ce he had left Switzerland
six months before. The first fruits of this unfortunate leisure were a
bitter quarrel with Hume, one of the most famous and far-resounding of
all the quarrels of illustrious men, but one about which very little
needs now be said. The merits of it are plain, and all significance
that may ever have belonged to it is entirely dead. The incubation of
his grievances began immediately after his arrival at Wootton, but two
months elapsed before they burst forth in full flame.[359]

The general charge against Hume was that he was a member of an
accursed triumvirate; Voltaire and D'Alembert were the other partners;
and their object was to blacken the character of Rousseau and render
his life miserable. The particular acts on which this belief was
established were the following:--

(1) While Rousseau was in Paris, there appeared a letter nominally
addressed to him by the King of Prussia, and written in an ironical
strain, which persuaded Jean Jacques himself that it was the work of
Voltaire.[360] Then he suspected D'Alembert. It was really the
composition of Horace Walpole, who was then in Paris. Now Hume was the
friend of Walpole, and had given Rousseau a card of introduction to
him for the purpose of entrusting Walpole with the carriage of some
papers. Although the false letter produced the liveliest amusement at
Rousseau's cost, first in Paris and then in London, Hume, while
feigning to be his warm friend and presenting him to the English
public, never took any pains to tell the world that the piece was a
forgery, nor did he break with its wicked author.[361] (2) When
Rousseau assured Hume that D'Alembert was a cunning and dishonourable
man, Hume denied it with an amazing heat, although he well knew the
latter to be Rousseau's enemy.[362] (3) Hume lived in London with the
son of Tronchin, the Genevese surgeon, and the most mortal of all the
foes of Jean Jacques.[363] (4) When Rousseau first came to London, his
reception was a distinguished triumph for the victim of persecution
from so many governments. England was proud of being his place of
refuge, and justly vaunted the freedom of her laws and administration.
Suddenly and for no assignable cause the public tone changed, the
newspapers either fell silent or else spoke unfavourably, and Rousseau
was thought of no more. This must have been due to Hume, who had much
influence among people of credit, and who went about boasting of the
protection which