“Henriette”

This chapter presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau's letter to “Henriette” on November 4, 1764. Rousseau begins the letter by telling “Henriette” that he mistook her for someone else, saying that “there are in your situation such striking similarities to that of a different person who was precisely at Neuchâtel when I received your letter.” He then discusses “Henriette's” character, assessing whether “this sensitivity that makes you dissatisfied with everything not have folded back on itself; must it not have nourished your heart with a sublime and delightful sentiment of amour-propre; does not one always have in it a resource against injustice and the compensation for insensitivity.” Rousseau also acknowledges “how distressing for sensitive hearts the need for attachment makes the impossibility of forming any.” Ultimately, he talks about solitude and happiness.