"Rousseau, Jean-Jacques - Confessions of Jean-jacques Rousseau, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rousseau Jacques)

a conscious falsehood. Such as I was, I have declared myself;

sometimes vile and despicable, at others, virtuous, generous, and

sublime; even as Thou hast read my inmost soul: Power Eternal!

assemble round Thy throne an innumerable throng of my

fellow-mortals, let them listen to my confessions, let them blush at

my depravity, let them tremble at my sufferings; let each in his

turn expose with equal sincerity the failings, the wanderings of his

heart, and if he dare, aver, I was better than that man."

I was born at Geneva, in 1712, son of Isaac Rousseau and Susannah

Bernard, citizens. My father's share of a moderate competency, which

was divided among fifteen children, being very trivial, his business

of a watchmaker (in which he had the reputation of great ingenuity)

was his only dependence. My mother's circumstances were more affluent;

she was daughter of a Mons. Bernard, minister, and possessed a

considerable share of modesty and beauty; indeed, my father found some

difficulty in obtaining her hand.

The affection they entertained for each other was almost as early as

their existence; at eight or nine years old they walked together every

evening on the banks of the Treille, and before they were ten, could

not support the idea of separation. A natural sympathy of soul

confined those sentiments of predilection which habit at first

produced; born with minds susceptible of the most exquisite

sensibility and tenderness, it was only necessary to encounter similar

dispositions; that moment fortunately presented itself, and each

surrendered a willing heart.