ROUSSEAU. 



demnation of it ; of his facility in palliating the crime of 

 adultery, and his ftrong reafons to make it abhorred ; on 

 the one hand, in declamations againft fecial happinefs, on the 

 other in tranfports in favour of humanity ; here in violent 

 rhapfodies againlt philofophers ; there by a rage for adopting 

 their opinions ; the exiftence of God is attacked by fo- 

 phiftry, and Atheifts confuted by the molt irrefragable argu- 

 ments ; the Chriftiau religion combated by the molt fpecious 

 objections, and celebrated by the molt fublime eulogies." 

 In the preface to this work the author attempts to jultify 

 his confiltency ; he fays public fpectacles arc neceflary tor 

 great cities, and romances for a corrupted people. " I 

 have," he adds, " viewed the manners of my age, and have 

 publiflied thefe letters. Why did I not live at a time when 

 I ought to have thrown them into the fire." He affects 

 alfo to fay that they were not intended for an extenlive circu- 

 lation, and that they will fuit but few readers. With re- 

 gard to their effects on the female fex, he pretends to fatisfy 

 his confeience with faying " No chalte young woman ever 

 reads romances ; and I have given this book a decifive title, 

 that on opening it a reader may know what to expect. She 

 who, notwithstanding, mail dare to read a fingle page is 

 undone ; but let her not impute her ruin to me — the mifchief 

 was done before." This is mere rant, and the extreme of 

 vanity. Roufleau rendered his work as feduftive aspofiible, 

 and would have been mortified beyond meafure could he 

 have believed that it could readily have been laid afide by 

 any one who had opened it. Befides, had he been that 

 moral man which he would affect to be, he ought, knowing 

 its tendency, to have committed it to the flames, inltead of 

 fending it to the prefs. In truth, he aflumes in it the tone 

 of a moral teacher of the higheil order, nor will it be 

 denied that, amidlt much improper matter, it contains many 

 leflbns of domeftic prudence and exalted virtue. " In 

 warmth of painting, and eloquence of fentiment, it mult 

 be allowed to have no fuperior in its clais ; in moral incon- 

 fiitency and improbability, fcarcely an equal. With a pro- 

 found knowledge of the human heart, it joins great ig- 

 norance of life and manners ; with muck fober and ufeful 

 truth, all the extravagance of exaggerated feeling. It is a 

 dangerous work, but has been the parent of others llill more 

 dangerous, becaufe affording eafier objects of imitation." 



Roufleau's next work was entitled " Du Contrilt Social, 

 ou Principcs du Droit Politique," which was faid to be 

 a mere extract from one on a much larger fcale, whicli he 

 had commenced, but which he had long lince abandoned as 

 beyond his powers. In this he is the fearlefs and intrepid 

 vindicator of rcpublicanifm, and is luppofed to have done 

 much to excite the late difaltrous French revolution. The 

 work was prohibited in France and Switzerland ; and from 

 its publication may be dated that warfare between the author, 

 and the fupporters of exilting eltablifhmcnts, civil and re- 

 ligious, which cxpofed the remainder of his life to perfe- 

 ction. 



In 1762 Roufleau publiflied his " Emilie, oa de I'Edu- 

 cation," which may be regarded as his principal work, as it 

 was that in which he mod boldly attacked or oppofed the 

 commonly received opinions, and, in coniequence, excited 

 againlt himfelf the greateft mals of holtility. The funda- 

 mental idea of Roufleau in education is to fuflcr the youth- 

 ful mind to develope by itfelf, rather preventing it from im- 

 bibing any thing mileiuevous, than lialtening to imprefs it 

 with lelTons of preceptive inllruclion ; prefenting to it 

 objects of nature rather than of art, and regulating the con- 

 duct more by reftraints of neccllity than of principle, till a 

 foundation is laid for the operation of reafon unbiaffed by habit 

 and prejudice. Roufleau's pupil is to follow nature in every 



thing ; the precepts of the philofopher are expreffed with the 

 force and dignity of a mind full of the leading truths of morality . 

 If he himfelf has not always been virtuous, nobody has 

 felt its force more, or made it appear to more advantage ; 

 and he merits great applaufc for the manly and independent 

 fpirit, the contempt for luxurious indulgencies and idle pa- 

 rade, which he every where inculcates. The author excited 

 againlt himlelf almolt all the religious world, by the manner in 

 which he fpokeof the attempts to furnilh the youthful mind 

 with theological ideas. Yet no one could more eloquently 

 extol the morals of the gofpel and the character of its founder 

 than he has done ; by this praife, and his fentiments of 

 piety, he dilpleafed the French philofophers, fo that there 

 was fcarcely any party of men to whom he did not Hand in 

 oppolition. Of thefe, however, the molt formidable of his 

 antagoniits were thofe poflefled of authority. The French 

 parliament condemned this book in 1762, and entered into a 

 criminal profecution againlt the author, which forced him to 

 a precipitate retreat. He directed hi> Heps to his native 

 country, but Geneva flint her gates againlt him. Both at 

 Paris and Geneva, the " Emile" was buflbt by the common 

 hangman : ridiculous attempt of ridiculous governments to 

 Hop the circulation of opinions ! The book llill exilts, and, 

 notwithstanding the many and feriouS objections to which it 

 is liable, deferves to exilt, while its tyrannical perfecutors 

 have long fince been forgotten, and their puny efforts laughed 

 at by every man pollefled of an underltanding fuperior to 

 that of an idiot. Roufleau was for a time allowed to take 

 flicker in Switzerland, where he was moll hofpitably treated 

 by marfhal Keith. He there publiflied a letter to the arch- 

 bilhop of Paris, in anfwer to his Mandcment for the burning 

 of the " Emile:" and alfo his " Lettres de la Montagne," 

 which contained a fevere remonflrance againlt the proceedings 

 of the republic of Geneva in his condemnation, the citi- 

 zenfhip of which ftate he formally renounced. That he 

 thought very highly of this work is evident from the fol- 

 lowing paflage : " How," fays he, " can I enter into a jutti- 

 fication of this work ? I who think that 1 have effaced by 

 it the faults of my whole life ; I, who place the evils it has 

 drawn upon me as a balance to thofe which I have commit- 

 ted ; I who, filled with confidence, hope one day to fay to 

 the fupreme Arbiter, 'Deign in thy clemency to judge a 

 weak mortal :' I have, it is true, done much ill upon earth, 

 but I have publiflied this writing." In thefe letters he 

 again exprefled his lentiments concerning revealed religion, 

 in a manner that excited againlt him great indignation among 

 the clergy of Neufchatel. A confiftory was afieznbled to 

 take his opinions into consideration, but government inter- 

 fered to itop its proceedings. The protection of the go- 

 vernment was not, however, fufficient to refcue him from 

 the obloquy which the clergy excited againlt him. The) 

 preached againlt the plulolopher, and their fermon.s excited 

 an uproar among the people. In September 1 765, fume 

 mifguided zealots attacked his houfe and his perfon, and he 

 fought an afylum in Berne, which was denied him. Neither 

 the broken date of his health, nor the approach of winter, 

 could foften the hearts of his enemies : he entreated them 

 to Unit him up in their common prifon, which favour they 

 even denied, and he was under the neccllity of letting out on 

 along journeyg in the beginning of a v< ry inclement leafon ; 

 he contrived, however, to reach Strafburg in a very delh- 



tute condition. He received from marfhal de Contract who 

 was then commander <>i that place, every accommodation 

 that could be expected from humanity, eompafiion, and ge- 

 nerality. Here lie waited till the weather became nunc aiv- 

 fpiciouS] when lie let out for Paris, where he appeared in 

 the habit of an Armenian. The celebrated Hume was at 



this 



