We have spoken in passing of the •genend spirit of his work and of its importance. Iti general principles may roughly is stated as fol lows : God is good, nature s good, man is good. The great Governing forces of the world make for righteousness and virtue. Evil, therefore, is not natural or fundamental, it is the result of perversion. Rousseau found its sources in the human institutions which have produced society and have begotten am bition. His problem was, therefore, not so much to master or counter its possible effects as it was to eliminate evil altogether and pre vent its irruption into a world of whose com plex it is not an essential element. It is here that he links up with the Utopians of whatever age or clime. This being the case, Rousseatth insistence is not upon discipline and t.untrol. On every side, individual, social, educational, political, he believes in expression rather than repression. His ideal government is that which least checks the impulse and desire of the incfsl vidual and gives him the maximum of direct ccintrol in all State affairs. 'His ideal system of education is that one which least hampers the development of the pupil's native bent. His ideal social life is that which conven tion and allows all characters, even of contra dietdry' interests, to live in one hive of har monious virtues: For this. reason his The New Helonte,) instead •of being the tragic 'story o. two men who love the same woman, as• a wonderful but impossible idyll. strained self-revelation is exemplified in the one of the most wonderful .autobiographies in literature, and all told, nbly has most valuable permanent tions to pure literature. It remains not only a masterpiece of proud apologetics for a sorry and unhappy life, 'but the one indispensable document for him who would understand this a sick genius who held so firmly and preached ed so eloquently his belief in the ness of God, of nature and himself. It was this subjectivity of his, this individualism, this i willingness, to indulge in lyric expressions of his own gnefs•and joys that furnished a ing•precedent for that °pageantry of the bleed ing heart" which was one of his greatest legacies to the later romanticists. His title as
father of romanticism is further justified by his magnificent descriptions and glorifications of nature. Indeed in this respect the famous lines of Wordsworth, " One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man Of moral evil and of good Than all the sages can." are 'merely a later 'poetic restatement of the doctrine of this Genevan' philosopher and man of letters. See CONFESSIONS, Las; EMn.E; LA NOUVIELLS HRLOISE • SOCIAL C,Orraacr.
• The best complete edition of Rousseau's works in French Is still that of Musset-Pathay (1823-26). John Morley's remains spite of its inadequacy, especially on the bi ographical side, • the most important- study of The man in English Frederika McDonald's 'J. J. Rousseau) (2 vols.) is a well-intentioned but occasionally uncritical attempt to justify Rousseau against his enemies and gives irre . futable evidence of the plot of misrepresents+ don. The important results of the recent at tacks..on Rousseau have been incorporated in Irving •Babbitt's and Romanticism) 119191, able ' indictment rather than an • open-minded criticism. Many of the important recent studies themselves. and the results of all appear in the volumes annually published by the Rousseau Society, of Geneva, (Annals J. J. Rousseau,) which contains com plete bibliographies. Of the longer recent works consult •Ducros, (J. J. Rousseau, de Geneve a "'Hermitage) (1908)•, Vallette, J. Rousseau, Genevois) (1911) ; Faguet, (Vie de Rousseau) (1911); Lemaitre, (J. J. Rousseau) (1907); Mornet, (Le sentiment de la Nature en France de J. J. Rousseau I Bernarclin de St. Pierre.) (1907). On Rousseau's philosophy consult Revue de Metaphysigue et de Morale (Vol. XX).