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122

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

turned to Annecy, and found that madame de Warens had departed for Paris . Thrown on his own resources,he felt uncertain as to the means of gaining his bread.He was asked by madame de Warens ’ maid-servant toaccompany her to Fribourg , her native place ; she alsobeing left without explanation by her mistress. Awandering life of some years commenced with thisjourney. In writing this portion of Rousseau ’s bio-graphy, we labour under the disadvantage, that we butabridge details, which he gives with all the glow andcharm of romance and the interest of reality—while,limited in space, we can scarcely do more than markepochs;— we pass over, therefore, the history of his ad-venture at Lausanne , where he pretended to furnish aconcert of musicians with a piece of music of his owncomposition, although ignorant of the first principles ofthe art. Still he had studied music for some time, andhad a taste for it,—and this led him to endeavour toearn his livelihood by teaching it. He remained fornearly two years at Neufchatel, exercising the callingof music master: the temptation held out by a sort ofGreek swindler led him to give up his career : he en-gaged himself to this man as interpreter, but was rescuedout of his hands by M. de Bonac, the French ambas-sador, who treated him with great kindness, and gave himan introduction at Paris to be tutor to a young gentle-man who had just entered the army. This scheme didnot succeed. Rousseau was disgusted by the treatmenthe met ; he left his employer, and returned to Savoyon foot : he had reached Paris in a similar manner.

1733. Arriving at Chambery , he found madame de Warens

AS tat. returned. She presented him on the instant to the in-21 - tendant-general of the province, who gave him employ-ment as clerk, or, as he was styled, secretary, in anoffice instituted to make a census of the estates of thenohles of the country. And thus, he says, after fiveyears, which had elapsed since his flight from Geneva—after many follies and many sufferings, for the first timehe began to earn his livelihood in a creditable situation.