478 



ROUSSEAU. 



Rousseau, where he composed, in 1 758, his Letter to M. d'Alembert, 

 Jean respecting the design then agitated of establishing a 



Jacque^ theatre at Geneva. This letter exhibits great knovv- 

 *~*'""" ledge of life and character ; and though d'Alembert 

 and Marmontel replied to it, he succeeded in proving 

 that a theatre was not necessary under the circum- 

 stances in which Geneva was then placed.* Vol- 

 taire is said to have been so enraged with the letter 

 of Rousseau, that it laid the foundation of that mu- 

 tual dislike which ever afterwards subsisted between 

 them. 



In the year 1?60, Rousseau completed his Lettres tie 

 deux Amanls, or his Julie, ou In Nouvelle Heloise, and 

 published them in six parts. This work may be cha- 

 racterized as a novel, of which the plot is ill-contrived 

 and unskilfully brought out, and in which the charac- 

 ters are ill drawn and ill kept up. It possesses no dra- 

 matic beauties, but owes its reputation to the force and 

 vigour of its diction, to exaggerated but beautiful re- 

 presentations of impassioned feeling, and to seductive 

 but elegant sentiments. Amid many lessons of virtue 

 and of prudence are scattered baneful and dangerous 

 maxims ; and it is scarcely possible for a youthful 

 mind of ordinary equilibrium, to rise from the perusal 

 of it without having its judgment unsettled, its princi- 

 ples reversed, and its hopes blighted. All the sacred 

 and august opinions which the sagacity of ages has 

 sanctioned, and rendered venerable, are here brought 

 under the scourge of disputation ; and the existence 

 of God himself is arraigned at the bar of human wis- 

 dom. 



Encouraged by the success of this work, Rousseau 

 embarked in one of a more profound, though not less 

 dangerous character. It was entitled, Da Control So- 

 cial, ou Principes du Droit Pratique, and from its ar* 

 dent vindication of republican doctrines, is supposed, 

 not without reason, to have led to the French revolu- 

 tion. Voltaire ridiculed it, by calling it the Universal 

 Compact. Some have praised it as the greatest effort 

 of his genius, while others consider it as full of absur- 

 dities, contradictions, and errors, and as unworthy of 

 the talents of its author. This work was prohibited in 

 France and Switzerland, and laid the foundation of 

 those quarrels, dissensions, and persecutions, which 

 embittered the remainder of his life. 



The next, and what may be regarded as the princi- 

 pal work of Rousseau, was his Emile, ou de I Educa- 

 tion. This moral romance, which appeared in 1762, 

 treats chiefly of education. The plan of instruction 

 which is here inculcated, is to allow the youthful mind 

 to unfold itself without restraint, and rather to protect 

 it against bad impressions, than to attempt to load it 

 with positive instruction. The objects of nature are 

 to be gradually presented to it. Necessity alone [3 to 

 regulate and restrain it, till reason, unfettered by pre- 

 judice and previous habits, is able to weave the.drapery 

 5n which it is afterwards to be swathed. This child of 

 reason, thus thrown into a mass of human beings, actu- 



Jacque 



ated by different motives, guided by different princi- liousseau, 

 pies, and pursuing different objects from itself, like a 

 skilfully constructed bark without its rudder, and strip- 

 ped of its canvass and cordage, can have no other fate 

 than that of being dashed against the cliffs, or sunk be- 

 neath the waves. In discussing the sulked of religi- 

 ous education, he exhibited the same inconsistency and 

 absurd views. The French savants were displeased 

 with his glowing sentiments of piety, with his impas- 

 sioned admiration of the morality of the gospel, and of 

 the character of its founder; while the friends of reli- 

 gion and social order were shocked with his attacks 

 upon miracles and prophecy, with his insidious and 

 open objections to Christianity, and with the applica- 

 tion of human reason to subjects beyond its sphere, and 

 above its power. The French parliament not only 

 condemned the Emile, but compelled Rousseau to re- 

 tire precipitately from France, by commencing a cri- 

 minal prosecution against him. From Paris he fled to 

 Geneva ; but his native city refused him admission ; 

 and his book was burned by the hands of the common 

 hangman at Geneva as well as in Paris. In Switzer- 

 land, where he had taken shelter, he was kindly treat- 

 ed by Marshall Keith ; and he established himself at 

 Moutiers Travers, in the Val Travers, near Neuchatel, 

 where his house is still shown, and the desk against 

 the wall at which he wrote standing. In this retreat 

 he composed his letter to the Archbishop of Paris, in 

 reply to his Mandement for the burning of Ernile, and 

 also his Lettres de la Montague, in which he attacked 

 the republic of Geneva, and the clergy ; and finally re- 

 nounced the privilege of citizenship which had been 

 restored to him.t This attack upon the clergy excited 

 a general hostility against the philosopher. The mi- 

 nister of the parish is said to have preached against 

 him, and to have excited such an uproar among the pec- 

 pie, that on the night of the 6th September, 1765, they 

 broke his windows with stones, J and forced him to take 

 up his abode in an island in the lake of Bienne. A re- 

 cent traveller, M. Simonde, remarks, that the rabbit 

 island of which Rousseau speaks, has not a tree, a bush, 

 or a blade of grass ; and that Rousseau's residence, 

 which is the only house on the island, is a substantial, 

 neat, and orderly farm-house, built round a court shaded 

 by a huge walnut tree. 



Rousseau now sought for protection from the Bern- 

 ese government ; but, in consequence of the connexion 

 which subsisted between it and the republic of Geneva, 

 they refused to grant it, and insisted upon his quitting 

 the city. He entreated them to shut him up in the 

 common prison ; and as tnis was of course refused, he 

 set off from Berne in an inclement season, and arrived 

 at Strasburg in a very destitute state. Here he was 

 kindly received by the Marshal de Contade, governor 

 of the city, who treated him with the greatest kindness 

 and generosity. From Strasburg he went to Paris, 

 where he exhibited himself in the dress of an Arme- 

 nian, and had the good fortune to become acquainted 



* An account of this controversy will be found in our Life of d' ALE JIBE RT, Vol. I. p. 250. 



f The following is a specimen of his mode of attacking the clergy, which is neither marked by candour nor intelligence. "On dc- 

 mande," says he, Jt ccux ministres de 1'Eglise de Geneve, si Jesus Christ est Dieu, ils n'osent repondre. Un philosophe jette sur cux un 

 coup-d'eeil rapide. II les ptnetre, il les voit Aliens, Sociniens, Deistes : il le dit, et pense leur faire honneur ! Aussitot alarm e=>, effniyes. 

 ils s'assemblent, ils discutent, ils s'agitent, ils ne savent a. quel saintese vouer, et apres "force consul talions, deliberations, conferences, le tout 

 aboutit a un amphigouri ! Ou 1'on ne dit ni oui ni non. Oh ! Genevois ! ce son!, un verite singulieres gens que Messieurs vos Ministres ! 

 on ne saitni ce qu'ils croyent, ni ce qu'ils ne croyent pas, On ne sait pas meme qu'ils font semblant de croire, leur seule maniere d'dtablir 

 leur foi, est d'attaquer telles des autres." 



J M. Simond remarks, that some of the older inhabitants who remember Rousseau, " admit that there were a few stones thrown at him in 

 the house by boys in the village; but question whether it was on account of his writings, and rather suppose they were instigated by his 

 gouvernaute, who was tired of the place, and wished to disgust him with it." Simond's Swilzerluiul, vol. i. p. 27. 



