ABSTRACT
In his writings Rousseau not only set the tone for much subsequent eighteenth- and nineteenth-century thought; he also sensed the spirit of the times in his observation that Europe was entering an age of revolution in which it was doubtful whether monarchy would survive. As events developed, the half-century following the publication of Émile and the Social Contract was the most turbulent of all of Europe’s experiences hitherto; indeed, it entered an age not of revolution but of many revolutions, political, economic, industrial and intellectual.
