Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 10 July 1911, Page 4

Jean Jacques Rousseau.

HIS 131-CEXTENARY

Preparations for celebrating the. bi-e.ento.nary of the birth of "Jean Jaccjucs Rousseau are being made in various parts of France. In 1 ( J12 it will 'be 200 years since the birth of this strange philosopher (" tho illustrious madman" was Byron's term for him), whose extraordinary writings have gained -him fame of a sort. The .French philosopher's early career was a very oheriucred' one, he being a kind of jack-of-all-traclos and master of none, but at length: lie was taken in by a wealthy Madame- do Warens, as a kind of 'household dependent, and ultimately became her lover. After some to>n years' residence with this hospitable, if rather vain and frivolous woman, he quarrelled witih heir and set out to Van's to try his fortune there. He made the acquaintance of several men of eminence in the literary world, and contributed articles on music, political economy, etc., to the famous encyclopaedia of those days. His fancy was taken by a coarse, stupid drudge at an inn, Wihom he imagined was possessed of .all the graces, and by 'her lie had live children, each of whom were in turn deserted by him and consigned to the hospital for foundlings. Ho did not become famous in letters until his thirty-seventh year, wlien there appeared the "Discourse on Art and .Sciences." and some years later he further distinguished himself by his opera ''Devin du Village," wherein appears the wellknown hymn-tune "Rousseau's Dream." About tlii.s period lie startled society by his brilliant invectives 'agai.ii.st all existing institutions and organisations, and advocation of a return to primitive conditions. But the more be inveighed against society, the more he ■became petted and tho object of attention, although he received all •such marks of .popularity with a kind of vain and morose churlishness, to show his independence. He obtain, ed the offer of a ret red cottage, and here h>e took up his residence with the .shrewdish Thorose, dividing his time between working for his bread music, and preparing his "XW Heloise" for publication. "Tin's masterpiece appeared in his fortyeighth year, and was followed bv the "Social Contract" ami "Emilo.' , which were to .make Ms name famous. By thie first work the recluse rose to the first rank as a writer of the romance of sentiment; by tho second as a political socialist,' and by the third as an educationist. But the revolutionary theories of "Emile" were naturally not to the taste of either Government or Gliurch ; the author was ordered to be arrested and his lxx>k t<, bo burned, lie escaped to Prussia and for a time found refuge mid prepared his powerfii,l reply to his enemies. Persecution, however, reached him even there, and he decided to accept the offer of a home, given through David. Hume. .For about eighteen months he liver] in Derbyshire, where- he busied himself in his favourite pastime of botany and the preparation of his famous "Confessions." He returned to France, where ho spent the remainder of his life in self-chosen poverty and morbid wretchedness, dying iii his sixtv-sixth vear.