730 PASCAL. 
ral. philofophy, as well as all human learning, and de- Provincial Letters were pubiifhed ; yet he was exceed- 
voted himfelf wholly to a life of mortification and prayer, ingly infirm ; and, as his dil'orders increafed fo much af- 
This change was occalioned by his reading the books of terwards, that he confidered himfelf to be battening to the 
fome of thole afcetic religlohifts who unnaturally make 
the height of virtue to confiff in an abftinence from the 
enjoyment of thofe Wettings which a kind Providence af¬ 
fords, and.ftrarvgely confider the miferies which his crea¬ 
tures infiift upon themfelves, to be the moil acceptable 
facrifice which they can offer to a benevolent Deity. 
From this time he renounced all pleafure and, all fuper- 
fiuity; and to. this fyftem he adhered in the nineties to 
which he was frequently fubjedt,. being of a very infirm 
habit of body. He not only denied himfelf the moft 
common gratifications, but he alto took without reluc¬ 
tance, and even with pleafure, either as nourifliment or 
as medicine, whatever was difagreeable to the fenfes ; 
and he every day retrenched fome part of his drefs, food, 
or other tilings, which he confidered as not abfolutely ne- 
ceffary. Though his continual infirmities obliged him 
to ufe very delicate food, and though his fervants em¬ 
ployed the utmoftcare to provide what was proper, he ne¬ 
ver relithed what he ate, and feemed indifferent whether 
they brought him what was good or bad. He entertained 
no Ifirong afledtion for thofe whom he loved ; and advifed 
others not to fuller any perfon to love them in a very 
high degree; iince, by entertaining and cherifhing fuch 
an ardent aftefifon, a man poffefles a heart which belongs 
only.to God. He pccafionally wore an iron girdle full 
of points next to his fkin ; and, when any vain thought 
came.into his mind, or he took pleafure in any circum- 
ftance, he gave himfelf fome blows with his elbow, to 
increafe the violence of the fmart, and by that means put 
himfelf in mind of his duty. During the latter years of 
his life, his principal relaxation from the rigorous fyllern 
which he preferibed to himfelf, confifted in vifits which 
he paid to the churches where fome relics were expofed, 
or fome folemnity obferved ; and for that purpofe he had 
a fpirirual almanac, which informed him of the places 
where particular l'ervices were performed. 
But, notwithftanding that M. Pafcal thus abftracled 
himfelf fiom the world, lie was not entirely indifferent 
to what was paffing in it; and he even intereffed himfelf 
in the conteft between the Jefuits and the Janfenifts. 
Taking the fide of the latter, he wrote his celebrated 
Provincial Letters,” pubiifhed in 1656, under the name 
of Louis de Montalte, in which he ably employed his 
talents of wit and humour in ridiculing the former. 
Voltaire,fays, “ thefe letters may be confidered as a model 
of eloquence and humour. The beft comedies of Moliere 
have not more wit than the firff part of them ; and the 
fitblimityof the latter part is equal to any thing in Bof- 
fuet.” He alio pronounces Pafcal the firff of the French 
l'atirifts; and maintains that Defpreaux muff be confidered 
as only the fecond. In another place, fpeaking of this 
work of Pafcal, he fays, that “ examples of all the va¬ 
rious fpecies of eloquence are to be found in it. Though 
it has now been written almoft an hundred years, yet 
not a fingle word occurs in it favouring of that vicifli- 
tude to which living languages are fo lubjetft. Here then 
we are to fix the epoch when our language may be laid to 
have affumed a fettled form.” Thefe letters have been 
tranllated into almoft all the European languages. Of 
all the books which were pubiifhed againft the Jefuits, 
none did them more harm, nor vexed them more, than 
thefe productions of M. Pafcal’s pen. Numerous were 
the anfwers to them which they caufed to be diftributed; 
but, notwithftanding the efforts of the apologifts for the 
fociety, and the decrees of condemnation againft the 
work which they procured to be puffed by the parliament 
of Aix, and the council of ftate, the Provincial Letters 
maintained their ground, intefefting the more ferious 
readers by their folidity, and by their pleafant and comi¬ 
cal turns of wit engaging all the party of laughers on 
their fide. 
M. Pafcal was only about thirty years of age when the 
clofe of life, he gave up all further thoughts of literary 
com pofition. With the view alio of fpending the remain¬ 
der of his days in retirement and pious meditation, he 
broke off all his former connexions, changed the place of 
his abode, and fpoke to no one, not even to his own fer¬ 
vants, whom he hardly ever admitted into his room. He 
made his.own bed, fetched his dinner from the kitchen, 
and carried back the plates and diflies in the evening; 
fo that he employed his fervants only to cook for him, to 
goon a few unavoidable errands, and to do fuch things 
for him as he was incapable of performing himfelf. No¬ 
thing was to be feen in his chamber but two or three 
chairs, a table, a bed, and a few books. It had no kind 
ofornamept whatever; he had neither a carpet on the 
floor, nor curtains to his bed. Thefe circumftances, 
however, did not prevent him from occafionaliy receiving 
vifits ; and, when bis friends appeared furprifed to fee 
him thus without furniture, he replied, that he had what 
was necefiary, and that any thing more would beafuper- 
fluity, unworthy of a wife' man. M. Pafcal had now- 
given up all intenfe ftudy, and lived in the moft temperate 
manner ; yet his health continued rapidly to decline, and 
his diforders fo enfeebled his organs, that his reafon be¬ 
came in fome meafure affefted. In thefe circumftances 
he met with an accident which produced an unfavourable 
impreffion upon his imagination, not to be effaced, except¬ 
ing during ihort intervals, by the loothing perfuafions of 
his friends and of his confeifor. In the year 1654, the 
ftate of weaknefs to which he was reduced having alarmed 
his phyficians, they preferibed to him taking the air and 
gentle exercife. As he was one day eroding the Seine at 
the bridge qf Neuilly, in a coach and four, the two lead¬ 
ing horfes became unmanageable at a part where the para¬ 
pet was down, and plunged over the fide into the river. 
Happily, their weight broke the traces, by which means 
the other horfes and the carriage were extricated on the 
brink of the precipice. The effbift on the feeble and lan- 
guifhing frame of M. Pafcal may eafily be conceived. It 
was with great difficulty that he was recovered at all 
from a long fvvoon ; and he was never reinitiated in the 
calm poffeffion of his mental faculties. He always ima¬ 
gined that he faw a deep abyfs on the left fide of him, and 
he would never fit down till a chair was placed there, to 
fecure him from danger. He alfo perfuaded himfelf that 
he had a kind of vifion ; the particulars of which he pre- 
ferved in a memorandum on a piece of paper, which he 
always carried about him between the cloth and lining 
of his coat. After languifhing for fome years in this 
imbecile ftate of body and mind, M. Pafcal died at Paris 
Aug. 19, 1662, when about thirty-nine years of age. 
To M. Pafcal’s extraordinary and diverfified talents, 
the particulars which we have related, and the works 
which he left behind him, bear fufficient teftimeny. 
They do folikewdfe to the ardour of his piety, and exem- 
plarinefs of his morals. That his ideas of perfeiftion in 
the religious and moral character were not unmixed with 
fuperftition, and enforced a fervile rigour and aufterity of 
conduit, is to be attributed to the influence of that creed 
which had been taught him in his infancy. His heart 
was the feat of the pureft benevolence ; and his exertions 
in alleviating the miferies and contributing to the hap- 
pinefs of the unfortunate and indigent, were limited only 
by the extent of his fortune. Though his abilities enti¬ 
tled him to aflume an air of fuperiority, he never dif. 
played that haughty and imperious tone which is too 
commonly obfervable in men of Alining talents, but was 
diftinguifhed by uncommon modefty and humility. And 
he was alio diftinguifhed by the admirable patience with 
which, during his long illnefs, he edified and furprifed 
all perfons who were about him. In company, he was re¬ 
markable for the amiablenefs of his behaviour, and for his 
eafy, agreeable, and inftru&ive, converlation. He pof. 
felled 
