In his study published in 1890, Schmidt examines the personal relationship and intellectual kinship between Rousseau and Byron, demonstrating the impact of Rousseau's philosophical ideas on the work of the English poet. Although Byron always denied this, Schmidt identifies a "most strange and remarkable similarity ... between Rousseau and Byron, which could not have arisen without some influence of one on the other." This book is a reprint of the long out-of-print original edition from 1890.