[18] Introduction to l'Arcadie.
[19] That is Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's account of the conversation. In reality, Rousseau had not visited le Forez. He had been tempted to go there, but was dissuaded from his project by "a landlady" whom he consulted as to the route he should follow, and whose description prevented him from going to seek Dianas and Sylvanders amongst a population of blacksmiths. (The Confessions, year 1732.)
[20] Literary Correspondence, April, 1785.
[21] Bernardin de Saint-Pierre had developed his ideas upon the education of women, long before the publication of the Études de la Nature, in a speech delivered in 1777, without success, at an academical meeting in the country. Some of the details given here are borrowed from this Discours sur l'Education des femmes.
[22] The celebrated academician to whom allusion is made in this passage is Pierre Bouguer, who took part in the scientific expedition sent to the equator in 1736 to determine the shape of the earth. The quotation which follows is taken from his Traité de la Navigation, Book II., Chap. xiv.
CHAPTER IV. Paul and Virginia.
Before the appearance of the Études de la Nature, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was a poor devil, in want, and little known outside one or two salons, where he was not liked, and with reason. He quite counted upon his work not passing unnoticed. "I dare say that I shall astonish you," he wrote to Hennin, before going to print, when announcing his intention of reading a fragment of his MS. to him; but it is doubtful whether he expected to make a noise in the world. He had said what he wished to say, but not in the manner which he had dreamed of. His language appeared to him poor, in spite of his efforts to vary his vocabulary. "The new career which I have adopted," he said, "has not furnished me with new expressions; I have often to repeat the same. But notwithstanding its defects, which spring from the incapacity of the workman, I dare to affirm that the basis of my work is calculated to throw a great light on every part of nature, and to overthrow the methods which are employed to study it. What a fertile subject it would be in happier hands." (Letter to Hennin, December 25, 1783.) For himself the Études de la Nature was valuable because of the ideas in it; the form they took was of less importance—a judgment which appears very singular to us in our day.
There is as much astonishment as pleasure in the first letters where he tells his old friend of the enthusiastic reception given to his book by the public. "I receive letters in which I am exalted far above my merits; I really must have done something quite out of the common. I have, however, but touched upon the shadows of the reality. It is but a trifle, the work of a man" (March 1, 1785). Three days later: "I receive ... private letters from persons with whom I have no connection, but which praise me too much to allow of my showing them to any one." The applause grew, reached the provinces, and became formidable. As is usual, the author quickly got accustomed to it, and soon learnt to speak with complaisance of the shower of visits, letters, and invitations to dinner which descended upon his garret. "An old friend of Jean-Jacques and D'Alembert came to express all sorts of affection and interest in me, and wished actually to carry me off to his country house. He appeared to have been particularly struck with what I have said about plants. Painters are enraptured with what I have said about the arts; others upon education; and yet more on the causes of the tides" (March 20, 1785). "It seems that my book makes a great sensation amongst the clergy; a grand vicar of Soissons, named M. l'Abbé de Montmignon, came to see me four or five times, and begged me to accept a lodging with him in his country house, so that I might satisfy my taste for the fields. I told him that in truth I did wish for a country house, but not other people's. Another grand vicar of Agde, called M. l'Abbé de Bysants, came to see me, ... and is going to take me next Wednesday to visit the Archbishop of Aix, who wishes to see me in order to speak of me at the convocation of the clergy.... There are five or six great dinners that I have refused during the last eight days" (April 25). "Sentimental people send me letters full of enthusiasm; from women I get receipts for my ailments; rich men offer me dinners; gentlemen of property country houses; authors their works; men of the world their influence, their patronage, and even money. I find in all that but the simple testimony of their good will" (June 3).