in these steep rocks lies in their causing a giddiness
and swimming in my head, which I am particularly fond of, provided I
am in safety. Leaning therefore on the parapet, I remained whole
hours, catching from time to time a glance of the froth and blue
water whose rushing caught my ear, mingled with the cries of ravens
and other birds of prey that flew from rock to rock and bush to bush
at 600 feet below me.'

His preference was for the wild and sublime, and he was glad that
this was not a popular taste; but he could write glowing descriptions
of more idyllic scenery and of village life.

He said of a day at the Charmettes, a property near Chambery, with
his beloved friend Madame de Warens, at the end of 1736:

'I arose with the sun and was happy; I walked and was happy; I saw
Madame de Warens and was happy; I quitted her and still was happy.
Whether I rambled through the woods, over the hills, or strolled
along the valley; read, was idle, worked in the garden, or gathered
fruits, happiness continually accompanied me.'

He offered his morning prayer from a hill-top, and in the evening,
before he left, stooped to kiss the ground and the trees, gazing till
they were out of sight at the places where he had been so happy.

At the Hermitage with Therese there was a similar idyll.

The most epoch--making event in European feeling for Nature was the
appearance of _La Nouvelle Heloise_ (1761). The book overflows with
Rousseau's raptures about the Lake of Geneva. St Preux says:

'The nearer I drew to Switzerland, the greater were my emotions. That
instant in which I discovered the Lake of Geneva from the heights of
Jura, was a moment of ecstasy and rapture. The sight of my country,
my beloved country, where a deluge of pleasure had overflowed my
heart; the pure and wholesome air of the Alps, the gentle breeze of
the country, more sweet than the perfumes of the East; that rich and
fertile spot, that unrivalled landscape, the most beautiful that ever
struck the eye of man, that delightful abode, to which I found
nothing comparable in the vast tour of the globe; the mildness of the
season, the serenity of the climate, a thousand pleasing
recollections which recalled to my mind the pleasures I had
enjoyed;--all these circumstances together threw me into a kind of
transport which I cannot describe, and seemed to collect the
enjoyment of my whole life into one happy moment.'

_La Nouvelle Heloise_ shewed the world three thin