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ROUSSEAU.

117

that some fo'tunate adventure would present a morebrilliiant prospect than the one before him. Noneoccurred. He arrived at Annecy ; he saw madame deWariens ; anl in her and her kindness found embodiedone (of those romances of real life, which, if of lessfairy and glittering hue to the eye, are equally magic-like tto the heirt, and do not less serve to alter the courseof existence, and to metamorphose the soul.

Title comtesse de Warens was a native of Vevay, in thePays de Vaud : she had married when very young; andhaving no chi dren, and not being happy in her marriage,she tiook occasion, when the king of Savoy,Victor Amadeo,was at Evian, to cross the lake, throw herself at hisfeet, and claim his protection as a convert to Catholicism .The king, who was zealous in the cause of his religion,received her graciously, and settled on her a pension of1500 Piedmontese livres. She was much loved atVevay, and there was some danger of her beingrescued against her will: to preserve his proselyte, theking was obliged to have her escorted to Annecy by adetachment cf guards; where, under the direction ofthe titular bshop of Geneva , she abjured protestant-ism. She had lived for six years at Annecy , and waseight and twenty, when Rousseau first saw her. Shewas beautiful, and, above all, an expression of angelicsweetness and benevolence beamed in her face, thatinspired him at once with hope, confidence, and gra-titude. She felt the folly of the step he had taken;but, surrounded by priests and spies, she feared to showcompassion, or to give him good advice; the few wordsshe did say, to induce him to return to his father, wereof no avail. Yet it was not easy to find the means ofsubsistence for him. At length one of her guests pro-posed that he should go to Turin , and enter the hospitalestablished for the instruction of proselytes, where hecould remain until his abjuration, when it might hesupposed some charitable person would come forward tohis assistance. Sad and humble was the prospect heldout; but there appeared to be no other resource ex-i 3