A. EDITIONS OF THE “LETTRES PROVINCIALES

The eighteen Lettres écrites à un Provincial were published, without name of place or printer, at intervals between 27 January, 1656, and 14 May, 1657. Each was in quarto form and filled a sheet (8 pp.), or a sheet and a half (12 pp.). Two of them (XVI. and XVII.) were printed in much smaller type than the rest, in order to get the matter into the same limits. They were ail printed with the utmost secrecy by different Paris presses, friendly to Port-Royal ; the first two probably by Petit, otbers by Langlois, Savreux, and Desprez ; some, it is said, in the cellars of the College d’Harcourt — a stone’s tbrow from the Sorbonne — and even in a water-mill on the Seine between the Pont-Neuf and the Pont-au-Change. The police made repeated but fruitless attempts to discover their birthplace.

In February, 1657, the first seventeen pamphlets were collected and issued in a single volume with four pages of preliminary matter, viz. page 1, a Title, “ Les Provinciales ou les Lettres écrites par Louis de Montalte à un Provincial de ses amis et aux RR. PP. Jésuites sur le sujet de la morale et de la politique de ces Pères. A Cologne chez Pierre de la Vallée MDOLVII. ; ” pages 2-3, “ Advertissement sur les XVII Lettres ou sont expliquez les sujets qui sont traitez dans chacune ” (this was the work of Nicole, and consists of a summary of the situation when Pascal intervened, together with an analysis of the Letters) ; page 4, “Rondeau aux RR. PP. Jésuites sur leur morale accommodante ”. To the volume thus formed were appended the Avis des Curez de Paris , the Requeste des Curez de Rouen, and other Jansenist pièces (108 pp.). The same year, 1657, saw the publication of two duodecimo éditions of the Eighteen Letters, the former of which merely reproduces the original text, while the other introduces a numberof alterations and “ improvements ” into Letters I.-III., and a few trifling ones into the rest of the sériés. A glance at the critical apparatus will shew the character of these alterations. Their purpose is to soften or modify the sharpness of the original phrase.

In 1658 Nicole translated the Letters into Latin under the pseudonym of “ Willielmus Wendrockius, Salisburgensis Theologus ”. This book bears the imprint of Cologne, “ apud Nicolaus Schouten ”. It is hardly necessary to say that the use of the names Cologne, Schouten, La

Vallée, for this book and for the quarto of 1657, is a mere blind. The real place of printing was probably Amsterdam. Of Nicole’s translation there appeared at least four éditions within twelve months. It was furnished with elaborate notes and dissertations.

In 1659 the Letters in French were republished, this time in octavo, with a fresh title : “ Les Provinciales ou les Lettres escrites par Louis de Montalte à un Provincial de ses amis et aux RR. PP. Jésuites, avec la Théologie Morale desdits Pères et nouveaux Casuistes, représentée par leur pratique et par leurs livres ; divisée en cinq parties. ... A Cologne chez Nicholas Schoutte MDCLIX.” In this édition the Avis des Curez is replaced by the Théologie Morale. The verbal changes of 1657 are ail adopted and many more (and these more radical) are added ; in fact a serious attempt is made to edit Pascal’s work.

In 1684 Nicole’s translation was reissued, accompanied in parallel columns by the original French (textof 1657), a translation into Spanish by “ Gratien Cordero de Burgos,” and one into Italian by “ Cosimo Brunetti, gentilhomme florentin ”. It is preceded by an address to the reader on the XVIII. Letters, in ail four languages.

In 1699 Mlle de Joncoux (1660-1715), an Auvergnate and évident Jansenist, translated the notes and dissertations of “ Wendrockius ” into French and issued them, with the text of 1659, in 3 vols. 12mo. This was subsequently and repeatedly reissued in 4 vols. 12mo.

Throughout the eighteenth century and far into the nineteenth century the Letters continued to be reprinted, always in the text of 1659. At length in 1846, when interest had been aroused in the history of Pascal and of his controversy by the publication of Sainte-Beuve’s Port-Royal (1842) and by Victor Cousin’s appeal for a Sound text of the Pensées (1845), a fervent Pascalisant, M. Basse, began to collect material for a critical édition of the Provinciales, which ne ver saw the light. His copy of the original issue, with copious manuscript notes and variants, a monument of careful scholarship, is now in the British Muséum (C 53, d. 10).

But the honour of the first critical édition belongs to the Abbé Maynard (2 vols., 8vo, 1851). He follows the text of 1659, which for reasons which will appear immediately, cannot be regarded as satisfactory, but he gives in footnotes the readings of 1656 and 1657. The commentary which accompanies Maynard’s text is extremely valuable as reproducing the replies of the seventeenth century Jesuits, brought up to date by an accomplished theologian. But his sympathy with the other side is so strong that it blinds him to Pascal’s sincerity and honesty, and conveys an impression of partisanship.

A real attemnt to get back to Pascal’s true text was made by M. A. H. Lesieur in 1867. His Texte primitif des Lettres Provinciales d'après un exemplaire in 4° (Paris, 4°, 1867) is founded on a copy of the original issue in his possession containing, in a contemporary seventeenth century hand, no less than 381 corrections, 285 of which appear in the édition of 1659. The fact that none of the corrections are in Pascal’s

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own writing and that 97 of them were not adopted in 1659 confirms the impression which the instructed reader cannot fail to form, viz. that the édition of 1659 represents not the mind or style of Biaise Pascal, but what his Jansenist friends would hâve them be.

Yet the next editor of the Provinciales , Mr. John de Soyres, who had the chance of Consulting Lesienr, deliberately returned to the text of 1659, although he records most of the earlier variants. It is a very great pity, for this work (Cambridge, 1881, 8vo) has sterling merit, and his notes and introduction are marked by wide learning and sound sense. E. Havet praises the book as constituting the first historical commentary on the Letters. Cambridge and England bave indeed every reason to be proud of it.

Eight years later E. Havet himself, who had already won distinction by a most valuable édition of the Pensées , produced his Provinciales (Paris, 1889, 2 vols.). His text is that of the original issue, with selected readings at the foot of the page, an excellent commentary and an illuminating Introduction. Havet daims in his Préfacé to hâve refrained throughout from polemic, and he holds the balance evenly between the two parties. But he is sometimes rather less than fair to Christian doctrine and the great truths for which Pascal fought.

Much the same may be said of Auguste Molinier, who also, after the Pensées (1879), came on to the Provinciales (1891) in the original text. What seems a slight religious bias is indeed the only flaw to be found in an édition which for learning, accuracy, taste, and judgment, is without a rival. His two volumes are as delightful to the eye and touch as they are to the intelligence.

The latest édition of the Provinciales is unfortunately buried in the Collected Works of Pascal edited by MM. Brunschvicg, P. Boutroux, and F. Gazier, for the sériés of the Grands Ecrivains de la France. The editors do not provide much help in the way of commentary, but their work is of inestimable value for the history, external and internai, of the Letters, and for the sources from which they were compiled. One signal advantage of this édition is that the student can safely control ail Pascal’s references, without handling the quartos of Arnauld and the vast folios of the Casuists. One cannot but regret that the chronological System adopted by the editors has practically put their learning outside the reach of readers who hâve not a long purse or access to a large library ; for in their édition the Provinciales are scattered over the four volumes which represent Pascal’s life during the years 1656 and 1657 ; and in these volumes (which, however, can be purchased separately) there is much that has only an indirect bearing on the Letters.

A word of gratitude must be added for two éditions of the Letters (I., IV., and XIII.) by H. Michel (Berlin, 1881), and by Brunetière (Hachette, 1916, 6th ed.). If either of these critics had done for the other Letters what they did for the selected three, the présent édition would not hâve been needed.