Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU (1712-1778). L.A.S., Wootton February 21, 1767, to Richard Davenport; 2pages in-4. On his library and Dictionnaire de musique during his stay in England, where Davenport had hosted Rousseau at his residence in Wootton Hall (Straffordshire). "If I had foreseen, Monsieur, all the embarrassments that my wretched books give you, I would not have had the indiscretion to expose you to them, and if they could remain with you in some corner of the furniture repository, I would no longer think of selling them; but what to do with them when you leave your apartment? that is the difficulty. I replied to Mr. Dutens, asking him to see if there wasn't some empty corner in his house where he could throw them away. I had imagined, I confess, that it would be a kind of amusement for you to leaf through them at your leisure, and to pick out little by little those that might suit you or one of your friends. You would have had a bookseller put a price on them, and everything else would have been put on the fire, and everything would have happened quietly and without the public knowing anything about it. But I must confess that all this glitter of a sale gives me mortal grief, and I wish Mr. Du Peyrou had thrown all these books into the lake when he decided to send them to me, against my will. The parcel you were kind enough to send me last and which I have not yet received contains the leaves of my Dictionnaire de Musique, which is not yet in print; the bookseller, who is waiting for me to see them, had taken the liberty of sending them directly to you; but my cousin, unofficial as usual, intercepted the parcel and held it up for two weeks or more. This delay is of no concern to me, but it is very detrimental to the bookseller. I am much obliged to you for your kindness in sending this parcel immediately. The rain has finally stopped, but we have terrible winds. As I don't think they are so bad for your condition, I hope and long to hear soon that you are better. My compliments, I beg you, and those of Mlle Le Vasseur to your dear children and ladies"...