Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1859-08-13

loise. But why was the memory of Rousseau
dear to mea Probably some one had breathed
1t into my ears before the dawn of memory,
and rendered It familiar to me in that period
Of life when to be familiar is always to be
loved. The day on which first became ac-
quainted with his writings remember most
distinctly. 1t was in the midst of summer,
when July had covered all the roads, and
sprinkled all the bushes in their vicinity,
with dust. cousin, who lived some five or
six miles of, had just written to me, to say
that he had got a copy of the Confessions, .
which if would fetch them, he would lend
to me. | started early, with one of my sis
ters as companion, all the way amusing my
self with imagining what manner of things
those Confessions" could be. We walked
through shady lanes, over meadows strewed
with wild flowers, crossing many brook by
the aid of plank or small rustick bridge,
and at length reached the house in which the
treasure lay. All else connected with this
circumstance has faded from my memory but
the book and my sister, and the way in which
read as we returned home. l sat on stiles,
l reclined on green banks, beneath the cheq-
uered shade of oaks and elms devoured
the Confessions" The names of Geneva
and Chamber, and Madame de Warrens and
Claude Anet, became engraven ineffaceably on
my mind and with the whole, the dust, sun
shine, green meadows, shady groves, spark
ling streams and melting heat of July, were
inextrcably associated.
From that time to the present, Rousseau
and have been on good terms. The objec-
tions commonly made to him by others have
little weight with me. Perhaps, indeed, the
facts which provoke their. anathemas consti-
tute the principal reason Of my preference,
namely, that he was the great apostle and
father of the revolution, that he wrote the
"Contract Social and disturbed the political
creed of all noble and imaginative minds
throughout Europe. Let those persons who
are really wise take all due credit for it.
make no pretensions of that sort. | came to
Switzerland, as have said, out of partiality
for Jean Jacques Rousseau, fully expecting
to find at Vevay and Clarens the representa-
tives, in feature and figure at least, of Julie
and Claire.
We used-my wife and Ito discuss these
matters seriously, because it was rule with
us never TO remain long in any place where
the women were other than handsome, or at
least tolerably pretty. This may be set down
to our love for the picturesque for after all
there is no combination of earth, wood, and
| l.. .l.I Isa1f
so beautiful as a woman. Lakes are very
magnificent, and so are forests and mountains;
but if, with Milton, we were deprived of the
power of beholding external things, it is the
human face divine that we should most ear
nestly desire to look upon again. Neither
sun, nor moon, nor day, nor night, would
awaken within us regrets so poignant as the
| faces of dear friends now for us blotted out
forever from the aspect of nature.
Ever since our passage of the Jura, had
been visited by the suspicion that we had got
among an inferior race of human beings
France, heaven knows is not remarkable for
female beauty, and yet one does occasionally
in that country eelovely faces and bright eyes
fitting by one, especially in Normandy, and
certain provinces of the south. But in Switz-
| erland, the imagination Immediately begins
to flag for lack of excitement Rocks, and
snow, and forests you have, no doubt, in
abundance and, if you can be satisfied with
these, you may fancy yourself in Paradise
Nothing is wanting but finely and delicate
ly organized humanity. 1t seems, however,
to be general law, that, wherever nature
puts on gigantic dimensions, man is intellec-
tually dwarfed, for mountainous regions have
seldom or never given birth to great minds, or
stamped poetical character on their inhabit-
ants. A seaport town, embosomed in low
hills, and-a flat wool-combing place, on a
sluggish river, have produced the two great
est poets that ever lived and If we traverse
the whole earth in search Of beauty, we shall
find it chiefly on plains, or in modest hills
and valleys, like those of Great Britain, Italy
and Greece.
1t was night when we arrived at Vervay,
and therefore, we were compelled to defer till
morning our search for the jules and the
Claires. Then, however, it being market-day,
the whole female population, we went forth
early, in the hope of realizing Rousseau's de-
lghtful vision. But let me not dwell upon
the sequel. Goitres and cretins, swollen necks
and hideous idiotic faces-some from Savoy,
who had crossed the lake in boats, others
from the surrounding villages of the Pays de
Vaud-met four eyes on all sides, with here
and there a woman of passable aspect, but
nothing like beauty, delicacy, or grace. We
were disgusted with Vevay at once neverthe-
less in consideration the exquisite scenery,
the walks up the slopes of Mount Chardonn,
the views from the Chalet at the summit, the
meadows along the banks of the Veveyse, the
stroll to the Chateau de Blonay, the Rocks of
Meillerie, the Dent de Jaman, and the vast
'amphitheatrical sweep of grandeur from Clar-
ems to st. Gingoulph, we prolonged our visit
to a month, after which we returned to Lau-
some, where the Swiss seemed more tolerable
in appearance.
This place we for some time made our home
and selected it to be the home OF my family |
during my absence in the east. If you have
been at Lausanne, you will remember, a. little !
way out of the town, on the road to Berne,
fine house on the right hand, called John out,
standing in the midst of beautiful shrub
berry and gardens. There it was we lived
and there, in the evening, as | watched my |
.1,Idran 1,laviuo ,apo,, fba tnrraoa m.