ABSTRACT
To compare Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Samuel Richardson occurred to readers in France, England, and elsewhere almost as soon as the first volumes of Julie on la Nouvelle Heloise were printed. Comparisons between Clarissa and Julie could be multiplied to show possible ways in which Rousseau is indebted to Richardson. To fall briefly from chastity before marriage because one is in love, but then to fall no more, seems to Rousseau an effort towards virtue that can indeed be made by significant numbers of women. Saint-Preux, that defender of general as opposed to individual Providence, echoes Rousseau writing to Voltaire after the Lisbon earthquake; but Julie does not. In Rousseau's account of society at its birth humans engage in competitive displays of talent or prowess, whose prize is consideration. Humanity in the strong sense pervades the whole picture, and enables the inhabitants of Clarens to follow Julie towards the peak of virtue, and maximize happiness in the process.
