrown out; and in spite of our peculiar relations, a <i>tête-à-tête</i> + was less sweet than a meeting of all three."<a name="FNanchor70" + id="FNanchor70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70">[70]</a> Fate interfered to + spoil this striking attempt after a new type of the family, developed on a + duandric base. Claude Anet was seized with illness, a consequence of + excessive fatigue in an Alpine expedition in search of plants, and he came + to his end.<a name="FNanchor71" id="FNanchor71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71">[71]</a> + In him Rousseau always believed that he lost the most solid friend he ever + possessed, "a rare and estimable man, in whom nature served instead + of education, and who nourished in obscure servitude all the virtues of + great men."<a name="FNanchor72" id="FNanchor72"></a><a + href="#Footnote_72">[72]</a> The day after his death, Rousseau was + speaking of their lost friend to Madame de Warens with the liveliest and + most sincere affliction, when suddenly in the midst of the conversation he + remembered that he should inherit the poor man's clothes, and particularly + a handsome black coat. A reproachful tear from his Maman, as he always + somewhat nauseously called Madame de Warens, extinguished the vile thought + and washed away its last traces.<a name="FNanchor73" id="FNanchor73"></a><a + href="#Footnote_73">[73]</a> After all, those men and women are + exceptionally happy, who have no such involuntary meanness of thought + standing against themselves in that unwritten chapter of their<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.72" id="Page_i.72">[i.72]</a></span> lives + which even the most candid persons keep privately locked up in shamefast + recollection. + </p> + <p> + Shortly after his return to Chambéri, a wave from the great tide of + European affairs surged into the quiet valleys of Savoy. In the February + of 1733, Augustus the Strong died, and the usual disorder followed in the + choice of a successor to him in the kingship of Poland. France was for + Stanislaus, the father-in-law of Lewis XV., while the Emperor Charles VI. + and Anne of Russia were for August III., elector of Saxony. Stanislaus was + compelled to flee, and the French Government, taking up his quarrel, + declared war against the Emperor (October 14, 1733). The first act of this + war, which was to end in the acquisition of Naples and the two Sicilies by + Spanish Bourbons, and of Lorraine by France, was the despatch of a French + expedition to the Milanese under Marshall Villars, the husband of one of + Voltaire's first idols. This took place in the autumn of 1733, and a + French column passed through Chambéri, exciting lively interest in + all minds, including Rousseau's. He now read the newspapers for the first + time, with the most eager sympathy for the country with whose history his + own name was destined to be so permanently associated. "If this mad + passion," he says, "had only been momentary, I should not speak + of it; but for no visible reason it took such root in my heart, that when + I afterwards at Paris played the stern republican, I could not help + feeling in spite of myself a secret predilection for the very<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.73" id="Page_i.73">[i.73]</a></span> + nation that I found so servile, and the government I made bold to assail."<a + name="FNanchor74" id="FNanchor74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74">[74]</a> This + fondness for France was strong, constant, and invincible, and found what + was in the eighteenth century a natural complement in a corresponding + dislike of England.<a name="FNanchor75" id="FNanchor75"></a><a + href="#Footnote_75">[75]</a> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's health began to show signs of weakness. His breath became + asthmatic, he had palpitations, he spat blood, and suffered from a slow + feverishness from which he never afterwards became entirely free.<a + name="FNanchor76" id="FNanchor76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76">[76]</a> His + mind was as feverish as his body, and the morbid broodings which active + life reduces to their lowest degree in most young men, were left to make + full havoc along with the seven devils of idleness and vacuity. An + instinct which may flow from the unrecognised animal lying deep down in us + all, suggested the way of return to wholesomeness. Rousseau prevailed upon + Madame de Warens to leave the stifling streets for the fresh fields, and + to deliver herself by retreat to rural solitude from the adventurers who + made her their prey. Les Charmettes, the modest farm-house to which they + retired, still stands. The modern traveller, with a taste for relieving an + imagination strained by great historic monuments and secular landmarks, + with the sight of spots associated with the passion and meditation of some + far-shining teacher of men, may walk a short league from where the gray<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.74" id="Page_i.74">[i.74]</a></span> slate + roofs of dull Chambéri bake in the sun, and ascending a gently + mounting road, with high leafy bank on the right throwing cool shadows + over his head, and a stream on the left making music at his feet, he sees + an old red housetop lifted lonely above the trees. The homes in which men + have lived now and again lend themselves to the beholder's subjective + impression; they seemed to be brooding in forlorn isolation like some + life-wearied gray-beard over ancient and sorrow-stricken memories. At Les + Charmettes a pitiful melancholy penetrates you. The supreme loveliness of + the scene, the sweet-smelling meadows, the orchard, the water-ways, the + little vineyard with here and there a rose glowing crimson among the + yellow stunted vines, the rust-red crag of the Nivolet rising against the + sky far across the broad valley; the contrast between all this peace, + beauty, silence, and the diseased miserable life of the famous man who + found a scanty span of paradise in the midst of it, touches the soul with + a pathetic spell. We are for the moment lifted out of squalor, vagrancy, + and disorder, and seem to hear some of the harmonies which sounded to this + perturbed spirit, soothing it, exalting it, and stirring those inmost + vibrations which in truth make up all the short divine part of a man's + life.<a name="FNanchor77" id="FNanchor77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77">[77]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.75" id="Page_i.75">[i.75]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + "No day passes," he wrote in the very year in which he died, + "in which I do not recall with joy and tender effusion this single + and brief time in my life, when I was fully myself, without mixture or + hindrance, and when I may say in a true sense that I lived. I may almost + say, like the prefect when disgraced and proceeding to end his days + tranquilly in the country, 'I have passed seventy years on the earth, and + I have lived but seven of them.' But for this brief and precious space, I + should perhaps have remained uncertain about myself; for during all the + rest of my life I have been so agitated, tossed, plucked hither and + thither by the passions of others, that, being nearly passive in a life so + stormy, I should find it hard to distinguish what belonged to me in my own + conduct,—to such a degree has harsh necessity weighed upon me. But + during these few years I did what I wished to do, I was what I wished to + be."<a name="FNanchor78" id="FNanchor78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78">[78]</a> + The secret of such rare felicity is hardly to be described in words. It + was the ease of a profoundly sensuous nature with every sense gratified + and fascinated. Caressing and undivided affection within doors, all the + sweetness and movement of nature without, solitude, freedom, and the busy + idleness of life in gardens,—these were the conditions of Rousseau's + ideal state. "If my happiness," he says, in language of strange<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.76" id="Page_i.76">[i.76]</a></span> + felicity, "consisted in facts, actions, or words, I might then + describe and represent it in some way; but how say what was neither said + nor done nor even thought, but only enjoyed and felt without my being able + to point to any other object of my happiness than the very feeling itself? + I arose with the sun and I was happy; I went out of doors and I was happy; + I saw Maman and I was happy; I left her and I was happy; I went among the + woods and hills, I wandered about in the dells, I read, I was idle, I dug + in the garden, I gathered fruit, I helped them indoors, and everywhere + happiness followed me. It was not in any given thing, it was all in + myself, and could never leave me for a single instant."<a + name="FNanchor79" id="FNanchor79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79">[79]</a> This + was a true garden of Eden, with the serpent in temporary quiescence, and + we may count the man rare since the fall who has found such happiness in + such conditions, and not less blessed than he is rare. The fact that he + was one of this chosen company was among the foremost of the circumstances + which made Rousseau seem to so many men in the eighteenth century as a + spring of water in a thirsty land. + </p> + <p> + All innocent and amiable things moved him. He used to spend hours together + in taming pigeons; he inspired them with such confidence that they would + follow him about, and allow him to take them wherever he would, and the + moment that he appeared in the garden two or three of them would instantly + settle on his arms or his head. The bees, too, gradually came to<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.77" id="Page_i.77">[i.77]</a></span> put + the same trust in him, and his whole life was surrounded with gentle + companionship. He always began the day with the sun, walking on the high + ridge above the slope on which the house lay, and going through his form + of worship. "It did not consist in a vain moving of the lips, but in + a sincere elevation of heart to the author of the tender nature whose + beauties lay spread out before my eyes. This act passed rather in wonder + and contemplation than in requests; and I always knew that with the + dispenser of true blessings, the best means of obtaining those which are + needful for us, is less to ask than to deserve them."<a + name="FNanchor80" id="FNanchor80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80">[80]</a> + These effusions may be taken for the beginning of the deistical reaction + in the eighteenth century. While the truly scientific and progressive + spirits were occupied in laborious preparation for adding to human + knowledge and systematising it, Rousseau walked with his head in the + clouds among gods, beneficent authors of nature, wise dispensers of + blessings, and the like. "Ah, madam," he once said, "sometimes + in the privacy of my study, with my hands pressed tight over my eyes or in + the darkness of the night, I am of his opinion that there is no God. But + look yonder (pointing with his hand to the sky, with head erect, and an + inspired glance): the rising of the sun, as it scatters the mists that + cover the earth and lays bare the wondrous glittering scene of nature, + disperses at the same moment all cloud from my soul. I find my faith + again, and my God, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.78" + id="Page_i.78">[i.78]</a></span> my belief in him. I admire and adore him, + and I prostrate myself in his presence."<a name="FNanchor81" + id="FNanchor81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81">[81]</a> As if that settled the + question affirmatively, any more than the absence of such theistic emotion + in many noble spirits settles it negatively. God became the highest known + formula for sensuous expansion, the synthesis of all complacent emotions, + and Rousseau filled up the measure of his delight by creating and invoking + a Supreme Being to match with fine scenery and sunny gardens. We shall + have a better occasion to mark the attributes of this important conception + when we come to <i>Emilius</i>, where it was launched in a panoply of + resounding phrases upon a Europe which was grown too strong for Christian + dogma, and was not yet grown strong enough to rest in a provisional + ordering of the results of its own positive knowledge. Walking on the + terrace at Les Charmettes, you are at the very birth-place of that + particular Être Suprême to whom Robespierre offered the incense + of an official festival. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes the reading of a Jansenist book would make him unhappy by the + prominence into which it brought the displeasing idea of hell, and he used + now and then to pass a miserable day in wondering whether this cruel + destiny should be his. Madame de Warens, whose softness of heart inspired + her with a theology that ought to have satisfied a seraphic doctor, had + abolished hell, but she could not dispense with purgatory because she did + not know what to do with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.79" + id="Page_i.79">[i.79]</a></span> souls of the wicked, being unable either + to damn them, or to instal them among the good until they had been + purified into goodness. In truth it must be confessed, says Rousseau, that + alike in this world and the other the wicked are extremely embarrassing.<a + name="FNanchor82" id="FNanchor82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82">[82]</a> His + own search after knowledge of his fate is well known. One day, amusing + himself in a characteristic manner by throwing stones at trees, he began + to be tormented by fear of the eternal pit. He resolved to test his doom + by throwing a stone at a particular tree; if he hit, then salvation; if he + missed, then perdition. With a trembling hand and beating heart he threw; + as he had chosen a large tree and was careful not to place himself too far + away, all was well.<a name="FNanchor83" id="FNanchor83"></a><a + href="#Footnote_83">[83]</a> As a rule, however, in spite of the ugly + phantoms of theology, he passed his days in a state of calm. Even when + illness brought it into his head that he should soon know the future lot + by more assured experiment, he still preserved a tranquillity which he + justly qualifies as sensual. + </p> + <p> + In thinking of Rousseau's peculiar feeling for nature, which acquired such + a decisive place in his character during his life at Les Charmettes, it is + to be remembered that it was entirely devoid of that stormy and boisterous + quality which has grown up in more modern literature, out of the violent + attempt to press nature in her most awful moods into the service of the + great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.80" id="Page_i.80">[i.80]</a></span> + revolt against a social and religious tradition that can no longer be + endured. Of this revolt Rousseau was a chief, and his passion for natural + aspects was connected with this attitude, but he did not seize those of + them which the poet of <i>Manfred</i>, for example, forced into an imputed + sympathy with his own rebellion. Rousseau always loved nature best in her + moods of quiescence and serenity, and in proportion as she lent herself to + such moods in men. He liked rivulets better than rivers. He could not bear + the sight of the sea; its infertile bosom and blind restless tumblings + filled him with melancholy. The ruins of a park affected him more than the + ruins of castles.<a name="FNanchor84" id="FNanchor84"></a><a + href="#Footnote_84">[84]</a> It is true that no plain, however beautiful, + ever seemed so in his eyes; he required torrents, rocks, dark forests, + mountains, and precipices.<a name="FNanchor85" id="FNanchor85"></a><a + href="#Footnote_85">[85]</a> This does not affect the fact that he never + moralised appalling landscape, as post-revolutionary writers have done, + and that the Alpine wastes which throw your puniest modern into a rapture, + had no attraction for him. He could steep himself in nature without + climbing fifteen thousand feet to find her. In landscape, as has been said + by one with a right to speak, Rousseau was truly a great artist, and you + can, if you are artistic too, follow him with confidence in his + wanderings; he understood that beauty does not require a great stage, and + that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.81" id="Page_i.81">[i.81]</a></span> + effect of things lies in harmony.<a name="FNanchor86" id="FNanchor86"></a><a + href="#Footnote_86">[86]</a> The humble heights of the Jura, and the + lovely points of the valley of Chambéri, sufficed to give him all the + pleasure of which he was capable. In truth a man cannot escape from his + time, and Rousseau at least belonged to the eighteenth century in being + devoid of the capacity for feeling awe, and the taste for objects + inspiring it. Nature was a tender friend with softest bosom, and no sphinx + with cruel enigma. He felt neither terror, nor any sense of the littleness + of man, nor of the mysteriousness of life, nor of the unseen forces which + make us their sport, as he peered over the precipice and heard the water + roaring at the bottom of it; he only remained for hours enjoying the + physical sensation of dizziness with which it turned his brain, with a + break now and again for hurling large stones, and watching them roll and + leap down into the torrent, with as little reflection and as little + articulate emotion as if he had been a child.<a name="FNanchor87" + id="FNanchor87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87">[87]</a> + </p> + <p> + Just as it is convenient for purposes of classification to divide a man + into body and soul, even when we believe the soul to be only a function of + the body, so people talk of his intellectual side and his emotional side, + his thinking quality and his feeling quality, though in fact and at the + roots these qualities are not two but one, with temperament for the common + substratum. During this period of his life the whole of<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.82" id="Page_i.82">[i.82]</a></span> + Rousseau's true force went into his feelings, and at all times feeling + predominated over reflection, with many drawbacks and some advantages of a + very critical kind for subsequent generations of men. Nearly every one who + came into contact with him in the way of testing his capacity for being + instructed pronounced him hopeless. He had several excellent opportunities + of learning Latin, especially at Turin in the house of Count Gouvon, and + in the seminary at Annecy, and at Les Charmettes he did his best to teach + himself, but without any better result than a very limited power of + reading. In learning one rule he forgot the last; he could never master + the most elementary laws of versification; he learnt and re-learnt twenty + times the Eclogues of Virgil, but not a single word remained with him.<a + name="FNanchor88" id="FNanchor88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88">[88]</a> He + was absolutely without verbal memory, and he pronounces himself wholly + incapable of learning anything from masters. Madame de Warens tried to + have him taught both dancing and fencing; he could never achieve a minuet, + and after three months of instruction he was as clumsy and helpless with + his foil as he had been on the first day. He resolved to become a master + at the chessboard; he shut himself up in his room, and worked night and + day over the books with indescribable efforts which covered many weeks. On + proceeding to the café to manifest his powers, he found that all the + moves and combinations had got mixed up in his head, he saw nothing but<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.83" id="Page_i.83">[i.83]</a></span> + clouds on the board, and as often as he repeated the experiment he only + found himself weaker than before. Even in music, for which he had a + genuine passion and at which he worked hard, he never could acquire any + facility at sight, and he was an inaccurate scorer, even when only copying + the score of others.<a name="FNanchor89" id="FNanchor89"></a><a + href="#Footnote_89">[89]</a> + </p> + <p> + Two things nearly incompatible, he writes in an important passage, are + united in me without my being able to think how; an extremely ardent + temperament, lively and impetuous passions, along with ideas that are very + slow in coming to birth, very embarrassed, and which never arise until + after the event. "One would say that my heart and my intelligence do + not belong to the same individual.... I feel all, and see nothing; I am + carried away, but I am stupid.... This slowness of thinking, united with + such vivacity of feeling, possesses me not only in conversation, but when + I am alone and working. My ideas arrange themselves in my head with + incredible difficulty; they circulate there in a dull way and ferment + until they agitate me, fill me with heat, and give me palpitations; in the + midst of this stir I see nothing clearly, I could not write a single word. + Insensibly the violent emotion grows still, the chaos is disentangled, + everything falls into its place, but very slowly and after long and + confused agitation."<a name="FNanchor90" id="FNanchor90"></a><a + href="#Footnote_90">[90]</a> + </p> + <p> + So far from saying that his heart and intelligence belonged to two + persons, we might have been quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.84" + id="Page_i.84">[i.84]</a></span> sure, knowing his heart, that his + intelligence must be exactly what he describes its process to have been. + The slow-burning ecstasy in which he knew himself at his height and was + most conscious of fulness of life, was incompatible with the rapid and + deliberate generation of ideas. The same soft passivity, the same + receptiveness, which made his emotions like the surface of a lake under + sky and breeze, entered also into the working of his intellectual + faculties. But it happens that in this region, in the attainment of + knowledge, truth, and definite thoughts, even receptiveness implies a + distinct and active energy, and hence the very quality of temperament + which left him free and eager for sensuous impressions, seemed to muffle + his intelligence in a certain opaque and resisting medium, of the + indefinable kind that interposes between will and action in a dream. His + rational part was fatally protected by a non-conducting envelope of + sentiment; this intercepted clear ideas on their passage, and even cut off + the direct and true impress of those objects and their relations, which + are the material of clear ideas. He was no doubt right in his avowal that + objects generally made less impression on him than the recollection of + them; that he could see nothing of what was before his eyes, and had only + his intelligence in cases where memories were concerned; and that of what + was said or done in his presence, he felt and penetrated nothing.<a + name="FNanchor91" id="FNanchor91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91">[91]</a> In + other words, this is to say that his material of thought was not fact but + image.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.85" id="Page_i.85">[i.85]</a></span> + When he plunged into reflection, he did not deal with the objects of + reflection at first hand and in themselves, but only with the + reminiscences of objects, which he had never approached in a spirit of + deliberate and systematic observation, and with those reminiscences, + moreover, suffused and saturated by the impalpable but most potent + essences of a fermenting imagination. Instead of urgently seeking truth + with the patient energy, the wariness, and the conscience, with the + sharpened instruments, the systematic apparatus, and the minute feelers + and tentacles of the genuine thinker and solid reasoner, he only floated + languidly on a summer tide of sensation, and captured premiss and + conclusion in a succession of swoons. It would be a mistake to contend + that no work can be done for the world by this method, or that truth only + comes to those who chase her with logical forceps. But one should always + try to discover how a teacher of men came by his ideas, whether by careful + toil, or by the easy bequest of generous phantasy. + </p> + <p> + To give a zest to rural delight, and partly perhaps to satisfy the + intellectual interest which must have been an instinct in one who became + so consummate a master in the great and noble art of composition, + Rousseau, during the time when he lived with Madame de Warens, tried as + well as he knew how to acquire a little knowledge of what fruit the + cultivation of the mind of man had hitherto brought forth. According to + his own account, it was Voltaire's Letters on the English which first drew + him seriously to study, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.86" + id="Page_i.86">[i.86]</a></span> nothing which that illustrious man wrote + at this time escaped him. His taste for Voltaire inspired him with the + desire of writing with elegance, and of imitating "the fine and + enchanting colour of Voltaire's style"<a name="FNanchor92" + id="FNanchor92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92">[92]</a>—an object in + which he cannot be held to have in the least succeeded, though he achieved + a superb style of his own. On his return from Turin Madame de Warens had + begun in some small way to cultivate a taste for letters in him, though he + had lost the enthusiasm of his childhood for reading. Saint Evremond, + Puffendorff, the Henriade, and the Spectator happened to be in his room, + and he turned over their pages. The Spectator, he says, pleased him + greatly and did him much good.<a name="FNanchor93" id="FNanchor93"></a><a + href="#Footnote_93">[93]</a> Madame de Warens was what he calls protestant + in literary taste, and would talk for ever of the great Bayle, while she + thought more of Saint Evremond than she could ever persuade Rousseau to + think. Two or three years later than this he began to use his own mind + more freely, and opened his eyes for the first time to the greatest + question that ever dawns upon any human intelligence that has the + privilege of discerning it, the problem of a philosophy and a body of + doctrine. + </p> + <p> + His way of answering it did not promise the best results. He read an + introduction to the Sciences,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.87" + id="Page_i.87">[i.87]</a></span> then he took an Encyclopædia and + tried to learn all things together, until he repented and resolved to + study subjects apart. This he found a better plan for one to whom long + application was so fatiguing, that he could not with any effect occupy + himself for half an hour on any one matter, especially if following the + ideas of another person.<a name="FNanchor94" id="FNanchor94"></a><a + href="#Footnote_94">[94]</a> He began his morning's work, after an hour or + two of dispersive chat, with the Port-Royal Logic, Locke's Essay on the + Human Understanding, Malebranche, Leibnitz, Descartes.<a name="FNanchor95" + id="FNanchor95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95">[95]</a> He found these authors + in a condition of such perpetual contradiction among themselves, that he + formed the chimerical design of reconciling them with one another. This + was tedious, so he took up another method, on which he congratulated + himself to the end of his life. It consisted in simply adopting and + following the ideas of each author, without comparing them either with one + another or with those of other writers, and above all without any + criticism of his own. Let me begin, he said, by collecting a store of + ideas, true or false, but at any rate clear, until my head is well enough + stocked to enable me to compare and choose. At the end of some years + passed "in never thinking exactly, except after other people, without + reflecting so to speak, and almost without reasoning," he found + himself in a state to think for himself. "In spite of beginning late + to exercise my judicial faculty, I never found that it had lost its<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.88" id="Page_i.88">[i.88]</a></span> + vigour, and when I came to publish my own ideas, I was hardly accused of + being a servile disciple."<a name="FNanchor96" id="FNanchor96"></a><a + href="#Footnote_96">[96]</a> + </p> + <p> + To that fairly credible account of the matter, one can only say that this + mutually exclusive way of learning the thoughts of others, and developing + thoughts of your own, is for an adult probably the most mischievous, where + it is not the most impotent, fashion in which intellectual exercise can + well be taken. It is exactly the use of the judicial faculty, criticising, + comparing, and defining, which is indispensable in order that a student + should not only effectually assimilate the ideas of a writer, but even + know what those ideas come to and how much they are worth. And so when he + works at ideas of his own, a judicial faculty which has been kept + studiously slumbering for some years, is not likely to revive in full + strength without any preliminary training. Rousseau was a man of singular + genius, and he set an extraordinary mark on Europe, but this mark would + have been very different if he had ever mastered any one system of + thought, or if he had ever fully grasped what systematic thinking means. + Instead of this, his debt to the men whom he read was a debt of piecemeal, + and his obligation an obligation for fragments; and this is perhaps the + worst way of acquiring an intellectual lineage, for it leaves out the + vital continuity of temper and method. It is a small thing to accept this + or that of Locke's notions upon education or the origin of ideas, if you + do not see the merit of his way of coming by his<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.89" id="Page_i.89">[i.89]</a></span> notions. In short, + Rousseau has distinctions in abundance, but the distinction of knowing how + to think, in the exact sense of that term, was hardly among them, and + neither now nor at any other time did he go through any of that toilsome + and vigorous intellectual preparation to which the ablest of his + contemporaries, Diderot, Voltaire, D'Alembert, Turgot, Condorcet, Hume, + all submitted themselves. His comfortable view was that "the sensible + and interesting conversations of a woman of merit are more proper to form + a young man than all the pedantical philosophy of books."<a + name="FNanchor97" id="FNanchor97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97">[97]</a> + </p> + <p> + Style, however, in which he ultimately became such a proficient, and which + wrought such marvels as only style backed by passion can work, already + engaged his serious attention. We have already seen how Voltaire implanted + in him the first root idea, which so many of us never perceive at all, + that there is such a quality of writing as style. He evidently took pains + with the form of expression and thought about it, in obedience to some + inborn harmonious predisposition which is the source of all veritable + eloquence, though there is no strong trace now nor for many years to come + of any irresistible inclination for literary composition. We find him, + indeed, in 1736 showing consciousness of a slight skill in writing,<a + name="FNanchor98" id="FNanchor98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98">[98]</a> but + he only thought of it as a possible recommendation for a secretaryship to + some great person. He also appears to have practised verses, not for their<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.90" id="Page_i.90">[i.90]</a></span> own + sake, for he always most justly thought his own verses mediocre, and they + are even worse; but on the ground that verse-making is a rather good + exercise for breaking one's self to elegant inversions, and learning a + greater ease in prose.<a name="FNanchor99" id="FNanchor99"></a><a + href="#Footnote_99">[99]</a> At the age of one and twenty he composed a + comedy, long afterwards damned as <i>Narcisse</i>. Such prelusions, + however, were of small importance compared with the fact of his being + surrounded by a moral atmosphere in which his whole mind was steeped. It + is not in the study of Voltaire or another, but in the deep soft soil of + constant mood and old habit that such a style as Rousseau's has its + growth. + </p> + <p> + It was the custom to return to Chambéri for the winter, and the day + of their departure from Les Charmettes was always a day blurred and + tearful for Rousseau; he never left it without kissing the ground, the + trees, the flowers; he had to be torn away from it as from a loved + companion. At the first melting of the winter snows they left their + dungeon in Chambéri, and they never missed the earliest song of the + nightingale. Many a joyful day of summer peace remained vivid in + Rousseau's memory, and made a mixed heaven and hell for him long years + after in the stifling dingy Paris street, and the raw and cheerless air of + a Derbyshire winter.<a name="FNanchor100" id="FNanchor100"></a><a + href="#Footnote_100">[100]</a> "We started early in the morning,"<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.91" id="Page_i.91">[i.91]</a></span> he + says, describing one of these simple excursions on the day of St. Lewis, + who was the very unconscious patron saint of Madame de Warens, "together + and alone; I proposed that we should go and ramble about the side of the + valley opposite to our own, which we had not yet visited. We sent our + provisions on before us, for we were to be out all day. We went from hill + to hill and wood to wood, sometimes in the sun and often in the shade, + resting from time to time and forgetting ourselves for whole hours; + chatting about ourselves, our union, our dear lot, and offering unheard + prayers that it might last. All seemed to conspire for the bliss of this + day. Rain had fallen a short time before; there was no dust, and the + little streams were full; a light fresh breeze stirred the leaves, the air + was pure, the horizon without a cloud, and the same serenity reigned in + our own hearts. Our dinner was cooked in a peasant's cottage, and we + shared it with his family. These Savoyards are such good souls! After + dinner we sought shade under some tall trees, where, while I collected dry + sticks for making our coffee, Maman amused herself by botanising among the + bushes, and the expedition ended in transports of tenderness and effusion."<a + name="FNanchor101" id="FNanchor101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101">[101]</a> + This is one of such days as the soul turns back to when the misery that + stalks after us all has seized it, and a man is left to the sting and + smart of the memory of irrecoverable things. + </p> + <p> + He was resolved to bind himself to Madame de<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.92" id="Page_i.92">[i.92]</a></span> Warens with an + inalterable fidelity for all the rest of his days; he would watch over her + with all the dutiful and tender vigilance of a son, and she should be to + him something dearer than mother or wife or sister. What actually befell + was this. He was attacked by vapours, which he characterises as the + disorder of the happy. One symptom of his disease was the conviction + derived from the rash perusal of surgeon's treatises, that he was + suffering from a polypus in the heart. On the not very chivalrous + principle that if he did not spend Madame de Warens' money, he was only + leaving it for adventurers and knaves, he proceeded to Montpellier to + consult the physicians, and took the money for his expenses out of his + benefactress's store, which was always slender because it was always open + to any hand. While on the road, he fell into an intrigue with a travelling + companion, whom critics have compared to the fair Philina of Wilhelm + Meister. In due time, the Montpellier doctor being unable to discover a + disease, declared that the patient had none. The scenery was dull and + unattractive, and this would have counterbalanced the weightiest + prudential reasons with him at any time. Rousseau debated whether he + should keep tryst with his gay fellow-traveller, or return to Chambéri. + Remorse and that intractable emptiness of pocket which is the iron key to + many a deed of ingenuous-looking self-denial and Spartan virtue, directed + him homewards. Here he had a surprise, and perhaps learnt a lesson. He + found installed in the house a personage whom<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.93" id="Page_i.93">[i.93]</a></span> he describes as tall, + fair, noisy, coxcombical, flat-faced, flat-souled. Another triple alliance + seemed a thing odious in the eyes of a man whom his travelling diversions + had made a Pharisee for the hour. He protested, but Madame de Warens was a + woman of principle, and declined to let Rousseau, who had profited by the + doctrine of indifference, now set up in his own favour the contrary + doctrine of a narrow and churlish partiality. So a short, delicious, and + never-forgotten episode came to an end: this pair who had known so much + happiness together were happy together no more, and the air became peopled + for Rousseau with wan spectres of dead joys and fast gathering cares. + </p> + <p> + The dates of the various events described in the fifth and sixth books of + the Confessions are inextricable, and the order is evidently inverted more + than once. The inversion of order is less serious than the contradictions + between the dates of the Confessions and the more authentic and + unmistakable dates of his letters. For instance, he describes a visit to + Geneva as having been made shortly before Lautrec's temporary pacification + of the civic troubles of that town; and that event took place in the + spring of 1738. This would throw the Montpellier journey, which he says + came after the visit to Geneva, into 1738, but the letters to Madame de + Warens from Grenoble and Montpellier are dated in the autumn and winter of + 1737.<a name="FNanchor102" id="FNanchor102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102">[102]</a> + Minor verifications attest the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.94" + id="Page_i.94">[i.94]</a></span> exactitude of the dates of the letters,<a + name="FNanchor103" id="FNanchor103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103">[103]</a> + and we may therefore conclude that he returned from Montpellier, found his + place taken and lost his old delight in Les Charmettes, in the early part + of 1738. In the tenth of the Rêveries he speaks of having passed + "a space of four or five years" in the bliss of Les Charmettes, + and it is true that his connection with it in one way and another lasted + from the middle of 1736 until about the middle of 1741. But as he left for + Montpellier in the autumn of 1737, and found the obnoxious Vinzenried + installed in 1738, the pure and characteristic felicity of Les Charmettes + perhaps only lasted about a year or a year and a half. But a year may set + a deep mark on a man, and give him imperishable taste of many things + bitter and sweet. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor38">[38]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii. 177. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor39">[39]</a> + Lamartine in <i>Raphael</i> defies "a reasonable man to recompose + with any reality the character that Rousseau gives to his mistress, out of + the contradictory elements which he associates in her nature. One of these + elements excludes the other." It is worth while for any who care for + this kind of study to compare Madame de Warens with the Marquise de + Courcelles, whom Sainte-Beuve has well called the Manon Lescaut of the + seventeenth century. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor40">[40]</a> + Described by Rousseau in a memorandum for the biographer of M. de Bernex, + printed in <i>Mélanges</i>, pp. 139-144. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor41">[41]</a> + De Tavel, by name. Disorderly ideas as to the relations of the sexes began + to appear in Switzerland along with the reformation of religion. In the + sixteenth century a woman appeared at Geneva with the doctrine that it is + as inhuman and as unjustifiable to refuse the gratification of this + appetite in a man as to decline to give food and drink to the starving. + Picot's <i>Hist. de Genève</i>, vol. ii. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor42">[42]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 341. Also ii. 83; and vi. 401. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor43">[43]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 345. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor44">[44]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ii. 83. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor45">[45]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> ii. 82. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor46">[46]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> iii. 179. See also 200. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor47">[47]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii. 177, 178. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor48">[48]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii. 183. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor49">[49]</a> + M. d'Aubonne. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor50">[50]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii 192. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor51">[51]</a> + M. Gatier. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor52">[52]</a> + M. Gaime. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor53">[53]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii. 204. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor54">[54]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> iii. 209, 210. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor55">[55]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iii. 217-222. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor56">[56]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 227. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor57">[57]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> iii. 224. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor58">[58]</a> + One Venture de Villeneuve, who visited him years afterwards (1755) in + Paris, when Rousseau found that the idol of old days was a crapulent + debauchee. <i>Ib.</i> viii. 221. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor59">[59]</a> + Mdlles. de Graffenried and Galley. <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 231. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor60">[60]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> iv. 254-256. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor61">[61]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 253. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor62">[62]</a> + While in the ambassador's house at Soleure, he was lodged in a room which + had once belonged to his namesake, Jean Baptiste Rousseau (<i>b. 1670—d. + 1741</i>), whom the older critics astonishingly insist on counting the + first of French lyric poets. There was a third Rousseau, Pierre [<i>b. + 1725—d. 1785</i>], who wrote plays and did other work now well + forgotten. There are some lines imperfectly commemorative of the trio— + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + Trois auteurs que Rousseau l'on nomme,<br /> Connus de Paris jusqu'à + Rome,<br /> Sont différens; voici par où;<br /> Rousseau de + Paris fut grand homme;<br /> Rousseau de Genève est un fou;<br /> + Rousseau de Toulouse un atome. + </p> + </div> + <p> + Jean Jacques refers to both his namesakes in his letter to Voltaire, Jan. + 30, 1750. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 145. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor63">[63]</a> + The only object which ever surpassed his expectation was the great Roman + structure near Nismes, the Pont du Gard. <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 446. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor64">[64]</a> + Rousseau gives 1732 as the probable date of his return to Chambéri, + after his first visit to Paris [<i>Conf.</i>, v. 305], and the only + objection to this is his mention of the incident of the march of the + French troops, which could not have happened until the winter of 1733, as + having taken place "some months" after his arrival. + Musset-Pathay accepts this as decisive, and fixes the return in the spring + of 1733 [i. 12]. My own conjectural chronology is this: Returns from Turin + towards the autumn of 1729; stays at Annecy until the spring of 1731; + passes the winter of 1731-2 at Neuchâtel; first visits Paris in + spring of 1732; returns to Savoy in the early summer of 1732. But a + precise harmonising of the dates in the Confessions is impossible; + Rousseau wrote them three and thirty years after our present point [in + 1766 at Wootton], and never claimed to be exact in minuteness of date. + Fortunately such matters in the present case are absolutely devoid of + importance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor65">[65]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 279, 280. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor66">[66]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 290, 291, + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor67">[67]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 281-283. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor68">[68]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 325. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor69">[69]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 360-364. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 21-24. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor70">[70]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 349, 350. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor71">[71]</a> + Apparently in the summer of 1736, though, the reference to the return of + the French troops at the peace [<i>Ib.</i> v. 365] would place it in 1735. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor72">[72]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> v. 356 + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor73">[73]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor74">[74]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 315, 316. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor75">[75]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> iv. 276. <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, II. xiv. 381, etc. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor76">[76]</a> + He refers to the ill-health of his youth, <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 32, and + describes an ominous head seizure while at Chambéri, <i>Ib.</i> vi. + 396. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor77">[77]</a> + Rousseau's description of Les Charmettes is at the end of the fifth book. + The present proprietor keeps the house arranged as it used to be, and has + gathered one or two memorials of its famous tenant, including his poor <i>clavecin</i> + and his watch. In an outside wall, Hérault de Sechelles, when + Commissioner from the Convention in the department of Mont Blanc, inserted + a little white stone with two most lapidary stanzas inscribed upon it, + about <i>génie, solitude, fierté, gloire, vérité, + envie</i>, and the like. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor78">[78]</a> + <i>Rêveries</i>, x. 336 (1778). + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor79">[79]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 393. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor80">[80]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 412. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor81">[81]</a> + <i>Mém, de Mdme. d'Epinay</i>, i. 394. (M. Boiteau's edition: + Charpentier. 1865.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor82">[82]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 399. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor83">[83]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> vi. 424. Goethe made a similar experiment; see Mr. Lewes's <i>Life</i>, + p. 126. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor84">[84]</a> + Bernardin de Saint Pierre tells us this. <i>Oeuvres</i> (Ed. 1818), xii. + 70, etc. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor85">[85]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 297. See also the description of the scenery of the + Valais, in the <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, Pt. I. Let. xxiii. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor86">[86]</a> + George Sand in <i>Mademoiselle la Quintinie</i> (p. 27), a book containing + some peculiarly subtle appreciations of the Savoy landscape. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor87">[87]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 298. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor88">[88]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 416, 422, etc.; iii. 164; iii. 203; v. 347; v. 383, 384. + Also vii. 53. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor89">[89]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 313, 367; iv. 293; ix. 353. Also <i>Mém. de Mdme. + d'Epinay</i>, ii. 151. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor90">[90]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> iii. 192, 193. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor91">[91]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 301; iii. 195. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor92">[92]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, v. 372, 373. The mistaken date assigned to the + correspondence between Voltaire and Frederick is one of many instances how + little we can trust the Confessions for minute accuracy, though their + substantial veracity is confirmed by all the collateral evidence that we + have. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor93">[93]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> iii. 188. For his debt in the way of education to Madame de + Warens, see also <i>Ib.</i> vii. 46. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor94">[94]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 409. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor95">[95]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> vi. 413. He adds a suspicious-looking "<i>et cetera</i>." + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor96">[96]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 414 + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor97">[97]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 295. See also v. 346. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor98">[98]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, 1736, pp. 26, 27. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor99">[99]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 271, where he says further that he never found enough + attraction in French poetry to make him think of pursuing it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor100">[100]</a> + The first part of the Confessions was written in Wootton in Derbyshire, in + the winter of 1766-1767. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor101">[101]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 422. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor102">[102]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 43, 46, 62, etc. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor103">[103]</a> + Musset-Pathay, i. 23, <i>n.</i> + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.95" id="Page_i.95">[i.95]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_IV." id="CHAPTER_IV."></a>CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <h3> + THERESA LE VASSEUR. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">Men</span> like Rousseau, who are most heedless in + letting their delight perish, are as often as not most loth to bury what + they have slain, or even to perceive that life has gone out of it. The + sight of simple hearts trying to coax back a little warm breath of former + days into a present that is stiff and cold with indifference, is touching + enough. But there is a certain grossness around the circumstances in which + Rousseau now and too often found himself, that makes us watch his + embarrassment with some composure. One cannot easily think of him as a + simple heart, and we feel perhaps as much relief as he, when he resolves + after making all due efforts to thrust out the intruder and bring Madame + de Warens over from theories which had become too practical to be + interesting, to leave Les Charmettes and accept a tutorship at Lyons. His + new patron was a De Mably, elder brother of the philosophic abbé of + the same name (1709-85), and of the still more notable Condillac + (1714-80). + </p> + <p> + The future author of the most influential treatise on education that has + ever been written, was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.96" + id="Page_i.96">[i.96]</a></span> successful in the practical and far more + arduous side of that master art.<a name="FNanchor104" id="FNanchor104"></a><a + href="#Footnote_104">[104]</a> We have seen how little training he had + ever given himself in the cardinal virtues of collectedness and + self-control, and we know this to be the indispensable quality in all who + have to shape young minds for a humane life. So long as all went well, he + was an angel, but when things went wrong, he is willing to confess that he + was a devil. When his two pupils could not understand him, he became + frantic; when they showed wilfulness or any other part of the disagreeable + materials out of which, along with the rest, human excellence has to be + ingeniously and painfully manufactured, he was ready to kill them. This, + as he justly admits, was not the way to render them either well learned or + sage. The moral education of the teacher himself was hardly complete, for + he describes how he used to steal his employer's wine, and the exquisite + draughts which he enjoyed in the secrecy of his own room, with a piece of + cake in one hand and some dear romance in the other. We should forgive + greedy pilferings of this kind more easily if Rousseau had forgotten them + more speedily. These are surely offences for which the best expiation is + oblivion in a throng of worthier memories. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.97" id="Page_i.97">[i.97]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + It is easy to understand how often Rousseau's mind turned from the deadly + drudgery of his present employment to the beatitude of former days. "What + rendered my present condition insupportable was the recollection of my + beloved Charmettes, of my garden, my trees, my fountain, my orchard, and + above all of her for whom I felt myself born and who gave life to it all. + As I thought of her, of our pleasures, our guileless days, I was seized by + a tightness in my heart, a stopping of my breath, which robbed me of all + spirit."<a name="FNanchor105" id="FNanchor105"></a><a + href="#Footnote_105">[105]</a> For years to come this was a kind of + far-off accompaniment, thrumming melodiously in his ears under all the + discords of a miserable life. He made another effort to quicken the dead. + Throwing up his office with his usual promptitude in escaping from the + irksome, after a residence of something like a year at Lyons (April, 1740—spring + of 1741), he made his way back to his old haunts. The first half-hour with + Madame de Warens persuaded him that happiness here was really at an end. + After a stay of a few months, his desolation again overcame him. It was + agreed that he should go to Paris to make his fortune by a new method of + musical notation which he had invented, and after a short stay at Lyons, + he found himself for the second time in the famous city which in the + eighteenth century had become for the moment the centre of the universe.<a + name="FNanchor106" id="FNanchor106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106">[106]</a> + </p> + <p> + It was not yet, however, destined to be a centre<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.98" id="Page_i.98">[i.98]</a></span> for him. His plan of + musical notation was examined by a learned committee of the Academy, no + member of whom was instructed in the musical art. Rousseau, dumb, + inarticulate, and unready as usual, was amazed at the ease with which his + critics by the free use of sounding phrases demolished arguments and + objections which he perceived that they did not at all understand. His + experience on this occasion suggested to him the most just reflection, how + even without breadth of intelligence, the profound knowledge of any one + thing is preferable in forming a judgment about it, to all possible + enlightenment conferred by the cultivation of the sciences, without study + of the special matter in question. It astonished him that all these + learned men, who knew so many things, could yet be so ignorant that a man + should only pretend to be a judge in his own craft.<a name="FNanchor107" + id="FNanchor107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107">[107]</a> + </p> + <p> + His musical path to glory and riches thus blocked up, he surrendered + himself not to despair but to complete idleness and peace of mind. He had + a few coins left, and these prevented him from thinking of a future. He + was presented to one or two great ladies, and with the blundering + gallantry habitual to him he wrote a letter to one of the greatest of + them, declaring his passion for her. Madame Dupin was the daughter of one, + and the wife of another, of the richest men in France, and the attentions + of a man whose acquaintance Madame Beuzenval had begun by inviting him to + dine in the servants' hall, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.99" + id="Page_i.99">[i.99]</a></span> not pleasing to her.<a name="FNanchor108" + id="FNanchor108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108">[108]</a> She forgave the + impertinence eventually, and her stepson, M. Francueil, was Rousseau's + patron for some years.<a name="FNanchor109" id="FNanchor109"></a><a + href="#Footnote_109">[109]</a> On the whole, however, in spite of his own + account of his social ineptitude, there cannot have been anything so + repulsive in his manners as this account would lead us to think. There is + no grave anachronism in introducing here the impression which he made on + two fine ladies not many years after this. "He pays compliments, yet + he is not polite, or at least he is without the air of politeness. He + seems to be ignorant of the usages of society, but it is easily seen that + he is infinitely intelligent. He has a brown complexion, while eyes that + overflow with fire give animation to his expression. When he has spoken + and you look at him, he appears comely; but when you try to recall him, + his image is always extremely plain. They say that he has bad health, and + endures agony which from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.100" + id="Page_i.100">[i.100]</a></span> some motive of vanity he most carefully + conceals. It is this, I fancy, which gives him from time to time an air of + sullenness."<a name="FNanchor110" id="FNanchor110"></a><a + href="#Footnote_110">[110]</a> The other lady, who saw him at the same + time, speaks of "the poor devil of an author, who's as poor as Job + for you, but with wit and vanity enough for four.... They say his history + is as queer as his person, and that is saying a good deal.... Madame + Maupeou and I tried to guess what it was. 'In spite of his face,' said she + (for it is certain he is uncommonly plain), 'his eyes tell that love plays + a great part in his romance.' 'No,' said I, 'his nose tells me that it is + vanity.' 'Well then, 'tis both one and the other.'"<a + name="FNanchor111" id="FNanchor111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111">[111]</a> + </p> + <p> + One of his patronesses took some trouble to procure him the post of + secretary to the French ambassador at Venice, and in the spring of 1743 + our much-wandering man started once more in quest of meat and raiment in + the famous city of the Adriatic. This was one of those steps of which + there are not a few in a man's life, that seem at the moment to rank + foremost in the short line of decisive acts, and then are presently seen + not to have been decisive at all, but mere interruptions conducting + nowhither. In truth the critical moments with us are mostly as points in + slumber. Even if the ancient oracles of the gods were to regain their + speech once more on the earth, men would usually go to consult them on + days when the answer would have least significance,<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.101" id="Page_i.101">[i.101]</a></span> and could guide them + least far. That one of the most heedless vagrants in Europe, and as it + happened one of the men of most extraordinary genius also, should have got + a footing in the train of the ambassador of a great government, would + naturally seem to him and others as chance's one critical stroke in his + life. In reality it was nothing. The Count of Montaigu, his master, was + one of the worst characters with whom Rousseau could for his own profit + have been brought into contact. In his professional quality he was not far + from imbecile. The folly and weakness of the government at Versailles + during the reign of Lewis XV., and its indifference to competence in every + department except perhaps partially in the fisc, was fairly illustrated in + its absurd representative at Venice. The secretary, whose renown has + preserved his master's name, has recorded more amply than enough the + grounds of quarrel between them. Rousseau is for once eager to assert his + own efficiency, and declares that he rendered many important services for + which he was repaid with ingratitude and persecution.<a name="FNanchor112" + id="FNanchor112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112">[112]</a> One would be glad + to know what the Count of Montaigu's version of matters was, for in truth + Rousseau's conduct in previous posts makes us wonder how it was that he + who had hitherto always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.102" + id="Page_i.102">[i.102]</a></span> been unfaithful over few things, + suddenly touched perfection when he became lord over many. + </p> + <p> + There is other testimony, however, to the ambassador's morbid quality, of + which, after that general imbecility which was too common a thing among + men in office to be remarkable, avarice was the most striking trait. For + instance, careful observation had persuaded him that three shoes are + equivalent to two pairs, because there is always one of a pair which is + more worn than its fellow; and hence he habitually ordered his shoes in + threes.<a name="FNanchor113" id="FNanchor113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113">[113]</a> + It was natural enough that such a master and such a secretary should + quarrel over perquisites. That slightly cringing quality which we have + noticed on one or two occasions in Rousseau's hungry youthful time, had + been hardened out of him by circumstance or the strengthening of inborn + fibre. He would now neither dine in a servants' hall because a fine lady + forgot what was due to a musician, nor share his fees with a great + ambassador who forgot what was due to himself. These sordid disputes are + of no interest now to anybody, and we need only say that after a period of + eighteen months passed in uncongenial company, Rousseau parted from his + count in extreme dudgeon, and the diplomatic career which he had promised + to himself came to the same close as various other careers had already + done. + </p> + <p> + He returned to Paris towards the end of 1744, burning with indignation at + the unjust treatment which he believed himself to have suffered, and + laying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.103" id="Page_i.103">[i.103]</a></span> + memorial after memorial before the minister at home. He assures us that it + was the justice and the futility of his complaints, that left in his soul + the germ of exasperation against preposterous civil institutions, "in + which the true common weal and real justice are always sacrificed to some + seeming order or other, which is in fact destructive of all order, and + only adds the sanction of public authority to the oppression of the weak + and the iniquity of the strong."<a name="FNanchor114" id="FNanchor114"></a><a + href="#Footnote_114">[114]</a> + </p> + <p> + One or two pictures connected with the Venetian episode remain in the + memory of the reader of the Confessions, and among them perhaps with most + people is that of the quarantine at Genoa in Rousseau's voyage to his new + post. The travellers had the choice of remaining on board the felucca, or + passing the time in an unfurnished lazaretto. This, we may notice in + passing, was his first view of the sea; he makes no mention of the fact, + nor does the sight or thought of the sea appear to have left the least + mark in any line of his writings. He always disliked it, and thought of it + with melancholy. Rousseau, as we may suppose, found the want of space and + air in the boat the most intolerable of evils, and preferred to go alone + to the lazaretto, though it had neither window-sashes nor tables nor + chairs nor bed, nor even a truss of straw to lie down upon. He was locked + up and had the whole barrack to himself. "I manufactured," he + says, "a good bed out of my coats and shirts, sheets out of towels + which I stitched together,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.104" + id="Page_i.104">[i.104]</a></span> a pillow out of my old cloak rolled up. + I made myself a seat of one trunk placed flat, and a table of the other. I + got out some paper and my writing-desk, and arranged some dozen books that + I had by way of library. In short I made myself so comfortable, that, with + the exception of curtains and windows, I was nearly as well off in this + absolutely naked lazaretto as in my lodgings in Paris. My meals were + served with much pomp; two grenadiers, with bayonets at their musket-ends, + escorted them; the staircase was my dining-room, the landing did for table + and the lower step for a seat, and when my dinner was served, they rang a + little bell as they withdrew, to warn me to seat myself at table. Between + my meals, when I was neither writing nor reading, nor busy with my + furnishing, I went for a walk in the Protestant graveyard, or mounted into + a lantern which looked out on to the port, and whence I could see the + ships sailing in and out. I passed a fortnight in this way, and I could + have spent the whole three weeks of the quarantine without feeling an + instant's weariness."<a name="FNanchor115" id="FNanchor115"></a><a + href="#Footnote_115">[115]</a> + </p> + <p> + These are the occasions when we catch glimpses of the true Rousseau; but + his residence in Venice was on the whole one of his few really sociable + periods. He made friends and kept them, and there was even a certain + gaiety in his life. He used to tell people their fortunes in a way that an + earlier century would have counted unholy.<a name="FNanchor116" + id="FNanchor116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116">[116]</a> He rarely sought + pleasure in those of her haunts for which the Queen of the Adri<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.105" id="Page_i.105">[i.105]</a></span>atic + had a guilty renown, but he has left one singular anecdote, showing the + degree to which profound sensibility is capable of doing the moralist's + work in a man, and how a stroke of sympathetic imagination may keep one + from sin more effectually than an ethical precept.<a name="FNanchor117" + id="FNanchor117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117">[117]</a> It is pleasanter to + think of him as working at the formation of that musical taste which ten + years afterwards led him to amaze the Parisians by proving that French + melody was a hollow idea born of national self-delusion. A Venetian + experiment, whose evidence in the special controversy is less weighty + perhaps than Rousseau supposed, was among the facts which persuaded him + that Italian is the language of music. An Armenian who had never heard any + music was invited to listen first of all to a French monologue, and then + to an air of Galuppi's. Rousseau observed in the Armenian more surprise + than pleasure during the performance of the French piece. The first notes + of the Italian were no sooner struck, than his eyes and whole expression + softened; he was enchanted, surrendered his whole soul to the ravishing + impressions of the music, and could never again be induced to listen to + the performance of any French air.<a name="FNanchor118" id="FNanchor118"></a><a + href="#Footnote_118">[118]</a> + </p> + <p> + More important than this was the circumstance that the sight of the + defects of the government of the Venetian Republic first drew his mind to + political<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.106" id="Page_i.106">[i.106]</a></span> + speculation, and suggested to him the composition of a book that was to be + called Institutions Politiques.<a name="FNanchor119" id="FNanchor119"></a><a + href="#Footnote_119">[119]</a> The work, as thus designed and named, was + never written, but the idea of it, after many years of meditation, ripened + first in the Discourse on Inequality, and then in the Social Contract. + </p> + <p> + If Rousseau's departure for Venice was a wholly insignificant element in + his life, his return from it was almost immediately followed by an event + which counted for nothing at the moment, which his friends by and by came + to regard as the fatal and irretrievable disaster of his life, but which + he persistently described as the only real consolation that heaven + permitted him to taste in his misery, and the only one that enabled him to + bear his many sore burdens.<a name="FNanchor120" id="FNanchor120"></a><a + href="#Footnote_120">[120]</a> + </p> + <p> + He took up his quarters at a small and dirty hotel not far from the + Sorbonne, where he had alighted on the occasion of his second arrival in + Paris.<a name="FNanchor121" id="FNanchor121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121">[121]</a> + Here was a kitchen-maid, some two-and-twenty years old, who used to sit at + table with her mistress and the guests<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.107" id="Page_i.107">[i.107]</a></span> of the house. The + company was rough, being mainly composed of Irish and Gascon abbés, + and other people to whom graces of mien and refinement of speech had come + neither by nature nor cultivation. The hostess herself pitched the + conversation in merry Rabelaisian key, and the apparent modesty of her + serving-woman gave a zest to her own licence. Rousseau was moved with pity + for a maid defenceless against a ribald storm, and from pity he advanced + to some warmer sentiment, and he and Theresa Le Vasseur took each other + for better for worse, in a way informal but sufficiently effective. This + was the beginning of a union which lasted for the length of a generation + and more, down to the day of Rousseau's most tragical ending.<a + name="FNanchor122" id="FNanchor122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122">[122]</a> + She thought she saw in him a worthy soul; and he was convinced that he saw + in her a woman of sensibility, simple and free from trick, and neither of + the two, he says, was deceived in respect of the other. Her intellectual + quality was unique. She could never be taught to read with any approach to + success. She could never follow the order of the twelve months of the + year, nor master a single arithmetical figure, nor count a sum of money, + nor reckon the price of a thing. A month's instruction was not enough to + give knowledge of the hours of the day on the dial-plate. The words<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.108" id="Page_i.108">[i.108]</a></span> + she used were often the direct opposites of the words that she meant to + use.<a name="FNanchor123" id="FNanchor123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123">[123]</a> + </p> + <p> + The marriage choice of others is the inscrutable puzzle of those who have + no eye for the fact that such choice is the great match of cajolery + between purpose and invisible hazard; the blessedness of many lives is the + stake, as intention happens to cheat accident or to be cheated by it. When + the match is once over, deep criticism of a game of pure chance is time + wasted. The crude talk in which the unwise deliver their judgments upon + the conditions of success in the relations between men and women, has + flowed with unprofitable copiousness as to this not very inviting case. + People construct an imaginary Rousseau out of his writings, and then + fetter their elevated, susceptible,<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.109" id="Page_i.109">[i.109]</a></span> sensitive, and humane + creation, to the unfortunate woman who could never be taught that April is + the month after March, or that twice four and a half are nine. Now we have + already seen enough of Rousseau to know for how infinitely little he + counted the gift of a quick wit, and what small store he set either on + literary varnish or on capacity for receiving it. He was touched in people + with whom he had to do, not by attainment, but by moral fibre or his + imaginary impression of their moral fibre. Instead of analysing a + character, bringing its several elements into the balance, computing the + more or less of this faculty or that, he loved to feel its influence as a + whole, indivisible, impalpable, playing without sound or agitation around + him like soft light and warmth and the fostering air. The deepest + ignorance, the dullest incapacity, the cloudiest faculties of + apprehension, were nothing to him in man or woman, provided he could only + be sensible of that indescribable emanation from voice and eye and + movement, that silent effusion of serenity around spoken words, which + nature has given to some tranquillising spirits, and which would have left + him free in an even life of indolent meditation and unfretted sense. A + woman of high, eager, stimulating kind would have been a more fatal mate + for him than the most stupid woman that ever rivalled the stupidity of + man. Stimulation in any form always meant distress to Rousseau. The moist + warmth of the Savoy valleys was not dearer to him than the subtle + inhalations of softened and close enveloping<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.110" id="Page_i.110">[i.110]</a></span> companionship, in + which the one needful thing is not intellectual equality, but easy, + smooth, constant contact of feeling about the thousand small matters that + make up the existence of a day. This is not the highest ideal of union + that one's mind can conceive from the point of view of intense productive + energy, but Rousseau was not concerned with the conditions of productive + energy. He only sought to live, to be himself, and he knew better than any + critics can know for him, what kind of nature was the best supplement for + his own. As he said in an apophthegm with a deep melancholy lying at the + bottom of it,—you never can cite the example of a thoroughly happy + man, for no one but the man himself knows anything about it.<a + name="FNanchor124" id="FNanchor124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124">[124]</a> + "By the side of people we love," he says very truly, "sentiment + nourishes the intelligence as well as the heart, and we have little + occasion to seek ideas elsewhere. I lived with my Theresa as pleasantly as + with the finest genius in the universe."<a name="FNanchor125" + id="FNanchor125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125">[125]</a> + </p> + <p> + Theresa Le Vasseur would probably have been happier if she had married a + stout stable-boy, as indeed she did some thirty years hence by way of + gathering up the fragments that were left; but there is little reason to + think that Rousseau would have been much happier with any other mate than + he was with Theresa. There was no social disparity between the two. She + was a person accustomed to hardship<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.111" id="Page_i.111">[i.111]</a></span> and coarseness, and + so was he. And he always systematically preferred the honest coarseness of + the plain people from whom he was sprung and among whom he had lived, to + the more hateful coarseness of heart which so often lurks under fine + manners and a complete knowledge of the order of the months in the year + and the arithmetical table. Rousseau had been a serving-man, and there was + no deterioration in going with a serving-woman.<a name="FNanchor126" + id="FNanchor126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126">[126]</a> However this may + be, it is certain that for the first dozen years or so of his partnership—and + many others as well as he are said to have found in this term a limit to + the conditions of the original contract,—Rousseau had perfect and + entire contentment in the Theresa whom all his friends pronounced as mean, + greedy, jealous, degrading, as she was avowedly brutish in understanding. + Granting that she was all these things, how much of the responsibility for + his acts has been thus shifted from the shoulders of Rousseau himself, + whose connection with her was from beginning to end entirely voluntary? If + he attached himself deliberately to an unworthy object by a bond which he + was indisputably free to break on any day that he chose, were not the<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.112" id="Page_i.112">[i.112]</a></span> + effects of such a union as much due to his own character which sought, + formed, and perpetuated it, as to the character of Theresa Le Vasseur? + Nothing, as he himself said in a passage to which he appends a vindication + of Theresa, shows the true leanings and inclinations of a man better than + the sort of attachments which he forms.<a name="FNanchor127" + id="FNanchor127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127">[127]</a> + </p> + <p> + It is a natural blunder in a literate and well-mannered society to charge + a mistake against a man who infringes its conventions in this particular + way. Rousseau knew what he was about, as well as politer persons. He was + at least as happy with his kitchen wench as Addison was with his countess, + or Voltaire with his marchioness, and he would not have been what he was, + nor have played the part that he did play in the eighteenth century, if he + had felt anything derogatory or unseemly in a kitchen wench. The selection + was probably not very deliberate; as it happened, Theresa served as a + standing illustration of two of his most marked traits, a contempt for + mere literary culture, and a yet deeper contempt for social + accomplishments and social position. In time he found out the grievous + disadvantages of living in solitude with a companion who did not know how + to think, and whose stock of ideas was so slight that the only common + ground of talk between them was gossip and quodlibets. But her lack of + sprightliness, beauty, grace, refinement, and that gentle initiative by + which women may make even a sombre life so various,<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.113" id="Page_i.113">[i.113]</a></span> went for nothing with + him. What his friends missed in her, he did not seek and would not have + valued; and what he found in her, they were naturally unable to + appreciate, for they never were in the mood for detecting it. "I have + not seen much of happy men," he wrote when near his end, "perhaps + nothing; but I have many a time seen contented hearts, and of all the + objects that have struck me, I believe it is this which has always given + most contentment to myself."<a name="FNanchor128" id="FNanchor128"></a><a + href="#Footnote_128">[128]</a> This moderate conception of felicity, which + was always so characteristic with him, as an even, durable, and rather + low-toned state of the feelings, accounts for his prolonged acquiescence + in a companion whom men with more elation in their ideal would assuredly + have found hostile even to the most modest contentment. + </p> + <p> + "The heart of my Theresa," he wrote long after the first + tenderness had changed into riper emotion on his side, and, alas, into + indifference on hers, "was that of an angel; our attachment waxed + stronger with our intimacy, and we felt more and more each day that we + were made for one another. If our pleasures could be described, their + simplicity would make you laugh; our excursions together out of town, in + which I would munificently expend eight or ten halfpence in some rural + tavern; our modest suppers at my window, seated in front of one another on + two small chairs placed on a trunk that filled up the breadth of the + embrasure. Here the window did duty for a table,<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.114" id="Page_i.114">[i.114]</a></span> we breathed the fresh + air, we could see the neighbourhood and the people passing by, and though + on the fourth story, could look down into the street as we ate. Who shall + describe, who shall feel the charms of those meals, consisting of a coarse + quartern loaf, some cherries, a tiny morsel of cheese, and a pint of wine + which we drank between us? Ah, what delicious seasoning there is in + friendship, confidence, intimacy, gentleness of soul! We used sometimes to + remain thus until midnight, without once thinking of the time."<a + name="FNanchor129" id="FNanchor129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129">[129]</a> + </p> + <p> + Men and women are often more fairly judged by the way in which they bear + the burden of what they have done, than by the prime act which laid the + burden on their lives.<a name="FNanchor130" id="FNanchor130"></a><a + href="#Footnote_130">[130]</a> The deeper part of us shows in the manner + of accepting consequences. On the whole, Rousseau's relations with this + woman present him in a better light than those with any other person + whatever. If he became with all the rest of the world suspicious, angry, + jealous, profoundly diseased in a word, with her he was habitually + trustful, affectionate, careful, most long-suffering. It sometimes even + occurs to us that his constancy to Theresa was only another side of the + morbid perversity of his relations with the rest of the world. People of a + certain kind not seldom make the most serious and vital sacrifices for + bare love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.115" id="Page_i.115">[i.115]</a></span> + of singularity, and a man like Rousseau was not unlikely to feel an + eccentric pleasure in proving that he could find merit in a woman who to + everybody else was desperate. One who is on bad terms with the bulk of his + fellows may contrive to save his self-respect and confirm his conviction + that they are all in the wrong, by preserving attachment to some one to + whom general opinion is hostile; the private argument being that if he is + capable of this degree of virtue and friendship in an unfavourable case, + how much more could he have practised it with others, if they would only + have allowed him. Whether this kind of apology was present to his mind or + not, Rousseau could always refer those who charged him with black caprice, + to his steady kindness towards Theresa Le Vasseur. Her family were among + the most odious of human beings, greedy, idle, and ill-humoured, while her + mother had every fault that a woman could have in Rousseau's eyes, + including that worst fault of setting herself up for a fine wit. Yet he + bore with them all for years, and did not break with Madame Le Vasseur + until she had poisoned the mind of her daughter, and done her best by + rapacity and lying to render him contemptible to all his friends. + </p> + <p> + In the course of years Theresa herself gave him unmistakable signs of a + change in her affections. "I began to feel," he says, at a date + of sixteen or seventeen years from our present point, "that she was + no longer for me what she had been in our happy years,<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.116" id="Page_i.116">[i.116]</a></span> and I felt it all the + more clearly as I was still the same towards her."<a + name="FNanchor131" id="FNanchor131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131">[131]</a> + This was in 1762, and her estrangement grew deeper and her indifference + more open, until at length, seven years afterwards, we find that she had + proposed a separation from him. What the exact reasons for this gradual + change may have been we do not know, nor have we any right in ignorance of + the whole facts to say that they were not adequate and just. There are two + good traits recorded of the woman's character. She could never console + herself for having let her father be taken away to end his days miserably + in a house of charity.<a name="FNanchor132" id="FNanchor132"></a><a + href="#Footnote_132">[132]</a> And the repudiation of her children, + against which the glowing egoism of maternity always rebelled, remained a + cruel dart in her bosom as long as she lived. We may suppose that there + was that about household life with Rousseau which might have bred disgusts + even in one as little fastidious as Theresa was. Among other things which + must have been hard to endure, we know that in composing his works he was + often weeks together without speaking a word to her.<a name="FNanchor133" + id="FNanchor133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133">[133]</a> Perhaps again it + would not be difficult to produce some passages in Rousseau's letters and + in the Confessions, which show traces of that subtle contempt for women + that lurks undetected in many who would blush to avow it. Whatever the + causes may have been, from indifference she passed to something like + aversion, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.117" id="Page_i.117">[i.117]</a></span> + in the one place where a word of complaint is wrung from him, he describes + her as rending and piercing his heart at a moment when his other miseries + were at their height. His patience at any rate was inexhaustible; now old, + worn by painful bodily infirmities, racked by diseased suspicion and the + most dreadful and tormenting of the minor forms of madness, nearly + friendless, and altogether hopeless, he yet kept unabated the old + tenderness of a quarter of a century before, and expressed it in words of + such gentleness, gravity, and self-respecting strength, as may touch even + those whom his books leave unmoved, and who view his character with + deepest distrust. "For the six-and-twenty years, dearest, that our + union has lasted, I have never sought my happiness except in yours, and + have never ceased to try to make you happy; and you saw by what I did + lately,<a name="FNanchor134" id="FNanchor134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134">[134]</a> + that your honour and happiness were one as dear to me as the other. I see + with pain that success does not answer my solicitude, and that my kindness + is not as sweet to you to receive, as it is sweet to me to show. I know + that the sentiments of honour and uprightness with which you were born + will never change in you; but as for those of tenderness and attachment + which were once reciprocal between us, I feel that they now only exist on + my side. Not only, dearest of all friends, have you ceased to find + pleasure in my company, but you have to tax yourself severely even to + remain a few minutes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.118" + id="Page_i.118">[i.118]</a></span> with me out of complaisance. You are at + your ease with all the world but me. I do not speak to you of many other + things. We must take our friends with their faults, and I ought to pass + over yours, as you pass over mine. If you were happy with me I could be + content, but I see clearly that you are not, and this is what makes my + heart sore. If I could do better for your happiness, I would do it and + hold my peace; but that is not possible. I have left nothing undone that I + thought would contribute to your felicity. At this moment, while I am + writing to you, overwhelmed with distress and misery, I have no more true + or lively desire than to finish my days in closest union with you. You + know my lot,—it is such as one could not even dare to describe, for + no one could believe it. I never had, my dearest, other than one single + solace, but that the sweetest; it was to pour out all my heart in yours; + when I talked of my miseries to you, they were soothed; and when you had + pitied me, I needed pity no more. My every resource, my whole confidence, + is in you and in you only; my soul cannot exist without sympathy, and + cannot find sympathy except with you. It is certain that if you fail me + and I am forced to live alone, I am as a dead man. But I should die a + thousand times more cruelly still, if we continued to live together in + misunderstanding, and if confidence and friendship were to go out between + us. It would be a hundred times better to cease to see each other; still + to live, and sometimes to regret one another. Whatever sacrifice may be + necessary on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.119" id="Page_i.119">[i.119]</a></span> + my part to make you happy, be so at any cost, and I shall be content. We + have faults to weep over and to expiate, but no crimes; let us not blot + out by the imprudence of our closing days the sweetness and purity of + those we have passed together."<a name="FNanchor135" id="FNanchor135"></a><a + href="#Footnote_135">[135]</a> Think ill as we may of Rousseau's theories, + and meanly as we may of some parts of his conduct, yet to those who can + feel the pulsing of a human life apart from a man's formulæ, and can + be content to leave to sure circumstance the tragic retaliation for evil + behaviour, this letter is like one of the great master's symphonies, whose + theme falls in soft strokes of melting pity on the heart. In truth, alas, + the union of this now diverse pair had been stained by crimes shortly + after its beginning. In the estrangement of father and mother in their + late years we may perhaps hear the rustle and spy the pale forms of the + avenging spectres of their lost children. + </p> + <p> + At the time when the connection with Theresa Le Vasseur was formed, + Rousseau did not know how to gain bread. He composed the musical diversion + of the Muses Galantes, which Rameau rightly or wrongly pronounced a + plagiarism, and at the request of Richelieu he made some minor + re-adaptations in Voltaire's Princesse de Navarre, which Rameau had set to + music—that "farce of the fair" to which the author of Zaïre + owed his seat in the Academy.<a name="FNanchor136" id="FNanchor136"></a><a + href="#Footnote_136">[136]</a> But neither<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.120" id="Page_i.120">[i.120]</a></span> task brought him + money, and he fell back on a sort of secretaryship, with perhaps a little + of the valet in it, to Madame Dupin and her son-in-law, M. de Francueil, + for which he received the too moderate income of nine hundred francs. On + one occasion he returned to his room expecting with eager impatience the + arrival of a remittance, the proceeds of some small property which came to + him by the death of his father.<a name="FNanchor137" id="FNanchor137"></a><a + href="#Footnote_137">[137]</a> He found the letter, and was opening it + with trembling hands, when he was suddenly smitten with shame at his want + of self-control; he placed it unopened on the chimney-piece, undressed, + slept better than usual, and when he awoke the next morning, he had + forgotten all about the letter until it caught his eye. He was delighted + to find that it contained his money, but "I can swear," he adds, + "that my liveliest delight was in having conquered myself." An + occasion for self-conquest on a more considerable scale was at hand. In + these tight straits, he received grievous news from the unfortunate + Theresa. He made up his mind cheerfully what to do; the mother acquiesced + after sore persuasion and with bitter tears; and the new-born child was + dropped into oblivion in the box of the asylum for foundlings. Next year + the same easy expedient was again resorted to, with the same heedlessness + on the part of the father, the same pain and reluctance on the part of the + mother. Five children in all were thus put away, and with such entire + absence of any precaution with a view to their<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.121" id="Page_i.121">[i.121]</a></span> identification in + happier times, that not even a note was kept of the day of their birth.<a + name="FNanchor138" id="FNanchor138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138">[138]</a> + </p> + <p> + People have made a great variety of remarks upon this transaction, from + the economist who turns it into an illustration of the evil results of + hospitals for foundlings in encouraging improvident unions, down to the + theologian who sees in it new proof of the inborn depravity of the human + heart and the fall of man. Others have vindicated it in various ways, one + of them courageously taking up the ground that Rousseau had good reason to + believe that the children were not his own, and therefore was fully + warranted in sending the poor creatures kinless into the universe.<a + name="FNanchor139" id="FNanchor139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139">[139]</a> + Perhaps it is not too transcendental a thing to hope that civilisation may + one day reach a point when a plea like this shall count for an aggravation + rather than a palliative; when a higher conception of the duties of + humanity, familiarised by the practice of adoption as well as by the + spread of both rational and compassionate considerations as to the + blameless little ones, shall have expelled what is surely as some red and + naked beast's emotion of fatherhood. What may be an excellent reason for + repudiating a woman, can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.122" + id="Page_i.122">[i.122]</a></span> never be a reason for abandoning a + child, except with those whom reckless egoism has made willing to think it + a light thing to fling away from us the moulding of new lives and the + ensuring of salutary nurture for growing souls. + </p> + <p> + We are, however, dispensed from entering into these questions of the + greater morals by the very plain account which the chief actor has given + us, almost in spite of himself. His crime like most others was the result + of heedlessness, of the overriding of duty by the short dim-eyed + selfishness of the moment. He had been accustomed to frequent a tavern, + where the talk turned mostly upon topics which men with much self-respect + put as far from them, as men with little self-respect will allow them to + do. "I formed my fashion of thinking from what I perceived to reign + among people who were at bottom extremely worthy folk, and I said to + myself, Since it is the usage of the country, as one lives here, one may + as well follow it. So I made up my mind to it cheerfully, and without the + least scruple."<a name="FNanchor140" id="FNanchor140"></a><a + href="#Footnote_140">[140]</a> By and by he proceeded to cover this nude + and intelligible explanation with finer phrases, about preferring that his + children should be trained up as workmen and peasants rather than as + adventurers and fortune-hunters, and about his supposing that in sending + them to the hospital for foundlings he was enrolling himself a citizen in + Plato's Republic.<a name="FNanchor141" id="FNanchor141"></a><a + href="#Footnote_141">[141]</a> This is hardly more than the talk of one + become famous, who is defending the acts of his<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.123" id="Page_i.123">[i.123]</a></span> obscurity on the high + principles which fame requires. People do not turn citizens of Plato's + Republic "cheerfully and without the least scruple," and if a + man frequents company where the despatch of inconvenient children to the + hospital was an accepted point of common practice, it is superfluous to + drag Plato and his Republic into the matter. Another turn again was given + to his motives when his mind had become clouded by suspicious mania. + Writing a year or two before his death he had assured himself that his + determining reason was the fear of a destiny for his children a thousand + times worse than the hard life of foundlings, namely, being spoiled by + their mother, being turned into monsters by her family, and finally being + taught to hate and betray their father by his plotting enemies.<a + name="FNanchor142" id="FNanchor142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142">[142]</a> + This is obviously a mixture in his mind of the motives which led to the + abandonment of the children and justified the act to himself at the time, + with the circumstances that afterwards reconciled him to what he had done; + for now he neither had any enemies plotting against him, nor did he + suppose that he had. As for his wife's family, he showed himself quite + capable, when the time came, of dealing resolutely and shortly with their + importunities in his own case, and he might therefore well have trusted + his power to deal with them in the case of his children. He was more right + when in 1770, in his important letter to M. de St. Germain, he admitted + that example,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.124" id="Page_i.124">[i.124]</a></span> + necessity, the honour of her who was dear to him, all united to make him + entrust his children to the establishment provided for that purpose, and + kept him from fulfilling the first and holiest of natural duties. "In + this, far from excusing, I accuse myself; and when my reason tells me that + I did what I ought to have done in my situation, I believe that less than + my heart, which bitterly belies it."<a name="FNanchor143" + id="FNanchor143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143">[143]</a> This coincides with + the first undisguised account given in the Confessions, which has been + already quoted, and it has not that flawed ring of cant and fine words + which sounds through nearly all his other references to this great stain + upon his life, excepting one, and this is the only further document with + which we need concern ourselves. In that,<a name="FNanchor144" + id="FNanchor144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144">[144]</a> which was written + while the unholy work was actually being done, he states very distinctly + that the motives were those which are more or less closely connected with + most unholy works, motives of money—the great instrument and measure + of our personal convenience, the quantitative test of our self-control in + placing personal convenience behind duty to other people. "If my + misery and my misfortunes rob me of the power of fulfilling a duty so + dear, that is a calamity to pity me for, rather than a crime to reproach + me with. I owe them subsistence, and I procured a better or at least a + surer subsistence for them than I could myself have provided; this condi<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.125" id="Page_i.125">[i.125]</a></span>tion + is above all others." Next comes the consideration of their mother, + whose honour must be kept. "You know my situation; I gained my bread + from day to day painfully enough; how then should I feed a family as well? + And if I were compelled to fall back on the profession of author, how + would domestic cares and the confusion of children leave me peace of mind + enough in my garret to earn a living? Writings which hunger dictates are + hardly of any use, and such a resource is speedily exhausted. Then I + should have to resort to patronage, to intrigue, to tricks ... in short to + surrender myself to all those infamies, for which I am penetrated with + such just horror. Support myself, my children, and their mother on the + blood of wretches? No, madame, it were better for them to be orphans than + to have a scoundrel for their father.... Why have I not married, you will + ask? Madame, ask it of your unjust laws. It was not fitting for me to + contract an eternal engagement; and it will never be proved to me that my + duty binds me to it. What is certain is that I have never done it, and + that I never meant to do it. But we ought not to have children when we + cannot support them. Pardon me, madame; nature means us to have offspring, + since the earth produces sustenance enough for all; but it is the rich, it + is your class, which robs mine of the bread of my children.... I know that + foundlings are not delicately nurtured; so much the better for them, they + become more robust. They have nothing superfluous given to them, but they + have everything that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.126" + id="Page_i.126">[i.126]</a></span> necessary. They do not make gentlemen + of them, but peasants or artisans.... They would not know how to dance, or + ride on horseback, but they would have strong unwearied legs. I would + neither make authors of them, nor clerks; I would not practise them in + handling the pen, but the plough, the file, and the plane, instruments for + leading a healthy, laborious, innocent life.... I deprived myself of the + delight of seeing them, and I have never tasted the sweetness of a + father's embrace. Alas, as I have already told you, I see in this only a + claim on your pity, and I deliver them from misery at my own expense."<a + name="FNanchor145" id="FNanchor145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145">[145]</a> + We may see here that Rousseau's sophistical eloquence, if it misled + others, was at least as powerful in misleading himself, and it may be + noted that this letter, with its talk of the children of the rich taking + bread out of the mouths of the children of the poor, contains the first of + those socialistic sentences by which the writer in after times gained so + famous a name. It is at any rate clear from this that the real motive of + the abandonment of the children was wholly material. He could not afford + to maintain them, and he did not wish to have his comfort disturbed by + their presence. + </p> + <p> + There is assuredly no word to be said by any one with firm reason and + unsophisticated conscience in extenuation of this crime. We have only to + remember that a great many other persons in that lax time, when the + structure of the family was undermined alike in<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.127" id="Page_i.127">[i.127]</a></span> practice and + speculation, were guilty of the same crime; that Rousseau, better than + they, did not erect his own criminality into a social theory, but was + tolerably soon overtaken by a remorse which drove him both to confess his + misdeed, and to admit that it was inexpiable; and that the atrocity of the + offence owes half the blackness with which it has always been invested by + wholesome opinion, to the fact that the offender was by and by the author + of the most powerful book by which parental duty has been commended in its + full loveliness and nobility. And at any rate, let Rousseau be a little + free from excessive reproach from all clergymen, sentimentalists, and + others, who do their worst to uphold the common and rather bestial opinion + in favour of reckless propagation, and who, if they do not advocate the + despatch of children to public institutions, still encourage a selfish + incontinence which ultimately falls in burdens on others than the + offenders, and which turns the family into a scene of squalor and + brutishness, producing a kind of parental influence that is far more + disastrous and demoralising than the absence of it in public institutions + can possibly be. If the propagation of children without regard to their + maintenance be either a virtue or a necessity, and if afterwards the only + alternatives are their maintenance in an asylum on the one hand, and their + maintenance in the degradation of a poverty-stricken home on the other, we + should not hesitate to give people who act as Rousseau acted, all that + credit for self-denial and high moral courage which he so<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.128" id="Page_i.128">[i.128]</a></span> + audaciously claimed for himself. It really seems to be no more criminal to + produce children with the deliberate intention of abandoning them to + public charity, as Rousseau did, than it is to produce them in deliberate + reliance on the besotted maxim that he who sends mouths will send meat, or + any other of the spurious saws which make Providence do duty for + self-control, and add to the gratification of physical appetite the + grotesque luxury of religious unction. + </p> + <p> + In 1761 the Maréchale de Luxembourg made efforts to discover + Rousseau's children, but without success. They were gone beyond hope of + identification, and the author of <i>Emitius</i> and his sons and + daughters lived together in this world, not knowing one another. Rousseau + with singular honesty did not conceal his satisfaction at the + fruitlessness of the charitable endeavours to restore them to him. "The + success of your search," he wrote, "could not give me pure and + undisturbed pleasure; it is too late, too late.... In my present condition + this search interested me more for another person [Theresa] than myself; + and considering the too easily yielding character of the person in + question, it is possible that what she had found already formed for good + or for evil, might turn out a sorry boon to her."<a name="FNanchor146" + id="FNanchor146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146">[146]</a> We may doubt, in + spite of one or two charming and graceful passages, whether Rousseau<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.129" id="Page_i.129">[i.129]</a></span> + was of a nature to have any feeling for the pathos of infancy, the bright + blank eye, the eager unpurposed straining of the hand, the many turns and + changes in murmurings that yet can tell us nothing. He was both too + self-centred and too passionate for warm ease and fulness of life in all + things, to be truly sympathetic with a condition whose feebleness and + immaturity touch us with half-painful hope. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau speaks in the Confessions of having married Theresa + five-and-twenty years after the beginning of their acquaintance,<a + name="FNanchor147" id="FNanchor147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147">[147]</a> + but we hardly have to understand that any ceremony took place which + anybody but himself would recognise as constituting a marriage. What + happened appears to have been this. Seated at table with Theresa and two + guests, one of them the mayor of the place, he declared that she was his + wife. "This good and seemly engagement was contracted," he says, + "in all the simplicity but also in all the truth of nature, in the + presence of two men of worth and honour.... During the short and simple + act, I saw the honest pair melted in tears."<a name="FNanchor148" + id="FNanchor148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148">[148]</a> He had at this time + whimsically assumed the name of Renou, and he wrote to a friend that of + course he had married in this name, for he adds, with the characteristic + insertion of an irrelevant bit of magniloquence, "it is not names + that are married; no, it is persons." "Even<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.130" id="Page_i.130">[i.130]</a></span> if in this simple and + holy ceremony names entered as a constituent part, the one I bear would + have sufficed, since I recognise no other. If it were a question of + property to be assured, then it would be another thing, but you know very + well that is not our case."<a name="FNanchor149" id="FNanchor149"></a><a + href="#Footnote_149">[149]</a> Of course, this may have been a marriage + according to the truth of nature, and Rousseau was as free to choose his + own rites as more sacramental performers, but it is clear from his own + words about property that there was no pretence of a marriage in law. He + and Theresa were on profoundly uncomfortable terms about this time,<a + name="FNanchor150" id="FNanchor150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150">[150]</a> + and Rousseau is not the only person by many thousands who has deceived + himself into thinking that some form of words between man and woman must + magically transform the substance of their characters and lives, and + conjure up new relations of peace and steadfastness. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + We have, however, been outstripping slow-footed destiny, and have now to + return to the time when Theresa did not drink brandy, nor run after + stable-boys, nor fill Rousseau's soul with bitterness and suspicion, but + sat contentedly with him in an evening taking a stoic's meal in the window + of their garret on the fourth floor, seasoning it with "confidence, + intimacy, gentleness of soul," and that general comfort of sensation + which, as we know to our cost, is by no means an invariable condition + either of duty done externally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.131" + id="Page_i.131">[i.131]</a></span> or of spiritual growth within. It is + perhaps hard for us to feel that we are in the presence of a great + religious reactionist; there is so little sign of the higher graces of the + soul, there are so many signs of the lowering clogs of the flesh. But the + spirit of a man moves in mysterious ways, and expands like the plants of + the field with strange and silent stirrings. It is one of the chief tests + of worthiness and freedom from vulgarity of soul in us, to be able to have + faith that this expansion is a reality, and the most important of all + realities. We do not rightly seize the type of Socrates if we can never + forget that he was the husband of Xanthippe, nor David's if we can only + think of him as the murderer of Uriah, nor Peter's if we can simply + remember that he denied his master. Our vision is only blindness, if we + can never bring ourselves to see the possibilities of deep mystic + aspiration behind the vile outer life of a man, or to believe that this + coarse Rousseau, scantily supping with his coarse mate, might yet have + many glimpses of the great wide horizons that are haunted by figures + rather divine than human. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor104">[104]</a> + In theory he was even now curiously prudent and almost sagacious; witness + the Projet pour l'Education, etc., submitted to M. de Mably, and printed + in the volume of his Works entitled <i>Mélanges</i>, pp. 106-136. In + the matter of Latin, it may be worth noting that Rousseau rashly or + otherwise condemns the practice of writing it, as a vexatious superfluity + (p. 132). + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor105">[105]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vi. 471. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor106">[106]</a> + <i>Ib.</i>, vi. 472-475; vii. 8. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor107">[107]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 18, 19. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor108">[108]</a> + Musset-Pathay (ii. 72) quotes the passage from Lord Chesterfield's + Letters, where the writer suggests Madame Dupin as a proper person with + whom his son might in a regular and business-like manner open the + elevating game of gallant intrigue. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor109">[109]</a> + M. Dupin deserves honourable mention as having helped the editors of the + Encyclopædia by procuring information for them as to salt-works + (D'Alembert's <i>Discours Préliminaire</i>). His son M. Dupin de + Francueil, it may be worth noting, is a link in the genealogical chain + between two famous personages. In 1777, the year before Rousseau's death, + he married (in the chapel of the French embassy in London) Aurora de Saxe, + a natural daughter of the marshal, himself the natural son of August the + Strong, King of Poland. From this union was born Maurice Dupin, and + Maurice Dupin was the father of Madame George Sand. M. Francueil died in + 1787. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor110">[110]</a> + <i>Mém. de Mdme. d'Epinay</i>, vol. i. ch. iv. p. 176. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor111">[111]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> vol. i. ch. iv. pp. 178, 179. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor112">[112]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 46, 51, 52, etc. A diplomatic piece in Rousseau's + handwriting has been found in the archives of the French consulate at + Constantinople, as M. Girardin informs us. Voltaire unworthily spread the + report that Rousseau had been the ambassador's private attendant. For + Rousseau's reply to the calumny, see <i>Corr.</i>, v. 75 (Jan. 5, 1767); + also iv. 150. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor113">[113]</a> + Bernardin de St. Pierre, <i>Oeuv.</i>, xii. 55 <i>seq.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor114">[114]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 92. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor115">[115]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 38, 39. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor116">[116]</a> + <i>Lettres de la Montagne</i>, iii. 266. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor117">[117]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 75-84. Also a second example, 84-86. For Byron's + opinion of one of these stories, see Lockhart's <i>Life of Scott</i>, vi. + 132. (Ed. 1837.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor118">[118]</a> + <i>Lettre sur la Musique Française</i> (1753), p. 186. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor119">[119]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 232. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor120">[120]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> vii. 97. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor121">[121]</a> + Hôtel St. Quentin, rue des Cordiers, a narrow street running between + the rue St. Jacques and the rue Victor Cousin. The still squalid hostelry + is now visible as Hôtel J.J. Rousseau. There is some doubt whether he + first saw Theresa in 1743 or 1745. The account in Bk. vii. of the <i>Confessions</i> + is for the latter date (see also <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 207), but in the + well-known letter to her in 1769 (<i>Ib.</i> vi. 79), he speaks of the + twenty-six years of their union. Their so-called marriage took place in + 1768, and writing in that year he speaks of the five-and-twenty years of + their attachment (<i>Ib.</i> v. 323), and in the <i>Confessions</i> (ix. + 249) he fixes their marriage at the same date; also in the letter to + Saint-Germain (vi. 152). Musset-Pathay, though giving 1745 in one place + (i. 45), and 1743 in another (ii. 198), has with less than his usual care + paid no attention to the discrepancy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_122" id="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor122">[122]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 97-100. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_123" id="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor123">[123]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 101. A short specimen of her composition may be + interesting, at any rate to hieroglyphic students: "Mesiceuras ancor + mien re mies quan geu ceures o pres deu vous, e deu vous temoes tous la + goies e latandres deu mon querque vous cones ces que getou gour e rus pour + vous, e qui neu finiraes quotobocs ces mon quere qui vous paleu ces paes + mes le vre ... ge sui avestous lamities e la reu conec caceu posible e la + tacheman mon cher bonnamies votreau enble e bon amiess theress le vasseur." + Of which dark words this is the interpretation:—"Mais il sera + encore mieux remis quand je sera auprès de vous, et de vous témoigner + toute la joie et la tendresse de mon coeur que vous connaissez que j'ai + toujours eue pour vous, et qui ne finira qu'au tombeau; c'est mon coeur + qui vous parle, c'est pas mes lèvres.... Je suis avec toute l'amitié + et la reconnaissance possibles, et l'attachement, mon cher bon ami, votre + humble et bonne amie, Thérèse Le Vasseur." (<i>Rousseau, + ses Amis et ses Ennemis</i>, ii. 450.) Certainly it was not learning and + arts which hindered Theresa's manners from being pure. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_124" id="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor124">[124]</a> + <i>Oeuv. et Corr. Inéd.</i>, 365. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_125" id="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor125">[125]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 102. See also <i>Corr.</i>, v. 373 (Oct. 10, 1768). On + the other hand, <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 249. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_126" id="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor126">[126]</a> + M. St. Marc Girardin, in one of his admirable papers on Rousseau, speaks + of him as "a bourgeois unclassed by an alliance with a tavern servant" + (<i>Rev. des Deux Mondes</i>, Nov. 1852, p. 759); but surely Rousseau had + unclassed himself long before, in the houses of Madame Vercellis, Count + Gouvon, and even Madame de Warens, and by his repudiation, from the time + when he ran away from Geneva, of nearly every bourgeois virtue and + bourgeois prejudice. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_127" id="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor127">[127]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 11. Also footnote. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_128" id="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor128">[128]</a> + <i>Rêveries</i>, ix. 309. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_129" id="Footnote_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor129">[129]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 142, 143. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_130" id="Footnote_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor130">[130]</a> + The other day I came for the first time upon the following in the sayings + of Madame de Lambert:—"Ce ne sont pas toujours les fautes qui + nous perdent; c'est la manière de se conduire aprés les avoir + faites." [1877.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_131" id="Footnote_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor131">[131]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, xii. 187, 188. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_132" id="Footnote_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor132">[132]</a> + <i>Ib.</i>, viii. 221. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_133" id="Footnote_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor133">[133]</a> + Bernardin de St. Pierre, <i>Oeuv.</i>, xii. 103. See <i>Conf.</i>, xii + 188, and <i>Corr.</i>, v. 324. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_134" id="Footnote_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor134">[134]</a> + Referring, no doubt, to the ceremony which he called their marriage, and + which had taken place in 1768. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_135" id="Footnote_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor135">[135]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, vi. 79-86. August 12, 1769. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_136" id="Footnote_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor136">[136]</a> + Composed in 1745. The <i>Fêtes de Ramire</i> was represented at + Versailles at the very end of this year. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_137" id="Footnote_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor137">[137]</a> + Some time in 1746-7. <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 113, 114. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_138" id="Footnote_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor138">[138]</a> + Probably in the winter of 1746-7. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 207. <i>Conf.</i>, + vii. 120-124. <i>Ib.</i>, viii. 148. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 208. June 12, 1761, + to the Maréchale de Luxembourg. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_139" id="Footnote_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor139">[139]</a> + George Sand,—in an eloquent piece entitled <i>À Propos des + Charmettes (Revue des Deux Mondes</i>, November 15, 1863), in which she + expresses her own obligations to Jean Jacques. In 1761 Rousseau declares + that he had never hitherto had the least reason to suspect Theresa's + fidelity. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 209 + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_140" id="Footnote_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor140">[140]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 123. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_141" id="Footnote_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor141">[141]</a> + <i>Ib.</i>, viii. 145-151. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_142" id="Footnote_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor142">[142]</a> + <i>Rêveries</i>, ix. 313. The same reason is given, <i>Conf.</i>, ix. + 252; also in Letter to Madame B., January 17, 1770 (<i>Corr.</i>, vi. + 117). + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_143" id="Footnote_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor143">[143]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, vi. 152, 153. Feb. 27, 1770. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_144" id="Footnote_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor144">[144]</a> + Letter to Madame de Francueil, April 20, 1751. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 151. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_145" id="Footnote_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor145">[145]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 151-155 + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_146" id="Footnote_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor146">[146]</a> + August 10, 1761. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 220. The Maréchale de Luxembourg's + note on the subject, to which this is a reply, is given in <i>Rousseau, + ses Amis et ses Ennemis</i>, i. 444. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_147" id="Footnote_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor147">[147]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, x. 249. See above, p. <a href="#Page_i.106">106</a>, <i>n.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_148" id="Footnote_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor148">[148]</a> + To Lalliaud, Aug 31, 1768. <i>Corr.</i>, v. 324. See also D'Escherny, + quoted in Musset-Pathay, i. 169, 170. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_149" id="Footnote_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor149">[149]</a> + To Du Peyrou, Sept. 26, 1768. <i>Corr.</i>, v. 360. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_150" id="Footnote_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor150">[150]</a> + To Mdlle. Le Vasseur, July 25, 1768. <i>Corr.</i>, v. 116-119. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.132" id="Page_i.132">[i.132]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_V." id="CHAPTER_V."></a>CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <h3> + THE DISCOURSES. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">The</span> busy establishment of local academies in + the provincial centres of France only preceded the outbreak of the + revolution by ten or a dozen years; but one or two of the provincial + cities, such as Bordeaux, Rouen, Dijon, had possessed academies in + imitation of the greater body of Paris for a much longer time. Their + activity covered a very varied ground, from the mere commonplaces of + literature to the most practical details of material production. If they + now and then relapsed into inquiries about the laws of Crete, they more + often discussed positive and scientific theses, and rather resembled our + chambers of agriculture than bodies of more learned pretension. The + academy of Dijon was one of the earliest of these excellent institutions, + and on the whole the list of its theses shows it to have been among the + most sensible in respect of the subjects which it found worth thinking + about. Its members, however, could not entirely resist the intellectual + atmosphere of the time. In 1742 they invited discussion of the point, + whether the natural law can conduct society to perfection<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.133" id="Page_i.133">[i.133]</a></span> + without the aid of political laws.<a name="FNanchor151" id="FNanchor151"></a><a + href="#Footnote_151">[151]</a> In 1749 they proposed this question as a + theme for their prize essay: <i>Has the restoration of the sciences + contributed to purify or to corrupt manners?</i> Rousseau was one of + fourteen competitors, and in 1750 his discussion of the academic theme + received the prize.<a name="FNanchor152" id="FNanchor152"></a><a + href="#Footnote_152">[152]</a> This was his first entry on the field of + literature and speculation. Three years afterwards the same academy + propounded another question: <i>What is the origin of inequality among + men, and is it authorised by the natural law?</i> Rousseau again competed, + and though his essay neither gained the prize, nor created as lively an + agitation as its predecessor had done, yet we may justly regard the second + as a more powerful supplement to the first. + </p> + <p> + It is always interesting to know the circumstances under which pieces that + have moved a world were originally composed, and Rousseau's account of the + generation of his thoughts as to the influence of enlightenment on + morality, is remarkable enough to be worth transcribing. He was walking + along the road from Paris to Vincennes one hot summer afternoon on a visit + to Diderot, then in prison for his Letter on the Blind (1749), when he + came across in a newspaper the announcement of the theme propounded by the + Dijon academy. "If ever anything resembled<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.134" id="Page_i.134">[i.134]</a></span> a sudden inspiration, + it was the movement which began in me as I read this. All at once I felt + myself dazzled by a thousand sparkling lights; crowds of vivid ideas + thronged into my mind with a force and confusion that threw me into + unspeakable agitation; I felt my head whirling in a giddiness like that of + intoxication. A violent palpitation oppressed me; unable to walk for + difficulty of breathing, I sank under one of the trees of the avenue, and + passed half an hour there in such a condition of excitement, that when I + arose I saw that the front of my waistcoat was all wet with my tears, + though I was wholly unconscious of shedding them. Ah, if I could ever have + written the quarter of what I saw and felt under that tree, with what + clearness should I have brought out all the contradictions of our social + system; with what simplicity I should have demonstrated that man is good + naturally, and that by institutions only is he made bad."<a + name="FNanchor153" id="FNanchor153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153">[153]</a> + Diderot encouraged him to compete for the prize, and to give full flight + to the ideas which had come to him in this singular way.<a + name="FNanchor154" id="FNanchor154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154">[154]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.135" id="Page_i.135">[i.135]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + People have held up their hands at the amazing originality of the idea + that perhaps sciences and arts have not purified manners. This sentiment + is surely exaggerated, if we reflect first that it occurred to the + academicians of Dijon as a question for discussion, and second that, if + you are asked whether a given result has or has not followed from certain + circumstances, the mere form of the question suggests No quite as readily + as Yes. The originality lay not in the central contention, but in the + fervour, sincerity, and conviction of a most unacademic sort with which it + was presented and enforced. There is less originality in denouncing your + generation as wicked and adulterous than there is in believing it to be + so, and in persuading the generation itself both that you believe it and + that you have good reasons to give. We have not to suppose that there was + any miracle wrought by agency celestial or infernal in the sudden + disclosure of his idea to Rousseau. Rousseau had been thinking of politics + ever since the working of the government of Venice had first drawn his + mind to the subject. What is the government, he had kept asking himself, + which is most proper to form a sage and virtuous nation? What government + by its nature keeps closest to the law? What is this law? And whence?<a + name="FNanchor155" id="FNanchor155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155">[155]</a> + This chain of problems had led him to what he calls the historic study of + morality, though we may doubt whether history was so much his teacher as + the rather meagrely nourished handmaid of his<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.136" id="Page_i.136">[i.136]</a></span> imagination. Here was + the irregular preparation, the hidden process, which suddenly burst into + light and manifested itself with an exuberance of energy, that passed to + the man himself for an inward revolution with no precursive sign. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's ecstatic vision on the road to Vincennes was the opening of a + life of thought and production which only lasted a dozen years, but which + in that brief space gave to Europe a new gospel. Emilius and the Social + Contract were completed in 1761, and they crowned a work which if you + consider its origin, influence, and meaning with due and proper breadth, + is marked by signal unity of purpose and conception. The key to it is + given to us in the astonishing transport at the foot of the wide-spreading + oak. Such a transport does not come to us of cool and rational western + temperament, but more often to the oriental after lonely sojourning in the + wilderness, or in violent reactions on the road to Damascus and elsewhere. + Jean Jacques detected oriental quality in his own nature,<a + name="FNanchor156" id="FNanchor156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156">[156]</a> + and so far as the union of ardour with mysticism, of intense passion with + vague dream, is to be defined as oriental, he assuredly deserves the name. + The ideas stirred in his mind by the Dijon problem suddenly "opened + his eyes, brought order into the chaos in his head, revealed to him + another universe. From the active effervescence which thus began in his + soul, came sparks of genius which people saw glittering in his writings + through ten years of fever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.137" + id="Page_i.137">[i.137]</a></span> and delirium, but of which no trace had + been seen in him previously, and which would probably have ceased to shine + henceforth, if he should have chanced to wish to continue writing after + the access was over. Inflamed by the contemplation of these lofty objects, + he had them incessantly present to his mind. His heart, made hot within + him by the idea of the future happiness of the human race, and by the + honour of contributing to it, dictated to him a language worthy of so high + an enterprise ... and for a moment, he astonished Europe by productions in + which vulgar souls saw only eloquence and brightness of understanding, but + in which those who dwell in the ethereal regions recognised with joy one + of their own."<a name="FNanchor157" id="FNanchor157"></a><a + href="#Footnote_157">[157]</a> + </p> + <p> + This was his own account of the matter quite at the end of his life, and + this is the only point of view from which we are secure against the + vulgarity of counting him a deliberate hypocrite and conscious charlatan. + He was possessed, as holier natures than his have been, by an enthusiastic + vision, an intoxicated confidence, a mixture of sacred rage and prodigious + love, an insensate but absolutely disinterested revolt against the stone + and iron of a reality which he was bent on melting in a heavenly blaze of + splendid aspiration and irresistibly persuasive expression. The last word + of this great expansion was Emilius, its first and more imperfectly + articulated was the earlier of the two Discourses. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's often-repeated assertion that here was<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.138" id="Page_i.138">[i.138]</a></span> the instant of the + ruin of his life, and that all his misfortunes flowed from that unhappy + moment, has been constantly treated as the word of affectation and + disguised pride. Yet, vain as he was, it may well have represented his + sincere feeling in those better moods when mental suffering was strong + enough to silence vanity. His visions mastered him for these thirteen + years, <i>grande mortalis oevi spatium</i>. They threw him on to that + turbid sea of literature for which he had so keen an aversion, and from + which, let it be remarked, he fled finally away, when his confidence in + the ease of making men good and happy by words of monition had left him. + It was the torment of his own enthusiasm which rent that veil of placid + living, that in his normal moments he would fain have interposed between + his existence and the tumult of a generation with which he was profoundly + out of sympathy. In this way the first Discourse was the letting in of + much evil upon him, as that and the next and the Social Contract were the + letting in of much evil upon all Europe. + </p> + <p> + Of this essay the writer has recorded his own impression that, though full + of heat and force, it is absolutely wanting in logic and order, and that + of all the products of his pen, it is the feeblest in reasoning and the + poorest in numbers and harmony. "For," as he justly adds, "the + art of writing is not learnt all at once."<a name="FNanchor158" + id="FNanchor158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158">[158]</a> The modern critic + must be content to accept the same verdict; only a generation so in love<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.139" id="Page_i.139">[i.139]</a></span> as + this was with anything that could tickle its intellectual curiousness, + would have found in the first of the two Discourses that combination of + speculative and literary merit which was imputed to Rousseau on the + strength of it, and which at once brought him into a place among the + notables of an age that was full of them.<a name="FNanchor159" + id="FNanchor159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159">[159]</a> We ought to take in + connection with it two at any rate of the vindications of the Discourse, + which the course of controversy provoked from its author, and which serve + to complete its significance. It is difficult to analyse, because in truth + it is neither closely argumentative, nor is it vertebrate, even as a piece + of rhetoric. The gist of the piece, however, runs somewhat in this wise:— + </p> + <p> + Before art had fashioned our manners, and taught our passions to use a too + elaborate speech, men were rude but natural, and difference of conduct + announced at a glance difference of character. To-day a vile and most + deceptive uniformity reigns over our manners, and all minds seem as if + they had been cast in a single mould. Hence we never know with what sort + of person we are dealing, hence the hateful troop of suspicions, fears, + reserves, and treacheries, and the concealment of impiety, arrogance, + calumny, and scepticism, under a dangerous varnish of refinement. So + terrible a set of effects must have a cause. History shows that the cause + here is to be found in the progress of sciences and arts. Egypt, once so + mighty,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.140" id="Page_i.140">[i.140]</a></span> + becomes the mother of philosophy and the fine arts; straightway behold its + conquest by Cambyses, by Greeks, by Romans, by Arabs, finally by Turks. + Greece twice conquered Asia, once before Troy, once in its own homes; then + came in fatal sequence the progress of the arts, the dissolution of + manners, and the yoke of the Macedonian. Rome, founded by a shepherd and + raised to glory by husbandmen, began to degenerate with Ennius, and the + eve of her ruin was the day when she gave a citizen the deadly title of + arbiter of good taste. China, where letters carry men to the highest + dignities of the state, could not be preserved by all her literature from + the conquering power of the ruder Tartar. On the other hand, the Persians, + Scythians, Germans, remain in history as types of simplicity, innocence, + and virtue. Was not he admittedly the wisest of the Greeks, who made of + his own apology a plea for ignorance, and a denunciation of poets, + orators, and artists? The chosen people of God never cultivated the + sciences, and when the new law was established, it was not the learned, + but the simple and lowly, fishers and workmen, to whom Christ entrusted + his teaching and its ministry.<a name="FNanchor160" id="FNanchor160"></a><a + href="#Footnote_160">[160]</a> + </p> + <p> + This, then, is the way in which chastisement has always overtaken our + presumptuous efforts to emerge from that happy ignorance in which eternal + wisdom placed us; though the thick veil with which that wisdom has covered + all its operations seemed to warn us that we were not destined to fatuous + research.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.141" id="Page_i.141">[i.141]</a></span> + All the secrets that Nature hides from us are so many evils against which + she would fain shelter us. + </p> + <p> + Is probity the child of ignorance, and can science and virtue be really + inconsistent with one another? These sounding contrasts are mere deceits, + because if you look nearly into the results of this science of which we + talk so proudly, you will perceive that they confirm the results of + induction from history. Astronomy, for instance, is born of superstition; + geometry from the desire of gain; physics from a futile curiosity; all of + them, even morals, from human pride. Are we for ever to be the dupes of + words, and to believe that these pompous names of science, philosophy, and + the rest, stand for worthy and profitable realities?<a name="FNanchor161" + id="FNanchor161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161">[161]</a> Be sure that they + do not. + </p> + <p> + How many errors do we pass through on our road to truth, errors a + thousandfold more dangerous than truth is useful? And by what marks are we + to know truth, when we think that we have found it? And above all, if we + do find it, who of us can be sure that he will make good use of it? If + celestial intelligences cultivated science, only good could result; and we + may say as much of great men of the stamp of Socrates, who are born to be + the guides of others.<a name="FNanchor162" id="FNanchor162"></a><a + href="#Footnote_162">[162]</a> But the intelligences of common men are + neither celestial nor Socratic. + </p> + <p> + Again, every useless citizen may be fairly regarded as a pernicious man; + and let us ask those illustrious philosophers who have taught us what + insects repro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.142" id="Page_i.142">[i.142]</a></span>duce + themselves curiously, in what ratio bodies attract one another in space, + what curves have conjugate points, points of inflection or reflection, + what in the planetary revolutions are the relations of areas traversed in + equal times—let us ask those who have attained all this sublime + knowledge, by how much the worse governed, less flourishing, or less + perverse we should have been if they had attained none of it? Now if the + works of our most scientific men and best citizens lead to such small + utility, tell us what we are to think of the crowd of obscure writers and + idle men of letters who devour the public substance in pure loss. + </p> + <p> + Then it is in the nature of things that devotion to art leads to luxury, + and luxury, as we all know from our own experience, no less than from the + teaching of history, saps not only the military virtues by which nations + preserve their independence, but also those moral virtues which make the + independence of a nation worth preserving. Your children go to costly + establishments where they learn everything except their duties. They + remain ignorant of their own tongue, though they will speak others not in + use anywhere in the world; they gain the faculty of composing verses which + they can barely understand; without capacity to distinguish truth from + error, they possess the art of rendering them indistinguishable to others + by specious arguments. Magnanimity, equity, temperance, courage, humanity, + have no real meaning to them; and if they hear speak of God, it breeds + more terror than awful fear. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.143" id="Page_i.143">[i.143]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Whence spring all these abuses, if not from the disastrous inequality + introduced among men by the distinction of talents and the cheapening of + virtue?<a name="FNanchor163" id="FNanchor163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163">[163]</a> + People no longer ask of a man whether he has probity, but whether he is + clever; nor of a book whether it is useful, but whether it is well + written. And after all, what is this philosophy, what are these lessons of + wisdom, to which we give the prize of enduring fame? To listen to these + sages, would you not take them for a troop of charlatans, all bawling out + in the market-place, Come to me, it is only I who never cheat you, and + always give good measure? One maintains that there is no body, and that + everything is mere representation; the other that there is no entity but + matter, and no God but the universe: one that moral good and evil are + chimeras; the other that men are wolves and may devour one another with + the easiest conscience in the world. These are the marvellous personages + on whom the esteem of contemporaries is lavished so long as they live, and + to whom immortality is reserved after their death. And we have now + invented the art of making their extravagances eternal, and thanks to the + use of typographic characters the dangerous speculations of Hobbes and + Spinoza will endure for ever. Surely when they perceive the terrible + disorders which printing has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.144" + id="Page_i.144">[i.144]</a></span> already caused in Europe, sovereigns + will take as much trouble to banish this deadly art from their states as + they once took to introduce it. + </p> + <p> + If there is perhaps no harm in allowing one or two men to give themselves + up to the study of sciences and arts, it is only those who feel conscious + of the strength required for advancing their subjects, who have any right + to attempt to raise monuments to the glory of the human mind. We ought to + have no tolerance for those compilers who rashly break open the gate of + the sciences, and introduce into their sanctuary a populace that is + unworthy even to draw near to it. It may be well that there should be + philosophers, provided only and always that the people do not meddle with + philosophising.<a name="FNanchor164" id="FNanchor164"></a><a + href="#Footnote_164">[164]</a> + </p> + <p> + In short, there are two kinds of ignorance: one brutal and ferocious, + springing from a bad heart, multiplying vices, degrading the reason, and + debasing the soul: the other "a reasonable ignorance, which consists + in limiting our curiosity to the extent of the faculties we have received; + a modest ignorance, born of a lively love for virtue, and inspiring + indifference only for what is not worthy of filling a man's heart, or + fails to contribute to its improvement; a sweet and precious ignorance, + the treasure of a pure soul at peace with itself, which finds all its + blessedness in inward retreat, in testifying to itself its own innocence, + and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.145" id="Page_i.145">[i.145]</a></span> + which feels no need of seeking a warped and hollow happiness in the + opinion of other people as to its enlightenment."<a name="FNanchor165" + id="FNanchor165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165">[165]</a> + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + Some of the most pointed assaults in this Discourse, such for instance as + that on the pedantic parade of wit, or that on the excessive preponderance + of literary instruction in the art of education, are due to Montaigne; and + in one way, the Discourse might be described as binding together a number + of that shrewd man's detached hints by means of a paradoxical + generalisation. But the Rousseau is more important than the Montaigne in + it. Another remark to be made is that its vigorous disparagement of + science, of the emptiness of much that is called science, of the deadly + pride of intellect, is an anticipation in a very precise way of the + attitude taken by the various Christian churches and their representatives + now and for long, beginning with De Maistre, the greatest of the religious + reactionaries after Rousseau. The vilification of the Greeks is strikingly + like some vehement passages in De Maistre's estimate of their share in + sophisticating European intellect. At last Rousseau even began to doubt + whether "so chattering a people could ever have had any solid + virtues, even in primitive times."<a name="FNanchor166" + id="FNanchor166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166">[166]</a> Yet Rousseau's own + thinking about society is deeply marked with opinions borrowed exactly + from these very chatterers. His imagination<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.146" id="Page_i.146">[i.146]</a></span> was fascinated from + the first by the freedom and boldness of Plato's social speculations, to + which his debt in a hundred details of his political and educational + schemes is well known. What was more important than any obligation of + detail was the fatal conception, borrowed partly from the Greeks and + partly from Geneva, of the omnipotence of the Lawgiver in moulding a + social state after his own purpose and ideal. We shall presently quote the + passage in which he holds up for our envy and imitation the policy of + Lycurgus at Sparta, who swept away all that he found existing and + constructed the social edifice afresh from foundation to roof.<a + name="FNanchor167" id="FNanchor167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167">[167]</a> + It is true that there was an unmistakable decay of Greek literary studies + in France from the beginning of the eighteenth century, and Rousseau seems + to have read Plato only through Ficinus's translation. But his example and + its influence, along with that of Mably and others, warrant the historian + in saying that at no time did Greek ideas more keenly preoccupy opinion + than during this century.<a name="FNanchor168" id="FNanchor168"></a><a + href="#Footnote_168">[168]</a> Perhaps we may say that Rousseau would + never have proved how little learning and art do for the good of manners, + if Plato had not insisted on poets being driven out of the Republic. The + article on Political Economy, written by him for the Encyclopædia + (1755), rings with the names of ancient rulers and lawgivers; the project + of public education is recommended by the example of Cretans,<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.147" id="Page_i.147">[i.147]</a></span> + Lacedæmonians, and Persians, while the propriety of the reservation + of a state domain is suggested by Romulus. + </p> + <p> + It may be added that one of the not too many merits of the essay is the + way in which the writer, more or less in the Socratic manner, insists on + dragging people out of the refuge of sonorous general terms, with a great + public reputation of much too well-established a kind to be subjected to + the affront of analysis. It is true that Rousseau himself contributed + nothing directly to that analytic operation which Socrates likened to + midwifery, and he set up graven images of his own in place of the idols + which he destroyed. This, however, did not wholly efface the distinction, + which he shares with all who have ever tried to lead the minds of men into + new tracks, of refusing to accept the current coins of philosophical + speech without test or measurement. Such a treatment of the great trite + words which come so easily to the tongue and seem to weigh for so much, + must always be the first step towards bringing thought back into the + region of real matter, and confronting phrases, terms, and all the common + form of the discussion of an age, with the actualities which it is the + object of sincere discussion to penetrate. + </p> + <p> + The refutation of many parts of Rousseau's main contention on the + principles which are universally accepted among enlightened men in modern + society is so extremely obvious that to undertake it would merely be to + draw up a list of the gratulatory common<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.148" id="Page_i.148">[i.148]</a></span>places of which we + hear quite enough in the literature and talk of our day. In this + direction, perhaps it suffices to say that the Discourse is wholly + one-sided, admitting none of the conveniences, none of the alleviations of + suffering of all kinds, nothing of the increase of mental stature, which + the pursuit of knowledge has brought to the race. They may or may not + counterbalance the evils that it has brought, but they are certainly to be + put in the balance in any attempt at philosophic examination of the + subject. It contains no serious attempt to tell us what those alleged + evils really are, or definitely to trace them one by one, to abuse of the + thirst for knowledge and defects in the method of satisfying it. It omits + to take into account the various other circumstances, such as climate, + government, race, and the disposition of neighbours, which must enter + equally with intellectual progress into whatever demoralisation has marked + the destinies of a nation. Finally it has for the base of its argument the + entirely unsupported assumption of there having once been in the early + history of each society a stage of mild, credulous, and innocent virtue, + from which appetite for the fruit of the forbidden tree caused an + inevitable degeneration. All evidence and all scientific analogy are now + well known to lead to the contrary doctrine, that the history of + civilisation is a history of progress and not of decline from a primary + state. After all, as Voltaire said to Rousseau in a letter which only + showed a superficial appreciation of the real drift of the argument, we + must confess<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.149" id="Page_i.149">[i.149]</a></span> + that these thorns attached to literature are only as flowers in comparison + with the other evils that have deluged the earth. "It was not Cicero + nor Lucretius nor Virgil nor Horace, who contrived the proscriptions of + Marius, of Sulla, of the debauched Antony, of the imbecile Lepidus, of + that craven tyrant basely surnamed Augustus. It was not Marot who produced + the St. Bartholomew massacre, nor the tragedy of the Cid that led to the + wars of the Fronde. What really makes, and always will make, this world + into a valley of tears, is the insatiable cupidity and indomitable + insolence of men, from Kouli Khan, who did not know how to read, down to + the custom-house clerk, who knows nothing but how to cast up figures. + Letters nourish the soul, they strengthen its integrity, they furnish a + solace to it,"—and so on in the sense, though without the + eloquence, of the famous passage in Cicero's defence of Archias the poet.<a + name="FNanchor169" id="FNanchor169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169">[169]</a> + All this, however, in our time is in no danger of being forgotten, and + will be present to the mind of every reader. The only danger is that + pointed out by Rousseau himself: "People always think they have + described what the sciences do, when they have in reality only described + what the sciences ought to do."<a name="FNanchor170" id="FNanchor170"></a><a + href="#Footnote_170">[170]</a> + </p> + <p> + What we are more likely to forget is that Rousseau's piece has a positive + as well as a negative side, and presents, in however vehement and + overstated a way, a truth which the literary and speculative enthu<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.150" id="Page_i.150">[i.150]</a></span>siasm + of France in the eighteenth century, as is always the case with such + enthusiasm whenever it penetrates either a generation or an individual, + was sure to make men dangerously ready to forget.<a name="FNanchor171" + id="FNanchor171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171">[171]</a> This truth may be + put in different terms. We may describe it as the possibility of eminent + civic virtue existing in people, without either literary taste or science + or speculative curiosity. Or we may express it as the compatibility of a + great amount of contentment and order in a given social state, with a very + low degree of knowledge. Or finally, we may give the truth its most + general expression, as the subordination of all activity to the promotion + of social aims. Rousseau's is an elaborate and roundabout manner of saying + that virtue without science is better than science without virtue; or that + the well-being of a country depends more on the standard of social duty + and the willingness of citizens to conform to it, than on the standard of + intellectual culture and the extent of its diffusion. In other words, we + ought to be less concerned about the speculative or scientific curiousness + of our people than about the height of their notion of civic virtue and + their firmness and persistency in realising it. It is a moralist's way of + putting the ancient preacher's monition, that they are but empty in whom + is not the wisdom of God. The importance of stating this is in<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.151" id="Page_i.151">[i.151]</a></span> + our modern era always pressing, because there is a constant tendency on + the part of energetic intellectual workers, first, to concentrate their + energies on a minute specialty, leaving public affairs and interests to + their own course. Second, they are apt to overestimate their contributions + to the stock of means by which men are made happier, and what is more + serious, to underestimate in comparison those orderly, modest, + self-denying, moral qualities, by which only men are made worthier, and + the continuity of society is made surer. Third, in consequence of their + greater command of specious expression and their control of the organs of + public opinion, they both assume a kind of supreme place in the social + hierarchy, and persuade the majority of plain men unsuspectingly to take + so very egregious an assumption for granted. So far as Rousseau's + Discourse recalled the truth as against this sort of error it was full of + wholesomeness. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately his indignation against the overweening pretensions of the + verse-writer, the gazetteer, and the great band of socialists at large, + led him into a general position with reference to scientific and + speculative energy, which seems to involve a perilous misconception of the + conditions of this energy producing its proper results. It is easy now, as + it was easy for Rousseau in the last century, to ask in an epigrammatical + manner by how much men are better or happier for having found out this or + that novelty in transcendental mathematics, biology, or astronomy; and + this is very well as against the discoverer of small<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.152" id="Page_i.152">[i.152]</a></span> marvels who shall + give himself out for the benefactor of the human race. But both historical + experience and observation of the terms on which the human intelligence + works, show us that we can only make sure of intellectual activity on + condition of leaving it free to work all round, in every department and in + every remotest nook of each department, and that its most fruitful epochs + are exactly those when this freedom is greatest, this curiosity most keen + and minute, and this waste, if you choose to call the indispensable + superfluity of force in a natural process waste, most copious and + unsparing. You will not find your highest capacity in statesmanship, nor + in practical science, nor in art, nor in any other field where that + capacity is most urgently needed for the right service of life, unless + there is a general and vehement spirit of search in the air. If it + incidentally leads to many industrious futilities and much learned refuse, + this is still the sign and the generative element of industry which is not + futile, and of learning which is something more than mere water spilled + upon the ground. + </p> + <p> + We may say in fine that this first Discourse and its vindications were a + dim, shallow, and ineffective feeling after the great truth, that the only + normal state of society is that in which neither the love of virtue has + been thrust far back into a secondary place by the love of knowledge, nor + the active curiosity of the understanding dulled, blunted, and made + ashamed by soft, lazy ideals of life as a life only of the affections.<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.153" id="Page_i.153">[i.153]</a></span> + Rousseau now and always fell into the opposite extreme from that against + which his whole work was a protest. We need not complain very loudly that + while remonstrating against the restless intrepidity of the rationalists + of his generation, he passed over the central truth, namely that the full + and ever festal life is found in active freedom of curiosity and search + taking significance, motive, force, from a warm inner pulse of human love + and sympathy. It was not given to Rousseau to see all this, but it was + given to him to see the side of it for which the most powerful of the men + living with him had no eyes, and the first Discourse was only a moderately + successful attempt to bring his vision before Europe. It was said at the + time that he did not believe a word of what he had written.<a + name="FNanchor172" id="FNanchor172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172">[172]</a> + It is a natural characteristic of an age passionately occupied with its + own set of ideas, to question either the sincerity or the sanity of + anybody who declares its sovereign conceptions to be no better than + foolishness. We cannot entertain such a suspicion. Perhaps the vehemence + of controversy carries him rather further than he quite meant to go, when + he declares that if he were a chief of an African tribe, he would erect on + his frontier a gallows, on which he would hang without mercy the first + European who should venture to pass into his territory, and the first + native who should dare to pass out of it.<a name="FNanchor173" + id="FNanchor173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173">[173]</a> And there are many + other extravagances of illustration, but the main position is serious + enough, as represented in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.154" + id="Page_i.154">[i.154]</a></span> emblematic vignette with which the + essay was printed—the torch of science brought to men by Prometheus, + who warns a satyr that it burns; the satyr, seeing fire for the first time + and being fain to embrace it, is the symbol of the vulgar men who, seduced + by the glitter of literature, insist on delivering themselves up to its + study.<a name="FNanchor174" id="FNanchor174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174">[174]</a> + Rousseau's whole doctrine hangs compactly together, and we may see the + signs of its growth after leaving his hands in the crude formula of the + first Discourse, if we proceed to the more audacious paradox of the + second. + </p> + <h3> + II. + </h3> + <p> + The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality among men opens with a + description of the natural state of man, which occupies considerably more + than half of the entire performance. It is composed in a vein which is + only too familiar to the student of the literature of the time, picturing + each habit and thought, and each step to new habits and thoughts, with the + minuteness, the fulness, the precision, of one who narrates circumstances + of which he has all his life been the close eye-witness. The natural man + reveals to us every motive, every process internal and external, every + slightest circumstance of his daily life, and each element that gradually + transformed him into the non-natural man. One who had watched bees or + beetles for years could not give us a more full or<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.155" id="Page_i.155">[i.155]</a></span> confident account of + their doings, their hourly goings in and out, than it was the fashion in + the eighteenth century to give of the walk and conversation of the + primeval ancestor. The conditions of primitive man were discussed by very + incompetent ladies and gentlemen at convivial supper parties, and settled + with complete assurance.<a name="FNanchor175" id="FNanchor175"></a><a + href="#Footnote_175">[175]</a> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau thought and talked about the state of nature because all his + world was thinking and talking about it. He used phrases and formulas with + reference to it which other people used. He required no more evidence than + they did, as to the reality of the existence of the supposed set of + conditions to which they gave the almost sacramental name of state of + nature. He never thought of asking, any more than anybody else did in the + middle of the eighteenth century, what sort of proof, how strong, how + direct, was to be had, that primeval man had such and such habits, and + changed them in such a way and direction, and for such reasons. Physical + science had reached a stage by this time when its followers were careful + to ask questions about evidence, correct description, verification. But + the idea of accurate method had to be made very familiar to men by the + successes of physical science in the search after truths of one kind, + before the indispensableness of applying it in the search after truths of + all kinds had extended to the science of the constitution and succession + of social<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.156" id="Page_i.156">[i.156]</a></span> + states. In this respect Rousseau was not guiltier than the bulk of his + contemporaries. Voltaire's piercing common sense, Hume's deep-set + sagacity, Montesquieu's caution, prevented them from launching very far on + to this metaphysical sea of nature and natural laws and states, but none + of them asked those critical questions in relation to such matters which + occur so promptly in the present day to persons far inferior to them in + intellectual strength. Rousseau took the notion of the state of nature + because he found it to his hand; he fitted to it his own characteristic + aspirations, expanding and vivifying a philosophic conception with all the + heat of humane passion; and thus, although, at the end of the process when + he had done with it, the state of nature came out blooming as the rose, it + was fundamentally only the dry, current abstraction of his time, + artificially decorated to seduce men into embracing a strange ideal under + a familiar name. + </p> + <p> + Before analysing the Discourse on Inequality, we ought to make some + mention of a remarkable man whose influence probably reached Rousseau in + an indirect manner through Diderot; I mean Morelly.<a name="FNanchor176" + id="FNanchor176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176">[176]</a> In 1753 Morelly + published a prose poem called the Basiliade, describing the corruption of + manners introduced by the errors of the lawgiver, and pointing out how + this corruption is to be amended by return to<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.157" id="Page_i.157">[i.157]</a></span> the empire of nature + and truth. He was no doubt stimulated by what was supposed to be the + central doctrine of Montesquieu, then freshly given to the world, that it + is government and institutions which make men what they are. But he was + stimulated into a reaction, and in 1754 he propounded his whole theory, in + a piece which in closeness, consistency, and thoroughness is admirably + different from Rousseau's rhetoric.<a name="FNanchor177" id="FNanchor177"></a><a + href="#Footnote_177">[177]</a> It lacked the sovereign quality of + persuasiveness, and so fell on deaf ears. Morelly accepts the doctrine + that men are formed by the laws, but insists that moralists and statesmen + have always led us wrong by legislating and prescribing conduct on the + false theory that man is bad, whereas he is in truth a creature endowed + with natural probity. Then he strikes to the root of society with a + directness that Rousseau could not imitate, by the position that "these + laws by establishing a monstrous division of the products of nature, and + even of their very elements—by dividing what ought to have remained + entire, or ought to have been restored to entireness if any accident had + divided them, aided and favoured the break-up of all sociability." + All political and all moral evils are the effects of this pernicious cause—private + property. He says of Rousseau's first Discourse that the writer ought to + have seen that the corruption of manners which he set down to literature + and art really came from this venomous principle of<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.158" id="Page_i.158">[i.158]</a></span> property, which + infects all that it touches.<a name="FNanchor178" id="FNanchor178"></a><a + href="#Footnote_178">[178]</a> Christianity, it is true, assailed this + principle and restored equality or community of possessions, but + Christianity had the radical fault of involving such a detachment from + earthly affections, in order to deliver ourselves to heavenly meditation, + as brought about a necessary degeneration in social activity. The form of + government is a matter of indifference, provided you can only assure + community of goods. Political revolutions are at bottom the clash of + material interests, and until you have equalised the one you will never + prevent the other.<a name="FNanchor179" id="FNanchor179"></a><a + href="#Footnote_179">[179]</a> + </p> + <p> + Let us turn from this very definite position to one<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.159" id="Page_i.159">[i.159]</a></span> of the least definite + productions to be found in all literature. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + It will seem a little odd that more than half of a discussion on the + origin of inequality among men should be devoted to a glowing imaginary + description, from which no reader could conjecture what thesis it was + designed to support. But we have only to remember that Rousseau's object + was to persuade people that the happier state is that in which inequality + does not subsist, that there had once been such a state, and that this was + first the state of nature, and then the state only one degree removed from + it, in which we now find the majority of savage tribes. At the outset he + defines inequality as a word meaning two different things; one, natural or + physical inequality, such as difference of age, of health, of physical + strength, of attributes of intelligence and character; the other, moral or + political inequality, consisting in difference of privileges which some + enjoy to the detriment of the rest, such as being richer, more honoured, + more powerful. The former differences are established by nature, the + latter are authorised, if they were not established, by the consent of + men.<a name="FNanchor180" id="FNanchor180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180">[180]</a> + In the state of nature no inequalities flow from the differences among men + in point of physical advantage and disadvantage, and which remain without + derivative differences so long as the state of nature endures undisturbed. + Nature deals with men as the law of<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.160" id="Page_i.160">[i.160]</a></span> Sparta dealt with the + children of its citizens; she makes those who are well constituted strong + and robust, and she destroys all the rest. + </p> + <p> + The surface of the earth is originally covered by dense forest, and + inhabited by animals of every species. Men, scattered among them, imitate + their industry, and so rise to the instinct of the brutes, with this + advantage that while each species has only its own, man, without anything + special, appropriates the instincts of all. This admirable creature, with + foes on every side, is forced to be constantly on the alert, and hence to + be always in full possession of all his faculties, unlike civilised man, + whose native force is enfeebled by the mechanical protections with which + he has surrounded himself. He is not afraid of the wild beasts around him, + for experience has taught him that he is their master. His health is + better than ours, for we live in a time when excess of idleness in some, + excess of toil in others, the heating and over-abundant diet of the rich, + the bad food of the poor, the orgies and excesses of every kind, the + immoderate transport of every passion, the fatigue and strain of spirit,—when + all these things have inflicted more disorders upon us than the vaunted + art of medicine has been able to keep pace with. Even if the sick savage + has only nature to hope from, on the other hand he has only his own malady + to be afraid of. He has no fear of death, for no animal can know what + death is, and the knowledge of death and its terrors is one of the first + of man's terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.161" id="Page_i.161">[i.161]</a></span> + acquisitions after abandoning his animal condition.<a name="FNanchor181" + id="FNanchor181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181">[181]</a> In other respects, + such as protection against weather, such as habitation, such as food, the + savage's natural power of adaptation, and the fact that his demands are + moderate in proportion to his means of satisfying them, forbid us to + consider him physically unhappy. Let us turn to the intellectual and moral + side. + </p> + <p> + If you contend that men were miserable, degraded, and outcast during these + primitive centuries because the intelligence was dormant, then do not + forget, first, that you are drawing an indictment against nature,—no + trifling blasphemy in those days—and second, that you are + attributing misery to a free creature with tranquil spirit and healthy + body, and that must surely be a singular abuse of the term. We see around + us scarcely any but people who complain of the burden of their lives; but + who ever heard of a savage in full enjoyment of his liberty ever dreaming + of complaint about his life or of self-destruction? + </p> + <p> + With reference to virtues and vices in a state of nature, Hobbes is wrong + in declaring that man in this state is vicious, as not knowing virtue. He + is not vicious, for the reason that he does not know what being good is. + It is not development of enlightenment nor the restrictions of law, but + the calm of the passions and ignorance of vice, which keep<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.162" id="Page_i.162">[i.162]</a></span> + them from doing ill. <i>Tanto plus in illis profitcit vitiorum ignoratio, + quam in his cognitio virtutis.</i> + </p> + <p> + Besides man has one great natural virtue, that of pity, which precedes in + him the use of reflection, and which indeed he shares with some of the + brutes. Mandeville, who was forced to admit the existence of this + admirable quality in man, was absurd in not perceiving that from it flow + all the social virtues which he would fain deny. Pity is more energetic in + the primitive condition than it is among ourselves. It is reflection which + isolates one. It is philosophy which teaches the philosopher to say + secretly at sight of a suffering wretch, Perish if it please thee; I am + safe and sound. They may be butchering a fellow-creature under your + window; all you have to do is to clap your hands to your ears, and argue a + little with yourself to hinder nature in revolt from making you feel as if + you were in the case of the victim.<a name="FNanchor182" id="FNanchor182"></a><a + href="#Footnote_182">[182]</a> The savage man has not got this odious + gift. In the state of nature it is pity that takes the place of laws, + manners, and virtue. It is in this natural sentiment rather than in subtle + arguments that we have to seek the reluctance that every man would feel to + do ill, even without the precepts of education.<a name="FNanchor183" + id="FNanchor183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183">[183]</a> + </p> + <p> + Finally, the passion of love, which produces such disasters in a state of + society, where the jealousy of lovers and the vengeance of husbands lead + each day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.163" id="Page_i.163">[i.163]</a></span> + to duels and murders, where the duty of eternal fidelity only serves to + occasion adulteries, and where the law of continence necessarily extends + the debauching of women and the practice of procuring abortion<a + name="FNanchor184" id="FNanchor184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184">[184]</a>—this + passion in a state of nature, where it is purely physical, momentary, and + without any association of durable sentiment with the object of it, simply + leads to the necessary reproduction of the species and nothing more. + </p> + <p> + "Let us conclude, then, that wandering in the forests, without + industry, without speech, without habitation, without war, without + connection of any kind, without any need of his fellows or without any + desire to harm them, perhaps even without ever recognising one of them + individually, savage man, subject to few passions and sufficing to + himself, had only the sentiments and the enlightenment proper to his + condition. He was only sensible of his real wants, and only looked because + he thought he had an interest in seeing; and his intelligence made no more + progress than his vanity. If by chance he hit on some discovery, he was + all the less able to communicate it; as he did not know even his own + children. An art perished with its inventor. There was neither education + nor progress; generations multiplied uselessly; and as each generation + always started from the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.164" + id="Page_i.164">[i.164]</a></span> point, centuries glided away in all the + rudeness of the first ages, the race was already old, the individual + remained always a child." + </p> + <p> + This brings us to the point of the matter. For if you compare the + prodigious diversities in education and manner of life which reign in the + different orders of the civil condition, with the simplicity and + uniformity of the savage and animal life, where all find nourishment in + the same articles of food, live in the same way, and do exactly the same + things, you will easily understand to what degree the difference between + man and man must be less in the state of nature than in that of society.<a + name="FNanchor185" id="FNanchor185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185">[185]</a> + Physical inequality is hardly perceived in the state of nature, and its + indirect influences there are almost non-existent. + </p> + <p> + Now as all the social virtues and other faculties possessed by man + potentially were not bound by anything inherent in him to develop into + actuality, he might have remained to all eternity in his admirable and + most fitting primitive condition, but for the fortuitous concurrence of a + variety of external changes. What are these different changes, which may + perhaps have perfected human reason, while they certainly have + deteriorated the race, and made men bad in making them sociable? + </p> + <p> + What, then, are the intermediary facts between the state of nature and the + state of civil society, the nursery of inequality? What broke up the happy + uniformity of the first times? First, difference in soil,<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.165" id="Page_i.165">[i.165]</a></span> in + climate, in seasons, led to corresponding differences in men's manner of + living. Along the banks of rivers and on the shores of the sea, they + invented hooks and lines, and were eaters of fish. In the forests they + invented bows and arrows, and became hunters. In cold countries they + covered themselves with the skins of beasts. Lightning, volcanoes, or some + happy chance acquainted them with fire, a new protection against the + rigours of winter. In company with these natural acquisitions, grew up a + sort of reflection or mechanical prudence, which showed them the kind of + precautions most necessary to their security. From this rudimentary and + wholly egoistic reflection there came a sense of the existence of a + similar nature and similar interests in their fellow-creatures. Instructed + by experience that the love of well-being and comfort is the only motive + of human actions, the savage united with his neighbours when union was for + their joint convenience, and did his best to blind and outwit his + neighbours when their interests were adverse to his own, and he felt + himself the weaker. Hence the origin of certain rude ideas of mutual + obligation.<a name="FNanchor186" id="FNanchor186"></a><a + href="#Footnote_186">[186]</a> + </p> + <p> + Soon, ceasing to fall asleep under the first tree, or to withdraw into + caves, they found axes of hard stone, which served them to cut wood, to + dig the ground, and to construct hovels of branches and clay. This was the + epoch of a first revolution, which formed the establishment and division + of families, and which introduced a rough and partial sort of property.<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.166" id="Page_i.166">[i.166]</a></span> + Along with rudimentary ideas of property, though not connected with them, + came the rudimentary forms of inequality. When men were thrown more + together, then he who sang or danced the best, the strongest, the most + adroit, or the most eloquent, acquired the most consideration—that + is, men ceased to take uniform and equal place. And with the coming of + this end of equality there passed away the happy primitive immunity from + jealousy, envy, malice, hate. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, though men had lost some of their original endurance, and + their natural pity had already undergone a certain deterioration, this + period of the development of the human faculties, occupying a just medium + between the indolence of the primitive state and the petulant activity of + our modern self-love, must have been at once the happiest and the most + durable epoch. The more we reflect, the more evident we find it that this + state was the least subject to revolutions and the best for man. "So + long as men were content with their rustic hovels, so long as they + confined themselves to stitching their garments of skin with spines or + fish bones, to decking their bodies with feathers and shells and painting + them in different colours, to perfecting and beautifying their bows and + arrows—in a word, so long as they only applied themselves to works + that one person could do, and to arts that needed no more than a single + hand, then they lived free, healthy, good, and happy, so far as was + compatible with their natural constitution, and continued to enjoy among + themselves the sweetness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.167" + id="Page_i.167">[i.167]</a></span> of independent intercourse. But from + the moment that one man had need of the help of another, as soon as they + perceived it to be useful for one person to have provisions for two, then + equality disappeared, property was introduced, labour became necessary, + and the vast forests changed into smiling fields, which had to be watered + by the sweat of men, and in which they ever saw bondage and misery + springing up and growing ripe with the harvests."<a name="FNanchor187" + id="FNanchor187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187">[187]</a> + </p> + <p> + The working of metals and agriculture have been the two great agents in + this revolution. For the poet it is gold and silver, but for the + philosopher it is iron and corn, that have civilised men and undone the + human race. It is easy to see how the latter of the two arts was suggested + to men by watching the reproducing processes of vegetation. It is less + easy to be sure how they discovered metal, saw its uses, and invented + means of smelting it, for nature had taken extreme precautions to hide the + fatal secret. It was probably the operation of some volcano which first + suggested the idea of fusing ore. From the fact of land being cultivated + its division followed, and therefore the institution of property in its + full shape. From property arose civil society. "The first man who, + having enclosed a piece of ground, could think of saying, <i>This is mine</i>, + and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of + civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, miseries, and horrors would + not have been spared to the human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.168" + id="Page_i.168">[i.168]</a></span> race by one who, plucking up the + stakes, or filling in the trench, should have called out to his fellows: + Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you forget that + the earth belongs to no one, and that its fruits are for all."<a + name="FNanchor188" id="FNanchor188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188">[188]</a> + </p> + <p> + Things might have remained equal even in this state, if talents had only + been equal, and if for example the employment of iron and the consumption + of agricultural produce had always exactly balanced one another. But the + stronger did more work; the cleverer got more advantage from his work; the + more ingenious found means of shortening his labour; the husbandman had + more need of metal, or the smith more need of grain; and while working + equally, one got much gain, and the other could scarcely live. This + distinction between Have and Have-not led to confusion and revolt, to + brigandage on the one side and constant insecurity on the other. + </p> + <p> + Hence disorders of a violent and interminable kind, which gave rise to the + most deeply designed project that ever entered the human mind. This was to + employ in favour of property the strength of the very persons who attacked + it, to inspire them with other maxims, and to give them other institutions + which should be as favourable to property as natural law had been contrary + to it. The man who conceived this project, after showing his neighbours + the monstrous confusion which made their lives most burdensome, spoke in + this wise: "Let us unite to shield the<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.169" id="Page_i.169">[i.169]</a></span> weak from oppression, + to restrain the proud, and to assure to each the possession of what + belongs to him; let us set up rules of justice and peace, to which all + shall be obliged to conform, without respect of persons, and which may + repair to some extent the caprices of fortune, by subjecting the weak and + the mighty alike to mutual duties. In a word, instead of turning our + forces against one another, let us collect them into one supreme power to + govern us by sage laws, to protect and defend all the members of the + association, repel their common foes, and preserve us in never-ending + concord." This, and not the right of conquest, must have been the + origin of society and laws, which threw new chains round the poor and gave + new might to the rich; and for the profit of a few grasping and ambitious + men, subjected the whole human race henceforth and for ever to toil and + bondage and wretchedness without hope. + </p> + <p> + The social constitution thus propounded and accepted was radically + imperfect from the outset, and in spite of the efforts of the sagest + lawgivers, it has always remained imperfect, because it was the work of + chance, and because, inasmuch as it was ill begun, time, while revealing + defects and suggesting remedies, could never repair its vices; <i>people + went on incessantly repairing and patching, instead of which it was + indispensable to begin by making a clean surface and by throwing aside all + the old materials, just as Lycurgus did in Sparta</i>. + </p> + <p> + Put shortly, the main positions are these. In the state of nature each man + lived in entire isolation, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.170" + id="Page_i.170">[i.170]</a></span> therefore physical inequality was as if + it did not exist. After many centuries, accident, in the shape of + difference of climate and external natural conditions, enforcing for the + sake of subsistence some degree of joint labour, led to an increase of + communication among men, to a slight development of the reasoning and + reflective faculties, and to a rude and simple sense of mutual obligation, + as a means of greater comfort in the long run. The first state was good + and pure, but the second state was truly perfect. It was destroyed by a + fresh succession of chances, such as the discovery of the arts of + metal-working and tillage, which led first to the institution of property, + and second to the prominence of the natural or physical inequalities, + which now began to tell with deadly effectiveness. These inequalities + gradually became summed up in the great distinction between rich and poor; + and this distinction was finally embodied in the constitution of a civil + society, expressly adapted to consecrate the usurpation of the rich, and + to make the inequality of condition between them and the poor eternal. + </p> + <p> + We thus see that the Discourse, unlike Morelly's terse exposition, + contains no clear account of the kind of inequality with which it deals. + Is it inequality of material possession or inequality of political right? + Morelly tells you decisively that the latter is only an accident, flowing + from the first; that the key to renovation lies in the abolition of the + first. Rousseau mixes the two confusedly together under a single<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.171" id="Page_i.171">[i.171]</a></span> + name, bemoans each, but shrinks from a conclusion or a recommendation as + to either. He declares property to be the key to civil society, but falls + back from any ideas leading to the modification of the institution lying + at the root of all that he deplores. + </p> + <p> + The first general criticism, which in itself contains and covers nearly + all others, turns on Method. "Conjectures become reasons when they + are the most likely that you can draw from the nature of things," and + "it is for philosophy in lack of history to determine the most likely + facts." In an inductive age this royal road is rigorously closed. + Guesses drawn from the general nature of things can no longer give us + light as to the particular nature of the things pertaining to primitive + men, any more than such guesses can teach us the law of the movement of + the heavenly bodies, or the foundations of jurisprudence. Nor can + deduction from anything but propositions which have themselves been won by + laborious induction, ever lead us to the only kind of philosophy which has + fair pretension to determine the most probable of the missing facts in the + chain of human history. That quantitative and differentiating knowledge + which is science, was not yet thought of in connection with the movements + of our own race upon the earth. It is to be said, further, that of the two + possible ways of guessing about the early state, the conditions of advance + from it, and the rest, Rousseau's guess that all movement away from it has + been towards corruption, is less supported by subsequent knowledge than + the guess<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.172" id="Page_i.172">[i.172]</a></span> + of his adversaries, that it has been a movement progressive and upwards. + </p> + <p> + This much being said as to incurable vice of method, and there are fervent + disciples of Rousseau now living who will regard one's craving for method + in talking about men as a foible of pedantry, we may briefly remark on one + or two detached objections to Rousseau's story. To begin with, there is no + certainty as to there having ever been a state of nature of a normal and + organic kind, any more than there is any one normal and typical state of + society now. There are infinitely diverse states of society, and there + were probably as many diverse states of nature. Rousseau was sufficiently + acquainted with the most recent metaphysics of his time to know that you + cannot think of a tree in general, nor of a triangle in general, but only + of some particular tree or triangle.<a name="FNanchor189" id="FNanchor189"></a><a + href="#Footnote_189">[189]</a> In a similar way he might have known that + there never was any such thing as a state of nature in the general and + abstract, fixed, typical, and single. He speaks of the savage state also, + which comes next, as one, identical, normal. It is, of course, nothing of + the kind. The varieties of belief and habit and custom among the different + tribes of savages, in reference to every object that can engage their + attention, from death and the gods and immortality down to the uses of + marriage and the art of counting and the ways of procuring subsistence, + are infinitely numerous; and the more we know about this vast diversity, + the less easy is it to think of the<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.173" id="Page_i.173">[i.173]</a></span> savage state in + general. When Rousseau extols the savage state as the veritable youth of + the world, we wonder whether we are to think of the negroes of the Gold + Coast, or the Dyaks of Borneo, Papuans or Maoris, Cheyennes or + Tierra-del-Fuegians or the fabled Troglodytes; whether in the veritable + youth of the world they counted up to five or only to two; whether they + used a fire-drill, and if so what kind of drill; whether they had the + notion of personal identity in so weak a shape as to practise the couvade; + and a hundred other points, which we should now require any writer to + settle, who should speak of the savage state as sovereign, one, and + indivisible, in the way in which Rousseau speaks of it, and holds it up to + our vain admiration. + </p> + <p> + Again, if the savage state supervened upon the state of nature in + consequence of certain climatic accidents of a permanent kind, such as + living on the banks of a river or in a dense forest, how was it that the + force of these accidents did not begin to operate at once? How could the + isolated state of nature endure for a year in face of them? Or what was + the precipitating incident which suddenly set them to work, and drew the + primitive men from an isolation so profound that they barely recognised + one another, into that semi-social state in which the family was founded? + </p> + <p> + We cannot tell how the state of nature continued to subsist, or, if it + ever subsisted, how and why it ever came to an end, because the agencies + which are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.174" id="Page_i.174">[i.174]</a></span> + alleged to have brought it to an end must have been coeval with the + appearance of man himself. If gods had brought to men seed, fire, and the + mechanical arts, as in one of the Platonic myths,<a name="FNanchor190" + id="FNanchor190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190">[190]</a> we could understand + that there was a long stage preliminary to these heavenly gifts. But if + the gods had no part nor lot in it, and if the accidents that slowly led + the human creature into union were as old as that nature, of which indeed + they were actually the component elements, then man must have quitted the + state of nature the very day on which he was born into it. And what can be + a more monstrous anachronism than to turn a flat-headed savage into a + clever, self-conscious, argumentative utilitarian of the eighteenth + century; working the social problem out in his flat head with a keenness, + a consistency, a grasp of first principles, that would have entitled him + to a chair in the institute of moral sciences, and entering the social + union with the calm and reasonable deliberation of a great statesman + taking a critical step in policy? Aristotle was wiser when he fixed upon + sociability as an ultimate quality of human nature, instead of making it, + as Rousseau and so many others have done, the conclusion of an + unimpeachable train of syllogistic reasoning.<a name="FNanchor191" + id="FNanchor191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191">[191]</a><span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.175" id="Page_i.175">[i.175]</a></span> Morelly even, his own + contemporary, and much less of a sage than Aristotle, was still sage + enough to perceive that this primitive human machine, "though + composed of intelligent parts, generally operates independently of its + reason; its deliberations are forestalled, and only leave it to look on, + while sentiment does its work."<a name="FNanchor192" id="FNanchor192"></a><a + href="#Footnote_192">[192]</a> It is the more remarkable that Rousseau + should have fallen into this kind of error, as it was one of his + distinctions to have perceived and partially worked out the principle, + that men guide their conduct rather from passion and instinct than from + reasoned enlightenment.<a name="FNanchor193" id="FNanchor193"></a><a + href="#Footnote_193">[193]</a> The ultimate quality which he named pity + is, after all, the germ of sociability, which is only extended sympathy. + But he did not firmly adhere to this ultimate quality, nor make any effort + consistently to trace out its various products. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.176" id="Page_i.176">[i.176]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + We do not find, however, in Rousseau any serious attempt to analyse the + composition of human nature in its primitive stages. Though constantly + warning his readers very impressively against confounding domesticated + with primitive men, he practically assumes that the main elements of + character must always have been substantially identical with such elements + and conceptions as are found after the addition of many ages of + increasingly complex experience. There is something worth considering in + his notion that civilisation has had effects upon man analogous to those + of domestication upon animals, but he lacked logical persistency enough to + enable him to adhere to his own idea, and work out conclusions from it. + </p> + <p> + It might further be pointed out in another direction that he takes for + granted that the mode of advance into a social state has always been one + and the same, a single and uniform process, marked by precisely the same + set of several stages, following one another in precisely the same order. + There is no evidence of this; on the contrary, evidence goes to show that + civilisation varies in origin and process with race and other things, and + that though in all cases starting from the prime factor of sociableness in + man, yet the course of its development has depended on the particular sets + of circumstances with which that factor has had to combine. These are full + of variety, according to climate and racial predisposition, although, as + has been justly said, the force of both these two elements<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.177" id="Page_i.177">[i.177]</a></span> + diminishes as the influence of the past in giving consistency to our will + becomes more definite, and our means of modifying climate and race become + better known. There is no sign that Rousseau, any more than many other + inquirers, ever reflected whether the capacity for advance into the state + of civil society in any highly developed form is universal throughout the + species, or whether there are not races eternally incapable of advance + beyond the savage state. Progress would hardly be the exception which we + know it to be in the history of communities if there were not fundamental + diversities in the civilisable quality of races. Why do some bodies of men + get on to the high roads of civilisation, while others remain in the + jungle and thicket of savagery; and why do some races advance along one of + these roads, and others advance by different roads? + </p> + <p> + Considerations of this sort disclose the pinched frame of trim theory with + which Rousseau advanced to set in order a huge mass of boundlessly varied, + intricate, and unmanageable facts. It is not, however, at all worth while + to extend such criticism further than suffices to show how little his + piece can stand the sort of questions which may be put to it from a + scientific point of view. Nothing that Rousseau had to say about the state + of nature was seriously meant for scientific exposition, any more than the + Sermon on the Mount was meant for political economy. The importance of the + Discourse on Inequality lay in its vehement denunciation of the existing + social state.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.178" id="Page_i.178">[i.178]</a></span> + To the writer the question of the origin of inequality is evidently far + less a matter at heart, than the question of its results. It is the + natural inclination of one deeply moved by a spectacle of depravation in + his own time and country, to extol some other time or country, of which he + is happily ignorant enough not to know the drawbacks. Rousseau wrote about + the savage state in something of the same spirit in which Tacitus wrote + the Germania. And here, as in the Discourse on the influence of science + and art upon virtue, there is a positive side. To miss this in resentment + of the unscientific paradox that lies about it, is to miss the force of + the piece, and to render its enormous influence for a generation after it + was written incomprehensible. We may always be quite sure that no set of + ideas ever produced this resounding effect on opinion, unless they + contained something which the social or spiritual condition of the men + whom they inflamed made true for the time, and true in an urgent sense. Is + it not tenable that the state of certain savage tribes is more normal, + offers a better balance between desire and opportunity, between faculty + and performance, than the permanent state of large classes in western + countries, the broken wreck of civilisation?<a name="FNanchor194" + id="FNanchor194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194">[194]</a> To admit this is + not to conclude, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.179" + id="Page_i.179">[i.179]</a></span> Rousseau so rashly concluded, that the + movement away from the primitive stages has been productive only of evil + and misery even to the masses of men, the hewers of wood and the drawers + of water; or that it was occasioned, and has been carried on by the + predominance of the lower parts and principles of human nature. Our + provisional acquiescence in the straitness and blank absence of outlook or + hope of the millions who come on to the earth that greets them with no + smile, and then stagger blindly under dull burdens for a season, and at + last are shovelled silently back under the ground,—our acquiescence + can only be justified in the sight of humanity by the conviction<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.180" id="Page_i.180">[i.180]</a></span> + that this is one of the temporary conditions of a vast process, working + forwards through the impulse and agency of the finer human spirits, but + needing much blood, many tears, uncounted myriads of lives, and + immeasurable geologic periods of time, for its high and beneficent + consummation. There is nothing surprising, perhaps nothing deeply + condemnable, in the burning anger for which this acquiescence is often + changed in the more impatient natures. As against the ignoble host who + think that the present ordering of men, with all its prodigious + inequalities, is in foundation and substance the perfection of social + blessedness, Rousseau was almost in the right. If the only alternative to + the present social order remaining in perpetuity were a retrogression to + some such condition as that of the islanders of the South Sea, a lover of + his fellow-creatures might look upon the result, so far as it affected the + happiness of the bulk of them, with tolerably complete indifference. It is + only the faith that we are moving slowly away from the existing order, as + our ancestors moved slowly away from the old want of order, that makes the + present endurable, and makes any tenacious effort to raise the future + possible. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + An immense quantity of nonsense has been talked about the equality of man, + for which those who deny that doctrine and those who assert it may divide + the responsibility. It is in reality true or false, according to the + doctrines with which it is confronted. As<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.181" id="Page_i.181">[i.181]</a></span> against the theory + that the existing way of sharing the laboriously acquired fruits and + delights of the earth is a just representation and fair counterpart of + natural inequalities among men in merit and capacity, the revolutionary + theory is true, and the passionate revolutionary cry for equality of + external chance most righteous and unanswerable. But the issues do not end + here. Take such propositions as these:—there are differences in the + capacity of men for serving the community; the well-being of the community + demands the allotment of high function in proportion to high faculty; the + rights of man in politics are confined to a right of the same protection + for his own interests as is given to the interests of others. As against + these principles, the revolutionary deductions from the equality of man + are false. And such pretensions as that every man could be made equally + fit for every function, or that not only each should have an equal chance, + but that he who uses his chance well and sociably should be kept on a + level in common opinion and trust with him who uses it ill and unsociably, + or does not use it at all,—the whole of this is obviously most + illusory and most disastrous, and in whatever decree any set of men have + ever taken it up, to that degree they have paid the penalty. + </p> + <p> + What Rousseau's Discourse meant, what he intended it to mean, and what his + first direct disciples understood it as meaning, is not that all men are + born equal. He never says this, and his recognition of natural inequality + implies the contrary proposition.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.182" + id="Page_i.182">[i.182]</a></span> His position is that the artificial + differences, springing from the conditions of the social union, do not + coincide with the differences in capacity springing from original + constitution; that the tendency of the social union as now organised is to + deepen the artificial inequalities, and make the gulf between those + endowed with privileges and wealth and those not so endowed ever wider and + wider. It would have been very difficult a hundred years ago to deny the + truth of this way of stating the case. If it has to some extent already + ceased to be entirely true, and if violent popular forces are at work + making it less and less true, we owe the origin of the change, among other + causes and influences, not least to the influence of Rousseau himself, and + those whom he inspired. It was that influence which, though it certainly + did not produce, yet did as certainly give a deep and remarkable bias, + first to the American Revolution, and a dozen years afterwards to the + French Revolution. + </p> + <p> + It would be interesting to trace the different fortunes which awaited the + idea of the equality of man in America and in France. In America it has + always remained strictly within the political order, and perhaps with the + considerable exception of the possibles share it may have had, along with + Christian notions of the brotherhood of man, and statesmanlike notions of + national prosperity, in leading to the abolition of slavery, it has + brought forth no strong moral sentiment against the ethical and economic + bases of any part of the social order. In France, on the other<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.183" id="Page_i.183">[i.183]</a></span> + hand, it was the starting-point of movements that have had all the fervour + and intensity of religions, and have made men feel about social + inequalities the burning shame and wrath with which a Christian saw the + flourishing temples of unclean gods. This difference in the interpretation + and development of the first doctrine may be explained in various ways,—by + difference of material circumstance between America and France; difference + of the political and social level from which the principle of equality had + to start; and not least by difference of intellectual temperament. This + last was itself partly the product of difference in religion, which makes + the English dread the practical enforcement of logical conclusions, while + the French have hitherto been apt to dread and despise any tendency to + stop short of that. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + Let us notice, finally, the important fact that the appearance of + Rousseau's Discourses was the first sign of reaction against the historic + mode of inquiry into society that had been initiated by Montesquieu. The + Spirit of Laws was published in 1748, with a truly prodigious effect. It + coloured the whole of the social literature in France during the rest of + the century. A history of its influence would be a history of one of the + most important sides of speculative activity. In the social writings of + Rousseau himself there is hardly a chapter which does not contain tacit + reference to Montesquieu's book. The Discourses were the beginning of a + movement in an exactly opposite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.184" + id="Page_i.184">[i.184]</a></span> direction; that is, away from patient + collection of wide multitudes of facts relating to the conditions of + society, towards the promulgation of arbitrary systems of absolute social + dogmas. Mably, the chief dogmatic socialist of the century, and one of the + most dignified and austere characters, is an important example of the + detriment done by the influence of Rousseau to that of Montesquieu, in the + earlier stages of the conflict between the two schools. Mably (1709-1785), + of whom the remark is to be made that he was for some years behind the + scenes of government as De Tencin's secretary and therefore was versed in + affairs, began his inquiries with Greece and Rome. "You will find + everything in ancient history," he said.<a name="FNanchor195" + id="FNanchor195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195">[195]</a> And he remained + entirely in this groove of thought until Rousseau appeared. He then + gradually left Montesquieu. "To find the duties of a legislator," + he said, "I descend into the abysses of my heart, I study my + sentiments." He opposed the Economists, the other school that was + feeling its way imperfectly enough to a positive method. "As soon as + I see landed property established," he wrote, "then I see<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.185" id="Page_i.185">[i.185]</a></span> + unequal fortunes; and from these unequal fortunes must there not + necessarily result different and opposed interests, all the vices of + riches, all the vices of poverty, the brutalisation of intelligence, the + corruption of civil manners?" and so forth.<a name="FNanchor196" + id="FNanchor196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196">[196]</a> In his most + important work, published in 1776, we see Rousseau's notions developed, + with a logic from which their first author shrunk, either from fear, or + more probably from want of firmness and consistency as a reasoner. "It + is to equality that nature has attached the preservation of our social + faculties and happiness: and from this I conclude that legislation will + only be taking useless trouble, unless all its attention is first of all + directed to the establishment of equality in the fortune and condition of + citizens."<a name="FNanchor197" id="FNanchor197"></a><a + href="#Footnote_197">[197]</a> That is to say not only political equality, + but economic communism. "What miserable folly, that persons who pass + for philosophers should go on repeating after one another that without + property there can be no society. Let us leave illusion. It is property + that divides us into two classes, rich and poor; the first will alway + prefer their fortune to that of the state, while the second will never + love a government or laws that leave them in misery."<a + name="FNanchor198" id="FNanchor198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198">[198]</a> + This was the kind of opinion for which Rousseau's diffuse and rhetorical + exposition of social necessity had prepared France some twenty years + before. After powerfully helping the process of general dis<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.186" id="Page_i.186">[i.186]</a></span>solution, + it produced the first fruits specifically after its own kind some twenty + years later in the system of Baboeuf.<a name="FNanchor199" id="FNanchor199"></a><a + href="#Footnote_199">[199]</a> + </p> + <p> + The unflinching application of principles is seldom achieved by the men + who first launch them. The labour of the preliminary task seems to exhaust + one man's stock of mental force. Rousseau never thought of the subversion + of society or its reorganisation on a communistic basis. Within a few + months of his profession of profound lament that the first man who made a + claim to property had not been instantly unmasked as the arch foe of the + race, he speaks most respectfully of property as the pledge of the + engagements of citizens and the foundation of the social pact, while the + first condition of that pact is that every one should be maintained in + peaceful enjoyment of what belongs to him.<a name="FNanchor200" + id="FNanchor200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200">[200]</a> We need not impute + the apparent discrepancy to insincerity. Rousseau was always apt to think + in a slipshod manner. He sensibly though illogically accepted wholesome + practical maxims, as if they flowed from theoretical premisses that were + in truth utterly incompatible with them. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_151" id="Footnote_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor151">[151]</a> + Delandine's <i>Couronnes Académiques, ou Recueil de prix proposés + par les Sociétés Savantes</i>. (Paris, 2 vols., 1787.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_152" id="Footnote_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor152">[152]</a> + Musset-Pathay has collected the details connected with the award of the + prize, ii. 365-367. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_153" id="Footnote_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor153">[153]</a> + Second Letter to M. de Malesherbes, p. 358. Also <i>Conf.</i>, viii 135. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_154" id="Footnote_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor154">[154]</a> + Diderot's account (<i>Vie de Sénèque</i>, sect. 66, <i>Oeuv.</i>, + iii. 98; also ii. 285) is not inconsistent with Rousseau's own, so that we + may dismiss as apocryphal Marmontel's version of the story (<i>Mém.</i> + VIII.), to the effect that Rousseau was about to answer the question with + a commonplace affirmative, until Diderot persuaded him that a paradox + would attract more attention. It has been said also that M. de Francueil, + and various others, first urged the writer to take a negative line of + argument. To suppose this possible is to prove one's incapacity for + understanding what manner of man Rousseau was. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_155" id="Footnote_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor155">[155]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 232, 233. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_156" id="Footnote_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor156">[156]</a> + <i>Rousseau Juge de Jean Jacques, Dialogues</i>, i. 252. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_157" id="Footnote_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor157">[157]</a> + <i>Dialogues</i>, i. 275, 276. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_158" id="Footnote_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor158">[158]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 138. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_159" id="Footnote_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor159">[159]</a> + "It made a kind of revolution in Paris," says Grimm. <i>Corr. + Lit.</i>, i. 108. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_160" id="Footnote_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor160">[160]</a> + <i>Rép. au Roi de Pologne</i>, p. 111 and p. 113. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_161" id="Footnote_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor161">[161]</a> + <i>Rép. à M. Bordes</i>, 138. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_162" id="Footnote_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor162">[162]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> 137. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_163" id="Footnote_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor163">[163]</a> + "The first source of the evil is inequality; from inequality come + riches ... from riches are born luxury and idleness; from luxury come the + fine arts, and from idleness the sciences." <i>Rép. au Roi de + Pologne</i>, 120, 121. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_164" id="Footnote_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor164">[164]</a> + <i>Rép. à M. Bordes</i>, 147. In the same spirit he once wrote + the more wholesome maxim, "We should argue with the wise, and never + with the public." <i>Corr.</i>, i. 191. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_165" id="Footnote_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor165">[165]</a> + <i>Rép. au Roi de Pologne</i>, 128, 129. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_166" id="Footnote_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor166">[166]</a> + <i>Rép. à M. Bordes</i>, 150-161. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_167" id="Footnote_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor167">[167]</a> + P. 174. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_168" id="Footnote_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor168">[168]</a> + Egger's <i>Hellénisme en France</i>, 28ième leçon, p. 265. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_169" id="Footnote_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor169">[169]</a> + Voltaire to J.J.R. Aug. 30, 1755. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_170" id="Footnote_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor170">[170]</a> + <i>Rép. au Roi de Pologne</i>, 105. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_171" id="Footnote_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor171">[171]</a> + In 1753 the French Academy, by way no doubt of summoning a counter-blast + to Rousseau, boldly offered as the subject of their essay the thesis that + "The love of letters inspires the love of virtue," and the prize + was won fitly enough by a Jesuit professor of rhetoric. See Delandine, i. + 42. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_172" id="Footnote_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor172">[172]</a> + Preface to <i>Narcisse</i>, 251. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_173" id="Footnote_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor173">[173]</a> + <i>Rép. à M. Bordes</i>, 167. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_174" id="Footnote_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor174">[174]</a> + P. 187. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_175" id="Footnote_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor175">[175]</a> + See for instance a strange discussion about <i>morale universelle</i> and + the like in <i>Mém. de Mdme. d'Epinay</i>, i. 217-226. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_176" id="Footnote_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor176">[176]</a> + Often described as Morelly the Younger, to distinguish him from his + father, who wrote an essay on the human heart, and another on the human + intelligence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_177" id="Footnote_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor177">[177]</a> + <i>Code de la Nature, ou le véritable esprit de ses loix, de tout + tems négligé ou méconnu.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_178" id="Footnote_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor178">[178]</a> + P. 169. Rousseau did not see it then, but he showed himself on the track. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_179" id="Footnote_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor179">[179]</a> + At the end of the <i>Code de la Nature</i> Morelly places a complete set + of rules for the organisation of a model community. The base of it was the + absence of private property—a condition that was to be preserved by + vigilant education of the young in ways of thinking, that should make the + possession of private property odious or inconceivable. There are to be + sumptuary laws of a moderate kind. The government is to be in the hands of + the elders. The children are to be taken away from their parents at the + age of five; reared and educated in public establishments; and returned to + their parents at the age of sixteen or so when they will marry. Marriage + is to be dissoluble at the end of ten years, but after divorce the woman + is not to marry a man younger than herself, nor is the man to marry a + woman younger than the wife from whom he has parted. The children of a + divorced couple are to remain with the father, and if he marries again, + they are to be held the children of the second wife. Mothers are to suckle + their own children (p. 220). The whole scheme is fuller of good ideas than + such schemes usually are. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_180" id="Footnote_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor180">[180]</a> + P. 218. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_181" id="Footnote_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor181">[181]</a> + This is obviously untrue. Animals do not know death in the sense of + scientific definition, and probably have no abstract idea of it as a + general state; but they know and are afraid of its concrete phenomena, and + so are most savages. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_182" id="Footnote_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor182">[182]</a> + This is one of the passages in the Discourse, the harshness of which was + afterwards attributed by Rousseau to the influence of Diderot. <i>Conf.</i>, + viii. 205, <i>n.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_183" id="Footnote_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor183">[183]</a> + P. 261. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_184" id="Footnote_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor184">[184]</a> + As if sin really came by the law in this sense; as if a law defining and + prohibiting a malpractice were the cause of the commission of the act + which it constituted a malpractice. As if giving a name and juristic + classification to any kind of conduct were adding to men's motives for + indulging in it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_185" id="Footnote_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor185">[185]</a> + P. 269. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_186" id="Footnote_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor186">[186]</a> + P. 278. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_187" id="Footnote_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor187">[187]</a> + Pp. 285-287. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_188" id="Footnote_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor188">[188]</a> + P. 273. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_189" id="Footnote_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor189">[189]</a> + P. 250. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_190" id="Footnote_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor190">[190]</a> + <i>Politicus</i>, 268 D-274 E. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_191" id="Footnote_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor191">[191]</a> + Here for instance is D'Alembert's story:—"The necessity of + shielding our own body from pain and destruction leads us to examine among + external objects those which are useful and those which are hurtful, so + that we may seek the one and flee the others. But we hardly begin our + search into such objects before we discover among them a great number of + beings which strike us as exactly like ourselves; that is, whose form is + just like our own, and who, so far as we can judge at the first glance, + appear to have the same perceptions. Everything therefore leads us to + suppose that they have also the same wants, and consequently the same + interest in satisfying them, whence it results that we must find great + advantage in joining with them for the purpose of distinguishing in nature + what has the power of preserving us from what has the power of hurting us. + The communication of ideas is the principle and the stay of this union, + and necessarily demands the invention of signs; such is the origin of the + formation of societies." <i>Discours Préliminaire de l'Encyclopédie</i>. + Contrast this with Aristotle's sensible statement (<i>Polit.</i> I. ii. + 15) that "there is in men by nature a strong impulse to enter into + such union." + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_192" id="Footnote_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor192">[192]</a> + <i>Code de la Nature.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_193" id="Footnote_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor193">[193]</a> + See, for example, his criticism on the Abbé de St. Pierre. <i>Conf.</i>, + viii. 264. And also in the analysis of this very Discourse, above, vol. i. + p. <a href="#Page_i.163">163</a>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_194" id="Footnote_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor194">[194]</a> + "I have lived with communities of savages in South America and in the + East, who have no laws or law courts but the public opinion of the visage + freely expressed. Each man scrupulously respects the rights of his fellow, + and any infraction of those rights rarely or never takes place. In such a + community all are nearly equal. There are none of those wide distinctions + of education and ignorance, wealth and poverty, master and servant, which + are the products of our civilisation; there is none of that widespread + division of labour which, while it increases wealth, produces also + conflicting interests; there is not that severe competition and struggle + for existence, or for wealth, which the dense population of civilised + countries inevitably creates. All incitements to great crimes are thus + wanting, and petty ones are repressed, partly by the influence of public + opinion, but chiefly by that natural sense of justice and of his + neighbour's right, which seems to be in some degree inherent in every race + of man. Now, although we have progressed vastly beyond the savage state in + intellectual achievements, we have not advanced equally in morals. It is + true that among those classes who have no wants that cannot be easily + supplied, and among whom public opinion has great influence, the rights of + others are fully respected. It is true, also, that we have vastly extended + the sphere of those rights, and include within them all the brotherhood of + man. But it is not too much to say, that the mass of our populations have + not at all advanced beyond the savage code of morals, and have in many + cases sunk below it." Wallace's <i>Malay Archipelago</i>, vol. ii. + pp. 460-461. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_195" id="Footnote_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor195">[195]</a> + So too Bougainville, a brother of the navigator, said in 1760, "For + an attentive observer who sees nothing in events of the utmost diversity + of appearance but the natural effects of a certain number of causes + differently combined, Greece is the universe in small, and the history of + Greece an excellent epitome of universal history." (Quoted in Egger's + <i>Hellénisme en France</i>, ii. 272.) The revolutionists of the next + generation, who used to appeal so unseasonably to the ancients, were only + following a literary fashion set by their fathers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_196" id="Footnote_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor196">[196]</a> + <i>Doutes sur l'Ordre Naturel</i>; <i>Oeuv.</i>, xi. 80. (Ed. 1794, 1795.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_197" id="Footnote_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor197">[197]</a> + <i>La Législation</i>, I. i. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_198" id="Footnote_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor198">[198]</a> + <i>Ibid.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_199" id="Footnote_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor199">[199]</a> + It is not within our province to examine the vexed question whether the + Convention was fundamentally socialist, and not merely political. That + socialist ideas were afloat in the minds of some members, one can hardly + doubt. See Von Sybel's <i>Hist. of the French Revolution</i>, Bk. II. ch. + iv., on one side, and Quinet's <i>La Révolution</i>, ii. 90-107, on + the other. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_200" id="Footnote_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor200">[200]</a> + <i>Economie Politique</i>, pp. 41, 53, etc. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.187" id="Page_i.187">[i.187]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VI." id="CHAPTER_VI."></a>CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <h3> + PARIS. + </h3> + <h3> + I. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">By</span> what subtle process did Rousseau, whose + ideal had been a summer life among all the softnesses of sweet gardens and + dappled orchards, turn into panegyrist of the harsh austerity of old Cato + and grim Brutus's civic devotion? The amiability of eighteenth century + France—and France was amiable in spite of the atrocities of White + Penitents at Toulouse, and black Jansenists at Paris, and the men and + women who dealt in <i>lettres-de-cachet</i> at Versailles—was + revolted by the name of the cruel patriot who slew his son for the honour + of discipline.<a name="FNanchor201" id="FNanchor201"></a><a + href="#Footnote_201">[201]</a> How came Rousseau of all men, the great + humanitarian of his time, to rise to the height of these unlovely rigours? + </p> + <p> + The answer is that he was a citizen of Geneva transplanted. He had been + bred in puritan and republican tradition, with love of God and love of law + and freedom and love of country all penetrating it, and then he had been + accidentally removed to a strange city that was in active ferment with + ideas that were the direct abnegation of all these. In<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.188" id="Page_i.188">[i.188]</a></span> Paris the idea of a + God was either repudiated along with many other ancestral conceptions, or + else it was fatally entangled with the worst superstition and not seldom + with the vilest cruelties. The idea of freedom was unknown, and the idea + of law was benumbed by abuses and exceptions. The idea of country was + enfeebled in some and displaced in others by a growing passion for the + captivating something styled citizenship of the world. If Rousseau could + have ended his days among the tranquil lakes and hills of Savoy, Geneva + might possibly never have come back to him. For it depends on + circumstance, which of the chances that slumber within us shall awake, and + which shall fall unroused with us into the darkness. The fact of Rousseau + ranking among the greatest of the writers of the French language, and the + yet more important fact that his ideas found their most ardent disciples + and exploded in their most violent form in France, constantly make us + forget that he was not a Frenchman, but a Genevese deeply imbued with the + spirit of his native city. He was thirty years old before he began even + temporarily to live in France: he had only lived there some five or six + years when he wrote his first famous piece, so un-French in all its + spirit; and the ideas of the Social Contract were in germ before he + settled in France at all. + </p> + <p> + There have been two great religious reactions, and the name of Geneva has + a fundamental association with each of them. The first was that against + the paganised Catholicism of the renaissance, and of this<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.189" id="Page_i.189">[i.189]</a></span> + Calvin was a prime leader; the second was that against the materialism of + the eighteenth century, of which the prime leader was Rousseau. The + diplomatist was right who called Geneva the fifth part of the world. At + the congress of Vienna, some one, wearied at the enormous place taken by + the hardly visible Geneva in the midst of negotiations involving momentous + issues for the whole habitable globe, called out that it was after all no + more than a grain of sand. But he was not wrong who made bold to reply, + "Geneva is no grain of sand; 'tis a grain of musk that perfumes all + Europe."<a name="FNanchor202" id="FNanchor202"></a><a + href="#Footnote_202">[202]</a> We have to remember that it was at all + events as a grain of musk ever pervading the character of Rousseau. It + happened in later years that he repudiated his allegiance to her, but + however bitterly a man may quarrel with a parent, he cannot change blood, + and Rousseau ever remained a true son of the city of Calvin. We may + perhaps conjecture without excessive fancifulness that the constant + spectacle and memory of a community, free, energetic, and prosperous, + whose institutions had been shaped and whose political temper had been + inspired by one great lawgiver, contributed even more powerfully than what + he had picked up about Lycurgus and Lacedæmon, to give him a turn for + Utopian speculation, and a conviction of the artificiality and easy + modifiableness of the social structure. This, however, is less certain + than that he unconsciously received impressions in his youth from the + circum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.190" id="Page_i.190">[i.190]</a></span>stances + of Geneva, both as to government and religion, as to freedom, order, + citizenship, manners, which formed the deepest part of him on the + reflective side, and which made themselves visible whenever he exchanged + the life of beatified sense for moods of speculative energy, "Never," + he says, "did I see the walls of that happy city, I never went into + it, without feeling a certain faintness at my heart, due to excess of + tender emotion. At the same time that the noble image of freedom elevated + my soul, those of equality, of union, of gentle manners, touched me even + to tears."<a name="FNanchor203" id="FNanchor203"></a><a + href="#Footnote_203">[203]</a> His spirit never ceased to haunt city and + lake to the end, and he only paid the debt of an owed acknowledgment in + the dedication of his Discourse on Inequality to the republic of Geneva.<a + name="FNanchor204" id="FNanchor204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204">[204]</a> + It was there it had its root. The honour in which industry was held in + Geneva, the democratic phrases that constituted the dialect of its + government, the proud tradition of the long battle which had won and kept + its independence, the severity of its manners, the simplicity of its + pleasures,—all these things awoke in his memory as soon as ever + occasion drew him to serious thought. More than that, he had in a peculiar + manner drawn in with the breath of his earliest days in this + theocratically constituted city, the vital idea that there are sacred + things and objects of reverence among men. And hence there came to him, + though with many stains and much misdirection, the most priceless + excellence of a capacity for devout veneration. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.191" id="Page_i.191">[i.191]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + There is certainly no real contradiction between the quality of reverence + and the more equivocal quality of a sensuous temperament, though a man may + well seem on the surface, as the first succeeds the second in rule over + him, to be the contradiction to his other self. The objects of veneration + and the objects of sensuous delight are externally so unlike and so + incongruous, that he who follows both in their turns is as one playing the + part of an ironical chorus in the tragi-comic drama of his own life. You + may perceive these two to be mere imperfect or illusory opposites, when + you confront a man like Rousseau with the true opposite of his own type; + with those who are from their birth analysts and critics, keen, restless, + urgent, inexorably questioning. That energetic type, though not often dead + or dull on the side of sense, yet is incapable of steeping itself in the + manifold delights of eye and ear, of nostril and touch, with the peculiar + intensity of passive absorption that seeks nothing further nor deeper than + unending continuance of this profound repose of all filled sensation, just + as it is incapable of the kindred mood of elevated humility and joyful + unasking devoutness in the presence of emotions and dim thoughts that are + beyond the compass of words. + </p> + <p> + The citizen of Geneva with this unseen fibre of Calvinistic veneration and + austerity strong and vigorous within him, found a world that had nothing + sacred and took nothing for granted; that held the past in contempt, and + ever like old Athenians asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.192" + id="Page_i.192">[i.192]</a></span> for some new thing; that counted + simplicity of life an antique barbarism, and literary curiousness the + master virtue. There were giants in this world, like the panurgic Diderot. + There were industrious, worthy, disinterested men, who used their minds + honestly and actively with sincere care for truth, like D'Holbach. There + was poured around the whole, like a high stimulating atmosphere to the + stronger, and like some evil mental aphrodisiac to the weaker, the + influence of Voltaire, the great indomitable chieftain of them all. + Intellectual size half redeems want of perfect direction by its generous + power and fulness. It was not the strong men, atheists and philosophisers + as they were, who first irritated Rousseau into revolt against their whole + system of thought in all its principles. The dissent between him and them + was fundamental and enormous, and in time it flamed out into open war. + Conflict of theory, however, was brought home to him first by slow-growing + exasperation at the follies in practice of the minor disciples of the + gospel of knowing and acting, as distinguished from his own gospel of + placid being. He craved beliefs that should uphold men in living their + lives, substantial helps on which they might lean without examination and + without mistrust: his life in Paris was thrown among people who lived in + the midst of open questions, and revelled in a reflective and didactic + morality, which had no root in the heart and so made things easy for the + practical conscience. He sought tranquillity and valued life for its own + sake,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.193" id="Page_i.193">[i.193]</a></span> + not as an arena and a theme for endless argument and debate: he found + friends who knew no higher pleasure than the futile polemics of mimic + philosophy over dessert, who were as full of quibble as the wrong-headed + interlocutors in a Platonic dialogue, and who babbled about God and state + of nature, about virtue and the spirituality of the soul, much as Boswell + may have done when Johnson complained of him for asking questions that + would make a man hang himself. The highest things were thus brought down + to the level of the cheapest discourse, and subjects which the wise take + care only to discuss with the wise, were here everyday topics for all + comers. + </p> + <p> + The association with such high themes of those light qualities of tact, + gaiety, complaisance, which are the life of the superficial commerce of + men and women of the world, probably gave quite as much offence to + Rousseau as the doctrines which some of his companions had the honest + courage or the heedless fatuity to profess. It was an outrage to all the + serious side of him to find persons of quality introducing materialism as + a new fashion, and atheism as the liveliest of condiments. The perfume of + good manners only made what he took for bad principles the worse, and + heightened his impatience at the flippancy of pretensions to overthrow the + beliefs of a world between two wines. + </p> + <p> + Doctrine and temperament united to set him angrily against the world + around him. The one was austere and the other was sensuous, and the + sensuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.194" id="Page_i.194">[i.194]</a></span> + temperament in its full strength is essentially solitary. The play of + social intercourse, its quick transitions, and incessant demands, are + fatal to free and uninterrupted abandonment to the flow of soft internal + emotions. Rousseau, dreaming, moody, indolently, meditative, profoundly + enwrapped in the brooding egoism of his own sensations, had to mix with + men and women whose egoism took the contrary form of an eager desire to + produce flashing effects on other people. We may be sure that as the two + sides of his character—his notions of serious principle, and his + notions of personal comfort—both went in the same direction, the + irritation and impatience with which they inspired him towards society did + not lessen with increased communication, but naturally deepened with a + more profoundly settled antipathy. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau lived in Paris for twelve years, from his return from Venice in + 1744 until his departure in 1756 for the rustic lodge in a wood which the + good-will of Madame d'Epinay provided for him. We have already seen one + very important side of his fortunes during these years, in the relations + he formed with Theresa, and the relations which he repudiated with his + children. We have heard too the new words with which during these years he + first began to make the hearts of his contemporaries wax hot within them. + It remains to examine the current of daily circumstance on which his life + was embarked, and the shores to which it was bearing him. + </p> + <p> + His patrons were at present almost exclusively in<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.195" id="Page_i.195">[i.195]</a></span> the circle of + finance. Richelieu, indeed, took him for a moment by the hand, but even + the introduction to him was through the too frail wife of one of the + greatest of the farmers general.<a name="FNanchor205" id="FNanchor205"></a><a + href="#Footnote_205">[205]</a> Madame Dupin and Madame d'Epinay, his two + chief patronesses, were also both of them the wives of magnates of the + farm. The society of the great people of this world was marked by all the + glare, artificiality, and sentimentalism of the epoch, but it had also one + or two specially hollow characteristics of its own. As is always the case + when a new rich class rises in the midst of a community possessing an old + caste, the circle of Parisian financiers made it their highest social aim + to thrust and strain into the circle of the Versailles people of quality. + They had no normal life of their own, with independent traditions and + self-respect; and for the same reason that an essentially worn-out + aristocracy may so long preserve a considerable degree of vigour and even + of social utility under certain circumstances by means of tenacious pride + in its own order, a new plutocracy is demoralised from the very beginning + of its existence by want of a similar kind of pride in itself, and by the + ignoble necessity of craving the countenance of an upper class that loves + to despise and humiliate it. Besides the more obvious evils of a position + resting entirely on material opulence, and maintaining itself by coarse + and glittering osten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.196" + id="Page_i.196">[i.196]</a></span>tation, there is a fatal moral + hollowness which infects both serious conduct and social diversion. The + result is seen in imitative manners, affected culture, and a mixture of + timorous self-consciousness within and noisy self-assertion without, which + completes the most distasteful scene that any collected spirit can + witness. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau was, as has been said, the secretary of Madame Dupin and her + stepson Francueil. He occasionally went with them to Chenonceaux in + Touraine, one of Henry the Second's castles built for Diana of Poitiers, + and here he fared sumptuously every day. In Paris his means, as we know, + were too strait. For the first two years he had a salary of nine hundred + francs; then his employers raised it to as much as fifty louis. For the + first of the Discourses the publisher gave him nothing, and for the second + he had to extract his fee penny by penny, and after long waiting. His + comic opera, the Village Soothsayer, was a greater success; it brought him + the round sum of two hundred louis from the court, and some five and + twenty more from the bookseller, and so, he says, "the interlude, + which cost me five or six weeks of work, produced nearly as much money as + Emilius afterwards did, which had cost me twenty years of meditation and + three years of composition."<a name="FNanchor206" id="FNanchor206"></a><a + href="#Footnote_206">[206]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.197" + id="Page_i.197">[i.197]</a></span> Before the arrival of this windfall, M. + Francueil, who was receiver-general, offered him the post of cashier in + that important department, and Rousseau attended for some weeks to receive + the necessary instructions. His progress was tardy as usual, and the + complexities of accounts were as little congenial to him as notarial + complexities had been three and twenty years previously. It is, however, + one of the characteristics of times of national break-up not to be + peremptory in exacting competence, and Rousseau gravely sat at the receipt + of custom, doing the day's duty with as little skill as liking. Before he + had been long at his post, his official chief going on a short journey + left him in charge of the chest, which happened at the moment to contain + no very portentous amount. The disquiet with which the watchful custody of + this moderate treasure harassed and afflicted Rousseau, not only persuaded + him that nature had never designed him to be the guardian of money chests, + but also threw him into a fit of very painful illness. The surgeons let + him understand that within six months he would be in the pale kingdoms. + The effect of such a hint on a man of his temper, and the train of + reflections which it would be sure to set aflame, are to be foreseen by us + who know Rousseau's fashion of dealing with the irksome. Why sacrifice the + peace and charm of the little fragment of days<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.198" id="Page_i.198">[i.198]</a></span> left to him, to the + bondage of an office for which he felt nothing but disgust? How reconcile + the austere principles which he had just adopted in his denunciation of + sciences and arts, and his panegyric on the simplicity of the natural + life, with such duties as he had to perform? And how preach + disinterestedness and frugality from amid the cashboxes of a + receiver-general? Plainly it was his duty to pass in independence and + poverty the little time that was yet left to him, to bring all the forces + of his soul to bear in breaking the fetters of opinion, and to carry out + courageously whatever seemed best to himself, without suffering the + judgment of others to interpose the slightest embarrassment or hindrance.<a + name="FNanchor207" id="FNanchor207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207">[207]</a> + </p> + <p> + With Rousseau, to conceive a project of this kind for simplifying his life + was to hasten urgently towards its realisation, because such projects + harmonised with all his strongest predispositions. His design mastered and + took whole possession of him. He resolved to earn his living by copying + music, as that was conformable to his taste, within his capacity, and + compatible with entire personal freedom. His patron did as the world is so + naturally ready to do with those who choose the stoic's way; he declared + that Rousseau was gone mad.<a name="FNanchor208" id="FNanchor208"></a><a + href="#Footnote_208">[208]</a> Talk like this had no effect on a man whom + self-indulgence led into a path that others would only have been forced + into by self-denial. Let it be said, however, that this is a form of + self-indulgence of which society is never likely to see an excess,<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.199" id="Page_i.199">[i.199]</a></span> + and meanwhile we may continue to pay it some respect as assuredly leaning + to virtue's side. Rousseau's many lapses from grace perhaps deserve a + certain gentleness of treatment, after the time when with deliberation and + collected effort he set himself to the hard task of fitting his private + life to his public principles. Anything that heightens the self-respect of + the race is good for us to behold, and it is a permanent source of comfort + to all who thirst after reality in teachers, whether their teaching + happens to be our own or not, to find that the prophet of social equality + was not a fine gentleman, nor the teacher of democracy a hanger-on to the + silly skirts of fashion. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau did not merely throw up a post which would one day have made him + rich. Stoicism on the heroic, peremptory scale is not so difficult as the + application of the same principle to trifles. Besides this greater + sacrifice, he gave up the pleasant things for which most men value the + money that procures them, and instituted an austere sumptuary reform in + truly Genevese spirit. His sword was laid aside; for flowing peruke was + substituted the small round wig; he left off gilt buttons and white + stockings, and he sold his watch with the joyful and singular thought that + he would never again need to know the time. One sacrifice remained to be + made. Part of his equipment for the Venetian embassy had been a large + stock of fine linen, and for this he retained a particular affection, for + both now and always Rousseau had a passion for personal cleanliness, as he + had for cor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.200" id="Page_i.200">[i.200]</a></span>poreal + wholesomeness. He was seasonably delivered from bondage to his fine linen + by aid from without. One Christmas Eve it lay drying in a garret in the + rather considerable quantity of forty-two shirts, when a thief, always + suspected to be the brother of Theresa, broke open the door and carried + off the treasure, leaving Rousseau henceforth to be the contented wearer + of coarser stuffs.<a name="FNanchor209" id="FNanchor209"></a><a + href="#Footnote_209">[209]</a> + </p> + <p> + We may place this reform towards the end of the year 1750, or the + beginning of 1751, when his mind was agitated by the busy discussion which + his first Discourse excited, and by the new ideas of literary power which + its reception by the public naturally awakened in him. "It takes," + wrote Diderot, "right above the clouds; never was such a success."<a + name="FNanchor210" id="FNanchor210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210">[210]</a> + We can hardly have a surer sign of a man's fundamental sincerity than that + his first triumph, the first revelation to him of his power, instead of + seducing him to frequent the mischievous and disturbing circle of his + applauders, should throw him inwards upon himself and his own principles + with new earnestness and refreshed independence. Rousseau very soon made + up his mind what the world was worth to him; and this, not as the ordinary + sentimentalist or satirist does, by way of set-off against the indulgence + of personal foibles, but from recognition of his own qualities, of the + bounds set to our capacity of life, and of the limits of the world's power + to satisfy us. "When my destiny threw me into the whirlpool of + society," he wrote in his last<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.201" id="Page_i.201">[i.201]</a></span> meditation on the + course of his own life, "I found nothing there to give a moment's + solace to my heart. Regret for my sweet leisure followed me everywhere; it + shed indifference or disgust over all that might have been within my + reach, leading to fortune and honours. Uncertain in the disquiet of my + desires, I hoped for little, I obtained less, and I felt even amid gleams + of prosperity that if I obtained all that I supposed myself to be seeking, + I should still not have found the happiness for which my heart was + greedily athirst, though without distinctly knowing its object. Thus + everything served to detach my affections from society, even before the + misfortunes which were to make me wholly a stranger to it. I reached the + age of forty, floating between indigence and fortune, between wisdom and + disorder, full of vices of habit without any evil tendency at heart, + living by hazard, distracted as to my duties without despising them, but + often without much clear knowledge what they were."<a + name="FNanchor211" id="FNanchor211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211">[211]</a> + </p> + <p> + A brooding nature gives to character a connectedness and unity that is in + strong contrast with the dispersion and multiformity of the active type. + The attractions of fame never cheated Rousseau into forgetfulness of the + commanding principle that a man's life ought to be steadily composed to + oneness with itself in all its parts, as by mastery of an art of moral + counterpoint, and not crowded with a wild mixture of aim and emotion like + distracted masks in high carnival. He complains of the philosophers with<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.202" id="Page_i.202">[i.202]</a></span> + whom he came into contact, that their philosophy was something foreign to + them and outside of their own lives. They studied human nature for the + sake of talking learnedly about it, not for the sake of self-knowledge; + they laboured to instruct others, not to enlighten themselves within. When + they published a book, its contents only interested them to the extent of + making the world accept it, without seriously troubling themselves whether + it were true or false, provided only that it was not refuted. "For my + own part, when I desired to learn, it was to know things myself, and not + at all to teach others. I always believed that before instructing others + it was proper to begin by knowing enough for one's self; and of all the + studies that I have tried to follow in my life in the midst of men, there + is hardly one that I should not have followed equally if I had been alone, + and shut up in a desert island for the rest of my days."<a + name="FNanchor212" id="FNanchor212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212">[212]</a> + </p> + <p> + When we think of Turgot, whom Rousseau occasionally met among the society + which he denounces, such a denunciation sounds a little outrageous. But + then Turgot was perhaps the one sane Frenchman of the first eminence in + the eighteenth century. Voltaire chose to be an exile from the society of + Paris and Versailles as pertinaciously as Rousseau did, and he spoke more + bitterly of it in verse than Rousseau ever spoke bitterly of it in prose.<a + name="FNanchor213" id="FNanchor213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213">[213]</a> + It was, as has been so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.203" + id="Page_i.203">[i.203]</a></span> often said, a society dominated by + women, from the king's mistress who helped to ruin France, down to the + financier's wife who gave suppers to flashy men of letters. The eighteenth + century salon has been described as having three stages; the salon of + 1730, still retaining some of the stately domesticity, elegance, dignity + of the age of Lewis XIV.; that of 1780, grave, cold, dry, given to + dissertation; and between the two, the salon of 1750, full of intellectual + stir, brilliance, frivolous originality, glittering wastefulness.<a + name="FNanchor214" id="FNanchor214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214">[214]</a> + Though this division of time must not be pressed too closely, it is + certain that the era of Rousseau's advent in literature with his + Discourses fell in with the climax of social unreality in the surface + intercourse of France, and that the same date marks the highest point of + feminine activity and power. + </p> + <p> + The common mixture of much reflective morality in theory with much + light-hearted immorality in practice, never entered so largely into + manners. We have constantly to wonder how they analysed and defined the + word Virtue, to which they so constantly appealed in letters, + conversation, and books, as the sovereign object for our deepest and + warmest adoration. A whole company of transgressors of the marriage law + would melt into floods of tears over a hymn to virtue, which they must + surely have held of too sacred an essence to mix itself with any one + virtue in particular, except that very considerable one of charitably<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.204" id="Page_i.204">[i.204]</a></span> + letting all do as they please. It is much, however, that these tears, if + not very burning, were really honest. Society, though not believing very + deeply in the supernatural, was not cursed with an arid, parching, and + hardened scepticism about the genuineness of good emotions in a man, and + so long as people keep this baleful poison out of their hearts, their + lives remain worth having. + </p> + <p> + It is true that cynicism in the case of some women of this time + occasionally sounded in a diabolic key, as when one said, "It is your + lover to whom you should never say that you don't believe in God; to one's + husband that does not matter, because in the case of a lover one must + reserve for one's self some door of escape, and devotional scruples cut + everything short."<a name="FNanchor215" id="FNanchor215"></a><a + href="#Footnote_215">[215]</a> Or here: "I do not distrust anybody, + for that is a deliberate act; but I do not trust anybody, and there is no + trouble in this."<a name="FNanchor216" id="FNanchor216"></a><a + href="#Footnote_216">[216]</a> Or again in the word thrown to a man + vaunting the probity of some one: "What! can a man of intelligence + like you accept the prejudice of <i>meum</i> and <i>tuum</i>?"<a + name="FNanchor217" id="FNanchor217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217">[217]</a> + Such speech, however, was probably most often a mere freak of the tongue, + a mode and fashion, as who should go to a masked ball in guise of + Mephistopheles, without anything more Mephistophelian about him than red + apparel and peaked toes. "She was absolutely charming," said one + of a new-comer; "she did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.205" + id="Page_i.205">[i.205]</a></span> not utter one single word that was not + a paradox."<a name="FNanchor218" id="FNanchor218"></a><a + href="#Footnote_218">[218]</a> This was the passing taste. Human nature is + able to keep itself wholesome in fundamentals even under very great + difficulties, and it is as wise as it is charitable in judging a sharp and + cynical tone to make large allowances for mere costume and assumed + character. + </p> + <p> + In respect of the light companionship of common usage, however, it is + exactly the costume which comes closest to us, and bad taste in that is + most jarring and least easily forgiven. There is a certain stage in an + observant person's experience of the heedlessness, indolence, and native + folly of men and women—and if his observation be conducted in a + catholic spirit, he will probably see something of this not merely in + others—when the tolerable average sanity of human arrangements + strikes him as the most marvellous of all the fortunate accidents in the + universe. Rousseau could not even accept the fact of this miraculous + result, the provisional and temporary sanity of things, and he confronted + society with eyes of angry chagrin. A great lady asked him how it was that + she had not seen him for an age. "Because when I wish to see you, I + wish to see no one but you. What do you want me to do in the midst of your + society? I should cut a sorry figure in a circle of mincing tripping + coxcombs; they do not suit me." We cannot wonder that on some + occasion when her son's proficiency was to be tested before a company of + friends, Madame d'Epinay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.206" + id="Page_i.206">[i.206]</a></span> prayed Rousseau to be of them, on the + ground that he would be sure to ask the child outrageously absurd + questions, which would give gaiety to the affair.<a name="FNanchor219" + id="FNanchor219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219">[219]</a> As it happened, the + father was unwise. He was a man of whom it was said that he had devoured + two million francs, without either saying or doing a single good thing. He + rewarded the child's performance with the gift of a superb suit of + cherry-coloured velvet, extravagantly trimmed with costly lace; the + peasant from whose sweat and travail the money had been wrung, went in + heavy rags, and his children lived as the beasts of the field. The poor + youth was ill dealt with. "That is very fine," said rude Duclos, + "but remember that a fool in lace is still a fool." Rousseau, in + reply to the child's importunity, was still blunter: "Sir, I am no + judge of finery, I am only a judge of man; I wished to talk with you a + little while ago, but I wish so no longer."<a name="FNanchor220" + id="FNanchor220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220">[220]</a> + </p> + <p> + Marmontel, whose account may have been coloured by retrospection in later + years, says that before the success of the first Discourse, Rousseau + concealed his pride under the external forms of a politeness that was + timid even to obsequiousness; in his uneasy glance you perceived mistrust + and observant jealousy; there was no freedom in his manner, and no one + ever observed more cautiously the hateful precept to live with your + friends as though they were one day to be your enemies.<a + name="FNanchor221" id="FNanchor221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221">[221]</a> + Grimm's description is different and<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.207" id="Page_i.207">[i.207]</a></span> more trustworthy. + Until he began to affect singularity, he says, Rousseau had been gallant + and overflowing with artificial compliment, with manners that were honeyed + and even wearisome in their soft elaborateness. All at once he put on the + cynic's cloak, and went to the other extreme. Still in spite of an abrupt + and cynical tone he kept much of his old art of elaborate fine speeches, + and particularly in his relations with women.<a name="FNanchor222" + id="FNanchor222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222">[222]</a> Of his abruptness, + he tells a most displeasing tale. "One day Rousseau told us with an + air of triumph, that as he was coming out of the opera where he had been + seeing the first representation of the Village Soothsayer, the Duke of + Zweibrücken had approached him with much politeness, saying, 'Will + you allow me to pay you a compliment?' and that he replied, 'Yes, if it be + very short.' Everybody was silent at this, until I said to him laughingly, + 'Illustrious citizen and co-sovereign of Geneva, since there resides in + you a part of the sovereignty of the republic, let me represent to you + that, for all the severity of your principles, you should hardly refuse to + a sovereign prince the respect due to a water-carrier, and that if you had + met a word of good-will from a water-carrier with an answer as rough and + brutal as that, you would have had to reproach yourself with a most + unseasonable piece of impertinence.'"<a name="FNanchor223" + id="FNanchor223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223">[223]</a> + </p> + <p> + There were still more serious circumstances when exasperation at the + flippant tone about him carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.208" + id="Page_i.208">[i.208]</a></span> him beyond the ordinary bounds of that + polite time. A guest at table asked contemptuously what was the use of a + nation like the French having reason, if they did not use it. "They + mock the other nations of the earth, and yet are the most credulous of + all." ROUSSEAU: "I forgive them for their credulity, but not for + condemning those who are credulous in some other way." Some one said + that in matters of religion everybody was right, but that everybody should + remain in that in which he had been born. ROUSSEAU, with warmth: "Not + so, by God, if it is a bad one, for then it can do nothing but harm." + Then some one contended that religion always did some good, as a kind of + rein to the common people who had no other morality. All the rest cried + out at this in indignant remonstrance, one shrewd person remarking that + the common people had much livelier fear of being hanged than of being + damned. The conversation was broken off for a moment by the hostess + calling out, "After all, one must nourish the tattered affair we call + our body, so ring and let them bring us the joint." This done, the + servants dismissed, and the door shut, the discussion was resumed with + such vehemence by Duclos and Saint Lambert, that, says the lady who tells + us the story, "I feared they were bent on destroying all religion, + and I prayed for some mercy to be shown at any rate to natural religion." + There was not a whit more sympathy for that than for the rest. Rousseau + declared himself <i>paullo infirmior</i>, and clung to the morality of the<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.209" id="Page_i.209">[i.209]</a></span> + gospel as the natural morality which in old times constituted the whole + and only creed. "But what is a God," cried one impetuous + disputant, "who gets angry and is appeased again?" Rousseau + began to murmur between grinding teeth, and a tide of pleasantries set in + at his expense, to which came this: "If it is a piece of cowardice to + suffer ill to be spoken of one's friend behind his back, 'tis a crime to + suffer ill to be spoken of one's God, who is present; and for my part, + sirs, I believe in God." "I admit," said the atheistic + champion, "that it is a fine thing to see this God bending his brow + to earth and watching with admiration the conduct of a Cato. But this + notion is, like many others, very useful in some great heads, such as + Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, where it can only produce heroism, but + it is the germ of all madnesses." ROUSSEAU: "Sirs, I leave the + room if you say another word more," and he was rising to fulfil his + threat, when the entry of a new-comer stopped the discussion.<a + name="FNanchor224" id="FNanchor224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224">[224]</a> + </p> + <p> + His words on another occasion show how all that he saw helped to keep up a + fretted condition of mind, in one whose soft tenacious memory turned daily + back to simple and unsophisticated days among the green valleys, and + refused to acquiesce in the conditions of changed climate. So terrible a + thing is it to be the bondsman of reminiscence. Madame d'Epinay was + suspected, wrongfully as it afterwards proved, of<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.210" id="Page_i.210">[i.210]</a></span> having destroyed some + valuable papers belonging to a dead relative. There was much idle and + cruel gossip in an ill-natured world. Rousseau, her friend, kept steadfast + silence: she challenged his opinion. "What am I to say?" he + answered; "I go and come, and all that I hear outrages and revolts + me. I see the one so evidently malicious and so adroit in their injustice; + the other so awkward and so stupid in their good intentions, that I am + tempted (and it is not the first time) to look on Paris as a cavern of + brigands, of whom every traveller in his turn is the victim. What gives me + the worst idea of society is to see how eager each person is to pardon + himself, by reason of the number of the people who are like him."<a + name="FNanchor225" id="FNanchor225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225">[225]</a> + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding his hatred of this cavern of brigands, and the little + pains he took to conceal his feelings from any individual brigand, whether + male or female, with whom he had to deal, he found out that "it is + not always so easy as people suppose to be poor and independent." + Merciless invasion of his time in every shape made his life weariness. + Sometimes he had the courage to turn and rend the invader, as in the + letter to a painter who sent him the same copy of verses three times, + requiring immediate acknowledgment. "It is not just," at length + wrote the exasperated Rousseau, "that I should be tyrannised over for + your pleasure; not that my time is precious, as you say; it is either + passed in suffering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.211" + id="Page_i.211">[i.211]</a></span> or it is lost in idleness; but when I + cannot employ it usefully for some one, I do not wish to be hindered from + wasting it in my own fashion. A single minute thus usurped is what all the + kings of the universe could not give me back, and it is to be my own + master that I flee from the idle folk of towns,—people as thoroughly + wearied as they are thoroughly wearisome,—who, because they do not + know what to do with their own time, think they have a right to waste that + of others."<a name="FNanchor226" id="FNanchor226"></a><a + href="#Footnote_226">[226]</a> The more abruptly he treated visitors, + persecuting dinner-givers, and all the tribe of the importunate, the more + obstinate they were in possessing themselves of his time. In seizing the + hours they were keeping his purse empty, as well as keeping up constant + irritation in his soul. He appears to have earned forty sous for a + morning's work, and to have counted this a fair fee, remarking modestly + that he could not well subsist on less.<a name="FNanchor227" + id="FNanchor227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227">[227]</a> He had one chance + of a pension, which he threw from him in a truly characteristic manner. + </p> + <p> + When he came to Paris he composed his musical diversion of the Muses + Galantes, which was performed (1745) in the presence of Rameau, under the + patronage of M. de la Popelinière. Rameau apostrophised the unlucky + composer with much violence, declaring that one-half of the piece was the + work of a master, while the other was that of a person entirely ignorant + of the musical rudiments; the bad work therefore<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.212" id="Page_i.212">[i.212]</a></span> was Rousseau's own, + and the good was a plagiarism.<a name="FNanchor228" id="FNanchor228"></a><a + href="#Footnote_228">[228]</a> This repulse did not daunt the hero. Five + or six years afterwards on a visit to Passy, as he was lying awake in bed, + he conceived the idea of a pastoral interlude after the manner of the + Italian comic operas. In six days the Village Soothsayer was sketched, and + in three weeks virtually completed. Duclos procured its rehearsal at the + Opera, and after some debate it was performed before the court at + Fontainebleau. The Plutarchian stoic, its author, went from Paris in a + court coach, but his Roman tone deserted him, and he felt shamefaced as a + schoolboy before the great world, such divinity doth hedge even a Lewis + XV., and even in a soul of Genevan temper. The piece was played with great + success, and the composer was informed that he would the next day have the + honour of being presented to the king, who would most probably mark his + favour by the bestowal of a pension.<a name="FNanchor229" id="FNanchor229"></a><a + href="#Footnote_229">[229]</a> Rousseau was tossed with many doubts. He + would fain have greeted the king with some word that should show + sensibility to the royal graciousness, without compromising republican + severity, "clothing some great and useful truth in a fine and + deserved compliment." This moral difficulty was heightened by a + physical one, for he was liable to an infirmity which, if it should + overtake him in presence of king<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.213" + id="Page_i.213">[i.213]</a></span> and courtiers, would land him in an + embarrassment worse than death. What would become of him if mind or body + should fail, if either he should be driven into precipitate retreat, or + else there should escape him, instead of the great truth wrapped + delicately round in veracious panegyric, a heavy, shapeless word of + foolishness? He fled in terror, and flung up the chance of pension and + patronage. We perceive the born dreamer with a phantasmagoric imagination, + seizing nothing in just proportion and true relation, and paralysing the + spirit with terror of unrealities; in short, with the most fatal form of + moral cowardice, which perhaps it is a little dangerous to try to analyse + into finer names. + </p> + <p> + When Rousseau got back to Paris he was amazed to find that Diderot spoke + to him of this abandonment of the pension with a fire that he could never + have expected from a philosopher, Rousseau plainly sharing the opinion of + more vulgar souls that philosopher is but fool writ large. "He said + that if I was disinterested on my own account, I had no right to be so on + that of Madame Le Vasseur and her daughter, and that I owed it to them not + to let pass any possible and honest means of giving them bread.... This + was the first real dispute I had with him, and all our quarrels that + followed were of the same kind; he laying down for me what he insisted + that I should do, and I refusing because I thought that I ought not to do + it."<a name="FNanchor230" id="FNanchor230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230">[230]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.214" id="Page_i.214">[i.214]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Let us abstain, at this and all other points, from being too sure that we + easily see to the bottom of our Rousseau. When we are most ready to fling + up the book and to pronounce him all selfishness and sophistry, some trait + is at hand to revive moral interest in him, and show him unlike common + men, reverent of truth and human dignity. There is a slight anecdote of + this kind connected with his visit to Fontainebleau. The day after the + representation of his piece, he happened to be taking his breakfast in + some public place. An officer entered, and, proceeding to describe the + performance of the previous day, told at great length all that had + happened, depicted the composer with much minuteness, and gave a + circumstantial account of his conversation. In this story, which was told + with equal assurance and simplicity, there was not a word of truth, as was + clear from the fact that the author of whom he spoke with such intimacy + sat unknown and unrecognised before his eyes. The effect on Rousseau was + singular enough. "The man was of a certain age; he had no coxcombical + or swaggering air; his expression bespoke a man of merit, and his cross of + St. Lewis showed that he was an old officer. While he was retailing his + untruths, I grew red in the face, I lowered my eyes, I sat on thorns; I + tried to think of some means of believing him to have made a mistake in + good faith. At length trembling lest some one should recognise me and + confront him, I hastened to finish my chocolate without saying a word; and + stooping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.215" id="Page_i.215">[i.215]</a></span> + down as I passed in front of him, I went out as fast as possible, while + the people present discussed his tale. I perceived in the street that I + was bathed in sweat, and I am sure that if any one had recognised me and + called me by name before I got out, they would have seen in me the shame + and embarrassment of a culprit, simply from a feeling of the pain the poor + man would have had to suffer if his lie had been discovered."<a + name="FNanchor231" id="FNanchor231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231">[231]</a> + One who can feel thus vividly humiliated by the meanness of another, + assuredly has in himself the wholesome salt of respect for the erectness + of his fellows; he has the rare sentiment that the compromise of integrity + in one of them is as a stain on his own self-esteem, and a lowering of his + own moral stature. There is more deep love of humanity in this than in + giving many alms, and it was not the less deep for being the product of + impulse and sympathetic emotion, and not of a logical sorites. + </p> + <p> + Another scene in a café is worth referring to, because it shows in + the same way that at this time Rousseau's egoism fell short of the + fatuousness to which disease or vicious habit eventually depraved it. In + 1752 he procured the representation of his comedy of Narcisse, which he + had written at the age of eighteen, and which is as well worth reading or + playing as most comedies by youths of that amount of experience of the + ways of the world and the heart of man. Rousseau was amazed and touched by + the indulgence of the public, in suffering without any sign<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.216" id="Page_i.216">[i.216]</a></span> of + impatience even a second representation of his piece. For himself, he + could not so much as sit out the first; quitting the theatre before it was + over, he entered the famous café de Procope at the other side of the + street, where he found critics as wearied as himself. Here he called out, + "The new piece has fallen flat, and it deserved to fall flat; it + wearied me to death. It is by Rousseau of Geneva, and I am that very + Rousseau."<a name="FNanchor232" id="FNanchor232"></a><a + href="#Footnote_232">[232]</a> The relentless student of mental pathology + is very likely to insist that even this was egoism standing on its head + and not on its feet, choosing to be noticed for an absurdity, rather than + not be noticed at all. It may be so, but this inversion of the ordinary + form of vanity is rare enough to be not unrefreshing, and we are very loth + to hand Rousseau wholly over to the pathologist before his hour has come. + </p> + <h3> + II. + </h3> + <p> + In the summer of 1754 Rousseau, in company with his Theresa, went to + revisit the city of his birth, partly because an exceptionally favourable + occasion presented itself, but in yet greater part because he was growing + increasingly weary of the uncongenial world in which he moved. On his road + he turned aside to visit her who had been more than even his birth-place + to him. He felt the shock known to all<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.217" id="Page_i.217">[i.217]</a></span> who cherish a vision + for a dozen years, and then suddenly front the changed reality. He had not + prepared himself by recalling the commonplace which we only remember for + others, how time wears hard and ugly lines into the face that recollection + at each new energy makes lovelier with an added sweetness. "I saw + her," he says, "but in what a state, O God, in what debasement! + Was this the same Madame de Warens, in those days so brilliant, to whom + the priest of Pontverre had sent me! How my heart was torn by the sight!" + Alas, as has been said with a truth that daily experience proves to those + whom pity and self-knowledge have made most indulgent, as to those whom + pinched maxims have made most rigorous,—<i>morality is the nature of + things</i>.<a name="FNanchor233" id="FNanchor233"></a><a + href="#Footnote_233">[233]</a> We may have a humane tenderness for our + Manon Lescaut, but we have a deep presentiment all the time that the poor + soul must die in a penal settlement. It is partly a question of time; + whether death comes fast enough to sweep you out of reach of the penalties + which the nature of things may appoint, but which in their fiercest shape + are mostly of the loitering kind. Death was unkind to Madame de Warens, + and the unhappy creature lived long enough to find that morality does mean + something after all; that the old hoary world has not fixed on prudence in + the outlay of money as a good thing, out of avarice or pedantic dryness of + heart; nor on some continence and order in the relations of men and<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.218" id="Page_i.218">[i.218]</a></span> + women as a good thing, out of cheerless grudge to the body, but because + the breach of such virtues is ever in the long run deadly to mutual trust, + to strength, to freedom, to collectedness, which are the reserve of + humanity against days of ordeal. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau says that he tried hard to prevail upon his fallen benefactress + to leave Savoy, to come and take up her abode peacefully with him, while + he and Theresa would devote their days to making her happy. He had not + forgotten her in the little glimpse of prosperity; he had sent her money + when he had it.<a name="FNanchor234" id="FNanchor234"></a><a + href="#Footnote_234">[234]</a> She was sunk in indigence, for her pension + had long been forestalled, but still she refused to change her home. While + Rousseau was at Geneva she came to see him. "She lacked money to + complete her journey; I had not enough about me; I sent it to her an hour + afterwards by Theresa. Poor Maman! Let me relate this trait of her heart. + The only trinket she had left was a small ring; she took it from her + finger to place it on Theresa's, who instantly put it back, as she kissed + the noble hand and bathed it with her tears." In after years he + poured bitter reproaches upon himself for not quitting all to attach his + lot to hers until her last hour, and he professes always to have been + haunted by the liveliest and most enduring remorse.<a name="FNanchor235" + id="FNanchor235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235">[235]</a> Here is the worst + of measuring duty by sensation instead of principle; if the sensations + happen not to be in right order at the critical moment, the chance goes + by, never to return, and then, as memory<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.219" id="Page_i.219">[i.219]</a></span> in the best of such + temperaments is long though not without intermittence, old sentiment + revives and drags the man into a burning pit. Rousseau appears not to have + seen her again, but the thought of her remained with him to the end, like + a soft vesture fragrant with something of the sweet mysterious perfume of + many-scented night in the silent garden at Charmettes. She died in a hovel + eight years after this, sunk in disease, misery, and neglect, and was put + away in the cemetery on the heights above Chambéri.<a + name="FNanchor236" id="FNanchor236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236">[236]</a> + Rousseau consoled himself with thoughts of another world that should + reunite him to her and be the dawn of new happiness; like a man who should + illusorily confound the last glistening of a wintry sunset seen through + dark yew-branches, with the broad-beaming strength of the summer morning. + "If I thought," he said, "that I should not see her in the + other life, my poor imagination would shrink from the idea of perfect + bliss, which I would fain promise myself in it."<a name="FNanchor237" + id="FNanchor237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237">[237]</a> To pluck so + gracious a flower of hope on the edge of the sombre unechoing gulf of + nothingness into which our friend has slid silently down, is a natural + impulse of the sensitive soul, numbing remorse and giving a moment's + relief to the hunger and thirst of a tenderness that has been robbed of + its object. Yet would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.220" + id="Page_i.220">[i.220]</a></span> not men be more likely to have a deeper + love for those about them, and a keener dread of filling a house with + aching hearts, if they courageously realised from the beginning of their + days that we have none of this perfect companionable bliss to promise + ourselves in other worlds, that the black and horrible grave is indeed the + end of our communion, and that we know one another no more? + </p> + <p> + The first interview between Rousseau and Madame de Warens was followed by + his ludicrous conversion to Catholicism (1728); the last was contemporary + with his re-conversion to the faith in which he had been reared. The sight + of Geneva gave new fire to his Republican enthusiasm; he surrendered + himself to transports of patriotic zeal. The thought of the Parisian world + that he had left behind, its frivolity, its petulance, its disputation + over all things in heaven and on the earth, its profound deadness to all + civic activity, quickened his admiration for the simple, industrious, and + independent community from which he never forgot that he was sprung. But + no Catholic could enjoy the rights of citizenship. So Rousseau proceeded + to reflect that the Gospel is the same for all Christians, and the + substance of dogma only differs, because people interposed with + explanations of what they could not understand; that therefore it is in + each country the business of the sovereign to fix both the worship and the + amount and quality of unintelligible dogma; that consequently it is the + citizen's duty to admit the dogma, and follow the worship by law<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.221" id="Page_i.221">[i.221]</a></span> + appointed. "The society of the Encyclopædists, far from shaking + my faith, had confirmed it by my natural aversion for partisanship and + controversy. The reading of the Bible, especially of the Gospel, to which + I had applied myself for several years, had made me despise the low and + childish interpretation put upon the words of Christ by the people who + were least worthy to understand him. In a word, philosophy by drawing me + towards the essential in religion, had drawn me away from that stupid mass + of trivial formulas with which men had overlaid and darkened it."<a + name="FNanchor238" id="FNanchor238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238">[238]</a> + We may be sure that if Rousseau had a strong inclination towards a given + course of action, he would have no difficulty in putting his case in a + blaze of the brightest light, and surrounding it with endless emblems and + devices of superlative conviction. In short, he submitted himself + faithfully to the instruction of the pastor of his parish; was closely + catechised by a commission of members of the consistory; received from + them a certificate that he had satisfied the requirements of doctrine in + all points; was received to partake of the Communion, and finally restored + to all his rights as a citizen.<a name="FNanchor239" id="FNanchor239"></a><a + href="#Footnote_239">[239]</a> + </p> + <p> + This was no farce, such as Voltaire played now and again at the expense of + an unhappy bishop or unhappier parish priest; nor such as Rousseau himself + had played six-and-twenty years before, at the expense of those honest + Catholics of Turin whose helpful dona<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.222" id="Page_i.222">[i.222]</a></span>tion of twenty francs + had marked their enthusiasm over a soul that had been lost and was found + again. He was never a Catholic, any more than he was ever an atheist, and + if it might be said in one sense that he was no more a Protestant than he + was either of these two, yet he was emphatically the child of + Protestantism. It is hardly too much to say that one bred in Catholic + tradition and observance, accustomed to think of the whole life of men as + only a manifestation of the unbroken life of the Church, and of all the + several communities of men as members of that great organisation which + binds one order to another, and each generation to those that have gone + before and those that come after, would never have dreamed that monstrous + dream of a state of nature as a state of perfection. He would never have + held up to ridicule and hate the idea of society as an organism with + normal parts and conditions of growth, and never have left the spirit of + man standing in bald isolation from history, from his fellows, from a + Church, from a mediator, face to face with the great vague phantasm. Nor, + on the other hand, is it likely that one born and reared in the religious + school of authority with its elaborately disciplined hierarchy, would have + conceived that passion for political freedom, that zeal for the rights of + peoples against rulers, that energetic enthusiasm for a free life, which + constituted the fire and essence of Rousseau's writing. As illustration of + this, let us remark how Rousseau's teaching fared when it fell upon a + Catholic country like France: so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.223" + id="Page_i.223">[i.223]</a></span> many of its principles were assimilated + by the revolutionary schools as were wanted for violent dissolvents, while + the rest dropped away, and in this rejected portion was precisely the most + vital part of his system. In other words, in no country has the power of + collective organisation been so pressed and exalted as in revolutionised + France, and in no country has the free life of the individual been made to + count for so little. With such force does the ancient system of temporal + and spiritual organisation reign in the minds of those who think most + confidently that they have cast it wholly out of them. The use of reason + may lead a man far, but it is the past that has cut the groove. + </p> + <p> + In re-embracing the Protestant confession, therefore, Rousseau was not + leaving Catholicism, to which he had never really passed over; he was only + undergoing in entire gravity of spirit a formality which reconciled him + with his native city, and reunited those strands of spiritual connection + with it which had never been more than superficially parted. There can be + little doubt that the four months which he spent in Geneva in 1754 marked + a very critical time in the formation of some of the most memorable of his + opinions. He came from Paris full of inarticulate and smouldering + resentment against the irreverence and denial of the materialistic circle + which used to meet at the house of D'Holbach. What sort of opinions he + found prevailing among the most enlightened of the Genevese pastors we + know from an abundance of sources. D'Alembert had three or four years + later<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.224" id="Page_i.224">[i.224]</a></span> + than this to suffer a bitter attack from them, but the account of the + creed of some of the ministers which he gave in his article on Geneva in + the Encyclopedia, was substantially correct. "Many of them," he + wrote, "have ceased to believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. Hell, + one of the principal points in our belief, is no longer one with many of + the Genevese pastors, who contend that it is an insult to the Divinity to + imagine that a being full of goodness and justice can be capable of + punishing our faults by an eternity of torment. In a word, they have no + other creed than pure Socinianism, rejecting everything that they call + mysteries, and supposing the first principle of a true religion to be that + it shall propose nothing for belief which clashes with reason. Religion + here is almost reduced to the adoration of one single God, at least among + nearly all who do not belong to the common people; and a certain respect + for Jesus Christ and the Scriptures is nearly the only thing that + distinguishes the Christianity of Geneva from pure Deism."<a + name="FNanchor240" id="FNanchor240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240">[240]</a> + And it would be easy to trace the growth of these rationalising + tendencies. Throughout the seventeenth century men sprang up who + anticipated some of the rationalistic arguments of the eighteenth, in + denying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.225" id="Page_i.225">[i.225]</a></span> + the Trinity, and so forth,<a name="FNanchor241" id="FNanchor241"></a><a + href="#Footnote_241">[241]</a> but the time was not then ripe. The general + conditions grew more favourable. Burnet, who was at Geneva in 1685-6, says + that though there were not many among the Genevese of the first form of + learning, "yet almost everybody here has a good tincture of a learned + education."<a name="FNanchor242" id="FNanchor242"></a><a + href="#Footnote_242">[242]</a> The pacification of civic troubles in 1738 + was followed by a quarter of a century of extreme prosperity and + contentment, and it is in such periods that the minds of men previously + trained are wont to turn to the great matters of speculation. There was at + all times a constant communication, both public and private, going on + between Geneva and Holland, as was only natural between the two chief + Protestant centres of the Continent. The controversy of the seventeenth + century between the two churches was as keenly followed in Geneva as at + Leyden, and there is more than one Genevese writer who deserves a place in + the history of the transition in the beginning of the eighteenth century + from theology proper to that metaphysical theology, which was the first + marked dissolvent of dogma within the Protestant bodies. To this general + movement of the epoch, of course, Descartes supplied the first impulse. + The leader of the movement in Geneva, that is of an attempt to pacify the + Christian churches on the basis of some such Deism as was shortly to find + its passionate ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.226" id="Page_i.226">[i.226]</a></span>pression + in the Savoyard Vicar's Confession of Faith, was John Alphonse Turretini + (1661-1737). He belonged to a family of Italian refugees from Lucca, and + his grandfather had been sent on a mission to Holland for aid in defence + of Geneva against Catholic Savoy. He went on his travels in 1692; he + visited Holland, where he saw Bayle, and England, where he saw Newton, and + France, where he saw Bossuet. Chouet initiated him into the mysteries of + Descartes. All this bore fruit when he returned home, and his eloquent + exposition of rationalistic ideas aroused the usual cry of heresy from the + people who justly insist that Deism is not Christianity. There was much + stir for many years, but he succeeded in holding his own and in finding + many considerable followers.<a name="FNanchor243" id="FNanchor243"></a><a + href="#Footnote_243">[243]</a> For example, some three years or so after + his death, a work appeared in Geneva under the title of <i>La Religion + Essentielle a l'Homme</i>, showing that faith in the existence of a God + suffices, and treating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.227" + id="Page_i.227">[i.227]</a></span> with contempt the belief in the + inspiration of the Gospels.<a name="FNanchor244" id="FNanchor244"></a><a + href="#Footnote_244">[244]</a> + </p> + <p> + Thus we see what vein of thought was running through the graver and more + active minds of Geneva about the time of Rousseau's visit. Whether it be + true or not that the accepted belief of many of the preachers was a pure + Deism, it is certain that the theory was fully launched among them, and + that those who could not accept it were still pressed to refute it, and in + refuting, to discuss. Rousseau's friendships were according to his own + account almost entirely among the ministers of religion and the professors + of the academy, precisely the sort of persons who would be most sure to + familiarise him, in the course of frequent conversations, with the current + religious ideas and the arguments by which they were opposed or upheld. We + may picture the effect on his mind of the difference in tone and temper in + these grave, candid, and careful men, and the tone of his Parisian friends + in discussing the same high themes; how this difference would strengthen + his repugnance, and corroborate his own inborn spirit of veneration; how + he would here feel himself in his own world. For as wise men have noticed, + it is not so much difference of opinion that stirs resentment in us, at + least in great subjects where the difference is not trivial but profound, + as difference in gravity of humour and manner of moral approach. He + returned to Paris (Oct. 1754) warm with the resolution to give up his + concerns<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.228" id="Page_i.228">[i.228]</a></span> + there, and in the spring go back once and for all to the city of liberty + and virtue, where men revered wisdom and reason instead of wasting life in + the frivolities of literary dialectic.<a name="FNanchor245" + id="FNanchor245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245">[245]</a> + </p> + <p> + The project, however, grew cool. The dedication of his Discourse on + Inequality to the Republic was received with indifference by some and + indignation by others.<a name="FNanchor246" id="FNanchor246"></a><a + href="#Footnote_246">[246]</a> Nobody thought it a compliment, and some + thought it an impertinence. This was one reason which turned his purpose + aside. Another was the fact that the illustrious Voltaire now also signed + himself Swiss, and boasted that if he shook his wig the powder flew over + the whole of the tiny Republic. Rousseau felt certain that Voltaire would + make a revolution in Geneva, and that he should find in his native country + the tone, the air, the manners which were driving him from Paris. From + that moment he counted Geneva lost. Perhaps he ought to make head against + the disturber, but what could he do alone, timid and bad talker as he was, + against a man arrogant, rich, supported by the credit of the great, of + brilliant eloquence, and already the very idol of women and young men?<a + name="FNanchor247" id="FNanchor247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247">[247]</a> + Perhaps it would not be uncharitable to suspect that this was a reason + after the event, for no man was ever so fond as Rousseau, or so clever a + master in the art, of covering an accident in a fine envelope of + principle, and, as we shall see,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.229" + id="Page_i.229">[i.229]</a></span> he was at this time writing to Voltaire + in strains of effusive panegyric. In this case he almost tells us that the + one real reason why he did not return to Geneva was that he found a + shelter from Paris close at hand. Even before then he had begun to + conceive characteristic doubts whether his fellow-citizens at Geneva would + not be nearly as hostile to his love of living solitarily and after his + own fashion as the good people of Paris. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau has told us a pretty story, how one day he and Madame d'Epinay + wandering about the park came upon a dilapidated lodge surrounded by fruit + gardens, in the skirts of the forest of Montmorency; how he exclaimed in + delight at its solitary charm that here was the very place of refuge made + for him; and how on a second visit he found that his good friend had in + the interval had the old lodge pulled down, and replaced by a pretty + cottage exactly arranged for his own household. "My poor bear," + she said, "here is your place of refuge; it was you who chose it, + 'tis friendship offers it; I hope it will drive away your cruel notion of + going from me."<a name="FNanchor248" id="FNanchor248"></a><a + href="#Footnote_248">[248]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.230" + id="Page_i.230">[i.230]</a></span> Though moved to tears by such kindness, + Rousseau did not decide on the spot, but continued to waver for some time + longer between this retreat and return to Geneva. + </p> + <p> + In the interval Madame d'Epinay had experience of the character she was + dealing with. She wrote to Rousseau pressing him to live at the cottage in + the forest, and begging him to allow her to assist him in assuring the + moderate annual provision which he had once accidentally declared to mark + the limit of his wants.<a name="FNanchor249" id="FNanchor249"></a><a + href="#Footnote_249">[249]</a> He wrote to her bitterly in reply, that her + proposition struck ice into his soul, and that she could have but sorry + appreciation of her own interests in thus seeking to turn a friend into a + valet. He did not refuse to listen to what she proposed, if only she would + remember that neither he nor his sentiments were for sale.<a + name="FNanchor250" id="FNanchor250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250">[250]</a> + Madame d'Epinay wrote to him patiently enough in return, and then Rousseau + hastened to explain that his vocabulary needed special appreciation, and + that he meant by the word valet "the degradation into which the + repudiation of his principles would throw his soul. The independence I + seek is not immunity from work; I am firm for winning my own bread, I take + pleasure in it; but I mean not to subject myself to any other duty, if I + can help it. I will never pledge any portion of my liberty, either for my + own subsistence or that of any one else. I intend to work, but at my own + will and pleasure, and even to do nothing, if it happens to<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.231" id="Page_i.231">[i.231]</a></span> + suit me, without any one finding fault except my stomach."<a + name="FNanchor251" id="FNanchor251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251">[251]</a> + We may call this unamiable, if we please, but in a frivolous world + amiability can hardly go with firm resolve to live an independent life + after your own fashion. The many distasteful sides of Rousseau's character + ought not to hinder us from admiring his steadfastness in refusing to + sacrifice his existence to the first person who spoke him civilly. We may + wish there had been more of rugged simplicity in his way of dealing with + temptations to sell his birthright for a mess of pottage; less of mere + irritability. But then this irritability is one side of soft temperament. + The soft temperament is easily agitated, and this unpleasant disturbance + does not stir up true anger nor lasting indignation, but only sends quick + currents of eager irritation along the sufferer's nerves. Rousseau, + quivering from head to foot with self-consciousness, is sufficiently + unlike our plain Johnson, the strong-armoured; yet persistent withstanding + of the patron is as worthy of our honour in one instance as in the other. + Indeed, resistance to humiliating pressure is harder for such a temper as + Rousseau's, in which deliberate endeavour is needed, than it is for the + naturally stoical spirit which asserts itself spontaneously and rises + without effort. + </p> + <p> + When our born solitary, wearied of Paris and half afraid of the too + friendly importunity of Geneva, at length determined to accept Madame + d'Epinay's offer of the Hermitage on conditions which left him an<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.232" id="Page_i.232">[i.232]</a></span> + entire sentiment of independence of movement and freedom from all sense of + pecuniary obligation, he was immediately exposed to a very copious torrent + of pleasantry and remonstrance from the highly social circle who met round + D'Holbach's dinner-table. They deemed it sheer midsummer madness, or even + a sign of secret depravity, to quit their cheerful world for the dismal + solitude of woods and fields. "Only the bad man is alone," wrote + Diderot in words which Rousseau kept resentfully in his memory as long as + he lived. The men and women of the eighteenth century had no comprehension + of solitude, the strength which it may impart to the vigorous, the poetic + graces which it may shed about the life of those who are less than + vigorous; and what they did not comprehend, they dreaded and abhorred, and + thought monstrous in the one man who did comprehend it. They were all of + the mind of Socrates when he said to Phædrus, "Knowledge is what + I love, and the men who dwell in the town are my teachers, not trees and + landscape."<a name="FNanchor252" id="FNanchor252"></a><a + href="#Footnote_252">[252]</a> Sarcasms fell on him like hail, and the + prophecies usual in cases where a stray soul does not share the common + tastes of the herd. He would never be able to live without the incense and + the amusements of the town; he would be back in a fortnight; he would + throw up the whole enterprise within three months.<a name="FNanchor253" + id="FNanchor253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253">[253]</a> Amid a shower of + such words, springing from men's perverse blindness to the binding + propriety of keeping all propositions as to what<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.233" id="Page_i.233">[i.233]</a></span> is the best way of + living in respect of place, hours, companionship, strictly relative to + each individual case, Rousseau stubbornly shook the dust of the city from + off his feet, and sought new life away from the stridulous hum of men. + Perhaps we are better pleased to think of the unwearied Diderot spending + laborious days in factories and quarries and workshops and forges, while + friendly toilers patiently explained to him the structure of stocking + looms and velvet looms, the processes of metal-casting and wire-drawing + and slate-cutting, and all the other countless arts and ingenuities of + fabrication, which he afterwards reproduced to a wondering age in his + spacious and magnificent repertory of human thought, knowledge, and + practical achievement. And it is yet more elevating to us to think of the + true stoic, the great high-souled Turgot, setting forth a little later to + discharge beneficent duty in the hard field of his distant Limousin + commissionership, enduring many things and toiling late and early for long + years, that the burden of others might be lighter, and the welfare of the + land more assured. But there are many paths for many men, and if only + magnanimous self-denial has the power of inspiration, and can move us with + the deep thrill of the heroic, yet every truthful protest, even of + excessive personality, against the gregarious trifling of life in the + social groove, has a side which it is not ill for us to consider, and + perhaps for some men and women in every generation to seek to imitate. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_201" id="Footnote_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor201">[201]</a> + <i>Rép. à M. Bordes</i>, 163. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_202" id="Footnote_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor202">[202]</a> + Pictet de Sergy., i. 18. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_203" id="Footnote_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor203">[203]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, iv. 248. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_204" id="Footnote_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor204">[204]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> ix. 279. Also <i>Economie Politique</i>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_205" id="Footnote_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor205">[205]</a> + Madame de la Popelinière, whose adventures and the misadventures of + her husband are only too well known to the reader of Marmontel's Memoirs. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_206" id="Footnote_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor206">[206]</a> + The passages relating to income during his first residence in Paris + (1744-1756) are at pp. 119, 145, 153, 165, 200, 227, in Books vii.-ix. of + the <i>Confessions</i>. Rousseau told Bernardin de St. Pierre (<i>Oeuv.</i>, + xii. 74) that Emile was sold for 7000 livres. In the <i>Confessions</i> + (xi. 126), he says 6000 livres, and one or two hundred copies. It may be + worth while to add that Diderot and D'Alembert received 1200 livres a year + apiece for editing the Encyclopædia. Sterne received £650 for + two volumes of <i>Tristram Shandy</i> in 1780. Walpole's <i>Letters</i>, + in. 298. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_207" id="Footnote_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor207">[207]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 154-157. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_208" id="Footnote_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor208">[208]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> viii. 160. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_209" id="Footnote_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor209">[209]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 160, 161. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_210" id="Footnote_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor210">[210]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> viii. 159. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_211" id="Footnote_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor211">[211]</a> + <i>Réveries</i>, iii 168. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_212" id="Footnote_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor212">[212]</a> + <i>Rêveries</i>, iii. 166. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_213" id="Footnote_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor213">[213]</a> + See the <i>Epître à Mdme. la Marquise du Châtelet, sur la + Calomnie</i>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_214" id="Footnote_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor214">[214]</a> + <i>La Femme au 18ième siècle</i>, par MM. de Goncourt, p. 40. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_215" id="Footnote_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor215">[215]</a> + Madame d'Epinay's <i>Mém.</i>, i. 295. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_216" id="Footnote_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor216">[216]</a> + Quoted in Goncourt's <i>Femme au 18ième siècle</i>, p. 378. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_217" id="Footnote_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor217">[217]</a> + <i>Ib.</i>, p. 337. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_218" id="Footnote_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor218">[218]</a> + Mdlle. L'Espinasse's <i>Letters</i>, ii. 89. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_219" id="Footnote_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor219">[219]</a> + Madame d'Epinay's <i>Mém.</i>, ii. 47, 48. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_220" id="Footnote_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor220">[220]</a> + <i>Ib.</i>, ii. 55. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_221" id="Footnote_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor221">[221]</a> + <i>Mém.</i>, Bk. iv. 327. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_222" id="Footnote_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor222">[222]</a> + <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, iii. 58. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_223" id="Footnote_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor223">[223]</a> + <i>Ib.</i>, 54. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_224" id="Footnote_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor224">[224]</a> + Madame d'Epinay's <i>Mém.</i>, i. 378-381. Saint Lambert formulated + his atheism afterwards in the <i>Catéchisme Universel</i>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_225" id="Footnote_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor225">[225]</a> + Madame d'Epinay's <i>Mém.</i>, i. 443. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_226" id="Footnote_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor226">[226]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 317. Sept. 14, 1756. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_227" id="Footnote_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor227">[227]</a> + Letter to Madame de Créqui, 1752. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 171. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_228" id="Footnote_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor228">[228]</a> + <i>Conf</i>,., vii. 104. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_229" id="Footnote_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor229">[229]</a> + The <i>Devin du Village</i> was played at Fontainebleau on October 18, + 1752, and at the Opera in Paris in March 1753. Madame de Pompadour took a + part in it in a private performance. See Rousseau's note to her, <i>Corr.</i>, + i. 178. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_230" id="Footnote_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor230">[230]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 190. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_231" id="Footnote_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor231">[231]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 183. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_232" id="Footnote_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor232">[232]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 202; and Musset-Pathay, ii. 439. When in Strasburg, in + 1765, he could not bring himself to be present at its representation. <i>Oeuv. + et Corr. Inéd.</i>, p. 434. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_233" id="Footnote_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor233">[233]</a> + Madame de Staël insisted that her father said this, and Necker + insisted that it was his daughter's. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_234" id="Footnote_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor234">[234]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 176. Feb. 13, 1753. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_235" id="Footnote_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor235">[235]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 208-210. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_236" id="Footnote_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor236">[236]</a> + She died on July 30, 1762, aged "about sixty-three years." + Arthur Young, visiting Chambéri in 1789, with some trouble procured + the certificate of her death, which may be found in his <i>Travels</i>, i. + 272. See a letter of M. de Conzié to Rousseau, in M. + Streckeisen-Moultou's collection, ii. 445. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_237" id="Footnote_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor237">[237]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, xii. 233. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_238" id="Footnote_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor238">[238]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 210. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_239" id="Footnote_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor239">[239]</a> + Gaberel's <i>Rousseau et les Genevois</i>, p. 62. <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 212. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_240" id="Footnote_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor240">[240]</a> + The venerable Company of Pastors and Professors of the Church and Academy + of Geneva appointed a committee, as in duty bound, to examine these + allegations, and the committee, equally in duty bound, reported (Feb. 10, + 1758) with mild indignation, that they were unfounded, and that the flock + was untainted by unseasonable use of its mind. See on this Rousseau's <i>Lettres + écrites de la Montagne</i>, ii. 231. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_241" id="Footnote_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor241">[241]</a> + See Picot's <i>Hist. de Genève</i>, ii. 415. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_242" id="Footnote_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor242">[242]</a> + <i>Letters containing an account of Switzerland, Italy, etc., in 1685-86.</i> + By G. Burnet, p. 9. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_243" id="Footnote_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor243">[243]</a> + J.A. Turretini's complete works were published as late as 1776, including + among much besides that no longer interests men, an <i>Oratio de + Scientiarum Vanitate et Proestantia</i> (vol. iii. 437), not at all in the + vein of Rousseau's Discourse, and a treatise in four parts, <i>De Legibus + Naturalibus</i>, in which, among other matters, he refutes Hobbes and + assails the doctrine of Utility (i. 173, etc.), by limiting its definition + to <span lang="el" title="Greek: to pros heauton">το προς + εαυτον</span> in its narrowest sense. He + appears to have been a student of Spinoza (i. 326). Francis Turretini, his + father, took part in the discussion as to the nature of the treaty or + contract between God and man, in a piece entitled <i>Foedus Naturæ a + primo homine ruptum, ejusque Proevaricationem posteris imputatam</i> + (1675). + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_244" id="Footnote_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor244">[244]</a> + Gaberel's <i>Eglise de Genève</i>, iii. 188. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_245" id="Footnote_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor245">[245]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 223 (to Vernes, April 5, 1755). + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_246" id="Footnote_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor246">[246]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 215, 216. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 218 (to Perdriau, Nov. 28, + 1754). + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_247" id="Footnote_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor247">[247]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 218. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_248" id="Footnote_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor248">[248]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 217. It is worth noticing as bearing on the accuracy + of the Confessions, that Madame d'Epinay herself (<i>Mém.</i>, ii. + 115) says that when she began to prepare the Hermitage for Rousseau he had + never been there, and that she was careful to lead him to believe that the + expense had not been incurred for him. Moreover her letter to him + describing it could only have been written to one who had not seen it, and + though her Memoirs are full of sheer imagination and romance, the + documents in them are substantially authentic, and this letter is shown to + be so by Rousseau's reply to it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_249" id="Footnote_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor249">[249]</a> + <i>Mém.</i>, ii. 116. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_250" id="Footnote_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor250">[250]</a> + <i>Corr.</i> (1755), i. 242. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_251" id="Footnote_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor251">[251]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 245. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_252" id="Footnote_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor252">[252]</a> + <i>Phædrus</i>, 230. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_253" id="Footnote_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor253">[253]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 221, etc. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.234" id="Page_i.234">[i.234]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VII." id="CHAPTER_VII."></a>CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <h3> + THE HERMITAGE. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">It</span> would have been a strange anachronism if the + decade of the Encyclopædia and the Seven Years' War had reproduced + one of those scenes which are as still resting-places amid the ceaseless + forward tramp of humanity, where some holy man turned away from the world, + and with adorable seriousness sought communion with the divine in + mortification of flesh and solitude of spirit. Those were the retreats of + firm hope and beatified faith. The hope and faith of the eighteenth + century were centred in action, not in contemplation, and the few + solitaries of that epoch, as well as of another nearer to our own, fled + away from the impotence of their own will, rather than into the haven of + satisfied conviction and clear-eyed acceptance. Only one of them—Wordsworth, + the poetic hermit of our lakes—impresses us in any degree like one + of the great individualities of the ages when men not only craved for the + unseen, but felt the closeness of its presence over their heads and about + their feet. The modern anchorite goes forth in the spirit of the preacher + who declared all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.235" id="Page_i.235">[i.235]</a></span> + the things that are under the sun to be vanity, not in the transport of + the saint who knew all the things that are under the sun to be no more + than the shadow of a dream in the light of a celestial brightness to come. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's mood, deeply tinged as it was by bitterness against society and + circumstance, still contained a strong positive element in his native + exultation in all natural objects and processes, which did not leave him + vacantly brooding over the evil of the world he had quitted. The + sensuousness that penetrated him kept his sympathy with life + extraordinarily buoyant, and all the eager projects for the disclosure of + a scheme of wisdom became for a time the more vividly desired, as the + general tide of desire flowed more fully within him. To be surrounded with + the simplicity of rural life was with him not only a stimulus, but an + essential condition to free intellectual energy. Many a time, he says, + when making excursions into the country with great people, "I was so + tired of fine rooms, fountains, artificial groves and flower beds, and the + still more tiresome people who displayed all these; I was so worn out with + pamphlets, card-playing, music, silly jokes, stupid airs, great suppers, + that as I spied a poor hawthorn copse, a hedge, a farmstead, a meadow, as + in passing through a hamlet I snuffed the odour of a good chervil + omelette, as I heard from a distance the rude refrain of the shepherd's + songs, I used to wish at the devil the whole tale of rouge and furbelows."<a + name="FNanchor254" id="FNanchor254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254">[254]</a> + He was no anchorite proper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.236" + id="Page_i.236">[i.236]</a></span> one weary of the world and waiting for + the end, but a man with a strong dislike for one kind of life and a keen + liking for another kind. He thought he was now about to reproduce the old + days of the Charmettes, true to his inveterate error that one may efface + years and accurately replace a past. He forgot that instead of the once + vivacious and tender benefactress who was now waiting for slow death in + her hovel, his house-mates would be a poor dull drudge and her vile + mother. He forgot, too, that since those days the various processes of + intellectual life had expanded within him, and produced a busy + fermentation which makes a man's surroundings very critical. Finally, he + forgot that in proportion as a man suffers the smooth course of his + thought to depend on anything external, whether on the greenness of the + field or the gaiety of the street or the constancy of friends, so comes he + nearer to chance of making shipwreck. Hence his tragedy, though the very + root of the tragedy lay deeper,—in temperament. + </p> + <h3> + I. + </h3> + <p> + Rousseau's impatience drove him into the country almost before the walls + of his little house were dry (April 9, 1756). "Although it was cold, + and snow still lay upon the ground, the earth began to show signs of life; + violets and primroses were to be seen; the buds on the trees were + beginning to shoot; and the very night of my arrival was marked by the + first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.237" id="Page_i.237">[i.237]</a></span> + song of the nightingale. I heard it close to my window in a wood that + touched the house. After a light sleep I awoke, forgetting that I was + transplanted; I thought myself still in the Rue de Grenelle, when in an + instant the warbling of the birds made me thrill with delight. My very + first care was to surrender myself to the impression of the rustic objects + about me. Instead of beginning by arranging things inside my quarters, I + first set about planning my walks, and there was not a path nor a copse + nor a grove round my cottage which I had not found out before the end of + the next day. The place, which was lonely rather than wild, transported me + in fancy to the end of the world, and no one could ever have dreamed that + we were only four leagues from Paris."<a name="FNanchor255" + id="FNanchor255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255">[255]</a> + </p> + <p> + This rural delirium, as he justly calls it, lasted for some days, at the + end of which he began seriously to apply himself to work. But work was too + soon broken off by a mood of vehement exaltation, produced by the stimulus + given to all his senses by the new world of delight in which he found + himself. This exaltation was in a different direction from that which had + seized him half a dozen years before, when he had discarded the usage and + costume of politer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.238" + id="Page_i.238">[i.238]</a></span> society, and had begun to conceive an + angry contempt for the manners, prejudices, and maxims of his time. + Restoration to a more purely sensuous atmosphere softened this austerity. + No longer having the vices of a great city before his eyes, he no longer + cherished the wrath which they had inspired in him. "When I did not + see men, I ceased to despise them; and when I had not the bad before my + eyes, I ceased to hate them. My heart, little made as it is for hate, now + did no more than deplore their wretchedness, and made no distinction + between their wretchedness and their badness. This state, so much more + mild, if much less sublime, soon dulled the glowing enthusiasm that had + long transported me."<a name="FNanchor256" id="FNanchor256"></a><a + href="#Footnote_256">[256]</a> That is to say, his nature remained for a + moment not exalted but fairly balanced. It was only for a moment. And in + studying the movements of impulse and reflection in him at this critical + time of his life, we are hurried rapidly from phase to phase. Once more we + are watching a man who lived without either intellectual or spiritual + direction, swayed by a reminiscence, a passing mood, a personality + accidentally encountered, by anything except permanent aim and fixed + objects, and who would at any time have surrendered the most deliberately + pondered scheme of persistent effort to the fascination of a cottage + slumbering in a bounteous landscape. Hence there could be no normally + composed state for him; the first soothing effect of the rich life of + forest and garden on a nature exasperated<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.239" id="Page_i.239">[i.239]</a></span> by the life of the + town passed away, and became transformed into an exaltation that swept the + stoic into space, leaving sensuousness to sovereign and uncontrolled + triumph, until the delight turned to its inevitable ashes and bitterness. + </p> + <p> + At first all was pure and delicious. In after times when pain made him + gloomily measure the length of the night, and when fever prevented him + from having a moment of sleep, he used to try to still his suffering by + recollection of the days that he had passed in the woods of Montmorency, + with his dog, the birds, the deer, for his companions. "As I got up + with the sun to watch his rising from my garden, if I saw the day was + going to be fine, my first wish was that neither letters nor visits might + come to disturb its charm. After having given the morning to divers tasks + which I fulfilled with all the more pleasure that I could put them off to + another time if I chose, I hastened to eat my dinner, so as to escape from + the importunate and make myself a longer afternoon. Before one o'clock, + even on days of fiercest heat, I used to start in the blaze of the sun, + along with my faithful Achates, hurrying my steps lest some one should lay + hold of me before I could get away. But when I had once passed a certain + corner, with what beating of the heart, with what radiant joy, did I begin + to breathe freely, as I felt myself safe and my own master for the rest of + the day! Then with easier pace I went in search of some wild and desert + spot in the forest, where there was nothing to show the hand of man,<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.240" id="Page_i.240">[i.240]</a></span> or + to speak of servitude and domination; some refuge where I could fancy + myself its discoverer, and where no inopportune third person came to + interfere between nature and me. She seemed to spread out before my eyes a + magnificence that was always new. The gold of the broom and the purple of + the heather struck my eyes with a glorious splendour that went to my very + heart; the majesty of the trees that covered me with their shadow, the + delicacy of the shrubs that surrounded me, the astonishing variety of + grasses and flowers that I trod under foot, kept my mind in a continual + alternation of attention and delight.... My imagination did not leave the + earth thus superbly arrayed without inhabitants. I formed a charming + society, of which I did not feel myself unworthy; I made a golden age to + please my own fancy, and filling up these fair days with all those scenes + of my life that had left sweet memories behind, and all that my heart + could yet desire or hope in scenes to come, I waxed tender even to + shedding tears over the true pleasures of humanity, pleasures so + delicious, so pure, and henceforth so far from the reach of men. Ah, if in + such moments any ideas of Paris, of the age, of my little aureole as + author, came to trouble my dreams, with what disdain did I drive them out, + to deliver myself without distraction to the exquisite sentiments of which + I was so full. Yet in the midst of it all, the nothingness of my chimeras + sometimes broke sadly upon my mind. Even if every dream had suddenly been + transformed into reality, it would not<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.241" id="Page_i.241">[i.241]</a></span> have been enough; I + should have dreamed, imagined, yearned still." Alas, this deep + insatiableness of sense, the dreary vacuity of soul that follows fulness + of animal delight, the restless exactingness of undirected imagination, + was never recognised by Rousseau distinctly enough to modify either his + conduct or his theory of life. He filled up the void for a short space by + that sovereign aspiration, which changed the dead bones of old theology + into the living figure of a new faith. "From the surface of the earth + I raised my ideas to all the existences in nature, to the universal system + of things, to the incomprehensible Being who embraces all. Then with mind + lost in that immensity, I did not think, I did not reason, I did not + philosophise; with a sort of pleasure I felt overwhelmed by the weight of + the universe, I surrendered myself to the ravishing confusion of these + vast ideas. I loved to lose myself in imagination in immeasurable space; + within the limits of real existences my heart was too tightly compressed; + in the universe I was stifled; I would fain have launched myself into the + infinite. I believe that if I had unveiled all the mysteries of nature, I + should have found myself in a less delicious situation than that + bewildering ecstasy to which my mind so unreservedly delivered itself, and + which sometimes transported me until I cried out, 'O mighty Being! O + mighty Being!' without power of any other word or thought."<a + name="FNanchor257" id="FNanchor257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257">[257]</a> + </p> + <p> + It is not wholly insignificant that though he could<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.242" id="Page_i.242">[i.242]</a></span> thus expand his soul + with ejaculatory delight in something supreme, he could not endure the + sight of one of his fellow-creatures. "If my gaiety lasted the whole + night, that showed that I had passed the day alone; I was very different + after I had seen people, for I was rarely content with others and never + with myself. Then in the evening I was sure to be in taciturn or scolding + humour." It is not in every condition that effervescent passion for + ideal forms of the religious imagination assists sympathy with the real + beings who surround us. And to this let us add that there are natures in + which all deep emotion is so entirely associated with the ideal, that real + and particular manifestations of it are repugnant to them as something + alien; and this without the least insincerity, though with a vicious and + disheartening inconsistency. Rousseau belonged to this class, and loved + man most when he saw men least. Bad as this was, it does not justify us in + denouncing his love of man as artificial; it was one side of an ideal + exaltation, which stirred the depths of his spirit with a force as genuine + as that which is kindled in natures of another type by sympathy with the + real and concrete, with the daily walk and conversation and actual doings + and sufferings of the men and women whom we know. The fermentation which + followed his arrival at the Hermitage, in its first form produced a number + of literary schemes. The idea of the Political Institutions, first + conceived at Venice, pressed upon his meditations. He had been earnestly + requested to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.243" id="Page_i.243">[i.243]</a></span> + compose a treatise on education. Besides this, his thoughts wandered + confusedly round the notion of a treatise to be called Sensitive Morality, + or the Materialism of the Sage, the object of which was to examine the + influence of external agencies, such as light, darkness, sound, seasons, + food, noise, silence, motion, rest, on our corporeal machine, and thus + indirectly upon the soul also. By knowing these and acquiring the art of + modifying them according to our individual needs, we should become surer + of ourselves and fix a deeper constancy in our lives. An external system + of treatment would thus be established, which would place and keep the + soul in the condition most favourable to virtue.<a name="FNanchor258" + id="FNanchor258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258">[258]</a> Though the treatise + was never completed, and the sketch never saw the light, we perceive at + least that Rousseau would have made the means of access to character wide + enough, and the material influences that impress it and produce its + caprices, multitudinous enough, instead of limiting them with the medical + specialist to one or two organs, and one or two of the conditions that + affect them. Nor, on the other hand, do the words in which he sketches his + project in the least justify the attribution to him of the doctrine of the + absolute power of the physical constitution over the moral habits, whether + that doctrine would be a credit or a discredit to his philosophical + thoroughness of perception. No one denies the influence of external + conditions on the moral habits, and Rousseau says no more than that he<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.244" id="Page_i.244">[i.244]</a></span> + proposed to consider the extent and the modifiableness of this influence. + It was not then deemed essential for a spiritualist thinker to ignore + physical organisation. + </p> + <p> + A third undertaking of a more substantial sort was to arrange and edit the + papers and printed works of the Abbé de Saint Pierre (1658-1743), + confided to him through the agency of Saint Lambert, and partly also of + Madame Dupin, the warm friend of that singular and good man.<a + name="FNanchor259" id="FNanchor259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259">[259]</a> + This task involved reading, considering, and picking extracts from + twenty-three diffuse and chaotic volumes, full of prolixity and + repetition. Rousseau, dreamer as he was, yet had quite keenness of + perception enough to discern the weakness of a dreamer of another sort; + and he soon found out that the Abbé de Saint Pierre's views were + impracticable, in consequence of the author's fixed idea that men are + guided rather by their lights than by their passions. In fact, Saint + Pierre was penetrated with the eighteenth-century faith to a peculiar + degree. As with Condorcet afterwards, he was led by his admiration for the + extent of modern knowledge to adopt the principle that perfected reason is + capable of being made the base of all institutions, and would speedily + terminate all the great abuses of the world. "He went wrong," + says Rousseau, "not merely in having no other passion but that of + reason, but by insisting on making all men like himself, instead of taking + them as they are and as they will continue to be." The critic's own + error<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.245" id="Page_i.245">[i.245]</a></span> + in later days was not very different from this, save that it applied to + the medium in which men live, rather than to themselves, by refusing to + take complex societies as they are, even as starting-points for higher + attempts at organisation. Rousseau had occasionally seen the old man, and + he preserved the greatest veneration for his memory, speaking of him as + the honour of his age and race, with a fulness of enthusiasm very unusual + towards men, though common enough towards inanimate nature. The sincerity + of this respect, however, could not make the twenty-three volumes which + the good man had written, either fewer in number or lighter in contents, + and after dealing as well as he could with two important parts of Saint + Pierre's works, he threw up the task.<a name="FNanchor260" id="FNanchor260"></a><a + href="#Footnote_260">[260]</a> It must not be supposed that Rousseau would + allow that fatigue or tedium had anything to do with a resolve which + really needed no better justification. As we have seen before, he had + amazing skill in finding a certain ingeniously contrived largeness for his + motives. Saint Pierre's writings were full of observations on the + government of France, some of them remarkably bold in their criticism, but + he had not been punished for them because the ministers always looked upon<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.246" id="Page_i.246">[i.246]</a></span> + him as a kind of preacher rather than a genuine politician, and he was + allowed to say what he pleased, because it was observed that no one + listened to what he said. Besides, he was a Frenchman, and Rousseau was + not, and hence the latter, in publishing Saint Pierre's strictures on + French affairs, was exposing himself to a sharp question why he meddled + with a country that did not concern him. "It surprised me," says + Rousseau, "that the reflection had not occurred to me earlier," + but this coincidence of the discovery that the work was imprudent, with + the discovery that he was weary of it, will surprise nobody versed in + study of a man who lives in his sensations, and yet has vanity enough to + dislike to admit it. + </p> + <p> + The short remarks which Rousseau appended to his abridgment of Saint + Pierre's essays on Perpetual Peace, and on a Polysynodia, or Plurality of + Councils, are extremely shrewd and pointed, and would suffice to show us, + if there were nothing else to do so, the right kind of answer to make to + the more harmful dreams of the Social Contract. Saint Pierre's fault is + said, with entire truth, to be a failure to make his views relative to + men, to times, to circumstances; and there is something that startles us + when we think whose words we are reading, in the declaration that, "whether + an existing government be still that of old times, or whether it have + insensibly undergone a change of nature, it is equally imprudent to touch + it: if it is the same, it must be respected, and if it has degenerated, + that is due to the force of time and<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.247" id="Page_i.247">[i.247]</a></span> circumstance, and + human sagacity is powerless." Rousseau points to France, asking his + readers to judge the peril of once moving by an election the enormous + masses comprising the French monarchy; and in another place, after a wise + general remark on the futility of political machinery without men of a + certain character, he illustrates it by this scornful question: When you + see all Paris in a ferment about the rank of a dancer or a wit, and the + affairs of the academy or the opera making everybody forget the interest + of the ruler and the glory of the nation, what can you hope from bringing + political affairs close to such a people, and removing them from the court + to the town?<a name="FNanchor261" id="FNanchor261"></a><a + href="#Footnote_261">[261]</a> Indeed, there is perhaps not one of these + pages which Burke might not well have owned.<a name="FNanchor262" + id="FNanchor262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262">[262]</a> + </p> + <p> + A violent and prolonged crisis followed this not entirely unsuccessful + effort after sober and laborious meditation. Rousseau was now to find that + if society has its perils, so too has solitude, and that if there is evil + in frivolous complaisance for the puppet-work of a world that is only a + little serious, so there is evil in a passionate tenderness for phantoms + of an imaginary world that is not serious at all. To the pure or stoical + soul the solitude of the forest is strength, but then the imagination must + know the yoke. Rousseau's imagination, in no way of the strongest either + as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.248" id="Page_i.248">[i.248]</a></span> + receptive or inventive, was the free accomplice of his sensations. The + undisciplined force of animal sensibility gradually rose within him, like + a slowly welling flood. The spectacle does not either brighten or fortify + the student's mind, yet if there are such states, it is right that those + who care to speak of human nature should have an opportunity of knowing + its less glorious parts. They may be presumed to exist, though in less + violent degree, in many people whom we meet in the street and at the + table, and there can be nothing but danger in allowing ourselves to be so + narrowed by our own virtuousness, viciousness being conventionally + banished to the remoter region of the third person, as to forget the + presence of "the brute brain within the man's." In Rousseau's + case, at any rate, it was no wicked broth nor magic potion that "confused + the chemic labour of the blood," but the too potent wine of the + joyful beauty of nature herself, working misery in a mental structure that + no educating care nor envelope of circumstance had ever hardened against + her intoxication. Most of us are protected against this subtle debauch of + sensuous egoism by a cool organisation, while even those who are born with + senses and appetites of great strength and keenness, are guarded by + accumulated discipline of all kinds from without, especially by the + necessity for active industry which brings the most exaggerated native + sensibility into balance. It is the constant and rigorous social parade + which keeps the eager regiment of the senses from making furious rout.<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.249" id="Page_i.249">[i.249]</a></span> + Rousseau had just repudiated all social obligation, and he had never gone + through external discipline. He was at an age when passion that has never + been broken in has the beak of the bald vulture, tearing and gnawing a + man; but its first approach is in fair shapes. + </p> + <p> + Wandering and dreaming "in the sweetest season of the year, in the + month of June, under the fresh groves, with the song of the nightingale + and the soft murmuring of the brooks in his ear," he began to wonder + restlessly why he had never tasted in their plenitude the vivid sentiments + which he was conscious of possessing in reserve, or any of that + intoxicating delight which he felt potentially existent in his soul. Why + had he been created with faculties so exquisite, to be left thus unused + and unfruitful? The feeling of his own quality, with this of a certain + injustice and waste superadded, brought warm tears which he loved to let + flow. Visions of the past, from girl playmates of his youth down to the + Venetian courtesan, thronged in fluttering tumult into his brain. He saw + himself surrounded by a seraglio of houris whom he had known, until his + blood was all aflame and his head in a whirl. His imagination was kindled + into deadly activity. "The impossibility of reaching to the real + beings plunged me into the land of chimera; and seeing nothing actual that + rose to the height of my delirium, I nourished it in an ideal world, which + my creative imagination had soon peopled with beings after my heart's + desire. In my continual ecstasies, I<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.250" id="Page_i.250">[i.250]</a></span> made myself drunk + with torrents of the most delicious sentiments that ever entered the heart + of man. Forgetting absolutely the whole human race, I invented for myself + societies of perfect creatures, as heavenly for their virtues as their + beauties; sure, tender, faithful friends, such as I never found in our + nether world. I had such a passion for haunting this empyrean with all its + charming objects, that I passed hours and days in it without counting them + as they went by; and losing recollection of everything else, I had hardly + swallowed a morsel in hot haste, before I began to burn to run off in + search of my beloved groves. If, when I was ready to start for the + enchanted world, I saw unhappy mortals coming to detain me on the dull + earth, I could neither moderate nor hide my spleen, and, no longer master + over myself, I used to give them greeting so rough that it might well be + called brutal."<a name="FNanchor263" id="FNanchor263"></a><a + href="#Footnote_263">[263]</a> + </p> + <p> + This terrific malady was something of a very different kind from the + tranquil sensuousness of the days in Savoy, when the blood was young, and + life was not complicated with memories, and the sweet freshness of nature + made existence enough. Then his supreme expansion had been attended with a + kind of divine repose, and had found edifying voice in devout + acknowledgment in the exhilaration of the morning air of the goodness and + bounty of a beneficent master. In this later and more pitiable time the + beneficent master hid himself, and creation was<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.251" id="Page_i.251">[i.251]</a></span> only not a blank + because it was veiled by troops of sirens not in the flesh. Nature without + the association of some living human object, like Madame de Warens, was a + poison to Rousseau, until the advancing years which slowly brought decay + of sensual force thus brought the antidote. At our present point we see + one stricken with an ugly disease. It was almost mercy when he was laid up + with a sharp attack of the more painful, but far less absorbing and + frightful disorder, to which Rousseau was subject all his life long. It + gave pause to what he misnames his angelic loves. "Besides that one + can hardly think of love when suffering anguish, my imagination, which is + animated by the country and under the trees, languishes and dies in a room + and under roof-beams." This interval he employed with some + magnanimity, in vindicating the ways and economy of Providence, in the + letter to Voltaire which we shall presently examine. The moment he could + get out of doors again into the forest, the transport returned, but this + time accompanied with an active effort in the creative faculties of his + mind to bring the natural relief to these over-wrought paroxysms of + sensual imagination. He soothed his emotions by associating them with the + life of personages whom he invented, and by introducing into them that + play and movement and changing relation which prevented them from bringing + his days to an end in malodorous fever. The egoism of persistent invention + and composition was at least better than the egoism of mere unreflecting + ecstasy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.252" id="Page_i.252">[i.252]</a></span> + in the charm of natural objects, and took off something from the violent + excess of sensuous force. His thought became absorbed in two female + figures, one dark and the other fair, one sage and the other yielding, one + gentle and the other quick, analogous in character but different, not + handsome but animated by cheerfulness and feeling. To one of these he gave + a lover, to whom the other was a tender friend. He planted them all, after + much deliberation and some changes, on the shores of his beloved lake at + Vevay, the spot where his benefactress was born, and which he always + thought the richest and loveliest in all Europe. + </p> + <p> + This vicarious or reflected egoism, accompanied as it was by a certain + amount of productive energy, seemed to mark a return to a sort of moral + convalescence. He walked about the groves with pencil and tablets, + assigning this or that thought or expression to one or other of the three + companions of his fancy. When the bad weather set in, and he was confined + to the house (the winter of 1756-7), he tried to resume his ordinary + indoor labour, the copying of music and the compilation of his Musical + Dictionary. To his amazement he found that this was no longer possible. + The fever of that literary composition of which he had always such dread + had strong possession of him. He could see nothing on any side but the + three figures and the objects about them made beautiful by his + imagination. Though he tried hard to dismiss them, his resistance was + vain, and he set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.253" id="Page_i.253">[i.253]</a></span> + himself to bringing some order into his thoughts "so as to produce a + kind of romance." We have a glimpse of his mental state in the odd + detail, that he could not bear to write his romance on anything but the + very finest paper with gilt edges; that the powder with which he dried the + ink was of azure and sparkling silver; and that he tied up the quires with + delicate blue riband.<a name="FNanchor264" id="FNanchor264"></a><a + href="#Footnote_264">[264]</a> The distance from all this to the state of + nature is obviously very great indeed. It must not be supposed that he + forgot his older part as Cato, Brutus, and the other Plutarchians. "My + great embarrassment," he says honestly, "was that I should belie + myself so clearly and thoroughly. After the severe principles I had just + been laying down with so much bustle, after the austere maxims I had + preached so energetically, after so many biting invectives against the + effeminate books that breathed love and soft delights, could anything be + imagined more shocking, more unlooked-for, than to see me inscribe myself + with my own hand among the very authors on whose books I had heaped this + harsh censure? I felt this inconsequence in all its force, I taxed myself + with it, I blushed over it, and was overcome with mortification; but + nothing could restore me to reason."<a name="FNanchor265" + id="FNanchor265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265">[265]</a> He adds that + perhaps on the whole the composition of the New Heloïsa was turning + his madness to the best account. That may be true, but does not all this + make the bitter denunciation, in the Letter to D'Alembert, of love and of + all who make its repre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.254" + id="Page_i.254">[i.254]</a></span>sentation a considerable element in + literature or the drama, at the very time when he was composing one of the + most dangerously attractive romances of his century, a rather indecent + piece of invective? We may forgive inconsistency when it is only between + two of a man's theories, or two self-concerning parts of his conduct, but + hardly when it takes the form of reviling in others what the reviler + indulgently permits to himself. + </p> + <p> + We are more edified by the energy with which Rousseau refused connivance + with the public outrages on morality perpetrated by a patron. M. d'Epinay + went to pay him a visit at the Hermitage, taking with him two ladies with + whom his relations were less than equivocal, and for whom among other + things he had given Rousseau music to copy. "They were curious to see + the eccentric man," as M. d'Epinay afterwards told his scandalised + wife, for it was in the manners of the day on no account to parade even + the most notorious of these unblessed connections. "He was walking in + front of the door; he saw me first; he advanced cap in hand; he saw the + ladies; he saluted us, put on his cap, turned his back, and stalked off as + fast as he could. Can anything be more mad?"<a name="FNanchor266" + id="FNanchor266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266">[266]</a> In the miserable + and intricate tangle of falsity, weakness, sensuality, and quarrel, which + make up this chapter in Rousseau's life, we are glad of even one trait of + masculine robustness. We should perhaps be still more glad if the unwedded + Theresa were not visible in the background of this scene of high morals. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.255" id="Page_i.255">[i.255]</a></span> + </p> + <h3> + II. + </h3> + <p> + The New Heloïsa was not to be completed without a further extension + of morbid experience of a still more burning kind than the sufferings of + compressed passion. The feverish torment of mere visions of the air + swarming impalpable in all his veins, was replaced when the earth again + began to live and the sap to stir in plants, by the more concentred fire + of a consuming passion for one who was no dryad nor figure of a dream. In + the spring of 1757 he received a visit from Madame d'Houdetot, the + sister-in-law of Madame d'Epinay.<a name="FNanchor267" id="FNanchor267"></a><a + href="#Footnote_267">[267]</a> Her husband had gone to the war (we are in + the year of Rossbach), and so had her lover, Saint Lambert, whose passion + had been so fatal to Voltaire's Marquise du Châtelet eight years + before. She rode over in man's guise to the Hermitage from a house not + very far off, where she was to pass her retreat during the absence of her + two natural protectors. Rousseau had seen her before on various occasions; + she had been to the Hermitage the previous year, and had partaken of its + host's homely fare.<a name="FNanchor268" id="FNanchor268"></a><a + href="#Footnote_268">[268]</a> But the time was not ripe; the<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.256" id="Page_i.256">[i.256]</a></span> + force of a temptation is not from without but within. Much, too, depended + with our hermit on the temperature; one who would have been a very + ordinary mortal to him in cold and rain, might grow to Aphrodite herself + in days when the sun shone hot and the air was aromatic. His fancy was + suddenly struck with the romantic guise of the female cavalier, and this + was the first onset of a veritable intoxication, which many men have felt, + but which no man before or since ever invited the world to hear the story + of. He may truly say that after the first interview with her in this + disastrous spring, he was as one who had thirstily drained a poisoned + bowl. A sort of palsy struck him. He lay weeping in his bed at night, and + on days when he did not see the sorceress he wept in the woods.<a + name="FNanchor269" id="FNanchor269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269">[269]</a> + He talked to himself for hours, and was of a black humour to his + house-mates. When approaching the object of this deadly fascination, his + whole organisation seemed to be dissolved. He walked in a dream that + filled him with a sense of sickly torture, commixed with sicklier delight. + </p> + <p> + People speak with precisely marked division of mind and body, of will, + emotion, understanding; the division is good in logic, but its convenient + lines are lost to us as we watch a being with soul all blurred, body all + shaken, unstrung, poisoned, by erotic mania, rising in slow clouds of + mephitic steam from suddenly heated stagnancies of the blood, and turning + the reality of conduct and duty into distant unmeaning<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.257" id="Page_i.257">[i.257]</a></span> shadows. If such a + disease were the furious mood of the brute in spring-time, it would be + less dreadful, but shame and remorse in the ever-struggling reason of man + or woman in the grip of the foul thing, produces an aggravation of frenzy + that makes the mental healer tremble. Add to all this lurking elements of + hollow rage that his passion was not returned; of stealthy jealousy of the + younger man whose place he could not take, and who was his friend besides; + of suspicion that he was a little despised for his weakness by the very + object of it, who saw that his hairs were sprinkled with gray,—and + the whole offers a scene of moral humiliation that half sickens, half + appals, and we turn away with dismay as from a vision of the horrid loves + of heavy-eyed and scaly shapes that haunted the warm primeval ooze. + </p> + <p> + Madame d'Houdetot, the unwilling enchantress bearing in an unconscious + hand the cup of defilement, was not strikingly singular either in physical + or mental attraction. She was now seven-and-twenty. Small-pox, the + terrible plague of the country, had pitted her face and given a yellowish + tinge to her complexion; her features were clumsy and her brow low; she + was short-sighted, and in old age at any rate was afflicted by an + excessive squint. This homeliness was redeemed by a gentle and caressing + expression, and by a sincerity, a gaiety of heart, and free sprightliness + of manner, that no trouble could restrain. Her figure was very slight, and + there was in all her movements at once awkwardness and grace. She was<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.258" id="Page_i.258">[i.258]</a></span> + natural and simple, and had a fairly good judgment of a modest kind, in + spite of the wild sallies in which her spirits sometimes found vent. + Capable of chagrin, she was never prevented by it from yielding to any + impulse of mirth. "She weeps with the best faith in the world, and + breaks out laughing at the same moment; never was anybody so happily born," + says her much less amiable sister-in-law.<a name="FNanchor270" + id="FNanchor270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270">[270]</a> Her husband was + indifferent to her. He preserved an attachment to a lady whom he knew + before his marriage, whose society he never ceased to frequent, and who + finally died in his arms in 1793. Madame d'Houdetot found consolation in + the friendship of Saint Lambert. "We both of us," said her + husband, "both Madame d'Houdetot and I, had a vocation for fidelity, + only there was a mis-arrangement." She occasionally composed verses + of more than ordinary point, but she had good sense enough not to write + them down, nor to set up on the strength of them for poetess and wit.<a + name="FNanchor271" id="FNanchor271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271">[271]</a> + Her talk in her later years, and she lived down to the year of Leipsic, + preserved the pointed sententiousness of earlier time. One day, for + instance, in the era of the Directory, a conversation was going on as to + the various merits and defects of women; she heard much, and then with her + accustomed suavity of voice contributed this light summary:—"Without<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.259" id="Page_i.259">[i.259]</a></span> + women, the life of man would be without aid at the beginning, without + pleasure in the middle, and without solace at the end."<a + name="FNanchor272" id="FNanchor272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272">[272]</a> + </p> + <p> + We may be sure that it was not her power of saying things of this sort + that kindled Rousseau's flame, but rather the sprightly naturalness, + frankness, and kindly softness of a character which in his opinion united + every virtue except prudence and strength, the two which Rousseau would be + least likely to miss. The bond of union between them was subtle. She found + in Rousseau a sympathetic listener while she told the story of her passion + for Saint Lambert, and a certain contagious force produced in him a thrill + which he never felt with any one else before or after. Thus, as he says, + there was equally love on both sides, though it was not reciprocal. "We + were both of us intoxicated with passion, she for her lover, I for her; + our sighs and sweet tears mingled. Tender confidants, each of the other, + our sentiments were of such close kin that it was impossible for them not + to mix; and still she never forgot her duty for a moment, while for + myself, I protest, I swear, that if sometimes drawn astray by my senses, + still"—still he was a paragon of virtue, subject to rather new + definition. We can appreciate the author of the New Heloïsa; we can + appreciate the author of Emilius; but this strained attempt to confound + those two very different persons by combining tearful erotics with<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.260" id="Page_i.260">[i.260]</a></span> + high ethics, is an exhibition of self-delusion that the most patient + analyst of human nature might well find hard to suffer. "The duty of + privation exalted my soul. The glory of all the virtues adorned the idol + of my heart in my sight; to soil its divine image would have been to + annihilate it," and so forth.<a name="FNanchor273" id="FNanchor273"></a><a + href="#Footnote_273">[273]</a> Moon-lighted landscape gave a background + for the sentimentalist's picture, and dim groves, murmuring cascades, and + the soft rustle of the night air, made up a scene which became for its + chief actor "an immortal memory of innocence and delight." + "It was in this grove, seated with her on a grassy bank, under an + acacia heavy with flowers, that I found expression for the emotions of my + heart in words that were worthy of them. 'Twas the first and single time + of my life; but I was sublime, if you can use the word of all the tender + and seductive things that the most glowing love can bring into the heart + of a man. What intoxicating tears I shed at her knees, what floods she + shed in spite of herself! At length in an involuntary transport, she cried + out, 'Never was man so tender, never did man love as you do! But your + friend Saint Lambert hears us, and my heart cannot love twice.'"<a + name="FNanchor274" id="FNanchor274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274">[274]</a> + Happily, as we learn from another source, a breath of wholesome life from + without brought the transcendental to grotesque end. In the climax of + tears and protestations, an honest waggoner at the other side of the park + wall, urging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.261" id="Page_i.261">[i.261]</a></span> + on a lagging beast launched a round and far-sounding oath out into the + silent night. Madame d'Houdetot answered with a lively continuous peal of + young laughter, while an angry chill brought back the discomfited lover + from an ecstasy that was very full of peril.<a name="FNanchor275" + id="FNanchor275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275">[275]</a> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau wrote in the New Heloïsa very sagely that you should grant + to the senses nothing when you mean to refuse them anything. He admits + that the saying was falsified by his relations with Madame d'Houdetot. + Clearly the credit of this happy falsification was due to her rather than + to himself. What her feelings were, it is not very easy to see. Honest + pity seems to have been the strongest of them. She was idle and + unoccupied, and idleness leaves the soul open for much stray generosity of + emotion, even towards an importunate lover. She thought him mad, and she + wrote to Saint Lambert to say so. "His madness must be very strong," + said Saint Lambert, "since she can perceive it."<a + name="FNanchor276" id="FNanchor276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276">[276]</a> + </p> + <p> + Character is ceaselessly marching, even when we seem to have sunk into a + fixed and stagnant mood. The man is awakened from his dream of passion by + inexorable event; he finds the house of the soul not swept and garnished + for a new life, but possessed by demons who have entered unseen. In short, + such profound disorder of spirit, though in its first stage marked by + ravishing delirium, never escapes a bitter<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.262" id="Page_i.262">[i.262]</a></span> sequel. When a man + lets his soul be swept away from the narrow track of conduct appointed by + his relations with others, still the reality of such relations survives. + He may retreat to rural lodges; that will not save him either from his own + passion, or from some degree of that kinship with others which instantly + creates right and wrong like a wall of brass around him. Let it be + observed that the natures of finest stuff suffer most from these forced + reactions, and it was just because Rousseau had innate moral + sensitiveness, and a man like Diderot was without it, that the first felt + his fall so profoundly, while the second was unconscious of having fallen + at all. + </p> + <p> + One day in July Rousseau went to pay his accustomed visit. He found Madame + d'Houdetot dejected, and with the flush of recent weeping on her cheeks. A + bird of the air had carried the matter. As usual, the matter was carried + wrongly, and apparently all that Saint Lambert suspected was that + Rousseau's high principles had persuaded Madame d'Houdetot of the + viciousness of her relations with her lover.<a name="FNanchor277" + id="FNanchor277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277">[277]</a> "They have + played us an evil turn," cried Madame d'Houdetot; "they have + been unjust to me, but that is no matter. Either let us break off at once, + or be what you ought to be."<a name="FNanchor278" id="FNanchor278"></a><a + href="#Footnote_278">[278]</a> This was Rousseau's first<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.263" id="Page_i.263">[i.263]</a></span> + taste of the ashes of shame into which the lusciousness of such forbidden + fruit, plucked at the expense of others, is ever apt to be transformed. + Mortification of the considerable spiritual pride that was yet alive after + this lapse, was a strong element in the sum of his emotion, and it was + pointed by the reflection which stung him so incessantly, that his + monitress was younger than himself. He could never master his own contempt + for the gallantry of grizzled locks.<a name="FNanchor279" id="FNanchor279"></a><a + href="#Footnote_279">[279]</a> His austerer self might at any rate have + been consoled by knowing that this scene was the beginning of the end, + though the end came without any seeking on his part and without violence. + To his amazement, one day Saint Lambert and Madame d'Houdetot came to the + Hermitage, asking him to give them dinner, and much to the credit of human + nature's elasticity, the three passed a delightful afternoon. The wronged + lover was friendly, though a little stiff, and he passed occasional + slights which Rousseau would surely not have forgiven, if he had not been + disarmed by consciousness of guilt. He fell asleep, as we can well imagine + that he might do, while Rousseau read aloud his very inadequate + justification of Providence against Voltaire.<a name="FNanchor280" + id="FNanchor280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280">[280]</a> + </p> + <p> + In time he returned to the army, and Rousseau began to cure himself of his + mad passion. His method, however, was not unsuspicious, for it in<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.264" id="Page_i.264">[i.264]</a></span>volved + the perilous assistance of Madame d'Houdetot. Fortunately her loyalty and + good sense forced a more resolute mode upon him. He found, or thought he + found her distracted, emharrassed, indifferent. In despair at not being + allowed to heal his passionate malady in his own fashion, he did the most + singular thing that he could have done under the circumstances. He wrote + to Saint Lambert.<a name="FNanchor281" id="FNanchor281"></a><a + href="#Footnote_281">[281]</a> His letter is a prodigy of plausible + duplicity, though Rousseau in some of his mental states had so little + sense of the difference between the actual and the imaginary, and was + moreover so swiftly borne away on a flood of fine phrases, that it is hard + to decide how far this was voluntary, and how far he was his own dupe. + Voluntary or not, it is detestable. We pass the false whine about "being + abandoned by all that was dear to him," as if he had not deliberately + quitted Paris against the remonstrance of every friend he had; about his + being "solitary and sad," as if he was not ready at this very + time to curse any one who intruded on his solitude, and hindered him of a + single half-hour in the desert spots that he adored. Remembering the + scenes in moon-lighted groves and elsewhere, we read this:—"Whence + comes her coldness to me? Is it possible that you can have suspected me of + wronging you with her, and of turning perfidious in consequence of an + unseasonably rigorous virtue? A passage in one of your letters shows a + glimpse of some such suspicion. No, no, Saint Lambert, the breast of J.J. + Rousseau never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.265" id="Page_i.265">[i.265]</a></span> + held the heart of a traitor, and I should despise myself more than you + suppose, if I had ever tried to rob you of her heart.... Can you suspect + that her friendship for me may hurt her love for you? Surely natures + endowed with sensibility are open to all sorts of affections, and no + sentiment can spring up in them which does not turn to the advantage of + the dominant passion. Where is the lover who does not wax the more tender + as he talks to his friend of her whom he loves? And is it not sweeter for + you in your banishment that there should be some sympathetic creature to + whom your mistress loves to talk of you, and who loves to hear?" + </p> + <p> + Let us turn to another side of his correspondence. The way in which the + sympathetic creature in the present case loved to hear his friend's + mistress talk of him, is interestingly shown in one or two passages from a + letter to her; as when he cries, "Ah, how proud would even thy lover + himself be of thy constancy, if he only knew how much it has + surmounted.... I appeal to your sincerity. You, the witness and the cause + of this delirium, these tears, these ravishing ecstasies, these transports + which were never made for mortal, say, have I ever tasted your favours in + such a way that I deserve to lose them?... Never once did my ardent + desires nor my tender supplications dare to solicit supreme happiness, + without my feeling stopped by the inner cries of a sorrow-stricken + soul.... O Sophie, after moments so sweet, the idea of eternal privation + is too frightful for one who groans<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.266" id="Page_i.266">[i.266]</a></span> that he cannot + identify himself with thee. What, are thy tender eyes never again to be + lowered with a delicious modesty, intoxicating me with pleasure? What, are + my burning lips never again to lay my very soul on thy heart along with my + kisses? What, may I never more feel that heavenly shudder, that rapid and + devouring fire, swifter than lightning?"<a name="FNanchor282" + id="FNanchor282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282">[282]</a>.... We see a + sympathetic creature assuredly, and listen to the voice of a nature + endowed with sensibility even more than enough, but with decency, loyalty, + above all with self-knowledge, far less than enough. + </p> + <p> + One more touch completes the picture of the fallen desperate man. He takes + great trouble to persuade Saint Lambert that though the rigour of his + principles constrains him to frown upon such breaches of social law as the + relations between Madame d'Houdetot and her lover, yet he is so attached + to the sinful pair that he half forgives them. "Do not suppose," + he says, with superlative gravity, "that you have seduced me by your + reasons; I see in them the goodness of your heart, not your justification. + I cannot help blaming your connection: you can hardly approve it yourself; + and so long as you both of you continue dear to me, I will never leave you + in careless security as to the innocence of your state. Yet love such as + yours deserves considerateness.... I feel respect for a union so tender, + and cannot bring myself to attempt to lead it to virtue along the path of + despair" (p. 401). + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.267" id="Page_i.267">[i.267]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Ignorance of the facts of the case hindered Saint Lambert from + appreciating the strange irony of a man protesting about leading to virtue + along the path of despair a poor woman whom he had done as much as he + could to lead to vice along the path of highly stimulated sense. Saint + Lambert was as much a sentimentalist as Rousseau was, but he had a certain + manliness, acquired by long contact with men, which his correspondent only + felt in moods of severe exaltation. Saint Lambert took all the blame on + himself. He had desired that his mistress and his friend should love one + another; then he thought he saw some coolness in his mistress, and he set + the change down to his friend, though not on the true grounds. "Do + not suppose that I thought you perfidious or a traitor; I knew the + austerity of your principles; people had spoken to me of it; and she + herself did so with a respect that love found hard to bear." In + short, he had suspected Rousseau of nothing worse than being + over-virtuous, and trying in the interest of virtue to break off a + connection sanctioned by contemporary manners, but not by law or religion. + If Madame d'Houdetot had changed, it was not that she had ceased to honour + her good friend, but only that her lover might be spared a certain + chagrin, from suspecting the excess of scrupulosity and conscience in so + austere an adviser.<a name="FNanchor283" id="FNanchor283"></a><a + href="#Footnote_283">[283]</a> + </p> + <p> + It is well known how effectively one with a germ<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.268" id="Page_i.268">[i.268]</a></span> of good principle in + him is braced by being thought better than he is. With this letter in his + hands and its words in his mind, Rousseau strode off for his last + interview with Madame d'Houdetot. Had Saint Lambert, he says, been less + wise, less generous, less worthy, I should have been a lost man. As it + was, he passed four or five hours with her in a delicious calm, infinitely + more delightful than the accesses of burning fever which had seized him + before. They formed the project of a close companionship of three, + including the absent lover; and they counted on the project coming more + true than such designs usually do, "since all the feelings that can + unite sensitive and upright hearts formed the foundation of it, and we + three united talents enough as well as knowledge enough to suffice to + ourselves, without need of aid or supplement from others." What + happened was this. Madame d'Houdetot for the next three or four months, + which were among the most bitter in Rousseau's life, for then the + bitterness which became chronic was new and therefore harder to be borne, + wrote him the wisest, most affectionate, and most considerate letters that + a sincere and sensible woman ever wrote to the most petulant, suspicious, + perverse, and irrestrainable of men. For patience and exquisite sweetness + of friendship some of these letters are matchless, and we can only + conjecture the wearing querulousness of the letters to which they were + replies. If through no fault of her own she had been the occasion of the + monstrous delirium of which he never shook off the<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.269" id="Page_i.269">[i.269]</a></span> consequences, at + least this good soul did all that wise counsel and grave tenderness could + do, to bring him out of the black slough of suspicion and despair into + which he was plunged.<a name="FNanchor284" id="FNanchor284"></a><a + href="#Footnote_284">[284]</a> In the beginning of 1758 there was a + change. Rousseau's passion for her somehow became known to all the world; + it reached the ears of Saint Lambert, and was the cause of a passing + disturbance between him and his mistress. Saint Lambert throughout acted + like a man who is thoroughly master of himself. At first, we learn, he + ceased for a moment to see in Rousseau the virtue which he sought in him, + and which he was persuaded that he found in him. "Since then, + however," wrote Madame d'Houdetot, "he pities you more for your + weakness than he reproaches you, and we are both of us far from joining + the people who wish to blacken your character; we have and always shall + have the courage to speak of you with esteem."<a name="FNanchor285" + id="FNanchor285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285">[285]</a> They saw one + another a few times, and on one occasion the Count and Countess + d'Houdetot, Saint Lambert, and Rousseau all sat at table together, happily + without breach of the peace.<a name="FNanchor286" id="FNanchor286"></a><a + href="#Footnote_286">[286]</a> One curious thing about this meeting was + that it took place some three weeks after Rousseau and Saint Lambert had + interchanged letters on the subject of the quarrel with Diderot, in which + each promised the other contemptuous oblivion.<a name="FNanchor287" + id="FNanchor287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287">[287]</a> Per<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.270" id="Page_i.270">[i.270]</a></span>petuity + of hate is as hard as perpetuity of love for our poor short-spanned + characters, and at length the three who were once to have lived together + in self-sufficing union, and then in their next mood to have forgotten one + another instantly and for ever, held to neither of the extremes, but + settled down into an easier middle path of indifferent good-will. The + conduct of all three, said the most famous of them, may serve for an + example of the way in which sensible people separate, when it no longer + suits them to see one another.<a name="FNanchor288" id="FNanchor288"></a><a + href="#Footnote_288">[288]</a> It is at least certain that in them + Rousseau lost two of the most unimpeachably good friends that he ever + possessed. + </p> + <h3> + III. + </h3> + <p> + The egoistic character that loves to brood and hates to act, is big with + catastrophe. We have now to see how the inevitable law accomplished itself + in the case of Rousseau. In many this brooding egoism produces a silent + and melancholy insanity; with him it was developed into something of + acridly corrosive quality. One of the agents in this disastrous process + was the wearing torture of one of the most painful of disorders. This + disorder, arising from an internal malformation, harassed him from his + infancy to the day of his death. Our fatuous persistency in reducing man + to the spiritual, blinds the biographer to the circumstance that the + history of a life is the history of<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.271" id="Page_i.271">[i.271]</a></span> a body no less than + that of a soul. Many a piece of conduct that divides the world into two + factions of moral assailants and moral vindicators, provoking a thousand + ingenuities of ethical or psychological analysis, ought really to have + been nothing more than an item in a page of a pathologist's case-book. We + are not to suspend our judgment on action; right and wrong can depend on + no man's malformations. In trying to know the actor, it is otherwise; here + it is folly to underestimate the physical antecedents of mental phenomena. + In firm and lofty character, pain is mastered; in a character so little + endowed with cool tenacious strength as Rousseau's, pain such as he + endured was enough to account, not for his unsociality, which flowed from + temperament, but for the bitter, irritable, and suspicious form which this + unsociality now first assumed. Rousseau was never a saintly nature, but + far the reverse, and in reading the tedious tale of his quarrels with + Grimm and Madame d'Epinay and Diderot—a tale of labyrinthine + nightmares—let us remember that we may even to this point explain + what happened, without recourse to the too facile theory of insanity, + unless one defines that misused term so widely as to make many sane people + very uncomfortable. + </p> + <p> + His own account was this: "In my quality of solitary, I am more + sensitive than another; if I am wrong with a friend who lives in the + world, he thinks of it for a moment, and then a thousand distractions make + him forget it for the rest of the day; but there<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.272" id="Page_i.272">[i.272]</a></span> is nothing to + distract me as to his wrong towards me; deprived of my sleep, I busy + myself with him all night long; solitary in my walks, I busy myself with + him from sunrise until sunset; my heart has not an instant's relief, and + the harshness of a friend gives me in one day years of anguish. In my + quality of invalid, I have a title to the considerateness that humanity + owes to the weakness or irritation of a man in agony. Who is the friend, + who is the good man, that ought not to dread to add affliction to an + unfortunate wretch tormented with a painful and incurable malady?"<a + name="FNanchor289" id="FNanchor289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289">[289]</a> + We need not accept this as an adequate extenuation of perversities, but it + explains them without recourse to the theory of uncontrollable insanity. + Insanity came later, the product of intellectual excitation, public + persecution, and moral reaction after prolonged tension. Meanwhile he may + well be judged by the standards of the sane; knowing his temperament, his + previous history, his circumstances, we have no difficulty in accounting + for his conduct. Least of all is there any need for laying all the blame + upon his friends. There are writers whom enthusiasm for the principles of + Jean Jacques has driven into fanatical denigration of every one whom he + called his enemy, that is to say, nearly every one whom he ever knew.<a + name="FNanchor290" id="FNanchor290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290">[290]</a> + Diderot said well, "Too many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.273" + id="Page_i.273">[i.273]</a></span> honest people would be wrong, if Jean + Jacques were right." + </p> + <p> + The first downright breach was with Grimm, but there were angry passages + during the year 1757, not only with him, but with Diderot and Madame + d'Epinay as well. Diderot, like many other men of energetic nature + unchastened by worldly wisdom, was too interested in everything that + attracted his attention to keep silence over the indiscretion of a friend. + He threw as much tenacity and zeal into a trifle, if it had once struck + him, as he did into the Encyclopædia. We have already seen how warmly + he rated Jean Jacques for missing the court pension. Then he scolded and + laughed at him for turning hermit. With still more seriousness he + remonstrated with him for remaining in the country through the winter, + thus endangering the life of Theresa's aged mother. This stirred up hot + anger in the Hermitage, and two or three bitter letters were interchanged,<a + name="FNanchor291" id="FNanchor291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291">[291]</a> + those of Diderot being pronounced by a person who was no partisan of + Rousseau decidedly too harsh.<a name="FNanchor292" id="FNanchor292"></a><a + href="#Footnote_292">[292]</a> Yet there is copious warmth of friendship + in these very letters, if only the man to whom they were written had not + hated interference in his affairs as the worst of injuries. "I loved + Diderot tenderly, I esteemed him sincerely," says Rousseau, "and + I counted with entire confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.274" + id="Page_i.274">[i.274]</a></span> upon the same sentiments in him. But + worn out by his unwearied obstinacy in everlastingly thwarting my tastes, + my inclinations, my ways of living, everything that concerned myself only; + revolted at seeing a younger man than myself insist with all his might on + governing me like a child; chilled by his readiness in giving his promise + and his negligence in keeping it; tired of so many appointments which he + made and broke, and of his fancy for repairing them by new ones to be + broken in their turn; provoked at waiting for him to no purpose three or + four times a month on days which he had fixed, and of dining alone in the + evening, after going on as far as St. Denis to meet him and waiting for + him all day,—I had my heart already full of a multitude of + grievances."<a name="FNanchor293" id="FNanchor293"></a><a + href="#Footnote_293">[293]</a> This irritation subsided in presence of the + storms that now rose up against Diderot. He was in the thick of the + dangerous and mortifying distractions stirred up by the foes of the + Encyclopædia. Rousseau in friendly sympathy went to see him; they + embraced, and old wrongs were forgotten until new arose.<a + name="FNanchor294" id="FNanchor294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294">[294]</a> + </p> + <p> + There is a less rose-coloured account than this. Madame d'Epinay assigns + two motives to Rousseau: a desire to find an excuse for going to Paris, in + order to avoid seeing Saint Lambert; secondly, a wish to hear Diderot's + opinion of the two first parts of the New Heloïsa. She says that he + wanted to borrow a portfolio in which to carry the manuscripts to Paris;<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.275" id="Page_i.275">[i.275]</a></span> + Rousseau says that they had already been in Diderot's possession for six + months.<a name="FNanchor295" id="FNanchor295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295">[295]</a> + As her letters containing this very circumstantial story were written at + the moment, it is difficult to uphold the Confessions as valid authority + against them. Thirdly, Rousseau told her that he had not taken his + manuscripts to Paris (p. 302), whereas Grimm writing a few days later (p. + 309) mentions that he has received a letter from Diderot, to the effect + that Rousseau's visit had no other object than the revision of these + manuscripts. The scene is characteristic. "Rousseau kept him + pitilessly at work from Saturday at ten o'clock in the morning till eleven + at night on Monday, hardly giving him time to eat and drink. The revision + at an end, Diderot chats with him about a plan he has in his head, and + begs Rousseau to help him in contriving some incident which he cannot yet + arrange to his taste. 'It is too difficult,' replies the hermit coldly, + 'it is late, and I am not used to sitting up. Good night; I am off at six + in the morning, and 'tis time for bed.' He rises from his chair, goes to + bed, and leaves Diderot petrified at his behaviour. The day of his + departure, Diderot's wife saw that her husband was in bad spirits, and + asked the reason. 'It is that man's want of delicacy,' he replied, 'which + afflicts me; he makes me work like a slave, but I should never have found + that out, if he had not so drily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.276" + id="Page_i.276">[i.276]</a></span> refused to take an interest in me for a + quarter of an hour.' 'You are surprised at that,' his wife answered; 'do + you not know him? He is devoured with envy; he goes wild with rage when + anything fine appears that is not his own. You will see him one day commit + some great crime rather than let himself be ignored. I declare I would not + swear that he will not join the ranks of the Jesuits, and undertake their + vindication.'" + </p> + <p> + Of course we cannot be sure that Grimm did not manipulate these letters + long after the event, but there is nothing in Rousseau's history to make + us perfectly sure that he was incapable either of telling a falsehood to + Madame d'Epinay, or of being shamelessly selfish in respect of Diderot. I + see no reason to refuse substantial credit to Grimm's account, and the + points of coincidence between that and the Confessions make its truth + probable.<a name="FNanchor296" id="FNanchor296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296">[296]</a> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's relations with Madame d'Epinay were more complex, and his + sentiments towards her underwent many changes. There was a prevalent + opinion that he was her lover, for which no real foundation seems to have + existed.<a name="FNanchor297" id="FNanchor297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297">[297]</a> + Those who disbelieved that he had reached this distinction, yet made sure + that he had a passion for her, which may or may not have been true.<a + name="FNanchor298" id="FNanchor298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298">[298]</a><span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.277" id="Page_i.277">[i.277]</a></span> + Madame d'Epinay herself was vain enough to be willing that this should be + generally accepted, and it is certain that she showed a friendship for him + which, considering the manners of the time, was invitingly open to + misconception. Again, she was jealous of her sister-in-law, Madame + d'Houdetot, if for no other reason than that the latter, being the wife of + a Norman noble, had access to the court, and this was unattainable by the + wife of a farmer-general. Hence Madame d'Epinay's barely-concealed + mortification when she heard of the meetings in the forest, the private + suppers, the moonlight rambles in the park. When Saint Lambert first + became uneasy as to the relations between Rousseau and his mistress, and + wrote to her to say that he was so, Rousseau instantly suspected that + Madame d'Epinay had been his informant. Theresa confirmed the suspicion by + tales of baskets and drawers ransacked by Madame d'Epinay in search of + Madame d'Houdetot's letters to him. Whether these tales were true or not, + we can never know; we can only say that Madame d'Epinay was probably not + incapable of these meannesses, and that there is no reason to suppose that + she took the pains to write directly to Saint Lambert a piece of news + which she was writing to Grimm, knowing that he was then in communication + with Saint Lambert. She herself suspected that Theresa had written to + Saint Lambert,<a name="FNanchor299" id="FNanchor299"></a><a + href="#Footnote_299">[299]</a> but it may be doubted whether Theresa's + imagination could have risen to such feat<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.278" id="Page_i.278">[i.278]</a></span> as writing to a + marquis, and a marquis in what would have seemed to her to be remote and + inaccessible parts of the earth. All this, however, has become ghostly for + us; a puzzle that can never be found out, nor be worth finding out. + Rousseau was persuaded that Madame d'Epinay was his betrayer, and was + seized by one of his blackest and most stormful moods. In reply to an + affectionate letter from her, inquiring why she had not seen him for so + long, he wrote thus: "I can say nothing to you yet. I wait until I am + better informed, and this I shall be sooner or later. Meanwhile, be + certain that accused innocence will find a champion ardent enough to make + calumniators repent, whoever they may be." It is rather curious that + so strange a missive as this, instead of provoking Madame d'Epinay to + anger, was answered by a warmer and more affectionate letter than the + first. To this Rousseau replied with increased vehemence, charged with + dark and mysteriously worded suspicion. Still Madame d'Epinay remained + willing to receive him. He began to repent of his imprudent haste, because + it would certainly end by compromising Madame d'Houdetot, and because, + moreover, he had no proof after all that his suspicions had any + foundation. He went instantly to the house of Madame d'Epinay; at his + approach she threw herself on his neck and melted into tears. This + unexpected reception from so old a friend moved him extremely; he too wept + abundantly. She showed no curiosity as to the precise nature of<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.279" id="Page_i.279">[i.279]</a></span> + his suspicions or their origin, and the quarrel came to an end.<a + name="FNanchor300" id="FNanchor300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300">[300]</a> + </p> + <p> + Grimm's turn followed. Though they had been friends for many years, there + had long been a certain stiffness in their friendship. Their characters + were in fact profoundly antipathetic. Rousseau we know,—sensuous, + impulsive, extravagant, with little sense of the difference between + reality and dreams. Grimm was exactly the opposite; judicious, collected, + self-seeking, coldly upright. He was a German (born at Ratisbon), and in + Paris was first a reader to the Duke of Saxe Gotha, with very scanty + salary. He made his way, partly through the friendship of Rousseau, into + the society of the Parisian men of letters, rapidly acquired a perfect + mastery of the French language, and with the inspiring help of Diderot, + became an excellent critic. After being secretary to sundry high people, + he became the literary correspondent of various German sovereigns, keeping + them informed of what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.280" + id="Page_i.280">[i.280]</a></span> was happening in the world of art and + letters, just as an ambassador keeps his government informed of what + happens in politics. The sobriety, impartiality, and discrimination of his + criticism make one think highly of his literary judgment; he had the + courage, or shall we say he preserved enough of the German, to defend both + Homer and Shakespeare against the unhappy strictures of Voltaire.<a + name="FNanchor301" id="FNanchor301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301">[301]</a> + This is not all, however; his criticism is conceived in a tone which + impresses us with the writer's integrity. And to this internal evidence we + have to add the external corroboration that in the latter part of his life + he filled various official posts, which implied a peculiar confidence in + his probity on the part of those who appointed him. At the present moment + (1756-57), he was acting as secretary to Marshal d'Estrées, commander + of the French army in Westphalia at the outset of the Seven Years' War. He + was an able and helpful man, in spite of his having a rough manner, + powdering his face, and being so monstrously scented as to earn the name + of the musk-bear. He had that firmness and positivity which are not always + beautiful, but of which there is probably too little rather than too much + in the world, certainly in the France of his time, and of which there was + none at all in Rousseau. Above all things he hated declamation. Apparently + cold and reserved, he had sensibility enough underneath the surface to go + nearly out of his mind for love of a singer at the opera who had a + thrilling voice. As he did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.281" + id="Page_i.281">[i.281]</a></span> not believe in the metaphysical + doctrine about the freedom of the will, he accepted from temperament the + necessity which logic confirmed, of guiding the will by constant pressure + from without. "I am surprised," Madame d'Epinay said to him, + "that men should be so little indulgent to one another." "Nay, + the want of indulgence comes of our belief in freedom; it is because the + established morality is false and bad, inasmuch as it starts from this + false principle of liberty." "Ah, but the contrary principle, by + making one too indulgent, disturbs order." "It does nothing of + the kind. Though man does not wholly change, he is susceptible of + modification; you can improve him; hence it is not useless to punish him. + The gardener does not cut down a tree that grows crooked; he binds up the + branch and keeps it in shape; that is the effect of public punishment."<a + name="FNanchor302" id="FNanchor302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302">[302]</a> + He applied the same doctrine, as we shall see, to private punishment for + social crookedness. + </p> + <p> + It is easy to conceive how Rousseau's way of ordering himself would + gradually estrange so hard a head as this. What the one thought a weighty + moral reformation, struck the other as a vain desire to attract attention. + Rousseau on the other hand suspected Grimm of intriguing to remove Theresa + from him, as well as doing his best to alienate all his friends. The + attempted alienation of Theresa consisted in the secret allowance to her + mother and her by Grimm and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.282" + id="Page_i.282">[i.282]</a></span> Diderot of some sixteen pounds a year.<a + name="FNanchor303" id="FNanchor303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303">[303]</a> + Rousseau was unaware of this, but the whisperings and goings and comings + to which it gave rise, made him darkly uneasy. That the suspicions in + other respects were in a certain sense not wholly unfounded, is shown by + Grimm's own letters to Madame d'Epinay. He disapproved of her installing + Rousseau in the Hermitage, and warned her in a very remarkable prophecy + that solitude would darken his imagination.<a name="FNanchor304" + id="FNanchor304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304">[304]</a> "He is a poor + devil who torments himself, and does not dare to confess the true subject + of all his sufferings, which is in his cursed head and his pride; he + raises up imaginary matters, so as to have the pleasure of complaining of + the whole human race."<a name="FNanchor305" id="FNanchor305"></a><a + href="#Footnote_305">[305]</a> More than once he assures her that Rousseau + will end by going mad, it being impossible that so hot and ill-organised a + head should endure solitude.<a name="FNanchor306" id="FNanchor306"></a><a + href="#Footnote_306">[306]</a> Rousseauite partisans usually explain all + this by supposing that Grimm was eager to set a woman for whom he had a + passion, against a man who was suspected of having a passion for her; and + it is possible that jealousy may have stimulated the exercise of his + natural shrewdness. But this shrewdness, added to entire want of + imagination and a very narrow range of sympathy, was quite enough to + account for Grimm's harsh judgment, without the addition of any sinister + sentiment. He was perfectly right in suspecting Rousseau of want of + loyalty to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.283" id="Page_i.283">[i.283]</a></span> + Madame d'Epinay, for we find our hermit writing to her in strains of + perfect intimacy, while he was writing of her to Madame d'Houdetot as + "your unworthy sister."<a name="FNanchor307" id="FNanchor307"></a><a + href="#Footnote_307">[307]</a> On the other hand, while Madame d'Epinay + was overwhelming him with caressing phrases, she was at the same moment + describing him to Grimm as a master of impertinence and intractableness. + As usual where there is radical incompatibility of character, an attempted + reconciliation between Grimm and Rousseau (some time in the early part of + October 1757) had only made the thinly veiled antipathy more resolute. + Rousseau excused himself for wrongs of which in his heart he never thought + himself guilty. Grimm replied by a discourse on the virtues of friendship + and his own special aptitude for practising them. He then conceded to the + impetuous penitent the kiss of peace, in a slight embrace which was like + the accolade given by a monarch to new knights.<a name="FNanchor308" + id="FNanchor308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308">[308]</a> The whole scene is + ignoble. We seem to be watching an unclean cauldron, with Theresa's + mother, a cringing and babbling crone, standing witch-like over it and + infusing suspicion, falsehood, and malice. When minds are thus surcharged, + any accident suffices to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.284" + id="Page_i.284">[i.284]</a></span> release the evil creatures that lurk in + an irritated imagination. + </p> + <p> + One day towards the end of the autumn of 1757, Rousseau learned to his + unbounded surprise that Madame d'Epinay had been seized with some strange + disorder, which made it advisable that she should start without any delay + for Geneva, there to place herself under the care of Tronchin, who was at + that time the most famous doctor in Europe. His surprise was greatly + increased by the expectation which he found among his friends that he + would show his gratitude for her many kindnesses to him, by offering to + bear her company on her journey, and during her stay in a town which was + strange to her and thoroughly familiar to him. It was to no purpose that + he protested how unfit was one invalid to be the nurse of another; and how + great an incumbrance a man would be in a coach in the bad season, when for + many days he was absolutely unable to leave his chamber without danger. + Diderot, with his usual eagerness to guide a friend's course, wrote him a + letter urging that his many obligations, and even his grievances in + respect of Madame d'Epinay, bound him to accompany her, as he would thus + repay the one and console himself for the other. "She is going into a + country where she will be like one fallen from the clouds. She is ill; she + will need amusement and distraction. As for winter, are you worse now than + you were a month back, or than you will be at the opening of the spring? + For me, I confess that if I could not bear the coach, I<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.285" id="Page_i.285">[i.285]</a></span> + would take a staff and follow her on foot."<a name="FNanchor309" + id="FNanchor309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309">[309]</a> Rousseau trembled + with fury, and as soon as the transport was over, he wrote an indignant + reply, in which he more or less politely bade the panurgic one to attend + to his own affairs, and hinted that Grimm was making a tool of him. Next + he wrote to Grimm himself a letter, not unfriendly in form, asking his + advice and promising to follow it, but hardly hiding his resentment. By + this time he had found out the secret of Madame d'Epinay's supposed + illness and her anxiety to pass some months away from her family, and the + share which Grimm had in it. This, however, does not make many passages of + his letter any the less ungracious or unseemly. "If Madame d'Epinay + has shown friend' ship to me, I have shown more to her.... As for + benefits, first of all I do not like them, I do not want them, and I owe + no thanks for any that people may burden me with by force. Madame + d'Epinay, being so often left alone in the country, wished me for company; + it was for that she had kept me. After making one sacrifice to friendship, + I must now make another to gratitude. A man must be poor, must be without + a servant, must be a hater of constraint, and he must have my character, + before he can know what it is for me to live in another person's house. + For all that, I lived two years in hers, constantly brought into bondage + with the finest harangues about liberty, served by twenty domestics, and + cleaning my own shoes every morning, overloaded with gloomy indigestion, + and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.286" id="Page_i.286">[i.286]</a></span> + incessantly sighing for my homely porringer.... Consider how much money an + hour of the life and the time of a man is worth; compare the kindnesses of + Madame d'Epinay with the sacrifice of my native country and two years of + serfdom; and then tell me whether the obligation is greater on her side or + mine." He then urges with a torrent of impetuous eloquence the + thoroughly sound reasons why it was unfair and absurd for him, a beggar + and an invalid, to make the journey with Madame d'Epinay, rich and + surrounded by attendants. He is particularly splenetic that the + philosopher Diderot, sitting in his own room before a good fire and + wrapped in a well-lined dressing-gown, should insist on his doing his five + and twenty leagues a day on foot, through the mud in winter.<a + name="FNanchor310" id="FNanchor310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310">[310]</a> + </p> + <p> + The whole letter shows, as so many incidents in his later life showed, how + difficult it was to do Rousseau a kindness with impunity, and how little + such friends as Madame d'Epinay possessed the art of soothing this + unfortunate nature. They fretted him by not leaving him sufficiently free + to follow his own changing moods, while he in turn lost all self-control, + and yielded in hours of bodily torment to angry and resentful fancies. But + let us hasten to an end. Grimm replied to his eloquent manifesto somewhat + drily, to the effect that he would think the matter over, and that + meanwhile Rousseau had best keep quiet in his hermitage. Rousseau burning + with excitement at once conceived a thousand suspicions, wholly unable to + understand that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.287" id="Page_i.287">[i.287]</a></span> + a cold and reserved German might choose to deliberate at length, and + finally give an answer with brevity. "After centuries of expectation + in the cruel uncertainty in which this barbarous man had plunged me"—that + is after eight or ten days, the answer came, apparently not without a + second direct application for one.<a name="FNanchor311" id="FNanchor311"></a><a + href="#Footnote_311">[311]</a> It was short and extremely pointed, not + complaining that Rousseau had refused to accompany Madame d'Epinay but + protesting against the horrible tone of the apology which he had sent to + him for not accompanying her. "It has made me quiver with + indignation; so odious are the principles it contains, so full is it of + blackness and duplicity. You venture to talk to me of your slavery, to me + who for more than two years have been the daily witness of all the marks + of the tenderest and most generous friendship that you have received at + the hands of that woman. If I could pardon you, I should think myself + unworthy of having a single friend. I will never see you again while I + live, and I shall think myself happy if I can banish the recollection of + your conduct from my mind."<a name="FNanchor312" id="FNanchor312"></a><a + href="#Footnote_312">[312]</a> A flash of manly anger like this is very + welcome to us, who have to thread a tedious way between morbid egoistic + irritation on the one hand, and sly pieces of equivocal complaisance on + the other. The effect on Rousseau was terrific. In a paroxysm he sent + Grimm's letter back to him, with three or four lines in the same key. He<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.288" id="Page_i.288">[i.288]</a></span> + wrote note after note to Madame d'Houdetot, in shrieks. "Have I a + single friend left, man or woman? One word, only one word, and I can live." + A day or two later: "Think of the state I am in. I can bear to be + abandoned by all the world, but you! You who know me so well! Great God! + am I a scoundrel? a scoundrel, I!"<a name="FNanchor313" + id="FNanchor313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313">[313]</a> And so on, raving. + It was to no purpose that Madame d'Houdetot wrote him soothing letters, + praying him to calm himself, to find something to busy himself with, to + remain at peace with Madame d'Epinay, "who had never appeared other + than the most thoughtful and warm-hearted friend to him."<a + name="FNanchor314" id="FNanchor314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314">[314]</a> + He was almost ready to quarrel with Madame d'Houdetot herself because she + paid the postage of her letters, which he counted an affront to his + poverty.<a name="FNanchor315" id="FNanchor315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315">[315]</a> + To Madame d'Epinay he had written in the midst of his tormenting + uncertainty as to the answer which Grimm would make to his letter. It was + an ungainly assertion that she was playing a game of tyranny and intrigue + at his cost. For the first time she replied with spirit and warmth. "Your + letter is hardly that of a man who, on the eve of my departure, swore to + me that he could never in his life repair the wrongs he had done<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.289" id="Page_i.289">[i.289]</a></span> + me." She then tersely remarks that it is not natural to pass one's + life in suspecting and insulting one's friends, and that he abuses her + patience. To this he answered with still greater terseness that friendship + was extinct between them, and that he meant to leave the Hermitage, but as + his friends desired him to remain there until the spring he would with her + permission follow their counsel. Then she, with a final thrust of + impatience, in which we perhaps see the hand of Grimm: "Since you + meant to leave the Hermitage, and felt you ought to do so, I am astonished + that your friends could detain you. For me, I don't consult mine as to my + duties, and I have nothing more to say to you as to yours." This was + the end. Rousseau returned for a moment from ignoble petulance to dignity + and self-respect. He wrote to her that if it is a misfortune to make a + mistake in the choice of friends, it is one not less cruel to awake from + so sweet an error, and two days before he wrote, he left her house. He + found a cottage at Montmorency, and thither, nerved with fury, through + snow and ice he carried his scanty household goods (Dec. 15, 1757).<a + name="FNanchor316" id="FNanchor316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316">[316]</a> + </p> + <p> + We have a picture of him in this fatal month. Diderot went to pay him a + visit (Dec. 5). Rousseau was alone at the bottom of his garden. As soon as + he saw Diderot, he cried in a voice of thunder and<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.290" id="Page_i.290">[i.290]</a></span> with his eyes all + aflame: "What have you come here for?" "I want to know + whether you are mad or malicious." "You have known me for + fifteen years; you are well aware how little malicious I am, and I will + prove to you that I am not mad: follow me." He then drew Diderot into + a room, and proceeded to clear himself, by means of letters, of the charge + of trying to make a breach between Saint Lambert and Madame d'Houdetot. + They were in fact letters that convicted him, as we know, of trying to + persuade Madame d'Houdetot of the criminality of her relations with her + lover, and at the same time to accept himself in the very same relation. + Of all this we have heard more than enough already. He was stubborn in the + face of Diderot's remonstrance, and the latter left him in a state which + he described in a letter to Grimm the same night. "I throw myself + into your arms, like one who has had a shock of fright: that man intrudes + into my work; he fills me with trouble, and I am as if I had a damned soul + at my side. May I never see him again; he would make me believe in devils + and hell."<a name="FNanchor317" id="FNanchor317"></a><a + href="#Footnote_317">[317]</a> And thus the unhappy man who had began this + episode in his life with confident ecstasy in the glories and clear music + of spring, ended it looking out from a narrow chamber upon the sullen + crimson of the wintry twilight and over fields silent in snow, with the + haggard desperate gaze of a lost spirit. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_254" id="Footnote_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor254">[254]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 247. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_255" id="Footnote_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor255">[255]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 230. Madame d'Epinay (<i>Mém.</i>, ii. 132) has + given an account of the installation, with a slight discrepancy of date. + When Madame d'Epinay's son-in-law emigrated at the Revolution, the + Hermitage—of which nothing now stands—along with the rest of + the estate became national property, and was bought after other purchasers + by Robespierre, and afterwards by Grétry the composer, who paid + 10,000 livres for it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_256" id="Footnote_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor256">[256]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 255. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_257" id="Footnote_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor257">[257]</a> + Third letter to Malesherbes, 364-368. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_258" id="Footnote_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor258">[258]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 239. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_259" id="Footnote_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor259">[259]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 237, 238, and 263, etc. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_260" id="Footnote_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor260">[260]</a> + The extract from the Project for Perpetual Peace and the Polysynodia, + together with Rousseau's judgments on them, are found at the end of the + volume containing the Social Contract. The first, but without the + judgment, was printed separately without Rousseau's permission, in 1761, + by Bastide, to whom he had sold it for twelve louis for publication in his + journal only. <i>Conf.</i>, xi. 107. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 110, 128. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_261" id="Footnote_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor261">[261]</a> + P. 485. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_262" id="Footnote_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor262">[262]</a> + For a sympathetic account of the Abbé de Saint Pierre's life and + speculations, see M. Léonce de Lavergne's <i>Economistes français + du 18ième siècle</i> (Paris: 1870). Also Comte's <i>Lettres + à M. Valat</i>, p. 73. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_263" id="Footnote_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor263">[263]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 270-274. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_264" id="Footnote_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor264">[264]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 289. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_265" id="Footnote_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor265">[265]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> ix. 286. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_266" id="Footnote_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor266">[266]</a> + D'Epinay, ii. 153. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_267" id="Footnote_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor267">[267]</a> + Madame d'Houdetot, (<i>b.</i> 1730—<i>d.</i> 1813) was the daughter + of M. de Bellegarde, the father of Madame d'Epinay's husband. Her marriage + with the Count d'Houdetot, of high Norman stock, took place in 1748. The + circumstances of the marriage, which help to explain the lax view of the + vows common among the great people of the time, are given with perhaps a + shade too much dramatic colouring in Madame d'Epinay's <i>Mém.</i>, i + 101. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_268" id="Footnote_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor268">[268]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 281. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_269" id="Footnote_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor269">[269]</a> + D'Epinay, ii. 246. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_270" id="Footnote_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor270">[270]</a> + D'Epinay, ii. 269. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_271" id="Footnote_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor271">[271]</a> + Musset-Pathay has collected two or three trifles of her composition, ii. + 136-138. Heal so quotes Madame d'Allard's account of her, pp. 140, 141. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_272" id="Footnote_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor272">[272]</a> + Quoted by M. Girardin, <i>Rev. des Deux Mondes</i>, Sept. 1853, p. 1080. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_273" id="Footnote_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor273">[273]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 304. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_274" id="Footnote_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor274">[274]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> ix. 305. Slightly modified version in <i>Corr.</i>, i. 377. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_275" id="Footnote_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor275">[275]</a> + M. Boiteau's note to Madame d'Epinay, ii. 273. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_276" id="Footnote_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor276">[276]</a> + Grimm, to Madame d'Epinay, ii. 305. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_277" id="Footnote_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor277">[277]</a> + This is shown partly by Saint Lambert's letter to Rousseau, to which we + come presently, and partly by a letter of Madame d'Houdetot to Rousseau in + May, 1758 (Streckeisen-Moultou, i. 411-413), where she distinctly says + that she concealed his mad passion for her from Saint Lambert, who first + heard of it in common conversation. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_278" id="Footnote_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor278">[278]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 311. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_279" id="Footnote_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor279">[279]</a> + Besides the many hints of reference to this in the Confessions, see the + phrenetic Letters to Sarah, printed in the <i>Mélanges</i>, pp. + 347-360. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_280" id="Footnote_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor280">[280]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 337. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_281" id="Footnote_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor281">[281]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 398. Sept. 4, 1757. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_282" id="Footnote_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor282">[282]</a> + To Madame d'Houdetot. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 376-387. June 1757. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_283" id="Footnote_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor283">[283]</a> + Saint Lambert to Rousseau, from Wolfenbuttel, Oct. 11, 1757. + Streckeisen-Moultou, i. 415. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_284" id="Footnote_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor284">[284]</a> + These letters are given in M. Streckeisen-Moultou's first volume (pp. + 354-414). The thirty-second of them (Jan. 10, 1758) is perhaps the one + best worth turning to. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_285" id="Footnote_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor285">[285]</a> + Streckeisen-Moultou, i. 412. May 6, 1768. <i>Conf.</i>, x. 15. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_286" id="Footnote_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor286">[286]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> x. 22. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_287" id="Footnote_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor287">[287]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> x. 18. Streckeisen, i. 422. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_288" id="Footnote_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor288">[288]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, x. 24. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_289" id="Footnote_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor289">[289]</a> + To Madame d'Epinay, 1757. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 362, 353. See also <i>Conf.</i>, + ix. 307. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_290" id="Footnote_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor290">[290]</a> + One of the most unflinching in this kind is an <i>Essai sur la vie et le + caractère de J.J. Rousseau</i>, by G.H. Morin (Paris: 1851): the + laborious production of a bitter advocate, who accepts the Confessions, + Dialogues, Letters, etc., with the reverence due to verbal inspiration, + and writes of everybody who offended his hero, quite in the vein of Marat + towards aristocrats. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_291" id="Footnote_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor291">[291]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 327-335. D'Epinay, ii. 165-182 + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_292" id="Footnote_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor292">[292]</a> + D'Epinay, ii. 173. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_293" id="Footnote_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor293">[293]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 325. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_294" id="Footnote_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor294">[294]</a> + <i>Ib.</i>, ix. 334. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_295" id="Footnote_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor295">[295]</a> + <i>Mém.</i>, ii. 297. She also places the date many mouths later than + Rousseau, and detaches the reconciliation from the quarrel in the winter + of 1756-1757. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_296" id="Footnote_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor296">[296]</a> + The same story is referred to in Madame de Vandeul's <i>Mém. de + Diderot,</i> p. 61. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_297" id="Footnote_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor297">[297]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 245, 246. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_298" id="Footnote_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor298">[298]</a> + Grimm to Madame d'Epinay, ii. 259, 269, 313, 326. <i>Conf.</i>, x. 17. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_299" id="Footnote_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor299">[299]</a> + <i>Mém.</i>, ii. 318. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_300" id="Footnote_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor300">[300]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 322. Madame d'Epinay (<i>Mém.</i>, ii. 326), + writing to Grimm, gives a much colder and stiffer colour to the scene of + reconciliation, but the nature of her relations with him would account for + this. The same circumstance, as M. Girardin has pointed out (<i>Rev. des + Deux Mondes</i>, Sept. 1853), would explain the discrepancy between her + letters as given in the Confessions, and the copies of them sent to Grimm, + and printed in her Memoirs. M. Sainte Beuve, who is never perfectly master + of himself in dealing with the chiefs of the revolutionary schools, as + might indeed have been expected in a writer with his predilections for the + seventeenth century, rashly hints (<i>Causeries</i>, vii. 301) that + Rousseau was the falsifier. The publication from the autograph originals + sets this at rest. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_301" id="Footnote_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor301">[301]</a> + For Shakespeare, see <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, iv. 143, etc. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_302" id="Footnote_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor302">[302]</a> + D'Epinay, ii. 188. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_303" id="Footnote_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor303">[303]</a> + D'Epinay, ii. 150. Also Vandeul's <i>Mém. de Diderot</i>, p. 61. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_304" id="Footnote_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor304">[304]</a> + <i>Mém.</i> ii. 128. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_305" id="Footnote_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor305">[305]</a> + P. 258. See also p. 146. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_306" id="Footnote_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor306">[306]</a> + Pp. 282, 336, etc. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_307" id="Footnote_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor307">[307]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 386. June 1757. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_308" id="Footnote_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor308">[308]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 355. For Madame d'Epinay's equally credible version, + assigning all the stiffness and arrogance to Rousseau, see <i>Mém.</i>, + ii. 355-358. Saint Lambert refers to the momentary reconciliation in his + letter to Rousseau of Nov. 21 (Streckeisen, i. 418), repeating what he had + said before (p. 417), that Grimm always spoke of Mm in amicable terms, + though complaining of Rousseau's injustice. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_309" id="Footnote_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor309">[309]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 372. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_310" id="Footnote_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor310">[310]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 404-416. Oct 19, 1757. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_311" id="Footnote_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor311">[311]</a> + Grimm to Diderot, in Madame d'Epinay's <i>Mém.</i> ii. 386. Nov. 3, + 1757. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_312" id="Footnote_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor312">[312]</a> + D'Epinay, ii. 387. Nov. 3. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_313" id="Footnote_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor313">[313]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 425. Nov. 8. <i>Ib.</i> 426. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_314" id="Footnote_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor314">[314]</a> + Streckeisen-Moultou, i. 381-383. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_315" id="Footnote_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor315">[315]</a> + <i>Ib.</i> 387. Many years after, Rousseau told Bernardin de St. Pierre (<i>Oeuv.</i>, + xii. 57) that one of the reasons which made him leave the Hermitage was + the indiscretion of friends who insisted on sending him letters by some + conveyance that cost 4 francs, when it might equally well have been sent + for as many sous. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_316" id="Footnote_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor316">[316]</a> + The sources of all this are in the following places. <i>Corr.</i>, i. 416. + Oct. 29. Streckeisen, i. 349. Nov. 12. <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 377. <i>Corr.</i>, + i. 427. Nov. 23. <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 381. Dec. 1. <i>Ib.</i>, ix. 383. Dec. + 17. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_317" id="Footnote_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor317">[317]</a> + Diderot to Grimm; D'Epinay, ii. 397. Diderot's <i>Oeuv.</i>, xix. 446. See + also 449 and 210. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.291" id="Page_i.291">[i.291]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VIII." id="CHAPTER_VIII."></a>CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> + <h3> + MUSIC. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">Simplification</span> has already been used by us as + the key-word to Rousseau's aims and influence. The scheme of musical + notation with which he came to try his fortune in Paris in 1741, his + published vindication of it, and his musical compositions afterwards all + fall under this term. Each of them was a plea for the extrication of the + simple from the cumbrousness of elaborated pedantry, and for a return to + nature from the unmeaning devices of false art. And all tended alike in + the popular direction, towards the extension of enjoyment among the common + people, and the glorification of their simple lives and moods, in the art + designed for the great. + </p> + <p> + The Village Soothsayer was one of the group of works which marked a + revolution in the history of French music, by putting an end to the + tyrannical tradition of Lulli and Rameau, and preparing the way through a + middle stage of freshness, simplicity, naturalism, up to the noble + severity of Gluck (1714-1787). This great composer, though a Bohemian by + birth, found his first appreciation in a public that<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.292" id="Page_i.292">[i.292]</a></span> had been trained by + the Italian pastoral operas, of which Rousseau's was one of the earliest + produced in France. Grétri, the Fleming (1741-1813), who had a hearty + admiration for Jean Jacques, and out of a sentiment of piety lived for a + time in his Hermitage, came in point of musical excellence between the + group of Rousseau, Philidor, Duni, and the rest, and Gluck. "I have + not produced exaltation in people's heads by tragical superlative," + Grétri said, "but I have revealed the accent of truth, which I + have impressed deeper in men's hearts."<a name="FNanchor318" + id="FNanchor318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318">[318]</a> These words express + sufficiently the kind of influence which Rousseau also had. Crude as the + music sounds to us who are accustomed to more sumptuous schools, we can + still hear in it the note which would strike a generation weary of Rameau. + It was the expression in one way of the same mood which in another way + revolted against paint, false hair, and preposterous costume as of savages + grown opulent. Such music seems without passion or subtlety or depth or + magnificence. Thus it had hardly any higher than a negative merit, but it + was the necessary preparation for the acceptance of a more positive style, + that should replace both the elaborate false art of the older French + composers and the too colourless realism of the pastoral comic opera, by + the austere loveliness and elevation of <i>Orfeo</i> and <i>Alceste</i>. + </p> + <p> + In 1752 an Italian company visited Paris, and performed at the Opera a + number of pieces by Pergolese, and other composers of their country. A<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.293" id="Page_i.293">[i.293]</a></span> + violent war arose, which agitated Paris far more intensely than the defeat + of Rossbach and the loss of Canada did afterwards. The quarrel between the + Parliament and the Clergy was at its height. The Parliament had just been + exiled, and the gravest confusion threatened the State. The operatic + quarrel turned the excitement of the capital into another channel. Things + went so far that the censor was entreated to prohibit the printing of any + work containing the damnable doctrine and position that Italian music is + good. Rousseau took part enthusiastically with the Italians.<a + name="FNanchor319" id="FNanchor319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319">[319]</a> + His Letter on French Music (1753) proved to the great fury of the people + concerned, that the French had no national music, and that it would be so + much the worse for them if they ever had any. Their language, so proper to + be the organ of truth and reason, was radically unfit either for poetry or + music. All national music must derive its principal characteristics from + the language. Now if there is a language in Europe fit for music, it is + certainly the Italian, for it is sweet, sonorous, harmonious, and more + accentuated than any other, and these are precisely the four qualities + which adapt a language to singing. It is sweet because the articulations + are not composite, because the meeting of consonants is both infrequent + and soft, and because a great number of the syllables being only formed of + vowels, frequent elisions make its pronunciation more flowing. It is + sonorous because most of the vowels<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.294" id="Page_i.294">[i.294]</a></span> are full, because it + is without composite diphthongs, because it has few or no nasal vowels. + Again, the inversions of the Italian are far more favourable to true + melody than the didactic order of French. And so onwards, with much close + grappling of the matter. French melody does not exist; it is only a sort + of modulated plain-song which has nothing agreeable in itself, which only + pleases with the aid of a few capricious ornaments, and then only pleases + those who have agreed to find it beautiful.<a name="FNanchor320" + id="FNanchor320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320">[320]</a> + </p> + <p> + The letter contains a variety of acute remarks upon music, and includes a + vigorous protest against fugues, imitations, double designs, and the like. + Scarcely any one succeeds in them, and success even when obtained hardly + rewards the labour. As for counterfugues, double fugues, and "other + difficult fooleries that the ear cannot endure nor the reason justify," + they are evidently relics of barbarism and bad taste which only remain, + like the porticoes of our gothic churches, to the disgrace of those who + had patience enough to construct them.<a name="FNanchor321" + id="FNanchor321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321">[321]</a> The last phrase-and + both Voltaire and Turgot used gothic architecture as the symbol for the + supreme of rudeness and barbarism—shows that even a man who seems to + run counter to the whole current of his time yet does not escape its + influence. + </p> + <p> + Grimm, after remarking on the singularity of a demonstration of the + impossibility of setting melody<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.295" + id="Page_i.295">[i.295]</a></span> to French words on the part of a writer + who had just produced the Village Soothsayer, informs us that the letter + created a furious uproar, and set all Paris in a blaze. He had himself + taken the side of the Italians in an amusing piece of pleasantry, which + became a sort of classic model for similar facetiousness in other + controversies of the century. The French, as he said, forgive everything + in favour of what makes them laugh, but Rousseau talked reason and + demolished the pretensions of French music with great sounding strokes as + of an axe.<a name="FNanchor322" id="FNanchor322"></a><a + href="#Footnote_322">[322]</a> Rousseau expected to be assassinated, and + gravely assures us that there was a plot to that effect, as well as a + design to put him in the Bastille. This we may fairly surmise to have been + a fiction of his own imagination, and the only real punishment that + overtook him was the loss of his right to free admission to the Opera. + After what he had said of the intolerable horrors of French music, the + directors of the theatre can hardly be accused of vindictiveness in + releasing him from them.<a name="FNanchor323" id="FNanchor323"></a><a + href="#Footnote_323">[323]</a> Some twenty years after (1774), when Paris + was torn asunder by the violence of the two great factions of the + Gluckists and Piccinists, Rousseau retracted his opinion as to the + impossibility of wedding melody to French words.<a name="FNanchor324" + id="FNanchor324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324">[324]</a><span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.296" id="Page_i.296">[i.296]</a></span> He went as often as + he could to hear the works both of Grétri and Gluck, and <i>Orfeo</i> + delighted him, while the <i>Fausse magie</i> of the former moved him to + say to the composer, "Your music stirs sweet sensations to which I + thought my heart had long been closed."<a name="FNanchor325" + id="FNanchor325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325">[325]</a> This being so, and + life being as brief as art is long, we need not further examine the + controversy. It may be worth adding that Rousseau wrote some of the + articles on music for the Encyclopædia, and that in 1767 he published + a not inconsiderable Musical Dictionary of his own. + </p> + <p> + His scheme of a new musical notation and the principles on which he + defended it are worth attention, because some of the ideas are now + accepted as the base of a well-known and growing system of musical + instruction. The aim of the scheme, let us say to begin with, was at once + practical and popular; to reduce the difficulty of learning music to the + lowest possible point, and so to bring the most delightful of the arts + within the reach of the largest possible number of people. Hence, although + he maintains the fitness of his scheme for instrumental as well as vocal<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.297" id="Page_i.297">[i.297]</a></span> + performances, it is clearly the latter which he has most at heart, + evidently for the reason that this is the kind of music most accessible to + the thousands, and it was always the thousands of whom Rousseau thought. + This is the true distinction of music, it is for the people; and the best + musical notation is that which best enables persons to sing at sight. The + difficulty of the old notation had come practically before him as a + teacher. The quantity of details which the pupil was forced to commit to + memory before being able to sing from the open book, struck him then as + the chief obstacle to anything like facility in performance, and without + some of this facility he rightly felt that music must remain a luxury for + the few. So genuine was his interest in the matter, that he was not very + careful to fight for the originality of his own scheme. Our present + musical signs, he said, are so imperfect and so inconvenient that it is no + wonder that several persons have tried to re-cast or amend them; nor is it + any wonder that some of them should have hit upon the same device in + selecting the signs most natural and proper, such as numerical figures. As + much, however, depends on the way of dealing with these figures, as with + their adoption, and here he submitted that his own plan was as novel as it + was advantageous.<a name="FNanchor326" id="FNanchor326"></a><a + href="#Footnote_326">[326]</a> Thus we have to bear in mind that + Rousseau's scheme was above all things a practical device, contrived for + making the teach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.298" id="Page_i.298">[i.298]</a></span>ing + and the learning of musical elements an easier process.<a + name="FNanchor327" id="FNanchor327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327">[327]</a> + </p> + <p> + The chief element of the project consists in the substitution of a + relative series of notes or symbols in place of an absolute series. In the + common notation any given note, say the A of the treble clef, is uniformly + represented by the same symbol, namely, the position of second space in + the clef, whatever key it may belong to. Rousseau, insisting on the + varying quality impressed on any tone of a given pitch by the key-note of + the scale to which it belongs, protested against the same name being given + to the tone, however the quality of it might vary. Thus Re or D, which is + the second tone in the key of C, ought, according to him, to have a + different name when found as the fifth in the key of G, and in every case + the name should at once indicate the interval of a tone from its key-note. + His mode of effecting this change is as follows. The names <i>ut, re</i>, + and the rest, are kept for the fixed order of the tones, C, D, E, and the + rest. The key of a piece is shown by prefixing one of these symbols, and + this determines the absolute quality of the melody as to pitch. That + settled, every tone is expressed by a number bearing a relation to the + key-note. This tonic note is represented by one, the other six tones of + the scale are expressed by the numbers from two to seven. In the popular + Tonic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.299" id="Page_i.299">[i.299]</a></span> + Sol-Fa notation, which corresponds so closely to Rousseau's in principle, + the key-note is always styled Do, and the other symbols, <i>mi</i>, <i>la</i>, + and the rest, indicate at once the relative position of these tones in + their particular key or scale. Here the old names were preserved as being + easily sung; Rousseau selected numbers because he supposed that they best + expressed the generation of the sounds.<a name="FNanchor328" + id="FNanchor328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328">[328]</a> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau attempted to find a theoretic base for this symbolic + establishment of the relational quality of tones, and he dimly guessed + that the order of the harmonics or upper tones of a given tonic would + furnish a principle for forming the familiar major scale,<a + name="FNanchor329" id="FNanchor329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329">[329]</a> + but his knowledge of the order was faulty. He was perhaps groping after + the idea by which Professor Helmholtz has accounted for the various mental + effects of the several intervals in a key—namely, the degree of + natural affinity, measured by means of the upper tones, existing between + the given tone and its tonic. Apart from this, however, the practical + value of his ideas in instruction in singing is clearly shown by the + circumstance that at any given time many thousands of young children are + now being taught to read melody in the Sol-Fa notation in a few weeks. + This shows how right Rousseau was in continually declaring the ease of + hitting a particular tone, when the relative position of the tone in + respect to the key-note is clearly manifested. A singer in trying to hit + the tone is compelled to measure the interval<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.300" id="Page_i.300">[i.300]</a></span> between it and the + preceding tone, and the simplest and easiest mode of doing this is to + associate every tone with the tonics, thus constituting it a term of a + relation with this fundamental tone. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau made a mistake when he supposed that his ideas were just as + applicable to instrumental as they were to vocal music. The requirements + of the singer are not those of the player. To a performer on the piano, + who has to light rapidly and simultaneously on a number of tones, or to a + violinist who has to leap through several octaves with great rapidity, the + most urgent need is that of a definite and fixed mark, by which the + absolute pitch of each successive tone may be at once recognised. Neither + of these has any time to think about the melodious relation of the tones; + it is quite as much as they can do to find their place on the key-board or + the string. Rousseau's scheme, or any similar one, fails to supply the + clear and obvious index to pitch supplied by the old system. Old Rameau + pointed this out to Rousseau when the scheme was laid before him, and + Rousseau admitted that the objection was decisive,<a name="FNanchor330" + id="FNanchor330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330">[330]</a> though his + admission was not practically deterrent. + </p> + <p> + His device for expressing change of octave by means of points would render + the rapid seizing of a particular tone by the performer still more + difficult, and it is strange that he should have preferred this to the + other plan suggested, of indicating height of octave by visible place + above or below a horizontal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.301" + id="Page_i.301">[i.301]</a></span> line. Again, his attempt to simplify + the many varieties of musical time by reducing them all to the two modes + of double and triple time, though laudable enough, yet implies an + imperfect recognition of the full meaning of time, by omitting all + reference to the distribution of accent and to the average time value of + the tones in a particular movement. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_318" id="Footnote_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor318">[318]</a> + Quoted in Martin's <i>Hist. de France</i>, xvi. 158. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_319" id="Footnote_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor319">[319]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, viii. 197. Grimm, <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, i. 27. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_320" id="Footnote_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor320">[320]</a> + <i>Lettre sur la Musique Française</i>, 178, etc., 187. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_321" id="Footnote_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor321">[321]</a> + P. 197. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_322" id="Footnote_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor322">[322]</a> + <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, i. 92. His own piece was <i>Le petit prophète de + Boehmischbroda</i>, the style of which will be seen in a subsequent + footnote. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_323" id="Footnote_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor323">[323]</a> + He was burnt in effigy by the musicians of the Opera. Grimm, <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, + i. 113. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_324" id="Footnote_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor324">[324]</a> + This is Turgot's opinion on the controversy (Letter to Caillard, <i>Oeuv.</i>, + ii. 827):—"Tous avez donc vu Jean-Jacques; la musique est un + excellent passe-port auprès de lui. Quant à l'impossibilité + de faire de la musique française, je ne puis y croire, et votre + raison ne me paraît pas bonne; car il n'est point vrai que l'essence + de la langue française est d'être sans accent. Point de + conversation animée sans beaucoup d'accent; mais l'accent est libre + et déterminé seulement par l'affection de celui qui parle, sans + être fixé par des conventions sur certaines syllabes, quoique + nous ayons aussi dans plusieurs mots des syllabes dominantes qui seules + peuvent être accentuées." + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_325" id="Footnote_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor325">[325]</a> + Musset-Pathay, i. 289. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_326" id="Footnote_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor326">[326]</a> + Preface to <i>Dissertation sur la Musique Moderne</i>, pp. 32, 33. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_327" id="Footnote_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor327">[327]</a> + I am indebted to Mr. James Sully, M.A., for furnishing me with notes on a + technical subject with which I have too little acquaintance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_328" id="Footnote_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor328">[328]</a> + <i>Dissertation</i>, p. 42. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_329" id="Footnote_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor329">[329]</a> + P. 52. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_330" id="Footnote_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor330">[330]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, vii. 18, 19. Also <i>Dissertation</i>, pp. 74, 75. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.302" id="Page_i.302">[i.302]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_IX." id="CHAPTER_IX."></a>CHAPTER IX. + </h2> + <h3> + VOLTAIRE AND D'ALEMBERT. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">Everybody</span> in the full tide of the eighteenth + century had something to do with Voltaire, from serious personages like + Frederick the Great and Turgot, down to the sorriest poetaster who sent + his verses to be corrected or bepraised. Rousseau's debt to him in the + days of his unformed youth we have already seen, as well as the courtesies + with which they approached one another, when Richelieu employed the + struggling musician to make some modifications in the great man's + unconsidered court-piece. Neither of them then dreamed that their two + names were destined to form the great literary antithesis of the century. + In the ten years that elapsed between their first interchange of letters + and their first fit of coldness, it must have been tolerably clear to + either of them, if either of them gave thought to the matter, that their + dissidence was increasing and likely to increase. Their methods were + different, their training different, their points of view different, and + above all these things, their temperaments were different by a whole + heaven's breadth. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.303" id="Page_i.303">[i.303]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + A great number of excellent and pointed half-truths have been uttered by + various persons in illustration of all these contrasts. The philosophy of + Voltaire, for instance, is declared to be that of the happy, while + Rousseau is the philosopher of the unhappy. Voltaire steals away their + faith from those who doubt, while Rousseau strikes doubt into the mind of + the unbeliever. The gaiety of the one saddens, while the sadness of the + other consoles. If we pass from the marked divergence in tendencies, which + is imperfectly hinted at in such sayings as these, to the divergence + between them in all the fundamental conditions of intellectual and moral + life, then the variation which divided the revolutionary stream into two + channels, flowing broadly apart through unlike regions and climates down + to the great sea, is intelligible enough. Voltaire was the + arch-representative of all those elements in contemporary thought, its + curiosity, irreverence, intrepidity, vivaciousness, rationality, to which, + as we have so often had to say, Rousseau's temperament and his Genevese + spirit made him profoundly antipathetic. Voltaire was the great high + priest, robed in the dazzling vestments of poetry and philosophy and + history, of that very religion of knowledge and art which Rousseau + declared to be the destroyer of the felicity of men. The glitter has faded + away from Voltaire's philosophic raiment since those days, and his laurel + bough lies a little leafless. Still this can never make us forget that he + was in his day and generation one of the sovereign emancipators, because<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.304" id="Page_i.304">[i.304]</a></span> he + awoke one dormant set of energies, just as Rousseau presently came to + awake another set. Each was a power, not merely by virtue of some singular + preeminence of understanding or mysterious unshared insight of his own, + but for a far deeper reason. No partial and one-sided direction can + permanently satisfy the manifold aspirations and faculties of the human + mind in the great average of common men, and it is the common average of + men to whom exceptional thinkers speak, whom they influence, and by whom + they are in turn influenced, depressed, or buoyed up, just as a painter or + a dramatist is affected. Voltaire's mental constitution made him eagerly + objective, a seeker of true things, quivering for action, admirably + sympathetic with all life and movement, a spirit restlessly traversing the + whole world. Rousseau, far different from this, saw in himself a reflected + microcosm of the outer world, and was content to take that instead of the + outer world, and as its truest version. He made his own moods the + premisses from which he deduced a system of life for humanity, and so far + as humanity has shared his moods or some parts of them, his system was + true, and has been accepted. To him the bustle of the outer world was only + a hindrance to that process of self-absorption which was his way of + interpreting life. Accessible only to interests of emotion and sense, he + was saved from intellectual sterility, and made eloquent, by the vehemence + of his emotion and the fire of his senses. He was a master example of + sensibility,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.305" id="Page_i.305">[i.305]</a></span> + as Voltaire was a master example of clear-eyed penetration. + </p> + <p> + This must not be taken for a rigid piece of mutually exclusive division, + for the edges of character are not cut exactly sharp, as words are. + Especially when any type is intense, it seems to meet and touch its + opposite. Just as Voltaire's piercing activity and soundness of + intelligence made him one of the humanest of men, so Rousseau's emotional + susceptibility endowed him with the gift of a vision that carried far into + the social depths. It was a very early criticism on the pair, that + Voltaire wrote on more subjects, but that Rousseau was the more profound. + In truth one was hardly much more profound than the other. Rousseau had + the sonorousness of speech which popular confusion of thought is apt to + identify with depth. And he had seriousness. If profundity means the + quality of seeing to the heart of subjects, Rousseau had in a general way + rather less of it than the shrewd-witted crusher of the Infamous. What the + distinction really amounts to is that Rousseau had a strong feeling for + certain very important aspects of human life, which Voltaire thought very + little about, or never thought about at all, and that while Voltaire was + concerned with poetry, history, literature, and the more ridiculous parts + of the religious superstition of his time, Rousseau thought about social + justice and duty and God and the spiritual consciousness of men, with a + certain attempt at thoroughness and system. As for the substance of his + thinking, as we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.306" + id="Page_i.306">[i.306]</a></span> already seen in the Discourses, and + shall soon have an opportunity of seeing still more clearly, it was often + as thin and hollow as if he had belonged to the company of the + epigrammatical, who, after all, have far less of a monopoly of shallow + thinking than is often supposed. The prime merit of Rousseau, in comparing + him with the brilliant chief of the rationalistic school of the time, is + his reverence; reverence for moral worth in however obscure intellectual + company, for the dignity of human character and the loftiness of duty, for + some of those cravings of the human mind after the divine and + incommensurable, which may indeed often be content with solutions proved + by long time and slow experience to be inadequate, but which are closely + bound up with the highest elements of nobleness of soul. + </p> + <p> + It was this spiritual part of him which made Rousseau a third great power + in the century, between the Encyclopædic party and the Church. He + recognised a something in men, which the Encyclopædists treated as a + chimera imposed on the imagination by theologians and others for their own + purposes. And he recognised this in a way which did not offend the + rational feeling of the times, as the Catholic dogmas offended it. In a + word he was religious. In being so, he separated himself from Voltaire and + his school, who did passably well without religion. Again, he was a + puritan. In being this, he was cut off from the intellectually and morally + unreformed church, which was then the organ of religion in France. Nor is + this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.307" id="Page_i.307">[i.307]</a></span> + all. It was Rousseau, and not the feeble controversialists put up from + time to time by the Jesuits and other ecclesiastical bodies, who proved + the effective champion of religion, and the only power who could make head + against the triumphant onslaught of the Voltaireans. He gave up Christian + dogmas and mysteries, and, throwing himself with irresistible ardour upon + the emotions in which all religions have their root and their power, he + breathed new life into them, he quickened in men a strong desire to have + them satisfied, and he beat back the army of emancipators with the loud + and incessantly repeated cry that they were not come to deliver the human + mind, but to root out all its most glorious and consolatory attributes. + This immense achievement accomplished,—the great framework of a + faith in God and immortality and providential government of the world thus + preserved, it was an easy thing by and by for the churchmen to come back, + and once more unpack and restore to their old places the temporarily + discredited paraphernalia of dogma and mystery. How far all this was good + or bad for the mental elevation of France and Europe, we shall have a + better opportunity of considering presently. + </p> + <p> + We have now only to glance at the first skirmishes between the religious + reactionist, on the one side, and, on the other, the leader of the school + who believed that men are better employed in thinking as accurately, and + knowing as widely, and living as humanely, as all those difficult + processes are possible,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.308" + id="Page_i.308">[i.308]</a></span> than in wearying themselves in futile + search after gods who dwell on inaccessible heights. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%;" /> + <p> + Voltaire had acknowledged Rousseau's gift of the second Discourse with his + usual shrewd pleasantry: "I have received your new book against the + human race, and thank you for it. Never was such cleverness used in the + design of making us all stupid. One longs in reading your book to walk on + all fours. But as I have lost that habit for more than sixty years, I feel + unhappily the impossibility of resuming it. Nor can I embark in search of + the savages of Canada, because the maladies to which I am condemned render + a European surgeon necessary to me; because war is going on in those + regions; and because the example of our actions has made the savages + nearly as bad as ourselves. So I content myself with being a very + peaceable savage in the solitude which I have chosen near your native + place, where you ought to be too." After an extremely inadequate + discussion of one or two points in the essay,<a name="FNanchor331" + id="FNanchor331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331">[331]</a> he concludes:—"I + am informed that your health is bad; you ought to come to set it up again + in your native air, to enjoy freedom, to drink with me the milk of our + cows and browse our grass."<a name="FNanchor332" id="FNanchor332"></a><a + href="#Footnote_332">[332]</a> Rousseau replied to all this in a friendly + way, recognising Voltaire as his chief, and actually at the very moment + when he tells us that the corrupting presence of the arrogant and + seductive man at Geneva helped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.309" + id="Page_i.309">[i.309]</a></span> to make the idea of returning to Geneva + odious to him, hailing him in such terms as these:—"Sensible of + the honour you do my country, I share the gratitude of my fellow-citizens, + and hope that it will increase when they have profited by the lessons that + you of all men are able to give them. Embellish the asylum you have + chosen; enlighten a people worthy of your instruction; and do you who know + so well how to paint virtue and freedom, teach us to cherish them in our + walls."<a name="FNanchor333" id="FNanchor333"></a><a + href="#Footnote_333">[333]</a> + </p> + <p> + Within a year, however, the bright sky became a little clouded. In 1756 + Voltaire published one of the most sincere, energetic, and passionate + pieces to be found in the whole literature of the eighteenth century, his + poem on the great earthquake of Lisbon (November 1755). No such word had + been heard in Europe since the terrible images in which Pascal had figured + the doom of man. It was the reaction of one who had begun life by refuting + Pascal with doctrines of cheerfulness drawn from the optimism of Pope and + Leibnitz, who had done Pope's Essay on Man (1732-34) into French verse as + late as 1751,<a name="FNanchor334" id="FNanchor334"></a><a + href="#Footnote_334">[334]</a> and whose imagination, already sombred by + the triumphant cruelty and superstition which raged around him, was + suddenly struck with horror by a catastrophe which, in a world where + whatever is is best, destroyed hundreds of human creatures in the smoking + ashes and engulfed wreck of their city. How, he cried, can you persist in + talking of the deliberate will of a free<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.310" id="Page_i.310">[i.310]</a></span> and benevolent God, + whose eternal laws necessitated such an appalling climax of misery and + injustice as this? Was the disaster retributive? If so, why is Lisbon in + ashes, while Paris dances? The enigma is desperate and inscrutable, and + the optimist lives in the paradise of the fool. We ask in vain what we + are, where we are, whither we go, whence we came. We are tormented atoms + on a clod of earth, whom death at last swallows up, and with whom destiny + meanwhile makes cruel sport. The past is only a disheartening memory, and + if the tomb destroys the thinking creature, how frightful is the present! + </p> + <p> + Whatever else we may say of Voltaire's poem, it was at least the first + sign of the coming reaction of sympathetic imagination against the + polished common sense of the great Queen Anne school, which had for more + than a quarter of a century such influence in Europe.<a name="FNanchor335" + id="FNanchor335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335">[335]</a> It is a little odd + that Voltaire, the most brilliant and versatile branch of this stock, + should have broken so energetically away from it, and that he should have + done so, shows how open and how strong was the feeling in him for reality + and actual circumstance. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau was amazed that a man overwhelmed as Voltaire was with prosperity + and glory, should declaim against the miseries of this life and pro<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.311" id="Page_i.311">[i.311]</a></span>nounce + that all is evil and vanity. "Voltaire in seeming always to believe + in God, never really believed in anybody but the devil, since his + pretended God is a maleficent being who according to him finds all his + pleasure in working mischief. The absurdity of this doctrine is especially + revolting in a man crowned with good things of every sort, and who from + the midst of his own happiness tries to fill his fellow-creatures with + despair, by the cruel and terrible image of the serious calamities from + which he is himself free."<a name="FNanchor336" id="FNanchor336"></a><a + href="#Footnote_336">[336]</a> + </p> + <p> + As if any doctrine could be more revolting than this which Rousseau so + quietly takes for granted, that if it is well with me and I am free from + calamities, then there must needs be a beneficent ruler of the universe, + and the calamities of all the rest of the world, if by chance they catch + the fortunate man's eye, count for nothing in our estimate of the method + of the supposed divine government. It is hard to imagine a more execrable + emotion than the complacent religiosity of the prosperous. Voltaire is + more admirable in nothing than in the ardent humanity and far-spreading + lively sympathy with which he interested himself in all the world's + fortunes, and felt the catastrophe of Lisbon as profoundly as if the + Geneva at his gates had been destroyed. He relished his own prosperity + keenly enough, but his prosperity became ashes in his mouth when he heard + of distress or wrong, and he did not rest until he had moved heaven<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.312" id="Page_i.312">[i.312]</a></span> + and earth to soothe the distress and repair the wrong. It was his + impatience in the face of the evils of the time which wrung from him this + desperate cry, and it is precisely because these evils did not touch him + in his own person, that he merits the greater honour for the surpassing + energy and sincerity of his feeling for them. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau, however, whose biographer has no such stories to tell as those + of Calas and La Barre, Sirven and Lally, but only tales of a maiden + wrongfully accused of theft, and a friend left senseless on the pavement + of a strange town, and a benefactress abandoned to the cruelty of her + fate, still was moved in the midst of his erotic visions in the forest of + Montmorency to speak a jealous word in vindication of the divine + government of our world. For him at any rate life was then warm and the + day bright and the earth very fair, and he lauded his gods accordingly. It + was his very sensuousness, as we are so often saying, that made him + religious. The optimism which Voltaire wished to destroy was to him a + sovereign element of comfort. "Pope's poem," he says, "softens + my misfortunes and inclines me to patience, while yours sharpens all my + pains, excites me to murmuring, and reduces me to despair. Pope and + Leibnitz exhort me to resignation by declaring calamities to be a + necessary effect of the nature and constitution of the universe. You cry, + Suffer for ever, unhappy wretch; if there be a God who created thee, he + could have stayed thy pains if he would: hope for no end to them, for + there is no reason to be discerned for thy<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.313" id="Page_i.313">[i.313]</a></span> existence, except to + suffer and to perish."<a name="FNanchor337" id="FNanchor337"></a><a + href="#Footnote_337">[337]</a> Rousseau then proceeds to argue the matter, + but he says nothing really to the point which Pope had not said before, + and said far more effectively. He begins, however, originally enough by a + triumphant reference to his own great theme of the superiority of the + natural over the civil state. Moral evil is our own work, the result of + our liberty; so are most of our physical evils, except death, and that is + mostly an evil only from the preparations that we make for it. Take the + case of Lisbon. Was it nature who collected the twenty thousand houses, + all seven stories high? If the people of Lisbon had been dispersed over + the face of the country, as wild tribes are, they would have fled at the + first shock, and they would have been seen the next day twenty leagues + away, as gay as if nothing had happened. And how many of them perished in + the attempt to rescue clothes or papers or money? Is it not true that the + person of a man is now, thanks to civilisation, the least part of himself, + and is hardly worth saving after loss of the rest? Again, there are some + events which lose much of their horror when we look at them closely. A + premature death is not always a real evil and may be a relative good; of + the people crushed to death under the ruins of Lisbon, many no doubt thus + escaped still worse calamities. And is it worse to be killed swiftly than + to await death in prolonged anguish?<a name="FNanchor338" id="FNanchor338"></a><a + href="#Footnote_338">[338]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.314" id="Page_i.314">[i.314]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + The good of the whole is to be sought before the good of the part. + Although the whole material universe ought not to be dearer to its Creator + than a single thinking and feeling being, yet the system of the universe + which produces, preserves, and perpetuates all thinking and feeling + beings, ought to be dearer to him than any one of them, and he may, + notwithstanding his goodness, or rather by reason of his goodness, + sacrifice something of the happiness of individuals to the preservation of + the whole. "That the dead body of a man should feed worms or wolves + or plants is not, I admit, a compensation for the death of such a man; but + if in the system of this universe, it is necessary for the preservation of + the human race that there should be a circulation of substance between + men, animals, vegetables, then the particular mishap of an individual + contributes to the general good. I die, I am eaten by worms; but my + children, my brothers, will live as I have lived; my body enriches the + earth of which they will consume the fruits; and so I do, by the order of + nature and for all men, what Codrus, Curtius, the Decii, and a thousand + others, did of their own free will for a small part of men." (p. + 305.) + </p> + <p> + All this is no doubt very well said, and we are bound to accept it as true + doctrine. Although, however, it may make resignation easier by explaining + the nature of evil, it does not touch the point of Voltaire's outburst, + which is that evil exists, and exists in shapes which it is a mere mockery + to associate with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.315" id="Page_i.315">[i.315]</a></span> + the omnipotence of a benevolent controller of the world's forces. + According to Rousseau, if we go to the root of what he means, there is no + such thing as evil, though much that to our narrow and impatient sight has + the look of it. This may be true if we use that fatal word in an arbitrary + and unreal sense, for the avoidable, the consequent without antecedent, or + antecedent without consequent. If we consent to talk in this way, and only + are careful to define terms so that there is no doubt as to their meaning, + it is hardly deniable that evil is a mere word and not a reality, and + whatever is is indeed right and best, because no better is within our + reach. Voltaire, however, like the man of sense that he was, exclaimed + that at any rate relatively to us poor creatures the existence of pain, + suffering, waste, whether caused or uncaused, whether in accordance with + stern immutable law or mere divine caprice, is a most indisputable + reality: from our point of view it is a cruel puerility to cry out at + every calamity and every iniquity that all is well in the best of possible + worlds, and to sing hymns of praise and glory to the goodness and mercy of + a being of supreme might, who planted us in this evil state and keeps us + in it. Voltaire's is no perfect philosophy; indeed it is not a philosophy + at all, but a passionate ejaculation; but it is perfect in comparison with + a cut and dried system like this of Rousseau's, which rests on a mocking + juggle with phrases, and the substitution by dexterous sleight of hand of + one definition for another. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.316" id="Page_i.316">[i.316]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau really gives up the battle, by confessing frankly that the matter + is beyond the light of reason, and that, "if the theist only founds + his sentiment on probabilities, the atheist with still less precision only + founds his on the alternative possibilities." The objections on both + sides are insoluble, because they turn on things of which men can have no + veritable idea; "yet I believe in God as strongly as I believe any + other truth, because believing and not believing are the last things in + the world that depend on me." So be it. But why take the trouble to + argue in favour of one side of an avowedly insoluble question? It was + precisely because he felt that the objections on both sides cannot be + answered, that Voltaire, hastily or not, cried out that he faced the + horrors of such a catastrophe as the Lisbon earthquake without a glimpse + of consolation. The upshot of Rousseau's remonstrance only amounted to + this, that he could not furnish one with any consolation out of the + armoury of reason, that he himself found this consolation, but in a way + that did not at all depend upon his own effort or will, and was therefore + as incommunicable as the advantage of having a large appetite or being six + feet high. The reader of Rousseau becomes accustomed to this way of + dealing with subjects of discussion. We see him using his reason as + adroitly as he knows how for three-fourths of the debate, and then he + suddenly flings himself back with a triumphant kind of weariness into the + buoyant waters of emotion and sentiment. "You sir, who are a poet," + once said Madame d'Epinay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.317" + id="Page_i.317">[i.317]</a></span> to Saint Lambert, "will agree with + me that the existence of a Being, eternal, all powerful, and of sovereign + intelligence, is at any rate the germ of the finest enthusiasm."<a + name="FNanchor339" id="FNanchor339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339">[339]</a> + To take this position and cleave to it may be very well, but why spoil its + dignity and repose by an unmeaning and superfluous flourish of the weapons + of the reasoner? + </p> + <p> + With the same hasty change of direction Rousseau says the true question is + not whether each of us suffers or not, but whether it is good that the + universe should be, and whether our misfortunes were inevitable in its + constitution. Then within a dozen lines he admits that there can be no + direct proof either way; we must content ourselves with settling it by + means of inference from the perfections of God. Of course, it is clear + that in the first place what Rousseau calls the true question consists of + two quite distinct questions. Is the universe in its present ordering on + the whole good relatively either to men, or to all sentient creatures? + Next was evil an inevitable element in that ordering? Second, this way of + putting it does not in the least advance the case against Voltaire, who + insisted that no fine phrases ought to hide from us the dreadful power and + crushing reality of evil and the desolate plight in which we are left. + This is no exhaustive thought, but a deep cry of anguish at the dark lot + of men, and of just indignation against the philosophy which to creatures + asking for bread gave the brightly polished<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.318" id="Page_i.318">[i.318]</a></span> stone of sentimental + theism. Rousseau urged that Voltaire robbed men of their only solace. What + Voltaire really did urge was that the solace derived from the attribution + of humanity and justice to the Supreme Being, and from the metaphysical + account of evil, rests on too narrow a base either to cover the facts, or + to be a true solace to any man who thinks and observes. He ought to have + gone on, if it had only been possible in those times, to persuade his + readers that there is no solace attainable, except that of an energetic + fortitude, and that we do best to go into life not in a softly lined + silken robe, but with a sharp sword and armour thrice tempered. As between + himself and Rousseau, he saw much the more keenly of the two, and this was + because he approached the matter from the side of the facts, while the + latter approached it from the side of his own mental comfort and the + preconceptions involved in it. + </p> + <p> + The most curious part of this curious letter is the conclusion, where + Rousseau, loosely wandering from his theme, separates Voltaire from the + philosopher, and beseeches him to draw up a moral code or profession of + civil faith that should contain positively the social maxims that + everybody should be bound to admit, and negatively the intolerant maxims + that everybody should be forced to reject as seditious. Every religion in + accord with the code should be allowed, and every religion out of accord + with it proscribed, or a man might be free to have no other religion but + the code itself. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.319" id="Page_i.319">[i.319]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Voltaire was much too clear-headed a person to take any notice of nonsense + like this. Rousseau's letter remained unanswered, nor is there any reason + to suppose that Voltaire ever got through it, though Rousseau chose to + think that <i>Candide</i> (1759) was meant for a reply to him.<a + name="FNanchor340" id="FNanchor340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340">[340]</a> + He is careful to tell us that he never read that incomparable satire, for + which one would be disposed to pity any one except Rousseau, whose + appreciation of wit, if not of humour also, was probably more deficient + than in any man who ever lived, either in Geneva or any other country + fashioned after Genevan guise. Rousseau's next letter to Voltaire was four + years later, and by that time the alienation which had no definitely + avowed cause, and can be marked by no special date, had become complete. + "I hate you, in fact," he concluded, "since you have so + willed it; but I hate you like a man still worthier to have loved you, if + you had willed it. Of all the sentiments with which my heart was full + towards you, there only remains the admiration that we cannot refuse to + your fine genius, and love for your writings. If there is nothing in you + which I can honour but your talents, that is no fault of mine."<a + name="FNanchor341" id="FNanchor341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341">[341]</a> + We know that Voltaire did not take reproach with serenity, and he behaved + with bitter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.320" id="Page_i.320">[i.320]</a></span> + violence towards Rousseau in circumstances when silence would have been + both more magnanimous and more humane. Rousseau occasionally, though not + very often, retaliated in the same vein.<a name="FNanchor342" + id="FNanchor342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342">[342]</a> On the whole his + judgment of Voltaire, when calmly given, was not meant to be unkind. + "Voltaire's first impulse," he said, "is to be good; it is + reflection that makes him bad."<a name="FNanchor343" id="FNanchor343"></a><a + href="#Footnote_343">[343]</a> Tronchin had said in the same way that + Voltaire's heart was the dupe of his understanding. Rousseau is always + trying to like him, he always recognises him as the first man of the time, + and he subscribed his mite for the erection of a statue to him. It was the + satire and mockery in Voltaire which irritated Rousseau more than the + doctrines or denial of doctrine which they cloaked; in his eyes sarcasm + was always the veritable dialect of the evil power. It says something for + the sincerity of his efforts after equitable judgment, that he should have<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.321" id="Page_i.321">[i.321]</a></span> + had the patience to discern some of the fundamental merit of the most + remorseless and effective mocker that ever made superstition look mean, + and its doctors ridiculous. + </p> + <h3> + II. + </h3> + <p> + Voltaire was indirectly connected with Rousseau's energetic attack upon + another great Encyclopædist leader, the famous Letter to D'Alembert + on Stage Plays. "There," Rousseau said afterwards, "is my + favourite book, my Benjamin, because I produced it without effort, at the + first inspiration, and in the most lucid moments of my life."<a + name="FNanchor344" id="FNanchor344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344">[344]</a> + Voltaire, who to us figures so little as a poet and dramatist, was to + himself and to his contemporaries of this date a poet and dramatist before + all else, the author of <i>Zaïre</i> and <i>Mahomet</i>, rather than + of <i>Candide</i> and the <i>Philosophical Dictionary</i>. D'Alembert was + Voltaire's staunchest henchman. He only wrote his article on Geneva for + the Encyclopædia to gratify the master. Fresh from a visit to him + when he composed it, he took occasion to regret that the austerity of the + tradition of the city deprived it of the manifold advantages of a theatre. + This suggestion had its origin partly in a desire to promote something + that would please the eager vanity of the dramatist whom Geneva now had + for so close a neighbour, and who had just set her the example by setting + up a theatre of his own; and partly, also, because it gave the writer an + opportunity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.322" id="Page_i.322">[i.322]</a></span> + of denouncing the intolerant rigour with which the church nearer home + treated the stage and all who appeared on it. Geneva was to set an example + that could not be resisted, and France would no longer see actors on the + one hand pensioned by the government, and on the other an object of + anathema, excommunicated by priests and regarded with contempt by + citizens.<a name="FNanchor345" id="FNanchor345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345">[345]</a> + </p> + <p> + The inveterate hostility of the church to the theatre was manifested by + the French ecclesiastics in the full eighteenth century as bitterly as + ever. The circumstance that Voltaire was the great play-writer of the time + would not tend to soften their traditional prejudice, and the persecution + of players by priests was in some sense an episode of the war between the + priest and the philosophers. The latter took up the cause of the stage + partly because they hoped to make the drama an effective rival to the + teaching of pulpit and confessional, partly from their natural sympathy + with an elevated form of intellectual manifestation, and partly from their + abhorrence of the practical inhumanity with which the officers of the + church treated stage performers. While people of quality eagerly sought + the society of those who furnished them as much diversion in private as in + public, the church refused to all players the marriage blessing; when an + actor or actress wished to marry, they were<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.323" id="Page_i.323">[i.323]</a></span> obliged to renounce + the stage, and the Archbishop of Paris diligently resisted evasion or + subterfuge.<a name="FNanchor346" id="FNanchor346"></a><a + href="#Footnote_346">[346]</a> The atrocities connected with the refusal + of burial, as well in the case of players as of philosophers, are known to + all readers in a dozen illustrious instances, from Molière and + Adrienne Lecouvreur downwards. + </p> + <p> + Here, as along the whole line of the battle between new light and old + prejudice, Rousseau took part, if not with the church, at least against + its adversaries. His point of view was at bottom truly puritanical. Jeremy + Collier in his <i>Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the + English Stage</i> (1698) takes up quite a different position. This once + famous piece was not a treatment of the general question, but an attack on + certain specific qualities of the plays of his time—their indecency + of phrase, their oaths, their abuse of the clergy, the gross libertinism + of the characters. One can hardly deny that this was richly deserved by + the English drama of the Restoration, and Collier's strictures were not + applicable, nor meant to apply, either to the ancients, for he has a good + word even for Aristophanes, or to the French drama. Bossuet's loftier + denunciation, like Rousseau's, was puritanical, and it extended to the + whole body of stage plays. He objected to the drama as a school of + concupiscence, as a subtle or gross debaucher of the gravity and purity of + the understanding, as essentially a charmer of the senses, and therefore + the most equivocal and untrust<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.324" + id="Page_i.324">[i.324]</a></span>worthy of teachers. He appeals to the + fathers, to Scripture, to Plato, and even to Christ, who cried, <i>Woe + unto you that laugh</i>.<a name="FNanchor347" id="FNanchor347"></a><a + href="#Footnote_347">[347]</a> There is a fine austerity about Bossuet's + energetic criticism; it is so free from breathless eagerness, and so + severe without being thinly bitter. The churchmen of a generation or two + later had fallen from this height into gloomy peevishness. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's letter on the theatre, it need hardly be said, is meant to be + an appeal to the common sense and judgment of his readers, and not + conceived in the ecclesiastical tone of unctuous anathema and fulgurant + menace. It is no bishop's pastoral, replete with solecisms of thought and + idiom, but a piece of firm dialectic in real matter. His position is this: + that the moral effect of the stage can never be salutary in itself, while + it may easily be extremely pernicious, and that the habit of frequenting + the theatre, the taste for imitating the style of the actors, the cost in + money, the waste in time, and all the other accessory conditions, apart + from the morality of the matter represented, are bad things in themselves, + absolutely and in every circumstance. Secondly, these effects in all kinds + are specially bad in relation to the social condition and habits of + Geneva.<a name="FNanchor348" id="FNanchor348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348">[348]</a> + The first part of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.325" + id="Page_i.325">[i.325]</a></span> discussion is an ingenious answer to + some of the now trite pleas for the morality of the drama, such as that + tragedy leads to pity through terror, that comedy corrects men while + amusing them, that both make virtue attractive and vice hateful.<a + name="FNanchor349" id="FNanchor349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349">[349]</a> + Rousseau insists with abundance of acutely chosen illustration that the + pity that is awaked by tragedy is a fleeting emotion which subsides when + the curtain falls; that comedy as often as not amuses men at the expense + of old age, uncouth virtue, paternal carefulness, and other objects which + we should be taught rather to revere than to ridicule; and that both + tragedy and comedy, instead of making vice hateful, constantly win our + sympathy for it. Is not the French stage, he asks, as much the triumph of + great villains, like Catilina, Mahomet, Atreus, as of illustrious heroes? + </p> + <p> + This rude handling of accepted commonplace is always one of the most + interesting features in Rousseau's polemic. It was of course a + characteristic of the eighteenth century always to take up the ethical and + high prudential view of whatever had to be justified, and Rousseau seems + from this point to have been successful in demolishing arguments which + might hold of Greek tragedy at its best, but which certainly do not hold + of any other dramatic forms. The childishness of the old criticism which + attaches the label of some moral from the copybook to each piece, as its<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.326" id="Page_i.326">[i.326]</a></span> + lesson and point of moral aim, is evident. In repudiating this Rousseau + was certainly right.<a name="FNanchor350" id="FNanchor350"></a><a + href="#Footnote_350">[350]</a> Both the assailants and the defenders of + the stage, however, commit the double error, first of supposing that the + drama is always the same thing, from the Agamemnon down to the last + triviality of a London theatre, and next of pitching the discussion in too + high a key, as if the effect or object of a stage play in the modern era, + where grave sentiment clothes itself in other forms, were substantially + anything more serious than an evening's amusement. Apart from this, and in + so far as the discussion is confined to the highest dramatic expression, + the true answer to Rousseau is now a very plain one. The drama does not + work in the sphere of direct morality, though like everything else in the + world it has a moral or immoral aspect. It is an art of ideal + presentation, not concerned with the inculcation of immediate practical + lessons, but producing a stir in all our sympathetic emotions, quickening + the imagination, and so communicating a wider life to the character of the + spectator. This is what the drama in the hands of a worthy master does; it + is just what noble composition in music does, and there is no more + directly moralising effect in the one than in the other. You must trust to + the sum of other agencies to guide the interest and sympathy thus + quickened into channels<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.327" + id="Page_i.327">[i.327]</a></span> of right action. Rousseau, like most + other controversialists, makes an attack of which the force rests on the + assumption that the special object of the attack is the single influencing + element and the one decisive instrument in making men had or good. What he + says about the drama would only be true if the public went to the play all + day long, and were accessible to no other moral force whatever, modifying + and counteracting such lessons as they might learn at the theatre. He + failed here as in the wider controversy on the sciences and arts, to + consider the particular subject of discussion in relation to the whole of + the general medium in which character moves, and by whose manifold action + and reaction it is incessantly affected and variously shaped. + </p> + <p> + So when he passed on from the theory of dramatic morality to the matter + which he had more at heart, namely, the practical effects of introducing + the drama into Geneva, he keeps out of sight all the qualities in the + Genevese citizen which would protect him against the evil influence of the + stage, though it is his anxiety for the preservation of these very + qualities that gives all its fire to his eloquence. If the citizen really + was what Rousseau insisted that he was, then his virtues would surely + neutralise the evil of the drama; if not, the drama would do him no harm. + We need not examine the considerations in which Rousseau pointed out the + special reasons against introducing a theatre into his native town. It + would draw the artisans away from their work, cause wasteful expenditure + of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.328" id="Page_i.328">[i.328]</a></span> + money in amusements, break up the harmless and inexpensive little clubs of + men and the social gatherings of women. The town was not populous enough + to support a theatre, therefore the government would have to provide one, + and this would mean increased taxation. All this was the secondary and + merely colourable support by argumentation, of a position that had been + reached and was really held by sentiment. Rousseau hated the introduction + of French plays in the same way that Cato hated the introduction of fine + talkers from Greece. It was an innovation, and so habitual was it with + Rousseau to look on all movement in the direction of what the French + writers called taste and cultivation as depraving, that he cannot help + taking for granted that any change in manners associated with taste must + necessarily be a change for the worse. Thus the Letter to D'Alembert was + essentially a supplement to the first Discourse; it was an application of + its principles to a practical case. It was part of his general reactionary + protest against philosophers, poets, men of letters, and all their works, + without particular apprehension on the side of the drama. Hence its + reasoning is much less interesting than its panegyric on the simplicity, + robust courage, and manliness of the Genevese, and its invective against + the effeminacy and frivolity of the Parisian. One of the most significant + episodes in the discussion is the lengthy criticism on the immortal + Misanthrope of Molière. Rousseau admits it for the masterpiece of the + comic muse, though with characteristic perver<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.329" id="Page_i.329">[i.329]</a></span>sity he insists that + the hero is not misanthropic enough, nor truly misanthropic at all, + because he flies into rage at small things affecting himself, instead of + at the large follies of the race. Again, he says that Molière makes + Alceste ridiculous, virtuous as he is, in order to win the applause of the + pit. It is for the character of Philinte, however, that Rousseau reserves + all his spleen. He takes care to describe him in terms which exactly hit + Rousseau's own conception of his philosophic enemies, who find all going + well because they have no interest in anything going better; who are + content with everybody, because they do not care for anybody; who round a + full table maintain that it is not true that the people are hungry. As + criticism, one cannot value this kind of analysis. D'Alembert replied with + a much more rational interpretation of the great comedy, but finding + himself seized with the critic's besetting impertinence of improving + masterpieces, he suddenly stopped with the becoming reflection—"But + I perceive, sir, that I am giving lessons to Molière."<a + name="FNanchor351" id="FNanchor351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351">[351]</a> + </p> + <p> + The constant thought of Paris gave Rousseau an admirable occasion of + painting two pictures in violent contrast, each as over-coloured as the + other by his mixed conceptions of the Plutarchian antique and imaginary + pastoral. We forget the depravation of the stage and the ill living of + comedians in magnificent descriptions of the manly exercises and cheerful + festivities of the free people on the shores of the Lake of<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.330" id="Page_i.330">[i.330]</a></span> + Geneva, and in scornful satire on the Parisian seraglios, where some woman + assembles a number of men who are more like women than their entertainers. + We see on the one side the rude sons of the republic, boxing, wrestling, + running, in generous emulation, and on the other the coxcombs of + cultivated Paris imprisoned in a drawing-room, "rising up, sitting + down, incessantly going and coming to the fire-place, to the window, + taking up a screen and putting it down again a hundred times, turning over + books, flitting from picture to picture, turning and pirouetting about the + room, while the idol stretched motionless on a couch all the time is only + alive in her tongue and eyes" (p. 161). If the rough patriots of the + Lake are less polished in speech, they are all the weightier in reason; + they do not escape by a pleasantry or a compliment; each feeling himself + attacked by all the forces of his adversary, he is obliged to employ all + his own to defend himself, and this is how a mind acquires strength and + precision. There may be here and there a licentious phrase, but there is + no ground for alarm in that. It is not the least rude who are always the + most pure, and even a rather clownish speech is better than that + artificial style in which the two sexes seduce one another, and + familiarise themselves decently with vice. 'Tis true our Swiss drinks too + much, but after all let us not calumniate even vice; as a rule drinkers + are cordial and frank, good, upright, just, loyal, brave, and worthy folk. + Wherever people have most abhorrence of drunkenness, be sure they have + most reason<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.331" id="Page_i.331">[i.331]</a></span> + to fear lest its indiscretion should betray intrigue and treachery. In + Switzerland it is almost thought well of, while at Naples they hold it in + horror; but at bottom which is the more to be dreaded, the intemperance of + the Swiss or the reserve of the Italian? It is hardly surprising to learn + that the people of Geneva were as little gratified by this well-meant + panegyric on their jollity as they had been by another writer's friendly + eulogy on their Socinianism.<a name="FNanchor352" id="FNanchor352"></a><a + href="#Footnote_352">[352]</a> + </p> + <p> + The reader who was not moved to turn brute and walk on all fours by the + pictures of the state of nature in the Discourses, may find it more + difficult to resist the charm of the brotherly festivities and simple + pastimes which in the Letter to D'Alembert the patriot holds up to the + admiration of his countrymen and the envy of foreigners. The writer is in + Sparta, but he tempers his Sparta with a something from Charmettes. Never + before was there so attractive a combination of martial austerity with the + grace of the idyll. And the interest of these pictures is much more than + literary; it is historic also. They were the original version of those + great gatherings in the Champ de Mars and strange suppers of fraternity + during the progress of the Revolution in Paris, which have amused the + cynical ever since, but which pointed to a not unworthy aspiration. The + fine gentlemen whom Rousseau did so well to despise had then all fled, and<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.332" id="Page_i.332">[i.332]</a></span> + the common people under Rousseauite leaders were doing the best they could + to realise on the banks of the Seine the imaginary joymaking and simple + fellowship which had been first dreamed of for the banks of Lake Leman, + and commended with an eloquence that struck new chords in minds satiated + or untouched by the brilliance of mere literature. There was no real state + of things in Geneva corresponding to the gracious picture which Rousseau + so generously painted, and some of the citizens complained that his + account of their social joys was as little deserved as his ingenious + vindication of their hearty feeling for barrel or bottle was little + founded.<a name="FNanchor353" id="FNanchor353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353">[353]</a> + </p> + <p> + The glorification of love of country did little for the Genevese for whom + it was meant, but it penetrated many a soul in the greater nation that lay + sunk in helpless indifference to its own ruin. Nowhere else among the + writers who are the glory of France at this time, is any serious eulogy of + patriotism. Rousseau glows with it, and though he always speaks in + connection with Geneva, yet there is in his words a generous breadth and + fire which gave them an irresistible contagiousness. There are many + passages of this fine persuasive force in the Letter to D'Alembert; + perhaps this, referring to the citizens of Geneva who had gone elsewhere + in search of fortune, is as good as another. Do you think that the opening + of a theatre, he asks, will bring them back to their<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_i.333" id="Page_i.333">[i.333]</a></span> mother city? No; + "each of them must feel that he can never find anywhere else what he + has left behind in his own land; an invincible charm must call him back to + the spot that he ought never to have quitted; the recollection of their + first exercises, their first pleasures, their first sights, must remain + deeply graven in their hearts; the soft impressions made in the days of + their youth must abide and grow stronger with advancing years, while a + thousand others wax dim; in the midst of the pomp of great cities and all + their cheerless magnificence, a secret voice must for ever cry in the + depth of the wanderer's soul, Ah, where are the games and holidays of my + youth? Where is the concord of the townsmen, where the public brotherhood? + Where is pure joy and true mirth? Where are peace, freedom, equity? Let us + hasten to seek all these. With the heart of a Genevese, with a city as + smiling, a landscape as full of delight, a government as just, with + pleasures so true and so pure, and all that is needed to be able to relish + them, how is it that we do not all adore our birth-land? It was thus in + old times that by modest feasts and homely games her citizens were called + back by that Sparta which I can never quote often enough as an example for + us; thus in Athens in the midst of fine art, thus in Susa in the very + bosom of luxury and soft delights, the wearied Spartan sighed after his + coarse pastimes and exhausting exercises" (p. 211).<a + name="FNanchor354" id="FNanchor354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354">[354]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.334" id="Page_i.334">[i.334]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Any reference to this powerfully written, though most sophistical piece, + would be imperfect which should omit its slightly virulent onslaught upon + women and the passion which women inspire. The modern drama, he said, + being too feeble to rise to high themes, has fallen back on love; and on + this hint he proceeds to a censure of love as a poetic theme, and a bitter + estimate of women as companions for men, which might have pleased Calvin + or Knox in his sternest mood. The same eloquence which showed men the + superior delights of the state of nature, now shows the superior fitness + of the oriental seclusion of women; it makes a sympathetic reader tremble + at the want of modesty, purity, and decency, in the part which women are + allowed to take by the infatuated men of a modern community. + </p> + <p> + All this, again, is directed against "that philosophy of a day, which + is born and dies in the corner of a city, and would fain stifle the cry of + nature and the unanimous voice of the human race" (p. 131). The same + intrepid spirits who had brought reason to bear upon the current notions + of providence, inspiration, ecclesiastical tradition, and other unlighted + spots in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.335" id="Page_i.335">[i.335]</a></span> + the human mind, had perceived that the subjection of women to a secondary + place belonged to the same category, and could not any more successfully + be defended by reason. Instead of raging against women for their boldness, + their frivolousness, and the rest, as our passionate sentimentalist did, + the opposite school insisted that all these evils were due to the folly of + treating women with gallantry instead of respect, and to the blindness of + refusing an equally vigorous and masculine education to those who must be + the closest companions of educated man. This was the view forced upon the + most rational observers of a society where women were so powerful, and so + absolutely unfit by want of intellectual training for the right use of + social power. D'Alembert expressed this view in a few pages of forcible + pleading in his reply to Rousseau,<a name="FNanchor355" id="FNanchor355"></a><a + href="#Footnote_355">[355]</a> and some thirty-two years later, when all + questions had become political (1790), Condorcet ably extended the same + line of argument so as to make it cover the claims of women to all the + rights of citizenship.<a name="FNanchor356" id="FNanchor356"></a><a + href="#Footnote_356">[356]</a> From the nature of the case, however, it is + impossible to confute by reason a man who denies that the matter in + dispute is within the decision and jurisdiction of reason, and who + supposes that his own opinion is placed out of the reach of attack when he + declares it to be the unanimous voice of the human race. We may remember + that the author of this philippic against love was at the very moment + brood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.336" id="Page_i.336">[i.336]</a></span>ing + over the New Heloïsa, and was fresh from strange transports at the + feet of the Julie whom we know. + </p> + <p> + The Letter on the Stage was the definite mark of Rousseau's schism from + the philosophic congregation. Has Jean Jacques turned a father of the + church? asked Voltaire. Deserters who fight against their country ought to + be hung. The little flock are falling to devouring one another. This + arch-madman, who might have been something, if he would only have been + guided by his brethren of the Encyclopædia, takes it into his head to + make a band of his own. He writes against the stage, after writing a bad + play of his own. He finds four or five rotten staves of Diogenes' tub, and + instals himself therein to bark at his friends.<a name="FNanchor357" + id="FNanchor357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357">[357]</a> D'Alembert was more + tolerant, but less clear-sighted. He insisted that the little flock should + do its best to heal divisions instead of widening them. Jean Jacques, he + said, "is a madman who is very clever, and who is only clever when he + is in a fever; it is best therefore neither to cure nor to insult him." + </p> + <p> + Rousseau made the preface to the Letter on the Stage an occasion for a + proclamation of his final breach with Diderot. "I once," he + said, "possessed a severe and judicious Aristarchus; I have him no + longer, and wish for him no longer." To this he added in a footnote a + passage from Ecclesiasticus, to the effect that if you have drawn a sword + on a friend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i.337" id="Page_i.337">[i.337]</a></span> + there still remains a way open, and if you have spoken cheerless words to + him concord is still possible, but malicious reproach and the betrayal of + a secret—these things banish friendship beyond return. This was the + end of his personal connection with the men whom he always contemptuously + called the Holbachians. After 1760 the great stream divided into two; the + rationalist and the emotional schools became visibly antipathetic, and the + voice of the epoch was no longer single or undistracted. + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <p> + <b>FOOTNOTES:</b> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_331" id="Footnote_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor331">[331]</a> + See above p. <a href="#Page_i.149">149</a>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_332" id="Footnote_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor332">[332]</a> + Voltaire to Rousseau. Aug. 30, 1755. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_333" id="Footnote_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor333">[333]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 237. Sept. 10, 1755. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_334" id="Footnote_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor334">[334]</a> + <i>La Loi Naturelle.</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_335" id="Footnote_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor335">[335]</a> + In 1754 the Berlin Academy proposed for a prize essay, An Examination of + Pope's System, and Lessing the next year wrote a pamphlet to show that + Pope had no system, but only a patchwork. See Mr. Pattison's <i>Introduction + to Pope's Essay on Man</i>, p. 12. Sime's <i>Lessing</i>, i. 128. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_336" id="Footnote_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor336">[336]</a> + <i>Conf.</i> ix. 276. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_337" id="Footnote_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor337">[337]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, i. 289-316. Aug. 18, 1756. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_338" id="Footnote_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor338">[338]</a> + Joseph De Maistre put all this much more acutely; <i>Soirées</i>, iv. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_339" id="Footnote_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor339">[339]</a> + Madame d'Epinay, <i>Mém.</i>, i. 380. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_340" id="Footnote_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor340">[340]</a> + <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 277. Also <i>Corr.</i>, iii. 326. March 11, 1764. + Tronchin's long letter, to which Rousseau refers in this passage, is given + in M. Streckeisen-Moultou's collection, i. 323, and is interesting to + people who care to know how Voltaire looked to a doctor who saw him + closely. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_341" id="Footnote_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor341">[341]</a> + <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 132. June 17, 1760. Also <i>Conf.</i>, x. 91. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_342" id="Footnote_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor342">[342]</a> + Some other interesting references to Voltaire in Rousseau's letters are—ii. + 170 (Nov. 29, 1760), denouncing Voltaire as "that trumpet of impiety, + that fine genius, and that low soul," and so forth; iii. 29 (Oct. 30, + 1762), accusing Voltaire of malicious intrigues against him in + Switzerland; iii. 168 (Mar. 21, 1763), that if there is to be any + reconciliation, Voltaire must make first advances; iii. 280 (Dec., 1763), + described a trick played by Voltaire; iv. 40 (Jan. 31, 1765) 64; <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 74 (Jan. 5, 1767), replying to Voltaire's calumnious account of his + early life; note on this subject giving Voltaire the lie direct, iv. 150 + (May 31, 1765); the <i>Lettre à D'Almbert</i>, p. 193, etc. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_343" id="Footnote_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor343">[343]</a> + Bernardin St. Pierre, xii. 96. In the same sense, in Dusaulx, <i>Mes + Rapports avec J.J.R.</i>, (Paris: 1798), p. 101. See also <i>Corr.</i>, + iv. 254. Dec. 30, 1765. And again, iv. 276, Feb. 28, 1766, and p. 356. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_344" id="Footnote_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor344">[344]</a> + Dusaulx, p. 102. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_345" id="Footnote_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor345">[345]</a> + This part of D'Alembert's article is reproduced in Rousseau's preface, and + the whole is given at the end of the volume in M. Auguis's edition, p. + 409. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_346" id="Footnote_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor346">[346]</a> + Goncourt, <i>Femme au 18ième siècle</i>, p. 256. Grimm, <i>Corr. + Lit.</i>, vi. 248. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_347" id="Footnote_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor347">[347]</a> + <i>Maximes sur la Comédie</i>, §15, etc. They were written in + reply to a plea for Comedy by Caffaro, a Jesuit father. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_348" id="Footnote_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor348">[348]</a> + The letter may be conveniently divided into three parts: I. pp. 1-89, II. + pp. 90-145, III. pp. 146 to the end. Of course if Rousseau in saying that + tragedy leads to pity through terror, was thinking of the famous passage + in the sixth chapter of Aristotle's <i>Poetics</i>, he was guilty of a + shocking mistranslation. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_349" id="Footnote_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor349">[349]</a> + Some of the arguments seem drawn from Plato; see, besides the well-known + passages in the <i>Republic</i>, the <i>Laws</i>, iv. 719, and still more + directly, <i>Gorgias</i>, 502. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_350" id="Footnote_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor350">[350]</a> + Yet D'Alembert in his very cool and sensible reply (p. 245) repeats the + old saws, as that in <i>Catilina</i> we learn the lesson of the harm which + may be done to the human race by the abuse of great talents, and so forth. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_351" id="Footnote_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor351">[351]</a> + <i>Lettre à M. J.J. Rousseau</i>, p. 258. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_352" id="Footnote_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor352">[352]</a> + D'Alembert's <i>Lettre à J.J. Rousseau</i>, p. 277. Rousseau has a + passage to the same effect, that false people are always sober, in the <i>Nouv. + Hél.,</i> Pt. I. xxiii. 123. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_353" id="Footnote_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor353">[353]</a> + Tronchin, for instance, in a letter to Rousseau, in M. + Streckeisen-Moultou's collection, i. 325. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_354" id="Footnote_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor354">[354]</a> + A troop of comedians had been allowed to play for a short time in Geneva, + with many protests, during the mediation of 1738. In 1766, eight years + after Rousseau's letter, the government gave permission for the + establishment of a theatre in the town. It was burnt down in 1768, and + Voltaire spitefully hinted that the catastrophe was the result of design, + instigated by Rousseau (<i>Corr.</i> v. 299, April 26, 1768). The theatre + was not re-erected until 1783, when the oligarchic party regained the + ascendancy and brought back with them the drama, which the democrats in + their reign would not permit. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_355" id="Footnote_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor355">[355]</a> + <i>Lettre à J.J. Rousseau</i>, pp. 265-271. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_356" id="Footnote_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor356">[356]</a> + <i>Oeuv.</i>, x. 121. + </p> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_357" id="Footnote_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor357">[357]</a> + To Thieriot, Sept. 17, 1758. To D'Alembert, Oct. 20, 1761. <i>Ib.</i> + March 19, 1761. + </p> + <hr style="width: 35%;" /> + <h3> + END OF VOL. I. + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, + <i>Edinburgh</i> + </p> + <p> + <a name="volume2" id="volume2"></a> + </p> + <h1> + ROUSSEAU + </h1> + <h3> + BY + </h3> + <h2> + JOHN MORLEY + </h2> + <h3> + VOL. II. + </h3> + <hr style="width: 35%;" /> + <p style="text-align: center"> + London<br /> MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> NEW + YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> 1905<br /> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <i>All rights reserved</i> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <i>First printed in this form 1886</i><br /> <i>Reprinted 1888, 1891, 1896, + 1900, 1905</i><br /> + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CONTENTS_II" id="CONTENTS_II_">CONTENTS</a> OF VOL. II. + </h2> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">Montmorency—The New Heloïsa.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Conditions preceding the composition of the New Heloïsa <a + href="#Page_1">1</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg <a href="#Page_2">2</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau and his patrician acquaintances <a href="#Page_3">4</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Peaceful life at Montmorency <a href="#Page_9">9</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Equivocal prudence occasionally shown by Rousseau <a href="#Page_12">12</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His want of gratitude for commonplace service <a href="#Page_13">13</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Bad health, and thoughts of suicide <a href="#Page_16">16</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Episode of Madame Latour de Franqueville <a href="#Page_17">17</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Relation of the New Heloïsa to Rousseau's general doctrine <a + href="#Page_20">20</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Action of the first part of the story <a href="#Page_25">25</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Contrasted with contemporary literature <a href="#Page_25">25</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And with contemporary manners <a href="#Page_27">27</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Criticism of the language and principal actors <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Popularity of the New Heloïsa <a href="#Page_31">31</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its reactionary intellectual direction <a href="#Page_33">33</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Action of the second part <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its influence on Goethe and others <a href="#Page_38">38</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Distinction between Rousseau and his school <a href="#Page_40">40</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Singular pictures of domesticity <a href="#Page_42">42</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Sumptuary details <a href="#Page_44">44</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The slowness of movement in the work justified <a href="#Page_46">46</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Exaltation of marriage <a href="#Page_47">47</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Equalitarian tendencies <a href="#Page_49">49</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Not inconsistent with social quietism <a href="#Page_51">51</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Compensation in the political consequences of the triumph of sentiment <a + href="#Page_54">54</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Circumstances of the publication of the New Heloïsa <a href="#Page_55">55</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Nature of the trade in books <a href="#Page_57">57</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Malesherbes and the printing of Emilius <a href="#Page_61">61</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's suspicions <a href="#Page_62">62</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The great struggle of the moment <a href="#Page_64">64</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Proscription of Emilius <a href="#Page_67">67</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Flight of the author <a href="#Page_67">67</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IIb">CHAPTER II.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">Persecution.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's journey from Switzerland <a href="#Page_69">69</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Absence of vindictiveness <a href="#Page_70">70</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Arrival at Yverdun <a href="#Page_72">72</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Repairs to Motiers <a href="#Page_73">73</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Relations with Frederick the Great <a href="#Page_74">74</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Life at Motiers <a href="#Page_77">77</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Lord Marischal <a href="#Page_79">79</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Voltaire <a href="#Page_81">81</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's letter to the Archbishop of Paris <a href="#Page_83">83</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its dialectic <a href="#Page_86">86</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The ministers of Neuchâtel <a href="#Page_90">90</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's singular costume <a href="#Page_92">92</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His throng of visitors <a href="#Page_93">93</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Lewis, prince of Würtemberg <a href="#Page_95">95</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Gibbon <a href="#Page_96">96</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Boswell <a href="#Page_98">98</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Corsican affairs <a href="#Page_99">99</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The feud at Geneva <a href="#Page_102">102</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau renounces his citizenship <a href="#Page_105">105</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Letters from the Mountain <a href="#Page_106">106</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Political side <a href="#Page_107">107</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Consequent persecution at Motiers <a href="#Page_107">107</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Flight to the isle of St. Peter <a href="#Page_108">108</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The fifth of the <i>Rêveries</i> <a href="#Page_109">109</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Proscription by the government of Berne <a href="#Page_116">116</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's singular request <a href="#Page_116">116</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His renewed flight <a href="#Page_117">117</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Persuaded to seek shelter in England <a href="#Page_118">118</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">The Social Contract.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's reaction against perfectibility <a href="#Page_119">119</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Abandonment of the position of the Discourses <a href="#Page_121">121</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Doubtful idea of equality <a href="#Page_121">121</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Social Contract, a repudiation of the historic method <a + href="#Page_124">124</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Yet it has glimpses of relativity <a href="#Page_127">127</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Influence of Greek examples <a href="#Page_129">129</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And of Geneva <a href="#Page_131">131</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Impression upon Robespierre and Saint Just <a href="#Page_132">132</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's scheme implied a small territory <a href="#Page_135">135</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Why the Social Contract made fanatics <a href="#Page_137">137</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Verbal quality of its propositions <a href="#Page_138">138</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The doctrine of public safety <a href="#Page_143">143</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The doctrine of the sovereignty of peoples <a href="#Page_144">144</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its early phases <a href="#Page_144">144</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its history in the sixteenth century <a href="#Page_146">146</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hooker and Grotius <a href="#Page_148">148</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Locke <a href="#Page_149">149</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hobbes <a href="#Page_151">151</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Central propositions of the Social Contract—<br /> <br /> 1. Origin of + society in compact <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br /> Different conception + held by the Physiocrats <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /> <br /> 2. + Sovereignty of the body thus constituted <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> + Difference from Hobbes and Locke <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> The root + of socialism <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> Republican phraseology <a + href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> <br /> 3. Attributes of sovereignty <a + href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> <br /> 4. The law-making power <a + href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> A contemporary illustration <a + href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> Hints of confederation <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /> + <br /> 5. Forms of government <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> Criticism on + the common division <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> Rousseau's preference + for elective aristocracy <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br /> <br /> 6. + Attitude of the state to religion <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> + Rousseau's view, the climax of a reaction <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> + Its effect at the French Revolution <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> Its + futility <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> <br /> Another method of + approaching the philosophy of government—<br /> <br /> Origin of + society not a compact <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> <br /> The true + reason of the submission of a minority to a majority <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> + <br /> Rousseau fails to touch actual problems <a href="#Page_186">186</a><br /> + <br /> The doctrine of resistance, for instance <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> + <br /> Historical illustrations <a href="#Page_190">190</a><br /> <br /> + Historical effect of the Social Contract in France and Germany <a + href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> <br /> Socialist deductions from it <a + href="#Page_194">194</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">Emilius.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau touched by the enthusiasm of his time <a href="#Page_197">197</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Contemporary excitement as to education, part of the revival of naturalism + <a href="#Page_199">199</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + I.—Locke, on education <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> Difference + between him and Rousseau <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> Exhortations to + mothers <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> Importance of infantile habits <a + href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> Rousseau's protest against reasoning with + children <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> Criticised <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> + The opposite theory <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> The idea of property + <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> Artificially contrived incidents <a + href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> Rousseau's omission of the principle of + authority <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> Connected with his neglect of + the faculty of sympathy <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br /> <br /> II.—Rousseau's + ideal of living <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> The training that follows + from it <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> The duty of knowing a craft <a + href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> Social conception involved in this moral + conception <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> <br /> III.—Three aims + before the instructor <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br /> Rousseau's omission + of training for the social conscience <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> No + contemplation of society as a whole <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> + Personal interest, the foundation of the morality of Emilius <a + href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> The sphere and definition of the social + conscience <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> <br /> IV.—The study of + history <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br /> Rousseau's notions upon the + subject <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> <br /> V.—Ideals of life for + women <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> Rousseau's repudiation of his own + principles <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> His oriental and obscurantist + position <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br /> Arising from his want of faith + in improvement <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> His reactionary tendencies + in this region eventually neutralised <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> + <br /> VI.—Sum of the merits of Emilius <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> + Its influence in France and Germany <a href="#Page_251">251</a><br /> In + England <a href="#Page_252">252</a> + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">The Savoyard Vicar.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Shallow hopes entertained by the dogmatic atheists <a href="#Page_256">256</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The good side of the religious reaction <a href="#Page_258">258</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its preservation of some parts of Christian influence <a href="#Page_259">259</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Earlier forms of deism <a href="#Page_260">260</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The deism of the Savoyard Vicar <a href="#Page_264">264</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The elevation of man, as well as the restoration of a divinity <a + href="#Page_265">265</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + A divinity for fair weather <a href="#Page_268">268</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Religious self-denial <a href="#Page_269">269</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Savoyard Vicar's vital omission <a href="#Page_270">270</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His position towards Christianity <a href="#Page_272">272</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Its effectiveness as a solvent <a href="#Page_273">273</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Weakness of the subjective test <a href="#Page_276">276</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Savoyard Vicar's deism not compatible with growing intellectual + conviction <a href="#Page_276">276</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The true satisfaction of the religious emotion <a href="#Page_277">277</a> + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">England.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's English portrait <a href="#Page_281">281</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His reception in Paris <a href="#Page_282">282</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And in London <a href="#Page_283">283</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hume's account of him <a href="#Page_284">284</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Settlement at Wootton <a href="#Page_286">286</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The quarrel with Hume <a href="#Page_287">287</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Detail of the charges against Hume <a href="#Page_287">287</a>-291 + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Walpole's pretended letter from Frederick <a href="#Page_291">291</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Baselessness of the whole delusion <a href="#Page_292">292</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Hume's conduct in the quarrel <a href="#Page_293">293</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The war of pamphlets <a href="#Page_295">295</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Common theory of Rousseau's madness <a href="#Page_296">296</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Preparatory conditions <a href="#Page_297">297</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Extension of disorder from the affective life to the intelligence <a + href="#Page_299">299</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The Confessions <a href="#Page_301">301</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His life at Wootton <a href="#Page_306">306</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Flight from Derbyshire <a href="#Page_306">306</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + And from England <a href="#Page_308">308</a> + </p> + <p> +   + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a> + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <span class="smcap">The End.</span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The elder Mirabeau <a href="#Page_309">309</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Shelters Rousseau at Fleury <a href="#Page_311">311</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau at Trye <a href="#Page_312">312</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + In Dauphiny <a href="#Page_314">314</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Return to Paris <a href="#Page_314">314</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + The <i>Rêveries</i> <a href="#Page_315">315</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Life in Paris <a href="#Page_316">316</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Bernardin de St. Pierre's account of him <a href="#Page_317">317</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + An Easter excursion <a href="#Page_320">320</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Rousseau's unsociality <a href="#Page_322">322</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Poland and Spain <a href="#Page_324">324</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + Withdrawal to Ermenonville <a href="#Page_326">326</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + His death <a href="#Page_326">326</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <a href="#INDEX"><b>INDEX</b></a> + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[ii.1]</a></span> + </p> + <h1> + ROUSSEAU. + </h1> + <p> +   + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <h3> + MONTMORENCY—THE NEW HELOÏSA. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">The</span> many conditions of intellectual + productiveness are still hidden in such profound obscurity that we are + unable to explain why a period of stormy moral agitation seems to be in + certain natures the indispensable antecedent of their highest creative + effort. Byron is one instance, and Rousseau is another, in which the + current of stimulating force made this rapid way from the lower to the + higher parts of character, and only expended itself after having traversed + the whole range of emotion and faculty, from their meanest, most + realistic, most personal forms of exercise, up to the summit of what is + lofty and ideal. No man was ever involved in such an odious complication + of moral maladies as beset Rousseau in the winter of 1758. Yet within + three years of this miserable epoch he had completed not only the New Heloïsa, + which is the monument of his fall, but the Social Contract, which was the + most influential,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[ii.2]</a></span> + and Emilius, which was perhaps the most elevated and spiritual, of all the + productions of the prolific genius of France in the eighteenth century. A + poor light-hearted Marmontel thought that the secret of Rousseau's success + lay in the circumstance that he began to write late, and it is true that + no other author, so considerable as Rousseau, waited until the age of + fifty for the full vigour of his inspiration. No tale of years, however, + could have ripened such fruit without native strength and incommunicable + savour. Nor can the mechanical movement of those better ordered characters + which keep the balance of the world even, impart to literature that + peculiar quality, peculiar but not the finest, that comes from experience + of the black unlighted abysses of the soul. + </p> + <p> + The period of actual production was externally calm. The New Heloïsa + was completed in 1759, and published in 1761. The Social Contract was + published in the spring of 1762, and Emilius a few weeks later. Throughout + this period Rousseau was, for the last time in his life, at peace with + most of his fellows. Though he never relented from his antipathy to the + Holbachians, for the time it slumbered, until a more real and serious + persecution than any which he imputed to them, transformed his antipathy + into a gloomy frenzy. + </p> + <p> + The new friends whom he made at Montmorency were among the greatest people + in the kingdom. The Duke of Luxembourg (1702-64) was a marshal of France, + and as intimate a friend of the king as the king was capable of having. + The Maréchale de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[ii.3]</a></span> + [*p.3] Luxembourg (1707-87) had been one of the most beautiful, and + continued to be one of the most brilliant leaders of the last aristocratic + generation that was destined to sport on the slopes of the volcano. The + former seems to have been a loyal and homely soul; the latter, restless, + imperious, penetrating, unamiable. Their dealings with Rousseau were + marked by perfect sincerity and straightforward friendship. They gave him + a convenient apartment in a small summer lodge in the park, to which he + retreated when he cared for a change from his narrow cottage. He was a + constant guest at their table, where he met the highest personages in + France. The marshal did not disdain to pay him visits, or to walk with + him, or to discuss his private affairs. Unable as ever to shine in + conversation, yet eager to show his great friends that they had to do with + no common mortal, Rousseau bethought him of reading the New Heloïsa + aloud to them. At ten in the morning he used to wait upon the maréchale, + and there by her bedside he read the story of the love, the sin, the + repentance of Julie, the distraction of Saint Preux, the wisdom of Wolmar, + and the sage friendship of Lord Edward, in tones which enchanted her both + with his book and its author for all the rest of the day, as all the women + in France were so soon to be enchanted.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" + id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> + This, as he expected, amply reconciled her to the uncouthness and + clumsiness of his conversation, which was at least as maladroit and as + spirit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[ii.4]</a></span>less + in the presence of a duchess as it was in presences less imposing. + </p> + <p> + One side of character is obviously tested by the way in which a man bears + himself in his relations with those of greater social consideration. + Rousseau was taxed by some of his plebeian enemies with a most unheroic + deference to his patrician friends. He had a dog whose name was <i>Duc</i>. + When he came to sit at a duke's table, he changed his dog's name to <i>Turc</i>.<a + name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" + class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Again, one day in a transport of tenderness he + embraced the old marshal—the duchess embraced Rousseau ten times a + day, for the age was effusive—"Ah, monsieur le maréchal, I + used to hate the great before I knew you, and I hate them still more, + since you make me feel so strongly how easy it would be for them to have + themselves adored."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a + href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> On another occasion he + happened to be playing at chess with the Prince of Conti, who had come to + visit him in his cottage.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a + href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> In spite of the signs and + grimaces of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[ii.5]</a></span>attendants, + he insisted on beating the prince in a couple of games. Then he said with + respectful gravity, "Monseigneur, I honour your serene highness too + much not to beat you at chess always."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" + id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> A + few days after, the vanquished prince sent him a present of game which + Rousseau duly accepted. The present was repeated, but this time Rousseau + wrote to Madame de Boufflers that he would receive no more, and that he + loved the prince's conversation better than his gifts.<a + name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" + class="fnanchor">[6]</a> He admits that this was an ungracious proceeding, + and that to refuse game "from a prince of the blood who throws such + good feeling into the present, is not so much the delicacy of a proud man + bent on preserving his independence, as the rusticity of an unmannerly + person who does not know his place."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" + id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> + Considering the extreme virulence with which Rousseau always resented + gifts even of the most trifling kind from his friends, one may perhaps + find some inconsistency in this condemnation of a sort of conduct to which + he tenaciously clung on all other occasions. If the fact of the donor + being a prince of the blood is allowed to modify the quality of the + donation, that is hardly a defensible position in the austere citizen of + Geneva. Madame de Boufflers,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a + href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[ii.6]</a></span>the intimate friend of our sage + Hume, and the yet more intimate friend of the Prince of Conti, gave him a + judicious warning when she bade him beware of laying himself open to a + charge of affectation, lest it should obscure the brightness of his virtue + and so hinder its usefulness. "Fabius and Regulus would have accepted + such marks of esteem, without feeling in them any hurt to their + disinterestedness and frugality."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" + id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> + Perhaps there is a flutter of self-consciousness that is not far removed + from this affectation, in the pains which Rousseau takes to tell us that + after dining at the castle, he used to return home gleefully to sup with a + mason who was his neighbour and his friend.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" + id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> + On the whole, however, and so far as we know, Rousseau conducted himself + not unworthily with these high people. His letters to them are for the + most part marked by self-respect and a moderate graciousness, though now + and again he makes rather too much case of the difference of rank, and + asserts his independence with something too much of pro<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[ii.7]</a></span>testation.<a + name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" + class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Their relations with him are a curious sign of + the interest which the members of the great world took in the men who were + quietly preparing the destruction both of them and their world. The Maréchale + de Luxembourg places this squalid dweller in a hovel on her estate in the + place of honour at her table, and embraces his Theresa. The Prince of + Conti pays visits of courtesy and sends game to a man whom he employs at a + few sous an hour to copy manuscript for him. The Countess of Boufflers, in + sending him the money, insists that he is to count her his warmest friend.<a + name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" + class="fnanchor">[12]</a> When his dog dies, the countess writes to + sympathise with his chagrin, and the prince begs to be allowed to replace + it.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a + href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> And when persecution and + trouble and infinite confusion came upon him, they all stood as fast by + him as their own comfort would allow. Do we not feel that there must have + been in the unhappy man, besides all the recorded pettinesses and + perversities which revolt us in him, a vein of something which touched + men, and made women devoted to him, until he splenetically drove both men + and women away from him? With Madame d'Epinay and Madame d'Houdetot, as + with the dearer and humbler patroness of his youth, we have now parted + company. But they are instantly succeeded by new devotees. And the lovers + of Rousseau, in all degrees, were not silly women led captive by idle + fancy. Madame de Boufflers was one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" + id="Page_8">[ii.8]</a></span>of the most distinguished spirits of her + time. Her friendship for him was such, that his sensuous vanity made + Rousseau against all reason or probability confound it with a warmer form + of emotion, and he plumes himself in a manner most displeasing on the + victory which he won over his own feelings on the occasion.<a + name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" + class="fnanchor">[14]</a> As a matter of fact he had no feelings to + conquer, any more than the supposed object of them ever bore him any + ill-will for his indifference, as in his mania of suspicion he afterwards + believed. + </p> + <p> + There was a calm about the too few years he passed at Montmorency, which + leaves us in doubt whether this mania would ever have afflicted him, if + his natural irritation had not been made intense and irresistible by the + cruel distractions that followed the publication of Emilius. He was + tolerably content with his present friends. The simplicity of their way of + dealing with him contrasted singularly, as he thought, with the + never-ending solicitudes, as importunate as they were officious, of the + patronising friends whom he had just cast off.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" + id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> + Perhaps, too, he was soothed by the companionship of persons whose rank + may have flattered his vanity, while unlike Diderot and his old literary + friends in Paris, they entered into no competition with him in the + peculiar sphere of his own genius. Madame de Boufflers, indeed, wrote a + tragedy, but he told her gruffly enough that it was a plagiarism from + Southerne's Oroonoko.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a + href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> That Rousseau was <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[ii.9]</a></span>thoroughly + capable of this pitiful emotion of sensitive literary jealousy is proved, + if by nothing else, by his readiness to suspect that other authors were + jealous of him. No one suspects others of a meanness of this kind unless + he is capable of it himself. The resounding success which followed the New + Heloïsa and Emilius put an end to these apprehensions. It raised him + to a pedestal in popular esteem as high as that on which Voltaire stood + triumphant. That very success unfortunately brought troubles which + destroyed Rousseau's last chance of ending his days in full + reasonableness. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile he enjoyed his final interval of moderate wholesomeness and + peace. He felt his old healthy joy in the green earth. One of the letters + commemorates his delight in the great scudding south-west winds of + February, soft forerunners of the spring, so sweet to all who live with + nature.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a + href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> At the end of his garden + was a summer-house, and here even on wintry days he sat composing or + copying. It was not music only that he copied. He took a curious pleasure + in making transcripts of his romance, and he sold them to the Duchess of + Luxembourg and other ladies for some moderate fee.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" + id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> + Sometimes he moved from his own lodging to the quarters in the park which + his great friends had induced him to accept. "They were charmingly + neat; the furniture was of white and blue. It was in this perfumed and + delicious solitude, in the midst of woods and streams and choirs of birds + of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[ii.10]</a></span>every + kind, with the fragrance of the orange-flower poured round me, that I + composed in a continual ecstasy the fifth book of Emilius. With what + eagerness did I hasten every morning at sunrise to breathe the balmy air! + What good coffee I used to make under the porch in company with my + Theresa! The cat and the dog made up the party. That would have sufficed + me for all the days of my life, and I should never have known weariness." + And so to the assurance, so often repeated under so many different + circumstances, that here was a true heaven upon earth, where if fates had + only allowed he would have known unbroken innocence and lasting happiness.<a + name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" + class="fnanchor">[19]</a> + </p> + <p> + Yet he had the wisdom to warn others against attempting a life such as he + craved for himself. As on a more memorable occasion, there came to him a + young man who would fain have been with him always, and whom he sent away + exceeding sorrowful. "The first lesson I should give you would be not + to surrender yourself to the taste you say you have for the contemplative + life. It is only an indolence of the soul, to be condemned at any age, but + especially so at yours. Man is not made to meditate, but to act. Labour + therefore in the condition of life in which you have been placed by your + family and by providence: that is the first precept of the virtue which + you wish to follow. If residence at Paris, joined to the business you have + there, seems to you irreconcilable with virtue, <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[ii.11]</a></span>do better still, and return + to your own province. Go live in the bosom of your family, serve and + solace your honest parents. There you will be truly fulfilling the duties + that virtue imposes on you."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" + id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> + This intermixture of sound sense with unutterable perversities almost + suggests a doubt how far the perversities were sincere, until we remember + that Rousseau even in the most exalted part of his writings was careful to + separate immediate practical maxims from his theoretical principles of + social philosophy.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a + href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> + </p> + <p> + Occasionally his good sense takes so stiff and unsympathetic a form as to + fill us with a warmer dislike for him than his worst paradoxes inspire. A + correspondent had written to him about the frightful persecutions which + were being inflicted on the Protestants in some district of France. + Rousseau's letter is a masterpiece in the style of Eliphaz the Temanite. + Our brethren must surely have given some pretext for the evil treatment to + which they were subjected. One who is a Christian must learn to suffer, + and every man's conduct ought to conform to his doctrine. Our brethren, + moreover, ought to remember that the word of God is express upon the duty + of obeying the laws set up by the prince. The writer cannot venture to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[ii.12]</a></span>run + any risk by interceding in favour of our brethren with the government. + "Every one has his own calling upon the earth; mine is to tell the + public harsh but useful truths. I have preached humanity, gentleness, + tolerance, so far as it depended upon me; 'tis no fault of mine if the + world has not listened. I have made it a rule to keep to general truths; I + produce no libels, no satires; I attack no man, but men; not an action, + but a vice."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a + href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> The worst of the worthy + sort of people, wrote Voltaire, is that they are such cowards: a man + groans over a wrong, he holds his tongue, he takes his supper, and he + forgets all about it.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a + href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> If Voltaire could not + write like Fénelon, at least he could never talk like Tartufe; he + responded to no tale of wrong with words about his mission, with strings + of antitheses, but always with royal anger and the spring of alert and + puissant endeavour. In an hour of oppression one would rather have been + the friend of the saviour of the Calas and of Sirven, than of the + vindicator of theism. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau, however, had good sense enough in less equivocal forms than + this. For example, in another letter he remonstrates with a correspondent + for judging the rich too harshly. "You do not bear in mind that + having from their childhood contracted a thousand wants which we are + without, then to bring them down to the condition of the poor, would be to + make them more miserable than the poor. We should be just <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[ii.13]</a></span>towards + all the world, even to those who are not just to us. Ah, if we had the + virtues opposed to the vices which we reproach in them, we should soon + forget that such people were in the world. One word more. To have any + right to despise the rich, we ought ourselves to be prudent and thrifty, + so as to have no need of riches."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" + id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> + In the observance of this just precept Rousseau was to the end of his life + absolutely without fault. No one was more rigorously careful to make his + independence sure by the fewness of his wants and by minute financial + probity. This firm limitation of his material desires was one cause of his + habitual and almost invariable refusal to accept presents, though no doubt + another cause was the stubborn and ungracious egoism which made him resent + every obligation. + </p> + <p> + It is worth remembering in illustration of the peculiar susceptibility and + softness of his character where women were concerned—it was not + quite without exception—that he did not fly into a fit of rage over + their gifts, as he did over those of men. He remonstrated, but in gentler + key. "What could I do with four pullets?" he wrote to a lady who + had presented them to him. "I began by sending two of them to people + to whom I am indifferent. That made me think of the difference there is + between a present and a testimony of friendship. The first will never find + in me anything but a thankless heart; the second.... Ah, if you had only + given me news of yourself <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" + id="Page_14">[ii.14]</a></span>without sending me anything else, how rich + and how grateful you would have made me; instead of that the pullets are + eaten, and the best thing I can do is to forget all about them; let us say + no more."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a + href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Rude and repellent as + this may seem, and as it is, there is a rough kind of playfulness about + it, when compared with the truculence which he was not slow to exhibit to + men. If a friend presumed to thank him for any service, he was + peremptorily rebuked for his ignorance of the true qualities of + friendship, with which thankfulness has no connection. He ostentatiously + refused to offer thanks for services himself, even to a woman whom he + always treated with so much consideration as the Maréchale de + Luxembourg. He once declared boldly that modesty is a false virtue,<a + name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" + class="fnanchor">[26]</a> and though he did not go so far as to make + gratitude the subject of a corresponding formula of denunciation, he + always implied that this too is really one of the false virtues. He + confessed to Malesherbes, without the slightest contrition, that he was + ungrateful by nature.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a + href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> To Madame d'Epinay he + once went still further, declaring that he found it hard not to hate those + who had used him well.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a + href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> Undoubtedly he was right + so far as this, that gratitude answering to a spirit of exaction in a + benefactor is no merit; a service done in expectation of gratitude is from + that fact stripped of the quality which makes gratitude due, and is a mere + piece of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[ii.15]</a></span>egoism + in altruistic disguise. Kindness in its genuine forms is a testimony of + good feeling, and conventional speech is perhaps a little too hard, as + well as too shallow and unreal, in calling the recipient evil names + because he is unable to respond to the good feeling. Rousseau protested + against a conception of friendship which makes of what ought to be + disinterested helpfulness a title to everlasting tribute. His way of + expressing this was harsh and unamiable, but it was not without an element + of uprightness and veracity. As in his greater themes, so in his paradoxes + upon private relations, he hid wholesome ingredients of rebuke to the + unquestioning acceptance of common form. "I am well pleased," he + said to a friend, "both with thee and thy letters, except the end, + where thou say'st thou art more mine than thine own. For there thou liest, + and it is not worth while to take the trouble to <i>thee</i> and <i>thou</i> + a man as thine intimate, only to tell him untruths."<a + name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" + class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Chesterfield was for people with much self-love + of the small sort, probably a more agreeable person to meet than Doctor + Johnson, but Johnson was the more wholesome companion for a man. + </p> + <p> + Occasionally, though not very often, he seems to have let spleen take the + place of honest surliness, and so drifted into clumsy and ill-humoured + banter, of a sort that gives a dreary shudder to one fresh from Voltaire. + "So you have chosen for yourself a tender and virtuous mistress! I am + not surprised; all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[ii.16]</a></span>mistresses + are that. You have chosen her in Paris! To find a tender and virtuous + mistress in Paris is to have not such bad luck. You have made her a + promise of marriage? My friend, you have made a blunder; for if you + continue to love, the promise is superfluous, and if you do not, then it + is no avail. You have signed it with your blood? That is all but tragic; + but I don't know that the choice of the ink in which he writes, gives + anything to the fidelity of the man who signs."<a + name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" + class="fnanchor">[30]</a> + </p> + <p> + We can only add that the health in which a man writes may possibly excuse + the dismal quality of what he writes, and that Rousseau was now as always + the prey of bodily pain which, as he was conscious, made him distraught. + "My sufferings are not very excruciating just now," he wrote on + a later occasion, "but they are incessant, and I am not out of pain a + single moment day or night, and this quite drives me mad. I feel bitterly + my wrong conduct and the baseness of my suspicions; but if anything can + excuse me, it is my mournful state, my loneliness," and so on.<a + name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" + class="fnanchor">[31]</a> This prolonged physical anguish, which was made + more intense towards the end of 1761 by the accidental breaking of a + surgical instrument,<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a + href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> sometimes so nearly wore + his fortitude away as to make him think of suicide.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" + id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> + In Lord Edward's famous letter on suicide in the New Heloïsa, while + denying in forcible terms the right of ending one's days merely to escape + from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[ii.17]</a></span>intolerable + mental distress, he admits that inasmuch as physical disorders only grow + incessantly worse, violent and incurable bodily pain may be an excuse for + a man making away with himself; he ceases to be a human being before + dying, and in putting an end to his life he only completes his release + from a body that embarrasses him, and contains his soul no longer.<a + name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" + class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The thought was often present to him in this + form. Eighteen months later than our last date, the purpose grew very + deliberate under an aggravation of his malady, and he seriously looked + upon his own case as falling within the conditions of Lord Edward's + exception.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a + href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> It is difficult, in the + face of outspoken declarations like these, to know what writers can be + thinking of when, with respect to the controversy on the manner of + Rousseau's death, they pronounce him incapable of such a dereliction of + his own most cherished principles as anything like self-destruction would + have been. + </p> + <p> + As he sat gnawed by pain, with surgical instruments on his table, and + sombre thoughts of suicide in his head, the ray of a little episode of + romance shone in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[ii.18]</a></span>incongruously + upon the scene. Two ladies in Paris, absorbed in the New Heloïsa, + like all the women of the time, identified themselves with the Julie and + the Claire of the novel that none could resist. They wrote anonymously to + the author, claiming their identification with characters fondly supposed + to be immortal. "You will know that Julie is not dead, and that she + lives to love you; I am not this Julie, you perceive it by my style; I am + only her cousin, or rather her friend, as Claire was." The + unfortunate Saint Preux responded as gallantly as he could be expected to + do in the intervals of surgery. "You do not know that the Saint Preux + to whom you write is tormented with a cruel and incurable disorder, and + that the very letter he writes to you is often interrupted by distractions + of a very different kind."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a + href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> He figures rather + uncouthly, but the unknown fair were not at first disabused, and one of + them never was. Rousseau was deeply suspicious. He feared to be made the + victim of a masculine pleasantry. From women he never feared anything. His + letters were found too short, too cold. He replied to the remonstrance by + a reference of extreme coarseness. His correspondents wrote from the + neighbourhood of the Palais Royal, then and for long after the haunt of + mercenary women. "You belong to your quarter more than I thought," + he said brutally.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a + href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> The vulgarity of the + lackey was never quite obliterated in him, even when the lackey had + written Emilius. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[ii.19]</a></span>This + was too much for the imaginary Claire. "I have given myself three + good blows on my breast for the correspondence that I was silly enough to + open between you," she wrote to Julie, and she remained implacable. + The Julie, on the contrary, was faithful to the end of Rousseau's life. + She took his part vehemently in the quarrel with Hume, and wrote in + defence of his memory after he was dead. She is the most remarkable of all + the instances of that unreasoning passion which the New Heloïsa + inflamed in the breasts of the women of that age. Madame Latour pursued + Jean Jacques with a devotion that no coldness could repulse. She only saw + him three times in all, the first time not until 1766, when he was on his + way through Paris to England. The second time, in 1772, she visited him + without mentioning her name, and he did not recognise her; she brought him + some music to copy, and went away unknown. She made another attempt, + announcing herself: he gave her a frosty welcome, and then wrote to her + that she was to come no more. With a strange fidelity she bore him no + grudge, but cherished his memory and sorrowed over his misfortunes to the + day of her death. He was not an idol of very sublime quality, but we may + think kindly of the idolatress.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a + href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Worshippers are ever + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[ii.20]</a></span>dearer + to us than their graven images. Let us turn to the romance which touched + women in this way, and helped to give a new spirit to an epoch. + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>II.</b> + </p> + <p> + As has been already said, it is the business of criticism to separate what + is accidental in form, transitory in manner, and merely local in + suggestion, from the general ideas which live under a casual and + particular literary robe. And so we have to distinguish the external + conditions under which a book like the New Heloïsa is produced, from + the living qualities in the author which gave the external conditions + their hold upon him, and turned their development in one direction rather + than another. We are only encouraging poverty of spirit, when we insist on + fixing our eyes on a few of the minutiæ of construction, instead of + patiently seizing larger impressions and more durable meanings; when we + stop at the fortuitous incidents of composition, instead of advancing to + the central elements of the writer's character. + </p> + <p> + These incidents in the case of the New Heloïsa we know; the sensuous + communion with nature in her summer mood in the woods of Montmorency, the + long hours and days of solitary expansion, the despairing passion for the + too sage Julie of actual experience. But the power of these impressions + from without depended on secrets of conformation within. An adult with + marked character is, consciously or uncon<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[ii.21]</a></span>sciously, his own + character's victim or sport. It is his whole system of impulses, ideas, + pre-occupations, that make those critical situations ready, into which he + too hastily supposes that an accident has drawn him. And this inner system + not only prepares the situation; it forces his interpretation of the + situation. Much of the interest of the New Heloïsa springs from the + fact that it was the outcome, in a sense of which the author himself was + probably unconscious, of the general doctrine of life and conduct which he + only professed to expound in writings of graver pretension. Rousseau + generally spoke of his romance in phrases of depreciation, as the monument + of a passing weakness. It was in truth as entirely a monument of the + strength, no less than the weakness, of his whole scheme, as his + weightiest piece. That it was not so deliberately, only added to its + effect. The slow and musing air which underlies all the assumption of + ardent passion, made a way for the doctrine into sensitive natures, that + would have been untouched by the pretended ratiocination of the + Discourses, and the didactic manner of the Emilius. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's scheme, which we must carefully remember was only present to + his own mind in an informal and fragmentary way, may be shortly described + as an attempt to rehabilitate human nature in as much of the supposed + freshness of primitive times, as the hardened crust of civil institutions + and social use might allow. In this survey, however incoherently carried + out, the mutual passion of the two sexes<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[ii.22]</a></span> was the very last that was + likely to escape Rousseau's attention. Hence it was with this that he + began. The Discourses had been an attack upon the general ordering of + society, and an exposition of the mischief that society has done to human + nature at large. The romance treated one set of emotions in human nature + particularly, though it also touches the whole emotional sphere + indirectly. And this limitation of the field was accompanied by a total + revolution in the method. Polemic was abandoned; the presence of hostility + was forgotten in appearance, if not in the heart of the writer; instead of + discussion, presentation; instead of abstract analysis of principles, + concrete drawing of persons and dramatic delineation of passion. There is, + it is true, a monstrous superfluity of ethical exposition of most doubtful + value, but then that, as we have already said, was in the manners of the + time. All people in those days with any pretensions to use their minds, + wrote and talked in a superfine ethical manner, and violently translated + the dictates of sensibility into formulas of morality. The important thing + to remark is not that this semi-didactic strain is present, but that there + is much less of it, and that it takes a far more subordinate place, than + the subject and the reigning taste would have led us to expect. It is + true, also, that Rousseau declared his intention in the two characters of + Julie and of Wolmar, who eventually became Julie's husband, of leading to + a reconciliation between the two great opposing parties, the devout and + the rationalistic; of teaching them the lesson of<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[ii.23]</a></span> reciprocal esteem, by + showing the one that it is possible to believe in a God without being a + hypocrite, and the other that it is possible to be an unbeliever without + being a scoundrel.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a + href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> This intention, if it was + really present to Rousseau's mind while he was writing, and not an + afterthought characteristically welcomed for the sake of giving loftiness + and gravity to a composition of which he was always a little ashamed, must + at any rate have been of a very pale kind. It would hardly have occurred + to a critic, unless Rousseau had so emphatically pointed it out, that such + a design had presided over the composition, and contemporary readers saw + nothing of it. In the first part of the story, which is wholly passionate, + it is certainly not visible, and in the second part neither of the two + contending factions was likely to learn any lesson with respect to the + other. Churchmen would have insisted that Wolmar was really a Christian + dressed up as an atheist, and philosophers would hardly have accepted + Julie as a type of the too believing people who broke Calas on the wheel, + and cut off La Barre's head. + </p> + <p> + French critics tell us that no one now reads the New Heloïsa in + France except deliberate students of the works of Rousseau, and certainly + few in this generation read it in our own country.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" + id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> + The action <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[ii.24]</a></span>is + very slight, and the play of motives very simple, when contrasted with the + ingenuity of invention, the elaborate subtleties of psychological + analysis, the power of rapid change from one perturbing incident or + excited humour to another, which mark the modern writer of sentimental + fiction. As the title warns us, it is a story of a youthful tutor and a + too fair disciple, straying away from the lessons of calm philosophy into + the heated places of passion. The high pride of Julie's father forbade all + hope of their union, and in very desperation the unhappy pair lost the + self-control of virtue, and threw themselves into the pit that lies so + ready to our feet. Remorse followed with quick step, for Julie had with + her purity lost none of the other lovelinesses of a dutiful character. Her + lover was hurried away from the country by the generous solicitude of an + English nobleman, one of the bravest, tenderest, and best of men. Julie, + left undisturbed by her lover's presence, stricken with affliction at the + death of a sweet and affectionate mother, and pressed by the importunities + of a father whom she dearly loved, in spite of all the disasters which his + will had brought upon her, at length consented to marry a foreign baron + from some northern court. Wolmar was much older than she was; a devotee of + calm reason, without a system and without prejudices, benevolent, orderly, + above all things judicious. The lover meditated suicide, from which he was + only diverted by the arguments of Lord Edward, who did more than argue; he + hurried the forlorn man on board the ship<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[ii.25]</a></span> of Admiral Anson, then just + starting for his famous voyage round the world. And this marks the end of + the first episode. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau always urged that his story was dangerous for young girls, and + maintained that Richardson was grievously mistaken in supposing that they + could be instructed by romances. It was like setting fire to the house, he + said, for the sake of making the pumps play.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" + id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> + As he admitted so much, he is not open to attack on this side, except from + those who hold the theory that no books ought to be written which may not + prudently be put into the hands of the young,—a puerile and + contemptible doctrine that must emasculate all literature and all art, by + excluding the most interesting of human relations and the most powerful of + human passions. There is not a single composition of the first rank + outside of science, from the Bible downwards, that could undergo the test. + The most useful standard for measuring the significance of a book in this + respect is found in the manners of the time, and the prevailing tone of + contemporary literature. In trying to appreciate the meaning of the New + Heloïsa and its popularity, it is well to think of it as a + delineation of love, in connection not only with such a book as the + Pucelle, where there is at least wit, but with a story like Duclos's, + which all ladies both read and were not in the least ashamed to + acknowledge that they had read; or still worse, such an abomination as + Diderot's first stories; or a story <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" + id="Page_26">[ii.26]</a></span>like Laclos's, which came a generation + later, and with its infinite briskness and devilry carried the tradition + of artistic impurity to as vigorous a manifestation as it is capable of + reaching.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a + href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> To a generation whose + literature is as pure as the best English, American, and German literature + is in the present day, the New Heloïsa might without doubt be + corrupting. To the people who read Crébillon and the Pucelle, it was + without doubt elevating. + </p> + <p> + The case is just as strong if we turn from books to manners. Without + looking beyond the circle of names that occur in Rousseau's own history, + we see how deep the depravity had become. Madame d'Epinay's gallant sat at + table with the husband, and the husband was perfectly aware of the + relations between them. M. d'Epinay had notorious relations with two + public women, and was not ashamed to refer to them in the presence of his + wife, and even to seek her sympathy on an occasion when one of them was in + some trouble. Not only this, but husband and lover used to pursue their + debaucheries in the town together in jovial comradeship. An opera dancer + presided at the table of a patrician abbé in his country house, and + he passed weeks in her house in the town. As for shame, says Barbier on + one occasion, "'tis true the king has a mistress, but who has not?—except + the Duke of Orleans; he has withdrawn to Ste. Geneviève, and is + thoroughly despised in consequence, and rightly."<a + name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" + class="fnanchor">[43]</a> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" + id="Page_27">[ii.27]</a></span>Reeking disorder such as all this + illustrates, made the passion of the two imaginary lovers of the fair lake + seem like a breath from the garden of Eden. One virtue was lost in that + simple paradise, but even that loss was followed by circumstances of + mental pain and far circling distress, which banished the sin into a + secondary place; and what remained to strike the imagination of the time + were delightful pictures of fast union between two enchanting women, of + the patience and compassionateness of a grave mother, of the chivalrous + warmth and helpfulness of a loyal friend. Any one anxious to pick out + sensual strokes and turns of grossness could make a small collection of + such defilements from the New Heloïsa without any difficulty. They + were in Rousseau's character, and so they came out in his work. Saint + Preux afflicts us with touches of this kind, just as we are afflicted with + similar touches in the Confessions. They were not noticed at that day, + when people's ears did not affect to be any chaster than the rest of them. + </p> + <p> + A historian of opinion is concerned with the general effect that was + actually produced by a remarkable book, and with the causes that produced + it. It is not his easy task to produce a demonstration that if the readers + had all been as wise and as virtuous as the moralist might desire them to + be, or if they had all been discriminating and scientific critics, not + this, but a very different impression would have followed. Today we may + wonder at the effect of the New Heloïsa.<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[ii.28]</a></span> A long story told in + letters has grown to be a form incomprehensible and intolerable to us. We + find Richardson hard to be borne, and he put far greater vivacity and + wider variety into his letters than Rousseau did, though he was not any + less diffuse, and he abounds in repetitions as Rousseau does not. Rousseau + was absolutely without humour; that belongs to the keenly observant + natures, and to those who love men in the concrete, not only humanity in + the abstract. The pleasantries of Julie's cousin, for instance, are heavy + and misplaced. Thus the whole book is in one key, without the dramatic + changes of Richardson, too few even as those are. And who now can endure + that antique fashion of apostrophising men and women, hot with passion and + eager with all active impulses, in oblique terms of abstract qualities, as + if their passion and their activity were only the inconsiderable + embodiment of fine general ideas? We have not a single thrill, when Saint + Preux being led into the chamber where his mistress is supposed to lie + dying, murmurs passionately, "What shall I now see in the same place + of refuge where once all breathed the ecstasy that intoxicated my soul, in + this same object who both caused and shared my transports! the image of + death, virtue unhappy, beauty expiring!"<a name="FNanchor_44_44" + id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> + This rhetorical artificiality of phrase, so repulsive to the more + realistic taste of a later age, was as natural then as that facility of + shedding tears, which appears so deeply incredible a performance to a + generation <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[ii.29]</a></span>that + has lost that particular fashion of sensibility, without realising for the + honour of its ancestors the physiological truth of the power of the will + over the secretions. + </p> + <p> + The characters seem as stiff as some of the language, to us who are + accustomed to an Asiatic luxuriousness of delineation. Yet the New Heloïsa + was nothing less than the beginning of that fresh, full, highly-coloured + style which has now taught us to find so little charm in the source and + original of it. Saint Preux is a personage whom no widest charity, + literary, philosophic, or Christian, can make endurable. Egoism is made + thrice disgusting by a ceaseless redundance of fine phrases. The + exaggerated conceits of love in our old poets turn graciously on the + lover's eagerness to offer every sacrifice at the feet of his mistress. + Even Werther, stricken creature as he was, yet had the stoutness to blow + his brains out, rather than be the instrument of surrounding the life of + his beloved with snares. Saint Preux's egoism is unbrightened by a single + ray of tender abnegation, or a single touch of the sweet humility of + devoted passion. The slave of his sensations, he has no care beyond their + gratification. With some rotund nothing on his lips about virtue being the + only path to happiness, his heart burns with sickly desire. He writes + first like a pedagogue infected by some cantharidean philter, and then + like a pedagogue without the philter, and that is the worse of the two. + Lovelace and the Count of Valmont are manly and hopeful characters in + comparison.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[ii.30]</a></span> + Werther, again, at least represents a principle of rebellion, in the midst + of all his self-centred despair, and he retains strength enough to know + that his weakness is shameful. His despair, moreover, is deeply coloured + with repulsed social ambition.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a + href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> He feels the world about + him. His French prototype, on the contrary, represents nothing but the + unalloyed selfishness of a sensual love for which there is no universe + outside of its own fevered pulsation. + </p> + <p> + Julie is much less displeasing, partly perhaps for the reason that she + belongs to the less displeasing sex. At least, she preserves fortitude, + self-control, and profound considerateness for others. At a certain point + her firmness even moves a measure of enthusiasm. If the New Heloïsa + could be said to have any moral intention, it is here where women learn + from the example of Julie's energetic return to duty, the possibility and + the satisfaction of bending character back to comeliness and honour. + Excellent as this is from a moral point of view, the reader may wish that + Julie had been less of a preacher, as well as less of a sinner. And even + as sinner, she would have been more readily forgiven if she had been less + deliberate. A maiden who sacrifices her virtue in order that the visible + consequences may force her parents to consent to a marriage, is too + strategical to be perfectly touching. As was said by the cleverest, though + not the greatest, of all the women whose youth was fascinated by Rousseau, + when one has renounced the charms of <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[ii.31]</a></span>virtue, it is at least well + to have all the charms that entire surrender of heart can bestow.<a + name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" + class="fnanchor">[46]</a> In spite of this, however, Julie struck the + imagination of the time, and struck it in a way that was thoroughly + wholesome. The type taught men some respect for the dignity of women, and + it taught women a firmer respect for themselves. It is useless, even if it + be possible, to present an example too lofty for the comprehension of an + age. At this moment the most brilliant genius in the country was filling + France with impish merriment at the expense of the greatest heroine that + France had then to boast. In such an atmosphere Julie had almost the halo + of saintliness. + </p> + <p> + We may say all we choose about the inconsistency, the excess of preaching, + the excess of prudence, in the character of Julie. It was said pungently + enough by the wits of the time.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a + href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Nothing that could be + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[ii.32]</a></span>said + on all this affected the fact, that the women between 1760 and the + Revolution were intoxicated by Rousseau's creation to such a pitch that + they would pay any price for a glass out of which Rousseau had drunk, they + would kiss a scrap of paper that contained a piece of his handwriting, and + vow that no woman of true sensibility could hesitate to consecrate her + life to him, if she were only certain to be rewarded by his attachment.<a + name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" + class="fnanchor">[48]</a> The booksellers were unable to meet the demand. + The book was let out at the rate of twelve sous a volume, and the volume + could not be detained beyond an hour. All classes shared the excitement, + courtiers, soldiers, lawyers, and bourgeois.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" + id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> + Stories were told of fine ladies, dressed for the ball, who took the book + up for half an hour until the time should come for starting; they read + until midnight, and when informed that the carriage waited, answered not a + word, and when reminded by and by that it was two o'clock, still read + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[ii.33]</a></span>on, + and then at four, having ordered the horses to be taken out of the + carriage, disrobed, went to bed, and passed the remainder of the night in + reading. In Germany the effect was just as astonishing. Kant only once in + his life failed to take his afternoon walk, and this unexampled omission + was due to the witchery of the New Heloïsa. Gallantry was succeeded + by passion, expansion, exaltation; moods far more dangerous for society, + as all enthusiasm is dangerous, but also far higher and pregnant with + better hopes for character. To move the sympathetic faculties is the first + step towards kindling all the other energies which make life wiser and + more fruitful. It is especially worth noticing that nothing in the + character of Julie concentrates this outburst of sympathy in subjective + broodings. Julie is the representative of one recalled to the straight + path by practical, wholesome, objective sympathy for others, not of one + expiring in unsatisfied yearnings for the sympathy of others for herself, + and in moonstruck subjective aspirations. The women who wept over her + romance read in it the lesson of duty, not of whimpering introspection. + The danger lay in the mischievous intellectual direction which Rousseau + imparted to this effusion. + </p> + <p> + The stir which the Julie communicated to the affections in so many ways, + marked progress, but in all the elements of reason she was the most + perilous of reactionaries. So hard it is with the human mind, constituted + as it is, to march forward a space further<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[ii.34]</a></span> to the light, without + making some fresh swerve obliquely towards old darkness. The great + effusion of natural sentiment was in the air before the New Heloïsa + appeared, to condense and turn it into definite channels. One beautiful + character, Vauven argues (1715-1747), had begun to teach the culture of + emotional instinct in some sayings of exquisite sweetness and moderation, + as that "Great thoughts come from the heart." But he came too + soon, and, alas for us all, he died young, and he made no mark. Moderation + never can make a mark in the epochs when men are beginning to feel the + urgent spirit of a new time. Diderot strove with more powerful efforts, in + the midst of all his herculean labours for the acquisition and ordering of + knowledge, in the same direction towards the great outer world of nature, + and towards the great inner world of nature in the human breast. His + criticisms on the paintings of each year, mediocre as the paintings were, + are admirable even now for their richness and freshness. If Diderot had + been endowed with emotional tenacity, as he was with tenacity of + understanding and of purpose, the student of the eighteenth century would + probably have been spared the not perfectly agreeable task of threading a + way along the sinuosities of the character and work of Rousseau. But + Rousseau had what Diderot lacked—sustained ecstatic moods, and + fervid trances; his literary gesture was so commanding, his apparel so + glistening, his voice so rich in long-drawn notes of plangent vibration. + His words<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[ii.35]</a></span> + are the words of a prophet; a prophet, it is understood, who had lived in + Paris, and belonged to the eighteenth century, and wrote in French instead + of Hebrew. The mischief of his work lay in this, that he raised feeling, + now passionate, now quietest, into the supreme place which it was to + occupy alone, and not on an equal throne and in equal alliance with + understanding. Instead of supplementing reason, he placed emotion as its + substitute. And he made this evil doctrine come from the lips of a + fictitious character, who stimulated fancy and fascinated imagination. + Voltaire laughed at the <i>baisers âcres</i> of Madame de Wolmar, and + declared that a criticism of the Marquis of Ximénès had crushed + the wretched romance.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a + href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> But Madame de Wolmar was + so far from crushed, that she turned the flood of feeling which her own + charms, passion, remorse, and conversion had raised, in a direction that + Voltaire abhorred, and abhorred in vain. + </p> + <p> + It is after the marriage of Julie to Wolmar that the action of the story + takes the turn which sensible men like Voltaire found laughable. Saint + Preux is absent with Admiral Anson for some years. On his return to Europe + he is speedily invited by the sage Wolmar, who knows his past history + perfectly well, to pay them a visit. They all meet with leapings on <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[ii.36]</a></span>the neck + and hearty kisses, the unprejudiced Wolmar preserving an open, serene, and + smiling air. He takes his young friend to a chamber, which is to be + reserved for him and for him only. In a few days he takes an opportunity + of visiting some distant property, leaving his wife and Saint Preux + together, with the sublime of magnanimity. At the same time he confides to + Claire his intention of entrusting to Saint Preux the education of his + children. All goes perfectly well, and the household presents a picture of + contentment, prosperity, moderation, affection, and evenly diffused + happiness, which in spite of the disagreeableness of the situation is even + now extremely charming. There is only one cloud. Julie is devoured by a + source of hidden chagrin. Her husband, "so sage, so reasonable, so + far from every kind of vice, so little under the influence of human + passions, is without the only belief that makes virtue precious, and in + the innocence of an irreproachable life he carries at the bottom of his + heart the frightful peace of the wicked."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" + id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> + He is an atheist. Julie is now a pietest, locking herself for hours in her + chambers, spending days in self-examination and prayer, constantly reading + the pages of the good Fénelon.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" + id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> + "I fear," she writes to Saint Preux, "that you do not gain + all you might from religion in the conduct of your life, and that + philosophic pride disdains the simplicity of the Christian. You believe + prayers to be of scanty service. That is not, you know, the doctrine of + Saint <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[ii.37]</a></span>Paul, + nor what our Church professes. We are free, it is true, but we are + ignorant, feeble, prone to ill. And whence should light and force come, if + not from him who is their very well-spring?... Let us be humble, to be + sage; let us see our weakness, and we shall be strong."<a + name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" + class="fnanchor">[53]</a> This was the opening of the deistical reaction; + it was thus, associated with everything that struck imagination and moved + the sentiment of his readers, that Rousseau brought back those sophistical + conclusions which Pascal had drawn from premisses of dark profound truth, + and that enervating displacement of reason by celestial contemplation, + which Fénelon had once made beautiful by the persuasion of virtuous + example. He was justified in saying, as he afterwards did, that there was + nothing in the Savoyard Vicar's Profession of Faith which was not to be + found in the letters of Julie. These were the effective preparations for + that more famous manifesto; they surrounded belief with all the + attractions of an interesting and sympathetic preacher, and set it to a + harmony of circumstance that touched softer fibres. + </p> + <p> + For, curiously enough, while the first half of the romance is a scene of + disorderly passion, the second is the glorification of the family. A + modern writer of genius has inveighed with whimsical bitterness against + the character of Wolmar,—supposed, we may notice in passing, to be + partially drawn from D'Holbach,—a man performing so long an + experiment on these <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[ii.38]</a></span>two + souls, with the terrible curiosity of a surgeon engaged in vivisection.<a + name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" + class="fnanchor">[54]</a> It was, however, much less difficult for + contemporaries than it is for us to accept so unwholesome and prurient a + situation. They forgot all the evil that was in it, in the charm of the + account of Wolmar's active, peaceful, frugal, sunny household. The + influence of this was immense.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a + href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> It may be that the + overstrained scene where Saint Preux waits for Julie in her room, + suggested the far lovelier passage of Faust in the chamber of the hapless + Margaret. But we may, at least, be sure that Werther (1774) would not have + found Charlotte cutting bread and butter, if Saint Preux had not gone to + see Julie take cream and cakes with her children and her female servants. + And perhaps the other and nobler Charlotte of the <i>Wahlverwandtschaften</i> + (1809) would not have detained us so long with her moss hut, her terrace, + her park prospect, if Julie had not had her elysium, where the sweet + freshness of the air, the cool shadows, the shining verdure, flowers + diffusing fragrance and colour, water running with soft whisper, and the + song of a thousand birds, reminded the returned traveller of Tinian and + Juan Fernandez. There is an animation, a variety, an accuracy, a realistic + brightness in this picture, which will always make it enchanting, even to + those who cannot make their way through any other letter in the New Heloïsa.<a + name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" + class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Such qualities place it as an idyllic piece far + above such pieces in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[ii.39]</a></span>Goethe's + two famous romances. They have a clearness and spontaneous freshness which + are not among the bountiful gifts of Goethe. There are other admirable + landscapes in the New Heloïsa, though not too many of them, and the + minute and careful way in which Rousseau made their features real to + himself, is accidentally shown in his urgent prayer for exactitude in the + engraving of the striking scene where Saint Preux and Julie visit the + monuments of their old love for one another.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" + id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> + "I have traversed all Rousseau's ground with the Heloïsa before + me," said Byron, "and am struck to a degree I cannot express, + with the force and accuracy of his descriptions and the beauty of their + reality."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a + href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> They were memories made + true by long dreaming, by endless brooding. The painter lived with these + scenes ever present to the inner eye. They were his real world, of which + the tamer world of meadow and woodland actually around him only gave + suggestion. He thought of the green steeps, the rocks, the mountain pines, + the waters of the lake, "the populous solitude of bees and birds," + as of some divine presence, too sublime for personality. And they were + always benign, standing in relief with the malignity or folly of the + hurtful insect, Man. He was never a manichæan towards nature. To him + she <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[ii.40]</a></span>was + all good and bounteous. The demon forces that so fascinated Byron were to + Rousseau invisible. These were the compositions that presently inspired + the landscapes of <i>Paul and Virginia</i> (1788), of <i>Atala</i> and <i>René</i> + (1801), and of <i>Obermann</i> (1804), as well as those punier imitators + who resemble their masters as the hymns of a methodist negro resemble the + psalms of David. They were the outcome of eager and spontaneous feeling + for nature, and not the mere hackneyed common-form and inflated + description of the literary pastoral.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" + id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> + </p> + <p> + This leads to another great and important distinction to be drawn between + Rousseau and the school whom in other respects he inspired. The admirable + Sainte Beuve perplexes one by his strange remark, <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[ii.41]</a></span>that the union of the poetry + of the family and the hearth with the poetry of nature is essentially + wanting to Rousseau.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a + href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> It only shows that the + great critic had for the moment forgotten the whole of the second part of + the New Heloïsa, and his failure to identify Cowper's allusion to the + <i>matinée à l'anglaise</i> certainly proves that he had at any + rate forgotten one of the most striking and delicious scenes of the hearth + in French literature.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a + href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> The tendency to read + Rousseau only in the Byronic sense is one of those foregone conclusions + which are constantly tempting the critic to travel out of his record. + Rousseau assuredly had a Byronic side, but he is just as often a Cowper + done into splendid prose. His pictures are full of social animation and + domestic order. He had exalted the simplicity of the savage state in his + Discourses, but when he came to constitute an ideal life, he found it in a + household that was more, and not less, systematically disciplined than + those of the common society <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" + id="Page_42">[ii.42]</a></span>around him. The paradise in which his Julie + moved with Wolmar and Saint Preux, was no more and no less than an + establishment of the best kind of the rural middle-class, frugal, + decorous, wholesome, tranquilly austere. No most sentimental savage could + have found it endurable, or could himself without profound transformation + of his manners have been endured in it. The New Heloïsa ends by + exalting respectability, and putting the spirit of insurrection to shame. + Self-control, not revolt, is its last word. + </p> + <p> + This is what separates Rousseau here and throughout from Sénancour, + Byron, and the rest. He consummates the triumph of will, while their + reigning mood is grave or reckless protest against impotence of will, the + little worth of common aims, the fretting triviality of common rules. + Franklin or Cobbett might have gloried in the regularity of Madame de + Wolmar's establishment. The employment of the day was marked out with + precision. By artful adjustment of pursuits, it was contrived that the + men-servants should be kept apart from the maid-servants, except at their + repasts. The women, namely, a cook, a housemaid, and a nurse, found their + pastime in rambles with their mistress and her children, and lived mainly + with them. The men were amused by games for which their master made + regulated provision, now for summer, now for winter, offering prizes of a + useful kind for prowess and adroitness. Often on a Sunday night all the + household met in an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[ii.43]</a></span> + ample chamber, and passed the evening in dancing. When Saint Preux + inquired whether this was not a rather singular infraction of puritan + rule, Julie wisely answered that pure morality is so loaded with severe + duties, that if you add to them the further burden of indifferent forms, + it must always be at the cost of the essential.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" + id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> + The servants were taken from the country, never from the town. They + entered the household young, were gradually trained, and never went away + except to establish themselves. + </p> + <p> + The vulgar and obvious criticism on all this is that it is utopian, that + such households do not generally exist, because neither masters nor + servants possess the qualities needed to maintain these relations of + unbroken order and friendliness. Perhaps not; and masters and servants + will be more and more removed from the possession of such qualities, and + their relations further distant from such order and friendliness, if + writers cease to press the beauty and serviceableness of a domesticity + that is at present only possible in a few rare cases, or to insist on the + ugliness, the waste of peace, the deterioration of character, that are the + results of our present system. Undoubtedly it is much easier for Rousseau + to draw his picture of semi-patriarchal felicity, than for the rest of us + to realise it. It was his function to press ideals of sweeter life on his + contemporaries, and they may be counted fortunate in having a writer who + could fulfil this function with Rousseau's peculiar force of masterly + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[ii.44]</a></span>persuasion. + His scornful diatribes against the domestic police of great houses, and + the essential inhumanity of the ordinary household relations, are both + excellent and of permanent interest. There is the full breath of a new + humaneness in them. They were the right way of attacking the decrepitude + of feudal luxury and insolence, and its imitation among the great + farmers-general. This criticism of the conditions of domestic service + marks a beginning of true democracy, as distinguished from the mere + pulverisation of aristocracy. It rests on the claim of the common people + to an equal consideration, as equally useful and equally capable of virtue + and vice; and it implies the essential priority of social over political + reform. + </p> + <p> + The story abounds in sumptuary detail. The table partakes of the general + plenty, but this plenty is not ruinous. The senses are gratified without + daintiness. The food is common, but excellent of its kind. The service is + simple, yet exquisite. All that is mere show, all that depends on vulgar + opinion, all fine and elaborate dishes whose value comes of their rarity, + and whose names you must know before finding any goodness in them, are + banished without recall. Even in such delicacies as they permit + themselves, our friends abstain every day from certain things which are + reserved for feasts on special occasions, and which are thus made more + delightful without being more costly. What do you suppose these delicacies + are? Rare game, or fish from the sea, or dainties from abroad? Better than + all that; some delicious vegetable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" + id="Page_45">[ii.45]</a></span> of the district, one of the savoury things + that grow in our garden, some fish from the lake dressed in a peculiar + way, some cheese from our mountains. The service is modest and rustic, but + clean and smiling. Neither gold-laced liveries in sight of which you die + of hunger, nor tall crystals laden with flowers for your only dessert, + here take the place of honest dishes. Here people have not the art of + nourishing the stomach through the eyes, but they know how to add grace to + good cheer, to eat heartily without inconvenience, to drink merrily + without losing reason, to sit long at table without weariness, and always + to rise from it without disgust.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" + id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> + </p> + <p> + One singularity in this ideal household was the avoidance of those middle + exchanges between production and consumption, which enrich the shopkeeper + but impoverish his customers. Not one of these exchanges is made without + loss, and the multiplication of these losses would weaken even a man of + fortune. Wolmar seeks those real exchanges in which the convenience of + each party to the bargain serves as profit for both. Thus the wool is sent + to the factories, from which they receive cloth in exchange; wine, oil, + and bread are produced in the house; the butcher pays himself in live + cattle; the grocer receives grain in return for his goods; the wages of + the labourers and the house-servants are derived from the produce of the + land which they render valuable.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" + id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> + It was reserved for Fourier, Cabet, and the rest, to carry to its highest + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[ii.46]</a></span>point + this confusion of what is so fascinating in a book with what is + practicable in society. + </p> + <p> + The expatiation on the loveliness of a well-ordered interior may strike + the impatient modern as somewhat long, and the movement as very slow, just + as people complain of the same things in Goethe's <i>Wahlverwandtschaften</i>. + Such complaint only proves inability, which is or is not justifiable, to + seize the spirit of the writer. The expatiation was long and the movement + slow, because Rousseau was full of his thoughts; they were a deep and + glowing part of himself, and did not merely skim swiftly and lightly + through his mind. Anybody who takes the trouble may find out the + difference between this expression of long mental brooding, and a merely + elaborated diction.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a + href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> The length is an + essential part of the matter. The whole work is the reflection of a series + of slow inner processes, the many careful weavings of a lonely and + miserable man's dreams. And Julie expressed the spirit and the joy of + these dreams when she wrote, "People are only happy before they are + happy. Man, so eager and so feeble, made to desire all and obtain little, + has received from heaven a consoling force which brings all that he + desires close to him, which subjects it to his imagination, which makes it + sensible and present before him, which delivers it over to him. The land + of chimera is the only one in this world that is worth dwelling in, and + such is the nothingness of the human <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[ii.47]</a></span>lot, that except the being + who exists in and by himself, there is nothing beautiful except that which + does not exist."<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a + href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> + </p> + <p> + Closely connected with the vigorous attempt to fascinate his public with + the charm of a serene, joyful, and ordered house, is the restoration of + marriage in the New Heloïsa to a rank among high and honourable + obligations, and its representation as the best support of an equable life + of right conduct and fruitful harmonious emotion. Rousseau even invested + it with the mysterious dignity as of some natural sacrament. "This + chaste knot of nature is subject neither to the sovereign power nor to + paternal authority," he cried, "but only to the authority of the + common Father." And he pointed his remark by a bitter allusion to a + celebrated case in which a great house had prevailed on the courts to + annul the marriage of an elder son with a young actress, though her + character was excellent, and though she had befriended him when he was + abandoned by everybody else.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a + href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> This was one of the + countless democratic thrusts in the book. In the case of its heroine, + however, the author associated the sanctity of marriage not only with + equality but with religion. We may imagine the spleen with which the + philosophers, with both their hatred of the faith, and their light esteem + of marriage bonds, read Julie's eloquent account of her emotions at the + moment of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[ii.48]</a></span>her + union with Wolmar. "I seemed to behold the organ of Providence and to + hear the voice of God, as the minister gravely pronounced the words of the + holy service. The purity, the dignity, the sanctity of marriage, so + vividly set forth in the words of scripture; its chaste and sublime + duties, so important to the happiness, order, and peace of the human race, + so sweet to fulfil even for their own sake—all this made such an + impression on me that I seemed to feel within my breast a sudden + revolution. An unknown power seemed all at once to arrest the disorder of + my affections, and to restore them to accordance with the law of duty and + of nature. The eternal eye that sees everything, I said to myself, now + reads to the depth of my heart."<a name="FNanchor_68_68" + id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> + She has all the well-known fervour of the proselyte, and never wearies of + extolling the peace of the wedded state. Love is no essential to its + perfection. "Worth, virtue, a certain accord not so much in condition + and age as in character and temper, are enough between husband and wife; + and this does not prevent the growth from such a union of a very tender + attachment, which is none the less sweet for not being exactly love, and + is all the more lasting."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a + href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[ii.49]</a></span>Years after, when Saint + Preux has returned and is settled in the household, she even tries to + persuade him to imitate her example, and find contentment in marriage with + her cousin. The earnestness with which she presses the point, the very + sensible but not very delicate references to the hygienic drawbacks of + celibacy, and the fact that the cousin whom she would fain have him marry, + had complaisantly assisted them in their past loves, naturally drew the + fire of Rousseau's critical enemies. + </p> + <p> + Such matters did not affect the general enthusiasm. When people are weary + of a certain way of surveying life, and have their faces eagerly set in + some new direction, they read in a book what it pleases them to read; they + assimilate as much as falls in with their dominant mood, and the rest + passes away unseen. The French public were bewitched by Julie, and were no + more capable of criticising her than Julie was capable of criticising + Saint Preux in the height of her passion for him. When we say that + Rousseau was the author of this movement, all we mean is that his book and + its chief personage awoke emotion to self-consciousness, gave it a + dialect, communicated an impulse in favour of social order, and then very + calamitously at the same moment divorced it from the fundamental + conditions of progress, by divorcing it from disciplined intelligence and + scientific reason. + </p> + <p> + Apart from the general tendency of the New Heloïsa in numberless + indirect ways to bring the manners of the great into contempt, by the + presenta<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[ii.50]</a></span>tion + of the happiness of a simple and worthy life, thrifty, self-sufficing, and + homely, there is one direct protest of singular eloquence and gravity. + Julie's father is deeply revolted at the bare notion of marrying his + daughter to a teacher. Rousseau puts his vigorous remonstrance against + pride of birth into the mouth of an English nobleman. This is perhaps an + infelicitous piece of prosopopoeia, but it is interesting as illustrative + of the idea of England in the eighteenth century as the home of + stout-hearted freedom. We may quote one piece from the numerous bits of + very straightforward speaking in which our representative expressed his + mind as to the significance of birth. "My friend has nobility," + cried Lord Edward, "not written in ink on mouldering parchments, but + graven in his heart in characters that can never be effaced. For my own + part, by God, I should be sorry to have no other proof of my merit but + that of a man who has been in his grave these five hundred years. If you + know the English nobility, you know that it is the most enlightened, the + best informed, the wisest, the bravest in Europe. That being so, I don't + care to ask whether it is the oldest or not. We are not, it is true, the + slaves of the prince, but his friends; nor the tyrants of the people, but + their leaders. We hold the balance true between people, and monarch. Our + first duty is towards the nation, our second towards him who governs; it + is not his will but his right that we consider.... We suffer no one in the + land to say <i>God and my sword</i>, nor more than this, <i>God<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[ii.51]</a></span> and my + right</i>."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a + href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> All this was only putting + Montesquieu into heroics, it is true, but a great many people read the + romance who were not likely to read the graver book. And there was a wide + difference between the calm statement of a number of political + propositions about government, and their transformation into dramatic + invective against the arrogance of all social inequality that does not + correspond with inequalities of worth. + </p> + <p> + There is no contradiction between this and the social quietism of other + parts of the book. Moral considerations and the paramount place that they + hold in Rousseau's way of thinking, explain at once his contempt for the + artificial privileges and assumptions of high rank, and his contempt for + anything like discontent with the conditions of humble rank. Simplicity of + life was his ideal. He wishes us to despise both those who have departed + from it, and those who would depart from it if they could. So Julie does + her best to make the lot of the peasants as happy as it is capable of + being made, without ever helping them to change it for another. She + teaches them to respect their natural condition in respecting themselves. + Her prime maxim is to discourage change of station and calling, but above + all to dissuade the villager, whose life is the happiest of all, from + leaving the true pleasures of his natural career for the fever and + corruption of towns.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a + href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Presently a recollection + of the sombre things that he had seen in his rambles <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[ii.52]</a></span>through France crossed + Rousseau's pastoral visions, and he admitted that there were some lands in + which the publican devours the fruits of the earth; where the misery that + covers the fields, the bitter greed of some grasping farmer, the + inflexible rigour of an inhuman master, take something from the charm of + his rural scenes. "Worn-out horses ready to expire under the blows + they receive, wretched peasants attenuated by hunger, broken by weariness, + clad in rags, hamlets all in ruins—these things offer a mournful + spectacle to the eye: one is almost sorry to be a man, as we think of the + unhappy creatures on whose blood we have to feed."<a + name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" + class="fnanchor">[72]</a> + </p> + <p> + Yet there is no hint in the New Heloïsa of the socialism which + Morelly and Mably flung themselves upon, as the remedy for all these + desperate horrors. Property, in every page of the New Heloïsa, is + held in full respect; the master has the honourable burden of patriarchal + duty; the servant the not less honourable burden of industry and + faithfulness; disobedience or vice is promptly punished with paternal + rigour and more than paternal inflexibility. The insurrectionary quality + and effect of Rousseau's work lay in no direct preaching or vehement + denunciation of the abuses that filled France with cruelty on the one hand + and sodden misery on the other. It lay in pictures of a social state in + which abuses and cruelty cannot exist, nor any miseries save those which + are inseparable from humanity. The contrast between the sober, cheerful, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[ii.53]</a></span>prosperous + scenes of romance, and the dreariness of the reality of the field life of + France,—this was the element that filled generous souls with an + intoxicating transport. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's way of dealing with the portentous questions that lay about + that tragic scene of deserted fields, ruined hamlets, tottering brutes, + and hunger-stricken men, may be gathered from one of the many traits in + Julie which endeared her to that generation, and might endear her even to + our own if it only knew her. Wolmar's house was near a great high-road, + and so was daily haunted by beggars. Not one of these was allowed to go + empty away. And Julie had as many excellent reasons to give for her + charity, as if she had been one of the philosophers of whom she thought so + surpassingly ill. If you look at mendicancy merely as a trade, what is the + harm of a calling whose end is to nourish feelings of humanity and + brotherly love? From the point of view of talent, why should I not pay the + eloquence of a beggar who stirs my pity, as highly as that of a player who + makes me shed tears over imaginary sorrows? If the great number of beggars + is burdensome to the state, of how many other professions that people + encourage, may you not say the same? How can I be sure that the man to + whom I give alms is not an honest soul, whom I may save from perishing? In + short, whatever we may think of the poor wretches, if we owe nothing to + the beggar, at least we owe it to ourselves to pay honour to suffering + humanity or to its image.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a + href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Nothing <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[ii.54]</a></span>could be + more admirably illustrative of the author's confidence that the first + thing for us to do is to satisfy our fine feelings, and that then all the + rest shall be added unto us. The doctrine spread so far, that Necker,—a + sort of Julie in a frock-coat, who had never fallen, the incarnation of + this doctrine on the great stage of affairs,—was hailed to power to + ward off the bankruptcy of the state by means of a good heart and moral + sentences, while Turgot with science and firmness for his resources was + driven away as an economist and a philosopher. + </p> + <p> + At a first glance, it may seem that there was compensation for the triumph + of sentiment over reason, and that if France was ruined by the dreams in + which Rousseau encouraged the nation to exult, she was saved by the + fervour and resoluteness of the aspirations with which he filled the most + generous of her children. No wide movement, we may be sure, is thoroughly + understood until we have mastered both its material and its ideal sides. + Materially, Rousseau's work was inevitably fraught with confusion because + in this sphere not to be scientific, not to be careful in tracing effects + to their true causes, is to be without any security that the causes with + which we try to deal will lead to the effects that we desire. A Roman + statesman who had gone to the Sermon on the Mount for a method of staying + the economic ruin of the empire, its thinning population, its decreasing + capital, would obviously have found nothing of what he sought. But the + moral nature of man is redeemed by teaching<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[ii.55]</a></span> that may have no bearing on + economics, or even a bearing purely mischievous, and which has to be + corrected by teaching that probably goes equally far in the contrary + direction of moral mischief. In the ideal sphere, the processes are very + complex. In measuring a man's influence within it we have to balance. + Rousseau's action was undoubtedly excellent in leading men and women to + desire simple lives, and a more harmonious social order. Was this eminent + benefit more than counterbalanced by the eminent disadvantage of giving a + reactionary intellectual direction? By commending irrational retrogression + from active use of the understanding back to dreamy contemplation? + </p> + <p> + To one teacher is usually only one task allotted. We do not reproach want + of science to the virtuous and benevolent Channing; his goodness and + effusion stirred women and the young, just as Rousseau did, to sentimental + but humane aspiration. It was this kind of influence that formed the + opinion which at last destroyed American slavery. We owe a place in the + temple that commemorates human emancipation, to every man who has kindled + in his generation a brighter flame of moral enthusiasm, and a more eager + care for the realisation of good and virtuous ideals. + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>III.</b> + </p> + <p> + The story of the circumstances of the publication of Emilius and the + persecution which befell its author<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" + id="Page_56">[ii.56]</a></span> in consequence, recalls us to the + distinctively evil side of French history in this critical epoch, and + carries us away from light into the thick darkness of political intrigue, + obscurantist faction, and a misgovernment which was at once tyrannical and + decrepit. It is almost impossible for us to realise the existence in the + same society of such boundless license of thought, and such unscrupulous + restraint upon its expression. Not one of Rousseau's three chief works, + for instance, was printed in France. The whole trade in books was a sort + of contraband, and was carried on with the stealth, subterfuge, daring, + and knavery that are demanded in contraband dealings. An author or a + bookseller was forced to be as careful as a kidnapper of coolies or the + captain of a slaver would be in our own time. He had to steer clear of the + court, of the parliament, of Jansenists, of Jesuits, of the mistresses of + the king and the minister, of the friends of the mistresses, and above all + of that organised hierarchy of ignorance and oppression in all times and + places where they raise their masked heads,—the bishops and + ecclesiastics of every sort and condition. Palissot produced his comedy to + please the devout at the expense of the philosophers (1760). Madame de + Robecq, daughter of Rousseau's marshal of Luxembourg, instigated and + protected him, for Diderot had offended her.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" + id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> + Morellet replied in a piece in which the keen vision of feminine spite + detected a reference to Madame de Robecq. Though dying, she still had + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[ii.57]</a></span>relations + with Choiseul, and so Morellet was flung into the Bastile.<a + name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" + class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Diderot was thrown for three months into + Vincennes, where we saw him on a memorable occasion, for his Letter on the + Blind (1748), nominally because it was held to contain irreligious + doctrine, really because he had given offence to D'Argenson's mistress by + hinting that she might be very handsome, but that her judgment on + scientific experiment was of no value.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" + id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> + </p> + <p> + The New Heloïsa could not openly circulate in France so long as it + contained the words, "I would rather be the wife of a charcoal-burner + than the mistress of a king." The last word was altered to "prince," + and then Rousseau was warned that he would offend the Prince de Conti and + Madame de Boufflers.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a + href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> No work of merit could + appear without more or less of slavish mutilation, and no amount of + slavish mutilation could make the writer secure against the accidental + grudge of people who had influence in high quarters.<a + name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" + class="fnanchor">[78]</a> + </p> + <p> + If French booksellers in the stirring intellectual time of the eighteenth + century needed all the craft of a smuggler, their morality was reduced to + an equally <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[ii.58]</a></span>low + level in dealing not only with the police, but with their own accomplices, + the book-writers. They excused themselves from paying proper sums to + authors, on the ground that they were robbed of the profits that would + enable them to pay such sums, by the piracy of their brethren in trade. + But then they all pirated the works of one another. The whole commerce was + a mass of fraud and chicane, and every prominent author passed his life + between two fires. He was robbed, his works were pirated, and, worse than + robbery and piracy, they were defaced and distorted by the booksellers. On + the other side he was tormented to death by the suspicion and timidity, + alternately with the hatred and active tyranny of the administration. As + we read the story of the lives of all these strenuous men, their + struggles, their incessant mortifications, their constantly reviving and + ever irrepressible vigour and interest in the fight, we may wish that the + shabbiness and the pettiness of the daily lives of some of them had faded + away from memory, and left us nothing to think of in connection with their + names but the alertness, courage, tenacity, self-sacrifice, and faith with + which they defended the cause of human emancipation and progress. Happily + the mutual hate of the Christian factions, to which liberty owes at least + as much as charity owes to their mutual love, prevented a common union for + burning the philosophers as well as their books. All torments short of + this they endured, and they had the great merit of enduring them without + any hope of being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[ii.59]</a></span> + rewarded after their death, as truly good men must always be capable of + doing. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau had no taste for martyrdom, nor any intention of courting it in + even its slightest forms. Holland was now the great printing press of + France, and when we are counting up the contributions of Protestantism to + the enfranchisement of Europe, it is just to remember the indispensable + services rendered by the freedom of the press in Holland to the + dissemination of French thought in the eighteenth century, as well as the + shelter that it gave to the French thinkers in the seventeenth, including + Descartes, the greatest of them all. The monstrous tediousness of printing + a book at Amsterdam or the Hague, the delay, loss, and confusion in + receiving and transmitting the proofs, and the subterranean character of + the entire process, including the circulation of the book after it was + once fairly printed, were as grievous to Rousseau as to authors of more + impetuous temper. He agreed with Rey, for instance, the Amsterdam printer, + to sell him the Social Contract for 1000 francs. The manuscript had then + to be cunningly conveyed to Amsterdam. Rousseau wrote it out in very small + characters, sealed it carefully up, and entrusted it to the care of the + chaplain of the Dutch embassy, who happened to be a native of Vaud. In + passing the barrier, the packet fell into the hands of the officials. They + tore it open and examined it, happily unconscious that they were handling + the most explosive kind of gunpowder that they had ever meddled with. It + was not until the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[ii.60]</a></span> + chaplain claimed it in the name of ambassadorial privilege, that the + manuscript was allowed to go on its way to the press.<a + name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" + class="fnanchor">[79]</a> Rousseau repeats a hundred times, not only in + the Confessions, but also in letters to his friends, how resolutely and + carefully he avoided any evasion of the laws of the country in which he + lived. The French government was anxious enough on all grounds to secure + for France the production of the books of which France was the great + consumer, but the severity of its censorship prevented this.<a + name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" + class="fnanchor">[80]</a> The introduction of the books, when printed, was + tolerated or connived at, because the country would hardly have endured to + be deprived of the enjoyment of its own literature. By a greater + inconsistency the reprinting of a book which had once found admission into + the country, was also connived at. Thus M. de Malesherbes, out of + friendship for Rousseau, wished to have an edition of the New Heloïsa + printed in France, and sold for the benefit of the author. That he should + have done so is a curious illustration of the low morality engendered by a + repressive system imperfectly carried out. For Rousseau had sold the book + to Rey. Rey had treated with a French bookseller in the usual way, that + is, had sent him half the edition printed, the bookseller paying either in + cash or other books for all the copies he received. Therefore to print an + independent edition in Paris was to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" + id="Page_61">[ii.61]</a></span>injure, not Rey the foreigner, but the + French bookseller who stood practically in Rey's place. It was setting two + French booksellers to ruin one another. Rousseau emphatically declined to + receive any profit from such a transaction. But, said Malesherbes, you + sold to Rey a right which you had not got, the right of sole + proprietorship, excluding the competition of a pirated reprint. Then, + answered Rousseau, if the right which I sold happens to prove less than I + thought, it is clear that far from taking advantage of my mistake, I owe + to Rey compensation for any loss that he may suffer.<a + name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" + class="fnanchor">[81]</a> + </p> + <p> + The friendship of Malesherbes for the party of reason was shown on + numerous occasions. As director of the book trade he was really the censor + of the literature of the time.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a + href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> The story of his service + to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[ii.62]</a></span>Diderot + is well known—how he warned Diderot that the police were about to + visit his house and overhaul his papers, and how when Diderot despaired of + being able to put them out of sight in his narrow quarters, Malesherbes + said, "Then send them all to me," and took care of them until + the storm was overpast. The proofs of the New Heloïsa came through + his hands, and now he made himself Rousseau's agent in the affairs + relative to the printing of Emilius. Rousseau entrusted the whole matter + to him and to Madame de Luxembourg, being confident that, in acting + through persons of such authority and position, he should be protected + against any unwitting illegality. Instead of being sent to Rey, the + manuscript was sold to a bookseller in Paris for six thousand francs.<a + name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" + class="fnanchor">[83]</a> A long time elapsed before any proofs reached + the author, and he soon perceived that an edition was being printed in + France as well as in Holland. Still, as Malesherbes was in some sort the + director of the enterprise, the author felt no alarm. Duclos came to visit + him one day, and Rousseau read aloud to him the Savoyard Vicar's + Profession of Faith. "What, citizen," he cried, "and that + is part of a book that they are printing at Paris! Be kind enough not to + tell any one that you read this to me."<a name="FNanchor_84_84" + id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> + Still Rousseau remained secure. Then the printing came to a standstill, + and he could not find out the reason, because Malesherbes was away, and + the printer did not take the trouble to answer his letters. "My + natural tendency," he says, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" + id="Page_63">[ii.63]</a></span>and as the rest of his life only too + abundantly proved, "is to be afraid of darkness; mystery always + disturbs me, it is utterly antipathetic to my character, which is open + even to the pitch of imprudence. The aspect of the most hideous monster + would alarm me little, I verily believe; but if I discern at night a + figure in a white sheet, I am sure to be terrified out of my life."<a + name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" + class="fnanchor">[85]</a> So he at once fancied that by some means the + Jesuits had got possession of his book, and knowing him to be at death's + door, designed to keep the Emilius back until he was actually dead, when + they would publish a truncated version of it to suit their own purposes.<a + name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" + class="fnanchor">[86]</a> He wrote letter upon letter to the printer, to + Malesherbes, to Madame de Luxembourg, and if answers did not come, or did + not come exactly when he expected them, he grew delirious with anxiety. If + he dropped his conviction that the Jesuits were plotting the ruin of his + book and the defilement of his reputation, he lost no time in fastening a + similar design upon the Jansenists, and when the Jansenists were + acquitted, then the turn of the philosophers came. We have constantly to + remember that all this time the unfortunate man was suffering incessant + pain, and passing his nights in sleeplessness and fever. He sometimes + threw off the black dreams of unfathomable suspicion, and dreamed in their + stead of some sunny spot in pleasant Touraine, where under a mild climate + and among a gentle people he should peacefully end his <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[ii.64]</a></span>days.<a + name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" + class="fnanchor">[87]</a> At other times he was fond of supposing M. de + Luxembourg not a duke, nor a marshal of France, but a good country squire + living in some old mansion, and himself not an author, not a maker of + books, but with moderate intelligence and slight attainment, finding with + the squire and his dame the happiness of his life, and contributing to the + happiness of theirs.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a + href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> Alas, in spite of all his + precautions, he had unwittingly drifted into the stream of great affairs. + He and his book were sacrificed to the exigencies of faction; and a + persecution set in, which destroyed his last chance of a composed life, by + giving his reason, already disturbed, a final blow from which it never + recovered. + </p> + <p> + Emilius appeared in the crisis of the movement against the Jesuits. That + formidable order had offended Madame de Pompadour by a refusal to + recognise her power and position,—a manly policy, as creditable to + their moral vigour as it was contrary to the maxims which had made them + powerful. They had also offended Choiseul by the part they had taken in + certain hostile intrigues at Versailles. The parliaments had always been + their enemies. This was due first to the jealousy with which corporations + of lawyers always regard corporations of ecclesiastics, and next to their + hatred of the bull Unigenitus, which had been not only an infraction of + French liberties, but the occasion of special humiliation to the + parliaments. Then the hostility of the parliaments to the Jesuits was + caused by the harshness with which the system of confessional <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[ii.65]</a></span>tickets + was at this time being carried out. Finally, the once powerful house of + Austria, the protector of all retrograde interests, was now weakened by + the Seven Years' War; and was unable to bring effective influence to bear + on Lewis XV. At last he gave his consent to the destruction of the order. + The commercial bankruptcy of one of their missions was the immediate + occasion of their fall, and nothing could save them. "I only know one + man," said Grimm, "in a position to have composed an apology for + the Jesuits in fine style, if it had been in his way to take the side of + that tribe, and this man is M. Rousseau." The parliaments went to + work with alacrity, but they were quite as hostile to the philosophers as + they were to the Jesuits, and hence their anxiety to show that they were + no allies of the one even when destroying the other. + </p> + <p> + Contemporaries seldom criticise the shades and variations of innovating + speculation with any marked nicety. Anything with the stamp of rationality + on its phrases or arguments was roughly set down to the school of the + philosophers, and Rousseau was counted one of their number, like Voltaire + or Helvétius. The Emilius appeared in May 1762. On the 11th of June + the parliament of Paris ordered the book to be burnt by the public + executioner, and the writer to be arrested. For Rousseau always scorned + the devices of Voltaire and others; he courageously insisted on placing + his name on the title-page of all his works,<a name="FNanchor_89_89" + id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> + and so there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[ii.66]</a></span>was + none of the usual difficulty in identifying the author. The grounds of the + proceedings were alleged irreligious tendencies to be found in the book.<a + name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" + class="fnanchor">[90]</a> + </p> + <p> + The indecency of the requisition in which the advocate-general demanded + its proscription, was admitted even by people who were least likely to + defend Rousseau.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a + href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> The author was charged + with saying not only that man may be saved without believing in God, but + even that the Christian religion does not exist—paradox too flagrant + even for the writer of the Discourse on Inequality. No evidence was + produced either that the alleged assertions were in the book, or that the + name of the author was really the name on its title-page. Rousseau fared + no worse, but better, than his fellows, for there was hardly a single man + of letters of that time who escaped arbitrary imprisonment. + </p> + <p> + The unfortunate author had news of the ferment which his work was creating + in Paris, and received notes of warning from every hand, but he could not + believe that the only man in France who believed in God was to be the + victim of the defenders of Christianity.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" + id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> + On the 8th of June he spent a merry day with two friends, taking their + dinner in the fields. "Ever since my youth I had a habit of reading + at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[ii.67]</a></span>night + in my bed until my eyes grew heavy. Then I put out the candle, and tried + to fall asleep for a few minutes, but they seldom lasted long. My ordinary + reading at night was the Bible, and I have read it continuously through at + least five or six times in this way. That night, finding myself more + wakeful than usual, I prolonged my reading, and read through the whole of + the book which ends with the Levite of Ephraim, and which if I mistake not + is the book of Judges. The story affected me deeply, and I was busy over + it in a kind of dream, when all at once I was roused by lights and noises."<a + name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" + class="fnanchor">[93]</a> + </p> + <p> + It was two o'clock in the morning. A messenger had come in hot haste to + carry him to Madame de Luxembourg. News had reached her of the proposed + decree of the parliament. She knew Rousseau well enough to be sure that if + he were seized and examined, her own share and that of Malesherbes in the + production of the condemned book would be made public, and their position + uncomfortably compromised. It was to their interest that he should avoid + arrest by flight, and they had no difficulty in persuading him to fall in + with their plans. After a tearful farewell with Theresa, who had hardly + been out of his sight for seventeen years, and many embraces from the + greater ladies of the castle, he was thrust into a chaise and despatched + on the first stage of eight melancholy years of wandering and despair, to + be driven from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[ii.68]</a></span>place + to place, first by the fatuous tyranny of magistrates and religious + doctors, and then by the yet more cruel spectres of his own diseased + imagination, until at length his whole soul became the home of weariness + and torment. + </p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3> + FOOTNOTES: + </h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span + class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, x. 62. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span + class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, x. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span + class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> x. 70. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span + class="label">[4]</span></a> Louis François de Bourbon, Prince de + Conti (1717-1776), was great-grandson of the brother of the Great Condé. + He performed creditable things in the war of the Austrian Succession + (in Piedmont 1744, in Belgium 1745); had a scheme of foreign policy as + director of the secret diplomacy of Lewis XV. (1745-1756), which was + to make Turkey, Poland, Sweden, Prussia, a barrier against Russia + primarily, and Austria secondarily; lastly went into moderate + opposition to the court, protesting against the destruction of the <i>parlements</i> + (1771), and afterwards opposing the reforms of Turgot (1776). Finally + he had the honour of refusing the sacraments of the church on his + deathbed. See Martin's <i>Hist. de France</i>, xv. and xvi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span + class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, 97. <i>Corr.</i>, v. 215. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span + class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 144. Oct. 7, 1760. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span + class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, x. 98. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span + class="label">[8]</span></a> The reader will distinguish this + correspondent of Rousseau's, <i>Comtesse</i> de Boufflers-Rouveret + (1727-18—), from the <i>Duchesse</i> de Boufflers, which was the + title of Rousseau's Maréchale de Luxembourg before her second + marriage. And also from the <i>Marquise</i> de Boufflers, said to be + the mistress of the old king Stanislaus at Lunéville, and the + mother of the Chevalier de Boufflers (who was the intimate of + Voltaire, sat in the States General, emigrated, did homage to + Napoleon, and finally died peaceably under Lewis XVIII.). See Jal's <i>Dict. + Critique</i>, 259-262. Sainte Beuve has an essay on our present + Comtesse de Boufflers (<i>Nouveaux Lundis</i>, iv. 163). She is the + Madame de Boufflers who was taken by Beauclerk to visit Johnson in his + Temple chambers, and was conducted to her coach by him in a remarkable + manner (Boswell's <i>Life</i>, ch. li. p. 467). Also much talked of in + H. Walpole's Letters. See D'Alembert to Frederick, April 15, 1768. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span + class="label">[9]</span></a> Streckeisen, ii. 32. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + x. 71. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> For + instance, <i>Corr.</i> ii. 85, 90, 92, etc. 1759. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 28, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + 29. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + x. 99. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + x. 57. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + xi. 119. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 196. Feb. 16, 1761. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + ii. 102, 176, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + x. 60. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 12. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> As M. St. + Marc Girardin has put it: "There are in all Rousseau's + discussions two things to be carefully distinguished from one another; + the maxims of the discourse, and the conclusions of the controversy. + The maxims are ordinarily paradoxical; the conclusions are full of + good sense." <i>Rev. des Deux Mondes</i>, Aug. 1852, p. 501. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 244-246. Oct. 24, 1761. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + 1766. <i>Oeuv.</i>, lxxv. 364. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 32. (1758.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 63. Jan. 15, 1779. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Bernardin + de St. Pierre, xii. 102. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> 4th Letter, + p. 375. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Mém.</i>, + ii. 299. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 98. July 10, 1759. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 106. Nov. 10, 1759. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + ii. 179. Jan. 18, 1761. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + ii. 268. Dec. 12, 1761. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + ii. 28. Dec. 23, 1761. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, + III. xxii. 147. In 1784 Hume's suppressed essays on "Suicide and + the Immortality of the Soul" were published in London:—"With + Remarks, intended as an Antidote to the Poison contained in these + Performances, by the Editor; to which is added, Two Letters on + Suicide, from Rousseau's Eloisa." In the preface the reader is + told that these "two very masterly letters have been much + celebrated." See Hume's <i>Essays</i>, by Green and Grose, i. 69, + 70. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 235. Aug. 1, 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 226. Sept. 29, 1761. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> P. 294. + Jan. 11, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Madame + Latour (Nov. 7, 1730-Sept. 6, 1789) was the wife of a man in the + financial world, who used her ill and dissipated as much of her + fortune as he could, and from whom she separated in 1775. After that + she resumed her maiden name and was known as Madame de Franqueville. + Musset-Pathay, ii. 182, and Sainte Beuve, <i>Causeries</i>, ii. 63. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 214. <i>Conf.</i>, ix. 289. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> English + translations of Rousseau's works appeared very speedily after the + originals. A second edition of the Heloïsa was called for as + early as May 1761. See <i>Corr.</i> ii. 223. A German translation of + the Heloïsa appeared at Leipzig in 1761, in six duodecimos. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> For + instance, <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 168. Nov. 19, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Choderlos + de La Clos: 1741-1803. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Journal, + iv. 496. (Ed. Charpentier, 1857.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, + III. xiv. 48. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i> + Letters, 40-46. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Madame de + Staël (1765-1817), in her <i>Lettres sur les écrits et le + caractère de J.J. Rousseau</i>, written when she was twenty, and + her first work of any pretensions. <i>Oeuv.</i>, i. 41. Ed. 1820. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Nowhere + more pungently than in a little piece of some half-dozen pages, + headed, <i>Prédiction tirée d'un vieux Manuscrit</i>, the + form of which is borrowed from Grimm's squib in the dispute about + French music, <i>Le petit Prophète de Boehmischbroda</i>, though + it seems to me to be superior to Grimm in pointedness. Here are a few + verses from the supposed prophecy of the man who should come—and + of what he should do. "Et la multitude courra sur ses pas et + plusieurs croiront en lui. Et il leur dira: Vous êtes des scélérats + et des fripons, vos femmes sont toutes des femmes perdues, et je viens + vivre parmi vous. Et il ajoutera tous les hommes sont vertueux dans le + pays où je suis né, et je n'habiterai jamais le pays où + je suis né.... Et il dira aussi qu'il est impossible d'avoir des + moeurs, et de lire des Romans, et il fera un Roman; et dans son Roman + le vice sera en action et la vertu en paroles, et ses personages + seront forcenés d'amour et de philosophie. Et dans son Roman on + apprendra l'art de suborner philosophiquement une jeune fille. Et + l'Ecolière perdra toute honte et toute pudeur, et elle fera avec + son maître des sottises et des maximes.... Et le bel Ami étant + dans un Bateau seul avec sa Maîtresse voudra le jetter dans l'eau + et se précipiter avec elle. Et ils appelleront tout cela de la + Philosophie et de la Vertu," and so on, humorously enough in its + way. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> See + passages in Goncourt's <i>La Femme au 18ième siècle</i>, p. + 380. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> + Musset-Pathay, II. 361. See Madame Roland's <i>Mém.</i>, i. 207. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + March 3, and March 19, 1761. The criticisms of Ximénès, a + thoroughly mediocre person in all respects, were entirely literary, + and were directed against the too strained and highly coloured quality + of the phrases—"baisers âcres"—among them. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, + V. v. 115. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> VI. vii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> VI. vi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Michelet's + <i>Louis XV. et Louis XVI.</i>, p. 58. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> See + Hettner's <i>Literaturgeschichte</i>, II. 486. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> IV. xi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> IV. xvii. + See vol. iii. 423. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> In 1816. + Moore's <i>Life</i>, iii. 247; also 285. And the note to the stanzas + in the Third Canto,—a note curious for a slight admixture of + transcendentalism, so rare a thing with Byron, who, sentimental though + he was, usually rejoiced in a truly Voltairean common sense. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "The + present fashion in France, of passing some time in the country, is + new; at this time of the year, and for many weeks past, Paris is, + comparatively speaking, empty. Everybody who has a country seat is at + it, and such as have none visit others who have. This remarkable + revolution in the French manners is certainly one of the best customs + they have taken from England; and its introduction was effected the + easier, being assisted by the magic of Rousseau's writings. Mankind + are much indebted to that splendid genius, who, when living, was + hunted from country to country, to seek an asylum, with as much venom + as if he had been a mad dog; thanks to the vile spirit of bigotry, + which has not received its death wound. Women of the first fashion in + France are now ashamed of not nursing their own children; and stays + are universally proscribed from the bodies of the poor infants, which + were for so many ages torture to them, as they are still in Spain. The + country residence may not have effects equally obvious; but they will + be no less sure in the end, and in all respects beneficial to every + class in the state." Arthur Young's <i>Travels</i>, i. 72. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Causeries</i>, + xi. 195. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, + V. iii. "You remember Rousseau's description of an English + morning: such are the mornings I spend with these good people."—Cowper + to Joseph Hill, Oct. 25, 1765. <i>Works</i>, iii. 269. In a letter to + William Unwin (Sept. 21, 1779), speaking of his being engaged in + mending windows, he says, "Rousseau would have been charmed to + have seen me so occupied, and would have exclaimed with rapture that + he had found the Emilius who, he supposed, had subsisted only in his + own idea." For a description illustrative of the likeness between + Rousseau and Cowper in their feeling for nature, see letter to Newton + (Sept. 18, 1784, v. 78), and compare it with the description of Les + Charmettes, making proper allowance for the colour of prose. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> IV. x. 260. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> V. ii. 37. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> V. ii. + 47-52. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Rousseau + considered that the Fourth and Sixth parts of the New Heloïsa + were masterpieces of diction. <i>Conf.</i> ix. 334. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> VI. viii.. + 298. <i>Conf.</i>, xi. 106. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> The La Bédoyère + case, which began in 1745. See Barbier, iv. 54, 59, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> III. xviii. + 84. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> III. xx. + 116. In the letter to Christopher de Beaumont (p. 102), he fires a + double shot against the philosophers on the one hand, and the church + on the other; exalting continence and purity, of which the + philosophers in their reaction against asceticism thought lightly, and + exalting marriage over the celibate state, which the churchmen + associated with mysterious sanctity. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> I. lxii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> V. ii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> V. vii. + 141. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> V. ii. + 31-33. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> For the + Robecq family, see Saint Simon, xviii. 58. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Morellet's + <i>Mém.</i>, i. 89-93. Rousseau, <i>Conf.</i>, x. 85, etc. This + <i>Vision</i> is also in the style of Grimm's <i>Pétit Prophète</i>, + like the piece referred to in a previous note, vol. ii. p. 31. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Madame de + Vandeul's <i>Mém. sur Diderot</i>, p. 27. Rousseau, <i>Conf.</i>, + vii. 130. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>Nouv. Hél.</i>, + V. xiii. 194. <i>Conf.</i>, x. 43. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> The reader + will find a fuller mention of the French book trade in my <i>Diderot</i>, + ch. vi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xi. 127. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> See a + letter from Rousseau to Malesherbes, Nov. 5, 1760. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. + 157. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 157. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> C.G. de + Lamoignon de Malesherbes (p. 1721—guillotined, 1794), son of the + chancellor, and one of the best instructed and most enlightened men of + the century—a Turgot of the second rank—was Directeur de + la Librairie from 1750-1763. The process was this: a book was + submitted to him; he named a censor for it; on the censor's report the + director gave or refused permission to print, or required alterations. + Even after these formalities were complied with, the book was liable + to a decree of the royal council, a decree of the parliament, or else + a <i>lettre-de-cachet</i> might send the author to the Bastile. See + Barbier, vii. 126. + </p> + <p> + After Lord Shelburne saw Malesherbes, he said, "I have seen for + the first time in my life what I never thought could exist—a man + whose soul is absolutely free from hope or fear, and yet who is full + of life and ardour." Mdlle. Lespinasse's <i>Lettres</i>, 90. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> See note, + p. 132. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xi. 134. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xi. 139. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + xi. 139. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. 270, etc. Dec. 12, 1761, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xi. 150. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Fourth + Letter to Malesherbes, p. 377. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> With one + trifling exception, the Letter to Grimm on the Opera of Omphale + (1752): <i>Écrits sur la Musique</i>, p. 337. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> See + Barbier's Journal, viii. 45 (Ed. Charpentier, 1857). A succinct + contemporary account of the general situation is to be found in + D'Alembert's little book, the <i>Destruction des Jésuites</i>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Grimm, for + instance: <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, iii. 117. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 337. June 7, 1672. <i>Conf.</i>, xi. 152, 162. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xi. 162. The Levite's story is to be read in <i>Judges</i>, ch. xix. + </p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[ii.69]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_IIb" id="CHAPTER_IIb"></a>CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <h3> + PERSECUTION.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a + href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">Those</span> to whom life consists in the immediate + consciousness of their own direct relations with the people and + circumstances that are in close contact with them, find it hard to follow + the moods of a man to whom such consciousness is the least part of + himself, and such relations the least real part of his life. Rousseau was + no sooner in the post-chaise which was bearing him away towards + Switzerland, than the troubles of the previous day at once dropped into a + pale and distant past, and he returned to a world where was neither + parliament, nor decree for burning books, nor any warrant for personal + arrest. He took up the thread where harassing circumstances had broken it, + and again fell musing over the tragic tale of the Levite of Ephraim. His + dream absorbed him so entirely as to take specific literary form, and + before the journey was at an end he had composed a long impassioned + version of the Bible story. Though it has Rousseau's usual fine + sonorousness in a high degree, no man now reads it; the author himself + always preserved a cer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[ii.70]</a></span>tain + tenderness for it.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a + href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> The contrast between this + singular quietism and the angry stir that marked Voltaire's many flights + in post-chaises, points like all else to the profound difference between + the pair. Contrast with Voltaire's shrill cries under any personal + vexation, this calm utterance:—"Though the consequences of this + affair have plunged me into a gulf of woes from which I shall never come + up again so long as I live, I bear these gentlemen no grudge. I am aware + that their object was not to do me any harm, but only to reach ends of + their own. I know that towards me they have neither liking nor hate. I was + found in their way, like a pebble that you thrust aside with the foot + without even looking at it. They ought not to say they have performed + their duty, but that they have done their business."<a + name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" + class="fnanchor">[96]</a> A new note from a persecuted writer. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau, in spite of the belief which henceforth possessed him that he + was the victim of a dark unfathomable plot, and in spite of passing + outbreaks of gloomy rage, was incapable of steady glowing and active + resentments. The world was not real enough to him for this. A throng of + phantoms pressed noiselessly before his sight, and dulled all sense of + more actual impression. "It is amazing," he wrote, "with + what ease I forget past ill, however fresh it may be. In proportion as the + anticipation of it alarms and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" + id="Page_71">[ii.71]</a></span>confuses me when I see it coming, so the + memory of it returns feebly to my mind and dies out the moment after it + has arrived. My cruel imagination, which torments itself incessantly in + anticipating woes that are still unborn, makes a diversion for my memory, + and hinders me from recalling those which have gone. I exhaust disaster + beforehand. The more I have suffered in foreseeing it, the more easily do + I forget it; while on the contrary, being incessantly busy with my past + happiness, I recall it and brood and ruminate over it, so as to enjoy it + over again whenever I wish."<a name="FNanchor_97_97" + id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> + The same turn of humour saved him from vindictiveness. "I concern + myself too little with the offence, to feel much concern about the + offender. I only think of the hurt that I have received from him, on + account of the hurt that he may still do me; and if I were sure he would + do me no more, what he had already done would be forgotten straightway." + Though he does not carry the analysis any further, we may easily perceive + that the same explanation covers what he called his natural ingratitude. + Kindness was not much more vividly understood by him than malice. It was + only one form of the troublesome interposition of an outer world in his + life; he was fain to hurry back from it to the real world of his dreams. + If any man called practical is tempted to despise this dreaming creature, + as he fares in his chaise from stage to stage, let him remember that one + making that journey through France less than thirty years later might + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[ii.72]</a></span>have + seen the castles of the great flaring in the destruction of a most + righteous vengeance, the great themselves fleeing ignobly from the land to + which their selfishness, and heedlessness, and hatred of improvement, and + inhuman pride had been a curse, while the legion of toilers with eyes + blinded by the oppression of ages were groping with passionate uncertain + hand for that divine something which they thought of as justice and right. + And this was what Rousseau both partially foresaw and helped to prepare,<a + name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" + class="fnanchor">[98]</a> while the common politicians, like Choiseul or + D'Aiguillon, played their poor game—the elemental forces rising + unseen into tempest around them. + </p> + <p> + He reached the territory of the canton of Berne, and alighted at the house + of an old friend at Yverdun,<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a + href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> where native air, the + beauty of the spot, and the charms of the season, immediately repaired all + weariness and fatigue.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a + href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Friends at Geneva + wrote letters of sincere feeling, joyful that he had not followed the + precedent of Socrates too closely by remaining in the power of a + government eager to destroy him.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" + id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> + A post or two later brought worse news. The Council at Geneva ordered not + only Emilius, but the Social Contract also, to be publicly burnt, and + issued a warrant of arrest against their author, if he should set foot in + the territory of the republic (June <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" + id="Page_73">[ii.73]</a></span>19).<a name="FNanchor_102_102" + id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> + Rousseau could hardly believe it possible that the free Government which + he had held up to the reverence of Europe, could have condemned him + unheard, but he took occasion in a highly characteristic manner to chide + severely a friend at Geneva who had publicly taken his part.<a + name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a + href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Within a fortnight + this blow was followed by another. His two books were reported to the + senate of Berne, and Rousseau was informed by one of the authorities that + a notification was on its way admonishing him to quit the canton within + the space of fifteen days.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a + href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> This stroke he avoided + by flight to Motiers, a village in the principality of Neuchâtel + (July 10), then part of the dominions of the King of Prussia.<a + name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a + href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> Rousseau had some + antipathy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[ii.74]</a></span>to + Frederick, both because he had beaten the French, whom Rousseau loved, and + because his maxims and his conduct alike seemed to trample under foot + respect for the natural law and not a few human duties. He had composed a + verse to the effect that Frederick thought like a philosopher and acted + like a king, philosopher and king notoriously being words of equally evil + sense in his dialect. There was also a passage in Emilius about Adrastus, + King of the Daunians, which was commonly understood to mean Frederick, + King of the Prussians. Still Rousseau was acute enough to know that mean + passions usually only rule the weak, and have little hold over the strong. + He boldly wrote both to the king and to Lord Marischal, the governor of + the principality, informing them that he was there, and asking permission + to remain in the only asylum left for him upon the earth.<a + name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a + href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> He compared himself + loftily to Coriolanus among the Volscians, and wrote to the king in a vein + that must have amused the strong man. "I have said much ill of you, + perhaps I shall still say more; yet, driven from France, from Geneva, from + the canton of Berne, I am come to seek shelter in your states. Perhaps I + was wrong in not beginning there; this is eulogy of which you are worthy. + Sire, I have deserved no grace from you, and I seek none, but I thought it + my duty to inform your majesty that I am in your power, and that I am so + of set design. Your majesty will dispose of me as shall <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[ii.75]</a></span>seem good + to you."<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a + href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> Frederick, though no + admirer of Rousseau or his writings,<a name="FNanchor_108_108" + id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> + readily granted the required permission. He also, says Lord Marischal, + "gave me orders to furnish him his small necessaries if he would + accept them; and though that king's philosophy be very different from that + of Jean Jacques, yet he does not think that a man of an irreproachable + life is to be persecuted because his sentiments are singular. He designs + to build him a hermitage with a little garden, which I find he will not + accept, nor perhaps the rest, which I have not yet offered him."<a + name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a + href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> When the offer of the + flour, wine, and firewood was at length made in as delicate terms as + possible, Rousseau declined the gift on grounds which may raise a smile, + but which are not without a rather touching simplicity.<a + name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a + href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> "I have enough to + live on for two or three years," he said, "but if I were dying + of hunger, I would rather in the present condition of your good prince, + and not being of any service to him, go and eat grass and grub up roots, + than accept a morsel of bread from him."<a name="FNanchor_111_111" + id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> + Hume might well call this a phenomenon in the world of letters, and one + very honourable for the person concerned.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" + id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> + And we recognise its dignity the more when we contrast <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[ii.76]</a></span>it with + the baseness of Voltaire, who drew his pension from the King of Prussia + while Frederick was in his most urgent straits, and while the poet was + sportively exulting to all his correspondents in the malicious expectation + that he would one day have to allow the King of Prussia himself a pension.<a + name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a + href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> And Rousseau was a + poor man, living among the poor and in their style. His annual outlay at + this time was covered by the modest sum of sixty louis.<a + name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a + href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> What stamps his + refusal of Frederick's gifts as true dignity, is the fact that he not only + did not refuse money for any work done, but expected and asked for it. + Malesherbes at this very time begged him to collect plants for him. + Joyfully, replied Rousseau, "but as I cannot subsist without the aid + of my own labour, I never meant, in spite of the pleasure that it might + otherwise have been to me, to offer you the use of my time for nothing."<a + name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a + href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> In the same year, we + may add, when the tremendous struggle of the Seven Years' War was closing, + the philosopher wrote a second terse epistle to the king, and with this + their direct communication came to an end. "Sire, you are my + protector and my benefactor; I would fain repay you if I can. You wish to + give me bread; is there none of your own subjects in want of it? Take that + sword away from my sight, it dazzles and pains me. It has done its work + only too well; the sceptre is abandoned. Great is the career for kings of + your <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[ii.77]</a></span>stuff, + and you are still far from the term; time presses, you have not a moment + to lose. Fathom well your heart, O Frederick! Can you dare to die without + having been the greatest of men? Would that I could see Frederick, the + just and the redoubtable, covering his states with multitudes of men to + whom he should be a father; then will J.J. Rousseau, the foe of kings, + hasten to die at the foot of his throne."<a name="FNanchor_116_116" + id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> + Frederick, strong as his interest was in all curious persons who could + amuse him, was too busy to answer this, and Rousseau was not yet + recognised as Voltaire's rival in power and popularity. + </p> + <p> + Motiers is one of the half-dozen decent villages standing in the flat + bottom of the Val de Travers, a widish valley that lies between the gorges + of the Jura and the Lake of Neuchâtel, and is famous in our day for + its production of absinthe and of asphalt. The flat of the valley, with + the Reuss making a bald and colourless way through the midst of it, is + nearly treeless, and it is too uniform to be very pleasing. In winter the + climate is most rigorous, for the level is high, and the surrounding hills + admit the sun's rays late and cut them off early. Rousseau's description, + accurate and recognisable as it is,<a name="FNanchor_117_117" + id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> + strikes an impartial tourist as too favourable. But when a piece of + scenery is a home to a man, he has an eye for a thousand outlines, changes + of light, soft variations of colour; <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[ii.78]</a></span>the landscape lives for him + with an unspoken suggestion and intimate association, to all of which the + swift passing stranger is very cold. + </p> + <p> + His cottage, which is still shown, was in the midst of the other houses, + and his walks, which were at least as important to him as the home in + which he dwelt, lay mostly among woody heights with streaming cascades. + The country abounded in natural curiosities of a humble sort, and here + that interest in plants which had always been strong in him, began to grow + into a passion. Rousseau had so curious a feeling about them, that when in + his botanical expeditions he came across a single flower of its kind, he + could never bring himself to pluck it. His sight, though not good for + distant objects, was of the very finest for things held close; his sense + of smell was so acute and subtle that, according to a good witness, he + might have classified plants by odours, if language furnished as many + names as nature supplies varieties of fragrance.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" + id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> + He insisted in all botanising and other walking excursions on going + bareheaded, even in the heat of the dog-days; he declared that the action + of the sun did him good. When the days began to turn, the summer was + straightway at an end for him: "My imagination," he said, in a + phrase which went further through his life than he supposed, "at once + brings winter." He hated rain as much as he loved sun, so he must + once have lost all the mystic fascination of the green Savoy lakes + gleaming luminous through pale <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" + id="Page_79">[ii.79]</a></span>showers, and now again must have lost the + sombre majesty of the pines of his valley dripping in torn edges of cloud, + and all those other sights in landscape that touch subtler parts of us + than comforted sense. + </p> + <p> + One of his favourite journeys was to Colombier, the summer retreat of Lord + Marischal. For him he rapidly conceived the same warm friendship which he + felt for the Duke of Luxembourg, whom he had just left. And the sagacious, + moderate, silent Scot had as warm a liking for the strange refugee who had + come to him for shelter, or shall we call it a kind of shaggy compassion, + as of a faithful inarticulate creature. His letters, which are numerous + enough, abound in expressions of hearty good-will. These, if we reflect on + the genuine worth, veracity, penetration, and experience of the old man + who wrote them, may fairly be counted the best testimony that remains to + the existence of something sterling at the bottom of Rousseau's character.<a + name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a + href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> It is here no + insincere fine lady of the French court, but a homely and weather-beaten + Scotchman, who speaks so often of his refugee's rectitude of heart and + true sensibility.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a + href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[ii.80]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + He insisted on being allowed to settle a small sum on Theresa, who had + joined Rousseau at Motiers, and in other ways he showed a true solicitude + and considerateness both for her and for him.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" + id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> + It was his constant dream, that on his return to Scotland, Jean Jacques + should accompany him, and that with David Hume, they would make a trio of + philosophic hermits; that this was no mere cheery pleasantry is shown by + the pains he took in settling the route for the journey.<a + name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a + href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> The plan only fell + through in consequence of Frederick's cordial urgency that his friend + should end his days with him; he returned to Prussia and lived at Sans + Souci until the close, always retaining something of his good-will for + "his excellent savage," as he called the author of the + Discourses. They had some common antipathies, including the fundamental + one of dislike to society, and especially to the society of the people of + Neuchâtel, the Gascons of Switzerland. "Rousseau is gay in + company," Lord Marischal wrote to Hume, "polite, and what the + French call <i>aimable</i>, and gains <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[ii.81]</a></span>ground daily in the opinion + of even the clergy here. His enemies elsewhere continue to persecute him, + and he is pestered with anonymous letters."<a name="FNanchor_123_123" + id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> + </p> + <p> + Some of these were of a humour that disclosed the master hand. Voltaire + had been universally suspected of stirring up the feeling of Geneva + against its too famous citizen,<a name="FNanchor_124_124" + id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> + though for a man of less energy the affair of the Calas, which he was now + in the thick of, might have sufficed. Voltaire's letters at this time show + how hard he found it in the case of Rousseau to exercise his usual pity + for the unfortunate. He could not forget that the man who was now tasting + persecution had barked at philosophers and stage-plays; that he was a + false brother, who had fatuously insulted the only men who could take his + part; that he was a Judas who had betrayed the sacred cause.<a + name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a + href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> On the whole, however, + we ought probably to accept his word, though not very categorically given,<a + name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a + href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> that he had nothing to + do with the action taken against Rousseau. That action is quite adequately + explained, first by the influence of the resident of France at Geneva, + which we know to have been exerted against the two fatal books,<a + name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a + href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> and second by the + anxiety of the oligarchic party to keep out of their town a man whose + democratic tendencies they now knew so well and so justly <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[ii.82]</a></span>dreaded.<a + name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a + href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> Moultou, a Genevese + minister, in the full tide of devotion and enthusiasm for the author of + Emilius, met Voltaire at the house of a lady in Geneva. All will turn out + well, cried the patriarch; "the syndics will say M. Rousseau, you + have done ill to write what you have written; promise for the future to + respect the religion of your country. Jean Jacques will promise, and + perhaps he will say that the printer took the liberty of adding a sheet or + two to his book." "Never," cried the ardent Moultou; "Jean + Jacques never puts his name to works to disown them after."<a + name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a + href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Voltaire disowned his + own books with intrepid and sustained mendacity, yet he bore no grudge to + Moultou for his vehemence. He sent for him shortly afterwards, professed + an extreme desire to be reconciled with Rousseau, and would talk of + nothing else. "I swear to you," wrote Moultou, "that I + could not understand him the least in the world; he is a marvellous actor; + I could have sworn that he loved you."<a name="FNanchor_130_130" + id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> + And there really was no acting in it. The serious Genevese did not see + that he was dealing with "one all fire and fickleness, a child." + </p> + <p> + Rousseau soon found out that he had excited not only the band of professed + unbelievers, but also the tormenting wasps of orthodoxy. The doctors of + the Sorbonne, not to be outdone in fervour for truth by the lawyers of the + parliament, had condemned Emilius as a matter of course. In the same + spirit of generous <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[ii.83]</a></span>emulation, + Christopher de Beaumont, "by the divine compassion archbishop of + Paris, Duke of Saint Cloud, peer of France, commander of the order of the + Holy Ghost," had issued (Aug. 20, 1762) one of those hateful + documents in which bishops, Catholic and Protestant, have been wont for + the last century and a half to hide with swollen bombastic phrase their + dead and decomposing ideas. The windy folly of these poor pieces is + usually in proportion to the hierarchic rank of those who promulgate them, + and an archbishop owes it to himself to blaspheme against reason and + freedom in superlatives of malignant unction. Rousseau's reply (Nov. 18, + 1762) is a masterpiece of dignity and uprightness. Turning to it from the + mandate which was its provocative, we seem to grasp the hand of a man, + after being chased by a nightmare of masked figures. Rousseau never showed + the substantial quality of his character more surely and unmistakably than + in controversy. He had such gravity, such austere self-command, such + closeness of grip. Most of us feel pleasure in reading the matchless + banter with which Voltaire assailed his theological enemies. Reading + Rousseau's letter to De Beaumont we realise the comparative lowness of the + pleasure which Voltaire had given us. We understand how it was that + Rousseau made fanatics, while Voltaire only made sceptics. At the very + first words, the mitre, the crosier, the ring, fall into the dust; the + Archbishop of Paris, the Duke of Saint Cloud, the peer of France, the + commander of the Holy Ghost, is restored from<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[ii.84]</a></span> the disguises of his + enchantment, and becomes a human being. We hear the voice of a man hailing + a man. Voltaire often sank to the level of ecclesiastics. Rousseau raised + the archbishop to his own level, and with magnanimous courtesy addressed + him as an equal. "Why, my lord, have I anything to say to you? What + common tongue can we use? How are we to understand one another? And what + is there between me and you?" And he persevered in this distant lofty + vein, hardly permitting himself a single moment of acerbity. We feel the + ever-inspiring breath of seriousness and sincerity. This was because, as + we repeat so often, Rousseau's ideas, all engendered of dreams as they + were, yet lived in him and were truly rooted in his character. He did not + merely say, as any of us can say so fluently, that he craved reality in + human relations, that distinctions of rank and post count for nothing, + that our lives are in our own hands and ought not to be blown hither and + thither by outside opinion and words heedlessly scattered; that our faith, + whatever it may be, is the most sacred of our possessions, organic, + indissoluble, self-sufficing; that our passage across the world, if very + short, is yet too serious to be wasted in frivolous disrespect for + ourselves, and angry disrespect for others. All this was actually his + mind. And hence the little difficulty he had in keeping his retort to the + archbishop, as to his other antagonists, on a worthy level. + </p> + <p> + Only once or twice does his sense of the reckless injustice with which he + had been condemned, and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" + id="Page_85">[ii.85]</a></span> the persecution which was inflicted on him + by one government after another, stir in him a blaze of high remonstrance. + "You accuse me of temerity," he cried; "how have I earned + such a name, when I only propounded difficulties, and even that with so + much reserve; when I only advanced reasons, and even that with so much + respect; when I attacked no one, nor even named one? And you, my lord, how + do you dare to reproach with temerity a man of whom you speak with such + scanty justice and so little decency, with so small respect and so much + levity? You call me impious, and of what impiety can you accuse me—me + who never spoke of the Supreme Being except to pay him the honour and + glory that are his due, nor of man except to persuade all men to love one + another? The impious are those who unworthily profane the cause of God by + making it serve the passions of men. The impious are those who, daring to + pass for the interpreters of divinity, and judges between it and man, + exact for themselves the honours that are due to it only. The impious are + those who arrogate to themselves the right of exercising the power of God + upon earth, and insist on opening and shutting the gates of heaven at + their own good will and pleasure. The impious are those who have libels + read in the church. At this horrible idea my blood is enkindled, and tears + of indignation fall from my eyes. Priests of the God of peace, you shall + render an account one day, be very sure, of the use to which you have + dared to put his house.... My lord, you<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[ii.86]</a></span> have publicly insulted me: + you are now convicted of heaping calumny upon me. If you were a private + person like myself, so that I could cite you before an equitable tribunal, + and we could both appear before it, I with my book, and you with your + mandate, assuredly you would be declared guilty; you would be condemned to + make reparation as public as the wrong was public. But you belong to a + rank that relieves you from the necessity of being just, and I am nothing. + Yet you who profess the gospel, you, a prelate appointed to teach others + their duty, you know what your own duty is in such a case. Mine I have + done: I have nothing more to say to you, and I hold my peace."<a + name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a + href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> + </p> + <p> + The letter was as good in dialectic as it was in moral tone. For this is a + little curious, that Rousseau, so diffuse in expounding his opinions, and + so unscientific in his method of coming to them, should have been one of + the keenest and most trenchant of the controversialists of a very + controversial time. Some of his strokes in defence of his first famous + assault on civilisation are as hard, as direct, and as effective as any in + the records of polemical literature. We will give one specimen from the + letter to the Archbishop of Paris; it has the recommendation of touching + an argument that is not yet quite universally recognised for slain. The + Savoyard Vicar had dwelt on the difficulty of accepting revelation as the + voice of God, on account of the long distance of time between us, <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[ii.87]</a></span>and the + questionableness of the supporting testimony. To which the archbishop + thus:—"But is there not then an infinity of facts, even earlier + than those of the Christian revelation, which it would be absurd to doubt? + By what way other than that of human testimony has our author himself + known the Sparta, the Athens, the Rome, whose laws, manners, and heroes he + extols with such assurance? How many generations of men between him and + the historians who have preserved the memory of these events?" First, + says Rousseau in answer, "it is in the order of things that human + circumstances should be attested by human evidence, and they can be + attested in no other way. I can only know that Rome and Sparta existed, + because contemporaries assure me that they existed. In such a case this + intermediate communication is indispensable. But why is it necessary + between God and me? Is it simple or natural that God should have gone in + search of Moses to speak to Jean Jacques Rousseau? Second, nobody is + obliged to believe that Sparta once existed, and nobody will be devoured + by eternal flames for doubting it. Every fact of which we are not + witnesses is only established by moral proofs, and moral proofs have + various degrees of strength. Will the divine justice hurl me into hell for + missing the exact point at which a proof becomes irresistible? If there is + in the world an attested story, it is that of vampires; nothing is wanting + for judicial proof,—reports and certificates from notables, + surgeons, clergy, magistrates. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" + id="Page_88">[ii.88]</a></span> who believes in vampires, and shall we all + be damned for not believing? Third, <i>my constant experience and that of + all men is stronger in reference to prodigies than the testimony of some + men</i>." + </p> + <p> + He then strikes home with a parable. The Abbé Pâris had died in + the odour of Jansenist sanctity (1727), and extraordinary doings went on + at his tomb; the lame walked, men and women sick of the palsy were made + whole, and so forth. Suppose, says Rousseau, that an inhabitant of the Rue + St. Jacques speaks thus to the Archbishop of Paris, "My lord, I know + that you neither believe in the beatitude of St. Jean de Pâris, nor + in the miracles which God has been pleased publicly to work upon his tomb + in the sight of the most enlightened and most populous city in the world; + but I feel bound to testify to you that I have just seen the saint in + person raised from the dead in the spot where his bones were laid." + The man of the Rue St. Jacques gives all the detail of such a circumstance + that could strike a beholder. "I am persuaded that on hearing such + strange news, you will begin by interrogating him who testifies to its + truth, as to his position, his feelings, his confessor, and other such + points; and when from his air, as from his speech, you have perceived that + he is a poor workman, and when having no confessional ticket to show you, + he has confirmed your notion that he is a Jansenist, Ah, ah, you will say + to him, you are a convulsionary, and have seen Saint Pâris + resuscitated. There is nothing wonderful in that; you have seen so many + other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[ii.89]</a></span> + wonders!" The man would insist that the miracle had been seen equally + by a number of other people, who though Jansenists, it is true, were + persons of sound sense, good character, and excellent reputation. Some + would send the man to Bedlam, "but you after a grave reprimand, will + be content with saying: I know that two or three witnesses, good people + and of sound sense, may attest the life or the death of a man, but I do + not know how many more are needed to establish the resurrection of a + Jansenist. Until I find that out, go, my son, and try to strengthen your + brain: I give you a dispensation from fasting, and here is something for + you to make your broth with. That is what you would say, and what any + other sensible man would say in your place. Whence I conclude that even + according to you and to every other sensible man, the moral proofs which + are sufficient to establish facts that are in the order of moral + possibilities, are not sufficient to establish facts of another order and + purely supernatural."<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a + href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, however, the formal denunciation by the Archbishop of Paris was + less vexatious than the swarming of the angrier hive of ministers at his + gates. "If I had declared for atheism," he says bitterly, "they + would at first have shrieked, but they would soon have left me in peace + like the rest. The people of the Lord would not have kept watch over me; + everybody would not have thought he was doing me a high favour in not + treating me as a person cut off <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" + id="Page_90">[ii.90]</a></span>from communion, and I should have been + quits with all the world. The holy women in Israel would not have written + me anonymous letters, and their charity would not have breathed devout + insults. They would not have taken the trouble to assure me in all + humility of heart that I was a castaway, an execrable monster, and that + the world would have been well off if some good soul had been at the pains + to strangle me in my cradle. Worthy people on their side would not torment + themselves and torment me to bring me back to the way of salvation; they + would not charge at me from right and left, nor stifle me under the weight + of their sermons, nor force me to bless their zeal while I cursed their + importunity, nor to feel with gratitude that they are obeying a call to + lay me in my very grave with weariness."<a name="FNanchor_133_133" + id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> + </p> + <p> + He had done his best to conciliate the good opinion of his vigilant + neighbours. Their character for contentious orthodoxy was well known. It + was at Neuchâtel that the controversy as to the eternal punishment of + the wicked raged with a fury that ended in a civil outbreak. The peace of + the town was violently disturbed, ministers were suspended, magistrates + were interdicted, life was lost, until at last Frederick promulgated his + famous bull:—"Let the parsons who make for themselves a cruel + and barbarous God, be eternally damned as they desire and deserve; and let + those parsons who conceive God gentle and merciful, enjoy the plenitude of + his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[ii.91]</a></span>mercy."<a + name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a + href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> When Rousseau came + within the territory, preparations were made to imitate the action of + Paris, Geneva, and Berne. It was only the king's express permission that + saved him from a fourth proscription. The minister at Motiers was of the + less inhuman stamp, and Rousseau, feeling that he could not, without + failing in his engagements and his duty as a citizen, neglect the public + profession of the faith to which he had been restored eight years before, + attended the religious services with regularity. He even wrote to the + pastor a letter in vindication of his book, and protesting the sincerity + of his union with the reformed congregation.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" + id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> + The result of this was that the pastor came to tell him how great an + honour he held it to count such a member in his flock, and how willing he + was to admit him without further examination to partake of the communion.<a + name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a + href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> Rousseau went to the + ceremony with eyes full of tears and a heart swelling with emotion. We may + respect his mood as little or as much as we please, but it was certainly + more edifying than the sight of Voltaire going through the same rite, + merely to harass a priest and fill a bishop with fury. + </p> + <p> + In all other respects he lived a harmless life during the three years of + his sojourn in the Val de Travers. As he could never endure what he calls + the inactive chattering of the parlour—people sitting <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[ii.92]</a></span>in front + of one another with folded hands and nothing in motion except the tongue—he + learnt the art of making laces; he used to carry his pillow about with + him, or sat at his own door working like the women of the village, and + chatting with the passers-by. He made presents of his work to young women + about to marry, always on the condition that they should suckle their + children when they came to have them. If a little whimsical, it was a + harmless and respectable pastime. It is pleasanter to think of a + philosopher finding diversion in weaving laces, than of noblemen making it + the business of their lives to run after ribands. A society clothed in + breeches was incensed about the same time by Rousseau's adoption of the + Armenian costume, the vest, the furred bonnet, the caftan, and the girdle. + There was nothing very wonderful in this departure from use. An Armenian + tailor used often to visit some friends at Montmorency. Rousseau knew him, + and reflected that such a dress would be of singular comfort to him in the + circumstances of his bodily disorder.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" + id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> + Here was a solid practical reason for what has usually been counted a + demonstration of a turned brain. Rousseau had as good cause for going + about in a caftan as Chatham had for coming to the House of Parliament + wrapped in flannel. Vanity and a desire to attract notice may, we admit, + have had something to do with Rousseau's adoption of an uncommon way of + dressing. Shrewd wits like the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" + id="Page_93">[ii.93]</a></span>Duke of Luxembourg and his wife did not + suppose that it was so. We, living a hundred years after, cannot possibly + know whether it was so or not, and our estimate of Rousseau's strange + character would be very little worth forming, if it only turned on petty + singularities of this kind. The foolish, equivocally gifted with the + quality of articulate speech, may, if they choose, satisfy their own + self-love by reducing all action out of the common course to a series of + variations on the same motive in others. Men blessed by the benignity of + experience will be thankful not to waste life in guessing evil about + unknowable trifles. + </p> + <p> + During his stay at Motiers Rousseau's time was hardly ever his own. + Visitors of all nations, drawn either by respect for his work or by + curiosity to see a man who had been prescribed by so many governments, + came to him in throngs. His partisans at Geneva insisted on sending people + to convince themselves how good a man they were persecuting. "I had + never been free from strangers for six weeks," he writes. "Two + days after, I had a Westphalian gentleman and one from Genoa; six days + later, two persons from Zurich, who stayed a week; then a Genevese, + recovering from an illness, and coming for change of air, fell ill again, + and he has only just gone away."<a name="FNanchor_138_138" + id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> + One visitor, writing home to his wife of the philosopher to whom he had + come on a pilgrimage, describes his manners in terms which perhaps touch + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[ii.94]</a></span>us + with surprise:—"Thou hast no idea how charming his society is, + what true politeness there is in his manners, what a depth of serenity and + cheerfulness in his talk. Didst thou not expect quite a different picture, + and figure to thyself an eccentric creature, always grave and sometimes + even abrupt? Ah, what a mistake! To an expression of great mildness he + unites a glance of fire, and eyes of a vivacity the like of which never + was seen. When you handle any matter in which he takes an interest, then + his eyes, his lips, his hands, everything about him speaks. You would be + quite wrong to picture in him an everlasting grumbler. Not at all; he + laughs with those who laugh, he chats and jokes with children, he rallies + his housekeeper."<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a + href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> He was not so civil to + all the world, and occasionally turned upon his pursuers with a word of + most sardonic roughness.<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a + href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> But he could also be + very generous. We find him pressing a loan from his scanty store on an + outcast adventurer, and warning him, "When I lend (which happens + rarely enough), 'tis my constant maxim never to count on repayment, nor to + exact it."<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a + href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> He received hundreds + of letters, some seeking an application of his views on education to a + special case, others craving further exposition of his religious + doctrines. Before he had been at Motiers nine months he had paid ten louis + for the postage of letters, which after all contained <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[ii.95]</a></span>little more than reproaches, + insults, menaces, imbecilities.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" + id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> + </p> + <p> + Not the least curious of his correspondence at this time is that with the + Prince of Würtemberg, then living near Lausanne.<a + name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a + href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> The prince had a + little daughter four months old, and he was resolved that her upbringing + should be carried on as the author of Emilius might please to direct. + Rousseau replied courteously that he did not pretend to direct the + education of princes or princesses.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" + id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> + His undaunted correspondent sent him full details of his babe's habits and + faculties, and continued to do so at short intervals, with the fondness of + a young mother or an old nurse. Rousseau was interested, and took some + trouble to draw up rules for the child's nurture and admonition. One may + smile now and then at the prince's ingenuous zeal, but his fervid respect + and devotion for the teacher in whom he thought he had found the wisest + man that ever lived, and who had at any rate spoken the word that kindled + the love of virtue and truth in him, his eagerness to know what Rousseau + thought right, and his equal eagerness in trying to do it, his care to + arrange his household in a simple <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" + id="Page_96">[ii.96]</a></span>and methodical way to please his master, + his discipular patience when Rousseau told him that his verses were poor, + or that he was too fond of his wife,—all this is a little uncommon + in a prince, and deserves a place among the ample mass of other evidence + of the power which Rousseau's pictures of domestic simplicity and wise and + humane education had in the eighteenth century. It gives us a glimpse, + close and direct, of the naturalist revival reaching up into high places. + But the trade of philosopher in such times is perhaps an irksome one, and + Rousseau was the private victim of his public action. His prince sent + multitudes of Germans to visit the sage, and his letters, endless with + their details of the nursery, may well have become a little tedious to a + worn-out creature who only wanted to be left alone.<a + name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a + href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> The famous Prince + Henry, Frederick's brother, thought a man happy who could have the delight + of seeing Rousseau as often as he chose.<a name="FNanchor_146_146" + id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> + People forgot the other side of this delight, and the unlucky philosopher + found in a hundred ways alike from enemies and the friends whose curiosity + makes them as bad as enemies, that the pedestal of glory partakes of the + nature of the pillory or the stocks. + </p> + <p> + It is interesting to find the famous English names of Gibbon and Boswell + in the list of the multitudes <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" + id="Page_97">[ii.97]</a></span>with whom he had to do at this time.<a + name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a + href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> The former was now at + Lausanne, whither he had just returned from that memorable visit to + England which persuaded him that his father would never endure his + alliance with the daughter of an obscure Swiss pastor. He had just "yielded + to his fate, sighed as a lover, and obeyed as a son." "How sorry + I am for our poor Mademoiselle Curchod," writes Moultou to Rousseau; + "Gibbon whom she loves, and to whom she has sacrificed, as I know, + some excellent matches, has come to Lausanne, but cold, insensible, and as + entirely cured of his old passion as she is far from cure. She has written + me a letter that makes my heart ache." He then entreats Rousseau to + use his influence with Gibbon, who is on the point of starting for + Motiers, by extolling to him the lady's worth and understanding.<a + name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a + href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> "I hope Mr. + Gibbon will not come," replied the sage; "his coldness makes me + think ill of him. I have been looking over his book again [the <i>Essai + sur l'étude de la littérature</i>, 1761]; he runs after + brilliance too much, and is strained and stilted. Mr. Gibbon is not the + man for me, and I do not think he is the man for Mademoiselle Curchod + either."<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a + href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> Whether Gibbon went or + not, we do not know. He knew in after years what had been said of him by + Jean Jacques, and protested with mild pomp that this extraordinary man + should have been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[ii.98]</a></span>less + precipitate in condemning the moral character and the conduct of a + stranger.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a + href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> + </p> + <p> + Boswell, as we know, had left Johnson "rolling his majestic frame in + his usual manner" on Harwich beach in 1763, and was now on his + travels. Like many of his countrymen, he found his way to Lord Marischal, + and here his indomitable passion for making the personal acquaintance of + any one who was much talked about, naturally led him to seek so singular a + character as the man who was now at Motiers. What Rousseau thought of one + who was as singular a character as himself in another direction, we do not + know.<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a + href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> Lord Marischal warned + Rousseau that his visitor is of excellent disposition, but full of + visionary ideas, even having seen spirits—a serious proof of + unsoundness to a man who had lived in the very positive atmosphere of + Frederick's court at Berlin. "I only hope," says the sage Scot, + of the Scot who was not sage, "that he may not fall into <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[ii.99]</a></span>the hands + of people who will turn his head: he was very pleased with the reception + you gave him."<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a + href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> As it happens, he was + the means of sending Boswell to a place where his head was turned, though + not very mischievously. Rousseau was at that time full of Corsican + projects, of which this is the proper place for us very briefly to speak. + </p> + <p> + The prolonged struggles of the natives of Corsica to assert their + independence of the oppressive administration of the Genoese, which had + begun in 1729, came to end for a moment in 1755, when Paoli (1726-1807) + defeated the Genoese, and proceeded to settle the government of the + island. In the Social Contract Rousseau had said, "There is still in + Europe one country capable of legislation, and that is the island of + Corsica. The valour and constancy with which this brave people has + succeeded in recovering and defending its liberty, entitle it to the good + fortune of having some wise man to teach them how to preserve it. I have a + presentiment that this little isle will one day astonish Europe,"<a + name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a + href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a>—a presentiment + that in a sense came true enough long after Rousseau was gone, in a man + who was born on the little island seven years later than the publication + of this passage. Some of the Corsican leaders were highly flattered, and + in August 1764, Buttafuoco entered into correspondence with Rousseau for + the purpose of inducing him to draw up a set of political institutions and + a code of laws. Paoli himself was too shrewd to have much belief in <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[ii.100]</a></span>the + application of ideal systems, and we are assured that he had no intention + of making Rousseau the Solon of his island, but only of inducing him to + inflame the gallantry of its inhabitants by writing a history of their + exploits.<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a + href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> Rousseau, however, did + not understand the invitation in this narrower sense. He replied that the + very idea of such a task as legislation transported his soul, and he + entered into it with the liveliest ardour. He resolved to quarter himself + with Theresa in a cottage in some lonely district in the island; in a year + he would collect the necessary information as to the manners and opinions + of the inhabitants, and three years afterwards he would produce a set of + institutions that should be fit for a free and valorous people.<a + name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a + href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> In the midst of this + enthusiasm (May 1765) he urged Boswell to visit Corsica, and gave him a + letter to Paoli, with results which we know in the shape of an Account of + Corsica (1768), and in a feverishness of imagination upon the subject for + many a long day afterwards. "Mind your own affairs," at length + cried Johnson sternly to him, "and leave the Corsicans to theirs; I + wish you would empty your head of Corsica."<a name="FNanchor_156_156" + id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> + At the end of 1765, the immortal hero-worshipper on his return expected to + come upon his hero at Motiers, but finding that he was in Paris wrote him + a wonderful letter in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" + id="Page_101">[ii.101]</a></span>wonderful French. "You will forget + all your cares for many an evening, while I tell you what I have seen. I + owe you the deepest obligation for sending me to Corsica. The voyage has + done me marvellous good. It has made me as if all the lives of Plutarch + had sunk into my soul.... I am devoted to the Corsicans heart and soul; if + you, illustrious Rousseau, the philosopher whom they have chosen to help + them by your lights to preserve and enjoy the liberty which they have + acquired with so much heroism—if you have cooled towards these + gallant islanders, why then I am sorry for you, that is all I can say."<a + name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a + href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> + </p> + <p> + Alas, by this time the gallant islanders had been driven out of Rousseau's + mind by personal mishaps. First, Voltaire or some other enemy had spread + the rumour that the invitation to become the Lycurgus of Corsica was a + practical joke, and Rousseau's suspicious temper found what he took for + confirmation of this in some trifling incidents with which we <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[ii.102]</a></span>certainly + need not concern ourselves.<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a + href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Next, a very real + storm had burst upon him which drove him once more to seek a new place of + shelter, other than an island occupied by French troops. For France having + begun by despatching auxiliaries to the assistance of the Genoese (1764), + ended by buying the island from the Genoese senate, with a sort of equity + of redemption (1768)—an iniquitous transaction, as Rousseau justly + called it, equally shocking to justice, humanity, reason, and policy.<a + name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a + href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> Civilisation would + have been saved one of its sorest trials if Genoa could have availed + herself of her equity, and so have delivered France from the acquisition + of the most terrible citizen that ever scourged a state.<a + name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a + href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> + </p> + <p> + The condemnation of Rousseau by the Council in 1762 had divided Geneva + into two camps, and was followed by a prolonged contention between his + partisans and his enemies. The root of the contention was political rather + than theological. To take Rousseau's side was to protest against the + oligarchic authority which had condemned him, and the quarrel about + Emilius was only an episode in the long war between the popular and + aristocratic parties. This <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" + id="Page_103">[ii.103]</a></span>strife, after coming to a height for the + first time in 1734, had abated after the pacification of 1738, but the + pacification was only effective for a time, and the roots of division were + still full of vitality. The lawfulness of the authority and the regularity + of the procedure by which Rousseau had been condemned, offered convenient + ground for carrying on the dispute, and its warmth was made more intense + by the suggestion on the popular side that perhaps the religion of the + book which the oligarchs had condemned was more like Christianity than the + religion of the oligarchs who condemned it. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau was too near the scene of the quarrel, too directly involved in + its issues, too constantly in contact with the people who were engaged in + it, not to feel the angry buzzings very close about his ears. If he had + been as collected and as self-possessed as he loved to fancy, they would + have gone for very little in the life of the day. But Rousseau never stood + on the heights whence a strong man surveys with clear eye and firm soul + the unjust or mean or furious moods of the world. Such achievement is not + hard for the creature who is wrapped up in himself; who is careless of the + passions of men about him, because he thinks they cannot hurt him, and not + because he has measured them, and deliberately assigned them a place among + the elements in which a man's destiny is cast. It is only hard for one who + is penetrated by true interest in the opinion and action of his fellows, + thus to keep both sympathy warm and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" + id="Page_104">[ii.104]</a></span> self-sufficience true. The task was too + hard for Rousseau, though his patience under long persecution far + surpassed that of any of the other oppressed teachers of the time. In the + spring of 1763 he deliberately renounced in all due forms his rights of + burgess-ship and citizenship in the city and republic of Geneva.<a + name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a + href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> And at length he broke + forth against his Genevese persecutors in the Letters from the Mountain + (1764), a long but extremely vigorous and adroit rejoinder to the pleas + which his enemies had put forth in Tronchin's Letters from the Country. If + any one now cares to satisfy himself how really unjust and illegal the + treatment was, which Rousseau received at the hands of the authorities of + his native city, he may do so by examining these most forcible letters. + The second part of them may interest the student of political history by + its account of the working of the institutions of the little republic. We + seem to be reading over again the history of a Greek city; the growth of a + wealthy class in face of an increasing number of poor burgesses, the + imposition of burdens in unfair proportions upon the metoikoi, the gradual + usurpation of legislative and administrative function (including + especially the judicial) by the oligarchs, and the twisting of democratic + machinery to oligarchic ends; then the growth of staseis or violent + factions, followed by metabolé or overthrow of the established + constitution, ending in foreign intervention. The Four Hundred at Athens + would have treated any <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" + id="Page_105">[ii.105]</a></span>Social Contract that should have appeared + in their day, just as sternly as the Two Hundred or the Twenty-five + treated the Social Contract that did appear, and for just the same + reasons. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau proved his case with redundancy of demonstration. A body of + burgesses had previously availed themselves (Nov. 1763) of a legal right, + and made a technical representation to the Lesser Council that the laws + had been broken in his case. The Council in return availed itself of an + equally legal right, its <i>droit négatif</i>, and declined to + entertain the representation, without giving any reasons. Unfortunately + for Rousseau's comfort, the ferment which his new vindication of his cause + stirred up, did not end with the condemnation and burning of his + manifesto. For the parliament of Paris ordered the Letters from the + Mountain to be burned, and the same decree and the same faggot served for + that and for Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary (April 1765).<a + name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a + href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> It was also burned at + the Hague (Jan. 22). An observer by no means friendly to the priests + noticed that at Paris it was not the fanatics of orthodoxy, but the + encyclopædists and their flock, who on this occasion raised the storm + and set the zeal of the magistrates in motion.<a name="FNanchor_163_163" + id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> + The vanity and egoism of rationalistic sects can be as fatal to candour, + justice, and compassion as the intolerant pride of the great churches. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[ii.106]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Persecution came nearer to Rousseau and took more inconvenient shapes than + this. A terrible libel appeared (Feb. 1765), full of the coarsest + calumnies. Rousseau, stung by their insolence and falseness, sent it to + Paris to be published there with a prefatory note, stating that it was by + a Genevese pastor whom he named. This landed him in fresh mortification, + for the pastor disavowed the libel, Rousseau declined to accept the + disavowal, and sensible men were wearied by acrimonious declarations, + explanations, protests.<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a + href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> Then the clergy of + Neuchâtel were not able any longer to resist the opportunity of + inflicting such torments as they could, upon a heretic whom they might + more charitably have left to those ultimate and everlasting torments which + were so precious to their religious imagination. They began to press the + pastor of the village where Rousseau lived, and with whom he had hitherto + been on excellent terms. The pastor, though he had been liberal enough to + admit his singular parishioner to the communion, in spite of the Savoyard + Vicar, was not courageous enough to resist the bigotry of the professional + body to which he belonged. He warned Rousseau not to present himself at + the next communion. The philosopher insisted that he had a right to do + this, until formally cast out by the consistory. The consistory, composed + mainly of a body of peasants entirely bound to their minister in matters + of religion, cited him to appear, and answer such <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[ii.107]</a></span>questions as might test + his loyalty to the faith. Rousseau prepared a most deliberate vindication + of all that he had written, which he intended to speak to his rustic + judges. The eve of the morning on which he had to appear, he knew his + discourse by heart; when morning came he could not repeat two sentences. + So he fell back on the instrument over which he had more mastery than he + had over tongue or memory, and wrote what he wished to say. The pastor, in + whom irritated egoism was probably by this time giving additional heat to + professional zeal, was for fulminating a decree of excommunication, but + there appears to have been some indirect interference with the proceedings + of the consistory by the king's officials at Neuchâtel, and the + ecclesiastical bolt was held back.<a name="FNanchor_165_165" + id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> + Other weapons were not wanting. The pastor proceeded to spread rumours + among his flock that Rousseau was a heretic, even an atheist, and most + prodigious of all, that he had written a book containing the monstrous + doctrine that women have no souls. The pulpit resounded with sermons + proving to the honest villagers that antichrist was quartered in their + parish in very flesh. The Armenian apparel gave a high degree of + plausibleness to such an opinion, and as the wretched man went by the door + of his neighbours, he heard cursing and menace, while a hostile pebble now + and again whistled past his ear. His botanising expeditions were believed + to be devoted to search for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" + id="Page_108">[ii.108]</a></span>noxious herbs, and a man who died in the + agonies of nephritic colic, was supposed to have been poisoned by him.<a + name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a + href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> If persons went to the + post-office for letters for him, they were treated with insult.<a + name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a + href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> At length the ferment + against him grew hot enough to be serious. A huge block of stone was found + placed so as to kill him when he opened his door; and one night an attempt + was made to stone him in his house.<a name="FNanchor_168_168" + id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> + Popular hate shown with this degree of violence was too much for his + fortitude, and after a residence of rather more than three years + (September 8-10, 1765), he fled from the inhospitable valley to seek + refuge he knew not where. + </p> + <p> + In his rambles of a previous summer he had seen a little island in the + lake of Bienne, which struck his imagination and lived in his memory. + Thither he now, after a moment of hesitation, turned his steps, with + something of the same instinct as draws a child towards a beam of the sun. + He forgot or was heedless of the circumstance that the isle of St. Peter + lay in the jurisdiction of the canton of Berne, whose government had + forbidden him their territory. Strong craving for a little ease in the + midst of his wretchedness extinguished thought of jurisdictions and + proscriptive decrees. + </p> + <p> + The spot where he now found peace for a brief <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[ii.109]</a></span>space usually disappoints + the modern hunter for the picturesque, who after wearying himself with the + follies of a capital seeks the most violent tonic that he can find in the + lonely terrors of glacier and peak, and sees only tameness in a pygmy + island, that offers nothing sublimer than a high grassy terrace, some cool + over-branching avenues, some mimic vales, and meadows and vineyards + sloping down to the sheet of blue water at their feet. Yet, as one sits + here on a summer day, with tired mowers sleeping on their grass heaps in + the sun, in a stillness faintly broken by the timid lapping of the water + in the sedge, or the rustling of swift lizards across the heated sand, + while the Bernese snow giants line a distant horizon with mysterious + solitary shapes, it is easy to know what solace life in such a scene might + bring to a man distracted by pain of body and pain and weariness of soul. + Rousseau has commemorated his too short sojourn here in the most perfect + of all his compositions.<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a + href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "I found my existence so charming, and led a life so agreeable to + my humour, that I resolved here to end my days. My only source of + disquiet was whether I should be allowed to carry my project out. In the + midst of the presentiments that disturbed me, I would fain have had them + make a perpetual prison of my refuge, to confine me in it for all the + rest of my life. I longed for them to cut off all chance and all hope of + leaving it; to forbid me holding any communication with the mainland, so + that, knowing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[ii.110]</a></span>nothing + of what was going on in the world, I might have forgotten the world's + existence, and people might have forgotten mine too. They only suffered + me to pass two months in the island, but I could have passed two years, + two centuries, and all eternity, without a moment's weariness, though I + had not, with my companion, any other society than that of the steward, + his wife, and their servants. They were in truth honest souls and + nothing more, but that was just what I wanted.... Carried thither in a + violent hurry, alone and without a thing, I afterwards sent for my + housekeeper, my books, and my scanty possessions, of which I had the + delight of unpacking nothing, leaving my boxes and chests just as they + had come, and dwelling in the house where I counted on ending my days, + exactly as if it were an inn whence I must needs set forth on the + morrow. All things went so well, just as they were, that to think of + ordering them better were to spoil them. One of my greatest joys was to + leave my books safely fastened up in their boxes, and to be without even + a case for writing. When any luckless letter forced me to take up a pen + for an answer, I grumblingly borrowed the steward's inkstand, and + hurried to give it back to him with all the haste I could, in the vain + hope that I should never have need of the loan any more. Instead of + meddling with those weary quires and reams and piles of old books, I + filled my chamber with flowers and grasses, for I was then in my first + fervour for botany. Having given up employment that would be a task to + me, I needed one that would be an amusement, nor cause me more pains + than a sluggard might choose to take. I undertook to make the <i>Flora + petrinsularis</i>, and to describe every single plant on the island, in + detail enough to occupy me for the rest of my days. In consequence of + this fine scheme, every morning after breakfast, which we all took in + company, I used to go with a magnifying glass in my hand and my Systema + Naturæ under my arm, to visit some district of the island. I had + divided it for that purpose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" + id="Page_111">[ii.111]</a></span> into small squares, meaning to go + through them one after another in each season of the year. At the end of + two or three hours I used to return laden with an ample harvest, a + provision for amusing myself after dinner indoors, in case of rain. I + spent the rest of the morning in going with the steward, his wife, and + Theresa, to see the labourers and the harvesting, and I generally set to + work along with them; many a time when people from Berne came to see me, + they found me perched on a high tree, with a bag fastened round my + waist; I kept filling it with fruit and then let it down to the ground + with a rope. The exercise I had taken in the morning and the good humour + that always comes from exercise, made the repose of dinner vastly + pleasant to me. But if dinner was kept up too long, and fine weather + invited me forth, I could not wait, but was speedily off to throw myself + all alone into a boat, which, when the water was smooth enough, I used + to pull out to the middle of the lake. There, stretched at full length + in the boat's bottom, with my eyes turned up to the sky, I let myself + float slowly hither and thither as the water listed, sometimes for hours + together, plunged in a thousand confused delicious musings, which, + though they had no fixed nor constant object, were not the less on that + account a hundred times dearer to me than all that I had found sweetest + in what they call the pleasures of life. Often warned by the going down + of the sun that it was time to return, I found myself so far from the + island that I was forced to row with all my might to get in before it + was pitch dark. At other times, instead of losing myself in the midst of + the waters, I had a fancy to coast along the green shores of the island, + where the clear waters and cool shadows tempted me to bathe. But one of + my most frequent expeditions was from the larger island to the less; + there I disembarked and spent my afternoon, sometimes in mimic rambles + among wild elders, persicaries, willows, and shrubs of every species, + sometimes settling myself on the top of a sandy knoll, covered with + turf, wild thyme,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[ii.112]</a></span> + flowers, even sainfoin and trefoil that had most likely been sown there + in old days, making excellent quarters for rabbits. They might multiply + in peace without either fearing anything or harming anything. I spoke of + this to the steward. He at once had male and female rabbits brought from + Neuchâtel, and we went in high state, his wife, one of his sisters, + Theresa, and I, to settle them in the little islet. The foundation of + our colony was a feast-day. The pilot of the Argonauts was not prouder + than I, as I bore my company and the rabbits in triumph from our island + to the smaller one.... + </p> + <p> + When the lake was too rough for me to sail, I spent my afternoon in + going up and down the island, gathering plants to right and left; + seating myself now in smiling lonely nooks to dream at my ease, now on + little terraces and knolls, to follow with my eyes the superb and + ravishing prospect of the lake and its shores, crowned on one side by + the neighbouring hills, and on the other melting into rich and fertile + plains up to the feet of the pale blue mountains on their far-off edge. + </p> + <p> + As evening drew on, I used to come down from the high ground and sit on + the beach at the water's brink in some hidden sheltering place. There + the murmur of the waves and their agitation, charmed all my senses and + drove every other movement away from my soul; they plunged it into + delicious dreamings, in which I was often surprised by night. The flux + and reflux of the water, its ceaseless stir-swelling and falling at + intervals, striking on ear and sight, made up for the internal movements + which my musings extinguished; they were enough to give me delight in + mere existence, without taking any trouble of thinking. From time to + time arose some passing thought of the instability of the things of this + world, of which the face of the waters offered an image; but such light + impressions were swiftly effaced in the uniformity of the ceaseless + motion, which rocked me as in a cradle; it held me with such fascination + that even when called at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" + id="Page_113">[ii.113]</a></span> hour and by the signal appointed, I + could not tear myself away without summoning all my force. + </p> + <p> + After supper, when the evening was fine, we used to go all together for + a saunter on the terrace, to breathe the freshness of the air from the + lake. We sat down in the arbour, laughing, chatting, or singing some old + song, and then we went home to bed, well pleased with the day, and only + craving another that should be exactly like it on the morrow.... + </p> + <p> + All is in a continual flux upon the earth. Nothing in it keeps a form + constant and determinate; our affections, fastening on external things, + necessarily change and pass just as they do. Ever in front of us or + behind us, they recall the past that is gone, or anticipate a future + that in many a case is destined never to be. There is nothing solid to + which the heart can fix itself. Here we have little more than a pleasure + that comes and passes away; as for the happiness that endures, I cannot + tell if it be so much as known among men. There is hardly in the midst + of our liveliest delights a single instant when the heart could tell us + with real truth—"<i>I would this instant might last for ever</i>." + And how can we give the name of happiness to a fleeting state that all + the time leaves the heart unquiet and void, that makes us regret + something gone, or still long for something to come? + </p> + <p> + But if there is a state in which the soul finds a situation solid enough + to comport with perfect repose, and with the expansion of its whole + faculty, without need of calling back the past, or pressing on towards + the future; where time is nothing for it, and the present has no ending; + with no mark for its own duration and without a trace of succession; + without a single other sense of privation or delight, of pleasure or + pain, of desire or apprehension, than this single sense of existence—so + long as such a state endures, he who finds himself in it may talk of + bliss, not with a poor, relative, and imperfect happiness such as people + find in the pleasures of life, but with a happiness<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[ii.114]</a></span> full, perfect, and + sufficing, that leaves in the soul no conscious unfilled void. Such a + state was many a day mine in my solitary musings in the isle of St. + Peter, either lying in my boat as it floated on the water, or seated on + the banks of the broad lake, or in other places than the little isle on + the brink of some broad stream, or a rivulet murmuring over a gravel + bed. + </p> + <p> + What is it that one enjoys in a situation like this? Nothing outside of + one's self, nothing except one's self and one's own existence.... But + most men, tossed as they are by unceasing passion, have little knowledge + of such a state; they taste it imperfectly for a few moments, and then + retain no more than an obscure confused idea of it, that is too weak to + let them feel its charm. It would not even be good in the present + constitution of things, that in their eagerness for these gentle + ecstasies, they should fall into a disgust for the active life in which + their duty is prescribed to them by needs that are ever on the increase. + But a wretch cut off from human society, who can do nothing here below + that is useful and good either for himself or for other people, may in + such a state find for all lost human felicities many recompenses, of + which neither fortune nor men can ever rob him. + </p> + <p> + 'Tis true that these recompenses cannot be felt by all souls, nor in all + situations. The heart must be in peace, nor any passion come to trouble + its calm. There must be in the surrounding objects neither absolute + repose nor excess of agitation, but a uniform and moderated movement + without shock, without interval. With no movement, life is only + lethargy. If the movement be unequal or too strong, it awakes us; by + recalling us to the objects around, it destroys the charm of our musing, + and plucks us from within ourselves, instantly to throw us back under + the yoke of fortune and man, in a moment to restore us to all the + consciousness of misery. Absolute stillness inclines one to gloom. It + offers an image of death: then the help of a cheerful imagination is + necessary, and presents itself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" + id="Page_115">[ii.115]</a></span> naturally enough to those whom heaven + has endowed with such a gift. The movement which does not come from + without then stirs within us. The repose is less complete, it is true; + but it is also more agreeable when light and gentle ideas, without + agitating the depths of the soul, only softly skim the surface. This + sort of musing we may taste whenever there is tranquillity about us, and + I have thought that in the Bastile, and even in a dungeon where no + object struck my sight, I could have dreamed away many a thrice + pleasurable day. + </p> + <p> + But it must be said that all this came better and more happily in a + fruitful and lonely island, where nothing presented itself to me save + smiling pictures, where nothing recalled saddening memories, where the + fellowship of the few dwellers there was gentle and obliging, without + being exciting enough to busy me incessantly, where, in short, I was + free to surrender myself all day long to the promptings of my taste or + to the most luxurious indolence.... As I came out from a long and most + sweet musing fit, seeing myself surrounded by verdure and flowers and + birds, and letting my eyes wander far over romantic shores that fringed + a wide expanse of water bright as crystal, I fitted all these attractive + objects into my dreams; and when at last I slowly recovered myself and + recognised what was about me, I could not mark the point that cut off + dream from reality, so equally did all things unite to endear to me the + lonely retired life I led in this happy spot! Why can that life not come + back to me again? Why can I not go finish my days in the beloved island, + never to quit it, never again to see in it one dweller from the + mainland, to bring back to me the memory of all the woes of every sort + that they have delighted in heaping on my head for all these long + years?... Freed from the earthly passions engendered by the tumult of + social life, my soul would many a time lift itself above this + atmosphere, and commune beforehand with the heavenly intelligences, into + whose number it trusts to be ere long taken." + </p> + </div> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[ii.116]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + The exquisite dream, thus set to words of most soothing music, came soon + to its end. The full and perfect sufficience of life was abruptly + disturbed. The government of Berne gave him notice to quit the island and + their territory within fifteen days. He represented to the authorities + that he was infirm and ill, that he knew not whither to go, and that + travelling in wintry weather would be dangerous to his life. He even made + the most extraordinary request that any man in similar straits ever did + make. "In this extremity," he wrote to their representative, + "I only see one resource for me, and however frightful it may appear, + I will adopt it, not only without repugnance, but with eagerness, if their + excellencies will be good enough to give their consent. It is that it + should please them for me to pass the rest of my days in prison in one of + their castles, or such other place in their states as they may think fit + to select. I will there live at my own expense, and I will give security + never to put them to any cost. I submit to be without paper or pen, or any + communication from without, except so far as may be absolutely necessary, + and through the channel of those who shall have charge of me. Only let me + have left, with the use of a few books, the liberty to walk occasionally + in a garden, and I am content. Do not suppose that an expedient, so + violent in appearance, is the fruit of despair. My mind is perfectly calm + at this moment; I have taken time to think about it, and it is only after + profound consideration that I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" + id="Page_117">[ii.117]</a></span> have brought myself to this decision. + Mark, I pray you, that if this seems an extraordinary resolution, my + situation is still more so. The distracted life that I have been made to + lead for several years without intermission would be terrible for a man in + full health; judge what it must be for a miserable invalid worn down with + weariness and misfortune, and who has now no wish save only to die in a + little peace."<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a + href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> + </p> + <p> + That the request was made in all sincerity we may well believe. The + difference between being in prison and being out of it was really not + considerable to a man who had the previous winter been confined to his + chamber for eight months without a break.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" + id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> + In other respects the world was as cheerless as any prison could be. He + was an exile from the only places he knew, and to him a land unknown was + terrible. He had thought of Vienna, and the Prince of Würtemburg had + sought the requisite permission for him, but the priests were too strong + in the court of the house of Austria.<a name="FNanchor_172_172" + id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> + Madame d'Houdetot offered him a resting-place in Normandy, and Saint + Lambert in Lorraine.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a + href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> He thought of Potsdam. + Rey, the printer, pressed him to go to Holland. He wondered if he should + have strength to cross the Alps and make his way to Corsica. Eventually he + made up his mind to go to Berlin, and he went as <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[ii.118]</a></span>far as Strasburg on his + road thither.<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a + href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> Here he began to fear + the rude climate of the northern capital; he changed his plans, and + resolved to accept the warm invitations that he had received to cross over + to England. His friends used their interest to procure a passport for him,<a + name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a + href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> and the Prince of + Conti offered him an apartment in the privileged quarter of the Temple, on + his way through Paris. His own purpose seems to have been irresolute to + the last, but his friends acted with such energy and bustle on his behalf + that the English scheme was adopted, and he found himself in Paris (Dec. + 17, 1765), on his way to London, almost before he had deliberately + realised what he was doing. It was a step that led him into many fatal + vexations, as we shall presently see. Meanwhile we may pause to examine + the two considerable books which had involved his life in all this + confusion and perplexity. + </p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3> + FOOTNOTES: + </h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> June, + 1762-December, 1765. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xi. 175. It is generally printed in the volume of his works entitled + <i>Mélanges</i>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 416. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xi. 172. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> For a + remarkable anticipation of the ruin of France, see <i>Conf.</i>, xi. + 136. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> M. Roguin. + June 14, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 347. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> + Streckeisen, i. 35. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> His + friend Moultou wrote him the news, Streckeisen, i. 43. Geneva was the + only place at which the Social Contract was burnt. Here there were + peculiar reasons, as we shall see. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 356. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + ii. 358, 369, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> The + principality of Neuchâtel had fallen by marriage (1504) to the + French house of Orleans-Longueville, which with certain interruptions + retained it until the extinction of the line by the death of Marie, + Duchess of Nemours (1707). Fifteen claimants arose with fifteen + varieties of far-off title, as well as a party for constituting Neuchâtel + a Republic and making it a fourteenth canton. (Saint Simon, v. 276.) + The Estates adjudged the sovereignty to the Protestant house of + Prussia (Nov. 3, 1707). Lewis XIV., as heir of the pretensions of the + extinct line, protested. Finally, at the peace of Utrecht (1713), + Lewis surrendered his claim in exchange for the cession by Prussia of + the Principality of Orange, and Prussia held it until 1806. The + disturbed history of the connection between Prussia and Neuchâtel + from 1814, when it became the twenty-first canton of the Swiss + Confederation, down to 1857, does not here concern us. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 370. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + ii. 371. July 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> + D'Alembert, who knew Frederick better than any of the philosophers, to + Voltaire, Nov. 22, 1765. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Letter + to Hume; Burton's <i>Life of Hume</i>, ii. 105, corroborating <i>Conf.</i>, + xii. 196. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> + Marischal to J.J.R.; Streckeisen, ii. 70. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 40. Nov. 1, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Burton's + <i>Life</i>, ii. 113. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> + Voltaire's <i>Corr.</i> (1758). <i>Oeuv.</i>, lxxv. pp. 31 and 80. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xii. 237. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 41. Nov. 11, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 38. Oct. 30, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + iii. 110-115. Jan. 28, 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> + Bernardin de St. Pierre, xii. 103, 59, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> George + Keith (1685-1778) was elder brother of Frederick's famous + field-marshal, James Keith. They had taken part in the Jacobite rising + of 1715, and fled abroad on its failure. James Keith brought his + brother into the service of the King of Prussia, who sent him as + ambassador to Paris (1751), afterwards made him Governor of Neuchâtel + (1754), and eventually prevailed on the English Government to + reinstate him in the rights which he had forfeited by his share in the + rebellion (1763). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 98, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> One of + Rousseau's chief distresses hitherto arose from the indigence in which + Theresa would be placed in case of his death. Rey, the bookseller, + gave her an annuity of about £16 a year, and Lord Marischal's + gift seems to have been 300 louis, the only money that Rousseau was + ever induced to accept from any one in his life. See Streckeisen, ii. + 99; <i>Corr.</i>, iii. 336. The most delicate and sincere of the many + offers to provide for Theresa was made by Madame de Verdelin + (Streckeisen, ii. 506). The language in which Madame de Verdelin + speaks of Theresa in all her letters is the best testimony to + character that this much-abused creature has to produce. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + 90, 92, etc. Summer of 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Burton's + <i>Life of Hume</i>, ii. 105. Oct. 2, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> The + Confessions are not our only authority for this. See Streckeisen, ii. + 64; also D'Alembert to Voltaire, Sept. 8, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> + Voltaire's <i>Corr.</i> <i>Oeuv.</i>, lxvii. 458, 459, 485, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> To + D'Alembert, Sept. 15, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Moultou + to Rousseau, Streckeisen, i. 85, 87. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Moultou + to Rousseau, Streckeisen, i. 85, 87. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> + Streckeisen, i. 50. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + i. 76. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> <i>Lettre + à Christophe de Beaumont</i>, pp. 163-166. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> <i>Lettre + à Christophe de Beaumont</i>, pp. 130-135. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> <i>Lettre + à Christophe de Beaumont</i>, p. 93. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> + Carlyle's <i>Frederick</i>, Bk. xxi. ch. iv. Rousseau, <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 102. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 57. Nov. 1762. To M. Montmollin. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xii. 206. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xii. 198. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 295. Dec. 25, 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Quoted + in Musset-Pathay, ii. 500. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> For + instance, <i>Corr.</i>, iii. 249. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + iii. 364, 381. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 181-186, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Prince + Lewis Eugene, son of Charles Alexander (reigning duke from 1733 to + 1737); a younger brother of Charles Eugene, known as Schiller's Duke + of Würtemberg, who reigned up to 1793. Frederick Eugene, known in + the Seven Years' War, was another brother. Rousseau's correspondent + became reigning duke in 1793, but only lived a year and a half + afterwards. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 250. Sept. 29, 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> The + prince's letters are given in the Streckeisen collection, vol. ii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 202. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Possibly + Wilkes also; <i>Corr.</i>, iv. 200. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> + Streckeisen, i. 89. June 1, 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 202. June 4, 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> <i>Memoirs + of my Life</i>, p. 55, <i>n.</i> (Ed. 1862). Necker (1732-1804), whom + Mdlle. Curchod ultimately married, was an eager admirer of Rousseau. + "Ah, how close the tender, humane, and virtuous soul of Julie," + he wrote to her author, "has brought me to you. How the reading + of those letters gratified me! how many good emotions did they stir or + fortify! How many sublimities in a thousand places in these six + volumes; not the sublimity that perches itself in the clouds, but that + which pushes everyday virtues to their highest point," and so on. + Feb. 16, 1761. Streckeisen, i. 333. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> + Boswell's name only occurs twice in Rousseau's letters, I believe; + once (<i>Corr.</i>, iv. 394) as the writer of a letter which Hume was + suspected of tampering with, and previously (iv. 70) as the bearer of + a letter. See also Streckeisen, i. 262. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 111. Jan. 18, 1765. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Bk. ii. + ch. x. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> + Boswell's <i>Account of Corsica</i>, p. 367. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> The + correspondence between Rousseau and Buttafuoco has been published in + the <i>Oeuvres et Corr. Inédites de J.J.R.</i>, 1861. See pp. 35, + 43, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> + Boswell's <i>Life</i>, 179, 193, etc. (Ed. 1866). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> <i>"Je + suis tout homme de pouvoir vous regarder avec pitié!"</i> + Letter dated Jan. 4, 1766, and given by Musset-Pathay as from a Scotch + lord, unnamed. Boswell had the honour of conducting Theresa to + England, after Hume had taken Rousseau over. "This young + gentleman," writes Hume, "very good-humoured, very + agreeable, and very mad—has such a rage for literature that I + dread some circumstance fatal to our friend's honour. You remember the + story of Terentia, who was first married to Cicero, then to Sallust, + and at last in her old age married a young nobleman, who imagined that + she must possess some secret which would convey to him eloquence and + genius." Burton's <i>Life</i>, ii. 307, 308. Boswell mentions + that he met Rousseau in England (<i>Account of Corsica</i>, p. 340), + and also gives Rousseau's letter introducing him to Paoli (p. 266). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> To + Buttafuoco, p. 48, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + vi. 176. Feb. 26, 1770. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> It may + be worth noticing, as a link between historic personages, that + Napoleon Bonaparte's first piece was a <i>Lettre à Matteo + Buttafuoco</i> (1791), the same Buttafuoco with whom Rousseau + corresponded, who had been Choiseul's agent in the union of the island + to France, was afterwards sent as deputy to the Constituent, and + finally became the bitterest enemy of Paoli and the patriotic party. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iii. 190. To the First Syndic, May 12, 1763. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> Grimm's + <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, iv. 235. For Rousseau's opinion of his book's + companion at the stake, see <i>Corr.</i>, iii. 442. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 526. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> There + appears to be no doubt that Rousseau was wrong in attributing to + Vernes the <i>Sentimens des Citoyens</i>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iv. 116, 122 (April 1765), 165-196 (August); also <i>Conf.</i>, xii. + 245. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> Note to + M. Auguis's edition, <i>Corr.</i>, v. 395. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iv. 204. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> <i>Conf.</i>, + xii. 259. This lapidation has sometimes been doubted, and treated as + an invention of Rousseau's morbid suspicion. The official documents + prove that his account was substantially true (see Musset-Pathay, ii. + 559.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> The + fifth of the <i>Rêveries</i>. See also <i>Conf.</i>, 262-279, and + <i>Corr.</i>, iv. 206-224. His stay in the island was from the second + week in September down to the last in October, 1765. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iv. 221. Oct. 20, 1765. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + iv. 136, etc. April 27, 1765. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> + Streckeisen-Moultou, ii. 209, 212. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + ii. 554. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> He + arrived at Strasburg on the 2d or 3d of November, left it about the + end of the first week in December, and arrived in Paris on the 16th of + December 1765. A sort of apocryphal tradition is said to linger in the + island about Rousseau's last evening on the island, how after supper + he called for a lute, and sang some passably bad verses. See M. + Bougy's <i>J.J. Rousseau</i>, p. 179 (Paris: 1853.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Madame + de Verdelin to J.J.R. Streckeisen, ii. 532. The minister even + expressed his especial delight at being able to serve Rousseau, so + little seriousness was there now in the formalities of absolution. <i>Ib.</i> + 547. + </p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[ii.119]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <h3> + THE SOCIAL CONTRACT. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">The</span> dominant belief of the best minds of the + latter half of the eighteenth century was a passionate faith in the + illimitable possibilities of human progress. Nothing short of a general + overthrow of the planet could in their eyes stay the ever upward movement + of human perfectibility. They differed as to the details of the philosophy + of government which they deduced from this philosophy of society, but the + conviction that a golden era of tolerance, enlightenment, and material + prosperity was close at hand, belonged to them all. Rousseau set his face + the other way. For him the golden era had passed away from our globe many + centuries ago. Simplicity had fled from the earth. Wisdom and heroism had + vanished from out of the minds of leaders. The spirit of citizenship had + gone from those who should have upheld the social union in brotherly + accord. The dream of human perfectibility which nerved men like Condorcet, + was to Rousseau a sour and fantastic mockery. The utmost that men could do + was to turn their eyes to the past, to obliterate the interval, to try to + walk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[ii.120]</a></span> + for a space in the track of the ancient societies. They would hardly + succeed, but endeavour might at least do something to stay the plague of + universal degeneracy. Hence the fatality of his system. It placed the + centre of social activity elsewhere than in careful and rational + examination of social conditions, and in careful and rational effort to + modify them. As we began by saying, it substituted a retrograde aspiration + for direction, and emotion for the discovery of law. We can hardly wonder, + when we think of the intense exaltation of spirit produced both by the + perfectibilitarians and the followers of Rousseau, and at the same time of + the political degradation and material disorder of France, that so violent + a contrast between the ideal and the actual led to a great volcanic + outbreak. Alas, the crucial difficulty of political change is to summon + new force without destroying the sound parts of a structure which it has + taken so many generations to erect. The Social Contract is the formal + denial of the possibility of successfully overcoming the difficulty. + </p> + <p> + "Although man deprives himself in the civil state of many advantages + which he holds from nature, yet he acquires in return others so great, his + faculties exercise and develop themselves, his ideas extend, his + sentiments are ennobled, his whole soul is raised to such a degree, that + if the abuses of this new condition did not so often degrade him below + that from which he has emerged, he would be bound to bless without ceasing + the happy moment which rescued<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" + id="Page_121">[ii.121]</a></span> him from it for ever, and out of a + stupid and blind animal made an intelligent being and a man."<a + name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a + href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> The little parenthesis + as to the frequent degradation produced by the abuses of the social + condition, does not prevent us from recognising in the whole passage a + tolerably complete surrender of the main position which was taken up in + the two Discourses. The short treatise on the Social Contract is an + inquiry into the just foundations and most proper form of that very + political society, which the Discourses showed to have its foundation in + injustice, and to be incapable of receiving any form proper for the + attainment of the full measure of human happiness. + </p> + <p> + Inequality in the same way is no longer denounced, but accepted and + defined. Locke's influence has begun to tell. The two principal objects of + every system of legislation are declared to be liberty and equality. By + equality we are warned not to understand that the degrees of power and + wealth should be absolutely the same, but that in respect of power, such + power should be out of reach of any violence, and be invariably exercised + in virtue of the laws; and in respect of riches, that no citizen should be + wealthy enough to buy another, and none poor enough to sell himself. Do + you say this equality is a mere chimera? It is precisely because the force + of things is constantly tending to destroy equality, that the force of + legislation ought as constantly to be directed towards up<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[ii.122]</a></span>holding + it.<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a + href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> This is much clearer + than the indefinite way of speaking which we have already noticed in the + second Discourse. It means neither more nor less than that equality before + the law which is one of the elementary marks of a perfectly free + community. + </p> + <p> + The idea of the law being constantly directed to counteract the tendencies + to violent inequalities in material possessions among different members of + a society, is too vague to be criticised. Does it cover and warrant so + sweeping a measure as the old <i>seisachtheia</i> of Solon, voiding all + contracts in which the debtor had pledged his land or his person; or such + measures as the agrarian laws of Licinius and the Gracchi? Or is it to go + no further than to condemn such a law as that which in England gives + unwilled lands to the eldest son? We can only criticise accurately a + general idea of this sort in connection with specific projects in which it + is applied. As it stands, it is no more than the expression of what the + author thinks a wise principle of public policy. It assumes the existence + of property just as completely as the theory of the most rigorous + capitalist could do; it gives no encouragement, as the Discourse did, to + the notion of an equality in being without property. There is no element + of communism in a principle so stated, but it suggests a social idea, + based on the moral claim of men to have equality of opportunity. This + ideal stamped itself on the minds <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" + id="Page_123">[ii.123]</a></span>of Robespierre and the other + revolutionary leaders, and led to practical results in the sale of the + Church and other lands in small lots, so as to give the peasant a market + to buy in. The effect of the economic change thus introduced happened to + work in the direction in which Rousseau pointed, for it is now known that + the most remarkable and most permanent of the consequences of the + revolution in the ownership of land was the erection, between the two + extreme classes of proprietors, of an immense body of middle-class + freeholders. This state is not equality, but gradation, and there is + undoubtedly an immense difference between the two. Still its origin is an + illustration on the largest scale in history of the force of legislation + being exerted to counteract an irregularity that had become unbearable.<a + name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a + href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding the disappearance of the more <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[ii.124]</a></span>extravagant elements of + the old thesis, the new speculation was far from being purged of the + fundamental errors that had given such popularity to its predecessors. + "If the sea," he says in one place, "bathes nothing but + inaccessible rocks on your coasts, remain barbarous ichthyophagi; you will + live all the more tranquilly for it, better perhaps, and assuredly more + happily."<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a + href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> Apart from an outburst + like this, the central idea remained the same, though it was approached + from another side and with different objects. The picture of a state of + nature had lost none of its perilous attraction, though it was hung in a + slightly changed light. It remained the starting-point of the right and + normal constitution of civil society, just as it had been the + starting-point of the denunciation of civil society as incapable of right + constitution, and as necessarily and for ever abnormal. Equally with the + Discourses, the Social Contract is a repudiation of that historic method + which traces the present along a line of ascertained circumstances, and + seeks an improved future in an unbroken continuation of that line. The + opening words, which sent such a thrill through the generation to which + they were uttered in two continents, "Man is born free, and + everywhere he is in chains," tell us at the outset that we are as far + away as ever from the patient method of positive <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[ii.125]</a></span>observation, and as + deeply buried as ever in deducing practical maxims from a set of + conditions which never had any other than an abstract and phantasmatic + existence. How is a man born free? If he is born into isolation, he + perishes instantly. If he is born into a family, he is at the moment of + his birth committed to a state of social relation, in however rudimentary + a form; and the more or less of freedom which this state may ultimately + permit to him, depends upon circumstances. Man was hardly born free among + Romans and Athenians, when both law and public opinion left a father at + perfect liberty to expose his new-born infant. And the more primitive the + circumstances, the later the period at which he gains freedom. A child was + not born free in the early days of the Roman state, when the <i>patria + potestas</i> was a vigorous reality. Nor, to go yet further back, was he + born free in the times of the Hebrew patriarchs, when Abraham had full + right of sacrificing his son, and Jephthah of sacrificing his daughter. + </p> + <p> + But to speak thus is to speak what we do know. Rousseau was not open to + such testimony. "My principles," he said in contempt of Grotius, + "are not founded on the authority of poets; they come from the nature + of things and are based on reason."<a name="FNanchor_180_180" + id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> + He does indeed in one place express his reverence for the Judaic law, and + administers a just rebuke to the philosophic arrogance which saw only + successful impostors in the old legislators.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" + id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> + But he paid no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[ii.126]</a></span>attention + to the processes and usages of which this law was the organic expression, + nor did he allow himself to learn from it the actual conditions of the + social state which accepted it. It was Locke, whose essay on civil + government haunts us throughout the Social Contract, who had taught him + that men are born free, equal, and independent. Locke evaded the + difficulty of the dependence of childhood by saying that when the son + comes to the estate that made his father a free man, he becomes a free man + too.<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a + href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> What of the old Roman + use permitting a father to sell his son three times? In the same + metaphysical spirit Locke had laid down the absolute proposition that + "conjugal society is made by a voluntary compact between man and + woman."<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a + href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> This is true of a + small number of western societies in our own day, but what of the + primitive usages of communal marriages, marriages by capture, purchase, + and the rest? We do not mean it as any discredit to writers upon + government in the seventeenth century that they did not make good out of + their own consciousness the necessary want of knowledge about primitive + communities. But it is necessary to point out, first, that they did not + realise all the knowledge within their reach, and next that, as a + consequence of this, their propositions had a quality that vitiated all + their speculative worth. Filmer's contention that man is not naturally + free was truer than the position of Locke and Rousseau, and it was so + because Filmer <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[ii.127]</a></span>consulted + and appealed to the most authentic of the historic records then + accessible.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a + href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> + </p> + <p> + It is the more singular that Rousseau should have thus deliberately put + aside all but the most arbitrary and empirical historical lessons, and it + shows the extraordinary force with which men may be mastered by abstract + prepossessions, even when they have a partial knowledge of the antidote; + because Rousseau in several places not only admits, but insists upon, the + necessity of making institutions relative to the state of the community, + in respect of size, soil, manners, occupation, morality, character. "It + is in view of such relations as these that we must assign to each people a + particular system, which shall be the best, not perhaps in itself, but for + the state for which it is destined."<a name="FNanchor_185_185" + id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> + In another place he calls attention to manners, customs, above all to + opinion, as the part of a social system on which the success of all the + rest depends; particular rules being only the arching of <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[ii.128]</a></span>the + vault, of which manners, though so much tardier in rising, form a + key-stone that can never be disturbed.<a name="FNanchor_186_186" + id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> + This was excellent so far as it went, but it was one of the many great + truths, which men may hold in their minds without appreciating their full + value. He did not see that these manners, customs, opinions, have old + roots which must be sought in a historic past; that they are connected + with the constitution of human nature, and that then in turn they prepare + modifications of that constitution. His narrow, symmetrical, impatient + humour unfitted him to deal with the complex tangle of the history of + social growths. It was essential to his mental comfort that he should be + able to see a picture of perfect order and logical system at both ends of + his speculation. Hence, he invented, to begin with, his ideal state of + nature, and an ideal mode of passing from that to the social state. He + swept away in his imagination the whole series of actual incidents between + present and past; and he constructed a system which might be imposed upon + all societies indifferently by a legislator summoned for that purpose, to + wipe out existing uses, laws, and institutions, and make afresh a clear + and undisturbed beginning of national life. The force of habit was slowly + and insensibly to be substituted for that of the legislator's authority, + but the existence of such habits previously as forces to be dealt with, + and the existence of certain limits of pliancy in the conditions of human + nature and social possibility, are facts of which the <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[ii.129]</a></span>author of the Social + Contract takes not the least account. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau knew hardly any history, and the few isolated pieces of old fact + which he had picked up in his very slight reading were exactly the most + unfortunate that a student in need of the historic method could possibly + have fallen in with. The illustrations which are scantily dispersed in his + pages,—and we must remark that they are no more than illustrations + for conclusions arrived at quite independently of them, and not the + historical proof and foundations of his conclusions,—are nearly all + from the annals of the small states of ancient Greece, and from the + earlier times of the Roman republic. We have already pointed out to what + an extent his imagination was struck at the time of his first compositions + by the tale of Lycurgus. The influence of the same notions is still + paramount. The hopelessness of giving good laws to a corrupt people is + supposed to be demonstrated by the case of Minos, whose legislation failed + in Crete because the people for whom he made laws were sunk in vices; and + by the further example of Plato, who refused to give laws to the Arcadians + and Cyrenians, knowing that they were too rich and could never suffer + equality.<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a + href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> The writer is thinking + of Plato's Laws, when he says that just as nature has fixed limits to the + stature of a well-formed man, outside of which she produces giants and + dwarfs, so with reference to the best constitution for a state, there + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[ii.130]</a></span>are + bounds to its extent, so that it may be neither too large to be capable of + good government, nor too small to be independent and self-sufficing. The + further the social bond is extended, the more relaxed it becomes, and in + general a small state is proportionally stronger than a large one.<a + name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a + href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> In the remarks with + which he proceeds to corroborate this position, we can plainly see that he + is privately contrasting an independent Greek community with the unwieldy + oriental monarchy against which at one critical period Greece had to + contend. He had never realised the possibility of such forms of polity as + the Roman Empire, or the half-federal dominion of England which took such + enormous dimensions in his time, or the great confederation of states + which came to birth two years before he died. He was the servant of his + own metaphor, as the Greek writers so often were. His argument that a + state must be of a moderate size because the rightly shapen man is neither + dwarf nor giant, is exactly on a par with Aristotle's argument to the same + effect, on the ground that beauty demands size, and there must not be too + great nor too small size, because a ship sails badly if it be either too + heavy or too light.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a + href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> And when Rousseau + supposes the state to have ten thousand inhabitants, and talks about the + right size of its territory,<a name="FNanchor_190_190" + id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> + who does not think of the five thousand and forty which the Athenian + Stranger prescribed to Cleinias the Cretan as the exactly proper <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[ii.131]</a></span>number + for the perfectly formed state?<a name="FNanchor_191_191" + id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> + The prediction of the short career which awaits a state that is cursed + with an extensive and accessible seaboard, corresponds precisely with the + Athenian Stranger's satisfaction that the new city is to be eighty stadia + from the coast.<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a + href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> When Rousseau himself + began to think about the organisation of Corsica, he praised the selection + of Corte as the chief town of a patriotic administration, because it was + far from the sea, and so its inhabitants would long preserve their + simplicity and uprightness.<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a + href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> And in later years + still, when meditating upon a constitution for Poland, he propounded an + economic system essentially Spartan; the people were enjoined to think + little about foreigners, to give themselves little concern about commerce, + to suppress stamped paper, and to put a tithe upon the land.<a + name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a + href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> + </p> + <p> + The chapter on the Legislator is in the same region. We are again referred + to Lycurgus; and to the circumstance that Greek towns usually confided to + a stranger the sacred task of drawing up their laws. His experience in + Venice and the history of his native town supplemented the examples of + Greece. Geneva summoned a stranger to legislate for her, and "those + who only look on Calvin as a theologian have a scanty idea of the extent + of his genius; the preparation of our wise edicts, in which he had so + large a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[ii.132]</a></span>part, + do him as much honour as his Institutes."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" + id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> + Rousseau's vision was too narrow to let him see the growth of government + and laws as a co-ordinate process, flowing from the growth of all the + other parts and organs of society, and advancing in more or less equal + step along with them. He could begin with nothing short of an absolute + legislator, who should impose a system from without by a single act, a + structure hit upon once for all by his individual wisdom, not slowly + wrought out by many minds, with popular assent and co-operation, at the + suggestion of changing social circumstances and need.<a + name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a + href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> + </p> + <p> + All this would be of very trifling importance in the history of political + literature, but for the extraordinary influence which circumstances + ultimately bestowed upon it. The Social Contract was the gospel of the + Jacobins, and much of the action of the supreme party in France during the + first months of the year 1794 is only fully intelligible when we look upon + it as the result and practical application of Rousseau's teaching. The + conception of the situation entertained by Robespierre and Saint Just was + entirely moulded on all this talk about the legislators of Greece and + Geneva. "The transition of an oppressed nation to democracy is like + the effort by which nature rose from nothingness to existence. You must + entirely refashion a people whom you wish <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[ii.133]</a></span>to make free—destroy + its prejudices, alter its habits, limit its necessities, root up its + vices, purify its desires. The state therefore must lay hold on every + human being at his birth, and direct his education with powerful hand. + Solon's weak confidence threw Athens into fresh slavery, while Lycurgus's + severity founded the republic of Sparta on an immovable basis."<a + name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a + href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> These words, which + come from a decree of the Committee of Public Safety, might well be taken + for an excerpt from the Social Contract. The fragments of the institutions + by which Saint Just intended to regenerate his country, reveal a man with + the example of Lycurgus before his eyes in every line he wrote.<a + name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a + href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> When on the eve of the + Thermidorian revolution which over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" + id="Page_134">[ii.134]</a></span>threw him and his party, he insisted on + the necessity of a dictatorship, he was only thinking of the means by + which he should at length obtain the necessary power for forcing his + regenerating projects on the country; for he knew that Robespierre, whom + he named as the man for the dictatorship, accepted his projects, and would + lend the full force of the temporal arm to the propagation of ideas which + they had acquired together from Jean Jacques, and from the Greeks to whom + Jean Jacques had sent them for example and instruction.<a + name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a + href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> No doubt the condition + of France after 1792 must naturally have struck any one too deeply imbued + with the spirit of the Social Contract to look beneath the surface of the + society with which the Convention had to deal, as urgently inviting a + lawgiver of the ancient stamp. The old order in church and state had been + swept away, no organs for the performance of the functions of national + life were visible, the moral ideas which had bound the social elements + together in the extinct monarchy seemed to be permanently sapped. A + politician who had for years been dreaming about Minos and Lycurgus and + Calvin, especially if he lived in a state with such a tradition of + centralisation as ruled in France, was sure to suppose that here was the + scene and the moment for a splendid repetition on an immense scale of + those immortal achievements. The futility of the <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[ii.135]</a></span>attempt was the practical + and ever memorable illustration of the defect of Rousseau's geometrical + method. It was one thing to make laws for the handful of people who lived + in Geneva in the sixteenth century, united in religious faith, and + accepting the same form and conception of the common good. It was a very + different thing to try to play Calvin over some twenty-five millions of a + heterogeneously composed nation, abounding in variations of temperament, + faith, laws, and habits and weltering in unfathomable distractions. The + French did indeed at length invite a heaven-sent stranger from Corsica to + make laws for them, but not until he had set his foot upon their neck; and + even Napoleon Bonaparte, who had begun life like the rest of his + generation by writing Rousseauite essays, made a swift return to the + historic method in the equivocal shape of the Concordat. + </p> + <p> + Not only were Rousseau's schemes of polity conceived from the point of + view of a small territory with a limited population. "You must not," + he says in one place, "make the abuses of great states an objection + to a writer who would fain have none but small ones."<a + name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a + href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> Again, when he said + that in a truly free state the citizens performed all their services to + the community with their arms and none by money, and that he looked upon + the corvée (or compulsory labour on the public roads) as less hostile + to freedom than taxes,<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a + href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> he showed that he was + thinking of a state <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[ii.136]</a></span>not + greatly passing the dimensions of a parish. This was not the only defect + of his schemes. They assumed a sort of state of nature in the minds of the + people with whom the lawgiver had to deal. Saint Just made the same + assumption afterwards, and trusted to his military school to erect on + these bare plots whatever superstructure he might think fit to appoint. A + society that had for so many centuries been organised and moulded by a + powerful and energetic church, armed with a definite doctrine, fixing the + same moral tendencies in a long series of successive generations, was not + in the naked mental state which the Jacobins postulated. It was not + prepared to accept free divorce, the substitution of friendship for + marriage, the displacement of the family by the military school, and the + other articles in Saint Just's programme of social renovation. The twelve + apostles went among people who were morally swept and garnished, and they + went armed with instruments proper to seize the imagination of their + hearers. All moral reformers seek the ignorant and simple, poor fishermen + in one scene, labourers and women in another, for the good reason that new + ideas only make way on ground that is not already too heavily encumbered + with prejudices. But France in 1793 was in no condition of this kind. + Opinion in all its spheres was deepened by an old and powerful + organisation, to a degree which made any<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[ii.137]</a></span> attempt to abolish the + opinion, as the organisation appeared to have been abolished, quite + hopeless until the lapse of three or four hundred years had allowed due + time for dissolution. After all it was not until the fourth century of our + era that the work of even the twelve apostles began to tell decisively and + quickly. As for the Lycurgus of whom the French chattered, if such a + personality ever existed out of the region of myth, he came to his people + armed with an oracle from the gods, just as Moses did, and was himself + regarded as having a nature touched with divinity. No such pretensions + could well be made by any French legislator within a dozen years or so of + the death of Voltaire. + </p> + <p> + Let us here remark that it was exactly what strikes us as the desperate + absurdity of the assumptions of the Social Contract, which constituted the + power of that work, when it accidentally fell into the hands of men who + surveyed a national system wrecked in all its parts. The Social Contract + is worked out precisely in that fashion which, if it touches men at all, + makes them into fanatics. Long trains of reasoning, careful allegation of + proofs, patient admission on every hand of qualifying propositions and + multitudinous limitations, are essential to science, and produce treatises + that guide the wise statesman in normal times. But it is dogma that gives + fervour to a sect. There are always large classes of minds to whom + anything in the shape of a vigorously compact system is irresistibly + fascinating, and to whom the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" + id="Page_138">[ii.138]</a></span> qualification of a proposition, or the + limitation of a theoretic principle is distressing or intolerable. Such + persons always come to the front for a season in times of distraction, + when the party that knows its own aims most definitely is sure to have the + best chance of obtaining power. And Rousseau's method charmed their + temperament. A man who handles sets of complex facts is necessarily + slow-footed, but one who has only words to deal with, may advance with a + speed, a precision, a consistency, a conclusiveness, that has a magical + potency over men who insist on having politics and theology drawn out in + exact theorems like those of Euclid. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau traces his conclusions from words, and develops his system from + the interior germs of phrases. Like the typical schoolman, he assumes that + analysis of terms is the right way of acquiring new knowledge about + things; he mistakes the multiplication of propositions for the discovery + of fresh truth. Many pages of the Social Contract are mere logical + deductions from verbal definitions: the slightest attempt to confront them + with actual fact would have shown them to be not only valueless, but + wholly meaningless, in connection with real human nature and the visible + working of human affairs. He looks into the word, or into his own verbal + notion, and tells us what is to be found in that, whereas we need to be + told the marks and qualities that distinguish the object which the word is + meant to recall. Hence arises his habit of setting himself questions, with<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[ii.139]</a></span> + reference to which we cannot say that the answers are not true, but only + that the questions themselves were never worth asking. Here is an instance + of his method of supposing that to draw something from a verbal notion is + to find out something corresponding to fact. "We can distinguish in + the magistrate three essentially different wills: 1st, the will peculiar + to him as an individual, which only tends to his own particular advantage; + 2nd, the common will of the magistrates, which refers only to the + advantage of the prince [<i>i.e.</i> the government], and this we may name + corporate will, which is general in relation to the government, and + particular in relation to the state of which the government is a part; + 3rd, the will of the people or sovereign will, which is general, as well + in relation to the state considered as a whole, as in relation to the + government considered as part of the whole."<a name="FNanchor_202_202" + id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> + It might be hard to prove that all this is not true, but then it is unreal + and comes to nothing, as we see if we take the trouble to turn it into + real matter. Thus a member of the British House of Commons, who is a + magistrate in Rousseau's sense, has three essentially different wills: + first, as a man, Mr. So-and-so; second, his corporate will, as member of + the chamber, and this will is general in relation to the legislature, but + particular in relation to the whole body of electors and peers; third, his + will as a member of the great electoral body, which is a general will + alike in relation to the electoral <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" + id="Page_140">[ii.140]</a></span>body and to the legislature. An English + publicist is perfectly welcome to make assertions of this kind, if he + chooses to do so, and nobody will take the trouble to deny them. But they + are nonsense. They do not correspond to the real composition of a member + of parliament, nor do they shed the smallest light upon any part either of + the theory of government in general, or the working of our own government + in particular. Almost the same kind of observation might be made of the + famous dogmatic statements about sovereignty. "Sovereignty, being + only the exercise of the general will, can never be alienated, and the + sovereign, who is only a collective being, can only be represented by + himself: the power may be transmitted, but not the will;"<a + name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a + href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> sovereignty is + indivisible, not only in principle, but in object;<a + name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a + href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> and so forth. We shall + have to consider these remarks from another point of view. At present we + refer to them as illustrating the character of the book, as consisting of + a number of expansions of definitions, analysed as words, not compared + with the facts of which the words are representatives. This way of + treating political theory enabled the writer to assume an air of certitude + and precision, which led narrow deductive minds completely captive. Burke + poured merited scorn on the application of geometry to politics and + algebraic formulas to government, but then it was just this seeming + demonstration, this measured accuracy, that filled Rousseau's disciples + with a supreme and undoubting con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" + id="Page_141">[ii.141]</a></span>fidence which leaves the modern student + of these schemes in amazement unspeakable. The thinness of Robespierre's + ideas on government ceases to astonish us, when we remember that he had + not trained himself to look upon it as the art of dealing with huge groups + of conflicting interests, of hostile passions, of hardly reconcilable + aims, of vehemently opposed forces. He had disciplined his political + intelligence on such meagre and unsubstantial argumentation as the + following:—"Let us suppose the state composed of ten thousand + citizens. The sovereign can only be considered collectively and as a body; + but each person, in his quality as subject, is considered as an individual + unit; thus the sovereign is to the subject as ten thousand is to one; in + other words, each member of the state has for his share only the + ten-thousandth part of the sovereign authority, though he is submitted to + it in all his own entirety. If the people be composed of a hundred + thousand men, the condition of the subjects does not change, and each of + them bears equally the whole empire of the laws, while his suffrage, + reduced to a hundred-thousandth, has ten times less influence in drawing + them up. Then, the subject remaining still only one, the relation of the + sovereign augments in the ratio of the number of the citizens. Whence it + follows that, the larger the state becomes, the more does liberty + diminish."<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a + href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> + </p> + <p> + Apart from these arithmetical conceptions, and the <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[ii.142]</a></span>deep charm which their + assurance of expression had for the narrow and fervid minds of which + England and Germany seem to have got finally rid in Anabaptists and Fifth + Monarchy men, but which still haunted France, there were maxims in the + Social Contract of remarkable convenience for the members of a Committee + of Public Safety. "How can a blind multitude," the writer asks + in one place, "which so often does not know its own will, because it + seldom knows what is good for it, execute of itself an undertaking so vast + and so difficult as a system of legislation?"<a + name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a + href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> Again, "as nature + gives to each man an absolute power over all his members, so the social + pact gives to the body politic an absolute power over all its members; and + it is this same power which, when directed by the general will, bears, as + I have said, the name of sovereignty."<a name="FNanchor_207_207" + id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> + Above all, the little chapter on a dictatorship is the very foundation of + the position of the Robespierrists in the few months immediately preceding + their fall. "It is evidently the first intention of the people that + the state should not perish," and so on, with much criticism of the + system of occasional dictatorships, as they were resorted to in old Rome.<a + name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a + href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> Yet this does not in + itself go much beyond the old monarchic doctrine of Prerogative, as a + corrective for the slowness and want of immediate applicability of mere + legal processes in cases of state emergency; and it is worth noticing + again and again that in spite of the shriek<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[ii.143]</a></span>ings of reaction, the few + atrocities of the Terror are an almost invisible speck compared with the + atrocities of Christian churchmen and lawful kings, perpetrated in + accordance with their notion of what constituted public safety. So far as + Rousseau's intention goes, we find in his writings one of the strongest + denunciations of the doctrine of public safety that is to be found in any + of the writings of the century. "Is the safety of a citizen," he + cries, "less the common cause than the safety of the state? They may + tell us that it is well that one should perish on behalf of all. I will + admire such a sentence in the mouth of a virtuous patriot, who voluntarily + and for duty's sake devotes himself to death for the salvation of his + country. But if we are to understand that it is allowed to the government + to sacrifice an innocent person for the safety of the multitude, I hold + this maxim for one of the most execrable that tyranny has ever invented, + and the most dangerous that can be admitted."<a + name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a + href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> It may be said that + the Terrorists did not sacrifice innocent life, but the plea is frivolous + on the lips of men who proscribed whole classes. You cannot justly draw a + capital indictment against a class. Rousseau, however, cannot fairly be + said to have had a share in the responsibility for the more criminal part + of the policy of 1793, any more than the founder of Christianity is + responsible for the atrocities that have been committed by the more ardent + worshippers of his name, and justified by stray <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[ii.144]</a></span>texts caught up from the + gospels. Helvétius had said, "All becomes legitimate and even + virtuous on behalf of the public safety." Rousseau wrote in the + margin, "The public safety is nothing unless individuals enjoy + security."<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a + href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> The author of a theory + is not answerable for the applications which may be read into it by the + passions of men and the exigencies of a violent crisis. Such applications + show this much and no more, that the theory was constructed with an + imperfect consideration of the qualities of human nature, with too narrow + a view of the conditions of society, and therefore with an inadequate + appreciation of the consequences which the theory might be drawn to + support. + </p> + <p> + It is time to come to the central conception of the Social Contract, the + dogma which made of it for a time the gospel of a nation, the memorable + doctrine of the sovereignty of peoples. Of this doctrine Rousseau was + assuredly not the inventor, though the exaggerated language of some + popular writers in France leads us to suppose that they think of him as + nothing less. Even in the thirteenth century the constitution of the + Orders, and the contests of the friars with the clergy, had engendered + faintly democratic ways of thinking.<a name="FNanchor_211_211" + id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> + Among others the great Aquinas had protested against the juristic doctrine + that the law is the pleasure of the prince. The will of the prince, he + says, to be a law, must be directed <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[ii.145]</a></span>by reason; law is + appointed for the common good, and not for a special or private good: it + follows from this that only the reason of the multitude, or of a prince + representing the multitude, can make a law.<a name="FNanchor_212_212" + id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> + A still more remarkable approach to later views was made by Marsilio of + Padua, physician to Lewis of Bavaria, who wrote a strong book on his + master's side, in the great contest between him and the pope (1324). + Marsilio in the first part of his work not only lays down very elaborately + the proposition that laws ought to be made by the "<i>universitas + civium</i>"; he places this sovereignty of the people on the true + basis (which Rousseau only took for a secondary support to his original + compact), namely, the greater likelihood of laws being obeyed in the first + place, and being good laws in the second, when they are made by the body + of the persons affected. "No one knowingly does hurt to himself, or + deliberately asks what is unjust, and on that account all or a great + majority must wish such law as best suits the common interest of the + citizens."<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a + href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> Turning from this to + the Social Contract, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[ii.146]</a></span>or + to Locke's essay on Government, the identity in doctrine and + correspondence in dialect may teach us how little true originality there + can he among thinkers who are in the same stage; how a metaphysician of + the thirteenth century and a metaphysician of the eighteenth hit on the + same doctrine; and how the true classification of thinkers does not follow + intervals of time, but is fixed by differences of method. It is impossible + that in the constant play of circumstances and ideas in the minds of + different thinkers, the same combinations of form and colour in a + philosophic arrangement of such circumstances and ideas should not recur. + Signal novelties in thought are as limited as signal inventions in + architectural construction. It is only one of the great changes in method, + that can remove the limits of the old combinations, by bringing new + material and fundamentally altering the point of view. + </p> + <p> + In the sixteenth century there were numerous writers who declared the + right of subjects to depose a bad sovereign, but this position is to be + distinguished from Rousseau's doctrine. Thus, if we turn to the great + historic event of 1581, the rejection of the yoke of Spain by the Dutch, + we find the Declaration of Independence running, "that if a prince is + appointed by God over the land, it is to protect them from harm, even as a + shepherd to the guardianship of his flock. The subjects are not appointed + by God for the behoof of the prince, but the prince for his subjects, + without whom he is no prince." This is obviously divine<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[ii.147]</a></span> + right, fundamentally modified by a popular principle, accepted to meet the + exigencies of the occasion, and to justify after the event a measure which + was dictated by urgent need for practical relief. Such a notion of the + social compact was still emphatically in the semi-patriarchal stage, and + is distinct as can be from the dogma of popular sovereignty as Rousseau + understood it. But it plainly marked a step on the way. It was the + development of Protestant principles which produced and necessarily + involved the extreme democratic conclusion. Time was needed for their full + expansion in this sense, but the result could only have been avoided by a + suppression of the Reformation, and we therefore count it inevitable. + Bodin (1577) had defined sovereignty as residing in the supreme + legislative authority, without further inquiry as to the source or seat of + that authority, though he admits the vague position which even Lewis XIV. + did not deny, that the object of political society is the greatest good of + every citizen or the whole state. In 1603 a Protestant professor of law in + Germany, Althusen by name, published a treatise of Politics, in which the + doctrine of the sovereignty of peoples was clearly formulated, to the + profound indignation both of Jesuits and of Protestant jurists.<a + name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a + href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> Rousseau mentions his + name;<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a + href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> it does not appear + that he read Althusen's rather uncommon treatise, but its teaching would + probably have a place in the traditions of political theorising <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[ii.148]</a></span>current + at Geneva, to the spirit of whose government it was so congenial. Hooker, + vindicating episcopacy against the democratic principles of the Puritans, + had still been led, apparently by way of the ever dominant idea of a law + natural, to base civil government on the assent of the governed, and had + laid down such propositions as these: "Laws they are not, which + public approbation hath not made so. Laws therefore human, of what kind + soever, are available by consent," and so on.<a + name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a + href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> The views of the + Ecclesiastical Polity were adopted by Locke, and became the foundation of + the famous essay on Civil Government, from which popular leaders in our + own country drew all their weapons down to the outbreak of the French + Revolution. Grotius (1625) starting from the principle that the law of + nature enjoins that we should stand by our agreements, then proceeded to + assume either an express, or at any rate a tacit and implied, promise on + the part of all who become members of a community, to obey the majority of + the body, or a majority of those to whom authority has been delegated.<a + name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a + href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> This is a unilateral + view of the social contract, and omits the element of reciprocity which in + Rousseau's idea was cardinal. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[ii.149]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Locke was Rousseau's most immediate inspirer, and the latter affirmed + himself to have treated the same matters exactly on Locke's principles. + Rousseau, however, exaggerated Locke's politics as greatly as Condillac + exaggerated his metaphysics. There was the important difference that + Locke's essay on Civil Government was the justification in theory of a + revolution which had already been accomplished in practice, while the + Social Contract, tinged as it was by silent reference in the mind of the + writer to Geneva, was yet a speculation in the air. The circumstances + under which it was written gave to the propositions of Locke's piece a + reserve and moderation which savour of a practical origin and a special + case. They have not the wide scope and dogmatic air and literary precision + of the corresponding propositions in Rousseau. We find in Locke none of + those concise phrases which make fanatics. But the essential doctrine is + there. The philosopher of the Revolution of 1688 probably carried its + principles further than most of those who helped in the Revolution had any + intention to carry them, when he said that "the legislature being + only a fiduciary power to act for certain ends, there remains still in the + people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative."<a + name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a + href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> It may <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[ii.150]</a></span>be + questioned how many of the peers of that day would have assented to the + proposition that the people—and did Locke mean by the people the + electors of the House of Commons, or all males over twenty-one, or all + householders paying rates?—could by any expression of their will + abolish the legislative power of the upper chamber, or put an end to the + legislative and executive powers of the crown. But Locke's statements are + direct enough, though he does not use so terse a label for his doctrine as + Rousseau affixed to it. + </p> + <p> + Again, besides the principle of popular sovereignty, Locke most likely + gave to Rousseau the idea of the origin of this sovereignty in the civil + state in a pact or contract, which was represented as the foundation and + first condition of the civil state. From this naturally flowed the + connected theory, of a perpetual consent being implied as given by the + people to each new law. We need not quote passages from Locke to + demonstrate the substantial correspondence of assumption between him and + the author of the Social Contract. They are found in every chapter.<a + name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a + href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> Such principles were + indispensable for the defence of a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" + id="Page_151">[ii.151]</a></span>Revolution like that of 1688, which was + always carefully marked out by its promoters, as well as by its eloquent + apologist and expositor a hundred years later, the great Burke, as above + all things a revolution within the pale of the law or the constitution. + They represented the philosophic adjustment of popular ideas to the + political changes wrought by shifting circumstances, as distinguished from + the biblical or Hebraic method of adjusting such ideas, which had + prevailed in the contests of the previous generation. + </p> + <p> + Yet there was in the midst of those contests one thinker of the first rank + in intellectual power, who had constructed a genuine philosophy of + government. Hobbes's speculations did not fit in with the theory of either + of the two bodies of combatants in the Civil War. They were each in the + theological order of ideas, and neither of them sought or was able to + comprehend the application of philosophic principles to their own case or + to that of their adversaries.<a name="FNanchor_220_220" + id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> + Hebrew precedents and bible texts, on the one hand; prerogative of use and + high church doctrine, on the other. Between these was no space for the + acceptance of a secular and rationalistic theory, covering the whole field + of a social constitution. Now the influence of Hobbes upon Rousseau was + very marked, and very singular. There were numerous differences between + the philosopher of Geneva and his predecessor of <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[ii.152]</a></span>Malmesbury. The one + looked on men as good, the other looked on them as bad. The one described + the state of nature as a state of peace, the other as a state of war. The + one believed that laws and institutions had depraved man, the other that + they had improved him.<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a + href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> But these differences + did not prevent the action of Hobbes on Rousseau. It resulted in a curious + fusion between the premisses and the temper of Hobbes and the conclusions + of Locke. This fusion produced that popular absolutism of which the Social + Contract was the theoretical expression, and Jacobin supremacy the + practical manifestation. Rousseau borrowed from Hobbes the true conception + of sovereignty, and from Locke the true conception of the ultimate seat + and original of authority, and of the two together he made the great image + of the sovereign people. Strike the crowned head from that monstrous + figure which is the frontispiece of the Leviathan, and you have a + frontispiece that will do excellently well for the Social Contract. Apart + from a multitude of other obligations, good and bad, which Rousseau owed + to Hobbes, as we shall point out, we may here mention that of the superior + accuracy of the notion of law in the Social Contract over the notion of + law in Montesquieu's work. The latter begins, as everybody knows, with a + definition inextricably confused: "Laws are necessary relations + flowing from the nature of things, and in this sense all beings have their + laws, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[ii.153]</a></span>divinity + has its laws, the material world has its laws, the intelligences superior + to men have their laws, the beasts have their laws, man has his laws.... + There is a primitive reason, and laws are the relations to be found + between that and the different beings, and the relations of these + different beings among one another."<a name="FNanchor_222_222" + id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> + Rousseau at once put aside these divergent meanings, made the proper + distinction between a law of nature and the imperative law of a state, and + justly asserted that the one could teach us nothing worth knowing about + the other.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a + href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> Hobbes's phraseology + is much less definite than this, and shows that he had not himself wholly + shaken off the same confusion as reigned in Montesquieu's account a + century later. But then Hobbes's account of the true meaning of + sovereignty was so clear, firm, and comprehensive, as easily to lead any + fairly perspicuous student who followed him, to apply it to the true + meaning of law. And on this head of law not so much fault is to be found + with Rousseau, as on the head of larger constitutional theory. He did not + look long enough at given laws, and hence failed to seize all their + distinctive qualities; above all he only half saw, if he saw at all, that + a law is a command and not a contract, and his eyes were closed to this, + because the true view was incompatible with his fundamental assumption of + contract as the base of the social union.<a name="FNanchor_224_224" + id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> + But he did at all events <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" + id="Page_154">[ii.154]</a></span>grasp the quality of generality as + belonging to laws proper, and separated them justly from what he calls + decrees, which we are now taught to name occasional or particular + commands.<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a + href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> This is worth + mentioning, because it shows that, in spite of his habits of intellectual + laxity, Rousseau was capable, where he had a clear-headed master before + him, of a very considerable degree of precision of thought, however liable + it was to fall into error or deficiency for want of abundant comparison + with bodies of external fact. Let us now proceed to some of the central + propositions of the Social Contract. + </p> + <p> + 1. The origin of society dates from the moment when the obstacles which + impede the preservation of men in a state of nature are too strong for + such forces as each individual can employ in order to keep himself in that + state. At this point they can only save themselves by aggregation. + Problem: to find a form of association which defends and protects with the + whole common force the person and property of each associate, and by + which, each uniting himself to all, still only obeys himself, and remains + as free as he was before. Solution: a social compact reducible to these + words, "Each of us places in common his person and his whole power + under the supreme direction of the general will; and we further receive + each member as indivisible part of the whole." This act of + association constitutes a moral and collective body, a public person.<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[ii.155]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + The practical importance and the mischief of thus suffering society to + repose on conventions which the human will had made, lay in the corollary + that the human will is competent at any time to unmake them, and also + therefore to devise all possible changes that fell short of unmaking them. + This was the root of the fatal hypothesis of the dictator, or divinely + commissioned lawgiver. External circumstance and human nature alike were + passive and infinitely pliable; they were the material out of which the + legislator was to devise conventions at pleasure, without apprehension as + to their suitableness either to the conditions of society among which they + were to work, or to the passions and interests of those by whom they were + to be carried out, and who were supposed to have given assent to them. It + would be unjust to say that Rousseau actually faced this position and took + the consequences. He expressly says in more places than one that the + science of Government is only a science of combinations, applications, and + exceptions, according to time, place, and circumstance.<a + name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a + href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> But to base society on + conventions is to impute an element of arbitrariness to these combinations + and applications, and to make them independent, as they can never be, of + the limits inexorably fixed by the nature of things. The notion of compact + is the main source of all the worst vagaries in Rousseau's political + speculation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[ii.156]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + It is worth remarking in the history of opinion, that there was at this + time in France a little knot of thinkers who were nearly in full + possession of the true view of the limits set by the natural ordering of + societies to the power of convention and the function of the legislators. + Five years after the publication of the Social Contract, a remarkable book + was written by one of the economic sect of the Physiocrats, the later of + whom, though specially concerned with the material interests of + communities, very properly felt the necessity of connecting the discussion + of wealth with the assumption of certain fundamental political conditions. + They felt this, because it is impossible to settle any question about + wages or profits, for instance, until you have first settled whether you + are assuming the principles of liberty and property. This writer with + great consistency found the first essential of all social order in + conformity of positive law and institution to those qualities of human + nature, and their relations with those material instruments of life, + which, and not convention, were the true origin, as they are the actual + grounds, of the perpetuation of our societies.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" + id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> + This was wiser than Rousseau's con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" + id="Page_157">[ii.157]</a></span>ception of the lawgiver as one who should + change human nature, and take away from man the forces that are naturally + his own, to replace them by others comparatively foreign to him.<a + name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a + href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> Rousseau once wrote, + in a letter about Rivière's book, that the great problem in politics, + which might be compared with the quadrature of the circle in geometry, is + to find a form of government which shall place law above man.<a + name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a + href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> A more important + problem, and not any less difficult for the political theoriser, is to + mark the bounds at which the authority of the law is powerless or + mischievous in attempting to control the egoistic or non-social parts of + man. This problem Rousseau ignored, and <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[ii.158]</a></span>that he should do so was + only natural in one who believed that man had bound himself by a + convention, strictly to suppress his egoistic and non-social parts, and + who based all his speculation on this pact as against the force, or the + paternal authority, or the will of a Supreme Being, in which other writers + founded the social union. + </p> + <p> + 2. The body thus constituted by convention is the sovereign. Each citizen + is a member of the sovereign, standing in a definite relation to + individuals <i>qua</i> individuals; he is also as an individual a member + of the state and subject to the sovereign, of which from the first point + of view he is a component element. The sovereign and the body politic are + one and the same thing.<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a + href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> + </p> + <p> + Of the antecedents and history of this doctrine enough has already been + said. Its general truth as a description either of what is, or what ought + to be and will be, demands an ampler discussion than there is any occasion + to carry on here. We need only point out its place as a kind of + intermediate dissolvent for which the time was most ripe. It breaks up the + feudal conception of political authority as a property of land-ownership, + noble birth, and the like, and it associates this authority widely and + simply with the bare fact of participation in any form of citizenship in + the social union. The later and higher idea of every share of political + power as a function to be discharged for the good of the whole body, and + not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[ii.159]</a></span>merely + as a right to be enjoyed for the advantage of its possessor, was a form of + thought to which Rousseau did not rise. That does not lessen the + effectiveness of the blow which his doctrine dealt to French feudalism, + and which is its main title to commemoration in connection with his name. + </p> + <p> + The social compact thus made is essentially different from the social + compact which Hobbes described as the origin of what he calls + commonwealths by institution, to distinguish them from commonwealths by + acquisition, that is to say, states formed by conquest or resting on + hereditary rule. "A commonwealth," Hobbes says, "is said to + be instituted when a multitude of men do agree and covenant, every one + with every one, that to whatsoever man or assembly of men shall be given + by the major part the right to present the person of them all, that is to + say, to be their representative; every one ... shall authorise all the + actions and judgments of that man or assembly of men, in the same manner + as if they were his own, to the end to live peaceably among themselves, + and be protected against other men."<a name="FNanchor_231_231" + id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> + But Rousseau's compact was an act of association among equals, who also + remained equals. Hobbes's compact was an act of surrender on the part of + the many to one or a number. The first was the constitution of civil + society, the second was the erection of a government. As nobody now + believes in the existence of any such compact in either one form or the + other, it would be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[ii.160]</a></span>superfluous + to inquire which of the two is the less inaccurate. All we need do is to + point out that there was this difference. Rousseau distinctly denied the + existence of any element of contract in the erection of a government; + there is only one contract in the state, he said, and it is that of + association.<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a + href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> Locke's notion of the + compact which was the beginning of every political society is indefinite + on this point; he speaks of it indifferently as an agreement of a body of + free men to unite and incorporate into a society, and an agreement to set + up a government.<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a + href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> Most of us would + suppose the two processes to be as nearly identical as may be; Rousseau + drew a distinction, and from this distinction he derived further + differences. + </p> + <p> + Here, we may remark, is the starting-point in the history of the ideas of + the revolution, of one of the most prominent of them all, that of + Fraternity. If the whole structure of society rests on an act of + partnership entered into by equals on behalf of themselves and their + descendants for ever, the nature of the union is not what it would be, if + the members of the union had only entered it to place their liberties at + the feet of some superior power. Society in the one case is a covenant of + subjection, in the other a covenant of social brotherhood. This impressed + itself deeply on the feelings of men like Robespierre, who were never so + well pleased as when they could find for their sentimentalism a covering + of neat political logic. The same idea of association came presently <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[ii.161]</a></span>to + receive a still more remarkable and momentous extension, when it was + translated from the language of mere government into that of the economic + organisation of communities. Rousseau's conception went no further than + political association, as distinct from subjection. Socialism, which came + by and by to the front place, carried the idea to its fullest capacity, + and presented all the relations of men with one another as fixed by the + same bond. Men had entered the social union as brethren, equal, and + co-operators, not merely for purposes of government, but for purposes of + mutual succour in all its aspects. This naturally included the most + important of all, material production. They were not associated merely as + equal participants in political sovereignty; they were equal participants + in all the rest of the increase made to the means of human happiness by + united action. Socialism is the transfer of the principle of fraternal + association from politics, where Rousseau left it, to the wider sphere of + industrial force. + </p> + <p> + It is perhaps worth notice that another famous revolutionary term belongs + to the same source. All the associates of this act of union, becoming + members of the city, are as such to be called Citizens, as participating + in the sovereign authority.<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a + href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> The term was in + familiar use enough among the French in their worst days, but it was + Rousseau's sanction which marked it in the new times with a sort of + sacramental stamp. It came naturally to him, because it was the <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[ii.162]</a></span>name + of the first of the two classes which constituted the active portion of + the republic of Geneva, and the only class whose members were eligible to + the chief magistracies. + </p> + <p> + 3. We next have a group of propositions setting forth the attributes of + sovereignty. It is inalienable.<a name="FNanchor_235_235" + id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> + It is indivisible. + </p> + <p> + These two propositions, which play such a part in the history of some of + the episodes of the French Revolution, contain no more than was contended + for by Hobbes, and has been accepted in our own times by Austin. When + Hobbes says that "to the laws which the sovereign maketh, the + sovereign is not subject, for if he were subject to the civil laws he were + subject to himself, which were not subjection but freedom," his + notion of sovereignty is exactly that expressed by Rousseau in his + unexplained dogma of the inalienableness of sovereignty. So Rousseau means + no more by the dogma that sovereignty is indivisible, than Austin meant + when he declared of the doctrine that the legislative sovereign powers and + the executive sovereign powers belong in any society to distinct parties, + that it is a supposition too palpably false to endure a moment's + examination.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a + href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> The way in which this + account of the indivisibleness of sovereignty was understood during the + revolution, twisted it into a condemnation of the dreaded idea of + Federalism. It might just as well have been interpreted to condemn + alliances between nations; for the properties of <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[ii.163]</a></span>sovereignty are clearly + independent of the dimensions of the sovereign unit. Another effect of + this doctrine was the rejection by the Constituent Assembly of the + balanced parliamentary system, which the followers of Montesquieu would + fain have introduced on the English model. Whether that was an evil or a + good, publicists will long continue to dispute. + </p> + <p> + 4. The general will of the sovereign upon an object of common interest is + expressed in a law. Only the sovereign can possess this law-making power, + because no one but the sovereign has the right of declaring the general + will. The legislative power cannot be exerted by delegation or + representation. The English fancy that they are a free nation, but they + are grievously mistaken. They are only free during the election of members + of parliament; the members once chosen, the people are slaves, nay, as + people they have ceased to exist.<a name="FNanchor_237_237" + id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> + It is impossible <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[ii.164]</a></span>for + the sovereign to act, except when the people are assembled. Besides such + extraordinary assemblies as unforeseen events may call for, there must be + fixed periodical meetings that nothing can interrupt or postpone. Do you + call this chimerical? Then you have forgotten the Roman comitia, as well + as such gatherings of the people as those of the Macedonians and the + Franks and most other nations in their primitive times. What has existed + is certainly possible.<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a + href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> + </p> + <p> + It is very curious that Rousseau in this part of his subject should have + contented himself with going back to Macedonia and Rome, instead of + pointing to the sovereign states that have since become confederate with + his native republic. A historian in our own time has described with an + enthusiasm that equals that of the Social Contract, how he saw the + sovereign people of Uri and the sovereign people of Appenzell <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[ii.165]</a></span>discharge + the duties of legislation and choice of executive, each in the majesty of + its corporate person.<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a + href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> That Rousseau was + influenced by the free sovereignty of the states of the Swiss + confederation, as well as by that of his own city, we may well believe. + Whether he was or not, it must always be counted a serious misfortune that + a writer who was destined to exercise such power in a crisis of the + history of a great nation, should have chosen his illustrations from a + time and from societies so remote, that the true conditions of their + political system could not possibly be understood with any approach to + reality, while there were, within a few leagues of his native place, + communities where the system of a sovereign public in his own sense was + actually alive and flourishing and at work. From them the full meaning of + his theories might have been practically gathered, and whatever useful + lessons lay at the bottom of them might have been made plain. As it was, + it came to pass singularly enough that the effect of the French Revolution + was the suppression, happily only for a time, of the only governments in + Europe where the doctrine of the favourite apostle of the Revolution was a + reality. The constitution of the Helvetic Republic in 1798 was as bad a + blow to the sovereignty of peoples in a true sense, as the old house of + Austria or Charles of Burgundy could ever have dealt. That constitution, + moreover, was directly opposed to the Social Contract in setting up what + it called representative demo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" + id="Page_166">[ii.166]</a></span>cracy, for representative democracy was + just what Rousseau steadily maintained to be a nullity and a delusion. + </p> + <p> + The only lesson which the Social Contract contained for a statesman bold + enough to take into his hands the reconstruction of France, undoubtedly + pointed in the direction of confederation. At one place, where he became + sensible of the impotence which his assumption of a small state inflicted + on his whole speculation, Rousseau said he would presently show how the + good order of a small state might be united to the external power of a + great people. Though he never did this, he hints in a footnote that his + plan belonged to the theory of confederations, of which the principles + were still to be established.<a name="FNanchor_240_240" + id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> + When he gave advice for the renovation of the wretched constitution of + Poland, he insisted above all things that they should apply themselves to + extend and perfect the system of federate governments, "the only one + that unites in itself all the advantages of great and small states."<a + name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a + href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> A very few years after + the appearance of his book, the great American union of sovereign states + arose to point the political moral. The French revolutionists missed the + force alike of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[ii.167]</a></span>the + practical example abroad, and of the theory of the book which they took + for gospel at home. How far they were driven to this by the urgent + pressure of foreign war, or whether they would have followed the same + course without that interference, merely in obedience to the catholic and + monarchic absolutism which had sunk so much deeper into French character + than people have been willing to admit, we cannot tell. The fact remains + that the Jacobins, Rousseau's immediate disciples, at once took up the + chain of centralised authority where it had been broken off by the ruin of + the monarchy. They caught at the letter of the dogma of a sovereign + people, and lost its spirit. They missed the germ of truth in Rousseau's + scheme, namely, that for order and freedom and just administration the + unit should not be too large to admit of the participation of the persons + concerned in the management of their own public affairs. If they had + realised this and applied it, either by transforming the old monarchy into + a confederacy of sovereign provinces, or by some less sweeping + modification of the old centralised scheme of government, they might have + saved France.<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a + href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> But, once more, men + interpret a political treatise on principles which <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[ii.168]</a></span>either come to them by + tradition; or else spring suddenly up from roots of passion.<a + name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a + href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> + </p> + <p> + 5. The government is the minister of the sovereign. It is an intermediate + body set up between sovereign and subjects for their mutual + correspondence, charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance + of civil and political freedom. The members comprising it are called + magistrates or kings, and to the whole body so composed, whether of one or + of more than one, is given the name of prince. If the whole power is + centred in the hands of a single magistrate, from whom all the rest hold + their authority, the government is called a monarchy. If there are more + persons simply citizens than there are magistrates, this is an + aristocracy.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a + href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> If more citizen + magistrates than simple private citizens, that is a democracy. The last + government is as a general rule best fitted for small states, and the + first for large ones—on the principle that the number of the supreme + magistrates ought to be in the inverse ratio of that of the citizens. But + there is a multitude of circumstances which may furnish reasons for + exceptions to this general rule. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[ii.169]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + This common definition of the three forms of governments according to the + mere number of the participants in the chief magistracy, though adopted by + Hobbes and other writers, is certainly inadequate and uninstructive, + without some further qualification. Aristotle, for instance, furnishes + such a qualification, when he refers to the interests in which the + government is carried on, whether the interest of a small body or of the + whole of the citizens.<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a + href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> Montesquieu's + well-known division, though logically faulty, still has the merit of + pointing to conditions of difference among forms of government, outside of + and apart from the one fact of the number of the sovereign. To divide + governments, as Montesquieu did, into republics, monarchies, and + despotisms, was to use two principles of division, first the number of the + sovereign, and next something else, namely, the difference between a + constitutional and an absolute monarch. Then he returned to the first + principle of division, and separated a republic into a government of all, + which is a democracy, and a government by a part, which is aristocracy.<a + name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a + href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> Still, to have + introduced the element of law-abidingness in the chief magistracy, whether + of one or more, was to have called attention to the fact that no single + distinction is enough to furnish us with a conception of the real and + vital differences which may exist between one form of government and + another.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a + href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[ii.170]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + The important fact about a government lies quite as much in the qualifying + epithet which is to be affixed to any one of the three names, as in the + name itself. We know nothing about a monarchy, until we have been told + whether it is absolute or constitutional; if absolute, whether it is + administered in the interests of the realm, like that of Prussia under + Frederick the Great, or in the interests of the ruler, like that of an + Indian principality under a native prince; if constitutional, whether the + real power is aristocratic, as in Great Britain a hundred years ago, or + plutocratic, as in Great Britain to-day, or popular, as it may be here + fifty years hence. And so with reference to each of the other two forms; + neither name gives us any instruction, except of a merely negative kind, + until it has been made precise by one or more explanatory epithets. What + is the common quality of the old Roman republic, the republics of the + Swiss confederation, the republic of Venice, the American republic, the + republic of Mexico? Plainly the word republic has no further effect beyond + that of excluding the idea of a recognised dynasty. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau is perhaps less open to this kind of criticism than other writers + on political theory, for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" + id="Page_171">[ii.171]</a></span> reason that he distinguishes the + constitution of the state from the constitution of the government. The + first he settles definitely. The whole body of the people is to be + sovereign, and to be endowed alone with what he conceived as the only + genuinely legislative power. The only question which he considers open is + as to the form in which the <i>delegated executive authority</i> shall be + organised. Democracy, the immediate government of all by all, he rejects + as too perfect for men; it requires a state so small that each citizen + knows all the others, manners so simple that the business may be small and + the mode of discussion easy, equality of rank and fortune so general as + not to allow of the overriding of political equality by material + superiority, and so forth.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a + href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> Monarchy labours under + a number of disadvantages which are tolerably obvious. "One essential + and inevitable defect, which must always place monarchic below republican + government, is that in the latter the public voice hardly ever promotes to + the first places any but capable and enlightened men who fill them with + honour; whereas those who get on in monarchies, are for the most part + small busybodies, small knaves, small intriguers, in whom the puny talents + which are the secret of reaching substantial posts in courts, only serve + to show their stupidity to the public as soon as they have made their way + to the front. The people is far less likely to make a blunder in a choice + of this sort, than the prince, and a man of true merit is nearly as rare + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[ii.172]</a></span>in + the ministry, as a fool at the head of the government of a republic."<a + name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a + href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> There remains + aristocracy. Of this there are three sorts: natural, elective, and + hereditary. The first can only thrive among primitive folk, while the + third is the worst of all governments. The second is the best, for it is + aristocracy properly so called. If men only acquire rule in virtue of + election, then purity, enlightenment, experience, and all the other + grounds of public esteem and preference, become so many new guarantees + that the administration shall be wise and just. It is the best and most + natural order that the wisest should govern the multitude, provided you + are sure that they will govern the multitude for its advantage, and not + for their own. If aristocracy of this kind requires one or two virtues + less than a popular executive, it also demands others which are peculiar + to itself, such as moderation in the rich and content in the poor. For + this form comports with a certain inequality of fortune, for the reason + that it is well that the administration of public affairs should be + confided to those who are best able to give their whole time to it. At the + same time it is of importance that an opposite choice should occasionally + teach the people that in the merit of men there are more momentous reasons + of preference than wealth.<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a + href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> Rousseau, as we have + seen, had pronounced English liberty to be no liberty at all, save during + the few days once in seven years when the elections to parliament take + place. Yet this scheme of an elective <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[ii.173]</a></span>aristocracy was in truth + a very near approach to the English form as it is theoretically presented + in our own day, with a suffrage gradually becoming universal. If the + suffrage were universal, and if its exercise took place once a year, our + system, in spite of the now obsolescent elements of hereditary aristocracy + and nominal monarchy, would be as close a realisation of the scheme of the + Social Contract as any representative system permits. If Rousseau had + further developed his notions of confederation, the United States would + most have resembled his type. + </p> + <p> + 6. What is to be the attitude of the state in respect of religion? + Certainly not that prescribed by the policy of the middle ages. The + separation of the spiritual from the temporal power, indicated by Jesus + Christ, and developed by his followers in the course of many subsequent + generations, was in Rousseau's eyes most mischievous, because it ended in + the subordination of the temporal power to the spiritual, and that is + incompatible with an efficient polity. Even the kings of England, though + they style themselves heads of the church, are really its ministers and + servants.<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a + href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> + </p> + <p> + The last allegation evinces Rousseau's usual ignorance of history, and + need not be discussed, any more than his proposition on which he lays so + much stress, that Christians cannot possibly be good soldiers, nor truly + good citizens, because their hearts being fixed upon another world, they + must necessarily be indiffer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" + id="Page_174">[ii.174]</a></span>ent to the success or failure of such + enterprises as they may take up in this.<a name="FNanchor_252_252" + id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> + In reading the Social Contract, and some other of the author's writings + besides, we have constantly to interpret the direct, positive, categorical + form of assertion into something of this kind—"Such and such + consequences ought logically to follow from the meaning of the name, or + the definition of a principle, or from such and such motives." The + change of this moderate form of provisional assertion into the + unconditional statement that such and such consequences have actually + followed, constantly lands the author in propositions which any reader who + tests them by an appeal to the experience of mankind, written and + unwritten, at once discovers to be false and absurd. Rousseau himself took + less trouble to verify his conclusions by such an appeal to experience + than any writer that ever lived in a scientific age. The other remark to + be made on the above section is that the rejection of the Christian or + ecclesiastical division of the powers of the church and the powers of the + state, is the strongest illustration that could be found of the debt of + Rousseau's conception of a state to the old pagan conception. It was the + main characteristic of the polities which Christian monotheism and + feudalism together succeeded in replacing, to recognise no such division + as that between church and state, pope and emperor. Rousseau resumed the + old conception. But he adjusted it in a certain degree to the spirit of + his own <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[ii.175]</a></span>time, + and imposed certain philosophical limitations upon it. His scheme is as + follows. + </p> + <p> + Religion, he says, in its relation to the state, may be considered as of + three kinds. First, natural religion, without temple, altar, or rite, the + true and pure theism of the natural conscience of man. Second, local, + civil, or positive religion, with dogmas, rites, exercises; a theology of + a primitive people, exactly co-extensive with all the rights and all the + duties of men. Third, a religion like the Christianity of the Roman + church, which gives men two sets of laws, two chiefs, two countries, + submits them to contradictory duties, and prevents them from being able to + be at once devout and patriotic. The last of these is so evidently + pestilent as to need no discussion. The second has the merit of teaching + men to identify duty to their gods with duty to their country; under this + to die for the land is martyrdom, to break its laws impiety, and to + subject a culprit to public execration is to devote him to the anger of + the gods. But it is bad, because it is at bottom a superstition, and + because it makes a people sanguinary and intolerant. The first of all, + which is now styled a Christian theism, having no special relation with + the body politic, adds no force to the laws. There are many particular + objections to Christianity flowing from the fact of its not being a + kingdom of this world, and this above all, that Christianity only preaches + servitude and dependence.<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a + href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> What then is to be + done? The sovereign <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[ii.176]</a></span>must + establish a purely civil profession of faith. It will consist of the + following positive dogmas:—the existence of a divinity, powerful, + intelligent, beneficent and foreseeing; the life to come; the happiness of + the just, the chastisement of the wicked; the sanctity of the social + contract and the laws. These articles of belief are imposed, not as dogmas + of religion exactly, but as sentiments of sociability. If any one declines + to accept them, he ought to be exiled, not for being impious, but for + being unsociable, incapable of sincere attachment to the laws, or of + sacrificing his life to his duty. If any one, after publicly recognising + these dogmas, carries himself as if he did not believe them, let him be + punished by death, for he has committed the worst of crimes, he has lied + before the laws.<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a + href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> + </p> + <p> + Rousseau thus, unconsciously enough, brought to its climax that reaction + against the absorption of the state in the church which had first taken a + place in literature in the controversy between legists and canonists, and + had found its most famous illustration <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[ii.177]</a></span>in the De Monarchiâ + of the great poet of catholicism. The division of two co-equal realms, one + temporal, the other spiritual, was replaced in the Genevese thinker by + what he admitted to be "pure Hobbism." This, the rigorous + subordination of the church to the state, was the end, so far as France + went, of the speculative controversy which had occupied Europe for so many + ages, as to the respective powers of pope and emperor, of positive law and + law divine. The famous civil constitution of the clergy (1790), which was + the expression of Rousseau's principle as formulated by his disciples in + the Constituent Assembly, was the revolutionary conclusion to the + world-wide dispute, whose most melodramatic episode had been the scene in + the courtyard of Canossa. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau's memorable prescription, banishing all who should not believe in + God, or a future state, or in rewards and punishments for the deeds done + in the body, and putting to death any who, after subscribing to the + required profession, should seem no longer to hold it, has naturally + created a very lively horror in a tolerant generation like our own, some + of whose finest spirits have rejected deliberately and finally the + articles of belief, without which they could not have been suffered to + exist in Rousseau's state. It seemed to contemporaries, who were + enthusiastic above all things for humanity and infinite tolerance, these + being the prizes of the long conflict which they hoped they were + completing, to be a return to the horrors of the Holy Office. Men were as + shocked as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[ii.178]</a></span> + the modern philosopher is, when he finds the greatest of the followers of + Socrates imposing in his latest piece the penalty of imprisonment for five + years, to be followed in case of obduracy by death, on one who should not + believe in the gods set up for the state by the lawmaker.<a + name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a + href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> And we can hardly + comfort ourselves, as Milton did about Plato, who framed laws which no + city ever yet received, and "fed his fancy with making many edicts to + his airy burgomasters, which they who otherwise admire him, wish had been + rather buried and excused in the genial cups of an academic night-sitting."<a + name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a + href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> Rousseau's ideas fell + among men who were most potent and corporeal burgomasters. In the winter + of 1793 two parties in Paris stood face to face; the rationalistic, + Voltairean party of the Commune, named improperly after Hébert, but + whose best member was Chaumette, and the sentimental, Rousseauite party, + led by Robespierre. The first had industriously desecrated the churches, + and consummated their revolt against the gods of the old time by the + public worship of the Goddess of Reason, who was prematurely set up for + deity of the new time. Robespierre retaliated with the mummeries of the + Festival of the Supreme Being, and protested against atheism as the crime + of aristocrats. Presently the atheistic party succumbed. Chaumette was not + directly implicated in the proceedings which led to their fall, but he was + by and by accused of conspiring <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" + id="Page_179">[ii.179]</a></span>with Hébert, Clootz, and the rest, + "to destroy all notion of Divinity and base the government of France + on atheism." "They attack the immortality of the soul," + cried Saint Just, "the thought which consoled Socrates in his dying + moments, and their dream is to raise atheism into a worship." And + this was the offence, technically and officially described, for which + Chaumette and Clootz were sent to the guillotine (April 1794), strictly on + the principle which had been laid down in the Social Contract, and + accepted by Robespierre.<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a + href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> + </p> + <p> + It would have been odd in any writer less firmly possessed with the + infallibility of his own dreams than Rousseau was, that he should not have + seen the impossibility in anything like the existing conditions of human + nature, of limiting the profession of civil faith to the three or four + articles which happened to constitute his own belief. Having once granted + the general position that a citizen may be required to profess some + religious faith, there is no speculative principle, and there is no force + in the world, which can fix any bound to the amount or kind of religious + faith which the state has the right thus to exact. Rousseau said that a + man was dangerous to the city who did not believe in God, a future state, + and divine reward and retribution. But then Calvin thought a man dangerous + who did not believe both that there <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[ii.180]</a></span>is only one God, and also + that there are three Gods. And so Chaumette went to the scaffold, and + Servetus to the stake, on the one common principle that the civil + magistrate is concerned with heresy. And Hébert was only following + out the same doctrine in a mild and equitable manner, when he insisted on + preventing the publication of a book in which the author professed his + belief in a God. A single step in the path of civil interference with + opinion leads you the whole way. + </p> + <p> + The history of the Protestant churches is enough to show the pitiable + futility of the proviso for religious tolerance with which Rousseau closed + his exposition. "If there is no longer an exclusive national + religion, then every creed ought to be tolerated which tolerates other + creeds, so long as it contains nothing contrary to the duties of the + citizen. But whoever dares to say, <i>Out of the church, no salvation</i>, + ought to be banished from the state." The reason for which Henry IV. + embraced the Roman religion—namely, that in that he might be saved, + in the opinion alike of Protestants and Catholics, whereas in the reformed + faith, though he was saved according to Protestants, yet according to + Catholics he was necessarily damned,—ought to have made every honest + man, and especially every prince, reject it. It was the more curious that + Rousseau did not see the futility of drawing the line of tolerance at any + given set of dogmas, however simple and slight and acceptable to himself + they might be, because he invited special admiration for D'Argenson's<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[ii.181]</a></span> + excellent maxim that "in the republic everybody is perfectly free in + what does not hurt others."<a name="FNanchor_258_258" + id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> + Surely this maxim has very little significance or value, unless we + interpret it as giving entire liberty of opinion, because no opinion + whatever can hurt others, until it manifests itself in act, including of + course speech, which is a kind of act. Rousseau admitted that over and + above the profession of civil faith, a citizen might hold what opinions he + pleased, in entire freedom from the sovereign's cognisance or + jurisdiction; "for as the sovereign has no competence in the other + world, the fate of subjects in that other world is not his affair, + provided they are good citizens in this." But good citizenship + consists in doing or forbearing from certain actions, and to punish men on + the inference that forbidden action is likely to follow from the rejection + of a set of opinions, or to exact a test oath of adherence to such + opinions on the same principle, is to concede the whole theory of civil + intolerance, however little Rousseau may have realised the perfectly + legitimate applications of his doctrine. It was an unconscious compromise. + He was thinking of Calvin in practice and Hobbes in theory, and he was at + the same time influenced by the moderate spirit of his time, and the + comparatively reasonable character of his personal belief. He praised + Hobbes as the only author who had seen the right remedy for the conflict + of the spiritual and temporal jurisdictions, by proposing to <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[ii.182]</a></span>unite + the two heads of the eagle, and reducing all to political unity, without + which never will either state or government be duly constituted. But + Hobbes was consistent without flinching. He refused to set limits to the + religious prescriptions which a sovereign might impose, for "even + when the civil sovereign is an infidel, every one of his own subjects that + resisteth him, sinneth against the laws of God (for such are the laws of + nature), and rejecteth the counsel of the apostles, that admonisheth all + Christians to obey their princes.... And for their faith, it is internal + and invisible: they have the licence that Naaman had, and need not put + themselves into danger for it; but if they do, they ought to expect their + reward in heaven, and not complain of their lawful sovereign."<a + name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a + href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> All this flowed from + the very idea and definition of sovereignty, which Rousseau accepted from + Hobbes, as we have already seen. Such consequences, however, stated in + these bold terms, must have been highly revolting to Rousseau; he could + not assent to an exercise of sovereignty which might be atheistic, + Mahometan, or anything else unqualifiedly monstrous. He failed to see the + folly of trying to unite the old notions of a Christian commonwealth with + what was fundamentally his own notion of a commonwealth after the ancient + type. He stripped the pagan republics, which he took for his model, of + their national and official polytheism, and he put on in its stead a + scanty remnant of theism slightly tinged with Christianity.<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[ii.183]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Then he practically accepted Hobbes's audacious bidding to the man who + should not be able to accept the state creed, to go courageously to + martyrdom, and leave the land in peace. For the modern principle, which + was contained in D'Argenson's saying previously quoted, that the civil + power does best absolutely and unreservedly to ignore spirituals, he was + not prepared either by his emancipation from the theological ideas of his + youth, or by his observation of the working and tendencies of systems, + which involved the state in some more or less close relations with the + church, either as superior, equal, or subordinate. Every test is sure to + insist on mental independence ending exactly where the speculative + curiosity of the time is most intent to begin. + </p> + <p> + Let us now shortly confront Rousseau's ideas with some of the propositions + belonging to another method of approaching the philosophy of government, + that have for their key-note the conception of expediency or convenience, + and are tested by their conformity to the observed and recorded experience + of mankind. According to this method, the ground and origin of society is + not a compact; that never existed in any known case, and never was a + condition of obligation either in primitive or developed societies, either + between subjects and sovereign, or between the equal members of a + sovereign body. The true ground is an acceptance of conditions which came + into existence by the sociability inherent in man, and were developed by + man's spontaneous search after convenience. The<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[ii.184]</a></span> statement that while the + constitution of man is the work of nature, that of the state is the work + of art,<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a + href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> is as misleading as + the opposite statement that governments are not made but grow.<a + name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a + href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> The truth lies between + them, in such propositions as that institutions owe their existence and + development to deliberate human effort, working in accordance with + circumstances naturally fixed both in human character and in the external + field of its activity. The obedience of the subject to the sovereign has + its root not in contract but in force,—the force of the sovereign to + punish disobedience. A man does not consent to be put to death if he shall + commit a murder, for the reason alleged by Rousseau, namely, as a means of + protecting his own life against murder.<a name="FNanchor_262_262" + id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> + There is no consent in the transaction. Some person or persons, possessed + of sovereign authority, promulgated a command that the subject should not + commit murder, and appointed penalties for such commission and it was not + a fictitious assent to these penalties, but the fact that the sovereign + was strong enough to enforce them, which made the command valid. + </p> + <p> + Supposing a law to be passed in an assembly of the sovereign people by a + majority; what binds a member of the minority to obedience? Rousseau's + answer is this:—When the law is proposed, the <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[ii.185]</a></span>question put is not + whether they approve or reject the proposition, but whether it is + conformable to the general will: the general will appears from the votes: + if the opinion contrary to my own wins the day, that only proves that I + was mistaken, and that what I took for the general will was not really so.<a + name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a + href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> We can scarcely + imagine more nonsensical sophistry than this. The proper answer evidently + is, that either experience or calculation has taught the citizens in a + popular government that in the long run it is most expedient for the + majority of votes to decide the law. In other words, the inconvenience to + the minority of submitting to a law which they dislike, is less than the + inconvenience of fighting to have their own way, or retiring to form a + separate community. The minority submit to obey laws which were made + against their will, because they cannot avoid the necessity of undergoing + worse inconveniences than are involved in this submission. The same + explanation partially covers what is unfortunately the more frequent case + in the history of the race, the submission of the majority to the laws + imposed by a minority of one or more. In both these cases, however, as in + the general question of the source of our obedience to the laws, + deliberate and conscious sense of convenience is as slight in its effect + upon conduct here, as it is in the rest of the field of our moral motives. + It is covered too thickly over and constantly neutralised by the + multitudinous growths of use, by the many <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[ii.186]</a></span>forms of fatalistic or + ascetic religious sentiment, by physical apathy of race, and all other + conditions that interpose to narrow or abrogate the authority of pure + reason over human conduct. Rousseau, expounding his conception of a normal + political state, was no doubt warranted in leaving these complicating + conditions out of account, though to do so is to rob any treatise on + government of much of its possible value. The same excuse cannot warrant + him in basing his political institutions upon a figment, instead of upon + the substantial ground of propositions about human nature, which the + average of experience in given races and at given stages of advancement + has shown to be true within those limits. There are places in his writings + where he reluctantly admits that men are only moved by their interests, + and he does not even take care to qualify this sufficiently.<a + name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a + href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> But throughout the + Social Contract we seem to be contemplating the erection of a machine + which is to work without reference to the only forces that can possibly + impart movement to it. + </p> + <p> + The consequence of this is that Rousseau gives us not the least help + towards the solution of any of the problems of actual government, because + these are naturally both suggested and guided by considerations of + expediency and improvement. It is as if he had never really settled the + ends for which government exists, beyond the construction of the + symmetrical <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[ii.187]</a></span>machine + of government itself. He is a geometer, not a mechanician; or shall we say + that he is a mechanician, and not a biologist concerned with the + conditions of a living organism. The analogy of the body politic to the + body natural was as present to him as it had been to all other writers on + society, but he failed to seize the only useful lessons which such an + analogy might have taught him—diversity of structure, difference of + function, development of strength by exercise, growth by nutrition—all + of which might have been serviceably translated into the dialect of + political science, and might have bestowed on his conception of political + society more of the features of reality. We see no room for the free play + of divergent forces, the active rivalry of hostile interests, the + regulated conflict of multifarious personal aims, which can never be + extinguished, except in moments of driving crisis, by the most sincere + attachment to the common causes of the land. Thus the modern question + which is of such vital interest for all the foremost human societies, of + the union of collective energy with the encouragement of individual + freedom, is, if not wholly untouched, at least wholly unillumined by + anything that Rousseau says. To tell us that a man on entering a society + exchanges his natural liberty for civil liberty which is limited by the + general will,<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a + href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> is to give us a + phrase, where we seek a solution. To say that if it is the opposition of + private interests which made the establishment of societies necessary, it + is <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[ii.188]</a></span>the + accord of those interests which makes them possible,<a + name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a + href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> is to utter a truth + which feeds no practical curiosity. The opposition of private interests + remains, in spite of the yoke which their accord has imposed upon it, but + which only controls and does not suppress such an opposition. What sort of + control? What degree? What bounds? + </p> + <p> + So again let us consider the statement that the instant the government + usurps the sovereignty, then the social pact is broken, and all the + citizens, restored by right to their natural liberty, are forced but not + morally obliged to obey.<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a + href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> He began by telling + his readers that man, though born free, is now everywhere in chains; and + therefore it would appear that in all existing cases the social pact has + been broken, and the citizens living under the reign of force, are free to + resume their natural liberty, if they are only strong enough to do so. + This declaration of the general duty of rebellion no doubt had its share + in generating that fervid eagerness that all other peoples should rise and + throw off the yoke, which was one of the most astonishing anxieties of the + French during their revolution. That was not the worst quality of such a + doctrine. It made government impossible, by basing <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[ii.189]</a></span>the right or duty of + resistance on a question that could not be reached by positive evidence, + but must always be decided by an arbitrary interpretation of an + arbitrarily imagined document. The moderate proposition that resistance is + lawful if a government is a bad one, and if the people are strong enough + to overthrow it, and if their leaders have reason to suppose they can + provide a less bad one in its place, supplies tests that are capable of + application. Our own writers in favour of the doctrine of resistance + partly based their arguments upon the historic instances of the Old + Testament, and it is one of the most striking contributions of + Protestantism to the cause of freedom, that it sent people in an admiring + spirit to the history of the most rebellious nation that ever existed, and + so provided them in Hebrew insurgency with a corrective for the too + submissive political teaching of the Gospel. But these writers have + throughout a tacit appeal to expediency, as writers might always be + expected to have, who were really meditating on the possibility of their + principles being brought to the test of practice. There can be no evidence + possible, with a test so vague as the fact of the rupture of a compact + whose terms are authentically known to nobody concerned. Speak of bad laws + and good, wise administration or unwise, just government or unjust, + extravagant or economical, civically elevating or demoralising; all these + are questions which men may apply themselves to settle with knowledge, and + with a more or less definite degree of assurance. But who can tell how he + is to find out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[ii.190]</a></span> + whether sovereignty has been usurped, and the social compact broken? Was + there a usurpation of sovereignty in France not many years ago, when the + assumption of power by the prince was ratified by many millions of votes? + </p> + <p> + The same case, we are told, namely, breach of the social compact and + restoration of natural liberty, occurs when the members of the government + usurp separately the power which they ought only to exercise in a body.<a + name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a + href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> Now this description + applies very fairly to the famous episode in our constitutional history, + connected with George the Third's first attack of madness in 1788. + Parliament cannot lawfully begin business without a declaration of the + cause of summons from the crown. On this occasion parliament both met and + deliberated without communication from the crown. What was still more + important was a vote of the parliament itself, authorising the passing of + letters patent under the great seal for opening parliament by commission, + and for giving assent to a Regency Bill. This was a distinct usurpation of + regal authority. Two members of the government (in Rousseau's sense of the + term), namely the houses of parliament, usurped the power which they ought + only to have exercised along with the crown.<a name="FNanchor_269_269" + id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> + The Whigs denounced the proceeding as a fiction, a forgery, a phantom, but + if they had been readers of the Social Contract, and if <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[ii.191]</a></span>they + had been bitten by its dogmatic temper, they would have declared the + compact of union violated, and all British citizens free to resume their + natural rights. Not even the bitter virulence of faction at that time + could tempt any politician to take up such a line, though within half a + dozen years each of the democratic factions in France had worked at the + overthrow of every other in turn, on the very principle which Rousseau had + formulated and Robespierre had made familiar, that usurped authority is a + valid reason for annihilating a government, no matter under what + circumstances, nor how small the chance of replacing it by a better, nor + how enormous the peril to the national well-being in the process. The true + opposite to so anarchic a doctrine is assuredly not that of passive + obedience either to chamber or monarch, but the right and duty of throwing + off any government which inflicts more disadvantages than it confers + advantages. Rousseau's whole theory tends inevitably to substitute a long + series of struggles after phrases and shadows in the new era, for the + equally futile and equally bloody wars of dynastic succession which have + been the great curse of the old. Men die for a phrase as they used to die + for a family. The other theory, which all English politicians accept in + their hearts, and so many commanding French politicians have seemed in + their hearts to reject, was first expounded in direct view of Rousseau's + teaching by Paley.<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a + href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> Of course the + greatest, widest, and loftiest <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" + id="Page_192">[ii.192]</a></span>exposition of the bearings of expediency + on government and its conditions, is to be found in the magnificent and + immortal pieces of Burke, some of them suggested by absolutist violations + of the doctrine in our own affairs, and some of them by anarchic violation + of it in the affairs of France, after the seed sown by Rousseau had + brought forth fruit. + </p> + <p> + We should, however, be false to our critical principle, if we did not + recognise the historical effect of a speculation scientifically valueless. + There has been no attempt to palliate either the shallowness or the + practical mischievousness of the Social Contract. But there is another + side to its influence. It was the match which kindled revolutionary fire + in generous breasts throughout Europe. Not in France merely, but in + Germany as well, its phrases became the language of all who aspired after + freedom. Schiller spoke of Rousseau as one who "converted Christians + into human beings," and the <i>Robbers</i> (1778) is as if it had + been directly inspired by the doctrine that usurped sovereignty restores + men to their natural rights. Smaller men in the violent movement which + seized all the youth of Germany at that time, followed the same lead, if + they happened to have any feeling about the political condition of their + enslaved countries.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[ii.193]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + There was alike in France and Germany a craving for a return to nature + among the whole of the young generation.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" + id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> + The Social Contract supplied a dialect for this longing on one side, just + as the Emilius supplied it on another. Such parts in it as people did not + understand or did not like, they left out. They did not perceive its + direction towards that "perfect Hobbism," which the author + declared to be the only practical alternative to a democracy so austere as + to be intolerable. They grasped phrases about the sovereignty of the + people, the freedom for which nature had destined man, the slavery to + which tyrants and oppressors had brought him. Above all they were struck + by the patriotism which shines so brightly in every page, like the fire on + the altar of one of those ancient cities which had inspired the writer's + ideal. + </p> + <p> + Yet there is a marked difference in the channels along which Rousseau's + influence moved in the two countries. In France it was drawn eventually + into the sphere of direct politics. In Germany it inspired not a great + political movement, but an immense literary revival. In France, as we have + already said, the patriotic flame seemed extinct. The ruinous disorder of + the whole social system made the old love of country resemble love for a + phantom, and so much of patriotic speech as survived was profoundly + hollow. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[ii.194]</a></span>Even + a man like Turgot was not so much a patriot as a passionate lover of + improvement, and with the whole school of which this great spirit was the + noblest and strongest, a generous citizenship of the world had replaced + the narrower sentiment which had inflamed antique heroism. Rousseau's + exaltation of the Greek and Roman types in all their concentration and + intensity, touches mortals of commoner mould. His theory made the native + land what it had been to the citizens of earlier date, a true centre of + existence, round which all the interests of the community, all its + pursuits, all its hopes, grouped themselves with entire singleness of + convergence, just as religious faith is the centre of existence to a + church. It was the virile and patriotic energy thus evoked which presently + saved France from partition. + </p> + <p> + We complete the estimate of the positive worth and tendencies of the + Social Contract by adding to this, which was for the time the cardinal + service, of rekindling the fire of patriotism, the rapid deduction from + the doctrine of the sovereignty of peoples of the great truth, that a + nation with a civilised polity does not consist of an order or a caste, + but of the great body of its members, the army of toilers who make the + most painful of the sacrifices that are needed for the continuous + nutrition of the social organisation. As Condorcet put it, and he drew + inspiration partly from the intellectual school of Voltaire, and partly + from the social school of Rousseau, all institutions ought to have for + their aim the physical, intellectual,<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[ii.195]</a></span> and moral amelioration + of the poorest and most numerous class.<a name="FNanchor_272_272" + id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> + This is the People. Second, there gradually followed from the important + place given by Rousseau to the idea of equal association, as at once the + foundation and the enduring bond of a community, those schemes of + Mutualism, and all the other shapes of collective action for a common + social good, which have possessed such commanding attraction for the + imagination of large classes of good men in France ever since. Hitherto + these forms have been sterile and deceptive, and they must remain so, + until the idea of special function has been raised to an equal level of + importance with that of united forces working together to a single end. + </p> + <p> + In these ways the author of the Social Contract did involuntarily and + unconsciously contribute to the growth of those new and progressive ideas, + in which for his own part he lacked all faith. Præ-Newtonians knew + not the wonders of which Newton was to find the key; and so we, grown + weary of waiting for the master intelligence who may effect the final + combination of moral and scientific ideas needed for a new social era, may + be inclined to lend a half-complacent ear to the arid sophisters who + assume that the last word of civilisation has been heard in existing + arrangements. But we may perhaps take courage from <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[ii.196]</a></span>history to hope that + generations will come, to whom our system of distributing among a few the + privileges and delights that are procured by the toil of the many, will + seem just as wasteful, as morally hideous, and as scientifically + indefensible, as that older system which impoverished and depopulated + empires, in order that a despot or a caste might have no least wish + ungratified, for which the lives or the hard-won treasure of others could + suffice. + </p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3> + FOOTNOTES: + </h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, I. viii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. xi. He had written in much the same sense in his article + on Political Economy in the Encyclopædia, p. 34. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> + Robespierre disclaimed the intention of attacking property, and took + up a position like that of Rousseau—teaching the poor contempt + for the rich, not envy. "I do not want to touch your treasures," + he cried, on one occasion, "however impure their source. It is + far more an object of concern to me to make poverty honourable, than + to proscribe wealth; the thatched hut of Fabricius never need envy the + palace of Crassus. I should be at least as content, for my own part, + to be one of the sons of Aristides, brought up in the Prytaneium at + the public expense, as the heir presumptive of Xerxes, born in the + mire of royal courts, to sit on a throne decorated by the abasement of + the people, and glittering with the public misery." Quoted in + Malon's <i>Exposé des Ecoles Socialistes françaises</i>, 15. + Baboeuf carried Rousseau's sentiments further towards their natural + conclusion by such propositions as these: "The goal of the + revolution is to destroy inequality, and to re-establish the happiness + of all." "The revolution is not finished, because the rich + absorb all the property, and hold exclusive power; while the poor toil + like born slaves, languish in wretchedness, and are nothing in the + state." <i>Exposé des Ecoles Socialistes françaises</i>, + p. 29. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. xi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, I. iv. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + II. vii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Ch. vi. + (vol. v. 371; edit. 1801). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Ch. vii. + (p. 383.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> Goguet, + in his <i>Origine des Lois, des Arts, et des Sciences</i> (1758), + really attempted as laboriously as possible to carry out a notion of + the historical method, but the fact that history itself at that time + had never been subjected to scientific examination made his effort + valueless. He accumulates testimony which would be excellent evidence, + if only it had been sifted, and had come out of the process + substantially undiminished. Yet even Goguet, who thus carefully + followed the accounts of early societies given in the Bible and other + monuments, intersperses abstract general statements about man being + born free and independent (i. 25), and entering society as the result + of deliberate reflection. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. xi. Also III. viii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> II. xi. + Also ch. viii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> II. + viii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> II. ix. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> <i>Politics</i>, + VII. iv. 8, 10. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. x. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Plato's + <i>Laws</i>, v. 737. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + iv. 705. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> <i>Projet + de Constitution pour la Corse</i>, p. 75. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> <i>Gouvernement + de Pologne</i>, ch. xi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. vii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Goguet + was much nearer to a true conception of this kind; see, for instance, + <i>Origine des Lois</i>, i. 46. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Decree + of the Committee, April 20, 1794, reported by Billaud-Varennes. + Compare ch. iv. of Rousseau's <i>Considérations sur le + Gouvernement de Pologne</i>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Here are + some of Saint Just's regulations:—No servants, nor gold or + silver vessels; no child under 16 to eat meat, nor any adult to eat + meat on three days of the decade; boys at the age of 7 to be handed + over to the school of the nation, where they were to be brought up to + speak little, to endure hardships, and to train for war; divorce to be + free to all; friendship ordained a public institution, every citizen + on coming to majority being bound to proclaim his friends, and if he + had none, then to be banished; if one committed a crime, his friends + were to be banished. Quoted in Von Sybel's <i>Hist. French Rev.</i>, + iv. 49. When Morelly dreamed his dream of a model community in 1754 + (see above, <a href="#Page_i.158">vol. i. p. 158</a>) + he little supposed, one would think, that within forty years a man + would be so near trying the experiment in France as Saint Just was. + Baboeuf is pronounced by La Harpe to have been inspired by the Code de + la Nature, which La Harpe impudently set down to Diderot, on whom + every great destructive piece was systematically fathered. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> I forget + where I have read the story of some member of the Convention being + very angry because the library contained no copy of the laws which + Minos gave to the Cretans. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> III. + xiii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> III. xv. + He actually recommended the Poles to pay all public functionaries in + kind, and to have the public works executed on the system of corvée. + <i>Gouvernement de Pologne</i>, ch. xi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, III. ii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> II. i. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> II. ii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> III. i. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> II. vi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> II. iv. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> IV. vi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> <i>Economie + Politique</i>, p. 30. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> <i>Mélanges</i>, + p. 310. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> See for + instance Green's <i>History of the English People</i>, i. 266. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> <i>Summa</i>, + xc.-cviii. (1265-1273). See Maurice's <i>Moral and Metaphysical + Philosophy</i>, i. 627, 628. Also Franck's <i>Réformateurs et + Publicistes de l'Europe</i>, p. 48, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> <i>Defensor + Pacis</i>, Pt. I., ch. xii. This, again, is an example of Marsilio's + position:—"Convenerunt enim homines ad civilem + communicationem propter commodum et vitæ sufficientiam + consequendam, et opposita declinandum. Quæ igitur omnium tangere + possunt commodum et incommodum, ab omnibus sciri debent et audiri, ut + commodum assequi et oppositum repellere possint." The whole + chapter is a most interesting anticipation, partly due to the + influence of Aristotle, of the notions of later centuries. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> See + Bayle's Dict., s.v. <i>Althusius</i>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> <i>Lettres + de la Montagne</i>, I. vi. 388. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> <i>Eccles. + Polity</i>, Bk. i.; bks. i.-iv., 1594; bk. v., 1597; bks. vi.-viii., + 1647,—being forty-seven years after the author's death. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> Goguet (<i>Origine + des Lois</i>, i. 22) dwells on tacit conventions as a kind of + engagement to which men commit themselves with extreme facility. He + was thus rather near the true idea of the spontaneous origin and + unconscious acceptance of early institutions. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Of Civil + Government, ch. xiii. See also ch. xi. "This legislative is not + only the supreme power of the commonwealth, but sacred and unalterable + in the hands where the community have once placed it; nor can any + edict of anybody else, in what form soever conceived, or by what power + soever backed, have the force and obligation of a law, which has not + its sanction from that legislative which the public has chosen and + appointed; for without this the law could not have that which is + absolutely necessary to its being a law—the consent of the + society; over whom nobody can have a power to make laws, but by their + own consent, and by authority received from them." If Rousseau + had found no neater expression for his doctrine than this, the Social + Contract would assuredly have been no explosive. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> See + especially ch. viii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Hence + the antipathy of the clergy, catholic, episcopalian, and presbyterian, + to which, as Austin has pointed out (<i>Syst. of Jurisprudence</i>, i. + 288, <i>n.</i>), Hobbes mainly owes his bad repute. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> See + Diderot's article on <i>Hobbisme</i> in the Encyclopædia, <i>Oeuv.</i>, + xv. 122. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> <i>Esprit + des Lois</i>, I. i. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. vi. 50. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Goguet + has the merit of seeing distinctly that command is the essence of law. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. vi. 51-53. See Austin's <i>Jurisprudence</i>, i. 95, + etc.; also <i>Lettres écrites de la Montagne</i>, I. vi. 380, + 381. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> See, for + instance, letter to Mirabeau (<i>l'ami des hommes</i>), July 26, 1767. + <i>Corr.</i>, v. 179. The same letter contains his criticism on the + good despot of the Economists. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> <i>L'Ordre + Naturel et Essentiel des Sociétés Politiques</i> (1767). By + Mercier de la Rivière. One episode in the life of Mercier de la + Rivière is worth recounting, as closely connected with the + subject we are discussing. Just as Corsicans and Poles applied to + Rousseau, Catherine of Russia, in consequence of her admiration for + Rivière's book, summoned him to Russia to assist her in making + laws. "Sir," said the Czarina, "could you point out to + me the best means for the good government of a state?" "Madame, + there is only one way, and that is being just; in other words, in + keeping order and exacting obedience to the laws." "But on + what base is it best to make the laws of an empire repose?" + "There is only one base, Madame: the nature of things and of men." + "Just so; but when you wish to give laws to a people, what are + the rules which indicate most surely such laws as are most suitable?" + "To give or make laws, Madame, is a task that God has left to + none. Ah, who is the man that should think himself capable of + dictating laws for beings that he does not know, or knows so ill? And + by what right can he impose laws on beings whom God has never placed + in his hands?" "To what, then, do you reduce the science of + government?" "To studying carefully; recognising and setting + forth the laws which God has graven so manifestly in the very + organisation of men, when he called them into existence. To wish to go + any further would be a great misfortune and a most destructive + undertaking." "Sir, I am very pleased to have heard what you + have to say; I wish you good day." Quoted from Thiébault's + <i>Souvenirs de Berlin</i>, in M. Daire's edition of the <i>Physiocrates</i>, + ii. 432. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. vii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 181. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, I. v., vi., vii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> <i>Leviathan</i>, + II., ch. xviii. vol. iii. 159 (Molesworth's edition). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, III. xvi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> <i>Civil + Government</i>, ch. viii. § 99. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> I. vi. + Especially the footnote. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. i. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> <i>Syst. + of Jurisprudence</i>, i. 256. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, III. xv. 137. It was not long, however, before Rousseau + found reason to alter his opinion in this respect. The champions of + the Council at Geneva compared the <i>droit négatif</i>, in the + exercise of which the Council had refused to listen to the + representations of Rousseau's partisans (see above, vol. ii. p. <a + href="#Page_105">105</a>) to the right of veto possessed by the crown + in Great Britain. Rousseau seized upon this egregious blunder, which + confused the power of refusing assent to a proposed law, with the + power of refusing justice under law already passed. He at once found + illustrations of the difference, first in the case of the printers of + No. 45 of the <i>North Briton</i>, who brought actions for false + imprisonment (1763), and next in the proceedings against Wilkes at the + same time. If Wilkes, said Rousseau, had written, printed, published, + or said, one-fourth against the Lesser Council at Geneva of what he + said, wrote, printed, and published openly in London against the court + and the government, he would have been heavily punished, and most + likely put to death. And so forth, until he has proved very pungently + how different degrees of freedom are enjoyed in Geneva and in England. + <i>Lettres écrites de la Montague</i>, ix. 491-500. When he wrote + this he was unaware that the Triennial Act had long been replaced by + the Septennial Act of the 1 Geo. I. On finding out, as he did + afterwards, that a parliament could sit for seven years, he thought as + meanly of our liberty as ever. <i>Considérations sur les + gouvernement de Pologne</i>, ch. vii. 253-260. In his <i>Projet de + Constitution pour la Corse</i>, p. 113, he says that "the English + do not love liberty for itself, but because it is most favourable to + money-making." + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> III., + xi., xii., and xiii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> Mr. + Freeman's <i>Growth of the English Constitution</i>, c. i. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, III. xv. 140. A small manuscript containing his ideas on + confederation was given by Rousseau to the Count d'Antraigues + (afterwards an <i>émigré</i>), who destroyed it in 1789, + lest its arguments should be used to sap the royal authority. See + extract from his pamphlet, prefixed to M. Auguis's edition of the + Social Contract, pp. xxiii, xxiv. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> <i>Gouvernement + de Pologne</i>, v. 246. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> Of + course no such modification as that proposed by Comte (<i>Politique + Positive</i>, iv. 421) would come within the scope of the doctrine of + the Social Contract. For each of the seventeen Intendances into which + Comte divides France, is to be ruled by a chief, "always + appointed and removed by the central power." There is no room for + the sovereignty of the people here, even in things parochial. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> There + was one extraordinary instance during the revolution of attempting to + make popular government direct on Rousseau's principle, in the scheme + (1790) of which Danton was a chief supporter, for reorganising the + municipal administration of Paris. The assemblies of sections were to + sit permanently; their vote was to be taken on current questions; and + action was to follow the aggregate of their degrees. See Von Sybel's + <i>Hist. Fr. Rev.</i> i. 275; M. Louis Blanc's <i>History</i>, Bk. + III. ch. ii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> This was + also Bodin's definition of an aristocratic state; "si minor pars + civium cæteris imperat." + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> <i>Politics</i>, + III. vi.-vii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> <i>Esprit + des Lois</i>, II. i. ii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> Rousseau + gave the name of <i>tyrant</i> to a usurper of royal authority in a + kingdom, and <i>despot</i> to a usurper of the sovereign authority (<i>i.e.</i> + <span lang="el" title="Greek: tyrannos">τυραννος</span> + in the Greek sense). The former might govern according to the laws, + but the latter placed himself above the laws (<i>Cont. Soc.</i>, III. + x.) This corresponded to Locke's distinction: "As usurpation is + the exercise of power which another hath a right to, so tyranny is the + exercise of a power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to." + <i>Civil Gov.</i>, ch. xviii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> III. iv. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> III. vi. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> III. v. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, IV. viii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, IV. viii. 197-201. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> This is + not unlike what Tocqueville says somewhere, that Christianity bids you + render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, but seems to + discourage any inquiry whether Cæsar is an usurper or a lawful + ruler. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, IV. viii. 203. As we have already seen, he had entreated + Voltaire, of all men in the world, to draw up a civil profession of + faith. See <a href="#Page_i.318">vol. i. 318</a>. + </p> + <p> + In the New Heloïsa (V. v. 117, <i>n.</i>) Rousseau expresses his + opinion that "no true believer could be intolerant or a + persecutor. <i>If I were a magistrate, and if the law pronounced the + penalty of death against atheists, I would begin by burning as such + whoever should come to inform against another.</i>" + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Plato's + <i>Laws</i>, Bk. x. 909, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> <i>Areopagitica</i>, + p. 417. (Edit. 1867.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> See a + speech of his, which is Rousseau's "civil faith" done into + rhetoric, given in M. Louis Blanc's <i>Hist. de la Rév. Française</i>, + Bk. x. c. xiv. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> <i>Considérations + sur le gouvernement ancien et présent de la France</i> (1764). + Quoted by Rousseau from a manuscript copy. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> <i>Leviathan</i>, + ch. xliii. 601. Also ch. xlii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, III. xi. Borrowed from Hobbes, who said, "Magnus ille + Leviathan quæ civitas appellatur, opificium artis est." + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> + Mackintosh's. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. v. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> IV. ii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> For + instance, <i>Gouvernement de la Pologne</i>, ch. xi. p. 305. And <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 180. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, I. viii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, II. i. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, + III. x. "Let every individual who may usurp the sovereignty be + instantly put to death by free men." Robespierre's <i>Déclaration + des droits de l'homme</i>, § 27. "When the government + violates the rights of the people, insurrection becomes for the people + the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties." + § 35. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> <i>Cont. + Soc.</i>, III. x. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> See + May's <i>Constitutional Hist. of England</i>, ch. iii; and Lord + Stanhope's <i>Life of Pitt</i>, vol. ii. ch. xii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> In the + 6th book of the <i>Moral Philosophy</i> (1785), ch. iii., and + elsewhere. In the preface he refers to the effect which Rousseau's + political theory was supposed to have had in the civil convulsions of + Geneva, as one of the reasons which encouraged him to publish his own + book. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> One side + of this was the passion for geographical exploration which took + possession of Europe towards the middle of the eighteenth century. See + the <i>Life of Humboldt</i>, i. 28, 29. (<i>Eng. Trans.</i> by + Lassell.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> + Rousseau's influence on Condorcet is seen in the latter's maxim, which + has found such favour in the eyes of socialist writers, that "not + only equality of right, but equality of fact, is the goal of the + social art." + </p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[ii.197]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <h3> + EMILIUS. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">One</span> whose most intense conviction was faith in + the goodness of all things and creatures as they are first produced by + nature, and so long as they remain unsophisticated by the hand and purpose + of man, was in some degree bound to show a way by which this evil process + of sophistication might be brought to the lowest possible point, and the + best of all natural creatures kept as near as possible to his high + original. Rousseau, it is true, held in a sense of his own the doctrine of + the fall of man. That doctrine, however, has never made people any more + remiss in the search after a virtue, which if they ought to have regarded + it as hopeless according to strict logic, is still indispensable in actual + life. Rousseau's way of believing that man had fallen was so coloured at + once by that expansion of sanguine emotion which marked his century, and + by that necessity for repose in idyllic perfection of simplicity which + marked his own temperament, that enthusiasm for an imaginary human + creature effectually shut out the dogma of his fatal depravation. "How + difficult a thing it is," Madame<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[ii.198]</a></span> d'Epinay once said to + him, "to bring up a child." "Assuredly it is," + answered Rousseau; "because the father and mother are not made by + nature to bring it up, nor the child to be brought up."<a + name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a + href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> This cynical speech + can only have been an accidental outbreak of spleen. It was a + contradiction to his one constant opinion that nature is all good and + bounteous, and that the inborn capacity of man for reaching true happiness + knows no stint. + </p> + <p> + In writing Emilius, he sat down to consider what man is, and what can be + made of him. Here, as in all the rest of his work, he only obeyed the + tendencies of his time in choosing a theme. An age touched by the spirit + of hope inevitably turns to the young; for with the young lies fulfilment. + Such epochs are ever pressing with the question, how is the future to be + shaped? Our answer depends on the theory of human disposition, and in + these epochs the theory is always optimistic. Rousseau was saved, as so + many thousands of men have been alike in conduct and speculation, by + inconsistency, and not shrinking from two mutually contradictory trains of + thought. Society is corrupt, and society is the work of man. Yet man, who + has engendered this corrupted birth, is good and whole. The strain in the + argument may be pardoned for the hopefulness of the conclusion. It brought + Rousseau into harmony with the eager effort of the time to pour young + character into finer mould, and made him the most powerful agent in giving + to such efforts both <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[ii.199]</a></span>fervour + and elevation. While others were content with the mere enunciation of + maxims and precepts, he breathed into them the spirit of life, and + enforced them with a vividness of faith that clothed education with the + augustness and unction of religion. The training of the young soul to + virtue was surrounded with something of the awful holiness of a sacrament; + and those who laboured in this sanctified field were exhorted to a + constancy of devotion, and were promised a fulness of recompense, that + raised them from the rank of drudges to a place of highest honour among + the ministers of nature. + </p> + <p> + Everybody at this time was thinking about education, partly perhaps on + account of the suppression of the Jesuits, the chief instructors of the + time, and a great many people were writing about it. The Abbé de + Saint Pierre had had new ideas on education, as on all the greater + departments of human interest. Madame d'Epinay wrote considerations upon + the bringing up of the young.<a name="FNanchor_274_274" + id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> + Madame de Grafigny did the same in a less grave shape.<a + name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a + href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> She received letters + from the precociously sage Turgot, abounding in the same natural and + sensible precepts which ten years later were commended with more glowing + eloquence in the pages of Emilius.<a name="FNanchor_276_276" + id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> + Grimm had an elaborate scheme for a treatise on education.<a + name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a + href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> Helvétius + followed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[ii.200]</a></span>his + exploration of the composition of the human mind, by a treatise on the + training proper for the intellectual and moral faculties. Education by + these and other writers was being conceived in a wider sense than had been + known to ages controlled by ecclesiastical collegians. It slowly came to + be thought of in connection with the family. The improvement of ideas upon + education was only one phase of that great general movement towards the + restoration of the family, which was so striking a spectacle in France + after the middle of the century. Education now came to comprehend the + whole system of the relations between parents and their children, from + earliest infancy to maturity. The direction of this wider feeling about + such relations tended strongly towards an increased closeness in them, + more intimacy, and a more continuous suffusion of tenderness and long + attachment. All this was part of the general revival of naturalism. People + began to reflect that nature was not likely to have designed infants to be + suckled by other women than their own mothers, nor that they should be + banished from the society of those who are most concerned in their + well-being, from the cheerful hearth and wise affectionate converse of + home, to the frigid discipline of colleges and convents and the unamiable + monition of strangers. + </p> + <p> + Then the rising rebellion against the church and its faith perhaps + contributed something towards a movement which, if it could not break the + religious monopoly of instruction, must at least introduce the<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[ii.201]</a></span> + parent as a competitor with the priestly instructor for influence over the + ideas, habits, and affections of his children. The rebellion was aimed + against the spirit as well as the manner of the established system. The + church had not fundamentally modified the significance of the dogma of the + fall and depravity of man; education was still conceived as a process of + eradication and suppression of the mystical old Adam. The new current + flowed in channels far away from that black folly of superstition. Men at + length ventured once more to look at one another with free and generous + gaze. The veil of the temple was rent, and the false mockeries of the + shrine of the Hebrew divinity made plain to scornful eyes. People ceased + to see one another as guilty victims cowering under a divine curse. They + stood erect in consciousness of manhood. The palsied conception of man, + with his large discourse of reason looking before and after, his lofty and + majestic patience in search for new forms of beauty and new secrets of + truth, his sense of the manifold sweetness and glory and awe of the + universe, above all, his infinite capacity of loyal pity and love for his + comrades in the great struggle, and his high sorrow for his own + wrong-doing,—the palsied and crushing conception of this excellent + and helpful being as a poor worm, writhing under the vindictive and + meaningless anger of an omnipotent tyrant in the large heavens, only to be + appeased by sacerdotal intervention, was fading back into those regions of + night, whence the depth of human misery and the obscura<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[ii.202]</a></span>tion + of human intelligence had once permitted its escape, to hang evilly over + the western world for a season. So vital a change in the point of view + quickly touched the theory and art of the upbringing of the young. + Education began to figure less as the suppression of the natural man, than + his strengthening and development; less as a process of rooting out tares, + more as the grateful tending of shoots abounding in promise of richness. + What had been the most drearily mechanical of duties, was transformed into + a task that surpassed all others in interest and hope. If man be born not + bad but good, under no curse, but rather the bestower and receiver of many + blessings, then the entire atmosphere of young life, in spite of the toil + and the peril, is made cheerful with the sunshine and warmth of the great + folded possibilities of excellence, happiness, and well-doing. + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>I.</b> + </p> + <p> + Locke in education, as in metaphysics and in politics, was the pioneer of + French thought. In education there is less room for scientific + originality. The sage of a parish, provided only she began her trade with + an open and energetic mind, may here pass philosophers. Locke was nearly + as sage, as homely, as real, as one of these strenuous women. The honest + plainness of certain of his prescriptions for the preservation of physical + health perhaps keeps us somewhat too near the earth. His manner throughout + is marked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[ii.203]</a></span> + by the stout wisdom of the practical teacher, who is content to assume + good sense in his hearers, and feels no necessity for kindling a blaze or + raising a tempest. He gives us a practical manual for producing a healthy, + instructed, upright, well-mannered young English squire, who shall be + rightly fitted to take his own life sensibly in hand, and procure from it + a fair amount of wholesome satisfaction both for himself and the people + with whom he is concerned. Locke's treatise is one of the most admirable + protests in the world against effeminacy and pedantry, and parents already + moved by grave desire to do their duty prudently to their sons, will + hardly find another book better suited to their ends. Besides Locke, we + must also count Charron, and the amazing educator of Gargantua, and + Montaigne before either, among the writers whom Rousseau had read, with + that profit and increase which attends the dropping of the good ideas of + other men into fertile minds. + </p> + <p> + There is an immense class of natures, and those not the lowest, which the + connection of duty with mere prudence does not carry far enough. They only + stir when something has moved their feeling for the ideal, and raised the + mechanical offices of the narrow day into association with the + spaciousness and height of spiritual things. To these Rousseau came. For + both the tenour and the wording of the most striking precepts of the + Emilius, he owes much to Locke. But what was so realistic in him becomes + blended in Rousseau with all the power and richness and beauty<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[ii.204]</a></span> of an + ideal that can move the most generous parts of human character. The child + is treated as the miniature of humanity; it thus touches the whole sphere + of our sympathies, warms our curiosity as to the composition of man's + nature, and becomes the very eye and centre of moral and social + aspirations. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly Rousseau almost at once begins by elaborating his conception + of the kind of human creature which it is worth while to take the trouble + to rear, and the only kind which pure nature will help you in perfecting. + Hence Emilius, besides being a manual for parents, contains the lines of a + moral type of life and character for all others. The old thought of the + Discourses revives in full vigour. The artifices of society, the + perverting traditions of use, the feeble maxims of indolence, convention, + helpless dependence on the aid or the approval of others, are routed at + the first stroke. The old regimen of accumulated prejudice is replaced, in + dealing alike with body and soul, by the new system of liberty and nature. + In saying this we have already said that the exaltation of Spartan manners + which runs through Rousseau's other writings has vanished, and that every + trace of the much-vaunted military and public training has yielded before + the attractive thought of tender parents and a wisely ruled home. Public + instruction, we learn, can now no longer exist, because there is no longer + such a thing as country, and therefore there can no longer be citizens. + Only domestic education can now help us to rear the man according to + nature,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[ii.205]</a></span>—the + man who knows best among us how to bear the mingled good and ill of our + life. + </p> + <p> + The artificial society of the time, with its aspirations after a return to + nature, was moved to the most energetic enthusiasm by Rousseau's famous + exhortations to mothers to nourish their own little ones. Morelly, as we + have seen, had already enjoined the adoption of this practice. So too had + Buffon. But Morelly's voice had no resonance, Buffon's reasons were purely + physical, and children were still sent out to nurse, until Rousseau's more + passionate moral entreaties awoke maternal conscience. "Do these + tender mothers," he exclaimed, "who, when they have got rid of + their infants, surrender themselves gaily to all the diversions of the + town, know what sort of usage the child in the village is receiving, + fastened in his swaddling band? At the least interruption that comes, they + hang him up by a nail like a bundle of rags, and there the poor creature + remains thus crucified, while the nurse goes about her affairs. Every + child found in this position had a face of purple; as the violent + compression of the chest would not allow the blood to circulate, it all + went to the head, and the victim was supposed to be very quiet, just + because it had not strength enough to cry out."<a + name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a + href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> But in Rousseau, as in + Beethoven, a harsh and rugged passage is nearly always followed by some + piece of exquisite and touching melody. The force of these indignant + pictures was heightened and relieved by <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[ii.206]</a></span>moving appeal to all the + tender joys of maternal solicitude, and thoughts of all that this + solicitude could do for the happiness of the home, the father, and the + young. The attraction of domestic life is pronounced the best antidote to + the ill living of the time. The bustle of children, which you now think so + importunate, gradually becomes delightful; it brings father and mother + nearer to one another; and the lively animation of a family added to + domestic cares, makes the dearest occupation of the wife, and the sweetest + of all his amusements to the husband. If women will only once more become + mothers again, men will very soon become fathers and husbands.<a + name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a + href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> + </p> + <p> + The physical effect of this was not altogether wholesome. Rousseau's + eloquence excited women to an inordinate pitch of enthusiasm for the duty + of suckling their infants, but his contemptuous denunciation of the + gaieties of Paris could not extinguish the love of amusement. + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Quid quod libelli Stoici inter sericos<br /></span> + <span class="i2">Jacere pulvillos amant?<br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + So young mothers tried as well as they could to satisfy both desires, and + their babes were brought to them at all unseasonable hours, while they + were <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[ii.207]</a></span>full + of food and wine, or heated with dancing or play, and there received the + nurture which, but for Rousseau, they would have drawn in more salutary + sort from a healthy foster-mother in the country. This, however, was only + an incidental drawback to a movement which was in its main lines full of + excellent significance. The importance of giving freedom to the young + limbs, of accustoming the body to rudeness and vicissitude of climate, of + surrounding youth with light and cheerfulness and air, and even a tiny + detail such as the propriety of substituting for coral or ivory some soft + substance against which the growing teeth might press a way without + irritation, all these matters are handled with a fervid reality of + interest that gives to the tedium of the nursery a genuine touch of the + poetic. Swathings, bandages, leading-strings, are condemned with a warmth + like that with which the author had denounced comedy.<a + name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a + href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> The city is held up to + indignant reprobation as the gulf of infant life, just as it had been in + his earlier pieces as the gulf of all the loftiest energies of the adult + life. Every child ought to be born and nursed in the country, and it would + be all the better if it remained in the country to the last day of its + existence. You must accustom it little by little to the sight of + disagreeable objects, such as toads and snakes; also in the same gradual + manner to the sound of alarming noises, beginning with <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[ii.208]</a></span>snapping + a cap in a pistol. If the infant cries from pain which you cannot remove, + make no attempt to soothe it; your caresses will not lessen the anguish of + its colic, while the child will remember what it has to do in order to be + coaxed and to get its own way. The nurse may amuse it by songs and lively + cries, but she is not to din useless words into its ears; the first + articulations that come to it should be few, easy, distinct, frequently + repeated, and only referring to objects which may be shown to the child. + "Our unlucky facility in cheating ourselves with words that we do not + understand, begins earlier than we suppose." Let there be no haste in + inducing the child to speak articulately. The evil of precipitation in + this respect is not that children use and hear words without sense, but + that they use and hear them in a different sense from our own, without our + perceiving it. Mistakes of this sort, committed thus early, have an + influence, even after they are cured, over the turn of the mind for the + rest of the creature's life. Hence it is a good thing to keep a child's + vocabulary as limited as possible, lest it should have more words than + ideas, and should say more than it can possibly realise in thought.<a + name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a + href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> + </p> + <p> + In moral as in intellectual habits, the most perilous interval in human + life is that between birth and the age of twelve. The great secret is to + make the early education purely negative; a process of keeping the heart, + naturally so good, clear of vice, and the in<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[ii.209]</a></span>telligence, naturally so + true, clear of error. Take for first, second, and third precept, to follow + nature and leave her free to the performance of her own tasks. Until the + age of reason, there can be no idea of moral beings or social relations. + Therefore, says Rousseau, no moral discussion. Locke's maxim in favour of + constantly reasoning with children was a mistake. Of all the faculties of + man, reason, which is only a compound of the rest, is that which is latest + in development, and yet it is this which we are to use to develop those + which come earliest of all. Such a course is to begin at the end, and to + turn the finished work into an instrument. "In speaking to children + in these early years a language which they do not comprehend, we accustom + them to cheat themselves with words, to criticise what is said to them, to + think themselves as wise as their masters, to become disputatious and + mutinous." If you forget that nature meant children to be children + before growing into men, you only force a fruit that has neither ripeness + nor savour, and must soon go bad; you will have youthful doctors and old + infants. + </p> + <p> + To all this, however, there is certainly another side which Rousseau was + too impetuous to see. Perfected reason is truly the tardiest of human + endowments, but it can never be perfected at all unless the process be + begun, and, within limits, the sooner the beginning is made, the earlier + will be the ripening. To know the grounds of right conduct is, we admit, a + different thing from feeling a disposition to practise<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[ii.210]</a></span> it. But nobody will deny + the expediency of an intelligent acquaintance with the reasons why one + sort of conduct is bad, and its opposite good, even if such an + acquaintance can never become a substitute for the spontaneous action of + thoroughly formed habit. For one thing, cases are constantly arising in a + man's life that demand the exercise of reason, to settle the special + application of principles which may have been acquired without knowledge + of their rational foundation. In such cases, which are the critical and + testing points of character, all depends upon the possession of a more or + less justly trained intelligence, and the habit of using it. Now, as we + have said, it is one of the great merits of the Emilius that it calls such + attention to the early age at which mental influences begin to operate. + Why should the gradual formation of the master habit of using the mind be + any exception? + </p> + <p> + Belief in the efficacy of preaching is the bane of educational systems. + Verbal lessons seem as if they ought to be so deeply effective, if only + the will and the throng of various motives which guide it, instantly + followed impression of a truth upon the intelligence. And they are, + moreover, so easily communicated, saving the parent a lifetime of anxious + painstaking in shaping his own character, after such a pattern as shall + silently draw all within its influence to pursuit of good and honourable + things. The most valuable of Rousseau's notions about education, though he + by no means consistently adhered to them, was<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[ii.211]</a></span> his urgent contempt for + this fatuous substitution of spoken injunctions and prohibitions, for the + deeper language of example, and the more living instruction of visible + circumstance. The vast improvements that have since taken place in the + theory and the art of education all over Europe, and of which he has the + honour of being the first and most widely influential promoter, may all be + traced to the spread of this wise principle, and its adoption in various + forms. The change in the up-bringing of the young exactly corresponds to + the change in the treatment of the insane. We may look back to the old + system of endless catechisms, apophthegms, moral fables, and the rest of + the paraphernalia of moral didactics, with the same horror with which we + regard the gags, strait-waistcoats, chains, and dark cells, of poor mad + people before the intervention of Pinel. + </p> + <p> + It is clear now to everybody who has any opinion on this most important of + all subjects, that spontaneousness is the first quality in connection with + right doing, which you can develop in the young, and this spontaneousness + of habit is best secured by associating it with the approval of those to + whom the child looks. Sympathy, in a word, is the true foundation from + which to build up the structure of good habit. The young should be led to + practise the elementary parts of right conduct from the desire to please, + because that is a securer basis than the conclusions of an embryo reason, + applied to the most complex conditions of action, while the grounds on + which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[ii.212]</a></span> + action is justified or condemned may be made plain in the fulness of time, + when the understanding is better able to deal with the ideas and terms + essential to the matter. You have two aims to secure, each without + sacrifice of the other. These are, first, that the child shall grow up + with firm and promptly acting habit; second, that it shall retain respect + for reason and an open mind. The latter may be acquired in the less + immature years, but if the former be not acquired in the earlier times, a + man grows up with a drifting unsettledness of will, that makes his life + either vicious by quibbling sophistries, or helpless for want of ready + conclusions. + </p> + <p> + The first idea which is to be given to a child, little as we might expect + such a doctrine from the author of the Second Discourse, is declared to be + that of property. And he can only acquire this idea by having something of + his own. But how are we to teach him the significance of a thing being + one's own? It is a prime rule to attempt to teach nothing by a verbal + lesson; all instruction ought to be left to experience.<a + name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a + href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> Therefore you must + contrive some piece of experience which shall bring this notion of + property vividly into a child's mind; the following for instance. Emilius + is taken to a piece of garden; his instructor digs and dresses the ground + for him, and the boy takes possession by sowing some beans. "We come + every day to water them, and see them rise out of the ground with + transports of joy. I add to this joy <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[ii.213]</a></span>by saying, This belongs + to you. Then explaining the term, I let him feel that he has put into the + ground this time, labour, trouble, his person in short; that there is in + this bit of ground something of himself which he may maintain against + every comer, as he might withdraw his own arm from the hand of another man + who would fain retain it in spite of him." One day Emilius comes to + his beloved garden, watering-pot in hand, and finds to his anguish and + despair that all the beans have been plucked up, that the ground has been + turned over, and that the spot is hardly recognisable. The gardener comes + up, and explains with much warmth that he had sown the seed of a precious + Maltese melon in that particular spot long before Emilius had come with + his trumpery beans, and that therefore it was his land; that nobody + touches the garden of his neighbour, in order that his own may remain + untouched; and that if Emilius wants a piece of garden, he must pay for it + by surrendering to the owner half the produce.<a name="FNanchor_283_283" + id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> + Thus, says Rousseau, the boy sees how the notion of property naturally + goes back to the right of the first occupant as derived from labour. We + should have thought it less troublesome, as it is certainly more + important, to teach a boy the facts of property positively and + imperatively. This rather elaborate ascent to origins seems an exaggerated + form of that very vice of over-instructing the growing reason in + abstractions, which Rousseau had condemned so short a time before.<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[ii.214]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Again, there is the very strong objection to conveying lessons by + artificially contrived incidents, that children are nearly always + extremely acute in suspecting and discovering such contrivances. Yet + Rousseau recurs to them over and over again, evidently taking delight in + their ingenuity. Besides the illustration of the origin and significance + of property, there is the complex fancy in which a juggler is made to + combine instruction as to the properties of the magnet with certain severe + moral truths.<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a + href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> The tutor interests + Emilius in astronomy and geography by a wonderful stratagem indeed. The + poor youth loses his way in a wood, is overpowered by hunger and + weariness, and then is led on by his cunning tutor to a series of + inferences from the position of the sun and so forth, which convince him + that his home is just over the hedge, where it is duly found to be.<a + name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a + href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> Here, again, is the + way in which the instructor proposes to stir activity of limb in the young + Emilius. "In walking with him of an afternoon, I used sometimes to + put in my pocket two cakes of a sort he particularly liked; we each of us + ate one. One day he perceived that I had three cakes; he could easily have + eaten six; he promptly despatches his own, to ask me for the third. Nay, I + said to him, I could well eat it myself, or we would divide it, but I + would rather see it made the prize of a running match between the two + little boys there." The little boys run their race, and the winner + devours the cake. This and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" + id="Page_215">[ii.215]</a></span>subsequent repetitions of the performance + at first only amused Emilius, but he presently began to reflect, and + perceiving that he also had two legs, he began privately to try how fast + he could run. When he thought he was strong enough, he importuned his + tutor for the third cake, and on being refused, insisted on being allowed + to compete for it. The habit of taking exercise was not the only advantage + gained. The tutor resorted to a variety of further stratagems in order to + induce the boy to find out and practise visual compass, and so forth.<a + name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a + href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> If we consider, as we + have said, first the readiness of children to suspect a stratagem wherever + instruction is concerned, and next their resentment on discovering + artifice of that kind, all this seems as little likely to be successful as + it is assuredly contrary to Rousseau's general doctrine of leaving + circumstances to lead. + </p> + <p> + In truth Rousseau's appreciation of the real nature of spontaneousness in + the processes of education was essentially inadequate, and that it was so, + arose from a no less inadequate conception of the right influence upon the + growing character, of the great principle of authority. His dread lest the + child should ever be conscious of the pressure of a will external to its + own, constituted a fundamental weakness of his system. The child, we are + told with endless repetition, ought always to be led to suppose that it is + following its own judgment or impulses, and has only them and their + consequences to consider. But Rousseau could <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[ii.216]</a></span>not help seeing, as he + meditated on the actual development of his Emilius, that to leave him thus + to the training of accident would necessarily end in many fatal gaps and + chasms. Yet the hand and will of the parent or the master could not be + allowed to appear. The only alternative, therefore, was the secret + preparation of artificial sets of circumstances, alike in work and in + amusement. Jean Paul was wiser than Jean Jacques. "Let not the + teacher after the work also order and regulate the games. It is decidedly + better not to recognise or make any order in games, than to keep it up + with difficulty and send the zephyrets of pleasure through artistic + bellows and air-pumps to the little flowers."<a + name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a + href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> + </p> + <p> + The spontaneousness which we ought to seek, does not consist in promptly + willing this or that, independently of an authority imposed from without, + but in a self-acting desire to do what is right under all its various + conditions, including what the child finds pleasant to itself on the one + hand, and what it has good reason to suppose will be pleasant to its + parents on the other. "You must never," Rousseau gravely warns + us, "inflict punishment upon children as punishment; it should always + fall upon them as a natural consequence of their ill-behaviour."<a + name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a + href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> But why should one of + the most closely following of all these consequences be dissembled or + carefully hidden from sight, namely, the effect of ill-behaviour upon the + contentment of the child's nearest friend? Why <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[ii.217]</a></span>are the effects of + conduct upon the actor's own physical well-being to be the only effects + honoured with the title of being natural? Surely, while we leave to the + young the widest freedom of choice, and even habitually invite them to + decide for themselves between two lines of conduct, we are bound + afterwards to state our approval or disapproval of their decision, so that + on the next occasion they may take this anger or pleasure in others into + proper account in their rough and hasty forecast, often less hasty than it + seems, of the consequences of what they are about to do. One of the most + important of educating influences is lost, if the young are not taught to + place the feelings of others in a front place, when they think in their + own simple way of what will happen to them from yielding to a given + impulse. Rousseau was quite right in insisting on practical experience of + consequences as the only secure foundation for self-acting habit; he was + fatally wrong in mutilating this experience by the exclusion from it of + the effects of perceiving, resisting, accepting, ignoring, all will and + authority from without. The great, and in many respects so admirable, + school of Rousseauite philanthropists, have always been feeble on this + side, alike in the treatment of the young by their instructors, and the + treatment of social offenders by a government. + </p> + <p> + Again, consider the large group of excellent qualities which are + associated with affectionate respect for a more fully informed authority. + In a world where necessity stands for so much, it is no inconsiderable<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[ii.218]</a></span> gain + to have learnt the lesson of docility on easy terms in our earliest days. + If in another sense the will of each individual is all-powerful over his + own destinies, it is best that this idea of firm purpose and a settled + energy that will not be denied, should grow up in the young soul in + connection with a riper wisdom and an ampler experience than its own; for + then, when the time for independent action comes, the force of the + association will continue. Finally, although none can be vicariously wise, + none sage by proxy, nor any pay for the probation of another, yet is it + not a puerile wastefulness to send forth the young all bare to the ordeal, + while the armour of old experience and tempered judgment hangs idle on the + wall? Surely it is thus by accumulation of instruction from generation to + generation, that the area of right conduct in the world is extended. Such + instruction must with youth be conveyed by military word of command as + often as by philosophical persuasion of its worth. Nor is the atmosphere + of command other than bracing, even to those who are commanded. If + education is to be mainly conducted by force of example, it is a dreadful + thing that the child is ever to have before its eyes as living type and + practical exemplar the pale figure of parents without passions, and + without a will as to the conduct of those who are dependent on them. Even + a slight excess of anger, impatience, and the spirit of command, would be + less demoralising to the impressionable character than the constant sight + of a man artificially impassive.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" + id="Page_219">[ii.219]</a></span> Rousseau is perpetually calling upon men + to try to lay aside their masks; yet the model instructor whom he has + created for us is to be the most artfully and elaborately masked of all + men; unless he happens to be naturally without blood and without + physiognomy. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau, then, while he put away the old methods which imprisoned the + young spirit in injunctions and over-solicitous monitions, yet did none + the less in his own scheme imprison it in a kind of hothouse, which with + its regulated temperature and artificially contrived access of light and + air, was in many respects as little the method of nature, that is to say + it gave as little play for the spontaneous working and growth of the + forces of nature in the youth's breast, as that regimen of the cloister + which he so profoundly abhorred. Partly this was the result of a + ludicrously shallow psychology. He repeats again and again that self-love + is the one quality in the youthful embryo of character, from which you + have to work. From this, he says, springs the desire of possessing + pleasure and avoiding pain, the great fulcrum on which the lever of + experience rests. Not only so, but from this same unslumbering quality of + self-love you have to develop regard for others. The child's first + affection for his nurse is a result of the fact that she serves his + comfort, and so down to his passion in later years for his mistress. Now + this is not the place for a discussion as to the ultimate atom of the + complex moral sentiments of men and women, nor for an examination of the + question whether the faculty of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" + id="Page_220">[ii.220]</a></span> sympathy has or has not an origin + independent of self-love. However that may be, no one will deny that + sympathy appears in good natures extremely early, and is susceptible of + rapid cultivation from the very first. Here is the only adequate key to + that education of the affections, from their rudimentary expansion in the + nursery, until they include the complete range of all the objects proper + to them. + </p> + <p> + One secret of Rousseau's omission of this, the most important of all + educating agencies, from the earlier stages of the formation of character, + was the fact which is patent enough in every page, that he was not + animated by that singular tenderness and almost mystic affection for the + young, which breathes through the writings of some of his German + followers, of Richter above all others, and which reveals to those who are + sensible of it, the hold that may so easily be gained for all good + purposes upon the eager sympathy of the youthful spirit. The instructor of + Emilius speaks the words of a wise onlooker, sagely meditating on the + ideal man, rather than of a parent who is living the life of his child + through with him. Rousseau's interest in children, though perfectly + sincere, was still æsthetic, moral, reasonable, rather than that pure + flood of full-hearted feeling for them, which is perhaps seldom stirred + except in those who have actually brought up children of their own. He + composed a vindication of his love for the young in an exquisite piece;<a + name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a + href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> but it has none of the + yearnings of the bowels of tenderness.<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[ii.221]</a></span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>II.</b> + </p> + <p> + Education being the art of preparing the young to grow into instruments of + happiness for themselves and others, a writer who undertakes to speak + about it must naturally have some conception of the kind of happiness at + which his art aims. We have seen enough of Rousseau's own life to know + what sort of ideal he would be likely to set up. It is a healthier + epicureanism, with enough stoicism to make happiness safe in case that + circumstances should frown. The man who has lived most is not he who has + counted most years, but he who has most felt life.<a + name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a + href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> It is mere false + wisdom to throw ourselves incessantly out of ourselves, to count the + present for nothing, ever to pursue without ceasing a future which flees + in proportion as we advance, to try to transport ourselves from whence we + are not, to some place where we shall never be.<a name="FNanchor_291_291" + id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> + He is happiest who suffers fewest pains, and he is most miserable who + feels fewest pleasures. Then we have a half stoical strain. The felicity + of man here below is only a negative state, to be measured by the more or + less of the ills he undergoes. It is in the disproportion between desires + and faculties that our misery consists. Happiness, therefore, lies not in + diminishing our desires, nor any more in extending our faculties, but in + diminishing the excess of desire over faculty, and in bringing power and + will into perfect balance.<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a + href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> Excepting health, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[ii.222]</a></span>strength, + respect for one's self, all the goods of this life reside in opinion; + excepting bodily pain and remorse of conscience, all our ills are in + imagination. Death is no evil; it is only made so by half-knowledge and + false wisdom. "Live according to nature, be patient, and drive away + physicians; you will not avoid death, but you will only feel it once, + while they on the other hand would bring it daily before your troubled + imagination, and their false art, instead of prolonging your days, only + hinders you from enjoying them. Suffer, die, or recover; but above all + things live, live up to your last hour." It is foresight, constantly + carrying us out of ourselves, that is the true source of our miseries.<a + name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a + href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> O man, confine thy + existence within thyself, and thou wilt cease to be miserable. Thy + liberty, thy power, reach exactly as far as thy natural forces, and no + further; all the rest is slavery and illusion. The only man who has his + own will is he who does not need in order to have it the arms of another + person at the end of his own.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" + id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> + </p> + <p> + The training that follows from this is obvious. The instructor has + carefully to distinguish true or natural need from the need which is only + fancied, or which only comes from superabundance of life. Emilius, who is + brought up in the country, has nothing in his room to distinguish it from + that of a peasant.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a + href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> If he is taken to a + luxurious banquet, he is bidden, instead of heedlessly enjoying it, to + reflect austerely how many hundreds or thousands of hands <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[ii.223]</a></span>have + been employed in preparing it.<a name="FNanchor_296_296" + id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> + His preference for gay colours in his clothes is to be consulted, because + this is natural and becoming to his age, but the moment he prefers a stuff + merely because it is rich, behold a sophisticated creature.<a + name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a + href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> The curse of the world + is inequality, and inequality springs from the multitude of wants, which + cause us to be so much the more dependent. What makes man essentially good + is to have few wants, and to abstain from comparing himself with others; + what makes him essentially bad, is to have many wants, and to cling much + to opinion.<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a + href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> Hence, although + Emilius happened to have both wealth and good birth, he is not brought up + to be a gentleman, with the prejudices and helplessness and selfishness + too naturally associated with that abused name. + </p> + <p> + This cardinal doctrine of limitation of desire, with its corollary of + self-sufficience, contains in itself the great maxim that Emilius and + every one else must learn some trade. To work is an indispensable duty in + the social man. Rich or poor, powerful or weak, every idle citizen is a + knave. And every boy must learn a real trade, a trade with his hands. It + is not so much a matter of learning a craft for the sake of knowing one, + as for the sake of conquering the prejudices which despise it. Labour for + glory, if you have not to labour from necessity. Lower yourself to the + condition of the artisan, so as to be above your own. In order to reign in + opinion, begin by reigning over <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" + id="Page_224">[ii.224]</a></span>it. All things well considered, the trade + most to be preferred is that of carpenter; it is clean, useful, and + capable of being carried on in the house; it demands address and diligence + in the workman, and though the form of the work is determined by utility, + still elegance and taste are not excluded.<a name="FNanchor_299_299" + id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> + There are few prettier pictures than that where Sophie enters the + workshop, and sees in amazement her young lover at the other end, in his + white shirt-sleeves, his hair loosely fastened back, with a chisel in one + hand and a mallet in the other, too intent upon his work to perceive even + the approach of his mistress.<a name="FNanchor_300_300" + id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> + </p> + <p> + When the revolution came, and princes and nobles wandered in indigent + exile, the disciples of Rousseau pointed in unkind triumph to the + advantage these unfortunate wretches would have had if they had not been + too puffed up with the vanity of feudalism to follow the prudent example + of Emilius in learning a craft. That Rousseau should have laid so much + stress on the vicissitudes of fortune, which might cause even a king to be + grateful one day that he had a trade at the end of his arms, is sometimes + quoted as a proof of his foresight of troublous times. This, however, goes + too far, because, apart from the instances of such vicissitudes among the + ancients, the King of Syracuse keeping school at Corinth, or Alexander, + son of Perseus, becoming a Roman scrivener, he actually saw Charles + Edward, the Stuart pretender, wandering from court to court in search of + succour <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[ii.225]</a></span>and + receiving only rebuffs; and he may well have known that after the troubles + of 1738 a considerable number of the oligarchs of his native Geneva had + gone into exile, rather than endure the humiliation of their party.<a + name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a + href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> Besides all this, the + propriety of being able to earn one's bread by some kind of toil that + would be useful in even the simplest societies, flowed necessarily from + every part of his doctrine of the aims of life and the worth of character. + He did, however, say, "We approach a state of crisis and an age of + revolutions," which proved true, but he added too much when he + pronounced it impossible that the great monarchies of Europe could last + long.<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a + href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> And it is certain that + the only one of the great monarchies which did actually fall would have + had a far better chance of surviving if Lewis XVI. had been as expert in + the trade of king as he was in that of making locks and bolts. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[ii.226]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + From this semi-stoical ideal there followed certain social notions, of + which Rousseau had the distinction of being the most powerful propagator. + As has so often been said, his contemporaries were willing to leave social + questions alone, provided only the government would suffer the free + expression of opinion in literature and science. Rousseau went deeper. His + moral conception of individual life and character contained in itself a + social conception, and he did not shrink from boldly developing it. The + rightly constituted man suffices for himself and is free from prejudices. + He has arms, and knows how to use them; he has few wants, and knows how to + satisfy them. Nurtured in the most absolute freedom, he can think of no + worse ill than servitude. He attaches himself to the beauty which perishes + not, limiting his desires to his condition, learning to lose whatever may + be taken away from him, to place himself above events, and to detach his + heart from loved objects without a pang.<a name="FNanchor_303_303" + id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> + He pities miserable kings, who are the bondsmen of all that seems to obey + them; he pities false sages, who are fast bound in the chains of their + empty renown; he pities the silly rich, martyrs to their own ostentation.<a + name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a + href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> All the sympathies of + such a man therefore naturally flow away from these, the great of the + earth, to those who lead the stoic's life perforce. "It is the common + people who compose the human race; what is not the people is hardly worth + taking into account. Man is the same in all <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[ii.227]</a></span>ranks; that being so, the + ranks which are most numerous deserve most respect. Before one who + reflects, all civil distinctions vanish: he marks the same passions and + the same feelings in the clown as in the man covered with reputation; he + can only distinguish their speech, and a varnish more or less elaborately + laid on. Study people of this humble condition; you will perceive that + under another sort of language, they have as much intelligence as you, and + more good sense. Respect your species: reflect that it is essentially made + up of the collection of peoples; that if every king and every philosopher + were cut off from among them, they would scarcely be missed, and the world + would go none the worse."<a name="FNanchor_305_305" + id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> + As it is, the universal spirit of the law in every country is invariably + to favour the strong against the weak, and him who has, against him who + has not. The many are sacrificed to the few. The specious names of justice + and subordination serve only as instruments for violence and arms for + iniquity. The ostentatious orders who pretend to be useful to the others, + are in truth only useful to themselves at the expense of the others.<a + name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a + href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[ii.228]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + This was carrying on the work which had already been begun in the New Heloïsa, + as we have seen, but in the Emilius it is pushed with a gravity and a + directness, that could not be imparted to the picture of a fanciful and + arbitrarily chosen situation. The only writer who has approached Rousseau, + so far as I know, in fulness and depth of expression in proclaiming the + sorrows and wrongs of the poor blind crowd, who painfully drag along the + car of triumphant civilisation with its handful of occupants, is the + author of the Book of the People. Lamennais even surpasses Rousseau in the + profundity of his pathos; his pictures of the life of hut and hovel are as + sincere and as touching; and there is in them, instead of the anger and + bitterness of the older author, righteous as that was, a certain heroism + of pity and devoted sublimity of complaint, which lift the soul up from + resentment into divine moods of compassion and resolve, and stir us like a + tale of noble action.<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a + href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> It was <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[ii.229]</a></span>Rousseau, + however, who first sounded the note of which the religion that had once + been the champion and consoler of the common people, seemed long to have + lost even the tradition. Yet the teaching was not constructive, because + the ideal man was not made truly social. Emilius is brought up in + something of the isolation of the imaginary savage of the state of nature. + He marries, and then he and his wife seem only fitted to lead a life of + detachment from the interests of the world in which they are placed. + Social or political education, that is the training which character + receives from the medium in which it grows, is left out of account, and so + is the correlative process of preparation for the various conditions and + exigencies which belong to that medium, until it is too late to take its + natural place in character. Nothing can be clumsier than the way in which + Rousseau proposes to teach Emilius the existence and nature of his + relations with his fellows. And the reason of this was that he had never + himself in the course of his ruminations, willingly thought of Emilius as + being in a condition of active social relation, the citizen of a state. + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>III.</b> + </p> + <p> + There appear to be three dominant states of mind, with groups of faculties + associated with each of them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" + id="Page_230">[ii.230]</a></span> which it is the business of the + instructor firmly to establish in the character of the future man. The + first is a resolute and unflinching respect for Truth; for the + conclusions, that is to say, of the scientific reason, comprehending also + a constant anxiety to take all possible pains that such conclusions shall + be rightly drawn. Connected with this is the discipline of the whole range + of intellectual faculties, from the simple habit of correct observation, + down to the highly complex habit of weighing and testing the value of + evidence. This very important branch of early discipline, Rousseau for + reasons of his own which we have already often referred to, cared little + about, and he throws very little light upon it, beyond one or two + extremely sensible precepts of the negative kind, warning us against + beginning too soon and forcing an apparent progress too rapidly. The + second fundamental state in a rightly formed character is a deep feeling + for things of the spirit which are unknown and incommensurable; a sense of + awe, mystery, sublimity, and the fateful bounds of life at its beginning + and its end. Here is the Religious side, and what Rousseau has to say of + this we shall presently see. It is enough now to remark that Emilius was + never to hear the name of a God or supreme being until his reason was + fairly ripened. The third state, which is at least as difficult to bring + to healthy perfection as either of the other two, is a passion for + Justice. + </p> + <p> + The little use which Rousseau made of this<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[ii.231]</a></span> momentous and + much-embracing word, which names the highest peak of social virtue, is a + very striking circumstance. The reason would seem to be that his sense of + the relations of men with one another was not virile enough to comprehend + the deep austerer lines which mark the brow of the benignant divinity of + Justice. In the one place in his writings where he speaks of justice + freely, he shows a narrowness of idea, which was perhaps as much due to + intellectual confusion as to lack of moral robustness. He says excellently + that "love of the human race is nothing else in us but love of + justice," and that "of all the virtues, justice is that which + contributes most to the common good of men." While enjoining the + discipline of pity as one of the noblest of sentiments, he warns us + against letting it degenerate into weakness, and insists that we should + only surrender ourselves to it when it accords with justice.<a + name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a + href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> But that is all. What + constitutes justice, what is its standard, what its source, what its + sanction, whence the extraordinary holiness with which its name has come + to be invested among the most highly civilised societies of men, we are + never told, nor do we ever see that our teacher had seen the possibility + of such questions being asked. If they had been propounded to him, he + would, it is most likely, have fallen back upon the convenient mystery of + the natural law. This was the current phrase of that time, and it was + meant to embody a hypothetical experience of perfect human relations in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[ii.232]</a></span>an + expression of the widest generality. If so, this would have to be + impressed upon the mind of Emilius in the same way as other mysteries. As + a matter of fact, Emilius was led through pity up to humanity, or + sociality in an imperfect signification, and there he was left without a + further guide to define the marks of truly social conduct. + </p> + <p> + This imperfection was a necessity, inseparable from Rousseau's tenacity in + keeping society in the background of the picture of life which he opened + to his pupil. He said, indeed, "We must study society by men, and men + by society; those who would treat politics and morality apart will never + understand anything about either one or the other."<a + name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a + href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> This is profoundly + true, but we hardly see in the morality which is designed for Emilius the + traces of political elements. Yet without some gradually unfolded + presentation of society as a whole, it is scarcely possible to implant the + idea of justice with any hope of large fertility. You may begin at a very + early time to develop, even from the primitive quality of self-love, a + notion of equity and a respect for it, but the vast conception of social + justice can only find room in a character that has been made spacious by + habitual contemplation of the height and breadth and close compactedness + of the fabric of the relations that bind man to man, and of the share, + integral or infinitesimally fractional, that each has in the happiness or + woe of other souls. And this contemplation should <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[ii.233]</a></span>begin when we prepare the + foundation of all the other maturer habits. Youth can hardly recognise too + soon the enormous unresting machine which bears us ceaselessly along, + because we can hardly learn too soon that its force and direction depend + on the play of human motives, of which our own for good or evil form an + inevitable part when the ripe years come. To one reared with the narrow + care devoted to Emilius, or with the capricious negligence in which the + majority are left to grow to manhood, the society into which they are + thrown is a mere moral wilderness. They are to make such way through it as + they can, with egotism for their only trusty instrument. This egotism may + either be a bludgeon, as with the most part, or it may be a delicately + adjusted and fastidiously decorated compass, as with an Emilius. In either + case is no perception that the gross outer contact of men with another is + transformed by worthiness of common aim and loyal faith in common + excellences, into a thing beautiful and generous. It is our business to + fix and root the habit of thinking of that <i>moral</i> union, into which, + as Kant has so admirably expressed it, the <i>pathological</i> necessities + of situation that first compelled social concert, have been gradually + transmuted. Instead of this, it is exactly the primitive pathological + conditions that a narrow theory of education brings first into prominence; + as if knowledge of origins were indispensable to a right attachment to the + transformed conditions of a maturer system. + </p> + <p> + It has been said that Rousseau founds all morality<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[ii.234]</a></span> upon personal interest, + perhaps even more specially than Helvétius himself. The accusation is + just. Emilius will enter adult life without the germs of that social + conscience, which animates a man with all the associations of duty and + right, of gratitude for the past and resolute hope for the future, in face + of the great body of which he finds himself a part. "I observe," + says Rousseau, "that in the modern ages men have no hold upon one + another save through force and interest, while the ancients on the other + hand acted much more by persuasion and the affections of the soul."<a + name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a + href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> The reason was that + with the ancients, supposing him to mean the Greeks and Romans, the social + conscience was so much wider in its scope than the comparatively narrow + fragment of duty which is supposed to come under the sacred power of + conscience in the more complex and less closely contained organisation of + a modern state. The neighbours to whom a man owed duty in those times + comprehended all the members of his state. The neighbours of the modern + preacher of duty are either the few persons with whom each of us is + brought into actual and palpable contact, or else the whole multitude of + dwellers on the earth,—a conception that for many ages to come will + remain with the majority of men and women too vague to exert an energetic + and concentrating influence upon action, and will lead them no further + than an uncoloured and nerveless cosmopolitanism.<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[ii.235]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + What the young need to have taught to them in this too little cultivated + region, is that they are born not mere atoms floating independent and + apart for a season through a terraqueous medium, and sucking up as much + more than their share of nourishment as they can seize; nor citizens of + the world with no more definite duty than to keep their feelings towards + all their fellows in a steady simmer of bland complacency; but soldiers in + a host, citizens of a polity whose boundaries are not set down in maps, + members of a church the handwriting of whose ordinances is not in the + hieroglyphs of idle mystery, nor its hope and recompense in the lands + beyond death. They need to be taught that they owe a share of their + energies to the great struggle which is in ceaseless progress in all + societies in an endless variety of forms, between new truth and old + prejudice, between love of self or class and solicitous passion for + justice, between the obstructive indolence and inertia of the many and the + generous mental activity of the few. This is the sphere and definition of + the social conscience. The good causes of enlightenment and justice in all + lands,—here is the church militant in which we should early seek to + enrol the young, and the true state to which they should be taught that + they owe the duties of active and arduous citizenship. These are the + struggles with which the modern instructor should associate those virtues + of fortitude, tenacity, silent patience, outspoken energy, readiness to + assert ourselves and readiness to efface ourselves, willingness to<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[ii.236]</a></span> + suffer and resolution to inflict suffering, which men of old knew how to + show for their gods or their sovereign. But the ideal of Emilius was an + ideal of quietism; to possess his own soul in patience, with a suppressed + intelligence, a suppressed sociality, without a single spark of generous + emulation in the courses of strong-fibred virtue, or a single thrill of + heroical pursuit after so much as one great forlorn cause. + </p> + <p> + "If it once comes to him, in reading these parallels of the famous + ancients, to desire to be another rather than himself, were this other + Socrates, were he Cato, you have missed the mark; he who begins to make + himself a stranger to himself, is not long before he forgets himself + altogether."<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a + href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> But if a man only + nurses the conception of his own personality, for the sake of keeping his + own peace and self-contained comfort at a glow of easy warmth, assuredly + the best thing that can befall him is that he should perish, lest his + example should infect others with the same base contagion. Excessive + personality when militant is often wholesome, excessive personality that + only hugs itself is under all circumstances chief among unclean things. + Thus even Rousseau's finest monument of moral enthusiasm is fatally + tarnished by the cold damp breath of isolation, and the very book which + contained so many elements of new life for a state, was at bottom the + apotheosis of social despair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" + id="Page_237">[ii.237]</a></span> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>IV.</b> + </p> + <p> + The great agent in fostering the rise to vigour and uprightness of a + social conscience, apart from the yet more powerful instrument of a strong + and energetic public spirit at work around the growing character, must be + found in the study of history rightly directed with a view to this end. It + is here, in observing the long processes of time and appreciating the + slowly accumulating sum of endeavour, that the mind gradually comes to + read the great lessons how close is the bond that links men together. It + is here that he gradually begins to acquire the habit of considering what + are the conditions of wise social activity, its limits, its objects, its + rewards, what is the capacity of collective achievement, and of what sort + is the significance and purport of the little span of time that cuts off + the yesterday of our society from its to-morrow. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau had very rightly forbidden the teaching of history to young + children, on the ground that the essence of history lies in the moral + relations between the bare facts which it recounts, and that the terms and + ideas of these relations are wholly beyond the intellectual grasp of the + very young.<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a + href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> He might have based + his objections equally well upon the impossibility of little children + knowing the meaning of the multitude of descriptive terms which make up a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[ii.238]</a></span>historical + manual, or realising the relations between events in bare point of time, + although childhood may perhaps be a convenient period for some mechanical + acquisition of dates. According to Rousseau, history was to appear very + late in the educational course, when the youth was almost ready to enter + the world. It was to be the finishing study, from which he should learn + not sociality either in its scientific or its higher moral sense, but the + composition of the heart of man, in a safer way than through actual + intercourse with society. Society might make him either cynical or + frivolous. History would bring him the same information, without + subjecting him to the same perils. In society you only hear the words of + men; to know man you must observe his actions, and actions are only + unveiled in history.<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a + href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> This view is hardly + worth discussing. The subject of history is not the heart of man, but the + movements of societies. Moreover, the oracles of history are entirely dumb + to one who seeks from them maxims for the shaping of daily conduct, or + living instruction as to the motives, aims, caprices, capacities of + self-restraint, self-sacrifice, of those with whom the occasions of life + bring us into contact. + </p> + <p> + It is true that at the close of the other part of his education, Emilius + was to travel and there find the comment upon the completed circle of his + studies.<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a + href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> But excellent as + travel is for some of the best of those who have the opportunity, still + for many it is value<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[ii.239]</a></span>less + for lack of the faculty of curiosity. For the great majority it is + impossible for lack of opportunity. To trust so much as Rousseau did to + the effect of travelling, is to leave a large chasm in education + unbridged. + </p> + <p> + It is interesting, however, to notice some of Rousseau's notions about + history as an instrument for conveying moral instruction, a few of them + are so good, others are so characteristically narrow. "The worst + historians for a young man," he says, "are those who judge. The + facts, the facts; then let him judge for himself. If the author's judgment + is for ever guiding him, he is only seeing with the eye of another, and as + soon as this eye fails him, he sees nothing." Modern history is not + fit for instruction, not only because it has no physiognomy, all our men + being exactly like one another, but because our historians, intent on + brilliance above all other things, think of nothing so much as painting + highly coloured portraits, which for the most part represent nothing at + all.<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a + href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> Of course such a + judgment as this implies an ignorance alike of the ends and meaning of + history, which, considering that he was living in the midst of a singular + revival of historical study, is not easy to pardon. If we are to look only + to perfection of form and arrangement, it may have been right for one + living in the middle of the last century to place the ancients in the + first rank without competitors. But the author of the Discourse upon + literature and the arts might have been expected to look beyond com<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[ii.240]</a></span>position, + and the contemporary of Voltaire's <i>Essai sur les Moeurs</i> (1754-1757) + might have been expected to know that the profitable experience of the + human race did not close with the fall of the Roman republic. Among the + ancient historians, he counted Thucydides to be the true model, because he + reports facts without judging, and omits none of the circumstances proper + for enabling us to judge of them for ourselves—though how Rousseau + knew what facts Thucydides has omitted, I am unable to divine. Then come Cæsar's + Commentaries and Xenophon's Retreat of the Ten Thousand. The good + Herodotus, without portraits and without maxims, but abounding in details + the most capable of interesting and pleasing, would perhaps be the best of + historians, if only these details did not so often degenerate into + puerilities. Livy is unsuited to youth, because he is political and a + rhetorician. Tacitus is the book of the old; you must have learnt the art + of reading facts, before you can be trusted with maxims. + </p> + <p> + The drawback of histories such as those of Thucydides and Cæsar, + Rousseau admits to be that they dwell almost entirely on war, leaving out + the true life of nations, which belongs to the unwritten chronicles of + peace. This leads him to the equally just reflection that historians while + recounting facts omit the gradual and progressive causes which led to + them. "They often find in a battle lost or won the reason of a + revolution, which even before the battle was already inevitable. War + scarcely does more than bring into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" + id="Page_241">[ii.241]</a></span> full light events determined by moral + causes, which historians can seldom penetrate."<a + name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a + href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> A third complaint + against the study which he began by recommending as a proper introduction + to the knowledge of man, is that it does not present men but actions, or + at least men only in their parade costume and in certain chosen moments, + and he justly reproaches writers alike of history and biography, for + omitting those trifling strokes and homely anecdotes, which reveal the + true physiognomy of character. "Remain then for ever, without bowels, + without nature; harden your hearts of cast iron in your trumpery decency, + and make yourselves despicable by force of dignity."<a + name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a + href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> And so after all, by a + common stroke of impetuous inconsistency, he forsakes history, and falls + back upon the ancient biographies, because, all the low and familiar + details being banished from modern style, however true and characteristic, + men are as elaborately tricked out by our authors in their private lives + as they were tricked out upon the stage of the world. + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>V.</b> + </p> + <p> + As women are from the constitution of things the educators of us all at + the most critical periods, and mainly of their own sex from the beginning + to the end of education, the writer of the most imperfect treatise on this + world-interesting subject can hardly avoid saying something on the + upbringing of women. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[ii.242]</a></span>Such + a writer may start from one of three points of view; he may consider the + woman as destined to be a wife, or a mother, or a human being; as the + companion of a man, as the rearer of the young, or as an independent + personality, endowed with gifts, talents, possibilities, in less or + greater number, and capable, as in the case of men, of being trained to + the worst or the best uses. Of course to every one who looks into life, + each of these three ideals melts into the other two, and we can only think + of them effectively when they are blended. Yet we test a writer's + appreciation of the conditions of human progress by observing the function + which he makes most prominent. A man's whole thought of the worth and aim + of womanhood depends upon the generosity and elevation of the ideal which + is silently present in his mind, while he is specially meditating the + relations of woman as wife or as mother. Unless he is really capable of + thinking of them as human beings, independently of these two functions, he + is sure to have comparatively mean notions in connection with them in + respect of the functions which he makes paramount. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau breaks down here. The unsparing fashion in which he developed the + theory of individualism in the case of Emilius, and insisted on man being + allowed to grow into the man of nature, instead of the man of art and + manufacture, might have led us to expect that when he came to speak of + women, he would suffer equity and logic to have their way, by giving + equally free room in the two halves of the<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[ii.243]</a></span> human race, for the + development of natural force and capacity. If, as he begins by saying, he + wishes to bring up Emilius, not to be a merchant nor a physician nor a + soldier nor to the practice of any other special calling, but to be first + and above all a man, why should not Sophie too be brought up above all to + be a human being, in whom the special qualifications of wifehood and + motherhood may be developed in their due order? Emilius is a man first, a + husband and a father afterwards and secondarily. How can Sophie be a + companion for him, and an instructor for their children, unless she + likewise has been left in the hands of nature, and had the same chances + permitted to her as were given to her predestined mate? Again, the + pictures of the New Heloïsa would have led us to conceive the ideal + of womanly station not so much in the wife, as in the house-mother, + attached by esteem and sober affection to her husband, but having for her + chief functions to be the gentle guardian of her little ones, and the + mild, firm, and prudent administrator of a cheerful and well-ordered + household. In the last book of the Emilius, which treats of the education + of girls, education is reduced within the compass of an even narrower + ideal than this. We are confronted with the oriental conception of women. + Every principle that has been followed in the education of Emilius is + reversed in the education of women. Opinion, which is the tomb of virtue + among men, is among women its high throne. The whole education of women + ought to be relative to men; to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" + id="Page_244">[ii.244]</a></span> please them, to be useful to them, to + make themselves loved and honoured by them, to console them, to render + their lives agreeable and sweet to them,—these are the duties which + ought to be taught to women from their childhood. Every girl ought to have + the religion of her mother, and every wife that of her husband. Not being + in a condition to judge for themselves, they ought to receive the decision + of fathers and husbands as if it were that of the church. And since + authority is the rule of faith for women, it is not so much a matter of + explaining to them the reasons for belief, as for expounding clearly to + them what to believe. Although boys are not to hear of the idea of God + until they are fifteen, because they are not in a condition to apprehend + it, yet girls who are still less in a condition to apprehend it, are <i>therefore</i> + to have it imparted to them at an earlier age. Woman is created to give + way to man, and to suffer his injustice. Her empire is an empire of + gentleness, mildness, and complaisance. Her orders are caresses, and her + threats are tears. Girls must not only be made laborious and vigilant; + they must also very early be accustomed to being thwarted and kept in + restraint. This misfortune, if they feel it one, is inseparable from their + sex, and if ever they attempt to escape from it, they will only suffer + misfortunes still more cruel in consequence.<a name="FNanchor_318_318" + id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> + </p> + <p> + After a series of oriental and obscurantist propositions of this kind, it + is of little purpose to tell us that <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[ii.245]</a></span>women have more + intelligence and men more genius; that women observe, while men reason; + that men will philosophise better upon the human heart, while women will + be more skilful in reading it.<a name="FNanchor_319_319" + id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> + And it is a mere mockery to end the matter by a fervid assurance, that in + spite of prejudices that have their origin in the manners of the time, the + enthusiasm for what is worthy and noble is no more foreign to women than + it is to men, and that there is nothing which under the guidance of nature + may not be obtained from them as well as from ourselves.<a + name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a + href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> Finally there is a + complete surrender of the obscurantist position in such a sentence as + this: "I only know for either sex two really distinct classes; one + the people who think, the other the people who do not think, and this + difference comes almost entirely from education. A man of the first of + these classes ought not to marry into the other; for the greatest charm of + companionship is wanting, when in spite of having a wife he is reduced to + think by himself. It is only a cultivated spirit that provides agreeable + commerce, and 'tis a cheerless thing for a father of a family who loves + his home, to be obliged to shut himself up within himself, and to have no + one about him who understands him. Besides, how is a woman who has no + habits of reflection to bring up her children?"<a + name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a + href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> Nothing could be more + excellently urged. But how is a woman to have habits of reflection, when + she has been constantly brought up in habits of the closest mental + bondage, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[ii.246]</a></span>trained + always to consider her first business to be the pleasing of some man, and + her instruments not reasonable persuasion but caressing and crying? + </p> + <p> + This pernicious nonsense was mainly due, like nearly all his most serious + errors, to Rousseau's want of a conception of improvement in human + affairs. If he had been filled with that conception as Turgot, Condorcet, + and others were, he would have been forced as they were, to meditate upon + changes in the education and the recognition accorded to women, as one of + the first conditions of improvement. For lack of this, he contributed + nothing to the most important branch of the subject that he had undertaken + to treat. He was always taunting the champions of reigning systems of + training for boys, with the vicious or feeble men whom he thought he saw + on every hand around him. The same kind of answer obviously meets the + current idea, which he adopted with a few idyllic decorations of his own, + of the type of the relations between men and women. That type practically + reduces marriage in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred to a dolorous + parody of a social partnership. It does more than any one other cause to + keep societies back, because it prevents one half of the members of a + society from cultivating all their natural energies. Thus it produces a + waste of helpful quality as immeasurable as it is deplorable, and besides + rearing these creatures of mutilated faculty to be the intellectually + demoralising companions of the remaining half of their own generation, + makes them the mothers and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" + id="Page_247">[ii.247]</a></span> the earliest and most influential + instructors of the whole of the generation that comes after.<a + name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a + href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> Of course, if any one + believes that the existing arrangements of a western community are the + most successful that we can ever hope to bring into operation, we need not + complain of Rousseau. If not, then it is only reasonable to suppose that a + considerable portion of the change will be effected in the hitherto + neglected and subordinate half of the race. That reconstitution of the + family, which Rousseau and others among his contemporaries rightly sought + after as one of the most pressing needs of the time, was essentially + impossible, so long as the typical woman was the adornment of a + semi-philosophic seraglio, a sort of compromise between the frowzy ideal + of an English bourgeois and the impertinent ideal of a Parisian gallant. + Condorcet and others made a grievous mistake in defending the free + gratification of sensual passion, as one of the conditions of happiness + and making the most of our lives.<a name="FNanchor_323_323" + id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> + But even this was not at bottom more fatal to the maintenance and order of + the family, than Rousseau's enervating notion of keeping women in strict + intellectual and moral subjection was fatal to the family as the true + school of high and equal companionship, and the fruitful seed-ground of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[ii.248]</a></span>wise + activities and new hopes for each fresh generation. + </p> + <p> + This was one side of Rousseau's reactionary tendencies. Fortunately for + the revolution of thirty years later, which illustrated the gallery of + heroic women with some of its most splendid names, his power was in this + respect neutralised by other stronger tendencies in the general spirit of + the age. The aristocracy of sex was subjected to the same destructive + criticism as the aristocracy of birth. The same feeling for justice which + inspired the demand for freedom and equality of opportunity among men, led + to the demand for the same freedom and equality of opportunity between men + and women. All this was part of the energy of the time, which Rousseau + disliked with undisguised bitterness. It broke inconveniently in upon his + quietest visions. He had no conception, with his sensuous brooding + imagination, never wholly purged of grossness, of that high and pure type + of women whom French history so often produced in the seventeenth century, + and who were not wanting towards the close of the eighteenth, a type in + which devotion went with force, and austerity with sweetness, and divine + candour and transparent innocence with energetic loyalty and intellectual + uprightness and a firmly set will. Such thoughts were not for Rousseau, a + dreamer led by his senses. Perhaps they are for none of us any more. When + we turn to modern literature from the pages in which Fénelon speaks + of the education of girls, who does not feel that the<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[ii.249]</a></span> world has lost a sacred + accent, as if some ineffable essence has passed out from our hearts? + </p> + <p> + The fifth book of Emilius is not a chapter on the education of women, but + an idyll. We have already seen the circumstances under which Rousseau + composed it, in a profound and delicious solitude, in the midst of woods + and streams, with the fragrance of the orange-flower poured around him, + and in continual ecstasy. As an idyll it is delicious; as a serious + contribution to the hardest of problems it is naught. The sequel, by a + stroke of matchless whimsicality, unless it be meant, as it perhaps may + have been, for a piece of deep tragic irony, is the best refutation that + Rousseau's most energetic adversary could have desired. The Sophie who has + been educated on the oriental principle, has presently to confess a + flagrant infidelity to the blameless Emilius, her lord.<a + name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a + href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <b>VI.</b> + </p> + <p> + Yet the sum of the merits of Emilius as a writing upon education is not to + be lightly counted. Its value lies, as has been said of the New Heloïsa, + in the spirit which animates it and communicates itself with vivid force + to the reader. It is one of the seminal books in the history of + literature, and of such books the worth resides less in the parts than in + the whole. It touched the deeper things of character. It filled parents + with a sense of the dignity and moment of their task. It cleared away the + accumulation of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[ii.250]</a></span>clogging + prejudices and obscure inveterate usage, which made education one of the + dark formalistic arts. It admitted floods of light and air into the + tightly closed nurseries and schoolrooms. It effected the substitution of + growth for mechanism. A strong current of manliness, wholesomeness, + simplicity, self-reliance, was sent by it through Europe, while its + eloquence was the most powerful adjuration ever addressed to parental + affection to cherish the young life in all love and considerate + solicitude. It was the charter of youthful deliverance. The first + immediate effect of Emilius in France was mainly on the religious side. It + was the Christian religion that needed to be avenged, rather than + education that needed to be amended, and the press overflowed with replies + to that profession of faith which we shall consider in the next chapter. + Still there was also an immense quantity of educational books and + pamphlets, which is to be set down, first to the suppression of the + Jesuits, the great educating order, and the vacancy which they left; and + next to the impulse given by the Emilius to a movement from which the book + itself had originally been an outcome.<a name="FNanchor_325_325" + id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> + But why try to state the influence of Emilius on France in this way? To + strike the account truly would be to write the history of the first French + Revolution.<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a + href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> All mothers, as + Michelet <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[ii.251]</a></span>says, + were big with Emilius. "It is not without good reason that people + have noted the children born at this glorious moment, as animated by a + superior spirit, by a gift of flame and genius. It is the generation of + revolutionary Titans: the other generation not less hardy in science. It + is Danton, Vergniaud, Desmoulins; it is Ampère, La Place, Cuvier, + Geoffroy Saint Hilaire."<a name="FNanchor_327_327" + id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> + </p> + <p> + In Germany Emilius had great power. There it fell in with the + extraordinary movement towards naturalness and freedom of which we have + already spoken.<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a + href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> Herder, whom some have + called the Rousseau of the Germans, wrote with enthusiasm to his then + beloved Caroline of the "divine Emilius," and he never ceased to + speak of Rousseau as his inspirer and his master.<a name="FNanchor_329_329" + id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> + Basedow (1723), that strange, restless, and most ill-regulated person, was + seized with an almost phrenetic enthusiasm for Rousseau's educational + theories, translated them into German, and repeated them in his works over + and over again with an incessant iteration. Lavater (1741-1801), who + differed from Basedow in being a fervent Christian of soft mystic faith, + was thrown into company with him in 1774, and grew equally eager with him + in the cause of reforming education in the Rousseauite sense.<a + name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a + href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[ii.252]</a></span>Pestalozzi (1746-1827), + the most systematic, popular, and permanently successful of all the + educational reformers, borrowed his spirit and his principles mainly from + the Emilius, though he gave larger extension and more intelligent + exactitude to their application. Jean Paul the Unique, in the preface to + his Levana, or Doctrine of Education (1806), one of the most excellent of + all books on the subject, declares that among previous works to which he + owes a debt, "first and last he names Rousseau's Emilius; no + preceding work can be compared to his; in no previous work on education + was the ideal so richly combined with the actual," and so forth.<a + name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a + href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> It was not merely a + Goethe, a Schiller, a Herder, whom Rousseau fired with new thoughts. The + smaller men, such as Fr. Jacobi, Heinse, Klinger, shared the same + inspiration. The worship of Rousseau penetrated all classes, and touched + every degree of intelligence.<a name="FNanchor_332_332" + id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> + </p> + <p> + In our own country Emilius was translated as soon as it appeared, and must + have been widely read, for a second version of the translation was called + for in a very short time. So far as a cursory survey gives <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[ii.253]</a></span>one a + right to speak, its influence here in the field of education is not very + perceptible. That subject did not yet, nor for some time to come, excite + much active thought in England. Rousseau's speculations on society both in + the Emilius and elsewhere seem to have attracted more attention. Reference + has already been made to Paley.<a name="FNanchor_333_333" + id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> + Adam Ferguson's celebrated Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) + has many allusions, direct and indirect, to Rousseau.<a + name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a + href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> Kames's Sketches of + the History of Man (1774) abounds still more copiously in references to + Emilius, sometimes to controvert its author, more often to cite him as an + authority worthy of respect, and Rousseau's crude notions about women are + cited with special acceptance.<a name="FNanchor_335_335" + id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> + Cowper was probably thinking of the Savoyard Vicar when he wrote the + energetic lines in the Task, beginning "Haste now, philosopher, and + set him free," scornfully defying the deist to rescue apostate man.<a + name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a + href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> Nor should we omit + what was counted so important a book in its day as Godwin's Enquiry + concerning Political Justice (1793). It is perhaps more French in its + spirit than any other work of equal consequence in our literature of + politics, and in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[ii.254]</a></span>its + composition the author was avowedly a student of Rousseau, as well as of + the members of the materialistic school. + </p> + <p> + In fine we may add that Emilius was the first expression of that + democratic tendency in education, which political and other circumstances + gradually made general alike in England, France, and Germany; a tendency, + that is, to look on education as a process concerning others besides the + rich and the well-born. As has often been remarked, Ascham, Milton, Locke, + Fénelon, busy themselves about the instruction of young gentlemen and + gentlewomen. The rest of the world are supposed to be sufficiently + provided for by the education of circumstance. Since the middle of the + eighteenth century this monopolising conception has vanished, along with + and through the same general agencies as the corresponding conception of + social monopoly. Rousseau enforced the production of a natural and + self-sufficing man as the object of education, and showed, or did his best + to show, the infinite capacity of the young for that simple and natural + cultivation. This easily and directly led people to reflect that such a + capacity was not confined to the children of the rich, nor the hope of + producing a natural and sufficing man narrowed to those who had every + external motive placed around them for being neither natural nor + self-sufficing. + </p> + <p> + Voltaire pronounced Emilius a stupid romance, but admitted that it + contained fifty pages which he would have bound in morocco. These, we may + be sure, con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[ii.255]</a></span>cerned + religion; in truth it was the Savoyard Vicar's profession of faith which + stirred France far more than the upbringing of the natural man in things + temporal. Let us pass to that eloquent document which is inserted in the + middle of the Emilius, as the expression of the religious opinion that + best befits the man of nature—a document most hyperbolically counted + by some French enthusiasts for the spiritualist philosophy and the + religion of sentiment, as the noblest monument of the eighteenth century. + </p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3> + FOOTNOTES: + </h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> <i>Mém. + de Mdme. d'Epinay</i>, ii. 276, 278. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> <i>Lettres + à mon Fils</i> (1758), and <i>Les Conversations d'Emilie</i> + (1783). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> <i>Lettres + Péruviennes.</i> + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> <i>Oeuv.</i>, + ii. 785-794. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> <i>Corr. + Lit.</i>, iii. 65. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + I. 27. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> It is + interesting to recall a similar movement in the Roman society of the + second century of our era. See the advice of Favorinus to mothers, in + Aulus Gellius, xii. 1. M. Boissier, contrasting the solicitude of + Tacitus and Marcus Aurelius for the infant young with the brutality of + Cicero, remarks that in the time of Seneca men discussed in the + schools the educational theories of Rousseau's Emilius. (<i>La Relig. + Romaine</i>, ii. 202.) + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> See also + his diatribe against whalebone and tight-lacing for girls, V. 27. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + I. 93, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + II. 141. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + II. 156-160. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + III. 338-345. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> III. + 358, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + II. 263-267. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> <i>Levana</i>, + ch. iii. § 54. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + II. 163. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> The + Ninth Promenade (<i>Rêveries</i>, 309). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + I. 23. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> II. 109. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> II. 111. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + II. 113-117. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> II. 121. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> II. 143. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + III. 382. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> II. 227. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> IV. 10. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + III. 394. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> V. 199. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> The + reader will not forget the famous supper-party of princes in <i>Candide</i>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + III. 392, and note. A still more remarkable passage, as far as it + goes, is that in the <i>Confessions</i> (xi. 136):—"The + disasters of an unsuccessful war, all of which came from the fault of + the government, the incredible disorder of the finances, the continual + dissensions of the administration, divided as it was among two or + three ministers at open war with one another, and who for the sake of + hurting one another dragged the kingdom into ruin; the general + discontent of the people, and of all the orders of the state; the + obstinacy of a wrong-headed woman, who, always sacrificing her better + judgment, if indeed she had any, to her tastes, dismissed the most + capable from office, to make room for her favourites ... all this + prospect of a coming break-up made me think of seeking shelter + elsewhere." + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + V. 220. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> IV. 85. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 38, 39. Hence, we suppose, the famous reply to Lavoisier's request + that his life might be spared from the guillotine for a fortnight, in + order that he might complete some experiments, that the Republic has + no need of chemists. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> IV. 65. + Jefferson, who was American minister in France from 1784 to 1789, and + absorbed a great many of the ideas then afloat, writes in words that + seem as if they were borrowed from Rousseau:—"I am + convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without + government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree + of happiness than those who live under European governments. Among the + former public opinion is in the state of law, and restrains morals as + powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence + of governing, they have divided their nation into two classes, wolves + and sheep. I do not exaggerate; this is a true picture of Europe." + Tucker's <i>Life of Jefferson</i>, i. 255. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> + Lamennais was influenced by Rousseau throughout. In the <i>Essay on + Indifference</i> he often appeals to him as the vindicator of the + religious sentiment (<i>e.g.</i> i. 21, 52, iv. 375, etc. Ed. 1837). + The same influence is seen still more markedly in the <i>Words of a + Believer</i> (1835), when dogma had departed, and he was left with a + kind of dual deism, thus being less estranged from Rousseau than in + the first days (<i>e.g.</i> § xix. "Tous naissent égaux," + etc., § xxi., etc.) The <i>Book of the People</i> is thoroughly + Rousseauite. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 105. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 63. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 273. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 83. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + II. 185. See the previous page for some equally prudent observations + on the folly of teaching geography to little children. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 68. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> V. 231, + etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 71. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 73. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> IV. 77. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + V. 22, 53, 54, 101, 128-132. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + V. 78. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> V. 122. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> V. 129, + 130. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> Well did + Jean Paul say, "If we regard all life as an educational + institution, a circumnavigator of the world is less influenced by all + the nations he has seen than by his nurse."—<i>Levana.</i> + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> <i>Tableau + des Progrès de l'Esprit Humain.</i> <i>Oeuv.</i>, vi. pp. 264, + 523-526, and elsewhere. [Ed. 1847-1849.] + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> <i>Emile + et Sophie</i>, i. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> For an + account of some of these, see Grimm's <i>Corr. Lit.</i>, iii. 211, + 252, 347, etc. Also <i>Corr. Inéd.</i>, p. 143. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> For the + early date at which Rousseau's power began to meet recognition, see + D'Alembert to Voltaire, July 31, 1762. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> <i>Louis + xv. et xvi.</i>, p. 226. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> See + above, vol. ii. p. <a href="#Page_193">193</a>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> Hettner, + III. iii., 2, p. 27, <i>s.v.</i> Herder. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> The + suggestion of the speculation with which Lavater's name is most + commonly associated, is to be found in the Emilius. "It is + supposed that physiognomy is only a development of features already + marked by nature. For my part, I should think that besides this + development, the features of a man's countenance form themselves + insensibly and take their expression from the frequent and habitual + wearing into them of certain affections of the soul. These affections + mark themselves in the countenance, nothing is more certain; and when + they grow into habits, they must leave durable impressions upon it." + IV. 49, 50. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> Author's + Preface, x. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> See an + excellent page in M. Joret's <i>Herder</i>, 322. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> See + above, vol. ii. p. <a href="#Page_191">191</a>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i> + pp. 8, 198, 204, 205. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i> + Bk. I. § 5, p. 279. § 6, p. 406, 419, etc. (the portion + concerning the female sex). + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> Vv. + 670-703. We have already seen (above, vol. ii. p. 41, <i>n.</i>) that + Cowper had read Emilius, and the mocking reference to the Deist as + "an Orpheus and omnipotent in song," coincides with + Rousseau's comparison of the Savoyard Vicar to "the divine + Orpheus singing the first hymn" (<i>Emile</i>, IV. 205). + </p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[ii.256]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <h3> + THE SAVOYARD VICAR. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">The</span> band of dogmatic atheists who met round + D'Holbach's dinner-table indulged a shallow and futile hope, if it was not + an ungenerous one, when they expected the immediate advent of a generation + with whom a humane and rational philosophy should displace, not merely the + superstitions which had grown around the Christian dogma, but every root + and fragment of theistic conception. A hope of this kind implied a + singularly random idea, alike of the hold which Christianity had taken of + the religious emotion in western Europe, and of the durableness of those + conditions in human character, to which some belief in a deity with a + greater or fewer number of good attributes brings solace and nourishment. + A movement like that of Christianity does not pass through a group of + societies, and then leave no trace behind. It springs from many other + sources besides that of adherence to the truth of its dogmas. The stream + of its influence must continue to flow long after adherence to the letter + has been confined to the least informed portions of a community. The<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[ii.257]</a></span> + Encyclopædists knew that they had sapped religious dogma and shaken + ecclesiastical organisation. They forgot that religious sentiment on the + one hand, and habit of respect for authority on the other, were both of + them still left behind. They had convinced themselves by a host of + persuasive analogies that the universe is an automatic machine, and man + only an industrious particle in the stupendous whole; that a final cause + is not cognisable by our limited intelligence; and that to make emotion in + this or any other respect a test of objective truth and a ground of + positive belief, is to lower both truth and the reason which is its single + arbiter. They forgot that imagination is as active in man as his reason, + and that a craving for mental peace may become much stronger than passion + for demonstrated truth. Christianity had given to this craving in western + Europe a definite mould, which was not to be effaced in a day, and one or + two of its lines mark a permanent and noble acquisition to the highest + forces of human nature. There will have to be wrought a profounder and + more far-spreading modification than any which the French atheists could + effect, before all debilitating influences in the old creed can be + effaced, its elevating influences finally separated from them, and then + permanently preserved in more beneficent form and in an association less + questionable to the understanding. + </p> + <p> + Neither a purely negative nor a direct attack can ever suffice. There must + be a coincidence of many silently oppugnant forces, emotional, scientific, + and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[ii.258]</a></span> + material. And, above all, there must be the slow steadfast growth of some + replacing faith, which shall retain all the elements of moral beauty that + once gave light to the old belief that has disappeared, and must still + possess a living force in the new. + </p> + <p> + Here we find the good side of a religious reaction such as that which + Rousseau led in the last century, and of which the Savoyard Vicar's + profession of faith was the famous symbol. Evil as this reaction was in + many respects, and especially in the check which it gave to the + application of positive methods and conceptions to the most important + group of our beliefs, yet it had what was the very signal merit under the + circumstances of the time, of keeping the religious emotions alive in + association with a tolerant, pure, lofty, and living set of articles of + faith, instead of feeding them on the dead superstitions which were at + that moment the only practical alternative. The deism of Rousseau could + not in any case have acquired the force of the corresponding religious + reaction in England, because the former never acquired a compact and + vigorous external organisation, as the latter did, especially in + Wesleyanism and Evangelicalism, the most remarkable of its developments. + In truth the vague, fluid, purely subjective character of deism + disqualifies it from forming the doctrinal basis of any great objective + and visible church, for it is at bottom the sublimation of individualism. + But in itself it was a far less retrogressive, as well as a far less + powerful, movement. It kept fewer of those dogmas which<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[ii.259]</a></span> + gradual change of intellectual climate had reduced to the condition of + rank superstitions. It preserved some of its own, which a still further + extension of the same change is assuredly destined to reduce to the same + condition; but, nevertheless, along with them it cherished sentiments + which the world will never willingly let die. + </p> + <p> + The one cardinal service of the Christian doctrine, which is of course to + be distinguished from the services rendered to civilisation in early times + by the Christian church, has been the contribution to the active + intelligence of the west, of those moods of holiness, awe, reverence, and + silent worship of an Unseen not made with hands, which the Christianising + Jews first brought from the east. Of the fabric which four centuries ago + looked so stupendous and so enduring, with its magnificent whole and its + minutely reticulated parts of belief and practice, this gradual creation + of a new temperament in the religious imagination of Western Europe and + the countries that take their mental direction from her, is perhaps the + only portion that will remain distinctly visible, after all the rest has + sunk into the repose of histories of opinion. Whether this be the case or + not, the fact that these deeper moods are among the richest acquisitions + of human nature, will not be denied either by those who think that + Christianity associates them with objects destined permanently to awake + them in their loftiest form, or by others who believe that the deepest + moods of which man is capable, must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" + id="Page_260">[ii.260]</a></span> ultimately ally themselves with + something still more purely spiritual than the anthropomorphised deities + of the falling church. And if so, then Rousseau's deism, while + intercepting the steady advance of the rationalistic assault and diverting + the current of renovating energy, still did something to keep alive in a + more or less worthy shape those parts of the slowly expiring system which + men have the best reasons for cherishing. + </p> + <p> + Let us endeavour to characterise Rousseau's deism with as much precision + as it allows. It was a special and graceful form of a doctrine which, + though susceptible, alike in theory and in the practical history of + religious thought, of numberless wide varieties of significance, is + commonly designated by the name of deism, without qualification. People + constantly speak as if deism only came in with the eighteenth century. It + would be impossible to name any century since the twelfth, in which + distinct and abundant traces could not be found within the dominion of + Christianity of a belief in a supernatural power apart from the supposed + disclosure of it in a special revelation.<a name="FNanchor_337_337" + id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> + A præter-christian deism, or the principle of natural religion, was + inevitably contained in the legal conception of a natural law, for how can + we dissociate the idea of law from the idea of a definite lawgiver? <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[ii.261]</a></span>The + very scholastic disputations themselves, by the sharpness and subtlety + which they gave to the reasoning faculty, set men in search of novelties, + and these novelties were not always of a kind which orthodox views of the + Christian mysteries could have sanctioned. It has been said that religion + is at the cradle of every nation, and philosophy at its grave; it is at + least true that the cradle of philosophy is the open grave of religion. + Wherever there is argumentation, there is sure to be scepticism. When + people begin to reason, a shadow has already fallen across faith, though + the reasoners might have shrunk with horror from knowledge of the goal of + their work, and though centuries may elapse before the shadow deepens into + eclipse. But the church was strong and alert in the times when free + thought vainly tried to rear a dangerous head in Italy. With the + Protestant revolution came slowly a wider freedom, while the prolonged and + tempestuous discussion between the old church and the reformed bodies, as + well as the manifold variations among those bodies at strife with one + another, stimulated the growth of religious thought in many directions + that tended away from the exclusive pretensions of Christianity to be the + oracle of the divine Spirit. The same feeling which thrust aside the + sacerdotal interposition between the soul of man and its sovereign creator + and inspirer, gradually worked towards the dethronement of those mediators + other than sacerdotal, in whom the moral timidity of a dark and stricken + age<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[ii.262]</a></span> + had once sought shade from the too dazzling brightness of the All-powerful + and the Everlasting. The assertion of the rights and powers of the + individual reason within the limits of the sacred documents, began in less + than a hundred years to grow into an assertion of the same rights and + powers beyond those limits. The rejection of tradition as a substitute for + independent judgment, in interpreting or supplementing the records of + revelation, gradually impaired the traditional authority both of the + records themselves, and of the central doctrines which all churches had in + one shape or another agreed to accept. The Trinitarian controversy of the + sixteenth century must have been a stealthy solvent. The deism of England + in the eighteenth century, which Voltaire was the prime agent in + introducing in its negative, colourless, and essentially futile shape into + his own country, had its main effect as a process of dissolution. + </p> + <p> + All this, however, down to the deistical movement which Rousseau found in + progress at Geneva in 1754,<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a + href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> was distinctly the + outcome in a more or less marked way of a rationalising and philosophic + spirit, and not of the religious spirit. The sceptical side of it with + reference to revealed religion, predominated over the positive side of it + with reference to natural religion. The wild pantheism of which there were + one or two extraordinary outbursts during the latter part of the middle + ages, to mark the mystical influence which Platonic studies uncorrected + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[ii.263]</a></span>by + science always exert over certain temperaments, had been full of + religiosity, such as it was. These had all passed away with a swift flash. + There were, indeed, mystics like the author of the immortal <i>De + Imitatione</i>, in whom the special qualities of Christian doctrine seem + to have grown pale in a brighter flood of devout aspiration towards the + perfections of a single Being. But this was not the deism with which + either Christianity on the one side, or atheism on the other, had ever had + to deal in France. Deism, in its formal acceptation, was either an idle + piece of vaporous sentimentality, or else it was the first intellectual + halting-place for spirits who had travelled out of the pale of the old + dogmatic Christianity, and lacked strength for the continuance of their + onward journey. In the latter case, it was only another name either for + the shrewd rough conviction of the man of the world, that his universe + could not well be imagined to go on without a sort of constitutional + monarch, reigning but not governing, keeping evil-doers in order by fear + of eternal punishment, and lending a sacred countenance to the + indispensable doctrines of property, the gradation of rank and station, + and the other moral foundations of the social structure. Or else it was a + name for a purely philosophic principle, not embraced with fervour as the + basis of a religion, but accepted with decorous satisfaction as the + alternative to a religion; not seized upon as the mainspring of spiritual + life, but held up as a shield in a controversy.<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[ii.264]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + The deism which the Savoyard Vicar explained to Emilius in his profession + of faith was pitched in a very different tone from this. Though the + Vicar's conception of the Deity was lightly fenced round with + rationalistic supports of the usual kind, drawn from the evidences of will + and intelligence in the vast machinery of the universe, yet it was + essentially the product not of reason, but of emotional expansion, as + every fundamental article of a faith that touches the hearts of many men + must always be. The Savoyard Vicar did not believe that a God had made the + great world, and rules it with majestic power and supreme justice, in the + same way in which he believed that any two sides of a triangle are greater + than the third side. That there is a mysterious being penetrating all + creation with force, was not a proposition to be demonstrated, but only + the poor description in words of an habitual mood going far deeper into + life than words can ever carry us. Without for a single moment falling off + into the nullities of pantheism, neither did he for a single moment suffer + his thought to stiffen and grow hard in the formal lines of a theological + definition or a systematic credo. It remains firm enough to give the + religious imagination consistency and a centre, yet luminous enough to + give the spiritual faculty a vivifying consciousness of freedom and space. + A creed is concerned with a number of affirmations, and is constantly held + with honest strenuousness by multitudes of men and women who are unfitted + by natural temperament<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" + id="Page_265">[ii.265]</a></span> for knowing what the glow of religious + emotion means to the human soul,—for not every one that saith, Lord, + Lord, enters the kingdom of heaven. The Savoyard Vicar's profession of + faith was not a creed, and so has few affirmations; it was a single + doctrine, melted in a glow of contemplative transport. It is impossible to + set about disproving it, for its exponent repeatedly warns his disciple + against the idleness of logomachy, and insists that the existence of the + Divinity is traced upon every heart in letters that can never be effaced, + if we are only content to read them with lowliness and simplicity. You + cannot demonstrate an emotion, nor prove an aspiration. How reason, asks + the Savoyard Vicar, about that which we cannot conceive? Conscience is the + best of all casuists, and conscience affirms the presence of a being who + moves the universe and ordains all things, and to him we give the name of + God. + </p> + <p> + "To this name I join the ideas of intelligence, power, will, which I + have united in one, and that of goodness, which is a necessary consequence + flowing from them. But I do not know any the better for this the being to + whom I have given the name; he escapes equally from my senses and my + understanding; the more I think of him, the more I confound myself. I have + full assurance that he exists, and that he exists by himself. I recognise + my own being as subordinate to his and all the things that are known to me + as being absolutely in the same case. I perceive God every<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[ii.266]</a></span>where + in his works; I feel him in myself; I see him universally around me. But + when I fain would seek where he is, what he is, of what substance, he + glides away from me, and my troubled soul discerns nothing."<a + name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a + href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> + </p> + <p> + "In fine, the more earnestly I strive to contemplate his infinite + essence, the less do I conceive it. But it is, and that suffices me. The + less I conceive it, the more I adore. I bow myself down, and say to him, O + being of beings, I am because thou art; to meditate ceaselessly on thee by + day and night, is to raise myself to my veritable source and fount. The + worthiest use of my reason is to make itself as naught before thee. It is + the ravishment of my soul, it is the solace of my weakness, to feel myself + brought low before the awful majesty of thy greatness."<a + name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a + href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> + </p> + <p> + Souls weary of the fierce mockeries that had so long been flying like + fiery shafts against the far Jehovah of the Hebrews, and the silent Christ + of the later doctors and dignitaries, and weary too of the orthodox + demonstrations that did not demonstrate, and leaden refutations that could + not refute, may well have turned with ardour to listen to this harmonious + spiritual voice, sounding clear from a region towards which their hearts + yearned with untold aspiration, but from which the spirit of their time + had shut them off with brazen barriers. It was the elevation and expansion + of man, as much as it was the restoration of a divinity. To realise this, + one must turn to such a book as Helvétius's, which was <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[ii.267]</a></span>supposed + to reveal the whole inner machinery of the heart. Man was thought of as a + singular piece of mechanism principally moved from without, not as a + conscious organism, receiving nourishment and direction from the medium in + which it is placed, but reacting with a life of its own from within. It + was this free and energetic inner life of the individual which the + Savoyard Vicar restored to lawful recognition, and made once more the + centre of that imaginative and spiritual existence, without which we live + in a universe that has no sun by day nor any stars by night. A writer in + whom learning has not extinguished enthusiasm, compares this to the + advance made by Descartes, who had given certitude to the soul by turning + thought confidently upon itself; and he declares that the Savoyard Vicar + is for the emancipation of sentiment what the Discourse upon Method was + for the emancipation of the understanding.<a name="FNanchor_341_341" + id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> + There is here a certain audacity of panegyric; still the fact that + Rousseau chose to link the highest forms of man's ideal life with a fading + projection of the lofty image which had been set up in older days, ought + not to blind us to the excellent energies which, notwithstanding defect of + association, such a vindication of the ideal was certain to quicken. And + at least the lines of that high image were nobly traced. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[ii.268]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Yet who does not feel that it is a divinity for fair weather? Rousseau, + with his fine sense of a proper and artistic setting, imagined the + Savoyard Vicar as leading his youthful convert at break of a summer day to + the top of a high hill, at whose feet the Po flowed between fertile banks; + in the distance the immense chain of the Alps crowned the landscape; the + rays of the rising sun projected long level shadows from the trees, the + slopes, the houses, and accented with a thousand lines of light the most + magnificent of panoramas.<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a + href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> This was the fitting + suggestion, so serene, warm, pregnant with power and hope, and half + mysterious, of the idea of godhead which the man of peace after an + interval of silent contemplation proceeded to expound. Rousseau's + sentimental idea at least did not revolt moral sense; it did not afflict + the firmness of intelligence; nor did it silence the diviner melodies of + the soul. Yet, once more, the heavens in which such a deity dwells are too + high, his power is too impalpable, the mysterious air which he has poured + around his being is too awful and impenetrable, for the rays from the sun + of such majesty to reach more than a few contemplative spirits, and these + only in their hours of tranquillity and expansion. The thought is too + vague, too far, to bring comfort and refreshment to the mass of travailing + men, or to invest duty with the stern ennobling quality of being done, + "if I have grace to use it so as ever in the great Taskmaster's eye."<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[ii.269]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + The Savoyard Vicar was consistent with the sublimity of his own + conception. He meditated on the order of the universe with a reverence too + profound to allow him to mingle with his thoughts meaner desires as to the + special relations of that order to himself. "I penetrate all my + faculties," he said, "with the divine essence of the author of + the world; I melt at the thought of his goodness, and bless all his gifts, + but I do not pray to him. What should I ask of him? That for me he should + change the course of things, and in my favour work miracles? Could I, who + must love above all else the order established by his wisdom and upheld by + his providence, presume to wish such order troubled for my sake? Nor do I + ask of him the power of doing righteousness; why ask for what he has given + me? Has he not bestowed on me conscience to love what is good, reason to + ascertain it, freedom to choose it? If I do ill, I have no excuse; I do it + because I will it. To pray to him to change my will, is to seek from him + what he seeks from me; it is to wish no longer to be human, it is to wish + something other than what is, it is to wish disorder and evil."<a + name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a + href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> We may admire both the + logical consistency of such self-denial and the manliness which it would + engender in the character that were strong enough to practise it. But a + divinity who has conceded no right of petition is still further away from + our lives than the divinities of more popular creeds.<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[ii.270]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Even the fairest deism is of its essence a faith of egotism and + complacency. It does not incorporate in the very heart of the religious + emotion the pitifulness and sorrow which Christianity first clothed with + associations of sanctity, and which can never henceforth miss their place + in any religious system to be accepted by men. Why is this? Because a + religion that leaves them out, or thrusts them into a hidden corner, fails + to comprehend at least one half, and that the most touching and impressive + half, of the most conspicuous facts of human life. Rousseau was fuller of + the capacity of pity than ordinary men, and this pity was one of the + deepest parts of himself. Yet it did not enter into the composition of his + religious faith, and this shows that his religious faith, though entirely + free from suspicion of insincerity or ostentatious assumption, was like + deism in so many cases, whether rationalistic or emotional, a kind of + gratuitously adopted superfluity, not the satisfaction of a profound inner + craving and resistless spiritual necessity. He speaks of the good and the + wicked with the precision and assurance of the most pharisaic theologian, + and he begins by asking of what concern it is to him whether the wicked + are punished with eternal torment or not, though he concludes more + graciously with the hope that in another state the wicked, delivered from + their malignity, may enjoy a bliss no less than his own.<a + name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a + href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> But the divine + pitifulness <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[ii.271]</a></span>which + we owe to Christianity, and which will not be the less eagerly cherished + by those who repudiate Christian tradition and doctrines, enjoins upon us + that we should ask, Who are the wicked, and which is he that is without + sin among us? Rousseau answered this glibly enough by some formula of + metaphysics, about the human will having been left and constituted free by + the creator of the world; and that man is the bad man who abuses his + freedom. Grace, fate, destiny, force of circumstances, are all so many + names for the protests which the frank sense of fact has forced from man + against this miserably inadequate explanation of the foundations of moral + responsibility. + </p> + <p> + Whatever these foundations may be, the theories of grace and fate had at + any rate the quality of connecting human conduct with the will of the + gods. Rousseau's deism, severing the influence of the Supreme Being upon + man, at the very moment when it could have saved him from the guilt that + brings misery,—that is at the moment when conduct begins to follow + the preponderant motives or the will,—did thus effectually cut off + the most admirable and fertile group of our sympathies from all direct + connection with religious sentiment. Toiling as manfully as we may through + the wilderness of our seventy years, we are to reserve our deepest + adoration for the being who has left us<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[ii.272]</a></span> there, with no other + solace than that he is good and just and all-powerful, and might have + given us comfort and guidance if he would. This was virtually the form + which Pelagius had tried to impose upon Christianity in the fifth century, + and which the souls of men, thirsting for consciousness of an active + divine presence, had then under the lead of Augustine so energetically + cast away from them. The faith to which they clung while rejecting this + great heresy, though just as transcendental, still had the quality of + satisfying a spiritual want. It was even more readily to be accepted by + the human intelligence, for it endowed the supreme power with the father's + excellence of compassion, and presented for our reverence and gratitude + and devotion a figure who drew from men the highest love for the God whom + they had not seen, along with the warmest pity and love for their brethren + whom they had seen. + </p> + <p> + The Savoyard Vicar's own position to Christianity was one of reverential + scepticism. "The holiness of the gospel," he said, "is an + argument that speaks to my heart and to which I should even be sorry to + find a good answer. Look at the books of the philosophers with all their + pomp; how puny they are by the side of that! Is there here the tone of an + enthusiast or an ambitious sectary? What gentleness, what purity, in his + manners, what touching grace in his teaching, what loftiness in his + maxims! Assuredly there was something more than human in such teaching, + such a character, such a life, such a death. If the life and<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[ii.273]</a></span> death + of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus are those of + a god. Shall we say that the history of the gospels is invented at + pleasure? My friend, that is not the fashion of invention; and the facts + about Socrates are less attested than the facts about Christ.<a + name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a + href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> Yet with all that, + this same gospel abounds in things incredible, which are repugnant to + reason, and which it is impossible for any sensible man to conceive or + admit. What are we to do in the midst of all these contradictions? To be + ever modest and circumspect, my son; to respect in silence what one can + neither reject nor understand, and to make one's self lowly before the + great being who alone knows the truth."<a name="FNanchor_346_346" + id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> + </p> + <p> + "I regard all particular religions as so many salutary institutions, + which prescribe in every country a uniform manner of honouring God by + public worship. I believe them all good, so long as men serve God + fittingly in them. The essential worship is the worship of the heart. God + never rejects this homage, under whatever form it be offered to him. In + other days I used to say mass with the levity which in time infects even + the gravest things, when we do them too often. Since acquiring my new + principles I celebrate it with more veneration; I am overwhelmed by the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[ii.274]</a></span>majesty + of the Supreme Being, by his presence, by the insufficiency of the human + mind, which conceives so little what pertains to its author. When I + approach the moment of consecration, I collect myself for performing the + act with all the feelings required by the church, and the majesty of the + sacrament; I strive to annihilate my reason before the supreme + intelligence, saying, 'Who art thou, that thou shouldest measure infinite + power?'"<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a + href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> + </p> + <p> + A creed like this, whatever else it may be, is plainly a powerful solvent + of every system of exclusive dogma. If the one essential to true worship, + the worship of the heart and the inner sentiment, be mystic adoration of + an indefinable Supreme, then creeds based upon books, prophecies, + miracles, revelations, all fall alike into the second place among things + that may be lawful and may be expedient, but that can never be exacted + from men by a just God as indispensable to virtue in this world or to + bliss in the next. No better answer has ever been given to the exclusive + pretensions of sect, Christian, Jewish, or Mahometan, than that propounded + by the Savoyard Vicar with such energy, closeness, and most sarcastic + fire.<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a + href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> It was turning an + unexpected front upon the presumptuousness of all varieties of theological + infallibilists, to prove to them that if you insist upon acceptance of + this or that special revelation, over and above the dictates of natural + religion, then you are bound not only to grant, but imperatively to enjoin + upon all men, a searching <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" + id="Page_275">[ii.275]</a></span>inquiry and comparison, that they may + spare no pains in an affair of such momentous issue in proving to + themselves that this, and none of the competing revelations, is the + veritable message of eternal safety. "Then no other study will be + possible but that of religion: hardly shall one who has enjoyed the most + robust health, employed his time and used his reason to best purpose, and + lived the greatest number of years, hardly shall such an one in his + extreme age be quite sure what to believe, and it will be a marvel if he + finds out before he dies, in what faith he ought to have lived." The + superiority of the sceptical parts of the Savoyard Vicar's profession, as + well as those of the Letters from the Mountain to which we referred + previously, over the biting mockeries which Voltaire had made the + fashionable method of assault, lay in this fact. The latter only revolted + and irritated all serious temperaments to whom religion is a matter of + honest concern, while the former actually appealed to their religious + sense in support of his doubts; and the more intelligent and sincere this + sense happened to be, the more surely would Rousseau's gravely urged + objections dissolve the hard particles of dogmatic belief. His objections + were on a moral level with the best side of the religion that they + oppugned. Those of Voltaire were only on a level with its lowest side, and + that was the side presented by the gross and repulsive obscurantism of the + functionaries of the church. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately Rousseau had placed in the hands<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[ii.276]</a></span> of the partisans of + every exclusive revelation an instrument which was quite enough to + disperse all his objections to the winds, and which was the very + instrument that defended his own cherished religion. If he was satisfied + with replying to the atheist and the materialist, that he knew there is a + supreme God, and that the soul must have here and hereafter an existence + apart from the body, because he found these truths ineffaceably written + upon his own heart, what could prevent the Christian or the Mahometan from + replying to Rousseau that the New Testament or the Koran is the special + and final revelation from the Supreme Power to his creatures? If you may + appeal to the voice of the heart and the dictate of the inner sentiment in + one case, why not in the other also? A subjective test necessarily proves + anything that any man desires, and the accident of the article proved + appearing either reasonable or monstrous to other people, cannot have the + least bearing on its efficacy or conclusiveness. + </p> + <p> + Deism like the Savoyard Vicar's opens no path for the future, because it + makes no allowance for the growth of intellectual conviction, and binds up + religion with mystery, with an object whose attributes can neither be + conceived nor defined, with a Being too all-embracing to be able to + receive anything from us, too august, self-contained, remote, to be able + to bestow on us the humble gifts of which we have need. The temperature of + thought is slowly but without an instant's recoil rising to a point when a + mystery like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[ii.277]</a></span> + this, definite enough to be imposed as a faith, but too indefinite to be + grasped by understanding as a truth, melts away from the emotions of + religion. Then those instincts of holiness, without which the world would + be to so many of its highest spirits the most dreary of exiles, will + perhaps come to associate themselves less with unseen divinities, than + with the long brotherhood of humanity seen and unseen. Here we shall move + with an assurance that no scepticism and no advance of science can ever + shake, because the benefactions which we have received from the + strenuousness of human effort can never be doubted, and each fresh + acquisition in knowledge or goodness can only kindle new fervour. Those + who have the religious imagination struck by the awful procession of man + from the region of impenetrable night, by his incessant struggle with the + hardness of the material world, and his sublimer struggle with the hard + world of his own egotistic passions, by the pain and sacrifice by which + generation after generation has added some small piece to the temple of + human freedom or some new fragment to the ever incomplete sum of human + knowledge, or some fresh line to the types of strong or beautiful + character,—those who have an eye for all this may indeed have no + ecstasy and no terror, no heaven nor hell, in their religion, but they + will have abundant moods of reverence, deep-seated gratitude, and + sovereign pitifulness. + </p> + <p> + And such moods will not end in sterile exaltation, or the deathly chills + of spiritual reaction. They will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" + id="Page_278">[ii.278]</a></span> bring forth abundant fruit in new hope + and invigorated endeavour. This devout contemplation of the experience of + the race, instead of raising a man into the clouds, brings him into the + closest, loftiest, and most conscious relations with his kind, to whom he + owes all that is of value in his own life, and to whom he can repay his + debt by maintaining the beneficent tradition of service, by cherishing + honour for all the true and sage spirits that have shone upon the earth, + and sorrow and reprobation for all the unworthier souls whose light has + gone out in baseness. A man with this faith can have no foul spiritual + pride, for there is no mysteriously accorded divine grace in which one may + be a larger participant than another. He can have no incentives to that + mutilation with which every branch of the church, from the oldest to the + youngest and crudest, has in its degree afflicted and retarded mankind, + because the key-note of his religion is the joyful energy of every + faculty, practical, reflective, creative, contemplative, in pursuit of a + visible common good. And he can be plunged into no fatal and paralysing + despair by any doctrine of mortal sin, because active faith in humanity, + resting on recorded experience, discloses the many possibilities of moral + recovery, and the work that may be done for men in the fragment of days, + redeeming the contrite from their burdens by manful hope. If religion is + our feeling about the highest forces that govern human destiny, then as it + becomes more and more evident how much our destiny is shaped by the<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[ii.279]</a></span> + generation of the dead who have prepared the present, and by the purport + of our hopes and the direction of our activity for the generations that + are to fill the future, the religious sentiment will more and more attach + itself to the great unseen host of our fellows who have gone before us and + who are to come after. Such a faith is no rag of metaphysic floating in + the sunshine of sentimentalism, like Rousseau's faith. It rests on a + positive base, which only becomes wider and firmer with the widening of + experience and the augmentation of our skill in interpreting it. Nor is it + too transcendent for practical acceptance. One of the most scientific + spirits of the eighteenth century, while each moment expecting the knock + of the executioner at his door, found as religious a solace as any early + martyr had ever found in his barbarous mysteries, when he linked his own + efforts for reason and freedom with the eternal chain of the destinies of + man. "This contemplation," he wrote and felt, "is for him a + refuge into which the rancour of his persecutors can never follow him; in + which, living in thought with man reinstated in the rights and the dignity + of his nature, he forgets man tormented and corrupted by greed, by base + fear, by envy; it is here that he truly abides with his fellows, in an + elysium that his reason has known how to create for itself, and that his + love for humanity adorns with all purest delights."<a + name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a + href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> + </p> + <p> + This, to the shame of those wavering souls who <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[ii.280]</a></span>despair of progress at + the first moment when it threatens to leave the path that they have marked + out for it, was written by a man at the very close of his days, when every + hope that he had ever cherished seemed to one without the eye of faith to + be extinguished in bloodshed, disorder, and barbarism. But there is a + still happier season in the adolescence of generous natures that have been + wisely fostered, when the horizons of the dawning life are suddenly + lighted up with a glow of aspiration towards good and holy things. + Commonly, alas, this priceless opportunity is lost in a fit of theological + exaltation, which is gradually choked out by the dusty facts of life, and + slowly moulders away into dry indifference. It would not be so, but far + different, if the Savoyard Vicar, instead of taking the youth to the + mountain-top, there to contemplate that infinite unseen which is in truth + beyond contemplation by the limited faculties of man, were to associate + these fine impulses of the early prime with the visible, intelligible, and + still sublime possibilities of the human destiny,—that imperial + conception, which alone can shape an existence of entire proportion in all + its parts, and leave no natural energy of life idle or athirst. Do you ask + for sanctions! One whose conscience has been strengthened from youth in + this faith, can know no greater bitterness than the stain cast by wrong + act or unworthy thought on the high memories with which he has been used + to walk, and the discord wrought in hopes that have become the ruling + harmony of his days. + </p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3> + FOOTNOTES: + </h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> See + Hallam's <i>Literature of Europe</i>, Pt. I. ch. ii. § 64. Again + (for the 16th century), Pt. II. ch. ii. § 53. See also for + mention of a sect of deists at Lyons about 1560, Bayle's Dictionary, + <i>s.v.</i> Viret. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> See + above, <a href="#Page_i.223">vol. i. pp. 223-227</a>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 163. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> IV. + 183-185. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> M. Henri + Martin's <i>Hist. de France</i>, xvi. 101, where there is an + interesting, but, as it seems to the present writer, hardly a + successful attempt, to bring the Savoyard Vicar's eloquence into + scientific form. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 135. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 204. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 181, 182. In a letter to Vernes (Feb. 18, 1758. <i>Corr.</i>, ii. + 9) he expresses his suspicion that possibly the souls of the wicked + may be annihilated at their death, and that being and feeling may + prove the first reward of a good life. In this letter he asks also, + with the same magnanimous security as the Savoyard Vicar, "of + what concern the destiny of the wicked can be to him." + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> A + similar disparagement of Socrates, in comparison with the Christ of + the Gospels, is to be found in the long letter of Jan. 15, 1769 (<i>Corr.</i>, + vi. 59, 60), to M——, accompanied by a violent denigration + of the Jews, conformably to the philosophic prejudice of the time. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 241, 242. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> <i>Emile</i>, + IV. 243. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> IV. + 210-236. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> + Condorcet's <i>Progrès de l'Esprit Humain</i> (1794). <i>Oeuv.</i>, + vi. 276. + </p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[ii.281]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <h3> + ENGLAND.<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a + href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">There</span> is in an English collection a portrait of + Jean Jacques, which was painted during his residence in this country by a + provincial artist. Singular and displeasing as it is, yet this picture + lights up for us many a word and passage in Rousseau's life here and + elsewhere, which the ordinary engravings, and the trim self-complacency of + the statue on the little island at Geneva, would leave very + incomprehensible. It is almost as appalling in its realism as some of the + dark pits that open before the reader of the Confessions. Hard struggles + with objective difficulty and external obstacle wear deep furrows in the + brow; they throw into the glance a solicitude, half penetrating and + defiant, half dejected. When a man's hindrances have sprung up from + within, and the ill-fought battle of his days has been with his own + passions and morbid broodings and unchastened dreams, the eye and the + facial lines tell the story of that profound moral defeat which is + unlighted by the memories of resolute combat with evil and weakness, and + leaves only eternal desola<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" + id="Page_282">[ii.282]</a></span>tion and the misery that is formless. Our + English artist has produced a vision from that prose Inferno which is made + so populous in the modern epoch by impotence of will. Those who have seen + the picture may easily understand how largely the character of the + original must have been pregnant with harassing confusion and distress. + </p> + <p> + Four years before this (1762), Hume, to whom Lord Marischal had told the + story of Rousseau's persecutions, had proffered his services, and declared + his eagerness to help in finding a proper refuge for him in England. There + had been an exchange of cordial letters,<a name="FNanchor_351_351" + id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> + and then the matter had lain quiet, until the impossibility of remaining + longer in Neuchâtel had once more set his friends on procuring a safe + establishment for their rather difficult refugee. Rousseau's appearance in + Paris had created the keenest excitement. "People may talk of ancient + Greece as they please," wrote Hume from Paris, "but no nation + was ever so proud of genius as this, and no person ever so much engaged + their attention as Rousseau! Voltaire and everybody else are quite + eclipsed by him." Even Theresa Le Vasseur, who was declared very + homely and very awkward, was more talked of than the Princess of Morocco + or the Countess of Egmont, on account of her fidelity towards him. His + very dog had a name and reputation in the world.<a name="FNanchor_352_352" + id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> + Rousseau is always said to have liked the stir which his presence created, + but whether this was so or not, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" + id="Page_283">[ii.283]</a></span>he was very impatient to be away from it + as soon as possible. + </p> + <p> + In company with Hume, he left Paris in the second week of January 1766. + They crossed from Calais to Dover by night in a passage that lasted twelve + hours. Hume, as the orthodox may be glad to know, was extremely ill, while + Rousseau cheerfully passed the whole night upon deck, taking no harm, + though the seamen were almost frozen to death.<a name="FNanchor_353_353" + id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> + They reached London on the thirteenth of January, and the people of London + showed nearly as lively an interest in the strange personage whom Hume had + brought among them, as the people of Paris had done. <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[ii.284]</a></span>A prince of the blood at + once went to pay his respects to the Swiss philosopher. The crowd at the + playhouse showed more curiosity when the stranger came in than when the + king and queen entered. Their majesties were as interested as their + subjects, and could scarcely keep their eyes off the author of Emilius. + George III., then in the heyday of his youth, was so pleased to have a + foreigner of genius seeking shelter in his kingdom, that he readily + acceded to Conway's suggestion, prompted by Hume, that Rousseau should + have a pension settled on him. The ever illustrious Burke, then just made + member of Parliament, saw him nearly every day, and became persuaded that + "he entertained no principle either to influence his heart, or guide + his understanding, but vanity."<a name="FNanchor_354_354" + id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> + Hume, on the contrary, thought the best things of his client; "He has + an excellent warm heart, and in conversation kindles often to a degree of + heat which looks like inspiration; I love him much, and hope that I have + some share in his affections.... He is a very modest, mild, well-bred, + gentle-spirited and warm-hearted man, as ever I knew in my life. He is + also to appearance very sociable. I never saw a man who seems better + calculated for good company, nor who seems to take more pleasure in it." + "He is a very agreeable, amiable man; but a great humorist. The + philosophers of Paris foretold to me that I could not conduct him to + Calais without a quarrel; but I think <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[ii.285]</a></span>I could live with him all + my life in mutual friendship and esteem. I believe one great source of our + concord is that neither he nor I are disputatious, which is not the case + with any of them. They are also displeased with him, because they think he + over-abounds in religion; and it is indeed remarkable that the philosopher + of this age who has been most persecuted, is by far the most devout."<a + name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a + href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> + </p> + <p> + What the Scotch philosopher meant by calling his pupil a humorist, may + perhaps be inferred from the story of the trouble he had in prevailing + upon Rousseau to go to the play, though Garrick had appointed a special + occasion and set apart a special box for him. When the hour came, Rousseau + declared that he could not leave his dog behind him. "The first + person," he said, "who opens the door, Sultan will run into the + streets in search of me and will be lost." Hume told him to lock + Sultan up in the room, and carry away the key in his pocket. This was + done, but as they proceeded downstairs, the dog began to howl; his master + turned back and avowed he had not resolution to leave him in that + condition. Hume, however, caught him in his arms, told him that Mr. + Garrick had dismissed another company in order to make room for him, that + the king and queen were expecting to see him, and that without a better + reason than Sultan's impatience it would be ridiculous to disappoint them. + Thus, a little by reason, but more by force, he was carried off.<a + name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a + href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> Such a story, whatever + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[ii.286]</a></span>else + we may think of it, shows at least a certain curious and not untouching + simplicity. And singularity which made Rousseau like better to keep his + dog company at home, than to be stared at by a gaping pit, was too private + in its reward to be the result of that vanity and affectation with which + he was taxed by men who lived in another sphere of motive. + </p> + <p> + There was considerable trouble in settling Rousseau. He was eager to leave + London almost as soon as he arrived in it. Though pleased with the + friendly reception which had been given him, he pronounced London to be as + much devoted to idle gossip and frivolity as other capitals. He spent a + few weeks in the house of a farmer at Chiswick, thought about fixing + himself in the Isle of Wight, then in Wales, then somewhere in our fair + Surrey, whose scenery, one is glad to know, greatly attracted him. Finally + arrangements were made by Hume with Mr. Davenport for installing him in a + house belonging to the latter, at Wootton, near Ashbourne, in the Peak of + Derbyshire.<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a + href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> Hither Rousseau + proceeded with Theresa, at the end of March. Mr. Davenport was a gentleman + of large property, and as he seldom inhabited this solitary house, was + very willing that Rousseau should take up his abode there without payment. + This, however, was what Rousseau's inde<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[ii.287]</a></span>pendence could not brook, + and he insisted that his entertainer should receive thirty pounds a year + for the board of himself and Theresa.<a name="FNanchor_358_358" + id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> + So here he settled, in an extremely bitter climate, knowing no word of the + language of the people about him, with no companionship but Theresa's, and + with nothing to do but walk when the weather was fair, play the harpsicord + when it rained, and brood over the incidents which had occurred to him + since he had left Switzerland six months before. The first fruits of this + unfortunate leisure were a bitter quarrel with Hume, one of the most + famous and far-resounding of all the quarrels of illustrious men, but one + about which very little needs now be said. The merits of it are plain, and + all significance that may ever have belonged to it is entirely dead. The + incubation of his grievances began immediately after his arrival at + Wootton, but two months elapsed before they burst forth in full flame.<a + name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a + href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> + </p> + <p> + The general charge against Hume was that he was a member of an accursed + triumvirate; Voltaire and D'Alembert were the other partners; and their + object was to blacken the character of Rousseau and render his life + miserable. The particular acts on which this belief was established were + the following:— + </p> + <p> + (1) While Rousseau was in Paris, there appeared a <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[ii.288]</a></span>letter nominally + addressed to him by the King of Prussia, and written in an ironical + strain, which persuaded Jean Jacques himself that it was the work of + Voltaire.<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a + href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> Then he suspected + D'Alembert. It was really the composition of Horace Walpole, who was then + in Paris. Now Hume was the friend of Walpole, and had given Rousseau a + card of introduction to him for the purpose of entrusting Walpole with the + carriage of some papers. Although the false letter produced the liveliest + amusement at Rousseau's cost, first in Paris and then in London, Hume, + while feigning to be his warm friend and presenting him to the English + public, never took any pains to tell the world that the piece was a + forgery, nor did he break with its <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" + id="Page_289">[ii.289]</a></span>wicked author.<a name="FNanchor_361_361" + id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> + (2) When Rousseau assured Hume that D'Alembert was a cunning and + dishonourable man, Hume denied it with an amazing heat, although he well + knew the latter to be Rousseau's enemy.<a name="FNanchor_362_362" + id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> + (3) Hume lived in London with the son of Tronchin, the Genevese surgeon, + and the most mortal of all the foes of Jean Jacques.<a + name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a + href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> (4) When Rousseau + first came to London, his reception was a distinguished triumph for the + victim of persecution from so many governments. England was proud of being + his place of refuge, and justly vaunted the freedom of her laws and + administration. Suddenly and for no assignable cause the public tone + changed, the newspapers either fell silent or else spoke unfavourably, and + Rousseau was thought of no more. This must have been due to Hume, who had + much influence among people of credit, and who went about boasting of the + protection which he had procured for Jean Jacques in Paris.<a + name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a + href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> (5) Hume resorted to + various small artifices for preventing Rousseau from making friends, for + procuring opportunities of opening Rousseau's letters, and the like.<a + name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a + href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> (6) A violent + satirical letter against Rousseau appeared in the English newspapers, with + allusions which could only have been supplied by Hume. (7) On the first + night after their departure from Paris, Rousseau, who occupied the same + room with Hume, heard him call out several times in the middle of the + night in the course of his dreams, <i>Je tiens Jean Jacques <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[ii.290]</a></span>Rousseau</i>, + with extreme vehemence—which words, in spite of the horribly + sardonic tone of the dreamer, he interpreted favourably at the time, but + which later event proved to have been full of malign significance.<a + name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a + href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> (8) Rousseau + constantly found Hume eyeing him with a glance of sinister and diabolic + import that filled him with an astonishing disquietude, though he did his + best to combat it. On one of these occasions he was seized with remorse, + fell upon Hume's neck, embraced him warmly, and, suffocated with sobs and + bathed in tears, cried out in broken accents, <i>No, no, David Hume is no + traitor</i>, with many protests of affection. The phlegmatic Hume only + returned his embrace with politeness, stroked him gently on the back, and + repeated several times in a tranquil voice, <i>Quoi, mon cher monsieur! + Eh! mon cher monsieur! Quoi donc, mon cher monsieur!</i><a + name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a + href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> (9) Although for many + weeks Rousseau had kept a firm silence to Hume, neglecting to answer + letters that plainly called for answer, and marking his displeasure in + other unmistakable ways, yet Hume had never sought any explanation of what + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[ii.291]</a></span>must + necessarily have struck him as so singular, but continued to write as if + nothing had happened. Was not this positive proof of a consciousness of + perfidy? + </p> + <p> + Some years afterwards he substituted another shorter set of grievances, + namely, that Hume would not suffer Theresa to sit at table with him; that + he made a show of him; and that Hume had an engraving executed of himself, + which made him as beautiful as a cherub, while in another engraving, which + was a pendant to his own, Jean Jacques was made as ugly as a bear.<a + name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a + href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> + </p> + <p> + It would be ridiculous for us to waste any time in discussing these + charges. They are not open to serious examination, though it is + astonishing to find writers in our own day who fully believe that Hume was + a traitor, and behaved extremely basely to the unfortunate man whom he had + inveigled over to a barbarous island. The only part of the indictment + about which there could be the least doubt, was the possibility of Hume + having been an accomplice in Walpole's very small pleasantry. Some of his + friends in Paris suspected that he had had a hand in the supposed letter + from the King of Prussia. Although the letter constituted no very + malignant jest, and could not by a sensible man have been regarded as + furnishing just complaint against one who, like Walpole, was merely an + impudent stranger, yet if it could be shown that Hume had taken an active + part either in the composition or the circulation of a spiteful bit of + satire upon <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[ii.292]</a></span>one + towards whom he was pretending a singular affection, then we should admit + that he showed such a want of sense of the delicacy of friendship as + amounted to something like treachery. But a letter from Walpole to Hume + sets this doubt at rest. "I cannot be precise as to the time of my + writing the King of Prussia's letter, but ... I not only suppressed the + letter while you stayed there, out of delicacy to you, but it was the + reason why, out of delicacy to myself, I did not go to see him as you + often proposed to me, thinking it wrong to go and make a cordial visit to + a man, with a letter in my pocket to laugh at him."<a + name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a + href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> + </p> + <p> + With this all else falls to the ground. It would be as unwise in us, as it + was in Rousseau himself, to complicate the hypotheses. Men do not act + without motives, and Hume could have no motive in entering into any plot + against Rousseau, even if the rival philosophers in France might have + motives. We know the character of our David Hume perfectly well, and + though it was not faultless, its fault certainly lay rather in an + excessive desire to make the world comfortable for everybody, than in + anything like purposeless malignity, of which he never had a trace. + Moreover, all that befell Rousseau through Hume's agency was exceedingly + to his advantage. Hume was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" + id="Page_293">[ii.293]</a></span>not without vanity, and his letters show + that he was not displeased at the addition to his consequence which came + of his patronage of a man who was much talked about and much stared at. + But, however this was, he did all for Rousseau that generosity and + thoughtfulness could do. He was at great pains in establishing him; he + used his interest to procure for him the grant of a pension from the king; + when Rousseau provisionally refused the pension rather than owe anything + to Hume, the latter, still ignorant of the suspicion that was blackening + in Rousseau's mind, supposed that the refusal came from the fact of the + pension being kept private, and at once took measures with the minister to + procure the removal of the condition of privacy. Besides undeniable acts + like these, the state of Hume's mind towards his curious ward is + abundantly shown in his letters to all his most intimate friends, just as + Rousseau's gratitude to him is to be read in all his early letters both to + Hume and other persons. In the presence of such facts on the one side, and + in the absence of any particle of intelligible evidence to neutralise them + on the other, to treat Rousseau's charges with gravity is irrational. + </p> + <p> + If Hume had written back in a mild and conciliatory strain, there can be + no doubt that the unfortunate victim of his own morbid imagination would, + for a time at any rate, have been sobered and brought to a sense of his + misconduct. But Hume was incensed beyond control at what he very + pardonably took for a masterpiece of atrocious ingratitude. He reproached<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[ii.294]</a></span> + Rousseau in terms as harsh as those which Grimm had used nine years + before. He wrote to all his friends, withdrawing the kindly words he had + once used of Rousseau's character, and substituting in their place the + most unfavourable he could find. He gave the philosophic circle in Paris + exquisite delight by the confirmation which his story furnished of their + own foresight, when they had warned him that he was taking a viper to his + bosom. Finally, in spite of the advice of Adam Smith, of one of the + greatest of men, Turgot, and one of the smallest, Horace Walpole, he + published a succinct account of the quarrel, first in French, and then in + English. This step was chiefly due to the advice of the clique of whom + D'Alembert was the spokesman, though it is due to him to mention that he + softened various expressions in Hume's narrative, which he pronounced too + harsh. It may be true that a council of war never fights; a council of men + of letters always does. The governing committee of a literary, + philosophical, or theological clique form the very worst advisers any man + can have. + </p> + <p> + Much must be forgiven to Hume, stung as he was by what appeared the most + hateful ferocity in one on whom he had heaped acts of affection. Still, + one would have been glad on behalf of human dignity, if he had suffered + with firm silence petulant charges against which the consciousness of his + own uprightness should have been the only answer. That high pride, of + which there is too little rather than too much in the world, and which + saves men from waste of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" + id="Page_295">[ii.295]</a></span> themselves and others in pitiful + accusations, vindications, retaliations, should have helped humane pity in + preserving him from this poor quarrel. Long afterwards Rousseau said, + "England, of which they paint such fine pictures in France, has so + cheerless a climate; my soul, wearied with many shocks, was in a condition + of such profound melancholy, that in all that passed I believe I committed + many faults. But are they comparable to those of the enemies who + persecuted me, supposing them even to have done no more than published our + private quarrels?"<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a + href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> An ampler contrition + would have been more seemly in the first offender, but there is a measure + of justice in his complaint. We need not, however, reproach the good Hume. + Before six months were over, he admits that he is sometimes inclined to + blame his publication, and always to regret it.<a name="FNanchor_371_371" + id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> + And his regret was not verbal merely. When Rousseau had returned to + France, and was in danger of arrest, Hume was most urgent in entreating + Turgot to use his influence with the government to protect the wretched + wanderer, and Turgot's answer shows both how sincere this humane + interposition was, and how practically serviceable.<a + name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a + href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile there ensued a horrible fray in print. Pamphlets appeared in + Paris and London in a cloud. The Succinct Exposure was followed by + succinct rejoinders. Walpole officiously printed his own account of his + own share in the matter. Boswell officiously <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[ii.296]</a></span>wrote to the newspapers + defending Rousseau and attacking Walpole. King George followed the battle + with intense curiosity. Hume with solemn formalities sent the documents to + the British Museum. There was silence only in one place, and that was at + Wootton. The unfortunate person who had done all the mischief printed not + a word. + </p> + <p> + The most prompt and quite the least instructive of the remarks invariably + made upon any one who has acted in an unusual manner, is that he must be + mad. This universal criticism upon the unwonted really tells us nothing, + because the term may cover any state of mind from a warranted dissent from + established custom, down to absolute dementia. Rousseau was called mad + when he took to wearing convenient clothes and living frugally. He was + called mad when he quitted the town and went to live in the country. The + same facile explanation covered his quarrel with importunate friends at + the Hermitage. Voltaire called him mad for saying that if there were + perfect harmony of taste and temperament between the king's daughter and + the executioner's son, the pair ought to be allowed to marry. We who are + not forced by conversational necessities to hurry to a judgment, may + hesitate to take either taste for the country, or for frugal living, or + even for democratic extravagances, as a mark of a disordered mind.<a + name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a + href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> That Rousseau's + conduct towards Hume was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" + id="Page_297">[ii.297]</a></span>inconsistent with perfect mental + soundness is quite plain. But to say this with crude trenchancy, teaches + us nothing. Instead of paying ourselves with phrases like monomania, it is + more useful shortly to trace the conditions which prepared the way for + mental derangement, because this is the only means of understanding either + its nature, or the degree to which it extended. These conditions in + Rousseau's case are perfectly simple and obvious to any one who recognises + the principle, that the essential facts of such mental disorder as his + must be sought not in the symptoms, but from the whole range of moral and + intellectual constitution, acted on by physical states and acting on them + in turn. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau was born with an organisation of extreme sensibility. This + predisposition was further deepened by the application in early youth of + mental influences specially calculated to heighten juvenile sensibility. + Corrective discipline from circumstance and from formal instruction was + wholly absent, and thus the particular excess in his temperament became + ever more and more exaggerated, and encroached at a rate of geometrical + progression upon all the rest of his impulses and faculties; these, if he + had been happily placed under some of the many forms of wholesome<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[ii.298]</a></span> + social pressure, would then on the contrary have gradually reduced his + sensibility to more normal proportion. When the vicious excess had + decisively rooted itself in his character, he came to Paris, where it was + irritated into further activity by the uncongeniality of all that + surrounded him. Hence the growth of a marked unsociality, taking literary + form in the Discourses, and practical form in his retirement from the + town. The slow depravation of the affective life was hastened by solitude, + by sensuous expansion, by the long musings of literary composition. Well + does Goethe's Princess warn the hapless Tasso:— + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i10">Dieser Pfad<br /></span> <span class="i0">Verleitet + uns, durch einsames Gebüsch,<br /></span> <span class="i0">Durch + stille Thäler fortzuwandern; mehr<br /></span> <span class="i0">Und + mehr verwöhnt sich das Gemüth und strebt<br /></span> <span + class="i0">Die goldne Zeit, die ihm von aussen mangelt,<br /></span> + <span class="i0">In seinem Innern wieder herzustellen,<br /></span> <span + class="i0">So wenig der Versuch gelingen will.<br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + Then came harsh and unjust treatment prolonged for many months, and this + introduced a slight but genuinely misanthropic element of bitterness into + what had hitherto been an excess of feeling about himself, rather than any + positive feeling of hostility or suspicion about others. Finally and + perhaps above all else, he was the victim of tormenting bodily pain, and + of sleeplessness which resulted from it. The agitation and excitement of + the journey to England, completed the sum of the conditions of + disturbance, and as soon as ever he was settled at Wootton, and<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[ii.299]</a></span> had + leisure to brood over the incidents of the few weeks since his arrival in + England, the disorder which had long been spreading through his impulses + and affections, suddenly but by a most natural sequence extended to the + faculties of his intelligence, and he became the prey of delusion, a + delusion which was not yet fixed, but which ultimately became so. + </p> + <p> + "He has only <i>felt</i> during the whole course of his life," + wrote Hume sympathetically; "and in this respect his sensibility + rises to a pitch beyond what I have seen any example of; but it still + gives him a more acute feeling of pain than of pleasure. He is like a man + who was stripped not only of his clothes, but of his skin, and turned out + in that situation to combat with the rude and boisterous elements."<a + name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a + href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> A morbid affective + state of this kind and of such a degree of intensity, was the sure + antecedent of a morbid intellectual state, general or partial, depressed + or exalted. One who is the prey of unsound feelings, if they are only + marked enough and persistent enough, naturally ends by a correspondingly + unsound arrangement of all or some of his ideas to match. The intelligence + is seduced into finding supports in misconception of circumstances, for a + misconception of human relation which had its root in disordered emotion. + This completes the breach of correspondence between the man's nature and + the external facts with which he has to deal, though the breach may not, + and in Rousseau's case certainly did not, extend along <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[ii.300]</a></span>the + whole line of feeling and judgment. Rousseau's delusion about Hume's + sinister feeling and designs, which was the first definite manifestation + of positive unsoundness in the sphere of the intelligence, was a last + result of the gradual development of an inherited predisposition to + affective unsoundness, which unhappily for the man's history had never + been counteracted either by a strenuous education, or by the wholesome + urgencies of life. + </p> + <p> + We have only to remember that with him, as with the rest of us, there was + entire unity of nature, without cataclysm or marvel or inexplicable + rupture of mental continuity. All the facts came in an order that might + have been foretold; they all lay together, with their foundations down in + physical temperament; the facts which made Rousseau's name renowned and + his influence a great force, along with those which made his life a + scandal to others and a misery to himself. The deepest root of moral + disorder lies in an immoderate expectation of happiness, and this + immoderate unlawful expectation was the mark both of his character and his + work. The exaltation of emotion over intelligence was the secret of his + most striking production; the same exaltation, by gaining increased + mastery over his whole existence, at length passed the limit of sanity and + wrecked him. The tendency of the dominant side of a character towards + diseased exaggeration is a fact of daily observation. The ruin which the + excess of strong religious imagination works in natures without the + quality of energetic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[ii.301]</a></span> + objective reaction, was shown in the case of Rousseau's contemporary, + Cowper. This gentle poet's delusions about the wrath of God were equally + pitiable and equally a source of torment to their victim, with Rousseau's + delusions about the malignity of his mysterious plotters among men. We + must call such a condition unsound, but the important thing is to remember + that insanity was only a modification of certain specially marked + tendencies of the sufferer's sanity. + </p> + <p> + The desire to protect himself against the defamation of his enemies led + him at this time to compose that account of his own life, which is + probably the only one of his writings that continues to be generally read. + He composed the first part of the Confessions at Wootton, during the + autumn and winter of 1766. The idea of giving his memoirs to the public + was an old one, originally suggested by one of his publishers. To write + memoirs of one's own life was one of the fancies of the time, but like all + else, it became in Rousseau's hand something more far-reaching and sincere + than a passing fashion. Other people wrote polite histories of their outer + lives, amply coloured with romantic decorations. Rousseau with unquailing + veracity plunged into the inmost depths, hiding nothing that would be + likely to make him either ridiculous or hateful in common opinion, and + inventing nothing that could attract much sympathy or much admiration. + Though, as has been pointed out already, the Confessions abound in small + inaccuracies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[ii.302]</a></span> + of date, hardly to be avoided by an oldish man in reference to the facts + of his boyhood, whether a Rousseau or a Goethe, and though one or two of + the incidents are too deeply coloured with the hues of sentimental + reminiscence, and one or two of them are downright impossible, yet when + all these deductions have been made, the substantial truthfulness of what + remains is made more evident with every addition to our materials for + testing them. When all the circumstances of Rousseau's life are weighed, + and when full account has been taken of his proved delinquencies, we yet + perceive that he was at bottom a character as essentially sincere, + truthful, careful of fact and reality, as is consistent with the general + empire of sensation over untrained intelligence.<a name="FNanchor_375_375" + id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> + As for the egotism of the Confessions, it is hard to see how a man is to + tell the story of his own life without egotism. And it may be worth adding + that the self-feeling which comes to the surface and asserts itself, is in + a great many cases far less vicious and debilitating than the same feeling + nursed internally with a troglodytish shyness. But Rousseau's egotism + manifested itself perversely. This is true to a certain small extent, and + one or two of the disclosures in the Confessions are in very nauseous + matter, and are made moreover in a very nauseous manner. There are some + vices whose grotesqueness stirs us more deeply than downright <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[ii.303]</a></span>atrocities, + and we read of certain puerilities avowed by Rousseau, with a livelier + impatience than old Benvenuto Cellini quickens in us, when he confesses to + a horrible assassination. This morbid form of self-feeling is only less + disgusting than the allied form which clothes itself in the phrases of + religious exaltation. And there is not much of it. Blot out half a dozen + pages from the Confessions, and the egotism is no more perverted than in + the confessions of Augustine or of Cardan. + </p> + <p> + These remarks are not made to extenuate Rousseau's faults, or to raise the + popular estimate of his character, but simply in the interests of a + greater precision of criticism. In England criticism has nearly always + been of the most vulgar superficiality in respect to Rousseau, from the + time of Horace Walpole downwards. The Confessions in their least agreeable + parts, or rather especially in those parts, are the expression on a new + side and in a peculiar way of the same notion of the essential goodness of + nature and the importance of understanding nature and restoring its reign, + which inspired the Discourses and Emilius. "I would fain show to my + fellows," he began, "a man in all the truth of nature," and + he cannot be charged with any failure to keep his word. He despised + opinion, and hence was careless to observe whether or no this revelation + of human nakedness was likely to add to the popular respect for nature and + the natural man. After all, considering that literature is for the most + part a hollow and pretentious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" + id="Page_304">[ii.304]</a></span> phantasmagoria of mimic figures posing + in breeches and peruke, we may try to forgive certain cruel blows to the + dignified assumptions, solemn words, and high heels of convention, in one + who would not lie, nor dissemble kinship with the four-footed. Intense + subjective preoccupations in markedly emotional natures all tend to come + to the same end. The distance from Rousseau's odious erotics to the + glorified ecstasies of many a poor female saint is not far. In any case, + let us know the facts about human nature, and the pathological facts no + less than the others. These are the first thing, and the second, and the + third also. + </p> + <p> + The exaltation of the opening page of the Confessions is shocking. No monk + nor saint ever wrote anything more revolting in its blasphemous + self-feeling. But the exaltation almost instantly became calm, when the + course of the story necessarily drew the writer into dealings with + objective facts, even muffled as they were by memory and imagination. The + broodings over old reminiscence soothed him, the labour of composition + occupied him, and he forgot, as the modern reader would never know from + internal evidence, that he was preparing a vindication of his life and + character against the infamies with which Hume and others were supposed to + be industriously blackening them. While he was writing this famous + composition, severed by so vast a gulf from the modes of English + provincial life, he was on good terms with one or two of the great people + in his neighbourhood, and kept up a gracious and social correspondence<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[ii.305]</a></span> with + them. He was greatly pleased by a compliment that was paid to him by the + government, apparently through the interest of General Conway. The duty + that had been paid upon certain boxes forwarded to Rousseau from + Switzerland was recouped by the treasury,<a name="FNanchor_376_376" + id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> + and the arrangements for the annual pension of one hundred pounds were + concluded and accepted by him, after he had duly satisfied himself that + Hume was not the indirect author of the benefaction.<a + name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a + href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> The weather was the + worst possible, but whenever it allowed him to go out of doors, he found + delight in climbing the heights around him in search of curious mosses; + for he had now come to think the discovery of a single new plant a hundred + times more useful than to have the whole human race listening to your + sermons for half a century.<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a + href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> "This indolent + and contemplative life that you do not approve," he wrote to the + elder Mirabeau, "and for which I pretend to make no excuses, becomes + every day more delicious to me: to wander alone among the trees and rocks + that surround my dwelling; to muse or rather to extravagate at my ease, + and as you say to stand gaping in the air; when my brain gets too hot, to + calm it by dissecting some moss or fern; in short, to surrender myself + without restraint to my phantasies, which, heaven be thanked, are all + under my own con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[ii.306]</a></span>trol,—all + that is for me the height of enjoyment, to which I can imagine nothing + superior in this world for a man of my age and in my condition."<a + name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a + href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> + </p> + <p> + This contentment did not last long. The snow kept him indoors. The + excitement of composition abated. Theresa harassed him by ignoble quarrels + with the women in the kitchen. His delusions returned with greater force + than before. He believed that the whole English nation was in a plot + against him, that all his letters were opened before reaching London and + before leaving it, that all his movements were closely watched, and that + he was surrounded by unseen guards to prevent any attempt at escape.<a + name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a + href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> At length these + delusions got such complete mastery over him, that in a paroxysm of terror + he fled away from Wootton, leaving money, papers, and all else behind him. + Nothing was heard of him for a fortnight, when Mr. Davenport received a + letter from him dated at Spalding in Lincolnshire. Mr. Davenport's conduct + throughout was marked by a humanity and patience that do him the highest + honour. He confesses himself "quite moved to read poor Rousseau's + mournful epistle." "You shall see his letter," he writes to + Hume, "the first opportunity; but God help him, I can't for pity give + a copy; and 'tis so much mixed with his own poor little private concerns, + that it would not be right in me to do <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[ii.307]</a></span>it."<a + name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a + href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> This is the generosity + which makes Hume's impatience and that of his mischievous advisers in + Paris appear petty. Rousseau had behaved quite as ill to Mr. Davenport as + he had done to Hume, and had received at least equal services from him.<a + name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a + href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> The good man at once + sent a servant to Spalding in search of his unhappy guest, but Rousseau + had again disappeared. The parson of the parish had passed several hours + of each day in his company, and had found him cheerful and good-humoured. + He had had a blue coat made for himself, and had written a long letter to + the lord chancellor, praying him to appoint a guard, at Rousseau's own + expense, to escort him in safety out of the kingdom where enemies were + plotting against his life.<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a + href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a> He was next heard of + at Dover (May 18), whence he wrote a letter to General Conway, setting + forth his delusion in full form.<a name="FNanchor_384_384" + id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a> + He is the victim of a plot; the conspirators will not allow him to leave + the island, lest he should divulge in other countries the outrages to + which he has been subjected here; he perceives the sinister manoeuvres + that will arrest him if he attempts to put his foot on board ship. But he + warns them that his tragical disappearance cannot take place without + creating inquiry. Still if General Conway will only let him go, he gives + his word of honour that he will not publish <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[ii.308]</a></span>a line of the memoirs he + has written, nor ever divulge the wrongs which he has suffered in England. + "I see my last hour approaching," he concluded; "I am + determined, if necessary, to advance to meet it, and to perish or be free; + there is no longer any other alternative." On the same evening on + which he wrote this letter (about May 20-22), the forlorn creature took + boat and landed at Calais, where he seems at once to have recovered his + composure and a right mind. + </p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3> + FOOTNOTES: + </h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> Jan. + 1766—May 1767. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 275, etc. <i>Corr.</i>, iii. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Burton, + ii. 299. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> The + materials for this chapter are taken from Rousseau's <i>Correspondence</i> + (vols. iv. and v.), and from Hume's letters to various persons, given + in the second volume of Mr. Burton's <i>Life of Hume</i>. Everybody + who takes an interest in Rousseau is indebted to Mr. Burton for the + ample documents which he has provided. Yet one cannot but regret the + satire on Rousseau with which he intersperses them, and which is not + always felicitous. For one instance, he implies (p. 295) that Rousseau + invented the story given in the Confessions, of Hume's correcting the + proofs of Wallace's book against himself. The story may be true or + not, but at any rate Rousseau had it very circumstantially from Lord + Marischal; see letter from Lord M. to J.J.R., in Streckeisen, ii. 67. + Again, such an expression as Rousseau's "<i>occasional</i> + attention to small matters" (p. 321) only shows that the writer + has not read Rousseau's letters, which are indeed not worth reading, + except by those who wish to have a right to speak about Rousseau's + character. The numerous pamphlets on the quarrel between Hume and + Rousseau, if I may judge from those of them which I have turned over, + really shed no light on the matter, though they added much heat. For + the journey, see <i>Corr.</i>, iv. 307; Burton, ii. 304. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> <i>Letter + to a Member of the National Assembly.</i> The same passage contains + some strong criticism on Rousseau's style. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> Burton, + 304, 309, 310. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + ii. 309, <i>n.</i> + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> Mr. + Howitt has given an account of Rousseau's quarters at Wootton, in his + <i>Visits to Remarkable Places</i>. One or two aged peasants had some + confused memory of "old Ross-hall." For Rousseau's own + description, see his letters to Mdme. de Luze, May 10, 1766. <i>Corr.</i>, + iv. 326. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> Burton, + 313. It has been stated that Rousseau never paid this; at any rate + when he fled, he left between thirty and forty pounds in Mr. + Davenport's hands. See Davenport to Hume; Burton, 367. Rousseau's + accurate probity in affairs of money is absolutely unimpeachable. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i> + iv. 312. April 9, 1766. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> Here is + a translation of this rather poor piece of sarcasm:—"My + dear Jean Jacques—You have renounced Geneva, your native place. + You have caused your expulsion from Switzerland, a country so extolled + in your writings; France has issued a warrant against you; so do you + come to me. I admire your talents; I am amused by your dreamings, + though let me tell you they absorb you too much and for too long. You + must at length be sober and happy; you have caused enough talk about + yourself by oddities which in truth are hardly becoming a really great + man. Prove to your enemies that you can now and then have common + sense. That will annoy them and do you no harm. My states offer you a + peaceful retreat. I wish you well, and will treat you well, if you + will let me. But if you persist in refusing my help, do not reckon + upon my telling any one that you did so. If you are bent on tormenting + your spirit to find new misfortunes, choose whatever you like best. I + am a king, and can procure them for you at your pleasure; and what + will certainly never happen to you in respect of your enemies, I will + cease to persecute you as soon as you cease to take a pride in being + persecuted. Your good friend, <span class="smcap">Frederick</span>." + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iv. 313, 343, 388, 398. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + 395. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + 389, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + 384. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + 343, 344, 387, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + iv. 346. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + 390. A letter from Hume to Blair, long before the rupture overt, shows + the former to have been by no means so phlegmatic on this occasion as + he may have seemed. "I hope," he writes, "you have not + so bad an opinion of me as to think I was not melted on this occasion; + I assure you I kissed him and embraced him twenty times, with a + plentiful effusion of tears. I think no scene of my life was ever more + affecting." Burton, ii. 315. The great doubters of the eighteenth + century could without fear have accepted the test of the ancient + saying, that men without tears are worth little. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> + Bernardin de St. Pierre, <i>Oeuv.</i>, xii. 79. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> + Walpole's <i>Letters</i>, v. 7 (Cunningham's edition). For other + letters from the shrewd coxcomb on the same matter, see pp. 23-28. A + corroboration of the statement that Hume knew nothing of the letter + until he was in England, may be inferred from what he wrote to Madame + de Boufflers; Burton, ii. 306, and <i>n.</i> 2. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> + Bernardin de St. Pierre, <i>Oeuv.</i>, xii. 79. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> To Adam + Smith. Burton, 380. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> Burton, + 381. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> A very + common but random opinion traces Rousseau's insanity to certain + disagreeable habits avowed in the Confessions. They may have + contributed in some small degree to depression of vital energies, + though for that matter Rousseau's strength and power of endurance were + remarkable to the end. But they certainly did not produce a mental + state in the least corresponding to that particular variety of + insanity, which possesses definitely marked features. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> Burton, + ii. 314. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> For an + instructive and, as it appears to me, a thoroughly trustworthy account + of the temper in which the Confessions were written, see the 4th of + the <i>Rêveries</i>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> Letter + to the Duke of Grafton, Feb. 27, 1767. <i>Corr.</i>, v. 98: also 118. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + v. 133; also to General Conway (March 26), p. 137, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 37. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 88. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> See the + letters to Du Peyrou, of the 2d and 4th of April 1767. <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 140-147. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> + Davenport to Hume; Burton, 367-371. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> J.J.R. + to Davenport, Dec. 22, 1766, and April 30, 1767. <i>Corr.</i>, v. 66, + 152. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> Burton, + 369, 375. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 153. + </p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[ii.309]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <h3> + THE END. + </h3> + <p> + <span class="smcap">Before</span> leaving England, Rousseau had received + more than one long and rambling letter from a man who was as unlike the + rest of mankind as he was unlike them himself. This was the Marquis of + Mirabeau (1715-89), the violent, tyrannical, pedantic, humoristic sire of + a more famous son. Perhaps we might say that Mirabeau and Rousseau were + the two most singular originals then known to men, and Mirabeau's + originality was in some respects the more salient of the two. There is + less of the conventional tone of the eighteenth century Frenchman in him + than in any other conspicuous man of the time, though like many other + headstrong and despotic souls he picked up the current notions of + philanthropy and human brotherhood. He really was by very force of + temperament that rebel against the narrowness, trimness, and moral + formalism of the time which Rousseau only claimed and attempted to be, + with the secondary degree of success that follows vehemence without native + strength. Mirabeau was a sort of Swift, who had strangely taken up the + trade of friendship for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" + id="Page_310">[ii.310]</a></span> man and adopted the phrases of + perfectibility; while Rousseau on the other hand was meant for a Fénelon, + save that he became possessed of unclean devils. + </p> + <p> + Mirabeau, like Jean Jacques himself, was so impressed by the marked tenor + of contemporary feeling, its prudential didactics, its formulistic + sociality, that his native insurgency only found vent in private life, + while in public he played pedagogue to the human race. Friend of Quesnai + and orthodox economist as he was, he delighted in Rousseau's books: "I + know no morality that goes deeper than yours; it strikes like a + thunderbolt, and advances with the steady assurance of truth, for you are + always true, according to your notions for the moment." He wrote to + tell him so, but he told him at the same time at great length, and with a + caustic humour and incoherency less academic than Rabelaisian, that he had + behaved absurdly in his quarrel with Hume. There is nothing more quaint + than the appearance of a few of the sacramental phrases of the sect of the + economists, floating in the midst of a copious stream of egoistic + whimsicalities. He concludes with a diverting enumeration of all his + country seats and demesnes, with their respective advantages and + disadvantages, and prays Rousseau to take up his residence in whichever of + them may please him best.<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a + href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> + </p> + <p> + Immediately on landing at Calais Rousseau informed Mirabeau, and Mirabeau + lost no time in conveying him stealthily, for the warrant of the parlia<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[ii.311]</a></span>ment + of Paris was still in force, to a house at Fleury. But the Friend of Men, + to use his own account of himself, "bore letters as a plum-tree bears + plums," and wrote to his guest with strange humoristic volubility and + droll imperturbable temper, as one who knew his Jean Jacques. He exhorts + him in many sheets to harden himself against excessive sensibility, to be + less pusillanimous, to take society more lightly, as his own light + estimate of its worth should lead him to do. "No doubt its outside is + a shifting surface-picture, nay even ridiculous, if you will; but if the + irregular and ceaseless flight of butterflies wearies you in your walk, it + is your own fault for looking continuously at what was only made to adorn + and vary the scene. But how many social virtues, how much gentleness and + considerateness, how many benevolent actions, remain at the bottom of it + all."<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a + href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> Enormous manifestoes + of the doctrine of perfectibility were not in the least degree either + soothing or interesting to Rousseau, and the thrusts of shrewd candour at + his expense might touch his fancy on a single occasion, but not oftener. + Two humorists are seldom successful in amusing one another. Besides, + Mirabeau insisted that Jean Jacques should read this or that of his books. + Rousseau answered that he would try, but warned him of the folly of it. + "I do not engage always to follow what you say, because it has always + been painful to me to think, and fatiguing to follow the thoughts of other + people, and at present I cannot <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" + id="Page_312">[ii.312]</a></span>do so at all."<a + name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a + href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> Though they continued + to be good friends, Rousseau only remained three or four weeks at Fleury. + His old acquaintance at Montmorency, the Prince of Conti, partly perhaps + from contrition at the rather unchivalrous fashion in which his great + friends had hustled the philosopher away at the time of the decree of the + parliament of Paris, offered him refuge at one of his country seats at + Trye near Gisors. Here he installed Rousseau under the name of Renou, + either to silence the indiscreet curiosity of neighbours, or to gratify a + whim of Rousseau himself. + </p> + <p> + Rousseau remained for a year (June 1767-June 1768), composing the second + part of the Confessions, in a condition of extreme mental confusion. Dusky + phantoms walked with him once more. He knew the gardener, the servants, + the neighbours, all to be in the pay of Hume, and that he was watched day + and night with a view to his destruction.<a name="FNanchor_388_388" + id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> + He entirely gave up either reading or writing, save a very small number of + letters, and he declared that to take up the pen even for these was like + lifting a load of iron. The only interest he had was botany, and for this + his passion became daily more intense. He appears to have been as + contented as a child, so long as he could employ himself in long + expeditions in search of new plants, in arranging a herbarium, in watching + the growth of the germ of some rare seed which needed careful tending. But + the story had once more the same conclusion. He fled from Trye, as he had + fled <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[ii.313]</a></span>from + Wootton. He meant apparently to go to Chambéri, drawn by the deep + magnetic force of old memories that seemed long extinct. But at Grenoble + on his way thither he encountered a substantial grievance. A man alleged + that he had lent Rousseau a few francs seven years previously. He was + undoubtedly mistaken, and was fully convicted of his mistake by proper + authorities, but Rousseau's correspondents suffered none the less for + that. We all know when monomania seizes a man, how adroitly and how + eagerly it colours every incident. The mistaken claim was proof + demonstrative of that frightful and tenebrous conspiracy, which they might + have thought a delusion hitherto, but which, alas, this showed to be only + too tragically real; and so on, through many pages of droning + wretchedness.<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a + href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> Then we find him at + Bourgoin, where he spent some months in shabby taverns, and then many + months more at Monquin on adjoining uplands.<a name="FNanchor_390_390" + id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> + The estrangement from Theresa, of which enough has been said already,<a + name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a + href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> was added to his other + torments. He resolved, as so many of the self-tortured have done since, to + go in search of happiness to the western lands beyond the Atlantic, where + the elixir of bliss is thought by the wearied among us to be inexhaustible + and assured. Almost in the same page he turns his face eastwards, <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[ii.314]</a></span>and + dreams of ending his days peacefully among the islands of the Grecian + archipelago. Next he gravely, not only designed, but actually took + measures, to return to Wootton. All was no more than the momentary + incoherent purpose of a sick man's dream, the weary distraction of one who + had deliberately devoted himself to isolation from his fellows, without + first sitting down carefully to count the cost, or to measure the inner + resources which he possessed to meet the deadly strain that isolation puts + on every one of a man's mental fibres. Geographical loneliness is to some + a condition of their fullest strength, but most of the few who dare to + make a moral solitude for themselves, find that they have assuredly not + made peace. Such solitude, as South said of the study of the Apocalypse, + either finds a man mad, or leaves him so. Not all can play the stoic who + will, and it is still more certain that one who like Rousseau has lain + down with the doctrine that in all things imaginable it is impossible for + him to do at all what he cannot do with pleasure, will end in a condition + of profound and hopeless impotence in respect to pleasure itself. + </p> + <p> + In July 1770, he made his way to Paris, and here he remained eight years + longer, not without the introduction of a certain degree of order into his + outer life, though the clouds of vague suspicion and distrust, half + bitter, half mournful, hung heavily as ever upon his mind. The Dialogues, + which he wrote at this period (1775-76) to vindicate his memory from the + defamation that was to be launched in a dark torrent<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[ii.315]</a></span> upon the world at the + moment of his death, could not possibly have been written by a man in his + right mind. Yet the best of the Musings, which were written still nearer + the end, are masterpieces in the style of contemplative prose. The third, + the fifth, the seventh, especially abound in that even, full, mellow + gravity of tone which is so rare in literature, because the deep + absorption of spirit which is its source is so rare in life. They reveal + Rousseau to us with a truth beyond that attained in any of his other + pieces—a mournful sombre figure, looming shadowily in the dark glow + of sundown among sad and desolate places. There is nothing like them in + the French tongue, which is the speech of the clear, the cheerful, or the + august among men; nothing like this sonorous plainsong, the strangely + melodious expression in the music of prose of a darkened spirit which yet + had imaginative visions of beatitude. + </p> + <hr style="width: 45%;" /> + <p> + It is interesting to look on one or two pictures of the last waste and + obscure years of the man, whose words were at this time silently + fermenting for good and for evil in many spirits—a Schiller, a + Herder, a Jeanne Phlipon, a Robespierre, a Gabriel Mirabeau, and many + hundreds of those whose destiny was not to lead, but ingenuously to + follow. Rousseau seems to have repulsed nearly all his ancient friends, + and to have settled down with dogged resolve to his old trade of copying + music. In summer he rose at five, copied music until half-past seven; + munched his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[ii.316]</a></span> + breakfast, arranging on paper during the process such plants as he had + gathered the previous afternoon; then he returned to his work, dined at + half-past twelve, and went forth to take coffee at some public place. He + would not return from his walk until nightfall, and he retired at + half-past ten. The pavements of Paris were hateful to him because they + tore his feet, and, said he, with deeply significant antithesis, "I + am not afraid of death, but I dread pain." He always found his way as + fast as possible to one of the suburbs, and one of his greatest delights + was to watch Mont Valérien in the sunset. "Atheists," he + said calumniously, "do not love the country; they like the environs + of Paris, where you have all the pleasures of the city, good cheer, books, + pretty women; but if you take these things away, then they die of + weariness." The note of every bird held him attentive, and filled his + mind with delicious images. A graceful story is told of two swallows who + made a nest in Rousseau's sleeping-room, and hatched the eggs there. + "I was no more than a doorkeeper for them," he said, "for I + kept opening the window for them every moment. They used to fly with a + great stir round my head, until I had fulfilled the duties of the tacit + convention between these swallows and me." + </p> + <p> + In January 1771, Bernardin de St. Pierre, author of the immortal <i>Paul + and Virginia</i> (1788), finding himself at the Cape of Good Hope, wrote + to a friend in France just previously to his return to Europe, counting + among other delights that of seeing two<span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[ii.317]</a></span> summers in one year.<a + name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a + href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> Rousseau happened to + see the letter, and expressed a desire to make the acquaintance of a man + who in returning home should think of that as one of his chief pleasures. + To this we owe the following pictures of an interior from St. Pierre's + hand:— + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + In the month of June in 1772, a friend having offered to take me to see + Jean Jacques Rousseau, he brought me to a house in the Rue Plâtrière, + nearly opposite to the Hôtel de la Poste. We mounted to the fourth + story. We knocked, and Madame Rousseau opened the door. "Come in, + gentlemen," she said, "you will find my husband." We + passed through a very small antechamber, where the household utensils + were neatly arranged, and from that into a room where Jean Jacques was + seated in an overcoat and a white cap, busy copying music. He rose with + a smiling face, offered us chairs, and resumed his work, at the same + time taking a part in conversation. He was thin and of middle height. + One shoulder struck me as rather higher than the other ... otherwise he + was very well proportioned. He had a brown complexion, some colour on + his cheek-bones, a good mouth, a well-made nose, a rounded and lofty + brow, and eyes full of fire. The oblique lines falling from the nostrils + to the extremity of the lips, and marking a physiognomy, in his case + expressed great sensibility and something even painful. One observed in + his face three or four of the characteristics of melancholy—the + deep receding eyes and the elevation of the eyebrows; you saw profound + sadness in the wrinkles of the brow; a keen and even caustic gaiety in a + thousand little creases at the corners of the eyes, of <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[ii.318]</a></span>which + the orbits entirely disappeared when he laughed.... Near him was a + spinette on which from time to time he tried an air. Two little beds of + blue and white striped calico, a table, and a few chairs, made the stock + of his furniture. On the walls hung a plan of the forest and park of + Montmorency, where he had once lived, and an engraving of the King of + England, his old benefactor. His wife was sitting mending linen; a + canary sang in a cage hung from the ceiling; sparrows came for crumbs on + to the sills of the windows, which on the side of the street were open; + while in the window of the antechamber we noticed boxes and pots filled + with such plants as it pleases nature to sow. There was in the whole + effect of his little establishment an air of cleanness, peace, and + simplicity, which was delightful. + </p> + </div> + <p> + A few days after, Rousseau returned the visit. "He wore a round wig, + well powdered and curled, carrying a hat under his arm, and in a full suit + of nankeen. His whole exterior was modest, but extremely neat." He + expressed his passion for good coffee, saying that this and ice were the + only two luxuries for which he cared. St. Pierre happened to have brought + some from the Isle of Bourbon, so on the following day he rashly sent + Rousseau a small packet, which at first produced a polite letter of + thanks; but the day after the letter of thanks came one of harsh protest + against the ignominy of receiving presents which could not be returned, + and bidding the unfortunate donor to choose between taking his coffee back + or never seeing his new friend again. A fair bargain was ultimately + arranged, St. Pierre receiving in exchange for his coffee some curious + root<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[ii.319]</a></span> + or other, and a book on ichthyology. Immediately afterwards he went to + dine with his sage. He arrived at eleven in the forenoon, and they + conversed until half-past twelve. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + Then his wife laid the cloth. He took a bottle of wine, and as he put it + on the table, asked whether we should have enough, or if I was fond of + drinking. "How many are there of us," said I. "Three," + he said; "you, my wife, and myself." "Well," I went + on, "when I drink wine and am alone, I drink a good half-bottle, + and I drink a trifle more when I am with friends." "In that + case," he answered, "we shall not have enough; I must go down + into the cellar." He brought up a second bottle. His wife served + two dishes, one of small tarts, and another which was covered. He said, + showing me the first, "That is your dish and the other is mine." + "I don't eat much pastry," I said, "but I hope to be + allowed to taste what you have got." "Oh, they are both + common," he replied; "but most people don't care for this. + 'Tis a Swiss dish; a compound of lard, mutton, vegetables, and + chestnuts." It was excellent. After these two dishes, we had slices + of beef in salad; then biscuits and cheese; after which his wife served + the coffee. + </p> + <hr style="width: 45%;" /> + <p> + One morning when I was at his house, I saw various domestics either + coming for rolls of music, or bringing them to him to copy. He received + them standing and uncovered. He said to some, "The price is so + much," and received the money; to others, "How soon must I + return my copy?" "My mistress would like to have it back in a + fortnight." "Oh, that's out of the question: I have work, I + can't do it in less than three weeks." I inquired why he did not + take his talents to better market. "Ah," he answered, "there + are two Rousseaus in the world; one rich, or who might have been if he + had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[ii.320]</a></span> + chosen; a man capricious, singular, fantastic; this is the Rousseau of + the public; the other is obliged to work for his living, the Rousseau + whom you see."<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a + href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> + </p> + </div> + <p> + They often took long rambles together, and all proceeded most + harmoniously, unless St. Pierre offered to pay for such refreshment as + they might take, when a furious explosion was sure to follow. Here is one + more picture, without explosion. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <i>An Easter Monday Excursion to Mont Valérien.</i> + </p> + <p> + We made an appointment at a café in the Champs Elysées. In the + morning we took some chocolate. The wind was westerly, and the air + fresh. The sun was surrounded by white clouds, spread in masses over an + azure sky. Reaching the Bois de Boulogne by eight o'clock, Jean Jacques + set to work botanising. As he collected his little harvest, we kept + walking along. We had gone through part of the wood, when in the midst + of the solitude we perceived two young girls, one of whom was arranging + the other's hair.—[Reminded them of some verses of Virgil.].... + </p> + <p> + Arrived on the edge of the river, we crossed the ferry with a number of + people whom devotion was taking to Mont Valérien. We climbed an + extremely stiff slope, and were hardly on the top before hunger overtook + us and we began to think of dining. Rousseau then led the way towards a + hermitage, where he knew we could make sure of hospitality. The brother + who opened to us, conducted us to the chapel, where they were reciting + the litanies of providence, which are extremely beautiful.... When we + had prayed, Jean Jacques said to me with genuine feeling: "Now I + feel what is said in the gospel, 'Where several of you are gathered + together in my name, there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" + id="Page_321">[ii.321]</a></span>will I be in the midst of them.' There + is a sentiment of peace and comfort here that penetrates the soul." + I replied, "If Fénelon were alive, you would be a Catholic." + "Ah," said he, the tears in his eyes, "if Fénelon + were alive, I would seek to be his lackey." + </p> + <p> + Presently we were introduced into the refectory; we seated ourselves + during the reading. The subject was the injustice of the complainings of + man: God has brought him from nothing, he oweth him nothing. After the + reading, Rousseau said to me in a voice of deep emotion: "Ah, how + happy is the man who can believe...." We walked about for some time + in the cloister and the gardens. They command an immense prospect. Paris + in the distance reared her towers all covered with light, and made a + crown to the far-spreading landscape. The brightness of the view + contrasted with the great leaden clouds that rolled after one another + from the west, and seemed to fill the valley.... In the afternoon rain + came on, as we approached the Porte Maillot. We took shelter along with + a crowd of other holiday folk under some chestnut-trees whose leaves + were coming out. One of the waiters of a tavern perceiving Jean Jacques, + rushed to him full of joy, exclaiming, "What, is it you, <i>mon + bonhomme</i>? Why, it is a whole age since we have seen you." + Rousseau replied cheerfully, "'Tis because my wife has been ill, + and I myself have been out of sorts." "<i>Mon pauvre bonhomme</i>," + replied the lad, "you must not stop here; come in, come in, and I + will find room for you." He hurried us along to a room upstairs, + where in spite of the crowd he procured for us chairs and a table, and + bread and wine. I said to Jean Jacques, "He seems very familiar + with you." He answered, "Yes, we have known one another some + years. We used to come here in fine weather, my wife and I, to eat a + cutlet of an evening."<a name="FNanchor_394_394" + id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> + </p> + </div> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[ii.322]</a></span> + </p> + <p> + Things did not continue to go thus smoothly. One day St. Pierre went to + see him, and was received without a word, and with stiff and gloomy mien. + He tried to talk, but only got monosyllables; he took up a book, and this + drew a sarcasm which sent him forth from the room. For more than two + months they did not meet. At length they had an accidental encounter at a + street corner. Rousseau accosted St. Pierre, and with a gradually warming + sensibility proceeded thus: "There are days when I want to be alone + and crave privacy. I come back from my solitary expeditions so calm and + contented. There I have not been wanting to anybody, nor has anybody been + wanting to me," and so on.<a name="FNanchor_395_395" + id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> + He expressed this humour more pointedly on some other occasion, when he + said that there were times in which he fled from the eyes of men as from + Parthian arrows. As one said who knew from experience, the fate of his + most intimate friend depended on a word or a gesture.<a + name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a + href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> Another of them + declared that he knew Rousseau's style of discarding a friend by letter so + thoroughly, that he felt confident he could supply Rousseau's place in + case of illness or absence.<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a + href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> In much of this we + suspect that the quarrel was perfectly justified. Sociality meant a futile + display before unworthy and condescending curiosity. "It is not I + whom they care <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[ii.323]</a></span>for," + he very truly said, "but public opinion and talk about me, without a + thought of what real worth I may have." Hence his steadfast refusal + to go out to dine or sup. The mere impertinence of the desire to see him + was illustrated by some coxcombs who insisted with a famous actress of his + acquaintance, that she should invite the strange philosopher to meet them. + She was aware that no known force would persuade Rousseau to come, so she + dressed up her tailor as philosopher, bade him keep a silent tongue, and + vanish suddenly without a word of farewell. The tailor was long + philosophically silent, and by the time that wine had loosened his tongue, + the rest of the company were too far gone to perceive that the supposed + Rousseau was chattering vulgar nonsense.<a name="FNanchor_398_398" + id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> + We can believe that with admirers of this stamp Rousseau was well pleased + to let tailors or others stand in his place. There were some, however, of + a different sort, who flitted across his sight and then either vanished of + their own accord, or were silently dismissed, from Madame de Genlis up to + Grétry and Gluck. With Gluck he seems to have quarrelled for setting + his music to French words, when he must have known that Italian was the + only tongue fit for music.<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a + href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a> Yet it was remarked + that no one ever heard him speak ill of others. His enemies, the figures + of his delusion, were vaguely denounced in many dronings, but they + remained in dark shadow and were unnamed. When Voltaire paid his famous + last visit <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[ii.324]</a></span>to + the capital (1778), some one thought of paying court to Rousseau by making + a mock of the triumphal reception of the old warrior, but Rousseau harshly + checked the detractor. It is true that in 1770-71 he gave to some few of + his acquaintances one or more readings of the Confessions, although they + contained much painful matter for many people still living, among the rest + for Madame d'Epinay. She wrote justifiably enough to the lieutenant of + police, praying that all such readings might be prohibited, and it is + believed that they were so prohibited.<a name="FNanchor_400_400" + id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> + </p> + <p> + In 1769, when Polish anarchy was at its height, as if to show at once how + profound the anarchy was, and how profound the faith among many minds in + the power of the new French theories, an application was made to Mably to + draw up a scheme for the renovation of distracted Poland. Mably's notions + won little esteem from the persons who had sought for them, and in 1771 a + similar application was made to Rousseau in his Parisian garret. He + replied in the Considerations on the Government of Poland, which are + written with a good deal of vigour of expression, but contain nothing that + needs further discussion. He hinted to the Poles with some shrewd<span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[ii.325]</a></span>ness + that a curtailment of their territory by their neighbours was not far off,<a + name="FNanchor_401_401" id="FNanchor_401_401"></a><a + href="#Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> and the prediction was + rapidly fulfilled by the first partition of Poland in the following year. + </p> + <p> + He was asked one day of what nation he had the highest opinion. He + answered, the Spanish. The Spanish nation, he said, has a character; if it + is not rich, it still preserves all its pride and self-respect in the + midst of its poverty; and it is animated by a single spirit, for it has + not been scourged by the conflicting opinions of philosophy.<a + name="FNanchor_402_402" id="FNanchor_402_402"></a><a + href="#Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> + </p> + <p> + He was extremely poor for these last eight years of his life. He seems to + have drawn the pension which George III. had settled on him, for not more + than one year. We do not know why he refused to receive it afterwards. A + well-meaning friend, when the arrears amounted to between six and seven + thousand francs, applied for it on his behalf, and a draft for the money + was sent. Rousseau gave the offender a vigorous rebuke for meddling in + affairs that did not concern him, and the draft was destroyed. Other + attempts to induce him to draw this money failed equally.<a + name="FNanchor_403_403" id="FNanchor_403_403"></a><a + href="#Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> Yet he had only about + fifty pounds <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[ii.326]</a></span>a + year to live on, together with the modest amount which he earned by + copying music.<a name="FNanchor_404_404" id="FNanchor_404_404"></a><a + href="#Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> + </p> + <p> + The sting of indigence began to make itself felt towards 1777. His health + became worse and he could not work. Theresa was waxing old, and could no + longer attend to the small cares of the household. More than one person + offered them shelter and provision, and the old distractions as to a home + in which to end his days began once again. At length M. Girardin prevailed + upon him to come and live at Ermenonville, one of his estates some twenty + miles from Paris. A dense cloud of obscure misery hangs over the last + months of this forlorn existence.<a name="FNanchor_405_405" + id="FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> + No tragedy had ever a fifth act so squalid. Theresa's character seems to + have developed into something truly bestial. Rousseau's terrors of the + designs of his enemies returned with great violence. He thought he was + imprisoned, and he knew that he had no means of escape. One day (July 2, + 1778), suddenly and without a single warning symptom, all drew to an end; + the sensations which had been the ruling part of his life were affected by + pleasure and pain no more, the dusky phantoms all vanished into space. The + surgeons reported that the cause of his death was apoplexy, but a + suspicion has haunted the world ever since, that he destroyed himself by a + pistol-shot. We cannot tell. There is no inherent improbability <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[ii.327]</a></span>in the + fact of his having committed suicide. In the New Heloïsa he had + thrown the conditions which justified self-destruction into a distinct + formula. Fifteen years before, he declared that his own case fell within + the conditions which he had prescribed, and that he was meditating action.<a + name="FNanchor_406_406" id="FNanchor_406_406"></a><a + href="#Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a> Only seven years + before, he had implied that a man had the right to deliver himself of the + burden of his own life, if its miseries were intolerable and irremediable.<a + name="FNanchor_407_407" id="FNanchor_407_407"></a><a + href="#Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> This, however, counts + for nothing in the absence of some kind of positive evidence, and of that + there is just enough to leave the manner of his end a little doubtful.<a + name="FNanchor_408_408" id="FNanchor_408_408"></a><a + href="#Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a> Once more, we cannot + tell. + </p> + <p> + By the serene moonrise of a summer night, his <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[ii.328]</a></span>body was put under the + ground on an island in the midst of a small lake, where poplars throw + shadows over the still water, silently figuring the destiny of mortals. + Here it remained for sixteen years. Then amid the roar of cannon, the + crash of trumpet and drum, and the wild acclamations of a populace gone + mad in exultation, terror, fury, it was ordered that the poor dust should + be transported to the national temple of great men. + </p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3> + FOOTNOTES: + </h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 315-328. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> + Streckeisen, ii. 337. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> June 19, + 1767. <i>Corr.</i>, v. 172. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 267, 375. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + v. 330-381, 408, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> + Bourgoin, Aug. 1768, to March, 1769. Monquin, to July 1770. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> See + above, <a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">vol. i. chap. iv</a>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> The life + of Bernardin de St. Pierre (1737-1814) was nearly as irregular as that + of his friend and master. But his character was essentially crafty and + selfish, like that of many other sentimentalists of the first order. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> <i>Oeuv.</i>, + xii. 69, 73. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> <i>Oeuv.</i>, + xii. 104, etc.; and also the <i>Préambule de l'Arcadie</i>, <i>Oeuv.</i>, + vii. 64, 65. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> St. + Pierre, xii. 81-83. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> Dusaulx, + p. 81. For his quarrel with Rousseau, see pp. 130, etc. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> Rulhières + in Dusaulx, p. 179. For a strange interview between Rulhières and + Rousseau, see pp. 185-186. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> + Musset-Pathay, i. 181. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> + Musset-Pathay, i. 209. Rousseau gave a copy of the Confessions to + Moultou, but forbade the publication before the year 1800. + Notwithstanding this, printers procured copies surreptitiously, + perhaps through Theresa, ever in need of money; the first part was + published four years, and the second part with many suppressions + eleven years, after his death, in 1782 and 1789 respectively. See + Musset-Pathay, ii. 464. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_401_401" id="Footnote_401_401"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> Ch. v. + Such a curtailment, he says, "would no doubt be a great evil for + the parts dismembered, but it would be a great advantage for the body + of the nation." He urged federation as the condition of any solid + improvement in their affairs. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_402_402" id="Footnote_402_402"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> + Bernardin de St. Pierre, xii. 37. Comte had a similar admiration for + Spain and for the same reason. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_403_403" id="Footnote_403_403"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> + Corancez, quoted in Musset-Pathay, i. 239. Also <i>Corr.</i>, vi. 295. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_404_404" id="Footnote_404_404"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + vi. 303. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_405_405" id="Footnote_405_405"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> + Robespierre, then a youth, is said to have invited him here. See + Hamel's <i>Robespierre</i>, i. 22. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_406_406" id="Footnote_406_406"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> See + above, <a href="#Page_i.16">vol. i. pp. 16, 17</a>. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_407_407" id="Footnote_407_407"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> <i>Corr.</i>, + vi. 264. + </p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p> + <a name="Footnote_408_408" id="Footnote_408_408"></a><a + href="#FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> The case + stands thus:—(1) There was the certificate of five doctors, + attesting that Rousseau had died of apoplexy. (2) The assertion of M. + Girardin, in whose house he died, that there was no hole in his head, + nor poison in the stomach or viscera, nor other sign of + self-destruction. (3) The assertion of Theresa to the same effect. On + the other hand, we have the assertion of Corancez, that on his journey + to Ermenonville on the day of Rousseau's burial a horse-master on the + road had said, "Who would have supposed that M. Rousseau would + have destroyed himself!"—and a variety of inferences from + the wording of the certificate, and of Theresa's letter. Musset-Pathay + believes in the suicide, and argued very ingeniously against M. + Girardin. But his arguments do not go far beyond verbal ingenuity, + showing that suicide was possible, and was consistent with the + language of the documents, rather than adducing positive testimony. + See vol. i. of his <i>History</i>, pp. 268, etc. The controversy was + resumed as late as 1861, between the <i>Figaro</i> and the <i>Monde + Illustré</i>. See also M. Jal's <i>Dict. Crit. de Biog. et + d'Hist.</i>, p. 1091. + </p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[ii.329]</a></span> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX. + </h2> + + <p> + <span class="smcap">Academies</span> (French) local, <a + href="#Page_i.132">i. 132</a>.<br /> <br /> Academy, of + Dijon, Rousseau writes essays for, <a href="#Page_i.133">i. + 133</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">French, prize essay against + Rousseau's Discourse, <a href="#Page_i.150">i. 150</a>, + <i>n.</i></span><br /> <br /> Actors, how regarded in France in Rousseau's + time, <a href="#Page_i.322">i. 322</a>.<br /> <br /> + Althusen, teaches doctrine of sovereignty of the people, <a + href="#Page_147">ii. 147</a>.<br /> <br /> America (U.S.), effects in, of + the doctrine of the equality of men, <a + href="#Page_i.182">i. 182</a>.<br /> <br /> American + colonists indebted in eighteenth century to Rousseau's writings, <a + href="#Page_i.3">i. 3</a>.<br /> <br /> Anchorite, + distinction between the old and the new, <a + href="#Page_i.234">i. 234</a>.<br /> <br /> Annecy, <a + href="#Page_i.34">i. 34</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.50">50</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's room at, <a + href="#Page_i.54">i. 54</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's teachers at, <a + href="#Page_i.56">i. 56</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">seminary at, <a + href="#Page_i.82">i. 82</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Aquinas, + protest against juristical doctrine of law being the pleasure of the + prince, <a href="#Page_144">ii. 144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.<br /> + <br /> Aristotle on Origin of Society, <a + href="#Page_i.174">i. 174</a>.<br /> <br /> Atheism, + Rousseau's protest against, <a href="#Page_i.208">i. 208</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Lambert on, <a + href="#Page_i.209">i. 209</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robespierre's protest against, <a + href="#Page_178">ii. 178</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chaumette + put to death for endeavouring to base the government of France on, <a + href="#Page_180">ii. 180</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Augustine (of Hippo), <a + href="#Page_272">ii. 272</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> <br /> + Austin, John, <a href="#Page_151">ii. 151</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Sovereignty, <a href="#Page_162">ii. 162</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Authors, difficulties of, in France in the eighteenth century, <a + href="#Page_55">ii. 55</a>-61.<br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Baboeuf</span>, + on the Revolution, <a href="#Page_123">ii. 123</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> + Barbier, <a href="#Page_26">ii. 26</a>.<br /> <br /> Basedow, his enthusiasm + for Rousseau's educational theories, <a href="#Page_251">ii. 251</a>.<br /> + <br /> Beaumont, De, Archbishop of Paris, mandate against Rousseau issued + by, <a href="#Page_83">ii. 83</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">argument + from, <a href="#Page_86">ii. 86</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Bernard, maiden + name of Rousseau's mother, <a href="#Page_i.10">i. 10</a>.<br /> + <br /> Bienne, Rousseau driven to take refuge in island in lake of, <a + href="#Page_108">ii. 108</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + account of, <a href="#Page_109">ii. 109</a>-115.</span><br /> <br /> Bodin, + on Government, <a href="#Page_147">ii. 147</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his definition of an aristocratic state, <a + href="#Page_168">ii. 168</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> <br /> Bonaparte, + Napoleon, <a href="#Page_102">ii. 102</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> Bossuet, + on Stage Plays, <a href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>.<br /> + <br /> Boswell, James, <a href="#Page_98">ii. 98</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Rousseau, <a href="#Page_98">ii. 98</a>, + also <i>ib.</i> <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">urged + by Rousseau to visit Corsica, <a href="#Page_100">ii. 100</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter to Rousseau, <a href="#Page_101">ii. + 101</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Boufflers, Madame de, <a href="#Page_5">ii. 5</a>, + <i>ib.</i> <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" + id="Page_330">[ii.330]</a></span>Bougainville (brother of the navigator), + <a href="#Page_i.184">i. 184</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> + Brutus, how Rousseau came to be panegyrist of, <a + href="#Page_i.187">i. 187</a>.<br /> <br /> Buffon, <a + href="#Page_205">ii. 205</a>.<br /> <br /> Burke, <a href="#Page_140">ii. + 140</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br /> <br /> Burnet, Bishop, on + Genevese, <a href="#Page_i.225">i. 225</a>.<br /> <br /> + Burton, John Hill, his <i>Life of Hume</i> (on Rousseau), <a + href="#Page_283">ii. 283</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> Byron, Lord, + antecedents of highest creative efforts, <a href="#Page_1">ii. 1</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of nature upon, <a href="#Page_40">ii. + 40</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference between and + Rousseau, <a href="#Page_41">ii. 41</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> <span + class="smcap">Calas</span>, <a href="#Page_i.312">i. 312</a>.<br /> + <br /> Calvin, <a href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.189">189</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau on, as a legislator, <a href="#Page_131">ii. + 131</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Servetus, <a + href="#Page_180">ii. 180</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned, + <a href="#Page_181">ii. 181</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <i>Candide</i>, thought + by Rousseau to be meant as a reply to him, <a + href="#Page_i.319">i. 319</a>.<br /> <br /> Cardan, <a + href="#Page_303">ii. 303</a>.<br /> <br /> Cato, how Rousseau came to be his + panegyrist, <a href="#Page_i.187">i. 187</a>.<br /> <br /> + Chambéri, probable date of Rousseau's return to, <a + href="#Page_i.62">i. 62</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">takes up his residence there, <a + href="#Page_i.69">i. 69</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect on his mind of a French column of troops + passing through, <a href="#Page_i.72">i. 72</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.73">73</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his illness at, <a + href="#Page_i.73">i. 73</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> <br /> + Charmettes, Les, Madame de Warens's residence, <a + href="#Page_i.73">i. 73</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">present condition of, <a + href="#Page_i.74">i. 74</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.75">75</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">time spent there by Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.94">i. 94</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Charron, + <a href="#Page_203">ii. 203</a>.<br /> <br /> Chateaubriand, influenced by + Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.3">i. 3</a>.<br /> <br /> + Chatham, Lord, <a href="#Page_92">ii. 92</a>.<br /> <br /> Chaumette, <a + href="#Page_178">ii. 178</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">guillotined + on charge of endeavouring to establish atheism in France, <a + href="#Page_179">ii. 179</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Chesterfield, Lord, <a + href="#Page_15">ii. 15</a>.<br /> <br /> Choiseul, <a href="#Page_57">ii. 57</a>, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br /> <br /> Citizen, + revolutionary use of word, derived from Rousseau, <a href="#Page_161">ii. + 161</a>.<br /> <br /> Civilisation, variety of the origin and process of, <a + href="#Page_i.176">i. 176</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">defects of, <a + href="#Page_i.176">i. 176</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">one of the worst trials of, <a href="#Page_102">ii. + 102</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Cobbett, <a href="#Page_42">ii. 42</a>.<br /> + <br /> Collier, Jeremy, on the English Stage, <a + href="#Page_i.323">i. 323</a>.<br /> <br /> Condillac, <a + href="#Page_i.95">i. 95</a>.<br /> <br /> Condorcet, <a + href="#Page_i.89">i. 89</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Social Position of Women, <a + href="#Page_i.335">i. 335</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">human perfectibility, <a href="#Page_119">ii. + 119</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">inspiration of, drawn + from the school of Voltaire and Rousseau, <a href="#Page_194">ii. 194</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">belief of, in the improvement of humanity, + <a href="#Page_246">ii. 246</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">grievous mistake of, <a href="#Page_247">ii. 247</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Confessions, the, not to be trusted for minute accuracy, <a + href="#Page_i.86">i. 86</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">or for dates, <a + href="#Page_i.93">i. 93</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">first part written 1766, <a href="#Page_301">ii. + 301</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">their character, <a + href="#Page_303">ii. 303</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">published + surreptitiously, <a href="#Page_324">ii. 324</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings from, prohibited by police, <a + href="#Page_324">ii. 324</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Conti, Prince of, <a + href="#Page_4">ii. 4</a>-7;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives + Rousseau at Trye, <a href="#Page_118">ii. 118</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Contract, Social, <a href="#Page_i.136">i. 136</a>.<br /> + <br /> Corsica, struggles for independence of, <a href="#Page_99">ii. 99</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau invited to legislate for, <a + href="#Page_99">ii. 99</a>-102;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">bought + by France, <a href="#Page_102">ii. 102</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Cowper, <a + href="#Page_i.20">i. 20</a>; <a href="#Page_41">ii. 41</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Rousseau, <a href="#Page_41">ii. 41</a> + <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">lines in the Task, + <a href="#Page_253">ii. 253</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his delusions, <a href="#Page_301">ii. 301</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Cynicism, Rousseau's assumption of, <a + href="#Page_i.206">i. 206</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> <span + class="smcap">D'Aiguillon</span>, <a href="#Page_72">ii. 72</a>.<br /> + <br /> D'Alembert, <a href="#Page_i.89">i. 89</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire's staunchest henchman, <a + href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his article on Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Stage Plays, <a + href="#Page_i.326">i. 326</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Position of Women in Society, <a + href="#Page_i.335">i. 335</a>;</span><br /> <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[ii.331]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Rousseau's letter on the Theatre, <a + href="#Page_i.336">i. 336</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">suspected by Rousseau of having written the + pretended letter from Frederick of Prussia, <a href="#Page_288">ii. 288</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">advises Hume to publish account of + Rousseau's quarrel with him, <a href="#Page_294">ii. 294</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> D'Argenson, <a href="#Page_180">ii. 180</a>.<br /> <br /> Dates of + Rousseau's letters to be relied on, not those of the Confessions, <a + href="#Page_i.93">i. 93</a>.<br /> <br /> Davenport, Mr., + provides Rousseau with a home at Wootton, <a href="#Page_286">ii. 286</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his kindness to Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_306">ii. 306</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Deism, Rousseau's, <a + href="#Page_260">ii. 260</a>-275;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">that + of others, <a href="#Page_262">ii. 262</a>-265;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">shortcomings of Rousseau's, <a href="#Page_270">ii. + 270</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Democracy defined, <a href="#Page_168">ii. 168</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected by Rousseau, as too perfect for + men, <a href="#Page_171">ii. 171</a>.</span><br /> <br /> D'Epinay, Madame, + <a href="#Page_i.194">i. 194</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.195">195</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.205">205</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">gives the Hermitage to Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.229">i. 229</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his quarrels with, <a + href="#Page_i.271">i. 271</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations with, <a + href="#Page_i.273">i. 273</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">journey to Geneva of, <a + href="#Page_i.284">i. 284</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">squabbles arising out of, between, and Rousseau, + Diderot, and Grimm, <a href="#Page_i.285">i. 285</a>-290;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned, <a href="#Page_7">ii. 7</a>, <a + href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">wrote on education, <a href="#Page_199">ii. 199</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">applies to secretary of police to prohibit + Rousseau's readings from his Confessions, <a href="#Page_324">ii. 324</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> D'Epinay, Monsieur, <a href="#Page_i.254">i. 254</a>; + <a href="#Page_26">ii. 26</a>.<br /> <br /> Descartes, <a + href="#Page_i.87">i. 87</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.225">225</a>; <a href="#Page_267">ii. 267</a>.<br /> + <br /> Deux Ponts, Duc de, Rousseau's rude reply to, <a + href="#Page_i.207">i. 207</a>.<br /> <br /> D'Holbach, <a + href="#Page_i.192">i. 192</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's dislike of his materialistic friends, + <a href="#Page_i.223">i. 223</a>; <a href="#Page_37">ii. + 37</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</span><br /> <br /> D'Houdetot, Madame, + <a href="#Page_i.255">i. 255</a>-270;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame d'Epinay's jealousy of, <a + href="#Page_i.278">i. 278</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned, <a href="#Page_7">ii. 7</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers Rousseau a home in Normandy, <a + href="#Page_117">ii. 117</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Diderot, <a + href="#Page_i.64">i. 64</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.89">89</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.133">133</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">tries to manage Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.213">i. 213</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his domestic misconduct, <a + href="#Page_i.215">i. 215</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of the materialistic party, <a + href="#Page_i.223">i. 223</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Solitary Life, <a + href="#Page_i.232">i. 232</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his active life, <a + href="#Page_i.233">i. 233</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">without moral sensitiveness, <a + href="#Page_i.262">i. 262</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned, <a + href="#Page_i.262">i. 262</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.269">269</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.271">271</a>; <a href="#Page_8">ii. 8</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations with Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.271">i. 271</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">accused of pilfering Goldoni's new play, <a + href="#Page_i.275">i. 275</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations and contentions with Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.275">i. 275</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">lectures Rousseau about Madame d'Epinay, <a + href="#Page_i.284">i. 284</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Rousseau after his leaving the Hermitage, + <a href="#Page_i.289">i. 289</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's final breach with, <a + href="#Page_i.336">i. 336</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his criticism, and plays, <a href="#Page_34">ii. + 34</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his defects, <a + href="#Page_34">ii. 34</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">thrown + into prison, <a href="#Page_57">ii. 57</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his difficulties with the Encyclopædists, + <a href="#Page_57">ii. 57</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + papers saved from the police by Malesherbes, <a href="#Page_62">ii. 62</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Dijon, academy of, <a href="#Page_i.132">i. 132</a>.<br /> + <br /> <a name="Discourses" id="Discourses">Discourses</a>, The, + Circumstances of the composition of the first Discourse, <a + href="#Page_i.133">i. 133</a>-136;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">summary of it, <a + href="#Page_i.138">i. 138</a>-145;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">disastrous effect of the progress of sciences + and arts, <a href="#Page_i.140">i. 140</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.141">141</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">error more dangerous than truth useful, <a + href="#Page_i.141">i. 141</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">uselessness of learning and art, <a + href="#Page_i.141">i. 141</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.142">142</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">terrible disorders caused in Europe by the art + of printing, <a href="#Page_i.143">i. 143</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">two kinds of ignorance, <a + href="#Page_i.144">i. 144</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the relation of this Discourse to Montaigne, <a + href="#Page_i.145">i. 145</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its one-sidedness and hollowness, <a + href="#Page_i.148">i. 148</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">shown by Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_i.148">i. 148</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its positive side, <a + href="#Page_i.149">i. 149</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.150">150</a>;</span><br /> <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[ii.332]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">second Discourse, origin of the Inequality of + Man, <a href="#Page_i.154">i. 154</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">summary of it, <a + href="#Page_i.159">i. 159</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.170">170</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">state of nature, <a + href="#Page_i.150">i. 150</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.162">162</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hobbes's mistake, <a + href="#Page_i.161">i. 161</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">what broke up the "state of nature," + <a href="#Page_i.164">i. 164</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">its preferableness, <a + href="#Page_i.166">i. 166</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.167">167</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">origin of society and laws, <a + href="#Page_i.168">i. 168</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"new state of nature," <a + href="#Page_i.169">i. 169</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">main position of the Discourse, <a + href="#Page_i.169">i. 169</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its utter inclusiveness, <a + href="#Page_i.170">i. 170</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism on its method, <a + href="#Page_i.170">i. 170</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on its matter, <a + href="#Page_i.172">i. 172</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">wanting in evidence, <a + href="#Page_i.172">i. 172</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">further objections to it, <a + href="#Page_i.173">i. 173</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">assumes uniformity of process, <a + href="#Page_i.176">i. 176</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its unscientific character, <a + href="#Page_i.177">i. 177</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its real importance, <a + href="#Page_i.178">i. 178</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its protest against the mockery of civilisation, + <a href="#Page_i.178">i. 178</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">equality of man, <a + href="#Page_i.181">i. 181</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">different effects of this doctrine in France and + the United States explained, <a href="#Page_i.182">i. + 182</a>, <a href="#Page_i.183">183</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">discovers a reaction against the + historical method of Montesquieu, <a href="#Page_i.183">i. + 183</a>, <a href="#Page_i.184">184</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">pecuniary results of, <a + href="#Page_i.196">i. 196</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Diderot's praise of first Discourse, <a + href="#Page_i.200">i. 200</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire's acknowledgement of gift of second + Discourse, <a href="#Page_i.308">i. 308</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, an attack on the general ordering of + society, <a href="#Page_22">ii. 22</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">referred to, <a href="#Page_41">ii. 41</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Drama, its proper effect, <a href="#Page_i.326">i. + 326</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">what would be that of its + introduction into Geneva, <a href="#Page_i.327">i. 327</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">true answer to Rousseau's contentions, <a + href="#Page_i.329">i. 329</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Dramatic morality, <a href="#Page_i.326">i. 326</a>.<br /> + <br /> Drinkers, Rousseau's estimate of, <a + href="#Page_i.330">i. 330</a>.<br /> <br /> Drunkenness, + how esteemed in Switzerland and Naples, <a + href="#Page_i.331">i. 331</a>.<br /> <br /> Duclos, <a + href="#Page_i.206">i. 206</a>; <a href="#Page_62">ii. 62</a>.<br /> + <br /> Duni, <a href="#Page_i.292">i. 292</a>.<br /> <br /> + Dupin, Madame de, Rousseau secretary to, <a + href="#Page_i.120">i. 120</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">her position in society, <a + href="#Page_i.195">i. 195</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's country life with, <a + href="#Page_i.196">i. 196</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of the Abbé de Saint Pierre, <a + href="#Page_i.244">i. 244</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> + <span class="smcap">Education</span>, interest taken in, in France in + Rousseau's time, <a href="#Page_193">ii. 193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its new direction <a href="#Page_195">ii. + 195</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Locke, the pioneer + of, <a href="#Page_202">ii. 202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's special merit in connection + with, <a href="#Page_203">ii. 203</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his views on (see <a href="#Emilius">Emilius</a>, + <i>passim</i>, as well as for general consideration of) what it is, <a + href="#Page_219">ii. 219</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans + of, of Locke and others, designed for the higher class, <a href="#Page_254">ii. + 254</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's for all, + <a href="#Page_254">ii. 254</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <i>Emile</i>, <a + href="#Page_i.136">i. 136</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.196">196</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="Emilius" + id="Emilius">Emilius</a>, character of, <a href="#Page_2">ii. 2</a>, <a + href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">particulars of + the publication of, <a href="#Page_59">ii. 59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, on Rousseau's fortunes, <a + href="#Page_62">ii. 62</a>-64;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ordered + to be burnt by public executioner at Paris, <a href="#Page_65">ii. 65</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Geneva, <a href="#Page_72">ii. 72</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemned by the Sorbonne, <a + href="#Page_82">ii. 82</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">supplied + (as also did the Social Contract) dialect for the longing in France and + Germany to return to nature, <a href="#Page_193">ii. 193</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">substance of, furnished by Locke, <a + href="#Page_202">ii. 202</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">examination + of, <a href="#Page_197">ii. 197</a>-280;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">mischief produced by its good advice, <a + href="#Page_206">ii. 206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">training of young children, <a + href="#Page_207">ii. 207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">constantly reasoning with them a mistake + of Locke's, <a href="#Page_209">ii. 209</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's central idea, disparagement of the + reasoning faculty, <a href="#Page_209">ii. 209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[ii.333]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">theories of education, practice better than + precept, <a href="#Page_211">ii. 211</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the idea of property, the first that Rousseau + would have given to a child, <a href="#Page_212">ii. 212</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">modes of teaching, <a href="#Page_214">ii. + 214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">futility of such methods, <a href="#Page_215">ii. + 215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">where Rousseau is right, and where wrong, <a + href="#Page_219">ii. 219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of his own want of parental love, + <a href="#Page_220">ii. 220</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">teaches that everybody should learn a trade, <a + href="#Page_223">ii. 223</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">no + special foresight, <a href="#Page_224">ii. 224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">supremacy of the common people insisted + upon, <a href="#Page_226">ii. 226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">three dominant states of mind to be + established by the instructor, <a href="#Page_229">ii. 229</a>, <a + href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + incomplete notion of justice, <a href="#Page_231">ii. 231</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideal of Emilius, <a href="#Page_232">ii. + 232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">forbids early teaching of history, <a + href="#Page_237">ii. 237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">disparages modern history, <a + href="#Page_239">ii. 239</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism + on the old historians, <a href="#Page_240">ii. 240</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">education of women, <a href="#Page_241">ii. 241</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Rousseau's failure here, <a + href="#Page_242">ii. 242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">inconsistent with himself, <a + href="#Page_244">ii. 244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">worthlessness of his views, <a + href="#Page_249">ii. 249</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">real + merits of the work, <a href="#Page_249">ii. 249</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its effect in Germany, <a href="#Page_251">ii. + 251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">not much effect on education in England, <a + href="#Page_252">ii. 252</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Emilius + the first expression of democratic teaching in education, <a + href="#Page_254">ii. 254</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + deism, <a href="#Page_258">ii. 258</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a + href="#Page_264">264</a>-267, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a + href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its inadequacy for the wants of men, <a + href="#Page_267">ii. 267</a>-270;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his position towards Christianity, <a + href="#Page_270">ii. 270</a>-276;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">real satisfaction of the religious emotions, <a + href="#Page_275">ii. 275</a>-280.</span><br /> <br /> Encyclopædia, + The, D'Alembert's article on Geneva in, <a + href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>.<br /> <br /> Encyclopædists, + the society of, confirms Rousseau's religious faith, <a + href="#Page_i.221">i. 221</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">referred to, <a href="#Page_257">ii. 257</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Evil, discussions on Rousseau's, Voltaire's, and De Maistre's + teachings concerning, <a href="#Page_i.313">i. 313</a>, + <i>n.</i>, <a href="#Page_i.318">318</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">different effect of existence of, on Rousseau + and Voltaire, <a href="#Page_i.319">i. 319</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Fénelon</span>, <a href="#Page_37">ii. + 37</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + veneration for, <a href="#Page_321">ii. 321</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Ferguson, Adam, <a href="#Page_253">ii. 253</a>.<br /> <br /> Filmer + contends that a man is not naturally free, <a href="#Page_126">ii. 126</a>.<br /> + <br /> Foundling Hospital, Rousseau sends his children to the, <a + href="#Page_i.120">i. 120</a>.<br /> <br /> France, debt + of, to Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.3">i. 3</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau the one great religious writer + of, in the eighteenth century, <a href="#Page_i.26">i. + 26</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wanderings in the + east of, <a href="#Page_i.61">i. 61</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fondness for, <a + href="#Page_i.62">i. 62</a>-72;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">establishment of local academies in, <a + href="#Page_i.132">i. 132</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">decay in, of Greek literary studies, <a + href="#Page_i.146">i. 146</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effects in, of doctrine of equality of man, <a + href="#Page_i.182">i. 182</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effects in, of Montesquieu's "Spirit of + Laws," <a href="#Page_i.183">i. 183</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">amiability of, in the eighteenth century, + <a href="#Page_i.187">i. 187</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of Rousseau's writings in, <a + href="#Page_i.187">i. 187</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">collective organisation in, <a + href="#Page_i.222">i. 222</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Pierre's strictures on government of, <a + href="#Page_i.244">i. 244</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau on government of, <a + href="#Page_i.246">i. 246</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of Rousseau's spiritual element on, <a + href="#Page_i.306">i. 306</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">patriotism wanting in, <a + href="#Page_i.332">i. 332</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties of authorship in, <a href="#Page_55">ii. + 55</a>-64;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">buys Corsica from + the Genoese, <a href="#Page_102">ii. 102</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">state of, after 1792, apparently favourable to + the carrying out of Rousseau's political views, <a href="#Page_131">ii. + 131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[ii.334]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">in 1793, <a href="#Page_135">ii. 135</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">haunted by narrow and fervid minds, <a + href="#Page_142">ii. 142</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Francueil, Rousseau's + patron, <a href="#Page_i.99">i. 99</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">grandfather of Madame George Sand, <a + href="#Page_i.99">i. 99</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's salary from, <a + href="#Page_i.120">i. 120</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">country-house of, <a + href="#Page_i.196">i. 196</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Franklin, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_42">ii. 42</a>.<br /> <br /> Frederick of + Prussia, relations between, and Rousseau, <a href="#Page_73">ii. 73</a>-78;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">"famous bull" of, <a + href="#Page_90">ii. 90</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Freeman on Growth of English + Constitution, <a href="#Page_164">ii. 164</a>.<br /> <br /> French, + principles of, revolution, <a href="#Page_i.1">i. 1</a>, + <a href="#Page_i.2">2</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.3">3</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">process and ideas of, <a + href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau of old, stock, <a + href="#Page_i.8">i. 8</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">poetry, Rousseau on, <a + href="#Page_i.90">i. 90</a>, <i>ib. n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">melody, <a + href="#Page_i.105">i. 105</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">academy, thesis for prize, <a + href="#Page_i.150">i. 150</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">philosophers, <a + href="#Page_i.202">i. 202</a>,</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">music, <a href="#Page_i.291">i. + 291</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">music, its + pretensions demolished by Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.294">i. + 294</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ecclesiastics opposed + to the theatre, <a href="#Page_322">ii. 322</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">stage, Rousseau on, <a + href="#Page_i.325">i. 325</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">morals, depravity of, <a href="#Page_26">ii. 26</a>, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barbier + on, <a href="#Page_26">ii. 26</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">thought, benefit, or otherwise of revolution on, + <a href="#Page_54">ii. 54</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">history, + evil side of, in Rousseau's time, <a href="#Page_56">ii. 56</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">indebted to Holland for freedom of the + press, <a href="#Page_59">ii. 59</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">catholic and monarchic absolutism sunk deep into + the character of the, <a href="#Page_167">ii. 167</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + French Convention, story of member of the, <a href="#Page_134">ii. 134</a>, + <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Galuppi</span>, effect of + his music, <a href="#Page_i.105">i. 105</a>.<br /> <br /> + Geneva, <a href="#Page_i.8">i. 8</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics of its people, <a + href="#Page_i.9">i. 9</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's visit to, <a + href="#Page_i.93">i. 93</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, on Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.94">i. 94</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">he revisits it in 1754, <a + href="#Page_i.186">i. 186</a>-190, <a + href="#Page_i.218">218</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">turns Protestant again there, <a + href="#Page_i.220">i. 220</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">religious opinion in, <a + href="#Page_i.223">i. 223</a> (also <a + href="#Page_i.224">i. 224</a>, <i>n.</i>);</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau thinks of taking up his abode in, + <a href="#Page_i.228">i. 228</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire at, <a + href="#Page_i.308">i. 308</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">D'Alembert's article on, in Encyclopædia, + <a href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's notions of effect of introducing the + drama at, <a href="#Page_i.327">i. 327</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">council of, order public burning of + Emilius and the Social Contract, and arrest of the author if he came + there, <a href="#Page_72">ii. 72</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the only place where the Social Contract was + actually burnt, <a href="#Page_73">ii. 73</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire suspected to have had a hand in + the matter, <a href="#Page_81">ii. 81</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">council of, divided into two camps by Rousseau's + condemnation, in 1762, <a href="#Page_102">ii. 102</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau renounces his citizenship in, <a + href="#Page_104">ii. 104</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">working + of the republic, <a href="#Page_104">ii. 104</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Genevese, Bishop Burnet on, <a href="#Page_i.225">i. 225</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's distrust of, <a + href="#Page_i.228">i. 228</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his panegyric on, <a + href="#Page_i.328">i. 328</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">manners of, according to Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.330">i. 330</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">their complaint of it, <a + href="#Page_i.331">i. 331</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Genlis, + Madame de, <a href="#Page_323">ii. 323</a>.<br /> <br /> Genoa, Rousseau in + quarantine at, <a href="#Page_i.103">i. 103</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Corsica sold to France by, <a + href="#Page_102">ii. 102</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Germany, sentimental + movements in, <a href="#Page_33">ii. 33</a>.<br /> <br /> Gibbon, Edward, at + Lausanne, <a href="#Page_96">ii. 96</a>.<br /> <br /> Girardin, St. Marc, on + Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.111">i. 111</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Rousseau's discussions, <a + href="#Page_11">ii. 11</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">offers Rousseau a home, <a href="#Page_326">ii. + 326</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Gluck, <a href="#Page_i.291">i. + 291</a>, <a href="#Page_i.296">296</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau quarrels with, for setting his music to + French words, <a href="#Page_323">ii. 323</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Goethe, + <a href="#Page_i.20">i. 20</a>.<br /> <br /> Goguet on + Society, <a href="#Page_127">ii. 127</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[ii.335]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on tacit conventions, <a href="#Page_148">ii. + 148</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on law, <a + href="#Page_153">ii. 153</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> <br /> Goldoni, Diderot + accused of pilfering his new play, <a href="#Page_i.275">i. + 275</a>.<br /> <br /> Gothic architecture denounced by Voltaire and Turgot, + <a href="#Page_i.294">i. 294</a>.<br /> <br /> Gouvon, + Count, Rousseau servant to, <a href="#Page_i.42">i. 42</a>.<br /> + <br /> Government, disquisitions on, <a href="#Page_131">ii. 131</a>-206;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarks on, <a href="#Page_131">ii. 131</a>-141;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">early democratic ideas of, <a + href="#Page_144">ii. 144</a>-148;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Hobbes' philosophy of, <a href="#Page_151">ii. + 151</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's science + of, <a href="#Page_155">ii. 155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">De la Rivière's science of, <a + href="#Page_156">ii. 156</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">federation recommended by Rousseau to the Poles, + <a href="#Page_166">ii. 166</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">three forms of government defined, <a + href="#Page_169">ii. 169</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">definition + inadequate, <a href="#Page_169">ii. 169</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Montesquieu's definition, <a href="#Page_169">ii. + 169</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + distinction between <i>tyrant</i> and <i>despot</i>, <a href="#Page_169">ii. + 169</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + objection to democracy, <a href="#Page_172">ii. 172</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">to monarchy, <a href="#Page_173">ii. 173</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">consideration of aristocracy, <a + href="#Page_174">ii. 174</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + own scheme, <a href="#Page_175">ii. 175</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Hobbes's "Passive Obedience," <a + href="#Page_181">ii. 181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">social conscience theory, <a + href="#Page_183">ii. 183</a>-187;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">government made impossible by Rousseau's + doctrine of social contract, <a href="#Page_188">ii. 188</a>-192;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burke on expediency in, <a href="#Page_192">ii. + 192</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">what a civilised + nation is, <a href="#Page_194">ii. 194</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson on, <a href="#Page_227">ii. 227</a>, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> <br /> Governments, + earliest, how composed, <a href="#Page_i.169">i. 169</a>.<br /> + <br /> Graffigny, Madame de, <a href="#Page_199">ii. 199</a>.<br /> <br /> + Gratitude, Rousseau on, <a href="#Page_14">ii. 14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of his want of, <a + href="#Page_70">ii. 70</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Greece, importance of + history of, <a href="#Page_i.184">i. 184</a>, and <i>ib. + n.</i><br /> <br /> Greek ideas, influence of, in France in the eighteenth + century, <a href="#Page_i.146">i. 146</a>.<br /> <br /> + Grenoble, <a href="#Page_i.93">i. 93</a>.<br /> <br /> Grétry, + <a href="#Page_i.292">i. 292</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.296">296</a>; <a href="#Page_323">ii. 323</a>.<br /> + <br /> Grimm, description of Rousseau by, <a + href="#Page_i.206">i. 206</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's quarrels with, <a + href="#Page_i.279">i. 279</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of, about Rousseau and Diderot, <a + href="#Page_i.275">i. 275</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.279">i. 279</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">some account of his life, <a + href="#Page_i.279">i. 279</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his conversation with Madame d'Epinay, <a + href="#Page_i.281">i. 281</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism on Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.281">i. 281</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">natural want of sympathy between the two, <a + href="#Page_i.282">i. 282</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's quarrel with, <a + href="#Page_i.285">i. 285</a>-290; <a href="#Page_65">ii. + 65</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Grotius, on + Government, <a href="#Page_148">ii. 148</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> <span + class="smcap">Hébert</span>, <a href="#Page_178">ii. 178</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">prevents publication of a book in which + the author professed his belief in a god, <a href="#Page_179">ii. 179</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Helmholtz, <a href="#Page_i.299">i. 299</a>.<br /> + <br /> Helvétius, <a href="#Page_i.191">i. 191</a>; + <a href="#Page_65">ii. 65</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<br /> <br /> + Herder, <a href="#Page_251">ii. 251</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's influence on, <a href="#Page_315">ii. + 315</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Hermitage, the, given to Rousseau by Madame + d'Epinay, <a href="#Page_i.229">i. 229</a> (also <i>ib.</i> + <i>n.</i>);<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">what his friends thought + of it, <a href="#Page_i.231">i. 231</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, after the Revolution, <a + href="#Page_i.237">i. 237</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for Rousseau's leaving, <a + href="#Page_i.286">i. 286</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Hildebrand, <a href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>.<br /> <br /> + Hobbes, <a href="#Page_i.143">i. 143</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.161">161</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his "Philosophy of Government," <a + href="#Page_151">ii. 151</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">singular + influence of, upon Rousseau, <a href="#Page_151">ii. 151</a>, <a + href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">essential + difference between his views and those of Rousseau, <a href="#Page_159">ii. + 159</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Sovereignty, <a + href="#Page_162">ii. 162</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + definition of the three forms of government adopted by, inadequate, <a + href="#Page_168">ii. 168</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">would + reduce spiritual and temporal jurisdiction to one political unity, <a + href="#Page_183">ii. 183</a>.</span><span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[ii.336]</a></span><br /> <br /> Holbachians, + <a href="#Page_i.337">i. 337</a>; <a href="#Page_2">ii. + 2</a>.<br /> <br /> Hooker, on Civil Government, <a href="#Page_148">ii. 148</a>.<br /> + <br /> Hôtel St. Quentin, Rousseau at, <a + href="#Page_i.106">i. 106</a>.<br /> <br /> Hume, David, + <a href="#Page_i.64">i. 64</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.89">89</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his deep-set sagacity, <a + href="#Page_i.156">i. 156</a>, <a href="#Page_6">ii. 6</a>, + <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">suspected + of tampering with Boswell's letter, <a href="#Page_98">ii. 98</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Boswell, <a href="#Page_101">ii. 101</a>, + <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his eagerness to + find Rousseau a refuge in England, <a href="#Page_282">ii. 282</a>, <a + href="#Page_283">283</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + account of Rousseau, <a href="#Page_284">ii. 284</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">finds him a home at Wootton, <a href="#Page_286">ii. + 286</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's quarrel + with, <a href="#Page_286">ii. 286</a>-291 (also <a href="#Page_290">ii. + 290</a>, <i>n.</i>);</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + innocence of Walpole's letter, <a href="#Page_292">ii. 292</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his conduct in the quarrel, <a + href="#Page_293">ii. 293</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">saves + Rousseau from arrest of French Government, <a href="#Page_295">ii. 295</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Rousseau's sensitiveness, <a + href="#Page_299">ii. 299</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Imagination</span>, + Rousseau's, <a href="#Page_i.247">i. 247</a>.<br /> <br /> + <br /> <span class="smcap">Jacobins</span>, the, Rousseau's Social + Contract, their gospel, <a href="#Page_132">ii. 132</a>, <a + href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">their + mistake, <a href="#Page_136">ii. 136</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">convenience to them of some of the maxims of the + Social Contract, <a href="#Page_142">ii. 142</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Jacobin supremacy and Hobbism, <a + href="#Page_152">ii. 152</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">how + they might have saved France, <a href="#Page_167">ii. 167</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Jansen, his propositions, <a href="#Page_i.81">i. + 81</a>.<br /> <br /> Jansenists, Rousseau's suspicions of, <a href="#Page_63">ii. + 63</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned, <a href="#Page_89">ii. + 89</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Jean Paul, <a href="#Page_216">ii. 216</a>, <a + href="#Page_252">252</a>.<br /> <br /> Jefferson, <a href="#Page_227">ii. + 227</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> Jesuits, Rousseau's suspicions of the, <a + href="#Page_64">ii. 64</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the, and + parliaments, <a href="#Page_65">ii. 65</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">movement against, <a href="#Page_65">ii. 65</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppression of the, leads to increased + thought about education, <a href="#Page_199">ii. 199</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Johnson, <a href="#Page_15">ii. 15</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> + <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Kames</span>, Lord, <a href="#Page_253">ii. + 253</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Lamennais</span>, influenced + by Rousseau, <a href="#Page_228">ii. 228</a>.<br /> <br /> Language, origin + of, <a href="#Page_i.161">i. 161</a>.<br /> <br /> Latour, + Madame, <a href="#Page_19">ii. 19</a>, <i>ib. n.</i><br /> <br /> Lavater + favourable to education on Rousseau's plan, <a href="#Page_251">ii. 251</a> + (also <i>ib.</i> <i>n.</i>)<br /> <br /> Lavoisier, reply to his request for + a fortnight's respite, <a href="#Page_227">ii. 227</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> + <br /> Law, not a contract, <a href="#Page_153">ii. 153</a>.<br /> <br /> + Lecouvreur, Adrienne, refused Christian burial on account of her being an + actress, <a href="#Page_i.323">i. 323</a>.<br /> <br /> + Leibnitz, <a href="#Page_i.87">i. 87</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his optimism, <a + href="#Page_i.309">i. 309</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on the constitution of the universe, <a + href="#Page_i.312">i. 312</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Lessing, on Pope, <a href="#Page_i.310">i. 310</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> + <br /> "Letters from the Mountain," <a href="#Page_104">ii. 104</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">burned, by command, at Paris and the + Hague, <a href="#Page_105">ii. 105</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Liberty, + English, Rousseau's notion of, <a href="#Page_163">ii. 163</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> + <br /> Life, Rousseau's condemnation of the contemplative, <a + href="#Page_i.10">i. 10</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his idea of household, <a + href="#Page_i.41">i. 41</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">easier for him to preach than for others to + practise, <a href="#Page_i.43">i. 43</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Lisbon, earthquake of, Voltaire on, <a + href="#Page_i.310">i. 310</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's letter to Voltaire on, <a + href="#Page_i.310">i. 310</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.311">311</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Locke, his + Essay, <a href="#Page_i.87">i. 87</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his notions, <a + href="#Page_i.87">i. 87</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his influence upon Rousseau, <a href="#Page_121">ii. + 121</a>-126;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Marriage, <a + href="#Page_126">ii. 126</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on + Civil Government, <a href="#Page_149">ii. 149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, + <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">indefiniteness of + his views, <a href="#Page_160">ii. 160</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the pioneer of French thought on education, <a + href="#Page_202">ii. 202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's indebtedness to, <a + href="#Page_203">ii. 203</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + mistake in education, <a href="#Page_209">ii. 209</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">subjects of his theories, <a href="#Page_254">ii. + 254</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Lulli (music), <a + href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>.<br /> <br /> <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[ii.337]</a></span>Luther, + <a href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>.<br /> <br /> Luxembourg, the + Duke of, gives Rousseau a home, <a href="#Page_2">ii. 2</a>-7, <a + href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br /> <br /> Luxembourg, the Maréchale de, in + vain seeks Rousseau's children, <a href="#Page_i.128">i. + 128</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">helps to get Emilius + published, <a href="#Page_62">ii. 62</a>-64, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Lycurgus, <a href="#Page_129">ii. 129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, upon Saint Just, <a + href="#Page_133">ii. 133</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Lyons, Rousseau a tutor + at, <a href="#Page_i.95">i. 95</a>-97.<br /> <br /> <br /> + <span class="smcap">Mably</span>, De, <a + href="#Page_i.95">i. 95</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his socialism, <a + href="#Page_i.184">i. 184</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">applied to for scheme for the government of + Poland, <a href="#Page_324">ii. 324</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Maistre, De, <a + href="#Page_i.145">i. 145</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Optimism, <a + href="#Page_i.314">i. 314</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Maitre, + Le, teaches Rousseau music, <a href="#Page_i.58">i. 58</a>.<br /> + <br /> Malebranche, <a href="#Page_i.87">i. 87</a>.<br /> + <br /> Malesherbes, Rousseau confesses his ungrateful nature to, <a + href="#Page_14">ii. 14</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + dishonest advice to Rousseau, <a href="#Page_60">ii. 60</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">helps Diderot, <a href="#Page_62">ii. 62</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Rousseau in the publishing of Emilius, + <a href="#Page_62">ii. 62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">endangered by it, <a href="#Page_67">ii. + 67</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks Rousseau to + collect plants for him, <a href="#Page_76">ii. 76</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Man, his specific distinction from other animals, <a + href="#Page_i.161">i. 161</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his state of nature, <a + href="#Page_i.161">i. 161</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Hobbes wrong concerning this, <a + href="#Page_i.161">i. 161</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">equality of, <a + href="#Page_i.180">i. 180</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of this doctrine in France and in the + United States, <a href="#Page_i.182">i. 182</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">not naturally free, <a href="#Page_126">ii. + 126</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Mandeville, <a + href="#Page_i.162">i. 162</a>.<br /> <br /> Manners, + Rousseau's, Marmontel, and Grimm on, <a + href="#Page_i.205">i. 205</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.206">206</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau on Swiss, <a + href="#Page_i.329">i. 329</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.330">330</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">depravity of French, in the eighteenth century, + <a href="#Page_25">ii. 25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Marischal, Lord, friendship between, and Rousseau, <a href="#Page_79">ii. + 79</a>-81;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">account of, <a + href="#Page_80">ii. 80</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on + Boswell, <a href="#Page_98">ii. 98</a></span><br /> <br /> Marmontel, on + Rousseau's manners, <a href="#Page_i.206">i. 206</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on his success, <a href="#Page_2">ii. 2</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Marriage, design of the New Heloïsa to exalt, <a href="#Page_46">ii. + 46</a>-48, <i>ib.</i> <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> Marsilio, of Padua, on Law, <a + href="#Page_145">ii. 145</a>.<br /> <br /> Men, inequality of, Rousseau's + second Discourse (see <a href="#Discourses">Discourses</a>),<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 2.5em;">dedicated to the republic of Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.190">i. 190</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">how received there, <a + href="#Page_i.228">i. 228</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Mirabeau the elder, Rousseau's letter to, from Wootton, <a href="#Page_305">ii. + 305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + character, <a href="#Page_309">ii. 309</a>-312;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">receives Rousseau at Fleury, <a href="#Page_311">ii. + 311</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Mirabeau, Gabriel, Rousseau's influence on, <a + href="#Page_315">ii. 315</a>.<br /> <br /> Molière (Misanthrope of), + Rousseau's criticism on, <a href="#Page_i.329">i. 329</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">D'Alembert on, <a + href="#Page_i.329">i. 329</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Monarchy, Rousseau's objection to, <a href="#Page_171">ii. 171</a>.<br /> + <br /> Montaigu, Count de, avarice of, <a + href="#Page_i.101">i. 101</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.102">102</a>.<br /> <br /> Montaigne, + Rousseau's obligations to, <a href="#Page_i.145">i. 145</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, on Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_203">ii. 203</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Montesquieu, "incomplete + positivity" of, <a href="#Page_i.156">i. 156</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Government, <a + href="#Page_i.157">i. 157</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of his Spirit of Laws on Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.183">i. 183</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">confused definition of laws, <a href="#Page_153">ii. + 153</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">balanced + parliamentary system of, <a href="#Page_163">ii. 163</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his definition of forms of government, <a + href="#Page_169">ii. 169</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Montmorency, Rousseau goes + to live there, <a href="#Page_i.229">i. 229</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his life at, <a href="#Page_2">ii. 2</a>-9.</span><br /> + <br /> Montpellier, <a href="#Page_i.92">i. 92</a>.<br /> + <br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[ii.338]</a></span>Morals, + state of, in France in the eighteenth century, <a href="#Page_26">ii. 26</a>.<br /> + <br /> Morellet, thrown into the Bastile, <a href="#Page_57">ii. 57</a>.<br /> + <br /> Morelly, his indirect influence on Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.156">i. 156</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his socialistic theory, <a + href="#Page_i.157">i. 157</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.158">158</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his rules for organising a model community, <a + href="#Page_i.158">i. 158</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his terse exposition of inequality + contrasted with that of Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.170">i. + 170</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on primitive human + nature, <a href="#Page_i.175">i. 175</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his socialism, <a href="#Page_52">ii. 52</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of his "model community" + upon St. Just, <a href="#Page_133">ii. 133</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">advice to mothers, <a href="#Page_205">ii. + 205</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Motiers, Rousseau's home there, <a + href="#Page_77">ii. 77</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends + divine service at, <a href="#Page_91">ii. 91</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">life at, <a href="#Page_91">ii. 91</a>, <a + href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Moultou (pastor of Motiers), his + enthusiasm for Rousseau, <a href="#Page_82">ii. 82</a>.<br /> <br /> Music, + Rousseau undertakes to teach, <a href="#Page_i.60">i. 60</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's opinion concerning Italian, <a + href="#Page_i.105">i. 105</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of Galuppi's, <a + href="#Page_i.105">i. 105</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau earns his living by copying, <a + href="#Page_i.196">i. 196</a>; <a href="#Page_315">ii. + 315</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rameau's criticism on + Rousseau's <i>Muses Galantes</i>, <a href="#Page_i.211">i. + 211</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">French, <a + href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's letter on, <a + href="#Page_i.292">i. 292</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Italian, denounced at Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.292">i. 292</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau utterly condemns French, <a + href="#Page_i.294">i. 294</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Gluck for setting his, to French + words, <a href="#Page_323">ii. 323</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Musical + notation, Rousseau's, <a href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his Musical Dictionary, <a + href="#Page_i.296">i. 296</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his notation explained, <a + href="#Page_i.296">i. 296</a>-301;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his system inapplicable to instruments, <a + href="#Page_i.301">i. 301</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> + <span class="smcap">Naples</span>, drunkenness, how regarded in, <a + href="#Page_i.331">i. 331</a>.<br /> <br /> <i>Narcisse</i>, + Rousseau's condemnation of his own comedy of, <a + href="#Page_i.215">i. 215</a>.<br /> <br /> <a + name="Nature" id="Nature">Nature</a>, Rousseau's love of, <a + href="#Page_i.234">i. 234</a>-241; <a href="#Page_39">ii. + 39</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of, Rousseau, + Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Hume on, <a href="#Page_i.156">i. + 156</a>-158;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's, in + Second Discourse, <a href="#Page_i.171">i. 171</a>-180;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his starting-point of right, and normal + constitution of civil society, <a href="#Page_124">ii. 124</a>. See <a + href="#State">State of Nature</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Necker, <a + href="#Page_54">ii. 54</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> + <br /> Neuchâtel, flight to principality of, by Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_73">ii. 73</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">history + of, <a href="#Page_73">ii. 73</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">outbreak at, arising from religious controversy, + <a href="#Page_90">ii. 90</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparations + for driving Rousseau out of, defeated by Frederick of Prussia, <a + href="#Page_90">ii. 90</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">clergy + of, against Rousseau, <a href="#Page_106">ii. 106</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + <a name="New" id="New">New Heloïsa</a>, first conception of, <a + href="#Page_i.250">i. 250</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">monument of Rousseau's fall, <a href="#Page_1">ii. + 1</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">when completed and + published, <a href="#Page_2">ii. 2</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">read aloud to the Duchess de Luxembourg, <a + href="#Page_3">ii. 3</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter + on suicide in, <a href="#Page_16">ii. 16</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effects upon Parisian ladies of reading the, <a + href="#Page_18">ii. 18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism on, <a href="#Page_20">ii. 20</a>-55;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his scheme proposed in it, <a + href="#Page_21">ii. 21</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its + story, <a href="#Page_24">ii. 24</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its purity, contrasted with contemporary and + later French romances, <a href="#Page_24">ii. 24</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its general effect, <a href="#Page_27">ii. 27</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau absolutely without humour, <a + href="#Page_27">ii. 27</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">utter + selfishness of hero of, <a href="#Page_30">ii. 30</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its heroine, <a href="#Page_30">ii. 30</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its popularity, <a href="#Page_231">ii. + 231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">burlesque on it, <a href="#Page_31">ii. 31</a>, + <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its vital defect, + <a href="#Page_35">ii. 35</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference + between Rousseau, Byron, and others, <a href="#Page_42">ii. 42</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sumptuary details of the story, <a + href="#Page_44">ii. 44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its democratic tendency, <a href="#Page_49">ii. + 49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the bearing of its teaching, <a href="#Page_54">ii. + 54</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">hindrances to its + circulation in France, <a href="#Page_57">ii. 57</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Malesherbes's low morality as to publishing, <a + href="#Page_61">ii. 61</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Optimism</span> + of Pope and Leibnitz, <a href="#Page_i.309">i. 309</a>-310;<br /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[ii.339]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">discussed, <a href="#Page_128">ii. 128</a>-130.</span><br /> + <br /> Origin of inequality among men, <a + href="#Page_i.156">i. 156</a>. See also <a + href="#Discourses">Discourses</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Paley</span>, + <a href="#Page_191">ii. 191</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> Palissot, <a + href="#Page_56">ii. 56</a>.<br /> <br /> Paris, Rousseau's first visit to, + <a href="#Page_i.61">i. 61</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his second, <a + href="#Page_i.63">i. 63</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.97">97</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.102">102</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">third visit, <a + href="#Page_i.106">i. 106</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect in, of his first Discourse, <a + href="#Page_i.139">i. 139</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions in, on religion, laws, etc., <a + href="#Page_i.185">i. 185</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">"mimic philosophy" there, <a + href="#Page_i.193">i. 193</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">society in, in Rousseau's time, <a + href="#Page_i.202">i. 202</a>-211;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his view of it, <a + href="#Page_i.210">i. 210</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">composes there his <i>Muses Galantes</i>, <a + href="#Page_i.211">i. 211</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to, from Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.228">i. 228</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his belief of the unfitness of its people for + political affairs, <a href="#Page_i.246">i. 246</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to, in 1741, with his scheme of + musical notation, <a href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect there of his letter on music, <a + href="#Page_i.295">i. 295</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's imaginary contrast between, and + Geneva, <a href="#Page_i.329">i. 329</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Emilius ordered to be publicly burnt in, + <a href="#Page_65">ii. 65</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">parliament + of, orders "Letters from the Mountain" to be burnt, <a + href="#Page_295">ii. 295</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">also + Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, <a href="#Page_295">ii. 295</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Danton's scheme for municipal + administration of, <a href="#Page_168">ii. 168</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">two parties (those of Voltaire and of + Rousseau) in, in 1793, <a href="#Page_178">ii. 178</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">excitement in, at Rousseau's appearance in 1765, + <a href="#Page_283">ii. 283</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">he goes to live there in 1770, <a + href="#Page_314">ii. 314</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire's + last visit to, <a href="#Page_323">ii. 323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Pâris, Abbé, miracles at his tomb, <a href="#Page_88">ii. + 88</a>.<br /> <br /> Parisian frivolity, <a + href="#Page_i.193">i. 193</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.220">220</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.329">329</a>.<br /> <br /> Parliament and + Jesuits, <a href="#Page_64">ii. 64</a>.<br /> <br /> Pascal, <a + href="#Page_37">ii. 37</a>.<br /> <br /> Passy, Rousseau composes the "Village + Soothsayer" at, <a href="#Page_i.212">i. 212</a>.<br /> + <br /> Paul, St., effect of, on western society, <a + href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>.<br /> <br /> Peasantry, French, + oppression of, <a href="#Page_i.67">i. 67</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.68">68</a>.<br /> <br /> Pedigree of + Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.8">i. 8</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> + <br /> Pelagius, <a href="#Page_272">ii. 272</a>.<br /> <br /> Peoples, + sovereignty of, Rousseau not the inventor of doctrine of, <a + href="#Page_144">ii. 144</a>-148;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">taught + by Althusen, <a href="#Page_i.147">i. 147</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">constitution of Helvetic Republic in 1798, + a blow at, <a href="#Page_165">ii. 165</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Pergolese, + <a href="#Page_i.292">i. 292</a>.<br /> <br /> Pestalozzi + indebted to Emilius, <a href="#Page_252">ii. 252</a>.<br /> <br /> Philidor, + <a href="#Page_i.292">i. 292</a>.<br /> <br /> + Philosophers, of Rousseau's time, contradicting each other, <a + href="#Page_i.87">i. 87</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's complaint of the, <a + href="#Page_i.202">i. 202</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">war between the, and the priests, <a + href="#Page_i.322">i. 322</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's reactionary protest against, <a + href="#Page_i.328">i. 328</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">troubles of, <a href="#Page_59">ii. 59</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">parliaments hostile to, <a href="#Page_64">ii. + 64</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Philosophy, Rousseau's disgust at mimic, at + Paris, <a href="#Page_i.193">i. 193</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">drew him to the essential in religion, <a + href="#Page_i.220">i. 220</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire's no perfect, <a + href="#Page_i.318">i. 318</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Phlipon, Jean Marie, Rousseau's influence on, <a href="#Page_315">ii. 315</a>.<br /> + <br /> Plato, his republic, <a href="#Page_i.122">i. 122</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his influence on Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.146">i. 146</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.325">325</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Milton on his Laws, <a href="#Page_178">ii. 178</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> <a name="Plays" id="Plays">Plays</a> (stage), Rousseau's letter on, + to D'Alembert, <a href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his views of, <a + href="#Page_i.323">i. 323</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Jeremy Collier and Bossuet on, <a + href="#Page_i.323">i. 323</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">in Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.333">i. 333</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.334">334</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau, Voltaire, and D'Alembert on, <a + href="#Page_i.332">i. 332</a>-337.</span><br /> <br /> + Plutarch, Rousseau's love for, <a href="#Page_i.13">i. + 13</a>.<br /> <br /> Plutocracy, new, faults of, <a + href="#Page_i.195">i. 195</a>.<br /> <br /> <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[ii.340]</a></span>Pompadour, + Madame de, and the Jesuits, <a href="#Page_64">ii. 64</a>.<br /> <br /> + Pontverre (priest) converts Rousseau to Romanism, <a + href="#Page_i.31">i. 31</a>-35.<br /> <br /> Pope, his + Essay on Man translated by Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_i.309">i. 309</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Berlin Academy and Lessing on it, <a + href="#Page_i.310">i. 310</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism on it by Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.312">i. 312</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its general position reproduced by Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.315">i. 315</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Popelinière, M. de, <a href="#Page_i.211">i. 211</a>.<br /> + <br /> Positive knowledge, <a href="#Page_i.78">i. 78</a>.<br /> + <br /> Press, freedom of the, <a href="#Page_59">ii. 59</a>.<br /> <br /> Prévost, + Abbé, <a href="#Page_i.48">i. 48</a>.<br /> <br /> <i>Projet + pour l'Education</i>, <a href="#Page_i.96">i. 96</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> + <br /> Property, private, evils ascribed to <a + href="#Page_i.157">i. 157</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.185">185</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Robespierre disclaimed the intention of + attacking, <a href="#Page_i.123">i. 123</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> + <br /> Protestant principles, effect of development of, <a href="#Page_146">ii. + 146</a>-147.<br /> <br /> Protestantism, his conversion to, <a + href="#Page_i.220">i. 220</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its influence on Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.221">i. 221</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> + <span class="smcap">Rameau</span> on Rousseau's <i>Muses Galantes</i>, <a + href="#Page_i.119">i. 119</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.211">211</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned, <a + href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Rationalism, <a href="#Page_i.224">i. 224</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.225">225</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Descartes on, <a + href="#Page_i.225">i. 225</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Reason, + De Saint Pierre's views of, <a href="#Page_i.244">i. 244</a>.<br /> + <br /> Reform, essential priority of social over political, <a + href="#Page_43">ii. 43</a>.<br /> <br /> Religion, simplification of, <a + href="#Page_i.3">i. 3</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">ideas of, in Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.186">i. 186</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.187">187</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.207">207</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.208">208</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's view of, <a + href="#Page_i.220">i. 220</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">doctrines of, in Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.223">i. 223</a>-227, also <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">curious project concerning it, by + Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.317">i. 317</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">separation of spiritual and temporal + powers deemed mischievous by Rousseau, <a href="#Page_173">ii. 173</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">in its relation to the state may be + considered as of three kinds, <a href="#Page_175">ii. 175</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">duty of the sovereign to establish a civil + confession of faith, <a href="#Page_176">ii. 176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">positive dogmas of this, <a + href="#Page_176">ii. 176</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + "pure Hobbism," <a href="#Page_177">ii. 177</a>.</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">See <a href="#Savoyard">Savoyard Vicar</a> + (Emilius), <a href="#Page_256">ii. 256</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Renou, Rousseau assumes name of, <a + href="#Page_i.129">i. 129</a>; <a href="#Page_312">ii. + 312</a>.<br /> <br /> Revelation, Christian, Rousseau's controversy on, with + Archbishop of Paris, <a href="#Page_86">ii. 86</a>-91.<br /> <br /> <i>Rêveries</i>, + Rousseau's relinquishing society, <a href="#Page_i.199">i. + 199</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of his life in + the isle of St. Peter, in the, <a href="#Page_109">ii. 109</a>-115;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">their style <a href="#Page_314">ii. 314</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Revolution, French, principles of, <a + href="#Page_i.1">i. 1</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.2">2</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">benefits of, or otherwise, <a href="#Page_54">ii. + 54</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baboeuf on, <a + href="#Page_123">ii. 123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the starting point in the history of its + ideas, <a href="#Page_160">ii. 160</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Revolutionary + process and ideal <a href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> <br /> Revolutionists, + difference among, <a href="#Page_i.2">i. 2</a>.<br /> + <br /> Richardson (the novelist), <a href="#Page_25">ii. 25</a>, <a + href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br /> <br /> Richelieu's brief patronage of + Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.195">i. 195</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.302">302</a>.<br /> <br /> Rivière, de + la, origin of society, <a href="#Page_156">ii. 156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, <a href="#Page_156">ii. 156</a>, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> <br /> Robecq, Madame + de, <a href="#Page_56">ii. 56</a>.<br /> <br /> Robespierre, <a + href="#Page_123">ii. 123</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a + href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "sacred right of insurrection," + <a href="#Page_188">ii. 188</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's influence on, <a href="#Page_315">ii. + 315</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Rousseau, Didier, <a + href="#Page_i.8">i. 8</a>.<br /> <br /> Rousseau, Jean + Baptiste, <a href="#Page_i.61">i. 61</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> + <br /> Rousseau, Jean Jacques, influence of his writings on France and the + American colonists, <a href="#Page_i.1">i. 1</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.2">2</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Robespierre, Paine, and Chateaubriand, <a + href="#Page_i.3">i. 3</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his place as a leader, <a + href="#Page_i.3">i. 3</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">starting-point, of his mental habits, <a + href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">personality of, <a + href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>;</span><br /> <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[ii.341]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on the common people, <a + href="#Page_i.5">i. 5</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his birth and ancestry, <a + href="#Page_i.8">i. 8</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">pedigree, <a href="#Page_i.8">i. + 8</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">parents, <a + href="#Page_i.10">i. 10</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.11">11</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence upon him of his father's character, <a + href="#Page_i.11">i. 11</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.12">12</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his reading in childhood, <a + href="#Page_i.12">i. 12</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.13">13</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">love of Plutarch, <a + href="#Page_i.13">i. 13</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">early years, <a + href="#Page_i.13">i. 13</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.14">14</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to school at Bossey, <a + href="#Page_i.15">i. 15</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">deterioration of his moral character there, <a + href="#Page_i.17">i. 17</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">indignation at an unjust punishment, <a + href="#Page_i.17">i. 17</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.18">18</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves school, <a + href="#Page_i.20">i. 20</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">youthful life at Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.21">i. 21</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.22">22</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his remarks on its character, <a + href="#Page_i.24">i. 24</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdotes of it, <a + href="#Page_i.22">i. 22</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.24">24</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his leading error as to the education of the + young, <a href="#Page_i.25">i. 25</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.26">26</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">religious training, <a + href="#Page_i.25">i. 25</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">apprenticeship, <a + href="#Page_i.26">i. 26</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">boyish doings, <a + href="#Page_i.27">i. 27</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">harshness of his master, <a + href="#Page_i.27">i. 27</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">runs away, <a href="#Page_i.29">i. + 29</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">received by the priest + of Confignon, <a href="#Page_i.31">i. 31</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Madame de Warens, <a + href="#Page_i.84">i. 84</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">at Turin, <a href="#Page_i.35">i. + 35</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">hypocritical + conversion to Roman Catholicism, <a href="#Page_i.37">i. + 37</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">motive, <a + href="#Page_i.38">i. 38</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">registry of his baptism, <a + href="#Page_i.38">i. 38</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his forlorn condition, <a + href="#Page_i.39">i. 39</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">love of music, <a + href="#Page_i.39">i. 39</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes servant to Madame de Vercellis, <a + href="#Page_i.39">i. 39</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his theft, lying, and excuses for it, <a + href="#Page_i.39">i. 39</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.40">40</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes servant to Count of Gouvon, <a + href="#Page_i.42">i. 42</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissed, <a href="#Page_i.43">i. + 43</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Madame de + Warens, <a href="#Page_i.45">i. 45</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his temperament, <a + href="#Page_i.46">i. 46</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.47">47</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">in training for the priesthood, but pronounced + too stupid, <a href="#Page_i.57">i. 57</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">tries music, <a + href="#Page_i.57">i. 57</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">shamelessly abandons his companion, <a + href="#Page_i.58">i. 58</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Freiburg, Neuchâtel, and Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.61">i. 61</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.62">62</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">conjectural chronology of his movements about + this time. <a href="#Page_i.62">i. 62</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of vagabond life, <a + href="#Page_i.62">i. 62</a>-68;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect upon him of his intercourse with the + poor, <a href="#Page_i.68">i. 68</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes clerk to a land surveyor at Chambéri, + <a href="#Page_i.69">i. 69</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">life there, <a + href="#Page_i.69">i. 69</a>-72;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">ill-health and retirement to Les Charmettes, <a + href="#Page_i.73">i. 73</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his latest recollection of this time, <a + href="#Page_i.75">i. 75</a>-77;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his "form of worship," <a + href="#Page_i.77">i. 77</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">love of nature, <a + href="#Page_i.77">i. 77</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.78">78</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">notion of deity, <a + href="#Page_i.77">i. 77</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">peculiar intellectual feebleness, <a + href="#Page_i.81">i. 81</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism on himself, <a + href="#Page_i.83">i. 83</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">want of logic in his mental constitution, <a + href="#Page_i.85">i. 85</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect on him of Voltaire's Letters on the + English, <a href="#Page_i.85">i. 85</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">self-training, <a + href="#Page_i.86">i. 86</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">mistaken method of it, <a + href="#Page_i.86">i. 86</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.87">8</a>7;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">writes a comedy, <a + href="#Page_i.89">i. 89</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">enjoyment of rural life at Les Charmettes, <a + href="#Page_i.91">i. 91</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.92">92</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">robs Madame de Warens, <a + href="#Page_i.92">i. 92</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves her, <a + href="#Page_i.93">i. 93</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">discrepancy between dates of his letters and the + Confessions, <a href="#Page_i.93">i. 93</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes a tutorship at Lyons, <a + href="#Page_i.95">i. 95</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">condemns the practice of writing Latin, <a + href="#Page_i.96">i. 96</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns his tutorship, and goes to Paris, + <a href="#Page_i.97">i. 97</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">reception there, <a + href="#Page_i.98">i. 98</a>-100;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed secretary to French Ambassador at + Venice, <a href="#Page_i.100">i. 100</a>-106;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">in quarantine at Genoa, <a + href="#Page_i.104">i. 104</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his estimate of French melody, <a + href="#Page_i.105">i. 105</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.106">i. 106</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes acquainted with Theresa Le Vasseur, <a + href="#Page_i.106">i. 106</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his conduct criticised, <a + href="#Page_i.107">i. 107</a>-113;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">simple life, <a + href="#Page_i.113">i. 113</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to her, <a + href="#Page_i.115">i. 115</a>-119;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his poverty, <a + href="#Page_i.119">i. 119</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes secretary to Madame Dupin and her + son-in-law, M. de Francueil, <a href="#Page_i.119">i. + 119</a>;</span><br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[ii.342]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">sends his children to the foundling hospital, <a + href="#Page_i.120">i. 120</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.121">121</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">paltry excuses for the crime, <a + href="#Page_i.121">i. 121</a>-126;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his pretended marriage under the name of Renou, + <a href="#Page_i.129">i. 129</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his Discourses, <a + href="#Page_i.132">i. 132</a>-186 (see <a + href="#Discourses">Discourses</a>);</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">writes essays for academy of Dijon, <a + href="#Page_i.132">i. 132</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of first essay, <a + href="#Page_i.133">i. 133</a>-137;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his "visions" for thirteen years, <a + href="#Page_i.138">i. 138</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">evil effect upon himself of the first Discourse, + <a href="#Page_i.138">i. 138</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">of it, the second Discourse and the Social + Contract upon Europe, <a href="#Page_i.138">i. 138</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his own opinion of it, <a + href="#Page_i.138">i. 138</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.139">139</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Plato upon him, <a + href="#Page_i.146">i. 146</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">second Discourse, <a + href="#Page_i.154">i. 154</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his "State of Nature," <a + href="#Page_i.159">i. 159</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">no evidence for it, <a + href="#Page_i.172">i. 172</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Montesquieu on him, <a + href="#Page_i.183">i. 183</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">inconsistency of his views, <a + href="#Page_i.124">i. 124</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Geneva upon him, <a + href="#Page_i.187">i. 187</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.188">188</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his disgust at Parisian philosophers, <a + href="#Page_i.191">i. 191</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.192">192</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the two sides of his character, <a + href="#Page_i.193">i. 193</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">associates in Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.193">i. 193</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his income, <a + href="#Page_i.196">i. 196</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.197">197</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">post of cashier, <a + href="#Page_i.196">i. 196</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">throws it up, <a + href="#Page_i.197">i. 197</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.198">198</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">determines to earn his living by copying music, + <a href="#Page_i.198">i. 198</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.199">199</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">change of manners, <a + href="#Page_i.201">i. 201</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of the manners of his time, <a + href="#Page_i.202">i. 202</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.203">203</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">assumption of a seeming cynicism, <a + href="#Page_i.206">i. 206</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Grimm's rebuke of it, <a + href="#Page_i.206">i. 206</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's protest against atheism, <a + href="#Page_i.208">i. 208</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.209">209</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">composes a musical interlude, the Village + Soothsayer, <a href="#Page_i.212">i. 212</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his nervousness loses him the chance of a + pension, <a href="#Page_i.213">i. 213</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his moral simplicity, <a + href="#Page_i.214">i. 214</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.215">215</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">revisits Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.216">i. 216</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">re-conversion to Protestantism, <a + href="#Page_i.220">i. 220</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his friends at Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.227">i. 227</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">their effect upon him, <a + href="#Page_i.227">i. 227</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.227">i. 227</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the Hermitage offered him by Madame d'Epinay, <a + href="#Page_i.229">i. 229</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.230">230</a> (and <i>ib. n.</i>);</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires to it against the protests of his + friends, <a href="#Page_i.231">i. 231</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his love of nature, <a + href="#Page_i.234">i. 234</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.235">235</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">first days at the Hermitage, <a + href="#Page_i.237">i. 237</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">rural delirium, <a + href="#Page_i.237">i. 237</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of society, <a + href="#Page_i.242">i. 242</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">literary scheme, <a + href="#Page_i.242">i. 242</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.243">243</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">remarks on Saint Pierre, <a + href="#Page_i.246">i. 246</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">violent mental crisis, <a + href="#Page_i.247">i. 247</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">employs his illness in writing to Voltaire on + Providence, <a href="#Page_i.250">i. 250</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his intolerance of vice in others, <a + href="#Page_i.254">i. 254</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">acquaintance with Madame de Houdetot, <a + href="#Page_i.255">i. 255</a>-269;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">source of his irritability, <a + href="#Page_i.270">i. 270</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.271">271</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">blind enthusiasm of his admirers, <a + href="#Page_i.273">i. 273</a>, also <i>ib. n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Diderot, <a + href="#Page_i.275">i. 275</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Grimm's account of them, <a + href="#Page_i.276">i. 276</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Madame d'Epinay, <a + href="#Page_i.276">i. 276</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.288">288</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Grimm, <a + href="#Page_i.279">i. 279</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">want of sympathy between the two, <a + href="#Page_i.279">i. 279</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to accompany Madame d'Epinay to Geneva, + <a href="#Page_i.285">i. 285</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Grimm, <a + href="#Page_i.285">i. 285</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves the Hermitage, <a + href="#Page_i.289">i. 289</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.290">290</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">aims in music, <a + href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">letter on French music, <a + href="#Page_i.293">i. 293</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">writes on music in the Encyclopædia, <a + href="#Page_i.296">i. 296</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his Musical Dictionary, <a + href="#Page_i.296">i. 296</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">scheme and principles of his new musical + notation, <a href="#Page_i.269">i. 269</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">explained, <a + href="#Page_i.298">i. 298</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.299">299</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its practical value, <a + href="#Page_i.299">i. 299</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his mistake, <a + href="#Page_i.300">i. 300</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">minor objections, <a + href="#Page_i.300">i. 300</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his temperament and Genevan spirit, <a + href="#Page_i.303">i. 303</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_i.304">i. 304</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.305">305</a>;</span><br /> <span + class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[ii.343]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">had a more spiritual element than Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_i.306">i. 306</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">its influence in France, <a + href="#Page_i.307">i. 307</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">early relations with Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_i.308">i. 308</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to him on his poem on the earthquake at + Lisbon, <a href="#Page_i.312">i. 312</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.313">313</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.314">314</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons in a circle, <a + href="#Page_i.316">i. 316</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">continuation of argument against Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_i.316">i. 316</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.317">317</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">curious notion about religion, <a + href="#Page_i.317">i. 317</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_i.318">i. 318</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.319">319</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces him as a "trumpet of impiety," + <a href="#Page_i.320">i. 320</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to D'Alembert on Stage Plays, <a + href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">true answer to his theory, <a + href="#Page_i.323">i. 323</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">contrasts Paris and Geneva, <a + href="#Page_i.327">i. 327</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.328">328</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his patriotism, <a + href="#Page_i.329">i. 329</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.330">330</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.331">331</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">censure of love as a poetic theme, <a + href="#Page_i.334">i. 334</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.335">335</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Social Position of Women, <a + href="#Page_i.335">i. 335</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire and D'Alembert's criticism on his + Letter on Stage Plays, <a href="#Page_i.336">i. 336</a>, + <a href="#Page_i.337">337</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">final break with Diderot, <a + href="#Page_i.336">i. 336</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">antecedents of his highest creative efforts, <a + href="#Page_1">ii. 1</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">friends + at Montmorency, <a href="#Page_2">ii. 2</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">reads the New Heloïsa to the Maréchale + de Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_2">ii. 2</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">unwillingness to receive gifts, <a href="#Page_5">ii. + 5</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations with the + Duke and Duchess de Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_7">ii. 7</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">misunderstands the friendliness of Madame + de Boufflers, <a href="#Page_7">ii. 7</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">calm life at Montmorency, <a href="#Page_8">ii. + 8</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary jealousy, <a + href="#Page_8">ii. 8</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">last + of his peaceful days, <a href="#Page_9">ii. 9</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">advice to a young man against the contemplative + life, <a href="#Page_10">ii. 10</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">offensive form of his "good sense" + concerning persecution of Protestants, <a href="#Page_11">ii. 11</a>, <a + href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause + of his unwillingness to receive gifts, ii. <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a + href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">owns + his ungrateful nature, <a href="#Page_15">ii. 15</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">ill-humoured banter, <a href="#Page_15">ii. 15</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his constant bodily suffering, <a + href="#Page_16">ii. 16</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">thinks + of suicide, <a href="#Page_16">ii. 16</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">correspondence with the readers of the New Heloïsa, + <a href="#Page_19">ii. 19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the New Heloïsa, criticism on, <a + href="#Page_20">ii. 20</a>-55 (see <a href="#New">New Heloïsa</a>);</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his publishing difficulties, <a + href="#Page_56">ii. 56</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">no + taste for martyrdom, <a href="#Page_59">ii. 59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">curious discussion between, <a + href="#Page_59">ii. 59</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">and + Malesherbes, <a href="#Page_60">ii. 60</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">indebted to Malesherbes in the publication of + Emilius, <a href="#Page_61">ii. 61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">suspects Jesuits, Jansenists, and + philosophers of plotting to crush the book, <a href="#Page_63">ii. 63</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">himself counted among the latter, <a + href="#Page_65">ii. 65</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Emilius + ordered to be burnt by public executioner, on the charge of irreligious + tendency, and its author to be arrested, <a href="#Page_65">ii. 65</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his flight, <a href="#Page_67">ii. 67</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary composition on the journey to + Switzerland, <a href="#Page_69">ii. 69</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">contrast between him and Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_70">ii. 70</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation + of his "natural ingratitude," <a href="#Page_71">ii. 71</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">reaches the canton of Berne, and ordered + to quit it, <a href="#Page_72">ii. 72</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Emilius and Social Contract condemned to be + publicly burnt at Geneva, and author arrested if he came there, <a + href="#Page_72">ii. 72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">takes refuge at Motiers, in dominions of + Frederick of Prussia, <a href="#Page_73">ii. 73</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristic letters to the king, <a + href="#Page_74">ii. 74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">declines pecuniary help from him, <a + href="#Page_75">ii. 75</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + home and habits at Motiers, <a href="#Page_77">ii. 77</a>, <a + href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire + supposed to have stirred up animosity against him at Geneva, <a + href="#Page_81">ii. 81</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Archbishop + of Paris writes against him, <a href="#Page_83">ii. 83</a>;</span><br /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[ii.344]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his reply, and character as a controversialist, + <a href="#Page_83">ii. 83</a>-90;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">life at Val de Travers (Motiers), <a + href="#Page_91">ii. 91</a>-95;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + generosity, <a href="#Page_93">ii. 93</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">corresponds with the Prince of Würtemberg + on the education of the prince's daughter, <a href="#Page_95">ii. 95</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">on + Gibbon, <a href="#Page_96">ii. 96</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">visit from Boswell, <a href="#Page_98">ii. 98</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">invited to legislate for Corsica, <a + href="#Page_99">ii. 99</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Boswell to go there, <a href="#Page_100">ii. + 100</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces its sale by + the Genoese, <a href="#Page_102">ii. 102</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">renounces his citizenship of Geneva, <a + href="#Page_103">ii. 103</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + Letters from the Mountain, <a href="#Page_104">ii. 104</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the letters condemned to be burned at + Paris and the Hague, <a href="#Page_105">ii. 105</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">libel upon, <a href="#Page_105">ii. 105</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious difficulties with his pastor, <a + href="#Page_106">ii. 106</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ill-treatment + of, in parish, <a href="#Page_106">ii. 106</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">obliged to leave it, <a href="#Page_108">ii. 108</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his next retreat, <a href="#Page_108">ii. + 108</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">account in the <i>Rêveries</i> + of his short stay there, <a href="#Page_109">ii. 109</a>-115;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">expelled by government of Berne, <a + href="#Page_116">ii. 116</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes + an extraordinary request to it, <a href="#Page_116">ii. 116</a>, <a + href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties + in finding a home, <a href="#Page_117">ii. 117</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">short stay at Strasburg, <a href="#Page_117">ii. + 117</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">decides on + going to England, <a href="#Page_118">ii. 118</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his Social Contract, and criticism on, <a + href="#Page_119">ii. 119</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a> (see <a + href="#Social">Social Contract</a>);</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">scanty acquaintance with history, <a + href="#Page_129">ii. 129</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its + effects on his political writings, <a href="#Page_129">ii. 129</a>, <a + href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + object in writing Emilius, <a href="#Page_198">ii. 198</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his confession of faith, under the + character of the Savoyard Vicar (see <a href="#Emilius">Emilius</a>), <a + href="#Page_257">ii. 257</a>-280;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">excitement caused by his appearance in Paris in + 1765, <a href="#Page_282">ii. 282</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves for England in company with Hume, <a + href="#Page_283">ii. 283</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception + in London, <a href="#Page_283">ii. 283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">George III. gives him a pension, <a + href="#Page_284">ii. 284</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + love for his dog, <a href="#Page_286">ii. 286</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">finds a home at Wootton, <a href="#Page_286">ii. + 286</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Hume, + <a href="#Page_287">ii. 287</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">particulars in connection with it, <a + href="#Page_287">ii. 287</a>-296;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his approaching insanity at this period, <a + href="#Page_296">ii. 296</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the + preparatory conditions of it, <a href="#Page_297">ii. 297</a>-301;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins writing the Confessions, <a + href="#Page_301">ii. 301</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">their + character, <a href="#Page_301">ii. 301</a>-304;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">life at Wootton, <a href="#Page_305">ii. 305</a>, + <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden + flight thence, <a href="#Page_306">ii. 306</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">kindness of Mr. Davenport, <a href="#Page_306">ii. + 306</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his delusion, <a href="#Page_307">ii. 307</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to France, <a href="#Page_308">ii. + 308</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">received at Fleury by + the elder Mirabeau, <a href="#Page_310">ii. 310</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the prince of Conti next receives him at + Trye, <a href="#Page_312">ii. 312</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">composes the second part of the Confessions + here, <a href="#Page_312">ii. 312</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">delusion returns, <a href="#Page_312">ii. 312</a>, + <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves + Trye, and wanders about the country, <a href="#Page_312">ii. 312</a>, <a + href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">estrangement + from Theresa, <a href="#Page_313">ii. 313</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Paris, <a href="#Page_314">ii. 314</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes his Dialogues there, <a + href="#Page_314">ii. 314</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">again + earns his living by copying music, <a href="#Page_315">ii. 315</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">daily life in, <a href="#Page_315">ii. 315</a>, + <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bernardin + St. Pierre's account of him, <a href="#Page_317">ii. 317</a>-321;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his veneration for Fénelon, <a + href="#Page_321">ii. 321</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + unsociality, <a href="#Page_322">ii. 322</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">checks a detractor of Voltaire, <a + href="#Page_324">ii. 324</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">draws + up his Considerations on the Government of Poland, <a href="#Page_324">ii. + 324</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of the + Spanish, <a href="#Page_324">ii. 324</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his poverty, <a href="#Page_325">ii. 325</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts a home at Ermenonville from M. + Girardin, <a href="#Page_326">ii. 326</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his painful condition, <a href="#Page_326">ii. + 326</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden death, <a + href="#Page_326">ii. 326</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause + of it unknown, <a href="#Page_326">ii. 326</a> (see also <i>ib. n.</i>);</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interment, <a href="#Page_326">ii. 326</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">finally removed to Paris, <a + href="#Page_328">ii. 328</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="pagenum"><a + name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[ii.345]</a></span><span class="smcap">Sainte + Beuve</span> on Rousseau and Madame d'Epinay, <a + href="#Page_i.279">i. 279</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Rousseau, <a href="#Page_40">ii. 40</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Saint Germain, M. de, Rousseau's letter to, <a + href="#Page_i.123">i. 123</a>.<br /> <br /> Saint Just, <a + href="#Page_132">ii. 132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his political regulations, <a href="#Page_133">ii. + 133</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">base of + his system, <a href="#Page_136">ii. 136</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">against the atheists, <a href="#Page_179">ii. + 179</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Saint Lambert, <a + href="#Page_i.244">i. 244</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">offers Rousseau a home in Lorraine, <a + href="#Page_117">ii. 117</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Saint Pierre, Abbé + de, Rousseau arranges papers of, <a href="#Page_i.244">i. + 244</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his views concerning reason, + <i>ib.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">boldness of his + observations, <a href="#Page_i.245">i. 245</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Saint Pierre, Bernardin de, account of his visit to Rousseau at + Paris, <a href="#Page_317">ii. 317</a>-321.<br /> <br /> Sand, Madame G., <a + href="#Page_i.81">i. 81</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Savoy landscape, <a + href="#Page_i.99">i. 99</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancestry of, <a + href="#Page_i.121">i. 121</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> + <br /> Savages, code of morals of, <a href="#Page_i.178">i. + 178</a>-179, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> Savage state, advantages of, Rousseau's + letter to Voltaire, <a href="#Page_i.312">i. 312</a>.<br /> + <br /> Savoy, priests of, proselytisers, <a + href="#Page_i.30">i. 30</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.31">31</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.33">33</a> (also <i>ib.</i> <i>n.</i>)<br /> + <br /> <a name="Savoyard" id="Savoyard">Savoyard </a>Vicar, the, origin of + character of, <a href="#Page_257">ii. 257</a>-280 (see <a href="#Emilius">Emilius</a>).<br /> + <br /> Schiller on Rousseau, <a href="#Page_192">ii. 192</a> (also <i>ib.</i> + <i>n.</i>);<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's influence on, + <a href="#Page_315">ii. 315</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Servetus, <a + href="#Page_180">ii. 180</a>.<br /> <br /> Simplification, the revolutionary + process and ideal of, <a href="#Page_i.4">i. 4</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">in reference to Rousseau's music, <a + href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Social + conscience, theory and definition of, <a href="#Page_234">ii. 234</a>, <a + href="#Page_235">235</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the great + agent in fostering, <a href="#Page_237">ii. 237</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <a + name="Social" id="Social">Social Contract</a>, the, ill effect of, on + Europe, <a href="#Page_i.138">i. 138</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">beginning of its composition, <a + href="#Page_i.177">i. 177</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">ideas of, <a href="#Page_i.188">i. + 188</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its harmful dreams, + <a href="#Page_i.246">i. 246</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, <a href="#Page_1">ii. 1</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">price of, and difficulties in publishing, + <a href="#Page_59">ii. 59</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ordered + to be burnt at Geneva, <a href="#Page_72">ii. 72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">detailed + criticism of, <a href="#Page_119">ii. 119</a>-196;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau diametrically opposed to the dominant + belief of his day in human perfectibility, <a href="#Page_119">ii. 119</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">object of the work, <a href="#Page_120">ii. + 120</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">main position of the + two Discourses given up in it, <a href="#Page_120">ii. 120</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">influenced by Locke, <a href="#Page_120">ii. + 120</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its uncritical, + illogical principles, <a href="#Page_123">ii. 123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its impracticableness, <a href="#Page_128">ii. + 128</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">nature of his + illustrations, <a href="#Page_128">ii. 128</a>-133;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the "gospel of the Jacobins," <a + href="#Page_132">ii. 132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the desperate absurdity of its assumptions + gave it power in the circumstances of the times, <a href="#Page_135">ii. + 135</a>-141;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">some of its + maxims very convenient for ruling Jacobins, <a href="#Page_142">ii. 142</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">its central conception, the sovereignty of + peoples, <a href="#Page_144">ii. 144</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau not its inventor, <a href="#Page_144">ii. + 144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">this to be distinguished from doctrine of right + of subjects to depose princes, <a href="#Page_146">ii. 146</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Social Contract idea of government, + probably derived from Locke, <a href="#Page_150">ii. 150</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">falseness of it, <a href="#Page_153">ii. + 153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of society, <a href="#Page_154">ii. 154</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ill effects on Rousseau's political + speculation, <a href="#Page_155">ii. 155</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">what constitutes the sovereignty, <a + href="#Page_158">ii. 158</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + Social Contract different from that of Hobbes, <a href="#Page_159">ii. 159</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Locke's indefiniteness on, <a + href="#Page_160">ii. 160</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">attributes + of sovereignty, <a href="#Page_163">ii. 163</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">confederation, <a href="#Page_164">ii. 164</a>, + <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + distinction between <i>tyrant</i> and <i>despot</i>, <a href="#Page_169">ii. + 169</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" + id="Page_346">[ii.346]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">distinguishes + constitution of the state from that of the government, <a href="#Page_170">ii. + 170</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">scheme of an elective + aristocracy, <a href="#Page_172">ii. 172</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">similarity to the English form of government, <a + href="#Page_173">ii. 173</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">the + state in respect to religion, <a href="#Page_173">ii. 173</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">habitually illogical form of his + statements, <a href="#Page_173">ii. 173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">duty of sovereign to establish civil + profession of faith, <a href="#Page_175">ii. 175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">infringement of it to be punished, even by + death, <a href="#Page_176">ii. 176</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's Hobbism, <a href="#Page_177">ii. 177</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">denial of his social compact theory, <a + href="#Page_183">ii. 183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">futility of his disquisitions on, <a + href="#Page_185">ii. 185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his declaration of general duty of + rebellion (arising out of the universal breach of social compact) + considered, <a href="#Page_188">ii. 188</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">it makes government impossible, <a + href="#Page_188">ii. 188</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">he + urges that usurped authority is another valid reason for rebellion, <a + href="#Page_190">ii. 190</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical + evils of this, <a href="#Page_192">ii. 192</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">historical effect of the Social Contract, <a + href="#Page_192">ii. 192</a>-195.</span><br /> <br /> Social quietism of + some parts of New Heloïsa, <a href="#Page_49">ii. 49</a>.<br /> <br /> + Socialism: Morelly, and De Mably, <a href="#Page_52">ii. 52</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">what it is, <a href="#Page_159">ii. 159</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Socialistic theory of Morelly, <a + href="#Page_i.158">i. 158</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.159">159</a> (also <a + href="#Page_i.158">i. 158</a>, <i>n.</i>)<br /> <br /> + Society, Aristotle on, <a href="#Page_i.174">i. 174</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">D'Alembert's statements on, <a + href="#Page_i.174">i. 174</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parisian, Rousseau on, <a + href="#Page_i.209">i. 209</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of, <a + href="#Page_i.242">i. 242</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's origin of, <a href="#Page_153">ii. + 153</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">true grounds of, <a + href="#Page_155">ii. 155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Socrates, <a href="#Page_i.131">i. 131</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.140">140</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.232">232</a>; <a href="#Page_72">ii. 72</a>, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.<br /> <br /> Solitude, eighteenth century + notions of, <a href="#Page_i.231">i. 231</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.232">232</a>.<br /> <br /> Solon, <a + href="#Page_133">ii. 133</a>.<br /> <br /> Sorbonne, the, condemns Emilius, + <a href="#Page_82">ii. 82</a>.<br /> <br /> Spectator, the, Rousseau's + liking for, <a href="#Page_i.86">i. 86</a>.<br /> <br /> + Spinoza, dangerous speculations of, <a href="#Page_i.143">i. + 143</a>.<br /> <br /> Staël, Madame de, <a + href="#Page_i.217">i. 217</a>, <i>n.</i><br /> <br /> + Stage players, how treated in France, <a + href="#Page_i.322">i. 322</a>.<br /> <br /> Stage plays + (see <a href="#Plays">Plays</a>).<br /> <br /> <a name="State" id="State">State + of Nature</a>, Rousseau's, <a href="#Page_i.159">i. 159</a>, + <a href="#Page_i.160">160</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Hobbes on, <a + href="#Page_i.161">i. 161</a> (see <a href="#Nature">Nature</a>).</span><br /> + <br /> Suicide, Rousseau on, <a href="#Page_16">ii. 16</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">a mistake to pronounce him incapable of, <a + href="#Page_19">ii. 19</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Switzerland, <a + href="#Page_i.330">i. 330</a>.<br /> <br /> <br /> <span + class="smcap">Tacitus</span>, <a href="#Page_i.177">i. + 177</a>.<br /> <br /> Theatre, Rousseau's letter, objecting to the, <a + href="#Page_i.133">i. 133</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his error in the matter, <a + href="#Page_i.134">i. 134</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Theology, metaphysical, Descartes' influence on, <a + href="#Page_i.226">i. 226</a>.<br /> <br /> Theresa (see + Le <a href="#Vasseur">Vasseur</a>).<br /> <br /> Thought, school of, + division between rationalists and emotionalists, <a + href="#Page_i.337">i. 337</a>.<br /> <br /> Tonic Sol-fa + notation, close correspondence of the, to Rousseau's system, <a + href="#Page_i.299">i. 299</a>.<br /> <br /> Tronchin on + Voltaire, <a href="#Page_i.319">i. 319</a>, <i>n.</i>, + <a href="#Page_i.321">321</a>.<br /> <br /> Turgot, <a + href="#Page_i.89">i. 89</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his discourses at the Sorbonne in 1750, <a + href="#Page_i.155">i. 155</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the one sane eminent Frenchman of eighteenth + century, <a href="#Page_i.202">i. 202</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his unselfish toil, <a + href="#Page_i.233">i. 233</a>; <a href="#Page_193">ii. + 193</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned, <a + href="#Page_246">ii. 246</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> Turin, Rousseau at, <a href="#Page_i.34">i. 34</a>-43;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves it, <a + href="#Page_i.45">i. 45</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">tries to learn Latin at, <a + href="#Page_i.91">i. 91</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Turretini + and other rationalisers, <a href="#Page_i.226">i. 226</a>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his works, <a + href="#Page_i.226">i. 226</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br /> + <br /> <br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[ii.347]</a></span><span + class="smcap">Universe</span>, constitution of, discussion on, <a + href="#Page_i.311">i. 311</a>-317.<br /> <br /> <br /> + <span class="smcap">Vagabond</span> life, Rousseau's love of, <a + href="#Page_i.63">i. 63</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.68">68</a>.<br /> <br /> Val de Travers, <a + href="#Page_77">ii. 77</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's + life in, <a href="#Page_91">ii. 91</a>-95.</span><br /> <br /> <a + name="Vasseur" id="Vasseur">Vasseur</a>, Theresa Le, Rousseau's first + acquaintance with, <a href="#Page_i.106">i. 106</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.107">107</a>, also <i>ib.</i> <i>n.</i>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">their life together, <a + href="#Page_i.110">i. 110</a>-113;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">well befriended, <a href="#Page_80">ii. 80</a>, + <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">her evil character, + <a href="#Page_326">ii. 326</a>.</span><br /> <br /> Vauvenargues on + emotional instinct, <a href="#Page_34">ii. 34</a>.<br /> <br /> Venice, + Rousseau at, <a href="#Page_i.100">i. 100</a>-106.<br /> + <br /> Vercellis, Madame de, Rousseau servant to, <a + href="#Page_i.39">i. 39</a>.<br /> <br /> Verdelin, Madame + de, her kindness to Theresa, <a href="#Page_80">ii. 80</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Rousseau, <a href="#Page_118">ii. 118</a>, + <i>n.</i></span><br /> <br /> Village Soothsayer, the (<i>Devin du Village</i>), + composed at Passy, performed at Fontainebleau and Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.212">i. 212</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">marked a revolution in French Music, <a + href="#Page_i.291">i. 291</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Voltaire, <a href="#Page_i.2">i. 2</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.21">21</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.63">63</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect on Rousseau of his Letters on the + English, <a href="#Page_i.86">i. 86</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">spreads a derogatory report about + Rousseau, <a href="#Page_i.101">i. 101</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "Princesse de Navarre," <a + href="#Page_i.119">i. 119</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism on Rousseau's first Discourse, <a + href="#Page_i.147">i. 147</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">effect on his work of his common sense, <a + href="#Page_i.155">i. 155</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">avoids the society of Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.202">i. 202</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his conversion to Romanism, <a + href="#Page_i.220">i. 220</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">strictures on Homer and Shakespeare, <a + href="#Page_i.280">i. 280</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his position in the eighteenth century, <a + href="#Page_i.301">i. 301</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">general difference between, and Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.301">i. 301</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">clung to the rationalistic school of his day, <a + href="#Page_i.305">i. 305</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Rousseau's second Discourse, <a + href="#Page_i.308">i. 308</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his poem on the earthquake of Lisbon, <a + href="#Page_i.309">i. 309</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.310">310</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his sympathy with suffering, <a + href="#Page_i.311">i. 311</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.312">312</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">entreated by Rousseau to draw up a civil + profession of religious faith, <a href="#Page_i.317">i. + 317</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounced by Rousseau + as a "trumpet of impiety," <a + href="#Page_i.317">i. 317</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.320">320</a>, <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his satire and mockery irritated Rousseau, <a + href="#Page_i.319">i. 319</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">what he was to his contemporaries, <a + href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">the great play-writer of the time, <a + href="#Page_i.321">i. 321</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">his criticism of Rousseau's Letter on the + Theatre, <a href="#Page_i.336">i. 336</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his indignation at wrong, <a + href="#Page_11">ii. 11</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">ridicule + of the New Heloïsa, <a href="#Page_34">ii. 34</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">less courageous than Rousseau, <a href="#Page_65">ii. + 65</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrast between the + two, <a href="#Page_i.99">i. 99</a>, <a href="#Page_75">ii. + 75</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">supposed to have + stirred up animosity at Geneva against Rousseau, <a href="#Page_81">ii. 81</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">denies it, <a href="#Page_81">ii. 81</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his notion of how the matter would end, <a + href="#Page_81">ii. 81</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + fickleness, <a href="#Page_83">ii. 83</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">on Rousseau's connection with Corsica, <a + href="#Page_101">ii. 101</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his + Philosophical Dictionary burnt by order at Paris, <a href="#Page_105">ii. + 105</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of + Emilius, <a href="#Page_257">ii. 257</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">prime agent in introducing English deism into + France, <a href="#Page_262">ii. 262</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">suspected by Rousseau of having written the + pretended letter from the King of Prussia, <a href="#Page_288">ii. 288</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">last visit to Paris, <a href="#Page_324">ii. + 324</a>.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> <span class="smcap">Walking</span>, + Rousseau's love of, <a href="#Page_i.63">i. 63</a>.<br /> + <br /> Walpole, Horace, writer of the pretended letter from the King of + Prussia, <a href="#Page_288">ii. 288</a>, <i>n.</i>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">advises Hume not to publish his account of + Rousseau's quarrel with him, <a href="#Page_295">ii. 295</a>.</span><br /> + <br /> War arising out of the succession to the crown of Poland, <a + href="#Page_i.72">i. 72</a>.<br /> <br /> Warens, Madame + de, Rousseau's introduction to, <a href="#Page_i.34">i. + 34</a>;<br /> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[ii.348]</a></span><span + style="margin-left: 1em;">her personal appearance, <a + href="#Page_i.34">i. 34</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">receives Rousseau into her house, <a + href="#Page_i.43">i. 43</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">her early life, <a + href="#Page_i.48">i. 48</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a + href="#Page_i.49">i. 49</a>-51;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Paris, <a + href="#Page_i.59">i. 59</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">receives Rousseau at Chambéri, and gets him + employment, <a href="#Page_i.69">i. 69</a>;</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">her household, <a + href="#Page_i.70">i. 70</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">removes to Les Charmettes, <a + href="#Page_i.73">i. 73</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">cultivates Rousseau's taste for letters, <a + href="#Page_i.85">i. 85</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">Saint Louis, her patron saint, <a + href="#Page_i.91">i. 91</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">revisited by Rousseau in 1754, <a + href="#Page_i.216">i. 216</a>;</span><br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">her death in poverty and wretchedness, <a + href="#Page_i.217">i. 217</a>, <a + href="#Page_i.218">218</a> (also <a + href="#Page_i.219">i. 219</a>, <i>n.</i>)</span><br /> + <br /> Wesleyanism, <a href="#Page_258">ii. 258</a>.<br /> <br /> Women, + Condorcet on social position of, <a href="#Page_i.335">i. + 335</a>;<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">D'Alembert and Condorcet on, + <a href="#Page_i.335">i. 335</a>.</span><br /> <br /> + Wootton, Rousseau's home at, <a href="#Page_286">ii. 286</a>.<br /> <br /> + World, divine government of, Rousseau vindicates, <a + href="#Page_i.312">i. 312</a>.<br /> <br /> Würtemberg, + correspondence between Prince of, and Rousseau, on the education of the + little princess, <a href="#Page_95">ii. 95</a>;<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes reigning duke, <a href="#Page_95">ii. 95</a>, + <i>n.</i>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks permission + for Rousseau to live in Vienna, <a href="#Page_117">ii. 117</a>.</span><br /> + </p> + <hr style="width: 35%;" /> + <h3> + THE END. + </h3> + <p style="text-align: center"> + <i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, + <i>Edinburgh.</i> + </p> + <p style="text-align: center"> + [<a href="">Go to Volume 1</a>] + </p> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14052 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |