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ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES. 



176 



which is the result or consequence of dissolution is so obviously 

 wanting in truth or keeping, that it is only necessary to refer to it to 

 show its impropriety. The statue of Newton, though possessing great 

 merits, is open to objections of another kind. The attitude is intended 

 to express thought and calculation, and the action of the hands is 

 finely conceived and in harmony with this feeling ; but the impression 

 is weakened by the general air of the figure, which, critics have justly 

 observed, is not that of a grave philosopher; and the drapery, though 

 executed with great mechanical skill, and with minute attention to 

 correctness of costume, is equally wanting in the repose appropriate 

 to the subject. The sacrifice of simplicity to attitude and flutter, and 

 the ambition to display skill in mere execution the sure indication 

 of the decline of pure taste also detract from the general merits of 

 the statues referred to in the monuments of the Duke of Argylo and 

 Bishop Hough. Roubiliac's faults are however the faults of the age ; 

 and artists unfortunately are too often tempted or driven, against their 

 better judgment, to adopt the mode, however opposed to pure taste 

 or sound principles, by which alone they can expect to gain public 

 notice. Roubiliac died on the llth of January 1762, and was buried 

 in the parish of St. Martin's. 



ROUSSEAU, JEAN BAPTISTE, was born in Paris, on the 6th of 

 April 1670. His father, who was a shoemaker, furnished him with a 

 liberal education. In 1688 he attended the French ambassador to the 

 court of Denmark, and afterwards came to England with Marshal 

 Tallard. On his return to Paris he devoted himself to poetry. His 

 first productions consisted chiefly of satirical epigrams, most of which 

 were pointed against contemporary writers. He thus created a num- 

 ber of enemies, and laid the foundation of that spirit of persecution 

 which afterwards drove him from his native land. In 1694 his first 

 comedy, ' Le Cafe',' was performed, with little success. This was 

 followed in 1696 by the opera of 'Jason, ou la Toison d'Or,' and in 

 1697 by that of 'Venus and Adonis,' both of which were even more 

 unsuccessful than his first comedy. His next dramatic effort was the 

 comedy of 'Le Flatteur,' which was brought out at the Theatre 

 Franais, and was received with considerable applause, but did not 

 command more than ten representations. It was then in prose, but 

 he afterwards put it into verse. He finished his dramatic career about 

 four years afterwards with the comedy of ' Le Capricieux,' which met 

 with an unequivocal condemnation, while Danchet's opera of ' Hesione/ 

 which was brought out at the same time, was brilliantly successful. 

 For some time previous to this, the Cafe Laurent, in the Rue Dau- 

 phine, had been and still continued to be frequented by La Motte, 

 Sauriu (Joseph), T. Corneille, Crebino, Boindin, Rousseau, and other 

 literary men ; and Rousseau, who seems to have thought that a cabal 

 had been formed among them to ruin his piece and exalt the other, 

 gave vent to his disappointed feelings in a satirical parody of some 

 couplets of the prologue to ' Hesione.' The parody consisted of five 

 couplets, confessedly by. Rousseau, but they were followed by others 

 still more calumnious, which were aimed at the frequenters of the 

 Cafe Laurent, and these were also attributed to him by La Motte, 

 Saurin, and others, who belonged to an opposite literary party. - To 

 this charge he made no other reply than that of stating to his friends 

 that they were not written by him, but withdrew himself from the 

 meetings at the cafe' ; and there, for the present, the matter ended. 



In 1703 we find Rousseau living in Paris with M. Rouille, director 

 of the finances, by whom he was taken to court, and introduced to the 

 first society. About this time he began to write his 'Sacred Odes,' in 

 accordance with the solemn piety, real or affected, which Louis XIV. 

 had rendered fashionable at his court during the latter years of his 

 reign. He is charged with composing licentious epigrams at the same 

 time, to suit the taste of another class of his acquaintance. In 1710 

 the place left vacant by T. Corneille in the Academic Frangaise was 

 contended for by La Motte and Rousseau, and obtained by the former. 

 The approaching death of Boileau however was expected soon to 

 occasion another vacancy, and also to leave at the disposal of the 

 court the pension which he had enjoyed, and which could only be 

 bestowed upon an academician. Rousseau expected to fill the vacancy, 

 and also aspired to the pension ; La Motte however prepared to con- 

 tend with him for the latter. Such was the state of the two literary 

 parties which then divided Paris La Motte and Saurin being leaders 

 of the one, and Rousseau of the other, when a new series of couplets 

 made their appearance, more calumnious and indecent than the former, 

 in which the frequenters of the Cafd Laurent, and especially La Motte, 

 were attacked. These couplets were immediately attributed to Rous- 

 seau by his enemies ; but he indignantly disavowed them, and having 

 discovered the man who dropped them about the streets, and drawn 

 from him a confession that they were given to him by Saurin, he 

 charged that gentleman before a court of law with having written 

 them, but failed in establishing his charge by legal proof. Finding 

 that he was now placed in a dangerous situation, he withdrew to 

 Switzerland, and on the 7th of April 1712 an arrdt of parliament, 

 given ' par contumace,' condemned him to perpetual banishment from 

 France. Rousseau denied to the last that he had anything to do with 

 these couplets ; and Boindin, to whom they were addressed, and who 

 was much abused in them, always refused to believe that they were 

 Rousseau's, and left a memoir, which was published after his death 

 12mo, Brussels, 1752), in which he accuses Saurin, La Motte, and a 

 jeweller of Paris, of being the authors of them. 



From this time Rousseau's life was passed in various countries of 

 Europe. The Comte de Luc, the French ambassador to Switzerland, 

 received him under his protection, and admitted him to an intimacy 

 which was only terminated by the death of that nobleman in 1740. 

 Rousseau accompanied De Luc to Baden in 1714, where he became 

 known to Prince Eugene, who also took him under his patronage ; 

 and in 1715, when the Comte was appointed ambassador to Vienna, 

 Rousseau went with him to that city, where he remained three years. 



Rousseau had left powerful friends in Paris, among whom the Baron 

 de Breteuil exerted himself with so much success aa to obtain for him. 

 letters of recall, which were forwarded to him in February 1716 ; but 

 Rousseau refused to avail himself of them, on the ground that they 

 were granted to him as an act of grace, whereas he required a public 

 acknowledgment of the injustice of his sentence. In 1720 he went 

 to Brussels, where he became acquainted with Voltaire, and they were 

 friendly for some time, but afterwards became bitter enemies. In 

 1721 he came to England, where he published a new edition of his 

 works (1723, 2 vols. 4to), which produced him about 2000Z. This 

 sum he unfortunately invested with the Ostend Company, which 

 failed, and he again became dependent on his friends for support. 

 He now returned to Brussels, and was received under the protection 

 of the Duke d'Aremberg, who, when he quitted Brussels in 1733, 

 settled a pension upon him. In 1738 Rousseau became desirous of 

 returning to France, and made interest to procure the same letters of 

 recall which, more than twenty years before, he had indignantly 

 rejected, but he could not obtain them. He however ventured to 

 visit Paris incognito ; but though the authorities shut their eyes to 

 this infraction of the law, they gave him no hope of being recalled. 

 After remaining a few months in Paris, he returned to Brussels, where 

 he died, March 17, 1741. 



The first collected edition of his works was published by himself, 

 after his banishment at Soleure, in Switzerland ; the next was that 

 of London, 2 vols. 4to, 1723, which was reprinted at Paris in 1743, and 

 was again r.eprinted at Paris in 1757, with a fifth volume, containing 

 the licentious epigrams, many of which were no doubt properly 

 ascribed to him, and also of the notorious couplets, engraved fn imita- 

 tion of the hand in which they were written. The most complete 

 edition of his works (not including the licentious epigrams) was pub- 

 lished at Brussels in 1743, under the superintendence of M. Seguy, 

 3 vols. large 4to, with the author's last corrections. It consists of his 

 poems, his dramatic pieces, and a collection of his letters. There is 

 a beautiful edition of his works, 5 vols. 8vo, Paris, Lef6vre, 1820. 

 There are several other editions. 



Jean Baptiste Rousseau stands indisputably at the head of the lyric 

 poets of France. His poems consist of ' Odes Sacrees,' 1 book ; 

 'Odes,' 3 books; ' Cantates,' 1 book; ' Epitres,' 2 books; 'Allegories,' 

 2 books ; ' Epigrammes,' 3 books ; and ' Poe'sies Diverses,' 1 book. 

 Rousseau's dramatic pieces, as may be inferred from the manner in 

 which they were received by the public, are of little value. His 

 epistles, allegories, and miscellaneous poems are perhaps not much 

 inferior to Boileau in strong sense and elegance of versification, but 

 are inferior to him in wit. His epigrams are neat and sparkling, and 

 the satire is directed to its mark with an aim that seldom fails. His 

 fame however rests upon his odes and his cantatas. His sacred odes 

 are free imitations of the Psalms of David, not so close as translation 

 nor so wide as paraphrase. Too many of his other odes are addressed 

 to kings, ministers, and generals, and relate to events of temporary 

 interest. His best odes however are distinguished by boldness and 

 justness of thought; by simplicity of expression, by fullness and dis- 

 tinctness of imagery, without being overloaded with it ; by an earnest- 

 ness and enthusiasm which seem to spring spontaneously from the 

 feelings of the poet; and by a splendour and harmonious richness 

 of diction in which he seems to have no rival among French poeta. 

 His cantatas are a species of ode of which part is adapted for recitation 

 and part for singing. They are beautiful compositions. Some of 

 them may be said to approach the sublime, if they do not reach it; 

 and others, which are of a lighter character, are exceedingly graceful. 



ROUSSEA'U, JEAN JACQUES, was born at Geneva in 1712, and 

 was the son of a watchmaker. While yet a child he lost his mother, 

 and his father having married again, young Rousseau was removed 

 from his paternal roof, and after remaining for some time at a village 

 school in the neighbourhood of Geneva, was apprenticed to an 

 engraver, a coarse man, whose brutal treatment tended to sour a 

 temper naturally irritable and morose. The boy became addicted to 

 idle habits, and to lying and pilfering. At last, through fear of 

 punishment for some misconduct, he ran away from his master, and 

 wandered into Savoy, where, finding himself destitute, he applied to the 

 bishop of Annecy, on the plea of wishing to become a convert to Roman 

 Catholicism. The bishop recommended him to Madame de Warens, 

 a Swiss lady, who, being herself a convert to Catholicism, had settled 

 at Annecy. Through her kind assistance he obtained the means of 

 proceeding to Turin, where he entered the college of the Catechumeni, 

 and after going through a preparatory course of religious instruction, 

 he abjured the Reformed religion and became a Roman Catholic. 

 But as he refused to take orders, he waa dismissed from the estab- 

 lishment, and left to his own resources. Accordingly he became a 

 domestic servant, but his want of discretion and self-control rendering 

 him. unlit for his situation, he left Turin and recrosscd the Alps. He 



