PLACE DE LA CROIX. 243 
anew world. Of such was Rousseau. It requires lit- 
tle imagination to understand the disappointment that 
such a man would meet with in the forest, and as an 
intruder of the untractable red man. The exalted no- 
tions of Rousseau ended in despondence, when away from 
the pomp and influence of his church. Having been 
nurtured in the “ Hternal City,” he had not the zeal, 
and lacked the principle, to become an humble teacher 
to humbler recipients of knowledge. 
Disregarding his ‘priestly office, he’ finally mingled 
in the dissipations of society, and in the year 1736, 
started off as a military companion to D’Arteguette in 
his expedition among the Chickasas. 
The death of D’Arteguette and his bravest troops, 
and the dispersion of his Indian allies, left Rousseau a 
wanderer, surrounded by implacable enemies, he being 
one of the few who escaped the fate of battle. 
Unaccustomed to forest life, and more than a thousand 
miles from the Canadas, he became a prey of imaginary 
and real dangers. Unprovided with arms, his food was 
of roots or herbs. At night the wild beasts howled 
round his cold couch, and every stump in the daytime 
seemed to him to conceal an Indian. 
Now it was, that Rousseau reviewed the incidents of 
his past life with sorrow. He discovered, when it was 
too late, that he had lost his peace of mind, and his 
hopes of future existence, for a momentary enjoyment. 
Wasting with watching and hunger, he prayed to the 
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