N° XCVIII. On the Character of Rousseau. TO THE RUMINATOR. How beautiful and affecting are the letters of Mad. Necker on the writings and character of Rousseau! she alone, of all his eulogists whom I have met with, seems to have partaken of his genius, and fully to have sympathized with his feelings. It has, I believe, been the custom for half-witted censurers to stigmatize Rousseau, as a selfish visionary, a misanthrope, and a madman. The falsehood and injustice of such a sentence must be obvious to every one who contemplates with candour the incidents of his life. Was he not disappointed in every endeavour to gratify the social and affectionate feelings of his heart? Was it not, obviously, the stupidity, the vice, the cruelty and infidelity of those to whom he turned for friendship and support and consolation, that, after years of suffering,-of perpetual hope and perpetual disappointment,wrung from his heart the declaration with which he commences the first section of his "reveries; "Behold me then alone upon the earth, having neither brother, relative, friend or society, but my own thoughts!" That education has the power to crush and destroy, though it never can bestow, the gift of genius is too certain. How powerful must have been the genius of Rousseau, since it survived a course of education such as that which he has described! It was early and inevitable misfortune, and the frightful vices of all the characters with whom he was in his after life connected, that produced at length that morbidly sensitive state of the mind which is so forcibly pictured by Mad. de Stael, when she describes his happiness in being for a short time in a state of perfect freedom in the midst of rural scenery. "He began playing upon the grass as he had done in his chiidhood; happy in being free from his reflections and his feelings, he was not tormented by any of his faculties.” It was my intention on beginning to write, to offer some further extracts from these letters, but on turning over the leaves for this purpose, I find I dare not venture on transcription. The whole of the sixth and concluding section "sur le caractere de Rousseau," appears to me worthy to be engraven in letters of gold, and "enshrined" as a most precious deposit within the temple of the mind." 66 Edinburgh, Feb. 20, 1812. H. F. A. Verses expressive of the Author's regret, at not having sufficiently cultivated Poetry in the proper season of Youth. THE days that are past, and for years have been o'er, I wish I could seem by my song to restore! Let me bring back the hours when Hope danc'd in my, eye; And heav'd in my bosom the rapturous sigh! I seize the lov'd lyre: O how tremble its strings! Hark! What are the notes that so faintly it rings! "'Tis in vain the gay visions that beam'd in thy sight; "The rich hues, that arrayed every scene in delight, "Are vanish'd; and coldly thy hand will be laid "On my chords, on which exquisite sounds were once made. "Wild dreams of young Fancy that swell'd thy full breast, "Forms of beauty angelic that haunted thy rest, z First published in CENSURA LITERARIA, Vol. I "Destroy'd is the cnarm now; and broken the spell; "No dances of fairies now hast thou to tell: "But gloomy the hues are, Experience has wrought, "And severe is Truth's lore, which Time's circuit has taught. "O hadst thou but breath'd on my tremulous breast, "When young Rapture thy fancy all-glowing possest; "Perchance to far ages our names had gone down, "And thy lyre might have gain'd thee immortal renown. "It is past now all tuneless decay my sad strings; "And faint is the thought, in thy bosom that springs! "O have not thy hopes been in sorrow all drown'd; "And Despair's withering shadows envelop'd thee round! "Then withdraw thy rash hand: nor, with feeble essay, "Again thy lost power, and vain efforts betray!" I submit. O thou Nymph of my earliest delight, Whom, tho' sometimes ungratefully met with a slight, Yet I never forsook! thon art fled; and in scorn Hast left thy sad votary thine absence to mourn! Lov'd Muse, I well know my repentance is vain; The dreams, that are past, I can never regain; Yet, tho' weak be the glance of thine eye on my hearty of the joys that are vanish'd impart! One ray July 21, 1805. N° C.. Desultory Observations on the Sensibilities and Eccentricities of Men of Genius: with Remarks on Poets. THE herd of servile imitators bring every thing into disgrace by affectation and excess. In those departments of literature, which require genius, this is more particularly the case. For a little while the tinsel copier becomes the rage of the public, till the glare of his colours satiates; and then, as the tide suddenly turns, the just fame of the original is drawn back into the vortex, and is sunk in one common ruin. On these occasions every yelping cur joins in echoing the cry of contempt, and some new whim engages the temporary curiosity of the mob. There was a time when Rousseau was the idol of the admirers of genius; and all his weaknesses and extravagances were respected as the necessary. concomitants of his extraordinary powers. Immediately there arose multitudes of absurd followers, who, having at length corrupted the judgments of their indiscriminate readers, brought neglect and a First published in CENSURA LITERARIA, Vol. I. |