Note 1 — NATURALISM IN ENGLAND (continued 6)

Byron has described Rousseau in a stanza which might have been written about himself:—

"Here the self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau, The apostle of affliction, he who threw Enchantment over passion, and from woe Wrung overwhelming eloquence, first drew The breath which made him wretched; yet he knew How to make madness beautiful, and cast O'er erring deeds and thoughts a heavenly hue Of words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they pass'd The eyes which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast." Childe Harold, iii 77.