LETTER III

P. 22, 1. 2. Une copie manuscrite. The Censure was voted on 31 January, but did not appear in print until 17 February, a fortnight’s grâce being allowed in case Arnauld chose to recant. Declining to do so, he was duly degraded on 15 February.

P. 22, 1. 3. Je me suis trouvé , etc. Notice the academie tone of this paragraph, suitable in a reply to an academie letter.

P. 22, 1. 27. on les accusoit ouvertement , etc. For the story of the Conférence at Bourg-Fontaine in 1621, see Letter XYI. and notes.

P. 23, 1. 4. si atroces ; 1. 7. détestables (see critical notes). The softening of the vigour of Pascal’s original expressions throughout this Letter is to be noted.

P. 23, 1. 8. ses plus déclarez ennemis. Cf. Haase, § 155, B.

P. 23, 1. 8. tout leur estude. The amateur philologists of the sixteenth century tried to make masculine nouns of “ étude” and other words derived from féminine plurals, e.g. “ œuvre ”, They partly succeeded,

but Vaugelas in 1647 fixed the gender of “ étude ” as féminine for ail senses, while Malherbe distinguished between “étude” masc. = “the action of study,” and “ étude ” fem. = “ the place of study

P. 23, 1. 27. ses Apologies . . . en plusieurs colonnes, viz., the Epistola et aller Apologeticus ... ad sacram facultatem Parisiensem, 17 January, 1656 ( Œuvres d'Arnauld, t. xix., pp. 628 ff.), in which Arnauld set out in three columns the incriminated passage from his second Letter and the texts of St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom which support it. This Ecrit à trois Colonnes must be distinguished from the more famous one presented to the Pope in 1653 by M. Lalane, one of the Jansenists who went to Rome to plead the cause of the Augustinus. Cf. Sainte-Beuve, P. R., t. iii., p. 17. Arnauld’s Epistola is preceded by a really noble covering letter (16 January) from which Pascal borrows the passage of St. Augustine “que Jésus Christ nous montre un juste,” etc.

P. 24, 1. 7. autant differente. Cf. Haase, § 98, A.

P. 25, 1. 7. les plus horribles qu'on pourr oit former. Cf. Haase, § 75, Rem. III.

P. 25, 1. 26. La vérité est si délicate. Contrast with this ironical passage the serious treatment of the same theme in the Pensées : “ La justice et la vérité sont deux pointes si subtiles que nos instrumens sont trop mousses pour y toucher exactement. S’ils y arrivent, ils en ecachent la pointe, et appuyent tout autour, plus sur le faux que sur le vray ” (No. 82).

P. 26, 1. 7. la première question , i.e. “de fait”.

P. 26, 1. 35. on crie dans les rues. Arnauld’s censure was cried in the streets from 22 February.

P. 27, 1. 8. par un catéchisme. Such as were frequently held in the church of St. Louis (the présent church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in the rue Saint- Antoine). Pascal gives an example of a catechism in Letter XVII.

P. 27, 1. 10. Une procession. Pascal refers to a procession through the streets of Mâcon on Shrove Tuesday, 1651. A schoolboy dressed up as “ Sufficient Grâce ” dragged after him a bishop of Ypres with blackened face and a paper mitre. Cf. Hermant, Mém., t. i., p. 521.

P. 27, 1. 11. une comedie. Nicole tells us that this was a play produced at the Collège de Clermont.

P. 27, 1. 12. un Almanach. The Almanach in question was issued in December, 1653. It represented the Rout and Confusion of the Jansenists. Jansen, furnished with bats’ wings, is followed by Error, Ignorance, and Fraud. The Pope, escorted by Religion and the Church, blasts him with thunder. The King, surrounded by Zeal, Piety, and Concord, smites him with sword and sceptre. Jansen’s followers flee for refuge to Calvin. Port-Royal replied to this explosion of bad taste by a set of verse entitled Les Enlumineures du fameux almanach des Pères Jésuites , first édition, January 15, second édition (2,200 execrable lines), 10 February, 1654. Here is an example ; — •

NOTES

“ Enfin Molina, plein de gloire,

Triomphe avec sa bande noire,

Le titre arbitre audacieux Domine la grâce des cieux,

Et l’humble Augustin en déroute

Crie en vain qu’au moins on l’écoute. . . .”

The discrédit of the Enlumineures belongs to the gentle M. de Saci, one of Arnauld’s nephews, and a “ solitary That Pascal’s taste was offended thereby is évident from the Pensées : “les Enlumineures m’ont fait tort” (No. 925).

P. 27, 1. 19. un sçavant Théologien. Was tliis Pascal himself? Cf. “ Ce sont d’habiles gens. Ils ont craint que les lettres qu’on escrit aux provinciaux” {Pensées, No. 925).

P. 27, 1. 24. pour exposer simplement , etc. See above, note on p. 1,

P. 27, 1. 26. s'esta?it voulu . . . écarter. Cf. Haase, § 68, Rem. II.

P. 27, 1. 28. le second apologétique. See above, note on p. 23, 1. 27.

P. 27, 1. 40. l'acte de M. Arnauld. See above, note on p. 1, 1. 6.

P. 28, 1. 27. Ce n'est que dans M. Arnauld. Cf. “Une proposition est bonne dans un autheur et meschante dans un autre. Ouy : mais il y a donc d’autres mauvaises propositions ” ( Pensées , No. 925).

P. 28, 1. 40. Ce n'est que sa personne. See Introduction, p. xxv.

P. 29. E.A.A.B.P .A.F.D.E.P. The most probable expansion of these initiais is “ Et Ancien Ami Biaise Pascal Auvergnat Fils De Etienne Pascal ”. A contemporary but unlikely suggestion is that the letters “ E. A.A.” represent “ Et Antoine Arnauld ” ; that they originally came at the end of the sériés and were shifted to the front in order either to baffle curiosity or to do bonour to Arnauld. In any case Arnauld’s share in the Letter, whether direct or indirect, is apparent throughout.