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author, and respect the love of truth that dictated hisdeclarations.
Rousseau had arrived at Iverdun, in the canton ofBerne. Exiled from Geneva , he resolved to remain there.He had friends ; and a house was offered him, which hehad accepted — when he heard that the council of Bernehad sent an order desiring him to quit their state. Thuspersecuted, he had but one resource. Neufchatel andits territory belongs to the kingdom of Prussia: hebelieved that he should find toleration at the hands ofFrederic the Great.
He found far more in the governor of Neufchatel —marshal lord Keith, a man eminent for his virtue. Mar-shal Keith had entertained many false notions withregard to Rousseau ; but he was filled with sentimentsof benevolence towards him; and the king of Prussia, in-fluenced by him, was desirous of rendering his residencein his states agreeable. Rousseau refused the offers ofa house, and of supplies of wood, corn, wine, &c., whichwere offered him in lieu of money, as likely to be morereadily accepted; indeed,in his “Confessions,” he speakswith contempt of these offers, as coming from Frederic :but he acquired the friendship — the affection — of theamiable and benevolent lord Keith; and found in it,while it rvas spared to him, the consolation of his life.
He took up his residence in the village of Motiers, inthe Val-de-Travers , in the comte of Neufchatel. If weread the correspondence of Voltaire , and other writingsof his enemies, we should believe that he lived in a stateof habitual warfare; — that his soul, ever in tumults,continually exhaled itself in vituperation and philippics ;that he w'as perpetually engaged in underhand cabalsand petty manoeuvres. Rousseau disdained to be of anyparty. He admired Voltaire , as a man of vast genius —■but refused to bow before the literary throne on whichhe had seated himself. This was his crime ; and hispunishment was the insolent sarcasms and brutal rail-leries of the great master of wit.
We may turn in all security from such false pictures to