The Confessions of J.J. Rousseau: With The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, Volumes 1-2

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J. Bew, in Pater-Noster-Row, 1783 - Authors, French
 

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Contents

I
1
II
58
III
118
IV
178
V
1
VI
73
VII
143
VIII
154
IX
167
X
186
XI
209
XII
223
XIII
237
XIV
258
XV
274
XVI
292

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Page 2 - Confeffions, let them lament at my unworthinefs, let them blufh at my mifery. Let each of them, in his turn, lay open his heart with the fame fincerity at the foot of thy throne, and then fay, if he dare, / was betttr than thut man?.
Page 1 - I fhall appear with this book in my hand before the Sovereign Judge, and cry with a loud voice, This is my work, thefe were my thoughts, and thus was I. I have freely told both the good and the bad, have hid nothing wicked, added nothing good ; and if I have happened to make...
Page 40 - ... and this, of all constraints, is " the most troublesome, and the most dangerous. " I dare go even farther, and maintain, that, to " render a circle truly agreeable, every one must be " not only doing something, but something which
Page 37 - Masseron's clerks, and fit only to handle a file. My vocation thus determined, I was bound apprentice ; not, however, to a watchmaker, but to an engraver; and I had been so completely humiliated by the contempt of the registrar that I submitted without a murmur. My master, whose name was Monsieur Ducommon, was a young man of a very violent and boorish character, who contrived in a short time to tarnish all the amiable qualities of my childhood, to stupefy...
Page 6 - In a short time I acquired by this dangerous method, not only an extreme facility in reading and expressing myself, but a singular insight for my age into the passions. I had no idea of the facts, but I was already familiar with every feeling. I had grasped nothing; I had sensed everything.
Page 1 - I am undertaking a work which has no example, and whose execution will have no imitator. I mean to lay open to my fellow-mortals a man just as nature wrought him; and this man is myself. I alone. I know my heart, and am acquainted with mankind. I am not made like anyone I have seen; I dare believe I am not made like anyone existing. If I am not better, at least I am quite different. Whether Nature has done well or ill in breaking...
Page 115 - When she appeared my heart was agonized, but the presence of so many people was more powerful than my compunction. I did not fear punishment, but I dreaded shame: I dreaded it more than death, more than the crime, more than all the world. I would have buried, hid myself in the centre of the earth: invincible shame bore down every other sentiment; shame alone caused all my impudence, and in proportion as I became criminal the fear of discovery rendered me intrepid. I felt no dread but that of being...
Page 148 - If in my bldeft age, at the approach of my departure, I remain, as I hope, in the fame difpofition as -at prefent, reading them over may recal the charms i feel whilft writing them, and thus renewing time paft, will, in a manner double my exiftence. In fpite of mankind, I fhall ftill...
Page 1 - I am not better, at least I am quite different. Whether Nature has done well or ill in breaking the mould she cast me in, can be determined only after having read me. Let the trumpet of the day of judgement sound when it will, I shall appear with this book in my hand before the Sovereign Judge, and cry with a loud voice, This is my work, these were my thoughts, and thus was I.
Page 225 - J hosfehold loaf of pure wheat, a gammon of bacon very1 enticing, though already cut, and a bottle of wine, whofe appearance raifed my fpirits more than all the reft. An omelet pretty thick was added to thefe, and I made a dinner fuch as thofe only who travel on foot were ever acquainted with.

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