JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU.

OUSSEAU holds a unique place among the great writers of the world. An awkward, restless, sickly, peevish man, he had reached the age of fifty before he published anything that attracted general attention. Then in a few years he issued three books which were eagerly received over all Europe, and which at once had profound effect on the public mind. More than any other single cause, they produced that mode of thought which manifested itself in the French Revolution. Yet in themselves they were merely an entrancing story of love, seduction and repentance, a philosophic disquisition on society and government, a practical treatise on education in a natural manner. After the death of this remarkable character another work was published, in which beyond any other man he revealed with astounding and boastful frankness the facts of his wandering life, and the workings of his soul, good and evil singularly intermixed.

Jean Jacques Rousseau was born at Geneva, Switzerland, on the 28th of June, 1712. His family was of Huguenot origin. His mother dying in his infancy, Rousseau was brought up by his father, a sentimental, dissipated watchmaker, who imbued him with fondness for romance and admiration for liberty and patriotism as shown in Plutarch. When Jean Jacques was but ten years old, his father was obliged to flee from the city, and the boy was left to the care of hi mother's relatives. He was apprenticed to an attorney, who

discharged him for negligence; then to an engraver, who treated him badly. To minor faults the wayward boy added lying and stealing. At the age of sixteen, being accidentally shut out of the city and fearing chastisement, he crossed into Savoy. Here a Roman Catholic priest received him hospitably, being delighted at the prospect of converting a heretic. Rousseau was sent to an ecclesiastical school at Turin, where he read a recantation of the Protestant faith, but refused to study for the priesthood. Leaving the seminary with twenty francs he entered into the service of the Countess of Vercelis as footman. Here, after stealing a ribbon which was found in his possession, he persisted in laying the blame on an innocent girl, who was punished for his offence. For this wrong he expresses in his "Confessions" deep penitence. He was next in the service of a nobleman, who after treating him as a companion, dismissed him for gross misconduct. Rousseau was then received into the house of Madame de Warens, a young and pretty Swiss lady, newly converted to Catholicism, whom he had met before. She had left her husband at Lausanne, but had carried off much of his property to her new home at Annecy. She was, in fact, a sentimental deist, who made devotion and proselytism no bar to her indulgence of amorous propensities. Rousseau was one of her favorites, and by her aid was taught music and the classics. Occasionally he went off on a wandering tour, and at one time was secretary to a Greek priest who was collecting subscriptions to rebuild the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Afterwards through Madame de Warens' influence he was employed by a survey commission appointed by the King of Sardinia. Then he returned to her house at Chambery on more intimate terms than ever, and he and his "Maman" diverted themselves with music and chemistry. Partly for the sake of his delicate health, she took a country house, Les Charmettes, for a summer residence. Here they led a delightful life, which is well described in his "Confessions." In 1738, on account of illness, he went to Montpelier, being accompanied by Madame de Larnage. But when Rousseau returned to Madame de Warens, he found that she had installed another in his place. In 1740, therefore, he went to Lyons as tutor in the family of

M. de Mably. Finding teaching irksome, he went to Paris and endeavered to introduce a new system of musical notation, but without success. Madame Dupin, however, procured for him an appointment as secretary to the French ambassador at Venice. There nearly two years were spent with little satisfaction to himself or his employer, who finally dismissed him.

Rousseau, now thirty-three years old, returned to Paris. He was employed as secretary to Madame Dupin, copied music, and became acquainted with Diderot and the other Encyclopedists. Dwelling in a room in an obscure inn, Rousseau took as his mistress Thérèse Levasseur, a servant of the place. She was a vulgar woman of twenty-four years of age, without education or understanding. His friends could not account for the attraction, yet twenty years later the fantastic dreamer married her. During all this time Thérèse and her mother preyed on his means and aggravated his suspicious temper. They made mischief between him and his friends. According to his own account, five children which were born to them were coolly consigned to the Foundling Hospital. Within a year after his arrival at Paris, Rousseau was employed as clerk by a farmer-general. Part of his income was sent to Madame de Warens, who was now in need. Various musical projects had no success, but in 1748 Diderot and D'Alembert engaged him to write musical articles for the "Encyclopédie." Though his genius for music was great, his instruction in the science was imperfect, and his articles on it are superficial. In 1749 the Academy of Dijon offered a prize for an essay on the effect of the progress of civilization on morals. Rousseau, having read of the offer in a newspaper, thought of maintaining that progress had been beneficial to morals. But on going to visit Diderot then in prison at Vincennes for his "Letter on the Blind," that writer pointed out that support of the opposite view would attract more attention. On reflection it seemed to Rousseau that a new world of thought had been opened to him. He dashed off a vehement | denunciation of civilized life and its attendant evils. His essay displayed such ingenuity and eloquence that it not only won the prize, but captivated the salons of the time. His company was much sought by fashionable people, until the

brilliant writer was found to be shy, awkward and even dull in conversation.

Rousseau's comedy, "Narcisse," written long before, was first acted in 1752. His musical reputation was enhanced at the same time by his opera, "Le Devin du Village." (The Village Fortune-Teller.) Simple both in style and construction, it contains charming melodies, and is marked throughout by refined taste. But the author's letter on French music offended the people, for it declared that the nation had not any vocal music of its own, and, and could not have on account of defects in the language. This seemed an ungracious return for the favor shown to his own performance. His severe attack on the grand opera brought a storm of resentment on his head. The performers at the Opera were so enraged at the author that they hanged and burnt him in effigy, whilst he pleasantly returned thanks to those who at length had withdrawn him from the torture. In 1753 the Academy at Dijon again offered a prize for an essay, the subject being "The Origin of Inequality among Mankind." Rousseau again competed, but was unsuccessful, though his writing was probably not inferior to that which had first won him fame.

Returning to Geneva in 1754, Rousseau was full of republican enthusiasm. He abjured the Roman Catholic religion, professed himself again a Calvinist, and was restored to his rights of citizenship. Rousseau indeed never was an atheist nor a mocker of Christianity. He reverenced the morality of the Scriptures, little as he obeyed it in his life. The simple pleasure that he had enjoyed in the household of Madame de Warens was his highest social ideal. Writing of that period in his life, he says, "I will even dare to say that she knew only one true pleasure in the world, and that was to give pleasure to those whom she loved. . . . I felt all my attachment for her only when she was out of my sight. I could see her I was merely happy and satisfied, but in her absence my disquiet went so far as to be painful." His after life was a continual regret for this lost Paradise. His works abound in pictures of a simple rustic life of domestic peace, remote from the noises of the world. Connected with these is his love of the country, and delight in the beauties of na

So long as

ture, which made his works a revelation to his contemporaries. In April, 1756, Rousseau, having returned to Paris, accepted the invitation of Madame d'Epinay to take up his residence on her estate in the valley of Montmorency. Here in a cottage fitted up for him, called the Hermitage, he lived a studious life and yet had access to cultivated society. "La Nouvelle Heloise" (The New Eloisa) partly represents the love which he indulged for Madame d'Houdetot, the sister-in-law of Madame d'Epinay. She was a young and very plain but amiable lady, who had already a husband and a lover. She seems to have been partly pleased and partly annoyed at the new-comer's attentions. But the Levasseurs, mother and daughter, were not satisfied, and in the following winter, they induced Rousseau to remove to Montlouis, not far off. He had quarreled with Madame d'Epinay and Diderot and others of the philosophes. In 1758 Rousseau published a letter to D'Alembert, who had defended the theatre in the "Encyclopédie." The letter opposed the introduction of the theatre into Geneva and was thus an attack on Voltaire, who was then giving theatrical exhibitions in that vicinity. Henceforth that imperious satirist was a bitter enemy of the simple Swiss republican. But Rousseau, though hated by the philosophes, found generous friends in the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. During his residence in the neighborhood of Montmorency his most brilliant writings were composed. His famous novel, "Julie ou La Nouvelle Héloïse," appeared in 1760, and was immensely popular. It is written in letters which tell of love springing up between a girl of noble birth and her poor tutor, her marriage to a free-thinker of her own rank, the lover's consequent distress, and its partial alleviation by the advice and assistance of a sympathetic English noble. It is full of sentiment, pathos and dangerous morality. In 1762 Rousseau put forth his philosophical treatise on government, the "Contrat Social," which declared the basis of government to be the consent of the governed, express or implied. Soon afterward came "Emile," which exhibited, in narrative form, a natural system of education. It suggests most of the improvements, which have since been made in education, and yet is full of unpractical whimsicalities. On account of the