It may be counted a curious exemplification of the anomalous conditions of the human mind, that while Pascal was immersed in his superstitious observances he published his famous " Provincial Letters," in which, under the name of Louis de Montalto, he assailed the morality of the Jesuits with equal wit and argumenta- tive acumen. He was induced to write this work by his adoption of the opinions of the Jansenists, whose principal exponent, the learned Arnauld (q. v.), was about to be condemned by the Sorbonne. There was every danger that the world, which did not trouble itself to read the obscure discussions of theologians, would abide by the judgment of the Sorbonne, and hold the Jesuits to have gained the cause. Pascal changed the order of battle. He addressed himself to the public; appealed from authority to common-sense, declaring that it was easier to find monks than reasons. Then, for the first time, men of the world, and women too, were constituted judges of great questions. The necessity of making
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one's self read and understood by such a tribunal was no small task ; but Pascal disposed of it so happily that it made a chef-d'cenvre of Les Lettres Proviiiciules. They were not hastily composed— the author was often em- ployed twenty days on a single letter; one (the eigh- teenth) he wrote over more than thirteen times ; and all, after being written, he transmitted to Arnauld and Nicole, to be carefully revised and corrected. We shall not stop to speak of the literary merits of the work— they have been universally acknowledged. The most distinguished French critics unite in pronouncing it a perfect model of taste and style, which has exerted a powerful influence on the literature of succeeding times. Those of other countries who are acquainted with it unite in bearing the same testimony; all agree that it is a masterpiece of the most wonderful acuteness and subtilty of genius, united with the keenest satire and the most delicate wit; an example of the precision of math- ematical reasoning joined with the most convincing and persuasive eloquence. The more we study it as a lit- erary work, the more must we be ready to adopt the language of Boileau, that '• nothing surpasses it in an- cient or modern times" (" Pascal surpasse tout ce qui I'a precede, ou suivi," see Rogers in Edinh. Rev. Jan. 1847). These famous letters (eighteen in number, not reckoning the nineteenth, which is a fragment, and the twentieth, which is by Lemaistre) are written, as if to a provincial friend, on the absorbing controversial topic of the day. The first three are devoted to the vindication of Arnauld, and the demonstration of the identity of his doctrine with that of St. Augustine. But it was to the later letters that the collection owed both its contemporary popularity and its abiding fame. In these Pascal ad- dresses himself to the casuistry and to the directorial system of Arnauld's great antagonists, the Jesuits; and in a strain of humorous irony which has seldom been surpassed he holds up to ridicule their imputed laxity of principle on the obligation of restitution, on simony, on probable opinions, on directing the intention, on equivocation, and mental reservation, etc.
The Jesuits and their friends loudly complain of the unfairness of the " Provincial Letters,'' and represent them as in great part the work of a special pleader. The quotations, with the exception of those from Esco- bar, were confessedly supplied by I'ascal's friends. It is charged that many of the authors cited are not Jes- uits at all; that many of the opinions ridiculed and rep- robated as opinions of the Jesuit order had in reality been formally repudiated and condemned in the society ; that many of the extracts are garbled and distorted ; that it treats as if designed for the pulpit and as manu- als for teaching works which in reality were meant but as private directions of the judgment of the confessor; and that, in almost all cases, statements, facts, and cir- cumstances are withheld which would modify, if not en- tirely remove, their objectionable tendency. See Jes- uits. There seems, however, to be no just ground for such complaint, and the frequent replies which have been made to this charge would hardly afford us an excuse for taking space here to consider this appeal. In all his exposures Pascal deals only with the maxims, and not with persons. There is nowhere the appear- ance of vindictiveness over a vanquished foe. If there be at times an indignation rising to the tone of aw- ful majesty, there is mingled with it a philanthropy most tender and heartfelt; "he would take these men to his bosom and reform them, while he consigns their impious doctrines to destruction. " What he says to the unsuspicious monk, when taking leave of him, is the ex- pression of his benevolent soul to all the Jesuits : " Open your eyes at length, my dear father, and if the other er- rors of your casuists have made no impression on you, let these last, by their very extravagance, compel you to abandon them. This is wliat I desire from the ver}' bottom of my heart for your sake, and for the sake of your doctors; and my prayer to God is that he would vouchsafe to convince them how false the light must