on different from
my own.

Had this manner of life been to my taste, I should have been consoled for
a heavy expense, which I dedicated to my pleasures; but to ruin myself at
the same time that I fatigued my mind, was insupportable, and I had so
felt the weight of this, that, profiting by the interval of liberty I
then had, I was determined to perpetuate it, and entirely to renounce
great companies, the composition of books, and all literary concerns, and
for the remainder of my days to confine myself to the narrow and peaceful
sphere in which I felt I was born to move.

The produce of this letter to D'Alembert, and of the New Elosia, had a
little improved the state of my finances, which had been considerably
exhausted at the Hermitage. Emilius, to which, after I had finished
Eloisa, I had given great application, was in forwardness, and the
produce of this could not be less than the sum of which I was already in
possession. I intended to place this money in such a manner as to
produce me a little annual income, which, with my copying, might be
sufficient to my wants without writing any more. I had two other works
upon the stocks. The first of these was my 'Institutions Politiques'.
I examined the state of this work, and found it required several years'
labor. I had not courage enough to continue it, and to wait until it was
finished before I carried my intentions into execution. Therefore,
laying the book aside, I determined to take from it all I could, and to
burn the rest; and continuing this with zeal without interrupting
Emilius, I finished the 'Contrat Social'.

The dictionary of music now remained. This was mechanical, and might be
taken up at any time; the object of it was entirely pecuniary. I
reserved to myself the liberty of laying it aside, or of finishing it at
my ease, according as my other resources collected should render this
necessary or superfluous. With respect to the 'Morale Sensitive',
of which I had made nothing more than a sketch, I entirely gave it up.

As my last project, if I found I could not entirely do without copying,
was that of removing from Paris, where the affluence of my visitors
rendered my housekeeping expensive, and deprived me of the time I should
have turned to advantage to provide for it; to prevent in my retirement
the state of lassitude into which an author is said to fall when he has
laid down his pen, I reserved to myself an occupation which might fill up
the vo