This, as he justly admits, was not the way to render them either well learned or sage.

The moral education of the teacher himself was hardly complete, for he describes how he used to steal his employer's wine, and the exquisite draughts which he enjoyed in the secrecy of his own room, with a piece of cake in one hand and some dear romance in the other.

We should forgive greedy pilferings of this kind more easily if Rousseau had forgotten them more speedily.

These are surely offences for which the best expiation is oblivion in a throng of worthier memories.
It is easy to understand how often Rousseau's mind turned from the deadly drudgery of his present employment to the beatitude of former days.

"What rendered my present condition insupportable was the recollection of my beloved Charmettes, of my garden, my trees, my fountain, my orchard, and above all of her for whom I felt myself born and who gave life to it all.