À l'entrée, archaic=M.F. au commencement

56. Pascal hère quotes the most important Fathers of the Church in order to render more striking the comparative insignificance of the new authorities. He arranges the strange-sounding names of the latter (of which we spare the reader thirty-nine) according to the assonance of termination, in order to render the effect more grotesque. His taste in giving the list has been questioned. It irritated the Jesuits profoundly, and they retorted by issuing a counter list ; but the first name in it was Luther ! Most of the names in Pascal's list are Spanish. According to M. Molinier, an erudite editor of the Provinciales, the spelling of the names is not beyond reproach (Tom. IL, p. 239 ; Lemerre, Paris).