ROUSSEAU. 



in the mid ft of fplendour, and cultivating the Mufes, to the 

 neglect of thofe opportunities which occurred to him of 

 making his fortune. When he was at the height of his re- 

 putation, he involved himfelf in an affair which put an end 

 to his happinefs, and rendered him wretched for the re- 

 mainder of his life. A number of men of letters were ac- 

 cullomed to meet at a coffee-houfe in Paris, among whom 

 were Roufleau and La Motte, when, in 1708, the opera of 

 Hefione made its appearance. Rouffeau wrote fome verfes 

 upon the authors of the words, the mufic, and the ballet of 

 the piece, which were highly fatirical. Thefe were anony- 

 mous, and were imputed to Roufleau, who not only denied 

 them, but attempted to fix the blame upon M. Saurin, a man 

 of fcience and letters, who, from a Calvinilt minifter, had 

 become a convert to Popery, and refided in Paris. The 

 nature of this difcuflion it is not necefTary to go into, it is 

 fuificicnt to fay, that by an arret of parliament, in 17 12 

 Rouffeau was condemned to perpetual banifhment from the 

 kingdom, not only as a luborner in the accufation of Saurin, 

 but as the author and diftributor of the fatirical verfes. He 

 had already retired to Switzerland, where he was protected 

 by the count de Luc, the French ambaffador to the Cantons. 

 He publifhed in Soleure the firft edition of his collected 

 works, in the preface to which he ridiculoufly gives himfelf 

 the air of one who wrote verfes for mere amufement, aP 

 though it was by his poetry alone he obtained publie notice 

 and the favour of the great. When De Luc went to Baden, 

 in 1714, as plenipotentiary for concluding peace with the 

 emperor, Rouffeau accompanied him. He there became 

 known to prince Eugene, and by him was taken to Vienna. 

 Here he refided three years, but not being able to rcflrain 

 himfelf from exercifing his fatirical talent, he was obliged to 

 quit that capital for Bruffels, in hafte. At Bruffels he be- 

 came acquainted with Voltaire, with whom he formed a con- 

 fidential intimacy, which however did not lad very long : 

 jealous of each other's fame, they became bitter enemies, 

 not only endeavouring to blacken each other's moral charac- 

 ter, but each, at the expence of his own judgment, depre- 

 ciating the literary merit of his adverfary. Roufleau longed 

 much to revifit Paris, and made interceflion with the regent 

 duke of Orleans, who granted him letters of recall, but the 

 poet infiited upon a previous revifion of his trial, which he 

 could not obtain. In 1721 he came to England, where he 

 prepared a new edition of his works. This was publifhed 

 in 1 723, in two vols. 4to. ?.nd produced him 10,000 crowns, 

 which he placed in the fund of the Oftend company. The 

 failure of this company funk all his fortune, and he was rc- 

 !, in the decline of life, to fubfift on the benevolence 

 of his friends. Boutct, a notary of Paris, fupplied his moll 

 urgent wants, but he met with more effectual affiftance from 

 the duke d'Aremberg, who, when he quitted Bruffels in 

 1733, fettled upon him ;i haudlome penfion, befides gi 

 him an apartment and his table in his palace. Rouffeau dil- 

 pleafed this patron, by calumniating Voltaire, and deter- 

 mined to go to Paris, with the hope of finally obtaining a 

 repeal of his banifhment. He had prepared his way by two 

 epiftles to perfons of weight in that city, and by an ode to 

 the praife of cardinal Fleury on the peace. His efforts 

 r, uufuccefsful. Pic could not even obtain a 

 fate-guard for paffing a fingle year in Parii : lie accordingly 

 returned to Bruffels, where he died in March 1741, at the 

 age of 70. In his laft moments he declared lie was not the 

 author of the couplets for which he had been banifhed. The 

 eflimate of his moral character depends fo much on the be- 

 lief of his guilt or innocence, in tin- points refpefting which 

 he was accufed, that nothing can be more different than its 

 Itatcment by his friends and enemies. There is more agree - 



3 



ment in the opinions of his countrymen relative to his poeti- 

 cal character, and it is pretty generally acknowledged that 

 he (lands al the ' • id of the ode writers in the French lan- 

 guage. " To thefe compofitions," adds his biographer, 

 " he brought great lire and force of expreffion, copioufnefs, 

 and grandeur of imagery, and all the harmony of which his 

 language is capable ; but the fentiment is generally common, 

 and nothing indicates a foul of the fuperior order." Of his 

 " Odes" there are four books, of which the firft confifts of 

 facred topics, taken iron- the Pialms. He wrote two books 

 of " Epiftles" in verfe ; " Cantatas ;" " Allegories ;" 

 "Epigrams;" " Mifcellaneous Poems ;" " Four Comedies 

 in Verfe and three in Prole;" and a " Collection of Let- 

 ters." Thefe are faid to give an unfavourable idea of his 

 temper, but fome allowance fhould be made for' a man who 

 was fo long an object of the pcrfecution of his enemies, 

 and of whom it was faid in his epitaph, that " thirty years 

 he was an object of envy, and thirty of companion." M. 

 Seguy, in concert with M. the prince of la Tour Taflis, 

 has given a beautiful edition of his works, agreeably 

 to the poet's laft corrections. This edition was printed at 

 Paris in 1743, m three vols. 4to. and in four vols. I2mo. 

 containing nothing but what the author acknowledged as 

 his own. Ferron fpeaks of Roufleau as uniting in himfelf 

 the excellencies of Pindar, Horace, Anacreon, and Mal- 

 herbe. He was in habits of correfpondence with the abbe 

 d'Olivct, the two Racines, the celebrated Rolhn, and other 

 illuftrious French characters. 



R i:\\ JACQUES, was born at Geneva in the 



year 171 2. His 1". I 1 watch-maker. At his birth, 



which, he fays, was the firft of Ins misfortunes, lie endan- 

 gered the life of his mother, and he himfelf was for a long 

 in a vi ry languifliing flat. . ; but as his bodily 



flrength increafed, hi- mental powers gradually opened, and 

 afforded the happiefl prefages of future greatnefs. His 

 father, who was ;■ no) < ! was a well-informed 



man, and in his fho il ays kept by him fome literary 



works of author >ng which were Plutarch's Lives, 



with which he intermixed iui '1 converfations as might be 

 expected from an ardent republican. In his " Confcllions," 

 to which all . rs of Rouffeau mint go for in- 



formation, he has r veral circumftances, which, in 



his opinion, exerted a lading influence upon his character; 

 but it is 11 that his ruling propenfiti - were de- 



onftitution. This he reprclcnts as 

 of the i kind, burning with fcnfuality from his very 



birth. His fchool education was very imperfect, and lie 

 grew up in habits of idlenefs, and in the vices of a 

 unfteady temper. He was firft put apprentice to an attor- 

 ney, who foon difcharged him for I nee : after this 

 h> was put out to cng: s 1, who diTj tiffed him by his 

 harfhnefs. The i.e.- oi m wnicb he probably 

 well men; red him a fugitive t\ 1 

 he was iii his 15th year, at which time lie was a reltli 1 dif 

 Nted bein ,' ci of which he k 

 he ob , and careffing his fancies lor want of realities. 

 Hew ily entcrt 

 by a parifh prii 



Genevan . churcli. For 



this purpofe he Cent the vouth to Annecy, to a Madame de 



Warrens, an ingenious and very amiable lady, who had, in 

 1726, left j ealth, am! the Proteftant religion, 



in order to throw herfclf irfl i m of the church. 



This generous lady feryed in the til.. | ..city of amotl 

 a friend, and a lover to tl . whom (he re- 



garded a, her fou. For farther iullruction (lie lent him to 

 a feminary at Turin, where hit convert! 1 ompleted, 



and 



