previous periods of literature.

His _Confessions_ opened not only the eyes of France, but the heart.

A Swiss by birth, and living in one of the most beautiful parts of
Europe, Rousseau was devotedly fond of his home on the Lake of
Geneva. As a boy he loved to leave the city and rove in the country.

He describes how once on a Sunday in 1728 he wandered about,
forgetting the time. 'Before me were fields, trees, flowers; the
beautiful lake, the hill country, and high mountains unfolded
themselves majestically before my eyes. I gloated over the beautiful
spectacle while the sun was setting. At last, too late, I saw that
the city gates were shut.'

From that time on he felt more drawn to Nature than to men. In the
Fourth Book of the _Confessions_ he says, speaking of 1732:

'A view of the Lake of Geneva and its beautiful banks has had even in
my idea a particular attraction that I cannot describe, not arising
merely from the beauty of the prospect, but something, I know not
what, more interesting which affects and softens me. 'Every time I
have approached the Vaudois country, I have experienced an impression
composed of the remembrance of Mademoiselle de Warens, who was born
there; of my father, who lived there; of Mademoiselle de Wulson, who
had been my first love; and of several pleasant journeys I had made
there in my childhood, mingled with some nameless charm, more
powerfully attractive than all the rest. When that ardent desire for
a life of happiness and tranquillity (which ever follows me, and for
which I was born) inflames my mind, 'tis ever to the country of Vaud,