Rousseau's Preface to La Nouvelle Heloise (1769), which Casanova mocks for pomposity begins:
"Great cities require public theatres and romances are necessary to a corrupt people. I saw the manners of the times and have published these letters..." and continues "...the style will offend people of taste; to austere men the matter will be alarming, and all the sentiments will seem unnatural to those who know not what is meant by the word virtue...By whom will it be approved? Perhaps only by myself."
Return to Casanova, Part One.
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