ROUSSEAU, JEAN JacquEs, a celebrated writer. was born at Geneva on the 28th of June 1712. His father, a watchmaker, by profession, was a citizen of Geneva, and had such a taste for literature, that he constantly kept in his shop copies of Plutarch's Lives and Tacitus; and it is prbbable that a love of learning was imbibed by Rousseau from the conversation and pursuits of his father. Its growth, however, was im peded by early habits of idleness and vice, which pre vented him from availing himself of those means of instruction which accident had thus put in his power. He was first apprenticed to an attorney, who discharg ed him for his negligence; and having been next sent to learn engraving, his master is said to have disgusted him by his harshness; a term which was probably much misapplied. The dread of punishment for his vices drove him from his father's house; he introduced him self to Borney, bishop of and no doubt gained a hospitable reception, under the pretence of becoming a convert to the Catholic faith. The bishop commit ted the young proselyte to the charge of a Madame de Warrens, a well-informed, though unprincipled woman, who had, in 1726, sacrificed part of her fortune by be coming a Roman Catholic. This lady placed her pupil in a Catholic seminary at Turin, where, after haying his conversion confirmed, he was sent into the world with twenty florins in his pocket. As soon as he had exhausted this little fund, he went into the service of a countess, where he stole a ribbon, and laid the blame upon an amiable young woman who lived in the house. On the death of the countess he became a servant in the family of a nobleman, whose son instructed him in literature, and treated him as a companion. By his misconduct, however, in this situation, he was ed from his place, and took refuge under the roof of Madame de Warrens, who, having formerly acted to wards him the part of a mother, now discharged the duties of a lover. Desirous, however, of seeing him set tled in life, she got him appointed secretary to a com mission, organised by the king of Sardinia for survey ing lands; and, in this situation, which he held for two years, he devoted himself to the study of geometry and music. The seductions, however, of the last of these studies, soon made him renounce its graver com panion, and he resolved to follow music as a profession. The Abbe Blanchard having failed in procuring for him a place in the chapel royal, Rousseau was reduc ed to the necessity of teaching music at Chamberry. Here he spent eight years intimately connected with Madame de 'Warrens; but a coolness having arisen between the lovers, probably from his infidelities, the lady procured for him the situation of tutor to the chil dren of M. Mably, at Lyons, a situation which he had
not steadiness enough long to maintain. He accord ingly went to Paris in 1741, where he spent two years in obscure and penurious circumstances, till, in 1743, his friends obtained for him the appointment of secretary to M. de :Montaigne, ambassador from the court of France to Vienna. He soon, however, found an oppor tunity of quarrelling with the ambassador; and return ing to Paris, he supported himself by his musical talents, and devoted much of his time to the study of natural philosophy and botany, in the last of which science he made great proficiency. Ile was soon after appointed deputy to M. Dupin, one of the farmers general, and, from the profits of this situation, lie was enabled to extend some pecuniary aid to Madame de Warrens, who was now in necessitous circumstances.
In the year 1748, when he was only 36 years old, Rousseau began to experience the attacks of a painful disease, which afflicted him during the rest of his life, and which induced him to confine himself more than he had hitherto done to sedentary and literary occupa tions.
Under these circumstances, he conceived the design of writing for the prize which the academy of Dijon had offered in 1750, for the best essay on the following question, Intether the revival of the ,iris and Sciences has contributed to the refinement of Manners? Rousseau was at first disposed to support the pretensions of the sciences, but his friend Diderot urged him to adopt' the opposite line of argument, and promised him the success which generally accompanies bold and extra vagant opinions. Rousseau accordingly wrote an ela borate and ingenious attack upon the arts and sciences; and such was the eloquence which it displayed, and the ingenuity of its reasonings, that it was crowned by the Academy, and excited great interest in the literary world. It. was attacked, as might have been expected, by various authors, among whom was Stanislaus, king of Poland; and Rousseau was ridiculed on the stage of Nancy in the Comedic des Philosophts, the production or Palissot, one of the members of the Academy. The king of Poland, as Duke of Lorraine, desired Palissot to write a letter of apology to Rousseau, and deprived hint of his place in the Academy; but Rousseau had the good feeling to solicit, and the influence to obtain his restoration.