R O U 



473 



ROW 



Roufteau. nppcarstli.it at the time of his birth the family resided 

 ij- *J in \\li.-it i~> c:illrd La dniHile Hue, opposite the hotel of 

 the French n:\idrnt, who became an ardent but Plutonic 

 admirer of Rousseau's mother ; a very handsome, very 

 sensible, and very virtuous woman. Tin- birth of Rous- 

 seau cost her her life." Simond's Switzerland, p. 498. 

 Among the works of Rousseau which have not been 

 noticed, and which are contained in a new edition of 

 his works published after his death, are the following : 

 1. The Reveries of a Solitary Wander, being a Jour- 



Fnal of the latter part of his Life. 2. Considerations up- 

 on the Government of Poland. 3. The Adventures of 

 Lord Edward, a novel. 4. Various Memoirs and fugi- 

 tive Pieces, with a great number of Letters. 5. Emilia 

 and Sophia. 6. An Opera and a Comedy. 7- Trans- 

 lations of the First Book of Tacitus's History. 



The best edition of his works published collectively, 

 is that which appeared in twenty-seven vols. 4to. 



It would, we think, be a hopeless task to attempt, 

 with any degree of success, to delineate the character 

 of Rousseau. There perhaps never was a gifted be- 

 ing so mysteriously compound, and whose moral na- 

 ture so utterly defied all the powers of analysis. In 

 its irregular outline, and amid its ever-changing 

 manifestations, it is in vain to seek for any indivi- 

 duality by which it can be characterized : Now we 

 find it clouded with dark suspicions ; now exasperated 

 by disappointment; now wound up in its own selfish- 

 ness ; now elevated by noble feeling ; now panting 

 for laurels that were not won ; and now sinking under 

 exhausted passion into a state of serenity, if not of vir- 

 tue. The vices and eccentricities of Rousseau have 

 been ascribed to the imbecility of his bodily frame, 

 and to the peculiar sensitiveness of his mind ; but 

 we cannot find, either in his life or writings, any 

 justification of this opinion. Rousseau was not dri- 

 ven into vice by the resistless tide of passion ; he did 

 did hot sink into poverty through idleness or impru- 

 dence; nor did he suffer persecution because he cherished 

 opinions adverse to religion and morality. It was his 

 pride to be vicious, to be poor, and to be persecuted. 

 He published his own vices in their worst form, in order 

 to attract notice and excite criticism. lie affected po- 

 verty, to gain sympathy and move pity. He invoked 

 persecution before he had conjured up its spirit; and it 

 seems to have been his most ardent wish to live the 

 life of a martyr, though he tried in vain to obtain its 

 consummation. If the leading object of Rousseau's 

 life was to make himself an object of notice in the 

 world ; if he entered upon a new course of folly and of 

 vice, when he had exhausted the novelties of the last, 

 it becomes no difficult matter to form a tolerably correct 

 estimate of his intellectual attainments. That Rous- 

 seau enjoyed a high degree of contemporary fame can- 

 not be denied by those who are acquainted with the 

 recent history of the literature and politics of Europe; 

 but his reputation is that of notoriety more than of ta- 

 lent, and must gradually sink to the level at which his 

 genius is capable of sustaining it. That Rousseau was 

 a man of powerful talent, that he was an elegant writer, 

 and an acute reasoner, cannot be denied ; but we look 

 in vain through his pages for traces of that original 

 and inventive faculty which constitutes genius and se- 

 cures immortality. In his works of fiction we find no 

 beings of creative fancy, no force of wit, and no power 

 of sustaining character. Eloquent descriptions, scenes of 

 tenderness and pathos, and the ebullitions of highly ex- 

 cited passion, supply their place, and indicate the pecu- 

 liar character of his talent*. Even his grave works 



VOL. XVII. PART II, 



were wrought up by a Blow process of elaboration and Kowe 

 correction ; and eloquence, ingenuity, and refined taste I 

 are their most prominent characteristics. K<,ir V 



The reputation of Rousseau, therefore, cannot be ' *" v ~"" 

 supported by the permanent influence of hi* writings. 

 His contemporary fame, already much reduced, is sink- 

 ing fast to its level ; and that very reputation, to which 

 his talents give him a claim, is likely to be blighted 

 by the vice and immorality which poUon the works on 

 which it must depend. How different is the progress 

 to immortality of the fame of true genius. Founded 

 on the judgment, and not on the passions of men, it is 

 seldom blessed even with the expression of contem- 

 porary praise. Death first gives it form, and, disen- 

 cumbered of its mortal coil, it gathers strength and 

 magnitude, and floats the laurels of its possessor, in full 

 tide, to the most distant ages. 



ROWE, NICHOLAS, an English poet of considerable 

 eminence, was born at Little Berkford, in Bedford- 

 shire, in 1673. Having received the rudiments of his 

 education at Highgate, he was placed as a king's scho- 

 lar under the celebrated p t Busby of Westminster 

 school, where he exhibited an early talent for Greek 

 and Latin verses. He entered himself student of the 

 Middle Temple, and was called to the bar; but being 

 left his own master at the age of nineteen, in conse- 

 quence of the death of his father, he quitted the bar, 

 and devoted himself to a literary life. 



His first work was the tragedy of the Ambitious 

 Stepmother, which was published in l6<)8, and was 

 well received when it was performed at Lincolns Inn 

 Fields. His next piece was Tamerlane, the object of 

 which was to give favourable impressions of civil 

 and religious liberty. It was frequently acted in 1702 

 and in succeeding years, till 1710, when it was for a 

 while intermitted. It was, however, revived at the ac- 

 cession of the house of Hanover, and was for many 

 years performed on King William's anniversary. His 

 Fair Penitent, considered as his c/ief d'oetitre, appeared 

 in 1707. In 1706 he produced the comedy of the 

 Biter ; but it was such a failure that it was not inserted 

 among his works. Between 170G and 1715, he pub- 

 lished in succession the tragedies of Ulysses, The Royal 

 Convert, Jane Shore, and Lady Jane Gray, of which 

 Jane. Shore is still occasionally acted, and always ad- 

 mired. Mr. Rowe likewise published an edition of 

 Shakespeare, to which he prefixed a life of the poet. 

 One of the most important, however, of Mr. Rowe's 

 works was his Translation of Lucan's Pharsalia, which 

 did not appear till after his death. He translated also 

 the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, and the first book of 

 Quillet's Callipaedia. 



Mr. Rowe was appointed undersecretary of state to 

 the Duke of Queensberry, but he held this situation 

 only three years, till the death of the duke. On the 

 accession of George I. he was made poet laureate ; he 

 was appointed also one of the land surveyors of the 

 customs of the port of London ; the Prince of Wales 

 gave him the clerkship of the council, and the Lord 

 Chancellor Parker made him bis secretary for the 

 presentations. These accessions to his fortune en- 

 abled him to live very comfortably ; but he did not 

 enjoy them long. He died on the 6th December 

 1718, in the 45th year of his age, and ws interred in 

 the poet's corner, Westminster abbey, opposite to Chau- 

 cer. The " Poetical Works" of Mr. Rowe, containing 

 his plays and miscellaneous poems, were collected and 

 published in 171'). in three vols. 1'^mo. 



ROWLEY. See CIIATTERTON. Vol. V. p. 755, 

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