Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778)
Finished my re-reading of de Nerval (except for playing around with the bilingual sonnets). Wanted to try Rousseau's Julie (de Nerval alludes to Rousseau and his work quite often), but I've not yet found a free or reasonable Kindle version so I've opted for his Emile . We'll see if I finish it. Thus far I've enjoyed the "breastfeeding plea": But when mothers deign to nurse their own children, then will be a reform in morals; natural feeling will revive in every heart; there will be no lack of citizens for the state; this first step by itself will restore mutual affection. The charms of home are the best antidote to vice. The noisy play of children, which we thought so trying, becomes a delight; mother and father rely more on each to one another; the marriage tie is strengthened. In the cheerful home life the mother finds her sweetest duties and the father his pleasantest recreation. Thus the cure of this one evil would work a wide-spread reformation...