 Virtually all our information about Rousseau's youth has come from his posthumously published "Confessions", in which the chronology is somewhat confused, though recent scholars have combed the archives for confirming evidence to fill in the blanks.At age 13, Rousseau was apprenticed first to a notary and then to an engraver who beat him.At 15, he ran away from Geneva (on 14 March 1728) after returning to the city and finding the city gates locked due to the curfew.