ter." He hated rain as much
as he loved sun, so he must once have lost all the mystic fascination
of the green Savoy lakes gleaming luminous through pale showers, and
now again must have lost the sombre majesty of the pines of his valley
dripping in torn edges of cloud, and all those other sights in
landscape that touch subtler parts of us than comforted sense.

One of his favourite journeys was to Colombier, the summer retreat of
Lord Marischal. For him he rapidly conceived the same warm friendship
which he felt for the Duke of Luxembourg, whom he had just left. And
the sagacious, moderate, silent Scot had as warm a liking for the
strange refugee who had come to him for shelter, or shall we call it a
kind of shaggy compassion, as of a faithful inarticulate creature. His
letters, which are numerous enough, abound in expressions of hearty
good-will. These, if we reflect on the genuine worth, veracity,
penetration, and experience of the old man who wrote them, may fairly
be counted the best testimony that remains to the existence of
something sterling at the bottom of Rousseau's character.[119] It is
here no insincere fine lady of the French court, but a homely and
weather-beaten Scotchman, who speaks so often of his refugee's
rectitude of heart and true sensibility.[120]

He insisted on being allowed to settle a small sum on Theresa, who
had joined Rousseau at Motiers, and in other ways he showed a true
solicitude and considerateness both for her and for him.[121] It was
his constant dream, that on his return to Scotland, Jean Jacques
should accompany him, and that with David Hume, they would make a trio
of philosophic hermits; that this was no mere cheery pleasantry is
shown by the pains he took in settling the route for the journey.[122]
The plan only fell through in consequence of Frederick's cordial
urgency that his friend should end his days with him; he returned to
Prussia and lived at Sans Souci until the close, always retaining
something of his good-will for "his excellent savage," as he called
the author of the Discourses. They had some common antipathies,
including the fundamental one of dislike to society, and especially to
the society of the people of Neuchatel, the Gascons of Switzerland.
"Rousseau is gay in company," Lord Marischal wrote to Hume, "polite,
and what the French call _aimable_, and gains ground daily in the
opinion of even the clergy here. His enemies elsewhere continue to
persecute him, and