ROUSSEAU. 157 



of principle, or rule of conduct. He therefore betook 

 himself to copying music, which he did very carelessly, 

 and very ill. 



In 1749 he wrote his ' Essay on the Mischiefs of 

 Science,' the subject proposed by the Academy of Dijon, 

 as if on purpose to frustrate Voltaire's remark already 

 mentioned in his Life ;' for assuredly it was a slip in a 

 scientific body to make it a question whether science 

 corrupted or improved the morals of mankind. Next 

 year it obtained the prize. He justly thought very 

 meanly of its arrangement and reasoning, nor did he 

 himself think highly of its composition ; yet partly 

 by the brilliancy and power of the declamation, and 

 partly by the boldness of the paradoxes, it attracted the 

 greatest notice, both made converts and raised adver- 

 saries against its doctrines. He has described his 

 manner of writing it : he lay in bed with his eyes 

 closed, revolving and finishing his periods, which he 

 always did very slowly and with much difficulty. He 

 slept little, and on rising in the morning the act of 

 dressjng would drive the greater part of what he had 

 composed out of his head. He therefore used to make 

 Theresa's mother come and write under his dictation. 

 The success of his ' Essay' was followed by one more 

 brilliant still. He composed the little opera of the 

 ' Devin du Village ' in about six weeks, and it was per- 

 formed with prodigious success before the King, in 

 his private theatre at Fontainebleau, in 1751. A mes- 

 sage was sent next morning to desire his attendance, 

 and it was confidently believed about Court that a pen- 

 sion was to have been granted him ; but he was far 

 too much alarmed, and had far too little command of 



