ABSTRACT
Madame depinay, to whom, as the reader will remember, Jean-Jacques Rousseau had been introduced by her lover, Monsieur de Francueil, could not have been over thirty years of age in 1754, having been born about 1725. While the forest of Montmorency reechoed with the winding horns and baying hounds of the pack of the Prince of Conde pursuing the stag, Jean-Jacques sought solitude in the very depths of the Park of La Chevrette. Diderot remarked with great truth: “Rousseau wished the title of Citizen only because he could not aspire to that of Monseigneur.” But he had never before been so aggressively himself nor lived so consistently up to the role he began to play after his first discourse. The only man esteemed by Jean-Jacques was Duclos, to whom he dedicated the Devin du village, out of gratitude for his having secured its production.
