June 23, 2009
Flame Wars in the Age of Reason (1766)
Never one to let a good deed go unpunished, Jean Jacques Rousseau writes a letter on this day to Scottish philosopher David Hume, accusing him of conspiring to dishonour him. It was his characteristic way of saying thank you to those who helped him. When Rousseau's notorious publications attacking the ancien regime and religion made France and Switzerland too hot for him, Hume was asked to find a home for the writer in England. Hume, his works ignored in England and Scotland, had found a home for a time in Paris, where he was known as "le bon David." So he was inclined to help Rousseau, who had vigorously praised Hume: "Your great views, your astonishing impartiality, your genius, would lift you far above the rest of mankind, if you were less attached to them by the goodness of your heart.”
Baron D'Holbach, tried to warn Hume: "you don't know your man. I will tell you plainly, you're warming a viper in your bosom." But Rousseau considered him an enemy, and Hume paid him no mind.
Six months later, Hume had to agree with the baron. Rousseau hated living in London. He wanted to live in the country, where he could pursue his interest in botany and continue writing his "Confessions." So he was moved again, first to Chiswick, then in March to a country house in Staffordshire.
But along the way, he began to suspect a plot against him. His letters were being read. His papers were in danger of being seized. The pressure increased until it burst in his letter to Hume, where he accused "le bon David" of being behind the plot: "You brought me to England, apparently to procure a refuge for me, and in reality to dishonour me. You applied yourself to this noble endeavour with a zeal worthy of your heart and with an art worthy of your talents."
Hume was shocked. He feared for his reputation. Rousseau's pen could wreck his good name, and the news of the feud was already spreading by letter and salon throughout the intelligensia of two nations. Could Hume risk not responding to the charges while Rousseau was already calling Hume "noir, black, and a coquin, knave." He wrote back demanding that Rousseau put up or shut up. What proof did he have?
This proved a mistake. While Hume was a man from the Age of Reason, Rousseau relied on emotions and feelings, bending the facts to fulfill his preconceived notions. He fired back with a long, blistering letter, written with a novelist's eye for drama, overwhelming with emotion but playing fast and loose with the facts. For example, as evidence of a plot, Rousseau wrote that he had heard Hume mutter in his sleep "Je tiens JJ Rousseau" ─ "I have JJ Rousseau."
Not a night passes but I think I hear, I have you JJ Rousseau ring in my ears, as if he had just pronounced them. Yes, Mr Hume, you have me, I know, but only by those things that are external to me ... You have me by my reputation, and perhaps my security ... Yes, Mr Hume, you have me by all the ties of this life, but you do not have me by my virtue or my courage."Hume tried to respond effectively in an essay, "Concise and Genuine Account of the Dispute between Mr. Hume and Mr. Rousseau," but this added fuel to the flame war. Everyone piled on, either drawn in by the charges (such as King George III and whether or not he promised Rousseau a royal pension), or the enemies of Hume or Rousseau who saw it as an opportunity for payback. Anonymous letters appeared in the press, blasting Rousseau for his lack of gratitude, while Hume was roasted for his perceived lack of hospitality and respect for the eminent philosopher.
But was Rousseau wrong to suspect Hume? In "Rousseau's Dog," from which much of this account was taken, David Edmonds and John Eidinow make the case that Hume, his best work behind him and jealous of Rousseau's popularity, was not quite a pure of reason as he claimed. He had his friends in France investigate Rousseau's finances to see if he was as poor as he claimed. He may even have contributed to the notorious "King of Prussia" letter that Hugh Walpole circulated. This satirical letter, purporting to be from the King to Rousseau, promised sanctuary, saying "If you want new misfortunes, I am a king and can make you as miserable as you can wish." While claiming not to know anything about the letter, history shows that he was present at two dinners where Walpole read his satire at the table.
Eventually, the wildfire of talk burned itself out, leaving both men personally exhausted but their reputations intact. Rousseau returned to France, having found another protector, and Hume was left to reflect on the controversy. One wonders if he recalled a prescient line from his "Concise Account."
"Quarrels among men of letters," he wrote, "are a scandal to philosophy."
Born: Typewriter patented, 1868; Irvin S. Cobb, humorist, journalist, Paducah, Ky., 1876; Anna Akhmatova (ps. Anna Gorenko), poet, near Odessa, Russia, 1889; Jean Anouilh, playwright, Bordeaux, France, 1910; Theodore Taylor, novelist, Statesville, N.C., 1921; Richard Bach, author, aviator, Oak Park, Ill., 1936; David Leavitt, novelist, short-story writer, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1961; Miss Piggy, self-help author, star.
Died: William Kirby, historical novelist, Niagara, Ontario, 1906; Michael Arlen, novelist, short-story writer, New York City, 1956; Boris Vian, novelist, playwright, Paris, 1959; Shana Alexander, journalist, author, Hermosa Beach, Calif., 2005.
Quote for the Day: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” — Miss Piggy, best-selling self-help author, who was born today in YEAR
Also from “Writers 365”:
- Dictionary Johnson and Mrs. Thrale’s Flail (1765)
- Rabbie Burns stands for fornication (1786)
- Gibbon finishes Decline and Fall (1787)
- John Milton rises from the grave (1790)
- Gomer Pyle Coleridge (1793)
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