160 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

Yet he was eager to quit Paris; he was in France on sufferance; he even received intimation from the duke1766. d e Choiseul not to prolong his stay. On the 2d ofJanuary, he departed with Hume and a M. de Luze, aGenevese and a friend of his. There was great diffi-culty in knowing where to place the exile, when hearrived in England: his scanty income was far tooslight to afford mere necessaries in this country : manyplans ivere discussed; Rousseau rejected several. Theresele Vasseur was the great obstacle to his comfort. Itwas with difficulty that the prejudice against her asRousseau ’s mistress could be got over; but worse re-mained in her own character. De Luze represents heras ignorant, mischievous, and quarrelsome; add to this,that heretofore Rousseau had treated her as a mere house-keeper, and she did not dine at table with his guests —now he insisted that she should be placed on an equalitywith himself.

Still he and Hume continued on friendly terms; andthe latter entertained a sincere esteem for him. Hewrote : “ He is mild, gentle, modest, affectionate, dis-interested, and, above all, endowed in a supreme degreewith sensibility of heart.” Rousseau insisted on esta-blishing himself in solitude at a distance from London :an eligible residence was at last found for him. Hepassed two months in London and Chiswick . He wasvisited by all persons of distinction. “English man-ners,” he wrote to a friend, “ suit my taste; they cantestify esteem, without cajolery.” He then repaired toWotton in Derbyshire — a house belonging to Mr.Davenport, but seldom inhabited by him: his host, tosatisfy his delicacy, received nominal payment for hisboard and lodging; and here Rousseau and Therese took up their abode.

Here he wrote the first portion of his “ Confessions ; ”and for a short time he appeared to take pleasure in hisretreat, and to feel grateful to the friend who had pro-cured it for him. A few weeks altered his feelings. Hebecame acquainted with the pretended letter of the king