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ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques. Autograph letter signed ("J. J. Rousseau"), to [Richard Davenport], Wootton, 8 April 1767. 1 page, bi-folium (closed tears at fold, reinforced on verso), light age-toning . In French.
ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques. Autograph letter signed ("J. J. Rousseau"), to [Richard Davenport], Wootton, 8 April 1767. 1 page, bi-folium (closed tears at fold, reinforced on verso), light age-toning . In French. A FINE ROUSSEAU LETTER WRITTEN TOWARDS THE END OF HIS ACRIMONIOUS REFUGE IN ENGLAND, to his host at Wooton Hall: "I am very much distressed, Sir, about the relapse of your young son, and I am sincerely hopeful for his complete recovery and for your own; for when any one of your children is sick it is impossible to be well yourself. I will not write a second letter to Mr. Stuart, Sir, will you be so kind to apologize verbally to him on my behalf, for having kept his trunk so long? It stayed at Wootton until this winter due to lack of opportunity to send it back, and in London since then due to a mix-up. I wish you a good trip and a happy arrival with your dear children whom I greet, as well as Mme. Vasseur..." Outrage over Emile and The Social Contract , forced Rousseau to flee France for Neuchâtel, Switzerland. But a mob stoned his house there in September 1765, forcing him to flee to England and the protection of David Hume, and Hume's friend, Davenport, who invited Rousseau to stay in his country home. Rousseau set about writing his Confessions , but he adjusted poorly to English life. Unable to master the language, increasingly isolated and homesick, his mind began gnawing on perceived plots against him, even from Hume, whom Rousseau denounced in a public letter that prompted Hume's famous diagnosis: "He is plainly mad, after having long been maddish." "Mme. Vasseur" refers to Thérèse Le Vasseur (1721-1801), Rousseau's long-time mistress, whom he married in 1768 shortly after his illicit return to France. Published in Dufour, Correspondence Générale , 17:29.