ROUSSEAU.

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instigation, against his own conviction : they, therefore,were responsible for his security ; and he did not enter-tain the slightest doubt but that they would provideagainst his incurring any evil consequences.

It was as the shock of an earthquake, therefore, when,a few days after the publication of the “ Emile," he wasdisturbed in the middle of the night by a message fromthe duchess of Luxembourg , saying that a decree ofarrest of his person would be executed on the followingmorning, at seven o’clock, if he remained, but that, if hefled, he would not be pursued ; and begging him to cometo her immediately. It was greatly to the interest ofthe duchess to get Rousseau away, that the whole affairmight be hushed up; since any examinations would betrayher connivance in the publication. Rousseau was awareof this. He saw the duchess agitated; — he felt that,however much he might wish to shield her during hisexamination, any mistake on his part might compromiseher; and he knew his habitual want of presence of mind.

He consented at once to fly—he was not allowed to j unedeliberate ; the morning was given to preparations and 15 .adieus; at four o’clock in the afternoon he departed. 1762.His friends were safe — he alone the sufferer. TEtat.

His first idea was to establish himseVf in his native 50 ‘town ; but this plan was speedily deranged. Nine daysafter the decree of the parliament of Paris, the council ofGeneva, instigated by the French government, sentencedthe “ Emile ” to be burnt, and its author to be impri-soned if he entered their territory. Rousseau might wellfeel disdain and indignation for the folly and intoleranceof his country-people; nor was it in human nature forhis heart not to ferment with resentment and scorn at theuniversal attack levelled against him from all sects, allparties, all countries, on account of a book whose chiefpretension was to bear the stamp of impartial truth, andto become (and he succeeded in his attempt) highlybeneficial to the human race. Its fault is that it is anti-christian ; but the most devout follower of our Saviour,if charitable, must be impressed by the sincerity of the