Virginia." He returned to Paris poor in purse, but rich in observation
and mental resources, and resolved to devote himself to literature. By
the Baron de Breteuil he was recommended to D'Alembert, who procured
a publisher for his "Voyage," and also introduced him to Mlle. de
l'Espinasse. But no one, in spite of his great beauty, was so ill
calculated to shine or please in society as St. Pierre. His manners
were timid and embarrassed, and, unless to those with whom he was very
intimate, he scarcely appeared intelligent.

It is sad to think, that misunderstanding should prevail to such an
extent, and heart so seldom really speak to heart, in the intercourse of
the world, that the most humane may appear cruel, and the sympathizing
indifferent. Judging of Mlle. de l'Espinasse from her letters, and the
testimony of her contemporaries, it seems quite impossible that she
could have given pain to any one, more particularly to a man possessing
St. Pierre's extraordinary talent and profound sensibility. Both she and
D'Alembert were capable of appreciating him; but the society in which
they moved laughed at his timidity, and the tone of raillery in which
they often indulged was not understood by him. It is certain that he
withdrew from their circle with wounded and mortified feelings, and, in
spite of an explanatory letter from D'Alembert, did not return to it.
The inflictors of all this pain, in the meantime, were possibly as
unconscious of the meaning attached to their words, as were the birds of
old of the augury drawn from their flight.

St. Pierre, in his "Preambule de l'Arcadie," has pathetically and
eloquently described the deplorable state of his health and feelings,
after frequent humiliating disputes and disappointments had driven him
from society; or rather, when, like Rousseau, he was "self-banished"
from it.