proceeds rather from the soul than from rank"; the stamp of a somewhat fierce courage and of a virtue not free from austerity, and a "grave and stoical" bearing beneath which "he conceals with difficulty an extreme sensibility; he wears the dress of an English lord without ostentation, and carries himself with just a touch of swagger. Mentally, Lord Edward is sensitive and philosophical, a worthy countryman of both Richardson and Locke.1 His conversation is sensible, racy and animated. He betrays more energy than grace, and to Julie it seems at first that there is "something harsh about him."2 He is quick-tempered, and avoids like the plague "the reserved and cautious politeness which our young officers bring us from France." He provokes Saint-Preux to a duel brutally enough; but when he has perceived his fault he is sufficiently generous to ask pardon on his knees before witnesses. For after all, as Muralt said, is it not well-known that English bravery "never descends to duelling, and that in that "sensible country" men have a loftier idea of honour? Besides "in this honest Englishman natural humanity is not impaired by the philosophical lack of feeling common to his nation." When in Italy Lord Edward had fallen passionately in love, and in the most romantic manner: deprived of the friendship of Saint-Preux, he was not proof against a sudden assault upon his senses and his heart. He falls a victim to the charms of Julie at first sight, and prides himself on his sensibility: "it was by way of the passions" he says artlessly, "that I was led to philosophy." At the same time he is greatly interested in painting and music, especially, like Jean-Jacques himself, in Italian music. Many features of Lord Edward's character are reminiscences of the portrait of Cleveland. Prévost's novel was read by Jean-Jacques with passionate interest. (Confessions, i., 5.) 2 Nouvelle Héloïse, i., 44. 3 Lettres, P. 4. See Les * See the short novel entitled Les Amours de Milord Édouard, which forms a sequel to the Héloïse. Contemporaries were much engrossed with Rousseau's story. Aventures d'Édouard Bomston, pour servir de suite à la Nouvelle Héloïse, Lausanne, 1789, and the Lettres d'un jeune lord à une religieuse italienne, imitated from the English [by Mme. Suard], Paris, 1788.—See also Letters of an Italian Nun and an English gentleman, translated from the French of J. J. Rousseau, London, 1781, 12mo, which, in spite of dates, seems to be a translation of the preceding. But to mention the more dignified aspects of this figure, drawn by Rousseau with so much partiality. A " veneer of stoicism" is thrown over all Bomston's actions. He can be solemn when confronted with serious events: to Saint-Preux, who sacrifices everything to love, he says, "Throw off your childhood, my friend, awake! Surrender not your entire existence to the long lethargy of reason"; and, rallying him upon his weakness: "Your heart, my dear fellow, has long deceived us as to your intelligence! "1 Ah, Bomston! Is this the tone of a philosopher? Can wisdom consistently express itself in language at once so turgid and so bitter? Again, would a prudent man advise a young girl, as you do, to fly from her father's roof in company with her tutor? This spoils Lord Edward for me. I prefer him in the famous letter on suicide, even if he does, to some extent, presume upon his privilege of being English: "Mine is a steadfast soul; I am an Englishman. I know how to die, because I know how to live, and to suffer as a man." It is a good thing to have a native land, but not quite such a good thing to sing its praises so loudly. "We are not the slaves of our monarch, but his friends; not the tyrants of the people, but their leaders. We allow none to say: God and but simply God and my right." We may excuse Bomston, since it is Jean-Jacques who is speaking through his mouth, and making him say all these fine things. Lord Edward, happily for Rousseau, is not a real Englishman. my sword, Yes, Bomston, "generous soul, noble friend," you were but the sincerest and most artless expression of the anglomania of Jean-Jacques Rousseau ! 1 N. H., v., i. Chapter II ROUSSEAU'S FIRST STUDIES IN ENGLISH I. Rousseau's early associations in Paris: Diderot and the admirers of England. III. Rousseau's admiration for English literature is directed mainly to the bourgeois variety-Why? Because of his literary tendencies-His admiration for the English drama; translation of The London Merchant (1748). I ROUSSEAU's early studies in English were those of the majority of his contemporaries: the authors he had read at Les Charmettes were Locke and Addison. Pope, Milton, Richardson's novels, Robinson Crusoe, and a few other works of less importance, were probably read during his second residence in Paris. We may believe, though without positively asserting so much, that he was among the earliest French admirers of some of these masterpieces. Knowing how greatly he appreciated it, we cannot help believing that he read Pamela, immediately after its first appearance in Paris, in 1742. Just at that moment he was very intimate with Desfontaines, and we know that Pamela involved Desfontaines in a very unpleasant affair.1 And what is more probable than that Prévost, whom he frequently met during 1751, talked to him of Clarissa Harlowe, which had appeared in the original in 1748, and had just been translated into French— with what enthusiasm, the reader will recollect-by Prévost himself? Finally, we cannot doubt that Diderot, Diderot the anglophile, with whom Rousseau became intimate immediately he arrived in Paris, drew his attention to some of the English 1 See below, p. 209. works which at that time were beginning to make a great sensation. It is important here to remember that Diderot, whose acquaintance Rousseau had made in 1741, when he first came to Paris, remained his literary confidant for sixteen years-the decisive years of Jean-Jacques' life, and those which witnessed the elaboration of his greatest works. There were similarities between them in point of age, taste and fortune: Diderot, like Rousseau, was poor and of humble birth; like him, of a sensitive disposition and musical. Diderot had his Nanette, Rousseau had his Thérèse, and intercourse between the two households was frequent. It will be remembered how the two proposed to take a walking tour in Italy with Grimm. The reader knows how they conceived the plan of starting a newspaper together, to be edited by each alternately, called the Persifleur, which, however, did not survive its first number. And every one will recollect the friendship which Rousseau manifested for Diderot when the latter was imprisoned at Vincennes. I believe, he says, that if his captivity had lasted, "I should have died from despair at the gate of that miserable dungeon." 1 This was the golden age of their friendship. It was also the period when they were working in concert. Rousseau showed his friend his Discours sur les sciences, and accepted his good advice. He consulted him likewise on the Discours de l'inégalité, and on the Nouvelle Héloïse. In return Rousseau assisted, at any rate by his suggestions, in the composition of the Entretiens sur le Fils Naturel; Diderot entrusted him with the secret of his dramatic attempts, and made him acquainted with the outline of the Père de famille. Now of all the eighteenth-century writers, Diderot—the fact has perhaps scarcely received sufficient attention—is the most inquisitive concerning foreign and particularly English literature.2 He is "quite English," as M. Brunetière has well said. No 1 Confessions, ii., 8. 2 See the works of Rosenkrantz and Mr. John Morley, where this point of view is cogently presented. M. L. Ducros has likewise adopted it in his book on Diderot, l'homme et l'écrivain. (Paris, 1894, 12mo.) 8 Les époques du théâtre français, p. 295. one "went begging" more freely, as Crébillon forcibly put it, from neighbouring peoples, who moreover rewarded him with fervent admiration. The German anglophiles found their opinions almost as well represented in his works as in those of Rousseau. Lessing declares that "no writer of a more philosophical mind had concerned himself with the theatre" since Aristotle. Herder calls him "a true German," and drew Goethe's attention to his works. Goethe became fascinated by him. "Diderot-is Diderot," he wrote to Zelter even so late as March 9, 1831, shortly before his death, "a unique individuality. The man who turns up his nose at him and his works is a Philistine." 1 By the extremely modern character of his genius, no less than by his essentially cosmopolitan taste, Diderot stands by himself in the history of eighteenth century criticism. He had learned English thoroughly, and Mr. John Morley testifies that his knowledge of it was remarkable. He turned his knowledge to account during the early years of his career-at the very time when he became intimate with Jean-Jacques-by translating several works from the English 3: Stanyan's History of Greece, in 1743; Shaftesbury's Essay on merit and virtue, in 1745; and in 1746, with the assistance of Eidous and Toussaint, James's Dictionary of Medicine, the introduction to which was useful to him later on in his own Encyclopédie. At the same time he enriched his mind by studying Bacon, from whom he borrowed the essential portions of the Pensées philosophiques, and Bernard de Mandeville, whose Fable of the Bees supplied him with the greater part of the ideas subsequently developed in the famous Supplément au voyage de Bougainville. Again, it was to an English work, Chambers' Dictionary, that he was indebted for the plan and the idea of the Encyclopédie. Throughout his life, Diderot counselled admiration of England, the land, as he wrote in 1749, "of philosophers, systematisers and men of enquiring mind." All his life, 1 See C. Joret, Herder, pp. 101, 372, &c., and Gandar's essay on Diderot et la critique allemande in Souvenirs d'enseignement. 2 On his method of learning it see the article Encyclopédie. 3 Observe that Diderot had also got together the materials for a history of Charles I. (Life of Sir Samuel Romilly, vol. i., p. 46). H |