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CHAP. XII. J NEWS FOR THE CLUB.

of the Heloise and the Contrat Social, half crazed with the 1766.
passionate admiration which had welcomed his Emile, and jiTis
flattered out of the rest of his wits by the persecution that
followed it, stalked ahout with all Paris at his heels, in
a caftan and Armenian robes, and so enchanted the Scotch
historian and sage, to whom he seemed a sort of better
Socrates, that he had offered him a home in England.* There
was the young painter student, Barry, writing modest letters
on his way to Eorne, where "William and Edmund Burke
had subscribed out of their limited means to send him.
There was the young lion-hunting Boswell, more pompous
and conceited than ever; as little laden with law from
Utrecht, where he has studied since we saw him last, as
with heroism, from Corsica, where he has visited Pascal
Paoli, or with wit from Ferney, where he has been to see
Voltaire; pushing his way into every salon, inflicting him-

'' le rAle d'un Sultan assis entre deux esclaves, employant toute son eloquence
"pour s'en faire aimer; les trouvant inexorables, il devoit chercher le sujet de
'' leurs peines, et de leur resistance: on le place sur un sopha entre les deux
" plus jolies femmes de Paris, il les regarde attentivement, il se frappe le ventre
'' et les genoux a' plusieurs reprises, et ne trouve jamais autre chose a' leur dire
" que : 'Eh Men ! mes demoiselles ... Eh Men ! vous voila done... Eh Men !
" ' vous voila. . . vous voila ici ?' Gette phrase dura nn quart d' heure, sans
" qu'il put en sortir. Une d'elles se leva d' impatience : ^£Ah!' dit elle, ^£je m'en
" 'etois bien doutee, cet homme n'est bon qu' & manger dn vean I¹ Depuis ce
"temps il est rel6qu6 au role de spectateur, et n'en est par moins fete et
" cajole." Memoires et Correspondence de Madame d' Epinay, iii. 284.

* "I find him," says the too impressible philosopher, "mild, and gentle, and
"modest, and good-humoured; and he has more •fihe behaviour of a man of the
" world, than any of the learned here, except M. de Buffon; who, in his figure,
'' and air, and deportment, answers your idea of a marechal of France, rather
" than that of a philosopher. M. Rousseau is of a small stature, and would rather
"be ugly, had he not the finest physiognomy in the world: I mean the most
" expressive countenance. . .His Armenian dress is not affectation. He has had an
'' infirmity from his infancy, which makes breeches inconvenient for him." Burton's
Hume, ii. 299, 302. In connection with this passage it may be worth adding that
Buffon was the only known French writer of this period whom Johnson declared he
would care to cross the sea to visit, and (as his reason for not going) '' I can find in
'' Buffon's book all that he can say." Bosicell, iv. 247. He never speaks of Voltaire
without unconsciously betraying a sort of uneasy fear of his vivacity and scorn.



	CHAP. XII. J NEWS FOR THE CLUB. of the Heloise and the Contrat Social, half crazed with the 1766. passionate admiration which had welcomed his Emile, and jiTis flattered out of the rest of his wits by the persecution that followed it, stalked ahout with all Paris at his heels, in a caftan and Armenian robes, and so enchanted the Scotch historian and sage, to whom he seemed a sort of better Socrates, that he had offered him a home in England.* There was the young painter student, Barry, writing modest letters on his way to Eorne, where "William and Edmund Burke had subscribed out of their limited means to send him. There was the young lion-hunting Boswell, more pompous and conceited than ever; as little laden with law from Utrecht, where he has studied since we saw him last, as with heroism, from Corsica, where he has visited Pascal Paoli, or with wit from Ferney, where he has been to see Voltaire; pushing his way into every salon, inflicting him- '' le rAle d'un Sultan assis entre deux esclaves, employant toute son eloquence "pour s'en faire aimer; les trouvant inexorables, il devoit chercher le sujet de '' leurs peines, et de leur resistance: on le place sur un sopha entre les deux " plus jolies femmes de Paris, il les regarde attentivement, il se frappe le ventre '' et les genoux a' plusieurs reprises, et ne trouve jamais autre chose a' leur dire " que : 'Eh Men ! mes demoiselles ... Eh Men ! vous voila done... Eh Men ! " ' vous voila. . . vous voila ici ?' Gette phrase dura nn quart d' heure, sans " qu'il put en sortir. Une d'elles se leva d' impatience : ^£Ah!' dit elle, ^£je m'en " 'etois bien doutee, cet homme n'est bon qu' & manger dn vean I¹ Depuis ce "temps il est rel6qu6 au role de spectateur, et n'en est par moins fete et " cajole." Memoires et Correspondence de Madame d' Epinay, iii. 284. * "I find him," says the too impressible philosopher, "mild, and gentle, and "modest, and good-humoured; and he has more •fihe behaviour of a man of the " world, than any of the learned here, except M. de Buffon; who, in his figure, '' and air, and deportment, answers your idea of a marechal of France, rather " than that of a philosopher. M. Rousseau is of a small stature, and would rather "be ugly, had he not the finest physiognomy in the world: I mean the most " expressive countenance. . .His Armenian dress is not affectation. He has had an '' infirmity from his infancy, which makes breeches inconvenient for him." Burton's Hume, ii. 299, 302. In connection with this passage it may be worth adding that Buffon was the only known French writer of this period whom Johnson declared he would care to cross the sea to visit, and (as his reason for not going) '' I can find in '' Buffon's book all that he can say." Bosicell, iv. 247. He never speaks of Voltaire without unconsciously betraying a sort of uneasy fear of his vivacity and scorn.