doings of a Catholic. But we believe no class, no party, no denomination, possesses a monopoly of good. "In vain do men on earth presume to condemn faithful believers in a crucified Saviour as heretics; their Master bids them rejoice, for great is their reward in heaven. The church has ever professed its belief in "The communion of saints;" will not every one who rests on the blood and righteousness of Christ, and who loves Him and his members, rejoice that they shall meet in the church triumphant with such as Jansenius, St. Cyran, the Arnaulds, Pascal, De Lacy, and Quesnel ?”* We have therefore selected for our sketch this month the justly-celebrated author of "Lettres Provinciales," — BLAISE PASCAL. He was born at Clermont in Auvergne, on the 19th June, 1623, and was descended from an illustrious line of ancestry. His father, Stephen Pascal, besides being an acute and impartial lawyer, was well versed in literature and the sciences as they were then understood. Notwithstanding these attainments, he possessed that primitive simplicity of manners which made his peaceful dwelling emphatically a home. But a cloud was gathering over these family enjoyments, and he was called, in 1626, to part with the loving and beloved partner of his choice. From this period, his affections centred in the three children she had left him, and the absorbing ambition of his mind was now to give them such an education as should advance their usefulness and render them happy. This he found, however, to be incompatible with his public duties, and he therefore determined in a few years to relinquish his official engagements, and retire with his family to Paris. As Blaise was his only son, his principal attention was directed towards him. From his cradle he appears to have entertained a high opinion of his future destiny, and this may perhaps have stimulated him to direct the early studies of the boy to the learned languages and the elements of physical science. Keeping pace with the times in which he lived, Stephen Pascal turned his attention enthusiastically towards Geometry and Medicine, gathering around him many learned men of similar taste and like occupations. From time to time # The Jansenists by L. P. Tregelles. they met at each other's houses, to report progress, or discuss such questions as might arise spontaneously. They also carried on a correspondence with distant members who kept them informed of such new discoveries as came to their knowledge. Friendship and mutual confidence are described as the soul of this little company which formed the nucleus of what became afterwards the French Academy of Sciences. Blaise assisted frequently at those meetings which were held at his father's house, listening with intense interest to al! that passed, and tracing effects to causes. At the early age of eleven, he wrote a short treatise on sound, which exhibited so much precocity in science that his father fearing it might interfere with the study of languages, then considered the most important part of education, persuaded the society never again to introduce similar topics when he was present. Our young philosopher was inconsolable, until his father promised to teach him Geometry, as soon as he had acquired the necessary proficiency in Greek and Latin. But a mind that has once tasted the solace derivable from a knowledge of things, will never be satisfied with mere words. The only elements of Geometry to which the father thought it safe to direct his son's attention, related to the length, breadth, and depth of bodies; he also allowed him to draw various mathematical figures, and carefully to discriminate their several forms. But these scanty hints wrought so effectually on the fertile soil of an ardent and unsophisticated mind, as to bring forth earlier and finer fruit than was anticipated. They are described as instinct with more than solar light and heat, stimulating and developing the germs of a talent very rarely equalled, and never, perhaps, excelled. The young Pascal, like thousands of others, was to become great, not in virtue of his education, but in spite of it. In how many instances has indirect and unintentional instruction done more to advance mental cultivation than the systematic studies of the schoolroom or the closet. The very fact that it was desired to shut out our embryo philosopher from a science which was thought so far above him, gave new energy to his exertions. During his hours of recreation he would seclude himself in a lonely room, and trace with charcoal, on the floor, his triangles, his parallelograms and circles, without really knowing their several names, but with a keen eye for their varying angles, curves, and points of contact and intersection. In this manner he actually thought out a system of his own, until in his unaided mind many of the propositions of Euclid were reproduced. Just as he had one day demonstrated the thirty-second problem of his first book, his father burst in upon him and having learned the object, the progress, and the splendid results of his researches, remained for some time mute and motionless, and then rushed out of the house to unburthen his full heart to one of his most intimate friends. It was needless to fight any longer against nature, and Blaise had consequently full liberty to study Geometry, in which he was assisted by the Elements of Euclid. At the tender age of twelve years and without the least explanation, he entirely mastered that great work. Before he had reached sixteen, he had compiled his well-known work on Conic Sections; and his famous calculating machine was produced in his nineteenth year. About this time, Torricelli was making his experiments on Vacuum. Pascal at first followed, but soon eclipsed him. He was one of the first who proved clearly, that some of the effects originally ascribed to the principle that nature abhors a vacuum, were in reality due to the weight of the atmosphere. He was then twenty-three years of age. Some time afterwards, while distracted with toothache, he solved a problem that had puzzled all the oldest mathematicians of Europe. He offered forty pistoles as a reward to the discoverer, but no claimant appearing, he was compelled to appropriate it again in 1649. He was never so thoroughly engrossed with these pursuits, as to lose sight of the highest duties of religion. The intensity of his studies had already much impaired his health, and he retired at a comparatively early period of his life, to the Jansenist community, at Port Royal des Champs, situate in a valley a few miles from Versailles. This abbey had been originally erected for a small number of nuns only, but its popularity so rapidly increased, that in 1626 it became neces→ sary to purchase a house in the capital, afterwards called Port Royal de Paris. Its inmates were in the height of their dispute with the Jesuits, whose persecutions of these better Romanists are sufficiently notorious. The Jansenists knew how to retaliate, and left no means untried to render their opponents odious. Pascal brought a new element into this wordy warfare. Appealing to the common sense of France, as Chaucer had done to that of England some centuries before, he held them up as supremely ridiculous. His "Provincial Letters," written in a style altogether original, appeared periodically in 1656, and the year following. In these papers large extracts were given from the writings of the Jesuit fathers themselves. As these told against their degenerate representatives, it was denied that they really were quotations, till Pascal gave his authorities in such a manner as ought to have covered his accusers with confusion. But then, as now, they had neither sense of shame, nor the wish to be honest. The very life-blood of Jesuitism, in all ages, has been this tendency towards, "speaking lies in hypocrisy." To give an example. Casuistry had been pointed out in the writings of the Jesuit Bauny. The Jesuits when charged with its immorality, acknowledged it to be detestable, and without excuse; but screened themselves by denying that Bauny had ever written it. But the contrary being proved, they at once turned round, and affirmed the doctrine to be innocent. This incident, mentioned by Tregelles in his "Jansenists," is but the type of ten thousand other cases. Precisely the same line of conduct was pursued in the recent controversy between the Catholic Institute and Sir Culling Eardley, relative to the state of Romanism in Italy; and such to its latest hour, must necessarily be the spirit of that atrocious system, which holds that a lie is truth, and the truth a lie, according to the wishes or caprice of the speaker or writer. These letters had a merit independent of their direct object. They were written in a style so unique, that they are to this day regarded as models of composition and are said to have given fixity to the French tongue. Friends and foes were alike constrained to regard them as equally remarkable for the power of their eloquence and the pungency of their wit. 66 66 Boileau described this work as the most perfect specimen of prose writing in the French language. A Jesuit was one day making merry at the expense of Pascal and his homely occupation at Port Royal. Pascal," said he, "employed himself there in making sabots," or wooden shoes. J'ignore," said a wit who overheard him,-"J'ignore si Pascal travaille à des souliers; mais Je sais bien qu'avec ses Provinciales il vous a porté une bonne botte." The smartness of this reply would be lost in the translation. The age regarded these letters as exhibiting a species of eloquence altogether unknown before, and the lapse of two centuries has scarcely rendered necessary the modification of a single word. The Jansenists, whose cause it so powerfully helped forward, found in it all the advantages of a grave theological treatise combined with the racy pleasantries of a comedy. Racine, indeed, says that it was one, with this only difference, that its dramatis persona were chosen from the Sorbonne and the convents, instead of from the world at large. The health of Pascal had been failing for some time through the intensity of his studies; and a fright which he received in October, 1654, whilst taking an airing on the Pont de Neuilly, is said seriously to have affected his intellect. This visitation must however have been intermittent, as it was at an after period that his brilliant Letters were written. Retiring from his former studies about the thirtieth year of his age, he devoted himself to more serious and sublime pursuits, giving his whole attention to the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the Christian system generally. His "Thoughts" on these points are well known, having passed through innumerable editions. Although they are to be regarded merely as the crude materials of a work never completed, they exhibit such vast depth of thought and power of expression, that their author has obtained rank as one of the great champions of Christianity. Pascal had framed the design of this work many years before his death; but so exact, so retentive, and so well regulated was his memory, that he was unwilling to commit anything to writing till he had thoroughly adjusted it in his own mind. In this respect, perhaps more than any other, he deserves to be held up to the imitation of our young readers. His thoughts were entirely his own in their manufacture, arrangement, |