Read in the Garniere editions, now have notes on Books 1, 2, 7, 11 and 12. Yearly I would teach a bit of Rousseau in my sophomore survey of Western Literature. In Book 1, I would emphasize his reaction to his Nurse's early "chatiment," punishment, which he did not mind, and rather enjoyed; however,
"le même chatiment recu de son frere ne m'eut point du tout par plaisant."(1.p.19). He did not like the same punishment from her brother. He even suspected there was some "precocious instinct of sexuality" involved. I would ask them which of their classes taught them something similar. Usually some good student would say, Psychology! Yes, I'd respond, Rousseau had the profound insight of a Freud a century before: He didn't mind being whipped by his nurse, a female, though he hated it from a man.
Rousseau further ironizes, "To be on ones knees before an imperious Lady or Dame, to obey her orders, to ask her pardon, was for me a sweet joy inflaming my blood with the air of a lover. One concedes that this kind of loving does not lead to rapid progress, nor does it greatly endanger the virtue of those who are its object." In our period of famous males and their sexual assaults, from Harvey Weinstein to Bill O'Reilly to the US President, Rousseau's irony grows.
We learn how Rousseau gained insights, such as on being punished, six years later, in Bk VII.
"I easily forget my troubles, but I am not able to forget my faults, and even less, my good feelings. The main object of these confessions is to make known all my inner feelings during every period of my life." (p.323)

He contrasts his own work with the great English novelist Richardson, praised by Diderot for his multiplicity of characters (still later, Bk XI): "It is easy to awaken readers' attention with new characters, who pass like figures from a magic lantern (or now, film); but, to sustain this level of attention on the same object, without marvels and adventures, this is more difficult. And all things being equal, if I can sustain such attention, the novels of Richardson would not be superior to my own work."(p.644)
Towards the end, Rousseau criticizes his own tendency to do lots of things, though achieve none of them, to change his intentions at a moment's notice--say, to move a rock to see what's underneath it. Or to undertake a decade's work, but abandon it in ten minutes, to follow the "caprice of the moment." In fact, his new consuming interest, filling all his leisure moments, is "botanique," running through the woods and fields, taking a branch here, a flower, observing thousands of times the same things, able to pass though an eternity without bothering me one moment." (p.762)
Irving Babbit's R & Romanticism (1919) notes that Rousseau was th first to use the term, "creative imagination" in remarking on his erotic fantasies (Bk IX). ( )