The first part of his ‘Confessions,’ which he had begun to write while at Wootton, was published in 1781. He had himself fixed the year 1800 for the publication of the second part, judging that, by that time, the persons mentioned in the work would be dead; but, through an abuse of confidence on the part of the depositories of the MSS., it was published in 1788. His autobiography does not include the latter years of his life. Rousseau was temperate and frugal in his habits, disinterested and warm-hearted, and impressed with strong feelings against oppression and injustice. He was not envious of the fame or success of his brother authors. He never sneered at religion like Voltaire and others of his contemporaries, although in his speculative works he expressed his doubts concerning revelation, and brought forth the arguments that occurred to him on that side of the question: but he had none of the fanaticism of incredulity against Christianity. Of the morality of the Gospel he was a sincere admirer, and a most eloquent eulogist. “I acknowledge,” he says in his ‘Emile,’ “that the majesty of the Scriptures astonishes me, that the holiness of the Gospel speaks to my heart. Look at the books of the philosophers; with all their pomp, how little they appear by the side of that one book! Can a book so sublime, and yet so simple, be the work of man? How prejudiced, how blind that man must be, who can compare the son of Sophroniscus (Socrates) to the son of Mary!” With such sentiments Rousseau could not long agree with Helvetius, Diderot, D’Holbach, and their coterie. They, on their side, ridiculed and abused him, because he was too sincere and independent for them. “I have spent my life,” says Rousseau, “among infidels, without being seduced by them; I loved and esteemed several of them, and yet their doctrine was to me insufferable. I told them repeatedly that I could not believe them.... I leave to my friends the task of constructing the world by chance. I find in the very architects of this new-fangled world, and in spite of themselves and their arguments, fresh proofs of the existence of a God, a Creator of all.” A very good collection of the moral maxims scattered about Rousseau’s works was published under the title of ‘Esprit, Maximes et Principes de J. J. Rousseau,’ 8vo., Neuchatel, 1774. Rousseau set to music about 100 French romances, which he called ‘Consolations des Misères de ma Vie.’ Several editions of all his works have been made at different times: that by Mercier and Le Tourneur, 38 vols. 4to., has been long considered as one of the best. The edition of Lefevre, 22 vols. 8vo., 1819–20, and that of Lequien, 21 vols. 8vo., 1821–2, are now preferred to all former ones. [Illustration: _Engraved by W. Holl._ JOHN HARRISON. _From an Engraving by Tassaerts published in 1708 after a Painting by King._ Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.