LETTER XV

A note in Mlle. Joncoux’s édition of “Wendrock” states that Arnauld collaborated with Pascal in this letter ; but Jacques Fouillou (1670-1736), a Jansenist of the second génération, in a MS. belonging to M. A. Gazier, records a different tradition : “ la 15e est toute de Pascal”. Cf. Œuvres, t. iv., p. ix.

P. 177, 1. 5. que j’ ay promis. Cf. Haase, § 35, C.

P. 178, 1. 4. à ne plus croire vos impostures. See Pensées, No. 921.

P. 178, 1. 15. ce point de vostre morale, i.e. the venial character of calumny.

P. 178, 1. 17. je m'adresse à vous, etc. See Pensées, No. 921.

P. 178, 1. 18. sans que vous puissiez, etc., trs. “ defying your own confidence to deny it without owning at the same time the very thing with which I reproach you ”.

P. 178, 1. 23. vos theses de Louvain. Maynard questions the authenticity of these exercises, but Arnauld gives chapter and verse for them in his Reflexions sur un Decret de l'Inquisition (1651) and in his Remonstrance aux Peres Jésuites (1651), and the proposition in question was condemned by the Archbishop of Louvain in 1654. Cf. Reusch, Index, ii. , 516; Argentré, Collectio Judiciorum , iii. , 6, 267, 283.

P. 178, 1. 26. quidni non nisi veniale. . . . The exact words as twice quoted by Arnauld are “ Non est peccatum saltem lethale detrahentis,” etc. The exact translation is “ It is not indeed a deadly sin to ruin by a false accusation the authority of your detractor if that authority is weighty and harmful to you ”.

P. 178, 1. 30. temeraire. See above, note on p. 1, 1. 15.

P. 178, 1. 31. Quiroga. Diego Quiroga (1566-1648), a Spanish Capuchin, long résident in Austria.

P. 178, 1. 32. Dicastillus. Juan de Dicastillo (1585-1653), professor of theology at Toledo and Yienna, died at Ingolstadt ; author of De justitia et jure ceterisque cardinalibus virtutibus (Antwerp, 1641). Nicole gives in full the passage which Pascal summarizes.

P. 179, 1. 5. Jean Qans. Johann Gans (1591-1662), confessor of the Emperor Ferdinand III.

P. 179, 1. 6. Daniel Bastele. Daniel Bastelio is known to hâve been confessor of Léopold, brother of Ferdinand III., in 1640

P. 179, 1. 6. le P. Henry is not mentioned in Sommervogel.

P. 179, 1. 13. P. de Pennalossa. Ambrosio de Penalosa (1588-1605), preacher to Philip IV. of Spain.

P. 179, 1. 15. le P. Pilliceroli , not in Sommervogel.

P. 179, 1. 21. Caramouel. See above, note on p., 59, 1. 29. The work quoted is the Theologia moralis.

P. 179, 1. 28. ses chefs , “ its capital points”.

P. 179, 1. 40. V Impératrice. Maria, daughter of Philip III. of Spain.

P. 180, 1. 25. en seureté de conscience. Cf. Pensées, No. 895.

P. 180, 1. 32. P. Brisacier. See above, note on p. 131, 1. 34.

P. 180, 1. 34. P. d'Anjou. Jean Danjou (1611-1683).

P. 180, 1. 35. dans l'Eglise de S. Benoist , etc. The incident is referred to by Arnauld in his Seconde Lettre.

P. 180, 1. 37. les pauvres de Picardie et de Champagne. There had been terrible want in these provinces during the winter of 1649, and the harvest of 1650 had been pillaged by the Spanish troops under Turenne. A handsome collection was made in Paris between September, 1650, and May, 1651, to relieve this distress.

P. 181, 1. 2. le curé de cette paroisse. M. Grenet.

P. 181, 1. 4. P. Crasset. Jean Crasset (1618-1692), a great preacher and a prolific author, who between 1641 and 1689 wrote a vast number of devotional books (some of which were translated into various languages, including English) and also a History of the Church in Japan. The story of his adventure at Orléans is told by Rapin in his Mémoires, t. ii., p. 166. A summary of Crasset’s sermon was printed by the Jesuits at Rouen, and the bishop of Orléans (Alphonse d’Elbène, nephew of the historian) renewed his censure in yet more stringent terms.

P. 181, 1. 28. M. Puys. Benoit Puys, Oratorian, f 1654. His book was entitled Le théophile parroissial de la messe de paroisse (Lyons, 1649) and purported to be a translation of a Latin work by a Capuchin. The Jesuit Henri Albi answered it by L'Anti-theophile Parroissial . . . traduit en françois du latin d'un auteur Flamand, which contains the passage signalized by Pascal. Puys then wrote under his own name a Besponse Chrestienne a un libelle anonyme, honteux et diffamatoire, etc., upholding the rights of the secular clergy against the regulars. Albi had the last word in the Apologie pour l'anti-parroissial, etc., in which he allowed liimself a clever but very impertinent play on Puys’ name, quoting Gen. xxvi. 20 : “ quamobrem nomen putei ex eo quod acciderat, vocavit calumniam”. Ail these pamphlets were issued at Lyons in 1649. The parties were reconciled in the following year, as Pascal describes.

P. 181, 1. 32. d'un autre capucin, i.e. other than P. Quiroga, recently mentioned.

P. 181, 1. 36. ancien Pasteur, ancien here = “ venerable ,” not “ former ”.

NOTES

P. 181, 1. 37. juge de la Primatie de France. The full title was “ Juge lieutenant (or surrogate) en la Primatie de France”. Primatie is the sphere of a Primate’s jurisdiction. There were three “primaties” in France, viz. Lyons = p. des Gaules; Bourges = p. d’Aquitaine; Rouen = p. de Normandie.

P. 181, 1. 40. jour de V Assomption, i.e. 15 August.

P. 182, 1. 5. il falloit que vous le vissiez, etc., trs. “ You ought to hâve seen him acquitted of his errors before judging him worthy of your friendship ”.

P. 183, 1. 8. il a failly, “ he made a mistake”.

P. 183, 3. 28. vous me donnez si souvent ce nom. The refrain of the Première Response is “ The Jansenists are heretics,” “ L’on pouvoit ne donner autre réponse à ces mauvaises Lettres que ces trois mots, les Jansenists sont heretiques ”.

P. 183, 1. 34. il faudroit que vous f lissiez bien revenus, etc., trs. “ You must needs be wonderfully recovered from your errors if you own that ”. There is no reason to doubt Pascal’s sincerity, though his method of seeking the good of his adversaries is a severe one.

P. 184, 1. 1. ni marque ni vestige. Pascal gives the reference for this quotation on the next page.

P. 184, 1. 6. la 9e de vos impostures, i.e. “ Impostures des occasions de pecher,” in answer to Letter Y.

P. 184, 1. 6. aussi bien, etc., trs. “ and indeed they none of tliem need more than a cursory réfutation ”.

P. 184, 1. 9. Bauny. See above, note on p. 48, 1. 18.

P. 184, 1. 15. on est accoustumè de. Cf. Haase, § 112, B.

P. 184, 1. 17. Caussin. See above, note on p. 112, 1. 40. Caussin’s Apologie pour les Religieux de la Compagnie de Jésus is dedicated to the Queen Regent.

P. 184, 1. 24. Pintereau. See above, note on p. 114, 1. 35.

P. 184, 1. 24. 1 Part, p. 24, of Les Impostures et les Ignorances par Vabbe de Boisic, written in answer to Arnauld’s Théologie Morale des Jésuites .

P. 184, 1. 30. imposé au P. Bauny, “unjustly accused P. Bauny”.

P. 185, 1. 2. l'Eschole, i.e. the scholastic System of divinity.

P. 185, 1. 8. en 1644, i.e. by Caussin and Pinthereau.

P. 185, 1. 10. cette reconnaissance, “ this confession ”.

P. 185, 1. 28. non pas selon la vérité, etc. Cf. ‘‘Le changement de leur stile n’est pas l’effet de la conversion do leur cœur ”. . . . Second Ecrit des Curez de Paris, which there is good reason for attributing to Pascal.

P. 185, 1. 35. tr. 4, etc. See above

P. 186, 1. 5. page 18 should be page 19.

P. 186, 1. 19. tout homme est menteur. Cf. Ps. cxvi. 11.

P. 187, 1. 2. Lettre d'un Ministre. The title of this pamphlet is Copie d'une Lettre du Sr. D. H. Ministre, au Sr. Arnauld, docteur de Sorbonne (18 June, 1644).

P. 187, 1. 9. Lettre circulaire. Lettre circulaire à Messieurs les disciples de Saint Augustin , incorporated in Les Inconvenances d'Estat du Jansénisme , 1654. Arnanld complains of this book in his Seconde Lettre.

P. 187, 1. 12. P. Meynier . . . p. 28. Bertrand Meynier (1604-1682). Meynier’s book is Port-Royal et Geneve d'intelligence contre le très Saint Sacrement de l'Autel , etc. (1656), to which Pascal returns in Letter XYI.

P. 187, 1. 14. les Constitutions du Saint Sacrement. This imaginary work was referred to in the Response du Sieur Arnauld ou Analyste (? by P. Séguin).

P. 187, 1. 30. Bénédictins. See Letter XYI., postscript. Pascal and his friends were evidently expecting help from the other Orders in their warfare with the Company. Thus Nicole in his notes to the Latin translation of th q Provinciales says : “ Nec obscurè tota sancti Benedicti et sancti Dominici familia ac congregationis. Oratorii presbyteri quam ab istis sententiis alieni sunt passim significant.”

P. 187, 1. 31. Valerien. Valeriano Magni (1587-1661). A scion of the noble Milanese house of Magni, who assumed the name of Yalerianus on entering the order of Capucins. Urban VIII. made him apostolic missionary for Germany, Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary. He was engaged in long and bitter controversy with the Jesuits, whom he accused of beresy and lax morality, and whom he enraged by his attacks on Aristotle, and especially by procuring in 1631 the suppression of the “ Jesuitissae,” founded by Mary Ward in 1609 (s eeD.N.B., Supplément, Vol. III., S.V.). He was thrown into prison at Vienna for conceding to the Protestants that papal supremacy was founded on tradition ; but Ferdinand III. released him just in time to die. Besides controversy, he busied himself with physical experiments.

P. 187, 1. 34. réussi à la conversion. Cf. Haase, § 121, A.

P. 187, 1. 34. le Landgrave de Darmstadt. Yaleriano’s illustrious convert was not the Landgrave of Darmstadt, but Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse Rheinsfeld, who became the friend of Arnauld and kept him in touch with Leibniz.

P. 187, 1. 37. un livre contre luy. This was an open letter bearing date 8 July^,1653.

P. 18^, 1./7. son livre imprimé à Pragtie, i.e. Apologia Valeriani Magni contra Imposturas Jesuitarum, written in answer to the letter above mentioned. Pascal translates freely.

P. 188, 1. 10. je déclaré hautement, etc. The Latin is “ Pronuncio viros illos (fortassis innoxios) esse nebulones spectatissimos, doctissimosque mentiri impudentissime, si crimina ilia non propalaverint ”,

P. 188, 1. 29. Ce genre d’hommes, etc. This passage is taken from Valeriano’s Commentarium de homine in f ami personato suh titulis M. Jocosi Severii medii. Here again Pascal’s translation is free, erring if anything on the side of mildness.

P, 189, 1. 1. mentiris impudent issimè. Cf. Pensées, No. 921.

NOTES 3 T 5

P. 189, 1. 28. sont des portes d' Enfer. These are Brisacier’s words in Le Jansénisme confondu (1652).

P. 189, 1. 36. Avertissemens. See above, note on p. 147, 1. 32.

P. 190, 1. 2. que je faisois des Romans. Cf. “C’est pourquoy je ne m’étonne pas si l’on croit dans le monde que l’auteur de ces Lettres a passé toute sa vie à faire des Romans,” VIIIe Imposture , at the beginning of the Response. The Jesuits, hunting for the author of the Little Letters, fastened for a moment upon Gomberville, the Academician, author of La Carithée, Polexandre, Cytherée, etc., who had a house near Port-Royal des Champs, and was known to be on good terms with the Solitaires, despite his romances which they abhorred.

P. 190, 1. 2. moy qui n'en ay jamais leü aucun. To this Pascal’s critics object (1) Racine’s statement that ail Port-Royal read with eagerness the flattering portrait of the establishment painted by Mlle Scudéry in Glélie, and (2) Pascal’s own reference to Cléobuline, a heroine of Le grand Gyrus. See Pensées , No. 13. But (1) the sixth volume of délie which contains the portrait did not appear till 1657, and (2) the Pensées cannot be used to fix a date.

P. 190, 1. 3. ceux qu'a fait vostre Apologiste. Pascal here is as much at sea as his antagonists in attributing the Impostures to the maniac Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin. He admits his mistake, and apologizes handsomely in his postscript to Letter XVI.

P. 190, 1. 34. les efforts . . . pour l'empescher. Pascal is genuinely afraid that the publication of his Letters will be forbidden, as indeed happened after Letter XVI.