The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-16 00:00:00

,ROUSSEAU,

•
ROUSSEAU was. Unhappy. almost all his life. He
ha'd reason to complain of.hiS lot,aria he complain-
ed of mankind. This injustice is very common,
especially in a 1146sitien_ which unites pride
wit-4. tirnidity.-: -A person of this' desCription is
discontented at the .happiness of-:his. neighbour,
and does : not _perceive that 'the misfortunes of
another cannot alter his own. He flatters those
with whom he lives in daily intercourse, and
indemnifies himself for this restraint by railing at
mankind in general. I confess. that I have not a
very good"' opinion of those who are -constantly
.complaining of the world ; their pretension's are
generally -unjust. I cannot boast of a very hippy
lot; and I could easily. draw :out a long list iof
,misfortunes, some of which will probably influ-
ence the remainder of. my life ; but I must own
that they are almost all the workafortune, and
that.the wickedneis of mankind had nothing to
do with them. I. adinit with a s.secret satisfac-
'iion, that I have .experienced frdrn the world
nothing but kindness, attentions and. favours, and
that,- ift have been exposed to .the:rnalevolenco
of some ill-disposed• persons, I - have-been sup-
ported by. a great irumber of- generous..men, who
took pleasure in: my-happiness, and part of whose
Satisfaction consisted:Au prOmoting-..the accom-
plishment of my :wishes.: I arm persuaded .that
every just and modest person will be obliged, as
far as relates:to himse,lf, t.osendetthis justice to
the human race. Ido not know whether tbOsei
who are raised to the -highest honours, and Tare
exposed. to the, darii .of my jealousy, feel. the
wickedness .cif mankind more than others, but
men are not wicked
_for the sake of wickednesv;
for what advantage Can it be to them to be so
strongly inclined to the injury of an individual
who does not interfere with them ?
One of. Rousseau's greatest- misfortunes arose
from his having attained the age of forty years,
before he discovered his genius. In his youth
he learnt for some time the art of an engraver.
His father having had the misfortune to kill a
Iman, was obliged to.fly from Geneva, where he
worked as a clock-maker, and educated his chit.
dren. Jean Jacques was received by a lady. of
rank in Savoy, called the Baroness de Warens.
She made him abjure the Protestant religion, and
took charge of his .education. This woman had
such a rage for alchemy, that it -ruined her .;
believe she is now living in the greatest poverty.
Rousseau having been brought to Paris by some
means or other, he became intimately acquainted
with M. de Motitaigu, .who, on being:appointed
ambassador to Venice, took him there as his se:.
cretary. The ambassador was not a man of ge-
nius, nor, did he discover any in his secretary,
and is even now greatly astonished at the reputa-
tion which Rousseau has acquired by his writings.
These two men- were of too dissimilar natures to
remain long .together, and soon separated, very
much displeased with each other. Rousseau re-
turned to. Paris, indigent, unknown, ignorant of
his talents and resources, and in his destitution
labouring to gain his livelihood. Ile employed
himself then only with music and poetry, and
published a dissertation upon a plan which he
invented of writing music with cyphers. This
Lplan did not succeed, and Ids dissertation: was
read by no one. fie afterwards composed 'the
.music and the words of an opera, entitled Les
Muies Galantes, which could never be per-
formed. • Ile had many disputes svith Rarneau
upon this subject, and lie was very much hurt
at not being able to exhibit his play at the
theatre. lie wrote however some bad verses,
several of which were inserted in the Mercure,
and cornposed also' a few' comedies, the greatest
part of whic=h have never been made
L'Amant de lui meme, which was printed and
acted, shews that he • had not such a talent
for writing plays as Moliere. At the same

time, he was occupied with a machine by
which he fancied he could learn to fly ; he
made several attempts which all failed ; still he
continued so blinded to his project, that he never
could bear to have it treated as chimerical.
Such of his friends, therefore, who think it feasi-
ble, may expect to see him some day hovering in
the air. In the midst of all these attempts he be-
came attached to the wife of a Receiver-General,
once celebrated for 'her beauty. Rousseau was

for several years her literary friend and secre.
tary. The, restraint and humiliation which h-e
suffered in this situation contributed not a little
to sour his dispositiOn.
The Philosopher Diderot, with whom he be.
came acquainfed at that time, was the first to
open his eyes to his true genius, and the academy
at Dijon having proposed the famous question of
the influence of learning on morals, Rousseau
treated it in a discourse which was the foundation
of his reputation, and of the singular character
which he afterwards maintained. .Till then he
had been a gallant and refined flatterer ; so far
as to become disgusting in his compliments : all
at once he assumed the character of a cynic,
which being quite out of his nature, he fell into

the opposite :extreme; but in throwing out..bis.
sarcasms, he always knew how to make excep-
tions in favour of those with whom he lived, and
he preserved, notwithstanding his rough and
cynical tone, much of his refinement and the art
of making far-fetched compliments, especially in
his conversation with women. When he turned

philosopher, he • immediately quitted Madame
Unpin, and became a copier of music, pretend-
ing that he practised thifi trade as a common

workman, and that he gained his subsistence by
it ; for one of his follies was to speak against the
profession of an author, and not to practice any
other. I advised him at that time to become a

seller of lemonade and to set up a coffee-
house in the square of the Palais Royal. This
idea amused us a long time ; it was not less ex-
travagant than his own, and it had the advantage
of being a lively piece of folly, and one which
was likely to gain him a fortune. All Paris

would have flo►►•n to see the coffee-house of Jean

Jacques Rousseau, which would have become the
rendezvous for all the most celebrated literati ;
but this folly havingsomething useful in it,was too
sensible to be adopted by the Citizen of Geneva.
He made a tour through his native country, and
returned very much out of humour at the end of
six weeks. He abjured) during his stay at Ge.