Editing Jean-Jacques Rousseau (section)

====Letter of Walpole====
On 1 January 1766, [[Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm|Grimm]] included in his "Correspondance littéraire" a letter said to have been written by Frederick the Great to Rousseau. It had actually been composed by [[Horace Walpole]] as a playful hoax.{{NoteTag|"My present fame is owing to a very trifling composition, but which has made incredible noise. I was one evening at [[Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin|Mme Geoffrin's]] joking on Rousseau's affectations and contradictions, and said some things that diverted them. When I came home I put them in a letter, and showed it next day to Helvetius and the Duc de Nivernois; who were so pleased with it that, after telling me some faults in the language, ... they encouraged me to let it be seen. As you know, I willingly laugh at mountebanks, political or literary, let their talents be ever so great; I was not averse. The copies have spread like wildfire, et ''me voici à la mode'' [and behold, I am in fashion] ... Here is the letter:<br />''The King of Prussia to M.Rousseau: My dear Jean Jacques:''<br />'You have renounced Geneva, your fatherland; you have had yourself chased from Switzerland, a country so much praised in your writings; France has issued a warrant against you. Come, then, to me; I admire your talents; I am amused by your dreams, which (be it said in passing) occupy you too much and too long. You must at last be wise and happy. You have had yourself talked of enough for peculiarities hardly fitting to a truly great man. Show your enemies that you can sometimes have common sense; this will annoy them without doing you harm. My states offer you a peaceful retreat; I wish you well, and would like to help you if you can find it good. But if you continue to reject my aid, be assured that I shall tell no one. If you persist in racking your brains to find new misfortunes, choose such as you may desire; I am king, and can procure any to suit your wishes; and—what surely will never happen to you among your enemies—I shall cease to persecute you when you cease to find your glory in being persecuted.'<br />''Your good friend,''<br />''Frederick''<br />—Horace Walpole's letter to H. S. Conway, dated 12 January 1766{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|p=208}}}} Walpole had never met Rousseau, but he was well acquainted with Diderot and Grimm. The letter soon found wide publicity;{{sfn|Damrosch|2005|pp=420–421}} Hume is believed to have been present, and to have participated in its creation.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|pp=208–209}} On 16 February 1766, Hume wrote to the Marquise de Brabantane: "The only pleasantry I permitted myself in connection with the pretended letter of the King of Prussia was made by me at the dinner table of Lord Ossory." This letter was one of the reasons for the later rupture in Hume's relations with Rousseau.{{sfn|Damrosch|2005|pp=420–421}}