ROUSSEAU Jean-Jacques (1712-1778).

L.A.S. of his initials to the marquis of Saint-Brisson. Motiers, February 3, 1765. 2 pp. in-4. Address, postmarks, lack of paper at the seal, some foxing. Beautiful letter. After the publication of his pedagogical novel Emile, Rousseau condemned by the parliament leaves France and finds refuge in Môtier-Travers in Switzerland, on the lands of Frederic II. Following a new publication, Les lettres écrites de la Montagne (Letters written from the Mountain) in response to the Lettres écrites de la campagne (Letters written from the countryside) by Jean-Robert Tronchin, Attorney General of Geneva, Rousseau found himself at the heart of the scandal. From the first months of 1765, these letters caused a real outburst in France and Switzerland. The work was burned in Paris, in the Hague, and banned in Bern. It is thus Rousseau wounded, bitter, who answers to the young Séguier de Saint-Brisson "[...] I will never say to you enough with which pain I see you entering a career covered with flowers and sown with abysses, where one cannot avoid to be corrupted or to be lost [...] the profession of Author is good only for who wants to serve the passions of the people who lead the others, but for who sincerely wants the good of humanity, it is a fatal profession. [...] The best Book does very little good to men and much harm to its Author [...]" he evokes his situation "How can you believe that I want to pass in Corsica, knowing that the French Troops are there? Do you think that I do not have enough of my misfortunes, without going to seek others? No, Sir, in the despondency in which I am, I need to catch my breath, I need to go farther from Geneva [...] I would like to go and find some fixed retreat where they would have the humanity to receive me and let me die in peace. [...] The dizziness in which I am thrown by unremitting agitation has made me stupid; my head is in a state of lethargy, my very heart is dead. I do not feel nor think any more" He concludes on the work of Saint-Brisson "I am very annoyed that you named me at the head of your Ariste. Don't do such a foolishness anymore or I'll fall out with you for good [...]". Document with a CBC