REESE LIBRARY 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Deceived . c7^^-. . 
 
 Accession No. /^ */ O 3 . C/.ns No 
 
PORT-KOYAL EDUCATION 
 
 SAINT-CYRAN; ARNAULD ; LANCELOT; NICOLE; DE SACI ; 
 GUYOT ; COUSTEL ; FONTAINE ; JACQUELINE PASCAL 
 
 EXTRACTS, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, 
 
 BY 
 
 FELIX CADET 
 
 INSPECTOR GENERAL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 TRANSLATED, WITH AN INDEX, BT 
 
 ADNAH D. JONES 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHAS. SCRIBNER'S 
 
 1898 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. Origin of the Petites Ecoles of Port-Royal Ideas 
 of Saint-Cyran on Education His collaborators, Lemaitre, 
 de Saci, Fontaine The real masters : Lancelot, Nicole, 
 Guyot, and Coustel Analysis of their works Wallon de 
 Beaupuis, Arnauld . . , . 1 
 
 Of the education of girls at Port-Royal according to the 
 constitution of the monastery and the rule of Jacqueline 
 Pascal . . . ... 46 
 
 Reasons which led to the closing of the schools and the 
 destruction of Port-Royal General criticism . . 58 
 
 EXTRACTS. 
 
 SAINT-CYRAN. Origin of the Petites Ecoles . 69 
 LANCELOT. Charity of M. de Saint-Cyran towards children . 71 
 
 LANCELOT. Saint-Cyran's literary theory . 82 
 DE BEAUPUIS. Regulations for the school of Le Chesnai . . 86 
 
 DE SACI. Letter on Education . . 92 
 
 FONTAINE. Conversation between Pascal and M. de Saci on 
 
 Epictetus and Montaigne . . 95 
 
 LANCELOT. A new method of learning to read . . .110 
 
 Of the Verb . . . . Ill 
 
 ARNAULD. Questions of grammar . . . .117 
 
 ARNAULD. Regulation of studies . . . 123 
 
 NICOLE. Design of the New Logic . . . 128 
 
 Reply to the principal objections . . .132 
 
 Of bad reasoning in civil life . . . 139 
 
 Rules of the method in the sciences . . .152 
 
iv Table of Contents. 
 
 GUYOT. On teaching reading and writing. Exercises in transla- 
 tion, elocution, and composition . . .154 
 NICOLE. General views on the education of a Prince . .167 
 Special advice concerning studies .' . .171 
 Of the means of preserving peace with men . .181 
 ARNAULD. Eulogy on Descartes' philosophy . . .193 
 COUSTEL. Rules for education . . ... 201 
 
 Of civility and politeness in children . . .211 
 
 ARNAULD. On the persecutions of Port-Royal . . .218 
 
 MERE AGNES. Constitutions of the monastery of Port-Royal . 221 
 JACQUELINE PASCAL. Regulations for the children of Port-Royal 226 
 BESOGNE. Sister Anne Eugenie, mistress of the boarders . . 245 
 NICOLE. A recreation at Port-Royal . ... 247 
 
 APPENDIX. A study of the writers of Port-Royal by Father 
 
 Bouhours . . . ... 249 
 
 INDEX . 256 
 
PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE Petites Ecoles of Port-Eoyal had but a short and troubled 
 existence. Their foundation goes back to the year 1637, 1 but 
 their real organization only dates from 1646. Several times 
 broken up in consequence of theological disputes excited by 
 Arnauld, or because of the war of the Fronde, they were finally 
 closed by the king's command in March, 166 1. 2 
 
 They hold, nevertheless, an honourable place in the history 
 of pedagogy. If they lasted but a short time they shed a 
 brilliant light, and exercised, as much by the character and 
 talents of the masters as by the reform in methods of teaching 
 and the books which they produced, a considerable influence, 
 which on certain points is still active. 
 
 The first idea of their foundation belongs to the illustrious 
 Duvergier de Hauranne, abbe of Saint-Cyran. 3 He was so pro- 
 foundly moved by the importance of the education of the young, 
 that he did not scruple to apply to this work the saying in the 
 
 1 In 1637 we see the beginning of this celebrated community of recluses, 
 which was formed outside the monastery of Port- Royal, and which brought 
 up in the knowledge of letters and the practice of Christian piety a few 
 children of good birth, whose parents wished to spare them the irregularities 
 which were too general among young men attending college. (Preface to the 
 Necrologe de Port-Royal.) 
 
 2 The nuns were allowed to receive boarders again from 1669 to 1679. (See 
 note to p. 47.) 
 
 3 Born at Bayonne in 1581, he was appointed to the Abbey of Saint- 
 Cyran, in La Brenne, "a desert country where everything was lacking," said 
 Lancelot (Mem. sur M. de Saint-Cyran y t. i. p. 288), on the frontiers of 
 Touraine, Berry, and Poitou. 
 
Port-Royal Education. 
 
 gospel referring to salvation : "But one thing is needful" In his 
 eyes the well-being of families, of the State and of the Church 
 had its source and origin in this; all irregularities had no other 
 origin or cause than bad education. Thus ,he thought no 
 expressions sufficiently strong to condemn the negligence of 
 parents in respect to this, nor any commendations sufficiently 
 high to praise the devotion of persons who dedicated themselves 
 to the education of young children. "There is no occupation," 
 he said, " more worthy of a Christian in the Church, there is no 
 greater charity after the sacrifice of one's life. . . . The guidance 
 of the most tender soul is a greater thing than the government of 
 a world." He was indignant, as if it were an absurdity and a 
 folly, at men seeking after the positions of seneschal and master 
 of the stables, and looking upon the education of reasonable 
 creatures as the lowest employment. 1 
 
 "I confess," he said to Fontaine, "that I should consider it 
 a religious duty if I could be of use to children." "I should have 
 been delighted to pass my whole life in it," he wrote to Lancelot. 
 At the period when Vincent de Paul began to devote himself 
 to the work of the Foundling Hospital, Saint-Cyran had for 
 a moment "the desire of sending far and wide to collect young 
 orphans in order to rear them in his abbey." In fine, when his 
 ideas were more settled, his scheme was simpler, and it would 
 require all the decision of Father Kapin to arouse in him the 
 least ambition of taking the education of the young out of the 
 hands of the Jesuits. The letter that he wrote from the prison of 
 Vincennes speaks of a sort of "nursery for the Church," in which 
 he would have brought up "six children chosen throughout the 
 
 1 It has required much time to change men's ideas on this point. Two 
 hundred years after Saint-Cyran, Channing notes with pleasure the progress 
 made : ' ' Men are beginning to understand the dignity of the schoolmaster. 
 The idea is dawning on us that no employment is comparable to that of 
 the education of the young in importance and value. That the talent 
 of training the young in energy, truth, and virtue is the first of all the arts 
 and sciences, and that consequently the encouragement of good masters is 
 the most sacred duty that society has to fulfil towards itself." (CEuvres 
 Sociales, trans. Laboulaye, p. 177.) Our schoolmasters ha ye no longer to 
 strive against the indifference and contempt of society ; they have to guard 
 themselves against the feeling of pride that their new position in public 
 opinion might cause in them. It is only in this way that they will preserve 
 the sympathy of everyone. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 city of Paris." In a conversation, related by Lancelot, referring 
 to another school which he was to entrust to M. Singlin, Saint- 
 Cyran said "that he was far from making grand plans, that he 
 did not wish to do anything brilliant, and that he should be 
 contented to bring up there a dozen children at most in Christian 
 virtue." (Lancelot, Memoir -es, t. i. p. 291.) 
 
 His arrest and detention at Yincennes from 1638 to the death 
 of Richelieu, whom he survived but a few months, did not 
 permit him to carry out this modest plan. He had to restrict 
 himself to personal efforts on several occasions, 1 but especially 
 to excite, by his example and exhortations, devotion as dis- 
 interested as his own, but better guided, and therefore more 
 efficacious. He sometimes said that he would have gone to the 
 world's end to find a competent master. (Lancelot, t. i. p. 129.) 
 
 Sain t-Cy ran, then, was really the inspirer and mover of the 
 pedagogic work of Port-Royal, 2 and there is a real interest in 
 carefully seeking out his principal ideas on education. 
 
 I purposely set aside all his theological principles on the 
 original fall of man, on the natural corruption of human nature, 
 on the eternal damnation of infants dying unbaptized, and all 
 the consequences which he logically deduces from them as to 
 the end of education, and the direction to be given to it. 
 Modern pedagogy is a secular science which must not wear 
 the garb of any religious system. It cannot accept discussion 
 on this ground, which has only a purely historical interest. 
 Its starting-point is different, as is also its end. The child is, 
 
 . l We see him in prison educating the young child of a poor widow. 
 Lancelot (t. i. p. 133) shows him to us engaged in educating the two sons of 
 the lieutenant of whom he had much to complain on account of his ill- 
 treatment. 
 
 2 We read, nevertheless, in the supplement to the Nicrologe de Port- 
 Royal, p. 398: "The establishment of the Petites Scales de Port-Royal 
 was due to the solicitation of this illustrious magistrate (Jerome Bignon). 
 M. de Saint-Cyran had often conversed with him about his views on the 
 Christian education of children, and M. Bignon, after having long pressed 
 him to put them in execution, demanded, as a tribute due to their mutual 
 friendship, that the pious abbe should undertake to bring up his sons, 
 Jerome and Thierri Bignon, in a Christian manner. It was on their behalf 
 that the Petites coles were started outside Port- Royal de Paris by MM. 
 Lancelot and De Saci, while their sister, Marie Bignon, was educated within 
 the convent. " 
 
4 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 in its view, a personality necessarily imperfect, in which good 
 and evil are mingled, and not a child of perdition, as Guyot 
 said, who must be snatched from the devil. It takes seriously, 
 but not tragically, this severe and delicate work of education 
 that Saint-Cyran calls " a tempest of the mind." (Letter to M. 
 de Eebours.) It does not consider that the chief object of 
 education is to preserve baptismal innocence in children by 
 withdrawing them from the world and even from their families, 
 to work solely for their salvation, and, by preference, within 
 the walls of a cloister. It proposes to develop in them the 
 knowledge of truth and the practice of virtue, to prepare them 
 to fulfil the various duties that await them in life, profoundly 
 convinced that the surest way of fulfilling our destiny, whatever 
 r it may be, is first to act our part as men. 
 
 Saint-Cyran demands in the first place that the family should 
 
 completely cede its rights to him. If he undertakes the charge 
 
 y of a child, he wishes "to be entirely its master " ; whether it 
 
 be the son of the Duchesse de Guise, or the child of a poor 
 
 ' cabinetmaker, this condition is a sine qua non. 1 
 
 Then he attaches a very great importance to the choice of 
 his scholars, to discerning whether they are apt for study, or 
 fit only for manual labour. "It is very remarkable," observes 
 Lancelot with some reason (t. ii. p. 194), "that he is in no- 
 wise guided by their natural abilities in making this distinction, 
 but by the seeds of virtue which he sees that God has sown 
 in their hearts." A young child, eight or nine years old, who 
 appeared a prodigy of intellect, had been put into Lancelot's 
 hands. Saint-Cyran in prison wished to see him, and on the 
 statement of his master that nothing had been observed in him 
 that proceeded from corruption, but only a strange eagerness 
 for knowledge, joined to great inquisitiveness and an ardent 
 
 1 Mme. de Maintenon dreads the influence of the family no less. She 
 writes to Mme. de la Maine, March 5th, 1714 : " The first impressions given 
 to children in most houses are almost always vicious ; we see them come 
 to us untruthful, thieves, and deceitful .... They must be shown that 
 we know very well that they have seen these things done in their families, 
 but that they must not do them any more." The girls of Saint-Cyran 
 could only see their relations once every three months for half an hour at 
 most. 
 
Introduction. 5 
 
 desire to obtain advantages, "he decided off-hand that it was 
 not at all necessary to put him to study, and this was absolutely 
 carried out." He added that "sometimes out of a hundred 
 children not one ought to be put to study." His fear was 
 lest he should burden the Church with a number of people 
 whom she had not called, and the State with a multitude of 
 
 / idle persons who thought that they were above everybody because 
 they knew a little Latin, and who considered themselves dis- 
 honoured by following the profession in which their birth would 
 have placed them. Those only in whom great docility and sub- 
 
 ./mission, with some mark of piety and an assured virtue, had been 
 perceived ought to receive intellectual culture. 1 
 
 "We shall not be surprised that he paid little attention to\ 
 physical education. Christian spirituality has been too much in 
 fault in regarding the body as the origin of the passions, and 
 of irregularities of conduct, and as an enemy to be fought and 
 mastered; it was the Kenaissance, that is to say, the return to 
 classical antiquity, which enlarged the domain of pedagogy and 
 restored their due share to hygiene, games, and physical exercises. 
 Rabelais and Montaigne in the sixteenth century, Locke in the 
 seventeenth, Rousseau in the eighteenth, Hufeland in the nine- 
 teenth, brought about the success of this salutary reaction, and 
 convinced educators that it was necessary to attend to the child's 
 health before thinking of his intellectual and moral culture. 
 These pre-occupations of modern pedagogy seem scarcely to have 
 attracted the attention of Saint-Cyran, who was too much 
 engrossed by his religious ideas. Only one passage, and that of 
 small importance, has a bearing on the method of feeding. 2 
 
 But he seems to me to have very well understood the necessity 
 
 1 Our ideas are broader and more generous, and we open the book of 
 knowledge to all. There is nothing better or more necessary for the proper 
 working of our political institutions ; but it would be wise also not to cast 
 all minds in the same mould, and, in order to make enlightened citizens, 
 not to inspire them with a distaste for manual labour. Our curricula, well 
 filled, too uniform, and not sufficiently adapted to the needs of the various 
 localities, are, perhaps, not irreproachable in this respect. 
 
 2 He recommends, in a conversation with Lemaitre, the watching over the 
 inclinations of children which tend towards "idleness, untruthfulness, and 
 eating, on account of their constitution which demands it" and the accustoming 
 them " to eat all kinds of vegetables, cod-tish, and herrings." 
 
6 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 of not overpressing the child by too early intellectual labour. 
 " I should think I had done a great deal," he says very sensibly, 
 " although I had not advanced them much in Latin up to the age 
 of twelve years, by causing them to spend their early years in the 
 close of a house or monastery in the country, and by giving them 
 all the pastimes suitable to their age." The monastery excepted, 
 this reminds us of the negative education extolled by Kousseau. 
 
 Saint-Cyran sacrificed intellectual to moral education too much. 
 "He remarked," said Lancelot (t. ii. p. 195), "that, generally 
 speaking, knowledge did more harm than good to the young. 
 And once he made me attentively consider this saying of St. 
 Gregory Nazianzen, who said that the sciences had entered the 
 Church, like the flies in Egypt, to cause a plague." His sombre 
 and exclusive theory ill qualified him to appreciate literary 
 beauties. Is it not strange to hear him say seriously during a 
 visit to Port-Koyal to the children who were studying. Yirgil, 
 " You see that author ? He has procured his own damnation, 
 yes, he has procured his own damnation, in making these beautiful 
 verses, because he made them through vanity and for glory ; but 
 you must sanctify yourselves in learning them, because you 
 must learn them to please God, and render yourselves fit to serve 
 the Church." What a strange idea ! To study like " a college 
 scapegrace," Eousseau would say, the fourth book of the ^Eneid, 
 even the Eclogues of Alexis and Gallus (Saci and Guyot trans- 
 lated these works for their pupils), with the aim of pleasing God 
 and serving the Church. What a narrow and strained conception 
 of the utility of poetry. Is it not sufficient to justify such a study 
 that it purifies the taste, ennobles the feelings, and excites 
 admiration by the contemplation of the beautiful 1 What 
 fanaticism to condemn with so much assurance those who have 
 rendered us this eminent service by their masterpieces. 
 
 Let us first recommend to our masters for the teaching of 
 morality the precept that the Mother Agnes recalls to the memory 
 of a sister on the subject of religious instruction, "There are 
 some truths that should rather be felt than learnt." (Lettres, t. ii. 
 p. 444.) What practical results can we expect to obtain if we 
 teach duty like a theorem in geometry 1 It is not a question 
 of setting out learned abstractions, logical deductions, or 
 
Introduction. 
 
 \ 
 
 methojdical classifications. The heart and conscience must be 
 educated, moral feeling must be awakened and strengthened, the 
 love of what is good must be inculcated, good habits must be 
 formed. Saint-Cyran will be of use to us, especially in what 
 concerns moral education. 
 
 A real knowledge and a sincere love of children inspired these 
 pedagogic directions which I sum up from Lancelot : Before all 
 things, to gain their confidence by a calculated gentleness, by a 
 really paternal love, and a seemly familiarity ; to bear their faults 
 and weaknesses patiently ; to show still more charity and com- 
 passion towards those who are seen to be more unformed and 
 backward ; not to dishearten them by a too severe look and a too 
 imperious manner ; to know how to condescend discreetly to their 
 humour for a time, in order to strengthen these young plants, 
 sometimes even to ask instead of commanding; to descend to 
 their level in order to raise them to our own ; to watch continually 
 in order to preserve these tender souls from evil, sometimes to 
 punish ourselves for their faults, for which we should always 
 fear we may be partly responsible, either through hastiness or 
 negligence ; to pray to God before correcting them, in order not 
 to give way to a movement of ill-temper ; to warn them at first 
 only by signs, then by words, reprimands, and threats ; to deprive 
 them of some pleasures, and to resort to corporal punishment only 
 in the last extremity ; plus prier que crier, to ask rather than 
 scold, he said, by a happy play of words; or, to sum up all in 
 the formula that v pleased him, to speak little, bear with much, 
 and pray more. But for him the principal points in the good 
 education of children were the good example to be set them, 
 together with perfect order in the school. 
 
 Lemaitre, the great orator, the first of the solitaries of Port- 
 Royal, was also one of the earliest to second Saint-Cyran in the 
 execution of his projects, The young Andilly and Saint- Ange 
 were entrusted to his care. A touching passage in the Memoirs 
 of Dufosse shows him at work : 
 
 "I remember that, scholar though I was, he often made me 
 go to his room, where he gave me very solid instruction in 
 studies as well as in piety. He read to me, and made me read 
 
8 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 various passages from the poets and orators, and pointed out all 
 their beauties, both their strong sense and their diction. He 
 taught me 'also to read verse and prose as they should be read, 
 which he did admirably himself, having a pleasing voice, and 
 all the other qualities of a great orator. He also gave me several 
 rules for good translation, in order to enable me to advance in 
 it." 1 It is well known that he took charge of the education of 
 Eacine. 
 
 His younger brother, M. de Saci, who, after Saint-Cyran and 
 M. Singlin, was the director of Port-Eoyal, took part incidentally 
 in the teaching. With Lancelot, Saint-Cyran had especially 
 entrusted him with the education of the two sons of M. Bignon. 
 His letter, which we publish under the title of Patience and 
 Silence, is an admirable page of pedagogy. His influence on 
 classical studies was more considerable ; to him we owe a trans- 
 lation of the Fables of Phsedrus, 2 and of three comedies of 
 Terence. 3 It is to be noticed with what "ingenious charity" the 
 man of letters, enamoured with noble antiquity, endeavours to 
 conciliate the cultivation of good taste with respect for morality, 
 and the quite new importance that he attaches to the study of 
 the French language. "... Many persons of quality complain 
 nowadays with great reason," says he in the preface, " that when 
 their children are taught Latin it seems that they unlearn French, 
 and that in aspiring to make them citizens of ancient Home they 
 are made strangers in their own country . . . After having learnt 
 Latin and Greek for ten or twelve years we are often obliged to 
 learn French at thirty." 
 
 ly> His intellect, full of fire and light, with a certain charm and 
 sprightliness, and his especial talent for poetry, were celebrated 
 at Port-Eoyal. Fontaine has preserved his first piece. It is a 
 letter of thanks, half prose, half verse, to his mother for a 
 
 1 Mtinoires pour servir A I'hist. de Port- Boy al, 1739, p. 156. 
 
 2 The Fables of Phsedrus, the freedman of Augustus, translated into 
 French with the Latin opposite, to serve for a good understanding of the 
 Latin tongue, and for translating well into French. (1647.) 
 
 3 The Comedies of Terence (Andria, Adelphi, Phormio), translated into 
 French and rendered with propriety, by changing very little, to serve for a 
 good understanding of the Latin tongue, and for translating well into French, 
 by the Sr. de Saint- Aubin. (Paris, 1647.) 
 
Introduction. 
 
 present of four purses that she made to him and his three 
 brothers. Forced wit and an affected style give themselves free 
 scope. "We see in it," he says, "in a small space, the most 
 illustrious prisoner in the world (gold) ; and our hands have 
 enchained him who disposes of the liberty of all men : 
 
 " That superb metal, to which so many mortals 
 Dedicate so many vows, raise so many altars ; 
 Son of the Sun of the Heavens and Sun of the earth," etc. 
 
 The four purses, of different colours, are compared at first to 
 a beautiful flower-bed, then to the whiteness which when the sun 
 is hidden adorns 
 
 "That great blue veil that covers all the sky" ; 
 then to the lily and the rose, which 
 
 ' ' Both redouble their natural beauties " ; 
 
 then to the sun's rays on the " soft ivory " of the snow ; at last 
 " to the thousand deep red roses " of the- dawn. 
 
 "I shall always admire these purses as marvels, and I shall 
 love them as my little sisters, since they are in some sort your 
 daughters, and I am truly your very humble and very obedient 
 son, De Saci." 
 
 This poetical talent, such as it was, was utilized in 1654 to 
 reply to the facetious jests of the Jesuits in their almanack 
 entitled, The Rout and Confusion of the Jansenists. De Saci, with 
 the applause of Arnauld 1 (Saint-Cyran would have energetically 
 condemned such a freak), composed, in trifling verses of eight 
 feet, the Enluminures de Valmanacli des Jesuites. I will only quote* 
 one specimen, which has at least the historical value of verifying 
 how superior the Jansenists were to the Jesuits pen in hand : 
 
 " There are none, even your booksellers, 
 Who do not value your adversaries, 
 "Whose fine books have always, 
 Notwithstanding your noise, so great a vogue. 
 
 But yours, so magnificent, 
 Are the seniors in the shops, 
 And always stay at home 
 As if they were in prison. 
 
 * Arnauld undertook, at a great expense of erudition and logic, to justify 
 this pamphlet, in his Application des regies dcs Pbres a V almanack. 
 
io Port- Royal Education. 
 
 Every other book is asked for, 
 Seen, prized, and bargained for ; 
 But they are recluses, 
 Whom no man has ever seen. 
 All the leaves collected 
 Are ream on ream piled up 
 And, the attics being full of them, 
 They are the guardians of the shops. 
 
 There the mice run over the pages 
 Of your admirable works, 
 And the troop of noble rats 
 Make them their food and their good dishes." 
 
 (6th illustration, p. 24.) 
 
 Naturally, Lancelot applied to de Saci to versify the Garden of 
 Greek Roots (1657). The prologue well preserves the imprint of 
 its author : 
 
 " Thou, who cherishest the learned Greece, 
 
 Where of old wisdom flourished ; 
 
 Whence theological authors 
 
 Have borrowed their sacred terms 
 
 To be of our great mysteries 
 
 The august depositaries, 
 
 Enter this GARDEN, not of flowers 
 
 Which have only useless colours, 
 
 But of nourishing ROOTS 
 
 Which make learned minds." 
 
 ,- In truth, de Saci, wholly given up to piety, looked with some 
 
 ; contempt on all secular studies, and thought that reading the 
 
 I classical authors was 3angerous for those who could not " pick up 
 
 I some pearls from the dunghill, whence arose even a hlack smoke 
 
 which might obscure the wavering faith." Religion is his sole 
 
 thought : " The chief end of education ought to be to save the 
 
 children and ourselves with them." We see him in his admirable 
 
 conversation with Pascal, firm and intrenched in his faith, despise 
 
 the fine - drawn reasoning of Epictetus and Montaigne, and 
 
 enthusiasm for science, "those dangerous viands served up on 
 
 handsome dishes" to people "who are sleeping, and who think 
 
 they eat while sleeping." 
 
 Fontaine describes him admirably in this passage : "No one 
 ever saw M. de Saci take an interest in those inquisitive sciences 
 (the system of the world by Descartes, animal - machines). 
 
Introduction. \ i 
 
 Smiling good-naturedly when anyone spoke to him of these 
 things, he showed more pity for those who paid attention to them 
 than desire to attend to them himself. He said to me one day, 
 speaking to me privately on the subject, that he wondered at the 
 action of God with regard to these new opinions; that M. 
 Descartes was with respect to Aristotle like a robber who came to 
 kill another robber and carry off his booty; that Aristotle, little by 
 little, had at last become the master of the ministers of the 
 Church. ' I saw at the Sorbonne,' he said to me, 'and I could not 
 see it without a shudder, a doctor who quoted a passage from the 
 Scriptures, and another who boldly refuted him by a passage from 
 Aristotle. . . . Aristotle having usurped such authority in the 
 Church, was it not just that he should be dispossessed and over- 
 thrown by another tyrant, to whom, perhaps, the same thing 
 would happen one day?" (Memoires, t. iii. p. 75.) 
 
 What a narrow-minded opinion, and what a prejudice ! Sainte- 
 Beuve answers him roundly : " Jansenius made a disturbance in 
 the bosom of the Church; Descartes made a revolution every- 
 where." (t. iii. p. 120.) 
 
 We recall his smart paradox on the inutility of travelling : 
 " Travelling was seeing the devil dressed in every fashion 
 German, Italian, Spanish, and English." 
 
 De Saci's chief work was his translation of the Bible, of which 
 the publication, begun in 1672, was not finished till 1707, twenty- 
 three years after his death. Beading and meditating on the 
 sacred books, and making their reading and meditation easier for 
 the faithful, was the chief business of his life. "With my 
 Bible," said he, " I could go to the end of the world." It is 
 curious and interesting to mark the hesitation and the scruples 
 of the translator. He had translated at first in a style that his 
 friends thought too elevated, and then too bald. He set to 
 work a third time, trying to keep a middle course. Sainte-Beuve 
 amends the cutting sentence of Joubert, "De Saci has shaved, 
 powdered, and curled the Bible, but at least he has not rouged it," 
 by this sprightly remark, "It would suffice to say that he 
 has combed it." (t. ii. p. 362.) The celebrated translator passed 
 judgment on himself a few months before his death : 
 
 "I have endeavoured to remove from the Holy Scripture 
 
12 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 obscurity and inelegance ; and God has willed until now that His 
 Word should be enveloped in obscurities. Have I not, then, 
 reason to fear that giving, as I have tried to do, a clear version, 
 and one perhaps sufficiently correct with regard to purity of 
 language, is resisting the designs of the Holy Spirit ? I know very 
 well that I have not aimed at the graces and niceties that are 
 admired in society, and that might be sought at the French 
 Academy. God is my witness how much horror I have always 
 had of these ornaments. . . . But I cannot hide from myself 
 that I have endeavoured to render the language of Scripture 
 clear, pure, and conformable to the rules of grammar. . . . Shall 
 I not, then, have reason to tremble if the Holy Ghost, having until 
 now set aside the rules of grammar, and having visibly despised 
 , them, I now take the liberty of reducing it to these rules . . . T' 
 \(Fontaine, Memoir es, t. iv. pV^322.) 
 
 Evidently de Saci had not such soundness of taste as he had 
 tenderness of conscience and ardour in devotion ; but with these 
 few reservations, how much admiration this pure and regular life, 
 so enamoured of perfection, so lull of self-sacrifice and charity, 
 deserves ! One touching trait will suffice to depict this noble 
 soul. When he came out of prison in 1668 what will it be 
 thought that he demanded of the friendship of Le Tellier, who 
 was afterwards chancellor ? "He begged him to use his influence 
 with the king to obtain permission from his majesty that from 
 time to time persons of whose fidelity there could be no doubt 
 should go to the Bastille to see what was going on there, in order 
 that poor prisoners who spend years there without anyone even 
 remembering why they have been imprisoned, should not be left 
 in perpetual oblivion." (Leclerc. Vies interessantes, t. iv. p. 56.) 
 
 But the real masters of Port-Eoyal were those who were 
 entrusted with the teaching at the time of the organization of 
 the Petites Ecoles in 1646. Lancelot and Nicole, Guyot and 
 Coustel, under the management of M. Wallon de Beaupuis, but 
 in reality under the powerful influence of Arnauld, the heir to 
 the authority of Saint-Cyran and the author or inspirer of most 
 of the classical books of Port-Eoyal. 
 
 The most distinguished master was Claude Lancelot. Of all 
 fthe recluses of Port-Eoyal he devoted himself the most entirely 
 
Introduction. 1 3 
 
 to education, and composed the greatest number of classical works. 
 He was born at Paris about 1615. Having early resolved to 
 devote himself to God's service, he entered in 1627 the com- 
 munity of Saint Nicolas du Chardonnet, where he remained ten 
 years studying the fathers of the Church, and regretting that 
 he did not find men like St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, and 
 St. Augustine. "If there were only one," said he, "I would 
 start at once and go and seek him, even to the world's end, 
 to throw myself at his feet and receive from him so pure and 
 beneficial a guidance." (Memoires, t. i. p. 5.) 
 
 It was then that he heard the abbe* of Saint-Cyran spoken 
 of as a man of the early centuries, and he put himself under 
 his spiritual direction with unbounded submission and admiration. 
 " I confess," he said, " that it was one of my devotions to pause 
 sometimes and contemplate M. de Saint-Cyran as one of the 
 most living images of Christ that I had ever seen. (Mem. 
 t. ii. p. 204.) 
 
 He entered Port-Royal January 20, 1638, a few months before 
 the arrest of Saint-Cyran, to share the life of penitence of the 
 early solitaries, then not very numerous. They were soon obliged 
 to disperse, but in order not to abandon the task that had been 
 entrusted to him, Lancelot was sent to La Ferte-Milon with 
 M. Yitard, then twelve or thirteen years old, in order to take 
 charge of his education. On his return to Paris in October, 
 1639, he started for the abbey of Saint-Cyran, whence he 
 returned in October, 1640, to take charge of the two children 
 of M. Bignon, the Advocate-General, and afterwards of a little 
 boy whom Saint-Cyran sent to him, the care of whom he shared 
 with de Saci because he was occupied in the mornings in the 
 sacristy of Port-Royal. 
 
 He published in 1644 the New Method of Learning the Latin 
 Tongue with Ease. The preface and the address to the reader 
 state precisely the reform introduced into the teaching. The 
 rules are given in French. The "minutiae of grammar" are 
 rejected. " I have been careful to avoid some observations that 
 seemed to me not very useful, remembering the excellent saying 
 of Quintilian, that it is part of the science of a really skilful 
 grammarian to know that there are some tlii.pgs thai: are n t 
 
 ^^x 
 
 *0* THE "J'V 
 
 UNIVERSITY 1 
 
 ~~s 
 
14 Port-Royal Edttcation, 
 
 worth knowing. But I hope," he adds, "that the substantial 
 and judicious remarks of these authors, 1 in order to thoroughly 
 understand the ground of the Latin language, . . . will show 
 with how much reason the same Quintilian said that those are 
 I very much deceived who laugh at grammar as a low and despic- 
 | able art, since, being to eloquence what the foundation is to the 
 * edifice, if it is not firmly established in the mind all that is added 
 to it afterwards will fall to the ground." He praises this maxim 
 of Ramus : "Few rules and much practice," an excellent recom- 
 mendation that Fenelon supports with his authority. 2 
 \ Thus Lancelot claims to do in six months what Despautere 
 would take three years to do. In a letter to Bussy, Corbinelli 
 advises him to teach his daughter Latin by the method of Port- 
 Royal : "There is only enough for a fortnight." (30 July, 1677.) 
 Nothing shows that this was a joke on the pretension to improvise 
 knowledge. It is only a rather strong illusion of an admirer. 
 Lancelot had charge of the teaching of Greek and mathematics 
 at the school in the Rue Saint-Dominique de 1'Enfer in 1646. 
 He gave, in 1655, the New Method of Learning the Greek Language 
 with Ease. M. Egger, a very competent judge, notes the marked 
 advance of this work on the books of Clenard, Vergara, and 
 Yossius : " The barbarous quatrains that Lancelot mixes with the 
 rules in prose in his methods have quite gone out of fashion now. 
 But, then, it was something to employ the French language 
 instead of Latin ; it was something to have set out the declensions 
 and conjugations at greater length ; to have facilitated the effort of 
 memory necessary for pupils in learning the vocabulary of a dead 
 language by the choice of the most useful words." (De Vhellen- 
 isme en France, vol. ii. p. 60.) It was not the fault of Port- 
 Royal that the study of Greek was not again held in honour 
 
 1 He says that he had read the works of Sanctius, a celebrated professor of 
 Salamanca, of Scioppius and Vossius, learned Dutchmen (1577-1649); he 
 does not appeal at all to the authority of the Portuguese Jesuit Alvares, 
 whose grammar Father Rapin accuses him of copying, but without showing 
 any proof of it. (Mem. Introduc., p. 125.) 
 
 2 "The great point is to bring a person as soon as possible to the practical 
 application of the rules by frequent use ; then he will take pleasure in 
 noticing the details of the rules that he followed at first without remarking 
 them." (Lettre d I'Acad&nie Franqaise, 2.) 
 
Introduction. 
 
 among us. We know with what success Lancelot imparted the 
 knowledge of this language and the taste for its literature to 
 Racine. 
 
 In 1657 appeared the Jardin des ratines grecques. It would 
 not be very useful to pause on this work, which would not interest 
 our readers. The learned Diibner, otherwise a great partisan of 
 the pedagogic reforms of Port-Royal, does not hesitate to call itv 
 " Ostrogothic." M. Egger declares that this book, by its errors! 
 and want of criticism, "has been one of the greatest obstacles toi 
 progress in grammatical methods among us." (De Vhellenisme en* 
 France, vol. i. p. 112.) After being long used in class, it was 
 suppressed by a ministerial decree of December 4, 1863. Two 
 passages in the preface deserve to be noticed. One relates to 
 Comenius and his method, Janua linguarum reserata (the gate of 
 languages opened), 1631. "A work estimable in itself," said 
 Lancelot, "but not sufficiently proportioned to the title it bears, 
 and the intention of its author." After having tried it, he thinks 
 it long and difficult, without interest for the children, and, in fine, 
 of very little use, because of its want of method. There is a 
 good page of pedagogy to be gathered here. 
 
 "Besides requiring an extraordinary memory to, learn it, and 
 that few children are capable of it, I can assert, after several 
 experiments that I have made, that scarcely any are able to retain 
 it, because it is long and difficult and, the words being never 
 repeated, they have forgotten the beginning before reaching the 
 end. Thus they feel a constant dislike for it, because they always 
 find themselves, as it were, in a new country, where they recognize 
 nothing : the book is filled with all sorts of unusual and difficult 
 words, and the first chapters are of no assistance for those that 
 follow; nor these for the last, because there is no word in one 
 which is found in the others." And he adds, with his consum- 
 mate experience in teaching: "What might be called the Entrance 
 to languages ought to be a short and easy method to lead us 
 as quickly as possible to the reading the best written books, 
 in order to learn not only the words that we lack, but also what is 
 most remarkable in the turn and most pure in the phrase, which 
 is, without doubt, the most difficult and most important part in 
 every language/' 
 
1 6 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 The other judgment is not so well founded in reason. For the 
 etymologies, he quotes especially the Origines franfaises of M. 
 Menage, "who alone is worth a multitude of authors, because, 
 besides drawing from the ancients, he has carefully collected what 
 the most able men of our own times have that is curious upon this 
 matter." If there is a book that deserves the discredit and 
 oblivion into which it has fallen, it is assuredly this one. The 
 philological caprices of Menage have passed into legends. It was 
 easy for Father Bouhours to amuse himself at his expense, to the 
 great delight of Mine, de Sevigne. 1 
 
 " M. Menage especially excels in etymologies, he says with lively 
 raillery. His mind seems to be made expressly for this science; 
 sometimes he even seems to be inspired, so lucky is he in dis- 
 covering where words come from. For example, did he not need 
 a sort of inspiration to discover the real origin of jargon and 
 baragouin? Jargon, according to him, comes from barbaricus. 
 Here is its genealogy in direct line : barbarus, barbaricus, baricus, 
 varicus, uaricus, guaricus, guargus, gargo, gargonis, JARGON. 
 Baragouin is a near relation of jargon : barbarus, barbaracus, 
 barbaracuinus, baracuinus, baraguinus, BARAGOUIN. Nothing is 
 clearer nor more precise. And I have no doubt that M. Menage 
 is very pleased with himself at this new discovery; for formerly 
 he did not think that jargon and baragouin were of the same 
 country, nor came from the same stem. He insists, in his 
 Origines de la langue fran$aise, that jargon is Spanish and 
 baragouin Bas-breton, ... so true is it that words like men come 
 from where one wills. However this may be, we are indebted 
 to M. Menage for a great deal of similar knowledge ; it is he 
 who, with that faculty of divination that M. de Balzac attributes 
 to him, has discovered that laquais came from verna, vernula, 
 vernulacus, vernulacaius, lacaius, laquay, LAQUAIS ; that boire a 
 tire-larlgot came from fistula : fistula, fistularis, fistularius, fistu- 
 laricus, laricus, laricotus, LARIGOT. . . All that is very fine and 
 curious." 
 
 1 " I read the angry books of Father Bouhours, the Jesuit, and of Manage, 
 who tear each other's eyes out and amuse us. They say what they think of 
 each other, and often insult one another. There are, besides, some very good 
 remarks on the French language. You cannot think how amusing this 
 quarrel is." (16 September, 1676.) 
 
Introduction. 1 7 
 
 In 1660 Lancelot, under the supervision of Arnauld, 1 edited one 
 of the most important works of Port-Koyal, the Grammaire 
 gnu' rale et raisonnee, containing the grounds of the art of 
 speaking, explained in a clear and natural manner, the reason for 
 what is common to all languages, and the principal differences that 
 are met with in them, with several new remarks on the French 
 language. 
 
 This compendious but incomplete work was a bold conception 
 for the time, the influence of Descartes and his unflinching 
 confidence in the power of the reason are felt in it. It incited 
 the researches of the philosophical grammarians of the eighteenth 
 century, du Marsais, Duclos, Condillac, and de Tracy. This was 
 the best that could be done until the discovery of Sanscrit, with 
 a wider knowledge of languages and their filiation and history 
 permitted Grimm, Humboldt, Bopp, Burnouf, Diez, Michel 
 Breal, and Littre to substitute the sure method of history, 
 phonetics, and comparison for the brilliant but barren speculations 
 of philosophical abstraction. 
 
 If we no longer share the enthusiastic admiration of the worthy 
 Kollin for this work, and no longer see the sublime genius of the 
 great man, we still remain struck with this vigorous spirit of 
 analysis and this luminous method. 
 
 At the same date the indefatigable master, under the name of 
 M. de Trigny, completed his grammatical teaching by giving the 
 Nouvelle Methode pour apprendre facilement et en peu de temps la 
 langue italienne, and the Nouvelle Methode pour apprendre facile- 
 ment et en peu de temps la langue espagnole. He had recourse to 
 the learning of Chapelain for these two works. The second was 
 dedicated to the Most Serene Infanta of Spain, Donna Maria 
 Teresa, " whom all France already looks upon as her queen." A 
 passage in the Preface to the Italian Method should be pointed 
 
 1 " The General Grammar is the result of conversations that M. Lancelot, 
 who was entrusted with the teaching of languages in the schools of Port- 
 Royal, had with this great man, in the moments that the doctor was able to 
 give up to the desire that he had to learn with him. M. Lancelot wrote out 
 the answers that M. Arnauld gave to his questions ; and thus was composed 
 the first work that went deeply into the art of speaking, and developed the 
 first foundations of the Logic." (Fie de messire Ant. Arnauld, Paris et 
 Lausanne, 1783, t. i. p. 218.) 
 
1 8 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 out to those engaged in teaching, for the proper management of 
 the grammatical studies both of teachers as well as of students : 
 
 I" Whosoever wishes to learn a language with facility should 
 as soon as possible join use and practice with precept. " For the 
 Italian, for instance, the declension of the article, and the 
 auxiliary and regular verbs some three or four pages are all that 
 it is necessary to know in order to begin construing an author. 
 "After that the rules for the irregular verbs may be learnt, 
 or at least read attentively ; the rest of the grammar may almost 
 be left to the teacher to be applied in practice.'' 
 
 With respect to the grammar of the French language, which is 
 obviously lacking in the collection, and which was demanded 
 abroad, 1 particularly by Daniel Elzevier, the famous bookseller of 
 Amsterdam, Lancelot replied to Dr. Saint-Amour, who had to 
 make the proposal, "that he had several times resolved upon 
 undertaking this work, but that he had always found so many 
 difficulties, and so little likelihood of being able to surmount them, 
 that he had been obliged to give it up." Saint- Amour returned 
 to the charge two or three times, but always without success, 
 Lancelot never ceasing to object how much " he had been 
 repelled every time he had wished to undertake it." 
 
 ) After all, the Port-Koyalists rendered a greater service to the 
 French language than drawing up its grammar: they gave it 
 an important place in classical studies by their methods drawn up 
 in French, and no longer in Latin ; and by their translations they 
 invigorated it from the sources of antiquity, and cleared it of 
 pedantry and scholasticism. They won theology for it as 
 Descartes did philosophy and Corneille the high style of poetry. 
 The grave and learned works that issued from Port-Koyal, more 
 attentive to matter than form, to truth and virtue than to 
 beauties of style, drew admiration even from its enemies. Father 
 
 1 Among ancient works that the study of our language produced we 
 may cite : 
 
 PALSGKAVE, 1' Esclaircissement de la langue fran(;oys& (1530); Louis 
 MtfGRET, le TretU de la grammere fran^oeze (1550); RAMUS, Gramere 
 fransoeze (1562). 
 
 VAUGELAS in 1647 published only detached remarks on the French 
 language, and not a methodical treatise. In 1714 FENELON expressed a 
 wish that the French Academy would add a grammar to its dictionary. 
 
Introduction. \ 9 
 
 Annat had not more brilliantly combated Pascal than the 
 learned Father Petau had attacked Arnauld, and Father Rapin 
 does not stint his praises of the book on Frequent Communion 
 (1G43), "Nothing had been seen better written in our language." 
 (Menwires, t. i. p. 22.) He does not do less justice to Pascal 
 "Men had," he says, "so little experience of a manner of writing 
 resembling that of the Letters to a Provincial, that they could 
 form no conjectures sufficiently clear to point to anybody with 
 certainty, because they had never seen anything of this character 
 in our language." (Memoires, t. ii. p. 380. j 1 Mme. de Maintenon, 
 whose profound antipathy for " those gentlemen of Port-Royal " is 
 well known, asserts that the works "contain a venom so much 
 the more dangerous as their style is more pleasing to the natural 
 taste, and elevates the mind. For myself, I have never liked any 
 of their books, although they are very fine." (Instruction a la 
 classe bleue, 1705.) 
 
 The influence of these models for the perfecting of the language 
 was deep and lasting. " By employing themselves for twenty years 
 after the Provincials in dexterously finding fault with the style 
 of Pascal the Jesuits learnt to write well. By ironically pointing 
 out the rather uniform gravity, 2 the long periods, and at times 
 unusual expressions of the other writers of Port-Royal, they tried 
 their hand at a style which was more easy and flowing without 
 being less correct. 3 (Yillemain, Preface du Dictionnaire de 
 V Academie.) 
 
 This service was more valuable than the composition of a 
 French Grammar. 
 
 To return to Lancelot. When in 1661 the Petites Ecoles were 
 
 1 There is no one, even to the venomous Father Brisacier, who does not 
 admit the literary merit of the Heures de Port-Royal ; he calls them ' ' a sink 
 of errors, a grenade of impiety, a common sewer of all the works of Calvin 
 collected in good French under the specious title of Office de la Vierge" 
 Quoted by ARNAULD, la Morale pratique desjesuites, t. viii. p. 162. 
 
 2 A curious note of Bossuet on his reading, dated 1669, contains this 
 information: "Some books of MM. de Port-Royal, good to read because 
 gravity and grandeur are found in them, their prefaces by choice ; but their 
 style has little variety. Without variety there is no pleasure." (FLOQUET, 
 Etudes sur la vie de Bossuet, t. i. p. 378.) 
 
 3 Father Bouhours, the author of the Entretiens d'Ariste et d* Eugene 
 (1671), must especially be named. The second dialogue is entirely devoted 
 to a serious study of the language of Port-Royal. 
 
2O Port-Royal Education. 
 
 finally closed by the king's command, he had been for some time 
 in charge of the education of the Due de Chevreuse, as we see 
 by the address of a letter of Chapelain : "A M. Lancelot, 
 precept eur du Marquis de Luynes, a Port-Royal" 
 
 In 1663 he published four treatises on poetry Latin, French, 
 ^Italian, and Spanish. He was probably working on that Recueil 
 de poesies chretiennes et diverses, dedicated to Mgr. le prince 
 de Conti, which appeared in 1671 in three volumes under 
 the name of ... (the reader may guess a hundred times), 
 under the name of La Fontaine; his friendship for Eacine 
 and Boileau brought him into contact for a short time with 
 Port-Eoyal. In offering this collection to the prince, he acknow- 
 ledges that he has done little more than lend his name. 
 
 " Those who by their labour have brought it to this state 
 Might offer it to thee in more brilliant terms ; 
 But, fearing to emerge from that profound peace 
 Which they enjoy in secret, far from noise and the world, 
 They engage me to bring it to the light for them." 
 
 Lancelot had for two years been entrusted with the education 
 of the princes de Conti. Fontaine has preserved the interesting 
 report that he sent to M. de Saci on the employment of the 
 day by his pupils, and the distribution of their studies. He 
 preferred to resign his position in 1672, rather than consent 
 to take his pupils to the theatre. His inflexible strictness cannot 
 escape the reproach of inconsistency justly thrown on him by 
 Sainte-Beuve : "Of what use is it, Lancelot, to teach children 
 so well Greek, Spanish, Italian, and the niceties of Latin 
 and to forbid them afterwards to go to the theatre and hear 
 Chimene, to permit neither the Jerusalem, the Aminta, Theagene, 
 the Anthology, nor all Catullus? This prohibition and inter- 
 diction extended, in fact, beyond childhood, and in part existed 
 for grown-up men. Was it possible? Was it reasonable? Of 
 what use was it to teach so much and so well, if it were not 
 to put men in a position to use this knowledge later? Why 
 should I not enjoy the honey and the flowers of this Greek 
 whose Roots I have devoured? The child who will write 
 Berenice said this to himself one day, and he leaped over the 
 
Introduction. 2 1 
 
 obstacle. He flew over the hedge like the bee." (Port-Royal, 
 t. iii. p. 531.) 
 
 This was the end of the pedagogic career of Lancelot, who 
 henceforth devoted himself to the religious life in the abbey 
 of Saint-Cyran under the direction of M. de Barcos. On the 
 death of this abbe, in 1678, great troubles arose in the abbey, 
 and Lancelot was exiled, on the pretext of Jansenism, to 
 Quimperle in the remotest part of Britanny, 1 where he died 
 on April 15, 1695, leaving behind him a venerated memory. 
 The history of French pedagogy cannot leave in oblivion the 
 name of this educator who devoted himself unreservedly to 
 children, and who so well understood that pedagogy should be 
 in the heart still more than in the head, and that the master 
 should feel " the love of a father " for his pupils. " A preceptor 
 who was not in that frame of mind would never do anything 
 .... If, on the contrary, he were so, this love would make him 
 find more ways of being useful to his scholars than all the advice 
 that might be given him." (Letter to M. de Saci on the education 
 of the princes de Conti.) 
 
 shed more lustre than Lancelot by his talents as a writer 
 moralist, so much praised by Mme. de Sevigne and Voltaire. 
 In reality he was much less the man of Port-Royal. He scarcely 
 knew Saint-Cyran, and did not altogether admire him when he 
 compared him to a field, " capable of producing much, but prolific 
 in briars and thorns," and he even went so far as to speak of his 
 gibberish. He acknowledges that he kept himself a little aloof. 
 " I was for five or six years in a place where they usually opposed 
 to de Saci, M. Singlin, M. N. and M. 1ST. on one side and myself 
 on the other." (Essais, t. vii. p. 180). On the death of de Saci 
 he did not approve of the marks of veneration and tenderness 
 lavished by the nuns on their beloved confessor ; and he wrote 
 to Mile. Aubry, begging her not to mention it, that for thirty 
 
 1 Nothing more is heard of him except one curious circumstance related 
 by Arnauld to M. du Vaucel and Mme. de Fontpertuis, March 16 
 and 17, 1689. James II., King of England, who had been dethroned, 
 arrived at Kimperlay (sic}. ' * A great supper was awaiting him in the 
 abbey where brother Claude Lancelot is .... M. d'Avaux seated him 
 at table by his side . . . Who would have thought that a monk exiled to 
 Britanny would have had the honour of supping with a king ? " 
 
22 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 years he had suffered from this unreasonable assiduity of the 
 devotees. 
 
 M. de Beaubrun, in the interesting portrait that he has drawn 
 of Nicole, goes so far as to say : " He was a jansenist, perhaps, 
 only through fear of displeasing M. Arnauld, since after 1689 
 he wrote to Father Quesnel that for more than thirty years he 
 had had the thoughts that he had expressed in his treatise on 
 la Grace general^ that is to say that he was writing in favour of 
 Jansenism, while he had in his mind a system diametrically 
 opposed to it." (Vie manuscrite, a passage quoted by Sainte- 
 Beuve, t. iv. p. 516.) 
 
 ^Nicole, besides, was less exclusively attached to the Petiles 
 Ecoles. He divided his time between the care of his pupils, his 
 theological studies, and his preparation for the licentiate's degree, 
 which he did not renounce until 1649. A manuscript biographical 
 notice from Holland thus describes the more restricted part that 
 he took : " M. Nicole only directed the studies of the young people 
 at Port-Royal. The young gentlemen were themselves much in- 
 clined to study ; they only needed to have the best passages of the 
 Greek or Latin authors pointed out to them. M. Nicole was there 
 to inspire them with the taste for them. M. Nicole was to them 
 rather an adviser than a master, as this name is understood now." 
 (Quoted by Sainte-Beuve, t. iv. p. 599.) 
 
 His talent as a teacher was very remarkable. Father Rapin 
 (Mem. t. ii. p. 254) relates that Singlin heard him discourse on an 
 eclipse of the sun, got him to talk on various subjects, and 
 brought him under the notice of Arnauld, who hastened to 
 associate him with himself, and being unable to do without 
 him, soon carried him off to the schools. He was well qualified 
 for teaching belles-lettres and philosophy. 
 
 "M. Nicole," says Besogne (t. v. p. 225), "studied under his 
 father all the authors of profane antiquity, both Greek and 
 Latin. 1 At the age of fourteen he had finished the usual course 
 of the humanities, he had so much aptitude and penetration of 
 mind joined to a most excellent memory. It was sufficient for 
 
 1 Nicole, Essais de morale, t. viii. p. 193, admits that he had not read 
 Demosthenes 
 
Introduction. 23 
 
 Jrim to read a book once in order to retain its substance, and at an 
 advanced age he told his friends that he had forgotten nothing 
 that he had read in his youth. He knew his Virgil and Horace 
 perfectly. A short time before his death he gravely recited a 
 number of verses of the ^Eneid. The author who pleased him 
 most, and whom he willingly re-read for his good latinity, was 
 Terence. He was accustomed to say that the best passages of 
 these authors were like fine models that it was necessary to have 
 in the mind in order to write fine works; that a man who was 
 not provided with these fine models, and who undertook to 
 compose, might indeed write fine things, but it was as if he 
 printed in Gothic characters; while he who had made these 
 fine passages his own was in a position to print in fine Roman 
 characters, which it was a pleasure to read." 
 
 This extensive and varied knowledge, this wide and curious 
 reading, which give a peculiar character to Nicole among the 
 solitaries of Port-Royal, lacks, however, the keen feeling for 
 beauty. A passage in one of his letters is truly singular for 
 a professor of the humanities ; he does not conceal his contempt 
 for the impassioned admirers of the ancients : " For myself," he 
 adds, " / take pleasure in discovering the falsehoods and great 
 delusions in these same books. I find a quantity of them. 7 ' 
 This is a very unfortunate turn of mind, and would be calcu- 
 lated to vitiate and sterilize all literary teaching. " The pleasure 
 of criticism," says La Bruyere, "takes from us the faculty of 
 being deeply touched by very fine things." 
 
 Nicole has an unfortunate kind of prejudice against the whole 
 of ancient literature. 
 
 Recalling to mind that Saint-Cyran never read the books ofi 
 heretics " without having performed the exorcisms of the church, I 
 because he said that they were written by the spirit of the devil, 
 and that there was in these books an impression of error," he 
 adds, " But do not all the books of the pagans come from the 
 same source?" (t. xii. p. 176.) 1 Happily he corrected this 
 
 1 It is unpleasant to see Port-Royal, which stigmatized the ineptitude 
 of Father Garasse, in agreement with him on this point, in better terms, 
 however : " It is true that the greatest captains in the world, who in old 
 times filled the earth with the signs of their triumphs, are now like hodmen 
 
24 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 sally himself, and felt the moral value of ancient literature. 
 (See p. 180.) 
 
 What shall we say of several of his criticisms on French 
 literature 1 ? Did he not arouse the anger and ingratitude of 
 Eacine by calling the dramatic poets public poison ersl The great 
 Corneille, whose theatre breathes in the highest degree heroism 
 and the sentiment of duty, finds no favour in his prejudiced eyes, 
 and he pronounces, even in the case of the Cid and Horace, the 
 words corruption, barbarism, criminal aims. 
 
 " One cannot better prove the danger there is in all comedies 
 than by showing that those even of this author are contrary to 
 the spirit of the Gospel, and that they corrupt the mind and heart 
 by the pagan and profane sentiments that they inspire." (Les 
 Visionnaires, Avertissement, p. 22.) Bossuet, unfortunately, has 
 not been more just towards Corneille. 
 
 The genius of Pascal also has partly escaped Nicole. He 
 proclaims him, indeed, "one of the great minds of this age" 
 (Essais, t. iii. p. 3); he quotes the Pensees as one of the most 
 useful works to put into the hands of princes (see p. 179); but 
 he goes so far as to call him " a gatherer of shells," and nearly 
 made the abbe de Saint-Pierre, to whom he said this enormity, 
 doubt the discernment of the moralist. (Ouvrages de morale et de 
 politique, t. xii. p. 86.) 
 
 With what strange freedom, in a letter to the Marquis de 
 Sevigne, he reproaches Mme. de la Fayette with wishing to 
 impose admiration of these Pensees without " telling us more 
 particularly what we ought to admire in them," and to reduce 
 us "to pretend to think admirable what we do not understand ! " 
 
 We cannot but praise the wisdom and prudence of the editors, 
 while regretting it, that in publishing the Pensees they thought 
 of excising some passages in which the royal majesty was treated 
 with small respect, some assertions which furnished matter for 
 new discussions, and some attacks on the " worthy Fathers." 
 
 and stable - boys in hell ; it is true that the devil has taken the greatest 
 philosophers of Greece, the wisest councillors of the Areopagus, the most 
 famous orators of Rome, the haughtiest princes of heathendom, the most 
 learned physicians of the universe ; it is true that they are all in the pay 
 of Lucifer." (P. GARASSE, Doctrine curieuse, p. 867.) 
 
Introduction. 25 
 
 We can understand, strictly, that Arnauld should write to 
 M, Perrier, who defended the work of Pascal : " A man cannot 
 be too precise when he has to do with such ill-natured enemies 
 as yours. It is much more to the point to avoid carping criticisms 
 by some slight change, which only softens an expression, than 
 to be reduced to the necessity of making apologies. . . ." 
 (20 Nov., 1660.) 
 
 But that anyone should have the idea of correcting Pascal's 
 style, of remodelling his phrases, of changing such and such a 
 familiar and original expression, such and such a lively and 
 dramatic turn, shows an aberration of mind, an absence of 
 criticism, and a want of taste that we cannot describe; and wo 
 have some trouble to understand that this was, in great part, 
 the work of him whom Bayle calls the finest pen of Port-Eoyal, 
 and whom the papal nuncio named the golden pen. 1 
 
 This imperfection of his literary sense, taste, and imagination 
 is equally betrayed in the only book relating to the teaching of 
 belles-lettres on which Nicole worked, Epigrammatum delectus 
 (A Selection of Epigrams, 1659). A preface and a dissertation, 
 both in Latin, indicate the aim and plan of the work to culti- 
 vate the mind, and to protect the morals. The worthy Nicole 
 " shuddered with horror at the sight of the obscenities of Martial 
 and Catullus, whose works eternal oblivion or the flames ought 
 to have destroyed." But as " remedies are drawn from the viper 
 and flowers are found among poisons," he sets to work to make 
 a selection of the most elegant pieces. He would perhaps have 
 acted as wisely in not including the construing of these authors 
 in a programme of classical studies. This kind of work is of a 
 very limited and secondary character. 
 
 The dissertation on true and false beauty, on the nature and 
 the different kinds of epigrams, notwithstanding the praises of 
 Chapelain 2 , ill-satisfies the reader. Father Vavasseur, " the best 
 humanist of his time," in the opinion of the abbe d'Olivet, the 
 
 1 See in Havet's edition, especially pp. 13 and 267, two specimens of this 
 literary profanation. 
 
 2 9 September, 1659, letter to d'Andilly : " I have seen nothing better 
 written in the didactic style, nothing more judicious, more chaste, more 
 clearly set forth in the nature of the epigram, in fine, more instructive. " 
 
26 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 historian of the French Academy, has roughly handled him, and 
 not without reason. "Was it not sufficient for the theory of this 
 kind of poetry which only admits of a few verses to demand 
 naturalness and simplicity, a witty and pointed turn, grace and 
 delicacy? Instead of that, Nicole discourses gravely on the 
 nature and source of the beautiful ; he lays down this principle, 
 sufficiently vague, however, that it is especially in conformity 
 with the nature of things and with our nature; he reduces its 
 conditions to three the agreeableness of the tone, the propriety 
 of the words, and the truth and naturalness of the thoughts ; 
 he thinks that he has thoroughly examined his subject, although 
 he admits himself that all this has little to do with the epigram, 
 in proclaiming the weakness of human nature as the reason of 
 metaphors. It is this that appears so chaste to Chapelain. 
 Nicole then explains how, in consequence of these premisses, 
 he has been obliged to reject from his collection false, mytho- 
 logical, equivocal, hyperbolical, doubtful, vulgar, spiteful, verbose, 
 or common epigrams. After which, but a little late, he takes in 
 hand the definition and form of the epigram, and admits two 
 kinds the sublime, grand, and magnificent kind, and another 
 a little lower in style but more useful in application. 
 
 The best thing in this ill-balanced dissertation is the ideas 
 rather carelessly thrown out at the end, where Nicole, without 
 circumlocution, praises, especially in the epigram, the ingenious 
 point that penetrates the mind deeply, or its simplicity and play- 
 fulness, and the art of treating the subject without excess or 
 defect, without obscurity or complication, by cleverly leading up 
 to the effect ; and he quotes Martial, who is a master of this art. 
 Martial and Port-Royal ! Does not the approximation of these 
 two names excite the most legitimate astonishment 1 All Nicole's 
 dissertation, however, falls to pieces at this simple remark of 
 Voltaire : " The epigram should not be placed in a higher rank 
 than the song ... I should advise no one to apply himself to a 
 style that may bring much disappointment and little glory." 
 ((Euvres, t. xxxix. p. 212.) 
 
 Nicole took a large share in the composition of the Logic, 
 or the Art of Thinking, but the firmer hand and more liberal 
 mind of Arnauld are perceived in this work. Arnauld, alone 
 
Introduction. 27 
 
 at Port-Royal, is sincerely Cartesian ; he declared himself a 
 partisan of the new philosophy on the appearance of the 
 Discours de la Methods in 1637. In his lectures at the college 
 of Le Mans 1 he dictated the new principles to his pupils. When 
 he sent to Father Mersenne his objections to the Meditations of 
 Descartes, which appeared in 1641, he wrote these explicit words : 
 " You have known for a long time in what esteem I hold the 
 person of M. Descartes and the value I set upon his mind and 
 teaching." 
 
 In June, 1648, he writes to Descartes himself that he has 
 "read with admiration and approved almost entirely of all that 
 he has written touching the first philosophy " (Le. Metaphysics). 
 He held these opinions all his life. 
 
 It was in vain that Leibnitz, in that interesting correspondence 
 from 1686 to 1690, which has been published in our time, showed 
 him how much was lacking in the philosophy of Descartes, that 
 he was not satisfied with the definition of the body by extension 
 nor with that of the soul by thinking, nor 2 of the conditions 
 of the perfection of God and of the immortality of the soul, 
 nor of the automatism of animals. Arnauld remains convinced 
 of the soundness of the doctrine of Descartes, and does not cease 
 taking up its defence. In 1692 he repels the attacks of Huet, 
 Bishop of Avranches, as in 1680 he had done those of Lemoine, 
 Dean of the Chapter at Vitre. He appeals to the principles of 
 Descartes against the Calvinists in the Perpetuite de la foi, so far 
 as to make Jurieu say that the theologians of Port-Royal were 
 more attached to Cartesianism than to Christianity. (Politique du 
 clerge de France, p. 107.) 
 
 Elsewhere he sadly wonders that the Inquisition has not put 
 the works of Gassendi, who had employed his whole mind to 
 ruin spiritual philosophy in favour of the doctrines of Epicurus, 
 in the Index, and that it had, in fact, placed the Meditations of 
 Descartes in it. 
 
 1 At Paris, in the rue de Reims, then in 1682 rue d'Enfer ; in 1761 it was 
 united with the College Louis le Grand. 
 
 2 Bossuet supports him : " Every time that M. de Leibnitz," he replies to 
 him, " undertakes to prove that the essence of the body is not in its actual 
 extent any more than that of the soul in actual thought, I declare myself 
 on his side. (CEuvres, t. x. p. 97.) 
 
Port- Royal Education. 
 
 Nicole is much less firm in his attachment to Cartesianism. 
 With his turn of mind, readily sceptical in everything that 
 does not relate to faith, he takes pleasure in disparaging philo- 
 sophy. "If I had to live over again I think that I would so 
 act as not to be put in the number of the Cartesians any 
 more than in that of others. ... In truth, the Cartesians are 
 worth little more than the rest, and are often prouder and more 
 self-sufficient; and Descartes himself was not a man who might 
 be called a pious person." (t. viii. p. 153-156.) 
 
 We shall be less astonished at seeing a professor of philosophy 
 treat with so little respect him whom history calls the father 
 of modern philosophy when we read the judgment that he 
 pronounced on the real founder of ancient philosophy, 
 
 " Socrates .... is a man full of small ideas and petty 
 reasoning, who looks only on the present life, a man who finds 
 pleasure in discoursing on truths for the most part useless, 
 and which only tend to enlighten the mind with respect to a 
 few human objects/' (t. xi. p. 119.) 
 
 It would be difficult to have a more narrow and unjust 
 prejudice and to decry thus gratuitously one of the most real 
 glories of humanity ; the immortal thinker who recalled men 
 to the study of themselves, who preached to them temperance 
 and justice and the dignity of labour, who courageously opposed 
 the sophists, the ethics of pleasure and passion, the politics of 
 force, and who crowned this disinterested and useful life by 
 a heroic death. 
 
 Although, then, Nicole passes for the author of the two 
 discourses prefixed to the Logic^ the merit of the firm and 
 courageous attitude of the authors towards Aristotle and 
 scholasticism must especially be attributed to the influence of 
 Arnauld. 
 
 1 Arnauld only speaks of the first of these discourses in this note to 
 Mme. de Sable : "All that I can do to reconcile myself with you is to send 
 you something that will amuse you for half an hour, and in which I think 
 you will see expressed a part of your ideas respecting the folly of mankind. 
 It is a discourse that we have been thinking of prefixing to our Logic. You 
 will oblige us by sending us your opinion of it when you have seen it, for it 
 is only persons like yourself that we would have for judges of it." (19 April, 
 1660.) It is in the second, which answers the objections, that the hand of 
 Arnauld is visible. 
 
8 13 Y 1 
 
 Introduction. 29 
 
 
 
 In the struggle of the Cartesian philosophy to free modern 
 thought from the heavy yoke of Aristotle and scholasticism, 
 we know with what prudence 1 Descartes had in 1637 undertaken 
 the destruction of the ancient philosophy by proclaiming the 
 right of free examination, provisional doubt, and the criterion 
 of evidence. 
 
 " My intention is not to teach here the method that each man 
 must follow to properly guide his reason, but only to show how 
 I have tried to guide my own.'' (Discours de la Methods, i.) 
 " . . . . Setting forth this writing only as a history, or, if you 
 like it better, as a fable. . . . My design has never extended 
 further than trying to form anew my own proper thoughts, and 
 to build on a foundation which is entirely my own." (ii.) 
 
 He writes to Father Mersenne in 1641: "I will tell you, 
 between ourselves, that these six meditations contain all the 
 foundations of my physics ; but do not say so, if you please, 
 for those who favour Aristotle will perhaps make more difficulty 
 in approving of them; and I hope that those who read them 
 will insensibly get accustomed to my principles, and will recognize 
 their truth before perceiving that they destroy Aristotle's.'' 
 
 We shall understand this prudence if we remember that 
 Giordano Bruno, who, among other misdeeds, had opposed the 
 philosophy of Aristotle at Paris, was burnt at Eome in 1600; 
 that Vanini, in 1619, at Toulouse was condemned for his philo- 
 sophical opinions to have his tongue cut out and afterwards to 
 be hanged and burnt ; that Galileo, who had been severely 
 admonished in 1616 by the congregation of the Index, had to 
 go to Eome in 1633 to solemnly abjure his theory of the move- 
 ment of the earth v 
 
 The Logic of Port-Eoyal, published in 1662, lays down clearly 
 and boldly the right of human reason before the jurisdiction 
 of authority : " It is a very great restraint for a man to think 
 himself obliged to approve of Aristotle in everything, and to take 
 him as the guide to the truth of philosophical opinions. . . . The 
 
 1 Bossuet thinks it excessive : " M. Descartes has always feared to be 
 remarked by the Church, and we see him take precautions against that, some 
 of which run to excess." (Lettre a M. Postel, docteur de Sorbonne, 21 mai, 
 1701.) 
 
30 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 world cannot remain long under this constraint, and insensibly 
 regains possession of natural and reasonable liberty, which consists 
 in approving what it judges to be true and rejecting what it 
 judges to be false." 
 
 To appreciate at its real worth the boldness of these resolute 
 declarations, we must remember that in 1670, the general of the 
 Jesuits wrote to all the houses of the society to oppose Descartes' 
 philosophy, and that shortly afterwards the University presented 
 a petition to the Parliament to forbid its teaching. The Arret 
 Burlesque, composed by Boileau in 1675, did ample justice to it. 
 
 " The Court having examined the petition .... setting forth 
 that for several years an unknown person, named Reason, had 
 attempted to enter by force the schools of the said University 
 .... where Aristotle had always been recognized as judge, with- 
 out appeal, and not accountable for his opinions , . . ; having 
 examined the treatises, entitled Physics of Rohault, Logic of Port- 
 Royal . . . 
 
 "The Court .... has maintained and kept, maintains and 
 keeps, the said Aristotle in full and peaceable possession of the 
 said schools. . . . And, in order that in the future he be not 
 molested, has banished in perpetuity Eeason from the schools of 
 the said University; forbids him to enter them and disturb or 
 molest the said Aristotle in the possession and use of the same, on 
 pain of being declared a jansenist and friend of innovations. ..." 
 
 The greatest merit of the Port-Royal Logic is to have intro- 
 duced Cartesiansm into teaching. It proclaims aloud that it has 
 borrowed some reflections "from the books of a celebrated 
 philosopher of this age, who has as much clearness of mind as 
 there is confusion in the others." It sets forth, like Descartes, in 
 the name of the famous axiom, " I think, therefore I exist," the 
 evidence of conscience as the criterion of truth, and the four rules 
 of his Method as the best guarantee against error, and for 
 discovering the truth in human sciences. 
 
 It was indeed the spirit of Descartes that suggested to the 
 authors their small confidence in the rules of logic, and the infalli- 
 bility of the syllogism, their title of "Art of thinking " instead of 
 " Art of reasoning," their carefulness in forming the judgment by 
 replacing the abstract and conventional examples by instructive 
 
Introduction. 3 1 
 
 examples taken from the different branches of knowledge, to give 
 to logic at once more interest and especially more practical utility, 
 and to bring it out of the school and make it useful for the study 
 of the sciences as well as for the conduct of life. 
 
 These solid merits have made this work a classic. Excepting 
 certain defects of plan and proportion, easily explicable by the 
 haste in which the work was composed, by the collaboration of two 
 authors, and by the successive additions that they made to it, there 
 is really but one fault, but it is a grave one, to be found with 
 the Logic, namely, that it is so full of the spirit of Descartes that 
 it escapes the influence, not yet very marked it is true, of Bacon. 1 
 A theologian and geometrician, Arnauld has explained the method 
 of deduction, and completely neglected the method of induction, 
 observation, and experiment which are suitable to the physical and 
 natural sciences. It was in vain that the illustrious Chancellor of 
 England, in the Novum Organum, in 1620, with the enthusiasm 
 of an apostle, had invited men to lay aside the sterile dogmatism 
 and the compilations of pretended scholars, and to interpret the 
 great book of nature by a patient observation of facts; 2 "not to 
 cling, so to say, to empty abstractions and pursue unrealities like 
 the common logic, but to anatomize nature, to discover the real 
 properties of bodies, and their well-determined actions and laws in 
 matter" (Nov. Org. ii. 52.); to give up the syllogism as "an 
 instrument too weak and coarse to penetrate into the depths of 
 nature." (Nov. Org. i. 13.) 
 
 A very remarkable chapter, in which we recognize the delicate 
 hand of Nicole, his talent for analysis and his gentle raillery, 
 namely, that on fallacies in life, permits us to study the moralist 
 under his true aspect. 
 
 We know what an impassioned cult Mine, de Sevigne did not 
 cease to profess for the moral philosophy of Nicole, notwithstanding 
 
 1 Nevertheless we find the Advocate-General Bignon, one of the great 
 friends of Port-Royal, speaking at length of Bacon to a traveller who came 
 from England. (Vie par 1'abbe Ferau, vol. ii. p. 92.) Descartes, in his Letters 
 (t. ii. pp. 324, 330, 494), approves of Bacon's method, and thinks it proper 
 for those who wish to work at the advancement of the sciences. He always 
 calls him Verulamius, from the barony of Verulam that he possessed. 
 
 2 " What it is necessary, so to say, to attach to the understanding is not 
 wings, but on the contrary lead, a weight which may restrain its flight," he 
 says in his figurative language. (Nov. Org. i. 104.) 
 
32 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 the bitter criticisms of her son, 1 who openly declared the Trait e de 
 la connaissance de soi meme "distilled, sophisticated gibberish in 
 several passages, and, above all, wearisome almost from one end to 
 the other." She proclaimed it "admirable, delightful"; she is 
 "charmed" with it; it is a pleasure which "carries her away." 
 She felt a lively pleasure in seeing "the human heart so well 
 anatomized, and its depths searched with a lantern." "It is 
 a treasure to have such a good mirror of the weaknesses of our 
 heart." (vol. i. 71.) This patient, ingenious, sometimes playful 
 and gently satirical analysis of weaknesses, eccentricities, pre- 
 judices, and illusions gave satisfaction to her fine and delicate 
 mind, as the purity and severity of the morality did to the 
 nobility of her sentiments and the respectability of her life. 
 
 The Essais de morale comprise six volumes, to which may be 
 added two other volumes of Letters, which are not the least 
 interesting part of the works of Nicole. No comprehensive plan 
 binds these various Essais together, because they were composed 
 from day to day as opportunity offered. The first are well 
 developed and very methodical treatises, in which the author feels 
 himself at his best, because he finds something "to prove and 
 to settle." Then they are only very short articles, and at last 
 simple detached thoughts. 
 
 Nicole rarely raises his voice to the pitch of the keen eloquence 
 of Pascal ; he lacks authority and real passion in order to move 
 us profoundly ; he leaves us cold, and makes us smile rather than 
 tremble when, for instance, he represents the whole world under 
 the power of the demon, as " a place of execution . . . full of all 
 instruments of men's cruelty, and filled on the one side with 
 executioners, and on the other with an infinite number of criminals 
 abandoned to their rage. . . . We pass our days in the midst of 
 this spiritual carnage, and we may say that we swim in the blood of 
 
 1 Ch. de Sevigne thus terminates a letter to his mother : " And I tell you 
 that the first volume of the Essais de morale would appear to you just as it 
 does to me, if La Marans and the abbe Tetu had not accustomed you to fine 
 and elaborate things. This is not the first time that gibberish appears to 
 you clear and easy ; of all that has been said of man and the heart of man, 
 I have seen nothing less agreeable ; those portraits in which everyone 
 recognizes himself are not there. Pascal, the Port-Royal Logic, Plutarch and 
 Montaigne speak very differently ; this man speaks because he wishes to 
 speak, and often he has not much to say." (2 February, 1676.) 
 
In t reduction. 3 3 
 
 sinners, that we are all covered with it, and that this world which 
 bears us is a river of blood." (De la crainte de Dieu.) He does 
 not succeed better in his picture of the conscience of the sinner at 
 the moment that he appears before his judge ; he compares it to 
 "a vast but dark chamber, that a man works all his life to fill 
 with adders and serpents. . . . When he is thinking least of it, 
 the windows of this chamber opening all of a sudden and letting 
 in the broad daylight, all the serpents awake suddenly, and spring- 
 ing upon the wretch, they tear him to pieces with their bites," 
 &c (Du jugement.) To represent the primitive corruption of 
 Tuoii, "let us imagine," says he, "a universal plague, or, rather, 
 an accumulation of plagues, pests, and malignant carbuncles with 
 which the body of a man may be covered, &c. ; this is an image 
 of the state in which we are born." (De la connaissance de soi- 
 meme.) There is always the same weakness and impotence with 
 the same exaggeration. 
 
 Sometimes Nicole gives a smart and clever touch, that sets off 
 the expression and renders the truth pleasing. Here are two 
 passages of a letter which deserve to be extracted : 
 
 "The young children of our villages have a very amusing 
 custom when they go in procession after Easter. He who carries 
 the bell separates himself with a few companions a quarter of a 
 league from the main body of the procession, and if he meet 
 another bell they come to action ; they knock their bells against 
 each other, and do not finish the contest until one of the bells 
 is broken. After which there is nothing more to be said, for no 
 one can doubt on which side victory is. It is much to be wished 
 that it were the same in the conflict of caprices, and that the one 
 that is broken should be so plainly and incontestably broken that 
 there could be no doubt about it," &c. (Essais, t. vii. p. 31.) 
 
 And a few pages further on : "I should even dare to tell you 
 (provided that you do not take my comparison too literally, and 
 that you do not take it into your head to conclude that I accuse 
 you of drunkenness) that I should wish that one should do with 
 regard to imputations that -which they say that the Breton girls 
 do with regard to the fault which prevails in that country, which 
 is that of getting intoxicated ; for, as they suppose that there is 
 no man who is exempt from it, they will not marry one, it is said, 
 
 D 
 
34 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 without having seen him drunk, in order to know by that whethe 
 he is merry or quarrelsome in his cups." (Essais, t. vii. p. 35.) 
 
 We have said that the jansenists use long and cumbrou 
 
 , sentences. This quotation is a sufficiently demonstrative proof o 
 
 / it. The matter is here spoilt, as if designedly, by the form. Bu 
 
 / at Port-Koyal it was thought derogatory to Christian humility t< 
 
 ' pay attention to style, and Nicole declares to Mme. de la Fayett< 
 
 ; that he does not think it a great evil to be a bad author, (t. viii 
 
 p. 261.) 
 
 The neglect that he suffered because he would not take up th 
 quarrels of Port-Koyal to the end inspired this gentle and wi^ 
 raillery : 
 
 "It is the same with friends as with clothes. Some are onb 
 good for summer, others for winter, others for spring and autumn 
 But as we only put off our summer clothes after the season 1 
 past, and keep them for another year, it is necessary in the sam< 
 way to keep our friends, although they may not be good at al 
 times, and to reserve them for those when they may be useful 
 Some are only good for the month of July, that is to say, whei 
 there is no cold to fear, and their number is sufficiently great. 1 
 (Essais, t. vii. p. 167.) 
 
 But most often Nicole, without bestowing much care on th< 
 form (he declares that he is incapable of a double attention) 
 follows his thought, and conducts his fine and delicate analysii 
 at a uniform and rather monotonous pace. He has been unde: 
 no illusion with regard to this, and his declaration is mos 
 explicit : "As there are painters who, having little imagination 
 give all their characters the same features, there are also peopL 
 who always write in the same manner, and whose style is alway: 
 recognizable. No one ever had this defect more than I. " Nicole wai 
 not the man to make Bossuet change his opinion on the judgmen 
 already delivered by him in 1669 : "The style of MM. de Port 
 Koyal has little variety; without variety there is no pleasure. 3 
 We know the passionate outburst of J. le Maistre : " Nicole, th< 
 coldest, the greyest, the most leaden, the most insupportable o: 
 the bores of that great and tedious house." 
 
 We are here a long way from the enthusiasm of Mme. d( 
 S^vigne' : " What language ! what skill in the arrangement o: 
 
Introduction. 3 5 
 
 the words ! One thinks one has only read French in this book." 
 (12 January, 1676.) 
 
 It is precisely in the arrangement of the words and the turn of 
 the phrase that Nicole seems to us absolutely wanting in skill. 
 The expression is well chosen, exact, sometimes profound, often 
 fine and delicate. But it most often loses a portion of its good 
 qualities and charms, because it disappears as if drowned in 
 a drawling and cumbrous sentence, overloaded with incidental or 
 subordinate propositions, which the habitual employment of the 
 present participle makes still heavier. Here is a sufficiently 
 striking example. Nicole has been moved by the gloomy theories 
 of La Rochefoucauld, and he writes : " So many secret affectations 
 glide into friendships, that I scarcely dare to say that I love 
 anyone, for fear that all I feel for him may not be reduced to 
 loving myself, there being nothing more usual than only to love 
 in others the favourable sentiments that they have for us, when 
 we imagine we love what God has put in them." (t. vii. p. 40.) 
 On reading such phrases, and they abound in Nicole, we might 
 say, " What a creditable scruple ! What tact in putting us on 
 our guard without discouraging us by a bitter and trenchant 
 condemnation of friendship ! " But we should never say, " What 
 skill in the arrangement of the words ! What a writer ! " La 
 Kochefoucauld draws this praise from us at the very time that we 
 repudiate these distressing calumnies against the human heart. 
 
 Notwithstanding her admiration, Mme. de S^vigne* had too 
 much good sense and soundness of judgment not to take exception 
 several times to the essence of the ideas, and not to point out 
 contradictions in them. Even in that famous Traite de Vart 
 de vivre en paix avec les hommes, of which she said she would 
 like "to make broth and swallow it, 7 ' she agrees with her daughter 
 that if peace and union with our neighbour are so precious, 
 and require so many sacrifices, "there is no way after that of 
 being indifferent to what he thinks of us," and that she is "less 
 capable than anyone of understanding this perfection which is 
 a little above human nature." Her judgment is more severe on 
 the Traite de la soumission a la volonte de Dieu: "See how he 
 represents it to us as sovereign, doing all, disposing of all, 
 regulating all. I agree to it, that is what I believe ; and if, on 
 
36 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 turning over the leaf, they mean the reverse, to keep on good 
 terms with both sides, they will have on that, with respect to me, 
 the fate of those political opportunists, and will not make me 
 change." (25 May, 1680.) 
 
 Would anyone believe that she is speaking of her beloved 
 Nicole in that curious letter of July 16, 16771 "There is the 
 prettiest gibberish that I have ever seen in the twenty-sixth article 
 of the last volume of the Essais de morale, in the treatise de tenter 
 Dieu. That is very amusing; and when, besides, we are sub- 
 missive, that morality is not unsettled by it, and that it is only to 
 confute false reasoning, there is no great harm ; for if they would 
 keep silence, we would say nothing; but to wish to establish 
 their maxims by every means, to translate St. Augustine for 
 us, lest we should ignore him, to publish all that is most severe 
 in him, and then to sum up, like Father Bauny, for fear of losing 
 the right of scolding ; that is provoking, it is true. . . . May I 
 die if I do not like the Jesuits a thousand times better ; they are 
 at least consistent, uniform in doctrine and morals. Our brethren 
 speak well and conclude ill ; they are not sincere ; here I am 
 in Escobar. You see very well, my daughter, that I am playing 
 and amusing myself." 
 
 On looking closely into the Essais of Nicole it would not 
 be difficult to point out many exaggerations and inexact ideas, 
 false wit, "refinements of spiritual ity," a certain want of vigour 
 and authority, of impulse and enthusiasm for what is good. 1 
 
 Is it well to preach such enervating doctrines to prepare us 
 to cultivate our faculties in order that we may better fulfil our 
 destiny and courageously perform the duties of life ? " Man's 
 real science is to understand the nothingness of the world, and 
 his true happiness to despise it." (t. vii. p. 3.) "The world is 
 but a great hospital full of patients." (t. vii. p. 209.) "The 
 conversation of the world is almost constantly the school of the 
 devil." (t. x. p. 198.) "The devil is the greatest author and the 
 
 1 Joubert, who calls Nicole "a Pascal without style," and praises, not the 
 form, but "the matter, which is exquisite," admits, however, that in his 
 Essais "the morality of the gospel is perhaps a little too much refined 
 by subtle reasoning." (Vol. ii. p. 165.) Thus Nicole undertook to show an 
 officer "a hundred deadly sins of which he had never heard, and which he 
 did not know at all." (Essais, t. vii. p. 151.) 
 
Introduction. 37 
 
 greatest writer in the world, as well as the greatest speaker, since 
 he has a share in most of the writings and speeches of men." 
 (t. xii. p. 176.) "If Christ brought any science into the world it 
 was that of despising all the sciences which are the subject and 
 foundation of the vanity and curiosity of men." 1 (t. xi. p. 89.) 
 
 What shall we say of the reflections suggested to him by 
 his asthma ^ " The world values only the talents of action, and 
 to be good for nothing is to be a subject for its abhorrence. This, 
 however, is a very false judgment, which has its source only in the 
 vanity natural to man, and if we were well rid of it we should 
 find more happiness in the deprivation of the talents that I 
 call the talents of impotence than in all the great qualities." 
 (t. vii. p. 162.) 
 
 There can be nothing better than for the moralist to put us on 
 our guard against the dangers of ambition. But is it not forcing 
 the note and missing the aim to lay down this principle : " No 
 person is permitted to endeavour to raise and better either himself 
 or his family'"? (t. xi. p. 321.) What father of a family, seeking 
 very legitimately to prepare a better position for his children, would 
 take seriously the reasons appealed to by Nicole, that it is render- 
 ing our salvation more difficult, and forsaking the example of 
 Christ, whose whole life was only a continual abasement and 
 humiliation 1 
 
 Mme. de Sevigne thinks that description of society very 
 amusing in which, thanks to cupidity, very obliging people build 
 and furnish our houses, weave our stuffs, carry our letters, run 
 to the world's end to fetch provisions and materials, or cheerfully 
 render us the lowest and most laborious services. The idea 
 is neither correct nor sound. It has a paradoxical turn, which 
 
 1 How much better Bossuet keeps within bounds and reconciles every- 
 thing : "I am not one of those who make much of human knowledge, 
 yet, nevertheless, I confess that I cannot contemplate without admiration the 
 wonderful discoveries that science has made in order to investigate nature, 
 nor the many fine inventions that art has found to adapt it to our use. 
 Man has almost changed the face of the world. . . . He has mounted to the 
 skies ; to walk more safely, he has taught the stars to guide him in his 
 travels ; to measure out his life more evenly, he has forced the sun to 
 render an account, so to say, of all his steps." (Sermons, 4 e semaine de 
 careme. ) Such language honoured the pulpit ; Nicole only made a oanting 
 discourse. 
 
38 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 would make it accepted with more propriety in a humorous 
 writer. In a serious moral lesson it is needful to adopt another 
 tone, and to speak in better terms of that admirable harmony 
 of economical interests that Bastiat has so eloquently described, 
 and which so happily inspired the fine sonnet of M. Sully- 
 Prudhomme. The poet, awaking from a dream, in. which he 
 believes himself for an instant abandoned by the labourer, the"' 
 weaver, and the mason, and seeing with pleasure everybody at 
 work, far from stigmatizing them with the name of grasping, 
 finds only a cry of thankfulness in his heart : 
 
 " And since that day I have loved them all ! " 
 
 Is not that grave discussion of seventeen pages on this strange 
 question, May a person entirely devoted to God have his portrait 
 taken for his friends and neighbours mere sentimentalism 1 Christ 
 did, it is true, send to Abgarus, King of Edessa, the impression of 
 His countenance on a cloth, but that was to induce him to be con- 
 verted. " It would be criminal in us to wish to be considered and 
 loved as the Son of God wished to be considered and loved." 
 (t. viii. p. 196.) And the scene of the staircase? A female 
 devotee was showing Nicole out ... to honour the steps of 
 Jesus Christ ! Notwithstanding his edification at the reply, 
 he endeavoured, but in vain, to show her that useless steps could 
 no more honour those of Christ than words without deeds and 
 without necessity could honour His words, " She did not well 
 understand my reply, and continued to honour Jesus Christ 
 by showing me out." (t. vii. p. 185.) 
 
 Even in serious matters Nicole, by his turn of mind, gives 
 a euphuistic character to the moral lesson, and thus impairs its 
 gravity. 
 
 Ancient philosophy and Christianity have both recommended 
 as one of the most useful exercises the examination of the 
 conscience, the regulation of the employment of time, incessant 
 watchfulness over our bad propensities, in order to remedy 
 the evil at once. Let us listen to Nicole : " To facilitate this 
 practice, let her. imagine that a person who resembles her, that is, 
 who has the same maladies as she has, asks her advice, and that 
 she prescribes all that conies into her mind; let her write 
 
Introduction. 39 
 
 down her thoughts on this subject, and let her play the directress 
 with respect to this person, who will not be different from herself. 
 There is nothing but what is reasonable in that, for we are, in fact, 
 double. It is a sort of game that I propose, but which will 
 not fail to relieve the mind." (t. vii. p. 47.) 
 
 After having written much to dissuade from marriage, doesi 
 he not ruin his whole argument by this subtle distinction, that hej 
 has spoken "as a mere advocate" and not "as a judge," on 
 by this comparison with a person who, being questioned about? 
 two roads, contents himself with showing the one he knows 
 best? 
 
 As he pleases himself immoderately in his letter to Mile. 
 Aubry, the directress of the school that he founded at Troyes 
 in 1678, in developing that affected allegory of the pustules 
 (envy, jealousy, malignity), and as he is proud of his analysis, 
 how the Hotel of Kambouillet would have applauded ! " You 
 did not yet know that one of your duties was to cleverly pierce 
 these pustules of the soul ; I tell you so now." (t. viii. p. 58.) 
 
 To resume, it would be difficult to conclude, with Mme. de 
 Sevigne, that all that "is of the same stuff as Pascal." And 
 if we cede this point, it would be on condition of immediately 
 adding this witty repartie of M. V. Fournel : " Yes, but the 
 tailor is different." 
 
 His contemporaries boast of his "golden pen." Nicole lacks 
 many things for posterity to ratify this eulogy. Like all the 
 writers of Port-Royal, by an exaggerated scruple of piety, he 
 treats the question of style too disdainfully as a vanity. He is < 
 little concerned about negligence of style, the matter alone 
 deserves his attention. Truth appears to him worthy of respect, 
 however she may be clothed. The only question is to know if we 
 are not wanting in respect and compromising her influence 
 by refusing her the garb that is most becoming to present herself 
 to the world and to succeed. Nicole says elsewhere to Mme. de La 
 Fayette that he does not write for the public, but only to employ 
 himself and occupy his mind ; l that his writings were not made 
 
 1 Nicole even says, humorously enough, of an apology that he had com- 
 posed, that his only aim was *' to procure sleep ... It seems to me that it 
 is a very legitimate purpose to wish to sleep." When his system of General 
 
40 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 to be printed. When the opportunity made him hastily take up 
 the design of publishing them, "being very much occupied with 
 other things, I satisfied myself by reading them over quickly, 
 paying special attention to the matter. So that not being capable 
 of a divided attention, I am astonished how many inexact expres- 
 sions have escaped me. 1 All that I can do, then, is to beg 
 intelligent persons to say nothing about them, and to let this 
 edition be exhausted under favour of the indulgence of the 
 public. I shall be more exact another time if I have leisure ; and 
 if not I shall put up with the reputation of writing badly, which 
 is not a great evil." But, then, why print? Posterity only 
 collects and preserves well-finished works. Voltaire is a little 
 premature in this prophecy: "The Essais de morale, which 
 are useful to mankind, will not perish." (Siede de Louis XIV. , 
 Ecrivains.) D'Aguesseau, like Rollin, had already recommended 
 to his son only " the first four volumes of the Essais de morale, 
 which are more carefully finished than the rest, and in which it is 
 easier to perceive a plan and regular order." (4th Instruction.) In 
 our time M. Silvestre de Saci has reduced to one volume his 
 Choix de petits traites de morale (1857, 16mo), and doubtless 
 the few readers of an author formerly so much appreciated might 
 easily be counted. He suffers the natural law of retaliation. He 
 has not thought sufficiently of us, and we forget him. What a 
 disillusion would not Mme. de Sevigne suffer on vainly seeking 
 the name of her favourite author in the fine study of M. Prevost- 
 Paradol on les Moralistes fran$ais. The eminent critic has not 
 given him the most humble place between Montaigne, La Boetie, 
 Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyere, arid Vauvenargues. 
 
 There is among the Essais de morale a tract which more 
 especially interests us, De ^education d'un prince. It does 
 honour to the educators of Port-Eoyal. We extract a few 
 thoughtful pages, in which the reader will find useful subjects 
 for meditation. What a fine and broad definition ! " The aim 
 
 Grace was attacked, he answered the objections by repeating his saying : " It 
 is a sort of narcotic that I have always used." (Quoted by Sainte-Beuve, 
 t. iv. p. 492.) 
 
 1 We read in the same letter : " I should not dare to say to what the 
 corrections that I might make, if I had leisure, would amount, there are so 
 many things to observe when negligence of style is to be avoided." 
 
Introduction. 41 
 
 of instruction is to carry the mind to the point that it is capable 
 of attaining." This is a manly sentence that redeems many dis- 
 couraging phrases on the vanity of curiosity and on the contempt 
 for the sciences. Nicole is not less happy, both in thought and 
 expression, when he points out to the masters that their part is 
 "to expose to the inward light of the mind" the object of their 
 lessons, and that without this light " instruction is as useless as 
 wishing to show pictures during the night. The mind of children 
 is almost entirely full of darkness, and only catches glimpses of 
 small rays of light. Thus everything consists in husbanding 
 these rays, in augmenting them, and in exposing to them what 
 one wishes them to understand. . . . We must look where there 
 is light, and present to it what we wish to make them understand." 
 A perusal of this little tract cannot be too much recommended. 
 A great deal of practical advice on the different branches of teach- 
 ing will be found in it. It is one of the most authoritative and 
 suggestive books of Nicole. 
 
 After Lancelot and Nicole, the most eminent name is that of 
 Coutel, or Coustel (1621-1704). Lemaitre, in a memoir inserted 
 in the Supplement au Necrologe, enters in May, 1650, the arrival 
 at Port-Eoyal des Champs of " M. Coutel, Picard, S9avant en grec 
 et en latin." Since the establishment of the Petites Ecoles in the 
 rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer (1646) he had been placed in charge 
 of a division of six pupils. It was only in 1687 that he drew up 
 the Rules for the Education of Children, a work dedicated to 
 Cardinal Furstemberg, whose nephews he had educated. It is 
 the most complete and methodical work of Port-Royal on pedagogy 
 that remains to us. The matter is worth much more than the 
 form. Coustel was far from being a good writer, but he was an 
 earnest and devoted teacher, modest and sensible, who knew 
 children well and loved them. The prolixity, negligence, and 
 commonplace of his style condemned him. to a prompt oblivion. 
 
 As to Guyot, it is strange that the historians of Port-Koyal 
 have not given him a short notice. Besogne declares that 
 "nothing is known of him." Guyot was, however, one of the 
 masters on the first foundation, and is the author of numerous 
 publications. We owe him A New Translation of the Captives of 
 Plautus, 1666 ; Moral and Political Letters of Cicero to his 
 
Port-Royal Education. 
 
 friend Atticus, 1666 ; A New Translation of a New Collection 
 of the Best Letters of Cicero to his Friends, 1666 ; Letters of 
 Cicero to his Common Friends, and to Atticus, his Particular 
 Friend, 1668; 1 A Political Letter of Cicero to his Brother 
 Quintus, and Scipio's Dream, 1670; A New Translation of the 
 Bucolics of Yirgil, 1678; Moral and Epigrammatic Flowers from 
 Ancient and Modern Writers, 1669. And at the beginning of 
 several of these works he has developed, in very extended and 
 important prefaces, several of the pedagogic reforms in the 
 realization of which he had collaborated in the Petites Ecoles. 
 
 The reason of the silence of Port-Royal on this master, who 
 played such an active part, has been given by Barbier, in a 
 notice on Th. Guyot (Magasin encyclopedique, August, 1813); he 
 did not remain faithful to Port-Royal. One of his works, 
 published in 1666, is dedicated to Messeigneurs de Mont baron, 
 students with the R.R. P.P. Jesuites at the College of Clermont, 
 " that celebrated school," says he, " that piety has dedicated to 
 science and virtue." He disowned his old friends in their mis- 
 fortune, and paid court to their relentless persecutors. Nevertheless, 
 some extracts from one of his prefaces, on teaching reading, on the 
 study of the French language, and on the advantages of oral in- 
 struction, will be read with interest. 
 
 It is proper to devote a few lines at least to the austere and 
 venerable Wallon de Beaupuis, director of the Petites Ecoles de 
 Port-Royal. Born at Beauvais in 1621, he commenced his studies 
 in the college of that town, partly under the celebrated Godefroi 
 Hermant; then, after a fourth year of rhetoric with the Jesuits at 
 
 1 The translator causes a smile when, under pretence of politeness, he 
 introduces into the letters of Cicero and his friends our French forms : 
 "Monsieur wtre frere, madame votre m&re, mademoiselle votre fille t madame 
 votre femme," transforms Balbus into M. Lebegue, and Pomponius into -M. 
 de Pomponne ! But what is more serious is that in an excellent preface, 
 which sums up all education in " precision of mind and rectitude of will," 
 he several times compares the child to a bird in a cage ! "By restraining 
 and confining him within the limits of a strict discipline, as in a cage, to 
 teach him to be wise and virtuous ..." (p. 114). "As far as possible, 
 all the openings of the cage, which give to this spirit the greatest desire 
 to go out, must be closed. Some open bars .... to live and be in 
 health ; this is what we do with nightingales to make them sing, and to 
 parrots to teach them to talk" (p. 127). "More than one cage is necessary 
 for him to live and to render him capable of instruction " (p. 137). 
 
Introduction. 43 
 
 Paris, he studied philosophy with Arnauld at the College of Le 
 Mans, and then theology at the College of Clugny. The book on 
 Frequente Communion won him over to Port-Royal, where he was 
 admitted in 1644. He was entrusted with the charge of the school 
 in the rue Saint-Dominique; then, in 1653, with that of Le Chesnai, 
 of which he has left us the regulations. He was engaged, besides, 
 in collecting extracts from the Fathers to aid Arnauld and Nicole 
 in the composition of their works. After the breaking-up of the 
 Petites Ecoles he was ordained priest, notwithstanding his re- 
 sistance, and was for some time preceptor to the two young 
 Periers, Pascal's nephews ; then, in 1676, he had the direction 
 of the seminary at Beauvais. Disgraced at the end of three 
 years, and deprived of all employment, he passed the remainder 
 of his life in the most austere retreat, without any other recrea- 
 tion than an annual journey to Port-Royal. He died in February, 
 1709, at the age of 87, bearing witness to himself that "by the 
 grace of God he had sought always and above everything the 
 supreme good." His work at Port-Royal was more religious than 
 pedagogic. 
 
 Dr. Antoine Arnauld 1 deserves a place of honour among the 
 pedagogues of Port-Royal, although the great business of his life 
 had been to fulfil the last vow of his dying mother, that of Saint- 
 
 1 An tome Arnauld was born at Paris, February 6, 1612. He was the 
 twentieth child of the celebrated advocate Arnauld, who, in 1594, had 
 defended the University against the Jesuits with so much vehemence. This 
 was the most illustrious conquest of Saint-Cyran during his imprisonment. 
 Entirely devoted to Port - Royal, to which he made a donation of his 
 property, priest and doctor in 1641, he devoted his life to the defence of 
 religion and morality. His very numerous works, almost exclusively 
 polemical, form no less than forty-two folio volumes. The greater number 
 have suffered the fate reserved for this kind of books. "The fire and 
 division becoming extinct," says La Bruyere, "they are like last year's 
 almanacks." His treatise, De la frequence Communion (1643), deserves 
 special mention. "This book caused something like a revolution in the 
 manner of understanding and practising piety, and also in the manner of 
 writing theology. ... It was, to say truth, the first manifestation of that 
 Port-Royal of Saint-Cyran, which until then had remained rather in the 
 shade, in a sort of mystery conformable to the character of the great 
 director." (SAINTE-BEUVE, t. ii. p. 166.) Almost always compelled to hide 
 and to fly, he died in exile at Brussels, 8 August, 1694. His burial 
 place was kept secret, lest the Jesuits should have him disinterred, as they 
 did Jausenius. 
 
44 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Cyran, and his own oath as doctor, namely, the defence of the 
 truth. It was in the midst of his constantly-recurring struggles 
 against the Jesuits Sirmond, Petau, Nouet, Brisacier, Annat, and 
 Maimbourg, against the faculty of theology, against the assembly 
 of the clergy, against the archbishops of Paris, Perefixe, and 
 Harlai, against the archbishop of Embrun, against the doctors 
 Morel and Lemoine, against Eichard Simon, against Jurieu, 
 against the bishops of Lavaur and Yabres, against Malebranche, 
 against the calvinists, and against Nicole himself, that the inde- 
 fatigable athlete, as if in play and to fill up his scanty moments 
 of leisure, composed his most justly estimated works. The 
 Grammaire generate et raisonnee is, to tell the truth, all his own. 
 His letter to some members of the Academy on the difficulties 
 of French syntax bears witness to the power and acuteriess of his 
 criticism, and would alone suffice to justify the estimate of Bossuet 
 a sound and powerful arguer. 
 
 We know the occasion on which he composed the Logic, or the 
 Art of Thinking. " One day," says Besogne, "when M. Arnauld 
 was conversing with several persons, among whom was the young 
 due de Chevreuse, the son of the due de Luines, he told this 
 young nobleman that if he would give himself the trouble he 
 would engage to teach him in four or five days all that was worth 
 knowing in Logic. The proposition surprised the company a little. 
 They conversed about it for some time. At last M. Arnauld, who 
 had made the offer, resolved to make the trial. He set to work 
 to compose a short abridgment of Logic, which he hoped to 
 finish the same day. But, while reflecting, so many new thoughts 
 occurred to his mind that he employed four or five days, during 
 which he formed the body of the work. The paper was put into 
 the hands of the young duke, who reduced it to four tables, and 
 by learning one each day he knew the whole at the end of four 
 days, so that the prediction of four or five days came true to the 
 letter." (t. v. p. 524.) 
 
 He composed his Elements of geometry in the same way, at a 
 moment's notice, so to say, during a slight illness, in a few days 
 of liberty in a country house at Le Chesnai, "without any book." 
 And if we may believe a note of the editor, Pascal had judged 
 this work so favourably that he had burnt an essay on this science 
 
Introduction. 45 
 
 when he saw the manner in which Arnauld had remedied the 
 confusion imputed to Euclid. 
 
 Is it not very touching to see him engrossed with a question 
 of pure pedagogy in the midst of the worry of persecution, and 
 at a time when he was obliged to hide? "You will laugh," he 
 writes, January 31, 1656, to the Mother Angelique, "at what 
 gives me occasion to write to you. There is a little boy about 
 twelve years old who does not know how to read. I wish to 
 try if he can learn by M. Pascal's method. I therefore beg you 
 to finish what you have begun to set down in writing." (t. i. 
 p. 101.) It is not impossible that the Mother Angelique laughed 
 when she received this letter; 1 we, however, are not tempted 
 to do so ; we admire the good heart that reveals itself with such 
 amiable simplicity. 
 
 M. Sainte-Beuve has devoted the last chapter of his third 
 volume to the most eminent students of Port-Koyal (Jerome and 
 Thierry Bignon, Eacine, Le Nain de Tillemont, &c.). I am happy 
 to fill up a grave lacuna by adding the name of Boisguilbert to 
 his list. 
 
 In the Advertisement to the reader, in one of his translations, 
 the precursor of the economists, whom history has finally avenged 
 of the scorn of Voltaire, thus expresses himself : " Although it 
 seems that in our days all the sciences have been carried to the 
 highest point that they can ever attain, we may say that that 
 of making Greek and Latin writers speak our language has gone 
 further, nothing being able to be added to the works of those 
 gentlemen of the Academy, of Monsieur d'Andilly, who seems 
 to have surpassed himself in his Josephus, and of those famous 
 anonymous writers so celebrated throughout France; so I shall 
 candidly confess that if I am sufficiently happy that this small 
 work is not found very imperfect, I owe it to some education that 
 
 1 I judge so by this detail that the abbe Racine relates : Some of the 
 sisters asked the Mother Angelique whether their novices and boarders 
 would not be restored to them. "My daughters," she replied, "do not 
 trouble yourselves about that. I am not anxious about whether your 
 novices and boarders will be restored to you, but I am that the spirit of 
 retirement, simplicity, and poverty shall be preserved among us. Provided 
 that these things continue, laugh at all the rest." (Abrfye de Vhistoire 
 ecclesiastique, t. x. p. 541.) 
 
46 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 I received among them in my youth." 1 (Roman History, by 
 Herodian, 1675.) 
 
 The thinker and patriot, whose enthusiastic eulogy 2 Michelet 
 so justly made, is not one of the least glories with which Port- 
 Eoyal may adorn herself. 
 
 OF THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS AT PORT-ROYAL. 
 
 "At Port-Koyal," writes M. Cousin, "the women are, perhaps, 
 more extraordinary, and assuredly quite as great as the men. Is 
 not the Mother Angelique the equal of Arnauld by her intrepidity 
 of soul and elevation of thought*? 3 Is Nicole much above the 
 Mother Agnes 1 She has more energy with as much gentleness. 
 And did not their niece, the Mother Angelique de Saint-Jean, 
 use, in the government of Port-Royal, a prudence, ability, and 
 courage that her brother, the minister, might 4 have envied her] 
 Who among the men has dared and struggled more, and has 
 suffered more, and more patiently than all these women? They 
 also have known and braved persecution, calumny, exile, and 
 prison. . . ." (Jacqueline Pascal, p, 491.) 
 
 But if these persons are morally equal, is it the same with 
 their pedagogic work ? We have not, so to say, any information 
 about the education of the girls at Port-Royal. 5 We know, in 
 
 1 The names of Boisguilbert and his brother are, in fact, mentioned in the 
 Ties inter essantes et edifiantes, p. 86. 
 
 2 "May we see on the bridge of Rouen, opposite Corneille, the statue 
 of a great citizen who, a hundred years before 1789, sent out from Rouen 
 the first sound of the Revolution with as much vigour and more gravity than 
 Mirabeau did later ! " 
 
 3 " M. d'Andilly said to me, 'Count all my brothers, iny children, and 
 myself as fools in comparison with Angelique.' Nothing that has come out 
 of those parts has ever been good which has not been amended and approved 
 by her ; she is steeped in all the languages and sciences ; in fine, she is a 
 prodigy." (Lettre de Mme. de Stvigne', 29 Nov., 1679.) Sainte-Beuve equally 
 pays homage to this great mind : "No character in our subject appears to 
 us more truly great and royal than she she and Saint-Cyran." (t. iv. 
 p. 160.) 
 
 4 M. de Pomponne, secretary of state, charg6 d'affaires etrangeres from 
 1671 to 1679. 
 
 8 Here are a few dates of the establishment of the schools, and a few 
 figures for the number of pupils. In 1609, the date of the reformation of 
 the monastery by the Mother Angelique, the Sister Louise Sainte-Praxede 
 de Lamoignon was appointed mistress of the boarders, as being the most 
 
Introduction. 47 
 
 a general manner, that it was much praised and sought after. 
 Testimony in its favour is not wanting. "A great number of 
 girls brought up in this monastery," says Racine, "might be cited 
 who have since edified the world by their wisdom and virtue. 
 j We know with what feelings of admiration and thankfulness 
 I they (women of quality) have always spoken of the education 
 \ that they had received there." The abbe Fromageau, who was 
 sent by the archbishop of Paris, May 9, 1679, to make an 
 inquiry by the king's order, dwelt at length, Besogne relates 
 (t. ii. p. 507), " on the excellent education that was given to the 
 children of whom he mentioned, as an example, the young 
 demoiselle Bignon." A few days after, the archbishop "ex- 
 hausted himself in eulogies of the virtue of the nuns, and of 
 the excellent education they gave to the children. 1 And when 
 the president de Guedreville, whose daughter was a boarder at 
 Port-Royal, came to inquire what grave reason caused the dis- 
 missal of the boarders, the prelate assured him of the irreproach- 
 able management of the house, and of the excellence of the 
 education that was received there." 2 
 
 But there is an absolute want of proofs. Where are the 
 programmes of studies? What methods did the mistresses 
 employ? What books did they put into the hands of their 
 pupils? What traces have they left of their teaching and of 
 
 capable of any of the twelve professed nuns of Port-Royal. The monastery 
 was transferred in 1626 to the faubourg Saint- Jacques (now the MaterniU). 
 The house of Port-Royal des Champs was re-opened in 1648. In 1661, at 
 the time of the closing of the schools, there were 21 boarders in Paris, and 
 20 at the Champs. Besogne gives the list of them. (t. i. p. 412.) At the 
 " peace of the church" in 1669, the boarders were again admitted into the two 
 houses, henceforth completely separated. But on the death of the duchesse 
 de Longueville (1679), the king ordered them to be definitely sent back to 
 their parents. Besogne counts then 42 pupils. Nicole had founded a girls' 
 school at Troyes in the preceding year. The teaching sisters, or black sisters, 
 who were in charge of it were ordered not to teach any more in 1742, and 
 in 1749 were dispersed. This last information is furnished us by M. Th. 
 Boutiot. (Histoire de ^instruction publique et populaire d Troyes pendant les 
 quatre demiers siedes, 1864.) 
 
 1 " There was nothing to find fault with in the education that she gave to 
 the children, he told the abbess ; on the contrary, nowhere was it so good." 
 (Hist. gen. de P.-R. y t. vii. p. 318.) 
 
 2 Clemencet makes him say: "They train the boarders perfectly well, 
 not only in piety and morals, but also by forming their minaa ; there is no 
 place where they would be better for all things than there. 
 
48 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 I their system of education *\ Eacine indeed tells us : " They were 
 jnot satisfied with training them up in piety ; they also took great 
 [pains to form their minds and reason, and laboured to render 
 them equally capable of becoming some day either perfect nuns 
 or excellent mothers." (Abrege de Vhistoire de Port-Royal.) The 
 programme certainly is excellent ; it is very unfortunate that the 
 proofs in support of it are absolutely wanting. 
 
 The respectable du Fosse" (Memoir es pour servir a TJiistoire de 
 Port-Royal, p. 378) extols the merits of Mother Angelique 
 Arnauld, who for twenty-seven years was at the head of the 
 community. He praises her ability " in making shrines, like the 
 most clever architects, or wax figures better finished than those 
 that are seen at Benoit's ; in writing letters that touch the heart 
 and elevate the mind " ; he praises her sound piety, her profound 
 ^ humility, her ardour for penance, and her contempt of the world. 
 |Ent-tliere is not a word relating to education. And, in fact, the 
 Mother Angelique in her Entretiens et Conferences has never 
 treated a question having a bearing on education. Once only 
 a sister consulted her about the absence of mind that children 
 caused her. The answer was so short that the poor sister did not 
 understand it, and dared not press the matter. 
 
 On the other hand, there are many passages not very en- 
 couraging as to the intellectual development of the pupils. 
 
 Page 377 : " The demon delivered a discourse on philosophy 
 which lasted two hours, the most lofty and elegant that this 
 philosopher had ever heard. He was quite delighted with it; 
 but the moment it was finished he forgot it so entirely that he 
 could not even remember a single word . . . ; this discourse, 
 which appeared so admirable and was so useless, shows that all 
 human sciences are but vanity, and that they are often more 
 hurtful than useful, because they puff up the mind.'* 
 
 Page 399 : " Eejoice, ye poor and unlearned, without books, 
 without reading or elevated conversation, in preparing your 
 vegetables, in boiling your pot, if you are satisfied with your 
 condition, if you are contented to be the least in the house of 
 God, if you have no desire for another condition; the Son of 
 God came for you. Have no care, He Himself will convert your 
 heart : fear not the lack of instruction." 
 
Introduction. 49 
 
 Judging from the writings of the Mother Agnes, teaching 
 appears to be an unpleasant task imposed on the sisters: 1 "You 
 must not, if you please," we read in a letter of March 18, 1655, 
 to the sister Marie-Dorothe'e Perdreau, " desire to be exempt from 
 the service of the children, although it may be unpleasant to 
 you ; for, since we receive them in this house, the lot may fall 
 upon you as well as another." The Constitutions force them, 
 nevertheless, on this course, while recommending them to apply 
 themselves to their task with "great disinterestedness, dreading 
 this task on account of the many opportunities there are for 
 making mistakes, for diverting oneself too much, and losing the 
 spirit of meditation, which it is not easy to preserve in such a 
 great employment." Want of professional qualification, far from 
 being taken into consideration in the interest of the children, is 
 precisely a motive for the superiors for choosing the nuns who, v 
 for the work of their salvation, need to be humbled and to suffer. 
 "Do not put forward as an excuse," the Mother Agnes writes 
 again, " that you do not discharge this duty well, and that you 
 make many mistakes, for it is for that very reason that perhaps 
 it will be found fitting to leave you there still, that you may 
 better understand your incapacity . . . God permits the children 
 not to behave to you as they ought that these insubordinate 
 pupils may make you suffer and humble yourself. " (Faugere, t. ii. 
 p. 465 and 461.) 
 
 This is doubtless very edifying but not very pedagogic, and the] 
 children appear to be sacrificed too much to the moral advanced 
 ment of their mistresses. We cannot, however, but pay tribute] 
 to their devotedness and self-abnegation. They are also, as far as 
 it is possible to judge by the very rare passages that refer to them 
 in the voluminous writings of Port-Royal, imbued with an admir- 
 able sense of their responsibility. " She was so humble," says the 
 Necrologe of D. Kivet, speaking of the sister Marie de Sainte- 
 
 1 Dufosse admits it implicitly : ' ' Although the order which obliged the 
 nuns of Port-Royal to dismiss their boarders (1669) caused them much 
 distress on account of the young girls who were so unjustly deprived of a 
 pious education, it was, nevertheless, easy to console themselves on their 
 own account because of the relief that they received from it, and the in- 
 comparably greater peace that this release procured for them." (M6m. pou 
 scrvir d rhistoire de P.-R t p. 177.) 
 
SO Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Aldegonde des Pommares, deputy mistress, "that she took upon 
 herself almost all the faults that the children committed, always 
 thinking that they would not have happened except for her want 
 of discretion or through having spoken to them roughly." (Page 5.) 
 Similar testimony is borne to the, sister Anne-Eug6nie by Besogne 
 in an interesting page that we have extracted. 
 
 The Constitutions of the monastery of Port-Eoyal and the 
 Regulations for the children, by Jacqueline Pascal, the only 
 documents that we possess, bring before us a very monastic 
 education. 
 
 First, the parents must renounce their authority over their 
 children and " offer them to God, unconcerned whether they are 
 to be nuns or in society, according as it shall please God to 
 ordain." Vocations will not be forced, but, as Jacqueline Pascal 
 recommends, " one may make use of the opportunity to say some- 
 thing about the happiness of a good nun .... to show that the 
 religious life is not a burden, but one of the best gifts of God." 
 Thus the greater number of the young women renounce the 
 worldly life. Everything contributes to this. Although the 
 Constitutions contain this article : " The girls may be kept until 
 the age of sixteen years although they do not wish to be nuns," 
 the Mother Angelique gave notice to Mine, de Chaze that her 
 daughter, who was about fifteen, " did not wish to be a nun, and 
 that it was necessary to remove her." (Leclerc, Vies interessantes 
 et edifiantes des religieuses de Port-Royal, t. iii. p. 28.) 
 
 We may conjecture how marriage was spoken of there. Saint- 
 Cyran, in one of his Lettres chretiennes et spirituelles (they figure 
 in the list of reading books drawn up by Jacqueline Pascal), 
 writes: "If there were 100,000 souls that I loved like yours, 
 I should always wish, in imitation of Saint Paul, never to see 
 them involved (in matrimony), and would do my utmost to 
 prevent them entering it." (t. i. p. 170.) His successor, the 
 abbe Singlin, continues this teaching. We see him at work in 
 the Vies interessantes by Leclerc. The sister Elizabeth de Sainte- 
 Agnes de Feron entered Port-Royal at the age of seven years. 
 When her mother thought of marrying her " Singlin strongly 
 represented to her all that she had to fear in an engagement 
 of this kind. She had always had a great distaste and a terrible 
 
Introduction. 5 1 
 
 dread of marriage." (t. ii. p. 388.) In conformity with these 
 ideas, the Mother Agnes Arnauld wrote, in 1634, to her nephew 
 Lemaitre to dissuade him from his project of marriage : " My 
 dear nephew, this will be the last time that I shall use this title. 
 . . . You will say that I blaspheme this venerable sacrament to 
 which you are so devoted, but do not trouble yourself about my 
 conscience, which knows how to separate the sacred from the 
 profane, the precious from the abject" 1 
 
 We know with what practical good sense Mine, de Maintenon 
 counteracted this false delicacy, and exclaimed one day : " This is 
 what brings ridicule on conventual education ! " 
 
 The boarders wore the white habit and the veil of the novices. 
 It is not given to those who at first show some dislike to it. 
 
 How was that long day filled which began at four or half-past 
 four o'clock for the elder and at five for the younger children ? 
 
 With regard to studies, we only see reading and writing 
 mentioned, and on festivals one hour's arithmetic. 
 
 The only reading books mentioned refer to piety : The Imitation 
 of Christ, Fr. Luis de Granada, la Philothe'e, St. John Climacus, 
 The Tradition of the Church, The Letters of M. de Saint-Cyran, 
 The Familiar Theology, The Christian Maxims, contained in the 
 Book of Hours ; The Letter of a Carthusian Father, lately trans- 
 lated; The Meditations of St. Theresa on the Pater-noster, &c. 
 The morning reading is taken from the service for the day or 
 from The Life of the Saints, and is to serve for the subject 
 of private conversation during the day. No other books are left 
 with the children than their Hours, Familiar Theology, The 
 
 1 This is the language of the pr&ieuse Armande : 
 
 " Cannot you conceive what, as soon as it is heard, 
 Such a word offers to the mind that is repulsive ? 
 By what a strange image one is smitten ? 
 To what an offensive object it leads the thought ? 
 Do you not shudder at it ? and can you, sister, 
 Persuade yourself to accept all the consequences of this word ? " 
 
 To which the charming Henriette answers so sensibly : 
 ft The consequences of this word, when I consider them, 
 Show me a husband, children, and a home, 
 And I see nothing in all that, if I can reason on it, 
 To offend the mind or make one shudder." 
 
 Les Femmes savantes, acte i. sc. 1.) 
 
52 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 [Words of Our Lord, The Imitation of Christ, and a Latin and 
 (French Psalter. 
 
 I The regulation recommends to " exercise the memory of the 
 children very much " in order to open their mind, to occupy 
 them and prevent them thinking evil." But further on we see 
 that they have to learn by heart " The Familiar Theology, the 
 Service of the Mass, The Tract on Confirmation, then all the 
 hymns in French in the Hours, then all the Latin hymns in 
 the breviary ; and when they have come into the monastery 
 young, there are many who learn the whole Psalter. They have 
 not much difficulty, provided that they are exhorted and forced a 
 little." We might suspect it. 
 
 As to writing, " they write their copy or they transcribe some- 
 thing when they are very good and are permitted to do so." 
 
 We are very glad to learn from an enemy that the French 
 language was taught them formally. "There was always," says 
 Father Rapin, "a certain spirit of politeness in these illustrious 
 penitents, who could not belong to a party which had learnt 
 to write and speak well to its contemporaries without feeling 
 the effect of this spirit. . . . Everything there was polished, 
 even the little boarders whom they took the trouble to rear in 
 purity of language as much as in virtue, and it was in conversing 
 with them that Doctor Arnauld found so much pleasure in notic- 
 ing that great number of new expressions that he had the art to 
 utilize in his works, and of which he made a special study." 
 (Memoires, t. ii. p. 276.) 
 
 Let us add needlework, housekeeping, singing by notes, and we 
 shall have gathered all we are able to learn of the programme of 
 studies. There is no trace of the teaching of history or the 
 natural sciences. 
 
 With regard to outside news, " they receive the announcement 
 of the taking the veil by some sisters or some note requesting 
 their prayers for some person or some pious undertaking." 
 
 We may at least remark in this teaching, which appears to us so 
 inadequate, some good scholastic usages. "At the end of a lesson, 
 three or four children are set to repeat what was told them the day 
 before. They are not questioned in turn, in order to keep them 
 ou the alert ; sometimes one, sometimes another is Addressed, . , 
 
Introduction. 53 
 
 As to the younger children, they must not be left idle, but their 
 time must be divided, making them read for a quarter of an hour, 
 play for another quarter, and then work for another short time. 
 These changes amuse them, and prevent them forming the bad 
 habit to which children are very prone, of holding their book and 
 playing with it or with their work, sitting sideways and constantly 
 turning their heads." 
 
 By as much as Jacqueline Pascal is distressingly laconic, when 
 it is a question of the intellectual development of the pupils, by 
 so much does she please herself in setting out in detail the 
 monastic side of their education. 
 
 We are rather shocked by the system of repression to which the 
 girls are subjected. On every page of the Regulations one word 
 constantly reappears, cold and pitiless, namely, silence : l perfect 
 silence while rising and dressing, strict silence till the Preciosa of 
 prime, very strict silence while at work after breakfast at half- 
 past seven, silence during the household work, increased silence 
 during the writing lesson, silence during the two hours' duration 
 of the service and masses in the monastery, even when they do not 
 attend it, silence in the refectory, complete silence during work 
 till vespers, silence after the evening angelus, even in summer, 
 when they are walking in the garden, great silence while un- 
 dressing and going to bed at eight o'clock. 
 
 Will the poor little mutes at least regain a little liberty, and 
 give themselves up to the joy of their age " in play- time, when it 
 seems they have a right to say many thing to amuse and recreate 
 themselves M 1 Not by any means, except the very young ones, 
 who are left to play. As to the rest, the mistresses take care 
 to speak to and converse with them, in order to help them to say 
 reasonable things which will enlarge their minds. 
 
 i 
 
 Evidently these absolute precepts must have been very much modified in 
 practice. The wise caution that precedes the Regulations for children (see p. 
 226) proves this. " It would not always be easy nor even useful to put it in 
 practice with this severity, for it may be that all children are not capable of 
 such strict silence and so strained a life without being depressed and wearied, 
 which must be avoided above all things." The Mother Agnes writes, about 
 1660, to Mme de Foix, coadjutrix, of Saintes : " Our boarders are not con- 
 strained to keep silence, but they are carefully watched, in order that they 
 may not converse about trifles." 
 
54 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Besides, they are forbidden to speak of their confessions, of 
 the singing of the sisters, of the penances of the refectory, of 
 their dreams, and of the parlour. They are not allowed to 
 speak in an undertone, on pain of repeating aloud what they 
 have said. 
 
 | Play-time, however, is almost always taken up with work. 
 "Except the very little ones, who always play, all work without 
 losing their time, and they have made it such a habit that nothing 
 wearies them so much as the recreations on festivals. " J What an 
 admission ! 
 
 Two extracts (see pp. 245 and 247) permit us to penetrate into 
 Port-Eoyal at this period of the day. One shows us the Sister 
 Eugenie taxing her ingenuity to amuse the children who cannot 
 play without her. The other, more curious, sketches a lively 
 scene in which the children, taking part in the disputes of the day, 
 amuse themselves by bringing Escobar to trial ! 
 
 Keligious exercises occupy a place very disproportionate to the 
 age of the children, if the aim were not to train them all for 
 the religious life. 2 Prayer is not only the beginning and end 
 of every lesson, it recurs every hour; when the bell rings for 
 a service in the choir work is interrupted to repeat a prayer. 
 The scholars hear mass every day "on their knees; it has been 
 found that this posture is not so uneasy when one has become used 
 to it early." They go to terce and vespers on Sundays and 
 Thursdays, to the high festivals, to the feast-days of saints, 
 
 1 There is a question of recreations in the examination of the Sister Jeanne 
 de Sainte-Domitille. " The little girls, the priest tells her, laughing, have 
 answered : ' Alas ! recreation, we did not waste our time over that, we did 
 nothing but weep for our sins.' 'This last answer/ replied the sister, smiling, 
 * conies as little from the children as the preceding. In the matter of recrea- 
 tion they passed two hours a day in it very gaily, and have always been very 
 pleased to go into that house, which has plainly appeared by the sorrow they 
 showed in leaving us.' " (Histoire des persecutions des religieuses, p. 171.) 
 
 2 Leclerc says of Mdlle. du Fargis, a boarder from the age of seven years : 
 "The Mother Angelique took special care in training her in virtue, and in 
 inspiring her with contempt of the world and of herself. She soon had the 
 consolation of seeing that her pains and instructions produced excellent 
 results in this young pupil. In fact, when she was of an age to choose 
 her state of life, she formed the resolution to be a nun. " Her father cast 
 himself at her knees. The constancy of the young novice appeared even too- 
 heroic to the Mother Angelique, who said to her, * You must humble your- 
 self ; you are too strong.' " 
 
Introduction. 5 5 
 
 doctors, and others, if they ask and deserve this favour. At 
 eleven o'clock scrutiny of conscience. The elder girls may repeat 
 their sexts. After recreation they sing the Veni Creator in pre- 
 paration for religious instruction ; then they are allowed the favour 
 of telling aloud one of their faults, "they are accustomed to do 
 so readily." 1 At four o'clock the elder girls may obtain the favour 
 of going to vespers. At last the evening recreation ends with 
 complines, which they may recite in summer while walking in the 
 garden. 
 
 We cannot approve of this excess of religious practices any 
 more than of that spirit of mortification which presents work 
 solely as a penance, which exempts from the collation at the age of 
 fourteen, and exhorts the children " to take sufficient nourishment 
 as not to become feeble." 2 At that age the body needs to grow 
 and be strengthened. How much more sensible and humane is 
 Mme. de Maintenon when, in describing a reasonable person, she 
 shows him " eating with a good appetite, not like a glutton with 
 his head in his plate, but gracefully and cleanly, and, since it has 
 pleased God that we should find pleasure in eating, he takes 
 it unaffectedly, and without any scruple." 
 
 The Mother Angelique solemnly protests before God, in a fine 
 letter written to the queen on her death-bed in 1661, that they 
 were not at all occupied in the monastery with the theological 
 controversies raised by Saint- Cyran and Arnauld. Father Eapin 
 replies by a dilemma which is not wanting in force. "If these 
 questions are essential to faith, why deprive this house of know- 
 ledge necessary to salvation? If they are not so, but are im- 
 
 1 Mme de Maintenon absolutely forbids this practice to the Ladies of Saiut- 
 Cyr : " Cultivate carefully in your young ladies the sentiments of honour 
 .... and do not exact from them practices that might weaken that glory 
 and make them bold ; for example, making them acknowledge publicly 
 humiliating faults, thinking that this would be recalling the custom of 
 public confession, which the Church has thought it right to suppress." 
 (Entretien, 1703.) Mine, de Maintenon is aiming here at the jansenists, who 
 had begun to revive this ancient custom. 
 
 2 Besogne, praising the love of the Mother Angelique for mortification, 
 relates that the most devout of the young girls prided themselves on emula- 
 tion, and that it very nearly cost three of them very dear who " took it into 
 their heads, in order to mortify themselves in imitation of the nuns, to 
 gather weeds in the garden, pound them up, and swallow the juice." (t i 
 p. 42.) 
 
56 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 material, why make so much clamour about them everywhere? 
 Why resist the Pope and trouble the Church for affairs of so 
 little importance, that they may be ignored without any bad 
 consequences'? Is it likely that the heads of this party are so 
 zealous in teaching their maxims to the whole kingdom, and 
 that Port-Royal alone, where they reside, is left in ignorance 
 of the mysteries that are taught there V 9 (Memoires, vol. iii. 
 p. 163.) 
 
 Two anecdotes related by Mme. de Main tenon at'Saint-Cyr 
 would tend to confirm the reasoning of the Jesuit father : "When 
 the king forbade boarders to be placed at Port-Eoyal Mme. la 
 comtesse de *** withdrew her daughter, who was only twelve 
 year old ; she brought her to court, where she began to disparage 
 all that M. de Perefixe had done in his visit to Port-Royal. She 
 was inexhaustible, and I could not understand how a child could 
 speak with such boldness. During this very visit of the arch- 
 bishop he made a speech to try and gain them over. After a rather 
 long speech he asked a little boarder of nine or ten years old, 
 who had been listening attentively, if she was beginning to be 
 convinced of the truth of what he said. She answered him with 
 an astonishing boldness, ' I admire the depth of the judgments of 
 God to have given us a prelate as ignorant as you are.' And all 
 the nuns applauded this answer. This is the submission and 
 humility that their directors inspire in them." (Lettres historiques 
 et edifiantes, vol. ii. p. 227.) No doubt the testimony of an 
 impassioned enemy, and one very much inclined to raillery, must 
 be a little distrusted. But putting together these facts and the 
 recreation scene where the boarders amused themselves by 
 bringing Escobar to trial, we conclude that they were not so 
 entirely strangers to the religious disputes of the time. The 
 contrary would be altogether unlikely. 
 
 But what an odious imputation, justly stigmatized by Arnauld 
 (la Morale pratique des jesuites, t. viii. p. 209), theological hatred 
 has cast on these nuns, "as pure as angels," said archbishop 
 Perefixe, by reproaching them with being " as proud as demons ! " 
 One of the thousand pamphlets to which the quarrel between the 
 Jesuits and jansenists gave rise, le Pays de Janstnie, accuses them 
 of giving their pupils lessons in immodesty, in consequence of the 
 
Introduction. 57 
 
 doctrine of Jansenius and Saint-Cyran on grace. 1 " Do not think, 
 my daughters," he impudently makes them say, "that the grace 
 of God is always with us. Alas, no ! There are wretched times 
 when we are indeed compelled to sin. What should we do if 
 God withdraws Himself? That often happens, however. Are 
 we not indeed unfortunate? Chastity is commanded to us, and 
 sometimes we are deprived of the strength necessary to preserve 
 it. Kemember that, my daughters, your salvation is at stake 
 if you ignore it, and you may have need of it at some time. 
 There are husbands who would not be so cruel to their wives 
 if they had studied theology, for they would know that grace 
 is often denied us, and that in that case they should rather 
 pity our weaknesses than be angry for the faults into which 
 we fall by the absence of the succour that God refuses to us, 
 either to punish our infidelities or to teach us by a necessary 
 lapse that we can do nothing without Him. It is thus," continues 
 the pamphleteer, " that they bring up the young to that patience 
 that results in the greatest ignominy of the sex, when solicitations 
 are warm and opportunities present. For although they do 
 not intend to give lessons in immodesty to their young scholars, 
 the doctrine nevertheless leads to it." You admit it, then, 
 venomous logician, all this argument carried to excess is nothing 
 but an insult and a calumny. Attack opinions, but do not 
 outrage persons. Such a proceeding, always culpable, is especially 
 so here towards pious women whose morality no one ever thought 
 of throwing suspicion on. It is an unqualified infamy. 
 
 Setting aside the exaggerated anxiety, the suspicious watchful- 
 ness, the constant nervousness that the nuns of Port-Royal, under 
 the inspiration of Saint-Cyran, bring to the accomplishment of 
 their task, we must acknowledge the accuracy of their principles 
 with respect to moral education. 
 
 To unite a strength which restrains children without repelling 
 them to a gentleness that wins them without enervating them ; 
 vigilance and patience ; no partiality for the more agreeable and 
 pretty children; no familiarity; great evenness of temper, for 
 
 1 Relation du pays de Jansenie, by the Capuchin Zacharie, under the 
 name of Louis Fontaine (1658). 
 
5 8 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 too much laxity soon leads to too much severity, and it is much 
 more painful for children to suffer these variations than to be 
 always kept to their duty ; seldom to admonish for slight faults, 
 even to pretend not to perceive them; to reprimand without 
 bad temper or offensive terms; "they must be convinced that 
 they are only reprimanded for their good"; to be sparing of 
 words in reprimanding; 1 to chastise even without speaking, in 
 order to prevent the children telling untruths or seeking excuses ; 
 to work upon their character with discretion in private con- 
 versations; to win their entire confidence, and to be on guard 
 against their cunning ; to infuse this idea into them, namely, that 
 their progress in what is good will be measured, not by 
 extraordinary actions, but by the accomplishment of their every- 
 day duties, "by the fidelity they shall bring into the smallest 
 regulations of the schoolroom, by the support they shall give 
 their sisters, by the charity with which they shall serve them 
 in their needs, and by the care they shall take to mortify their 
 faults." Here, in few words, and without pretension, is an 
 excellent line of conduct. 
 
 On the whole the girls' schools of Port-Eoyal affect the history 
 of pedagogy less than the boys' schools. These mark an epoch of 
 / notable reforms and real progress. If we often disagree with 
 their venerable masters, if we have neither the same starting- 
 point nor the same goal, if pedagogy has cast off their theological 
 ideas, what advantage may we not still draw from a close inter- 
 course with them. What legitimate lessons they may continue 
 to give us on the proper aim of studies, on the art of managing 
 children and training their minds and hearts. Their works, 
 one of the glories of French pedagogy, still deserve to be read and 
 pondered. Their example especially ought to continue living. 
 A more absolute and disinterested devotedness to the great work 
 of education has never been seen, nor a more watchful conscience, 
 a more sincere and active love of childhood, nor a keener desire 
 to render study easy and attractive. 
 
 How did these humble schools raise the implacable hatred 
 
 (M; 
 
 1 " Nothing weakens a reprimand more than a great many words." 
 [me. de Maintenon, letter to a mistress, 1692.) 
 
Introduction. 59 
 
 of the Jesuits, a hatred that was not extinguished, even after the 
 dispersion of the scholars and the exile or imprisonment of 
 the masters, until the day that the very buildings were razed 
 and destroyed and the tombs profaned I 1 What do I sayl This 
 hatred is not yet extinct, it is again revived under our eyes, and 
 at the present time dreams of annihilating the works, and even 
 the very names, of our pious solitaries and their friends. 2 
 
 If the Jesuits feared for a moment to see the education of 
 youth slip out of their hands, and their colleges lose their 
 prosperity, 3 as Kacine and several writers of Port-Royal assert, 
 they must have been promptly reassured ; for the Pctites Ecoles 
 could only be a brilliant and short-lived institution, the individual I \ 
 work of a few eminent masters, which was ill-adapted for' 
 imitation, and which, by its narrow limits, confined to a very 
 small number of select pupils, could not respond to the needs 
 of public instruction, and consequently had no future prospects. 
 
 The cause of the quarrel must evidently be sought less in . 
 the scholastic success of the masters of Port-Royal than in their I 
 growing favour with the public as spiritual directors and as( 
 writers. Father Canaye explains it candidly in that curious 
 conversation with the Marquis d* Hocquincourt, related by Saint- 
 Evremond who was present : "It was not their diversity of 
 
 1 A letter of Feb. 2, 1712, gives frightful details ; the writer had them 
 from an eye-witness. The labourers who disinterred the bodies, and broke 
 them when they could not lift them entire, "drank, laughed, sang, and 
 derided those persons whom they found thus in the flesh. But the most 
 horrible thing was that there were ten dogs in the church devouring the 
 flesh which still remained on those limbs which were separated from the 
 bodies, and no one thought of driving them away." (LECLERC, Vies inte'ressantes, 
 t. iv. p. 59.) 
 
 2 The Catalogue mensuel de I'&uvre pontificale des vieuxpapiers (the office 
 is at Langres, Haute-Marne), in its number for April and May 1885, points 
 out to the pious fury of devout souls 33 works to be destroyed. The names 
 of Arnauld, Nicole, Pascal, Saci, Saint-Cyran, Duguet, &c., figure in it. A 
 note, written in a jovial style, explains that the jansenists who did so much 
 evil in former times snore peacefully on the shelves of libraries, and that now 
 is a very favourable moment for laying hands on them and thrusting them 
 all at once into the sack. Comment seems to me needless. 
 
 3 The testimony of Bacon in favour of their talent as educators is often 
 quoted. It is proper to set in the balance the very superior authority, in 
 my opinion, of Leibnitz: " I am far from thinking like Bacon," he writes, 
 11 who, when it is a question of a better education, is content to refer to the 
 schools of the Jesuits." ((Euvres, t. vi. p. 65 ) 
 
60 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 opinions upon grace nor the five propositions which had set 
 them at loggerheads. The ambition of governing men's con- 
 sciences did it all. The jansenists found us in possession of 
 the government, and they wished to take it from us. . . ." 
 (CEuvres de Saint-Evremond, t. ii. p. 156.) 
 
 Victors along all the line, both as writers and directors of 
 conscience, the jansenists had necessarily to succumb before the 
 double opposition of the Church and the State. 
 
 Captivated by perfection and holiness, conceiving a very high 
 idea of religion and morality, pushing the requirements of the 
 Christian life, the responsibility of the priesthood, and the terrible 
 grandeur of God to the extreme, they had bewailed the disorders 
 of the clergy, of the Court of Eome, 1 and the monastic orders, 
 and, like Vincent de Paul, Frangois de Sales, de Be'rulle, de 
 Ranee, and Bourdoise, had felt deeply the need of a complete 
 reform. With the generous but somewhat chimerical idea of 
 restoring Christianity to its primitive purity, they expressed 
 themselves in sharp and energetic terms on the corruption of 
 morals and discipline in the Church. Saint-Cyran sorrowfully 
 said that for five or six hundred years God had been destroying 
 His Church. 2 He repeated the melancholy saying of Fra^ois 
 de Sales : " There is scarcely one competent confessor in ten 
 thousand ! " Jansenius, his companion in studies, wrote to him 
 on April 5, 1621 : "After the heretics, no people in the world 
 
 1 The satirical Gui Patin is not the only person who complains of the 
 abuse of nepotism at the Court of Rome, under the pontificate of 
 Innocent X. (1644-1655): "The Signora Olympia, sister-in-law of the 
 pope, who governs him body and soul, also governs the papacy. It is 
 said that she sells everything, seizes and receives everything . . . which 
 has drawn a joke from Pasquin, 'Olympia, olim pia, nunc harpia.'" 
 (Lettres, t. i. p. 363.) The Venetian ambassador, Contarini, writes 
 officially: "Donna Olympia sells, taxes, lets, gets presents made to her 
 for all Government transactions, for pardons and justice ; she is surrounded 
 by a band of agents and extortioners." (Quoted by de Chantelauze, Le 
 cardinal de Retz et I'a/aire du chapeau, t. i. p. 296.) Pamphlets were 
 affixed to the church doors: "Olympia primus, pontifex maximus." A 
 medal represented her with the tiara on her head and St. Peter's keys in 
 her hand ; Innocent X. in woman's dress holding a distaff and spindle. 
 
 a Vincent de Paul in his deposition remembered only the second half 
 of the phrase ; but the Mother Angelique had noted down the first in 
 writing. (See the letter of Lemaitre in the Memoires pour servir d I'histoire 
 de Port-Royal, t. ii. p. 207.) 
 
Introduction . 6 1 
 
 have more corrupted theology than those brawlers of the school 
 that you know. If it had to be corrected in the ancient style, 
 which is that of truth, the theology of this time would have 
 no appearance of theology for the greater number of persons." 
 
 Arnauld, in his fine book, De la frequents communion, in 1643, 
 protested with unparalleled energy against the moral and religious 
 condition of his contemporaries : " Also it is a horrible thing that 
 never have so many confessions and communions been seen, and 
 never more disorder and corruption . . . that there was never 
 more impurity in marriages . . . more profligacy among the 
 young . . . more excess and debauchery among the common 
 people. Who does not know that for twenty years fornication 
 has passed among men of the world as a slight fault; adultery, 
 one of the greatest of all crimes, for a piece of good fortune ; 
 cheating and treachery for court virtues; impiety and free- 
 thinking for strength of mind . , . fraud and lying for the 
 knowledge of sale and trading; the rage for constant gaming 
 as a genteel occupation for women . . . the disguised simony 
 and the profanation of church property as a legitimate accommo- 
 dation which facilitates the interchange of benefices? ... I 
 say nothing of more abominable crimes that our fathers were 
 ignorant of, and which have broken out to such an extent in this 
 unfortunate age, that one cannot think of them without being 
 seized with horror." (3 e par tie, ch. xvi.) 
 
 And the young and ardent doctor (he was then thirty-one) did 
 not fear to trace back to the proper person the responsibility for 
 all these disorders : " This is what we might with truth call 
 the greatest misfortune that could happen to the Church, if we 
 did not add that there is a still greater, namely, that persons 
 are found who make profession of piety, who flatter the sinners in 
 the desires of their soul . . . who seem to work for nothing else 
 than to foster crimes by a false mildness, instead of arresting them 
 by a just severity. . . They are persons who imagine that they 
 have changed the face of a whole town, and have made it become 
 quite Christian without any other change than that those who 
 only communicated once a year now communicate once a month, 
 and sometimes oftener. . . They admit that morals are not less 
 corrupt than before . , , yet, nevertheless, they will maintain that 
 
62 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 men are in a better condition than they were, because they tell a 
 priest every week what they told only every month, and add 
 every week two sacrileges to their other crimes. . ." The mild 
 and prudent Nicole declares that he fears some extraordinary effect 
 of God's anger " at a time when the whole Church is filled with 
 vicious and ignorant ecclesiastics and dissolute monasteries.* 1 
 (VisionnaireS) p. 179.) This was to bring on their hands many 
 powerful enemies. It was easy to raise the hue and cry after the 
 dangerous innovators, the new reformers, the disguised heretics, 
 who wished, like Luther and Calvin, to ruin the Church under 
 the pretext of reforming it. 
 
 The State, that is to say Louis XIV., maintained, besides, 
 ineradicable prejudices against them. " The gentlemen of Port- 
 Eoyal always these gentlemen," repeated in chorus the king 
 and Mme. de Maintenon. The sincerity of their convictions and 
 of their apostolate is a sure guarantee to us, at least at the period 
 with which we are occupied, that they remained strangers 
 to political cabals, notwithstanding the accusations without proof 
 and the perfidious insinuations of their adversaries. 1 It required, 
 in truth, all the blindness of hatred to transform Saint-Cyran, 
 Arnauld, Singlin, de Saci, Nicole, and Lancelot into conspirators 
 and rioters. " Mine, de Longueville," Father Rapin relates, " said 
 of Arnauld that he would never have been able to achieve 
 his salvation if intrigue had been necessary to save him." 
 (MemoireSy p. 240.) And this is well seen when, hidden and 
 disguised in the duchess' house, he betrayed his incognito so 
 artlessly. 2 
 
 The testimony of Cardinal de Retz is very favourable to them. 
 "They are," Besogne makes him say, "the poorest people in the 
 world in the matter of intrigue and affairs of State ; they will 
 
 1 The zealous annotator of the Mtmoires of Father Rapin is forced to 
 admit it: "The Mdmoires are not very explicit on the part that the 
 jansenists took in the armaments of the Fronde, and Port-Royal wished to 
 deny it; the pamphlets are never silent about it." (t. i. p. 252.) A high 
 authority truly ! 
 
 2 Speaking of a new work, the doctor, who was visiting him, happened to 
 say, " De Saci does not write so well." " What do you mean ?" replied the 
 patient, "my nephew writes better than I." In an analogous circumstance, 
 the physician spoke of the arrest of Arnauld, "Oh ! it is rather hard to 
 believe that," replied the incorrigible doctor, " I am M. Arnauld," 
 
Introduction. 63 
 
 not meddle with them. And far from receiving any assistance 
 from them, they have disgusted several persons of my party and 
 refused absolution to those who belonged to it." 1 (Hist. t. v. 
 p. 546.) 
 
 But it must be acknowledged that appearances were against 
 them. "With a facility more Christian than judicious," according 
 to the just comment of Racine, they welcomed a number of discon- 
 tented or disgraced courtiers and a number of great ladies wearied 
 of their intrigues. Their attachment to their archbishop, the 
 Cardinal de Retz, whose consummate perversity 2 they did not 
 know so well as we do, and who used them to further the ends of 
 his ambition, compromised them completely in the opinion of 
 Louis XIV. and his ministers. Their connection with the 
 duchesse de Longueville, the due de Luynes, the marquis 
 de Sevigne', Mme. de Guenegaut, the prince and princess de 
 Conti, &c., caused the Fronde to be called the jansenists' war. 
 Anne of Austria, indoctrinated by the marquis de Senecey, by 
 Henri de Bourbon and the Jesuits, declared " that the king would 
 remember them when he was of age," and he did remember them, 
 in fact. His governor, Villeroi, represented them to him as 
 people who "wanted neither pope nor king." (Memoires, du P. 
 Eapin, t. i. p. 271.) Hence, we can understand the saying attri- 
 buted to d'Harcourt, " A jansenist is very often only a man whom 
 it is wished to ruin at court." 
 
 M. Cousin and M. Kenan have said that in this struggle it 
 was the Jesuits who defended the good cause, that of human 
 
 1 We see the abbe Singlin and the bishop of Alet exact from their 
 penitents, the prince de Conti and the duchesse de Longueville, restitution 
 of considerable sums to the poor, to repair the damages caused in the 
 provinces by the civil wars. (BESOQNE, Hist. t. iii. pp. 39 and 83.) 
 
 2 His secretary, Guy Joly, reports this cynical conversation : * * My poor 
 fellow, you lose your time in preaching to me. I know very well that I am 
 only a knave. But, in spite of you and all the world, I wish to be so, 
 because 1 find more pleasure in it. I am aware that there are three or four of 
 you who know me and despise me in your hearts ; but I console myself with 
 the satisfaction that I experience in imposing on all the rest by your means. 
 People are so much deceived, and my reputation is so well established, that if 
 you wished to undeceive them you would not be believed, which is sufficient 
 for me to be contented and live after my own fashion." (Al&noires.) The 
 admiration that Mme. de Sevigne did not cease to profess for Cardinal 
 de Ketz is well known, 
 
64 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 liberty. Mme. de S^vigne, so attached to her friends and her 
 brethren of Port-Koyal, separates from them, in fact, on this point 
 of doctrine. She has just been reading the Bible of Eoyaumont, 
 and, after having seen the reproaches of ingratitude and the 
 horrible punishments with which God afflicted His people, she 
 writes: "As to myself, I go much farther than the Jesuits. . . . 
 I am persuaded that we have entire liberty. . , . The Jesuits 
 do not say enough about it, and the others give occasion for 
 murmuring against the justice of God when they take away our 
 liberty, or abridge it so much that it is no longer liberty." (A 
 Mme. de Grignan, August 28, 1676.) D'Alembert twits them 
 equally, and with spirit, on the contradiction between their in- 
 exorable dogma and their ethics : " What would be thought of 
 a monarch who should say to one of his subjects, 'You have 
 shackles on your feet, and you have no power to take them off; 
 nevertheless, I warn you that if you do not immediately walk, 
 for a long time and quite straight, along the edge of this precipice 
 on which you are, you shall be condemned to everlasting 
 torments'? Such is the God of the jansenists." (Destruction 
 des Jesuit es, p. 64.) 
 
 And, in spite of all, the men of Port-Eoyal, vanquished, 
 proscribed, and annihilated, make in history quite another figure 
 than their triumphant vanquishers. By a happy inconsistency 
 with their discouraging system of predestination, they do not the 
 less represent, in a certain measure, liberty of conscience, the 
 spirit of inquiry, independence of thought, and the love of justice 
 and truth. "Their adversaries pleaded the opposite cause, namely, 
 undisputed sway over mind and heart." (Yillemain.) 
 
 By a new and still more happy inconsistency they worked with 
 
 a more ardent zeal than anyone for the reform of manners. Their 
 
 moral grandeur burst forth before the eyes of their most prejudiced 
 
 contemporaries, and, far from diminishing with time, it shines 
 
 with a purer light, in the history of French civilization, in 
 
 proportion as the miserable incidents of the struggle in which 
 
 they succumbed are effaced. The true reason of their success, 
 
 .in the opinion of their most prejudiced adversaries, was the 
 
 I strictness of their spiritual discipline. "The jansenists," says 
 
 I Father Kapin, "advanced their affairs by disguising their real 
 
In troduction. 6 5 
 
 sentiments; this was by a morality that had nothing but what 
 was beautiful and edifying." (Hist, du jansenisme, p. 496.) One 
 of the least equivocal marks of heresy was purity of morals. 
 Port-Royal 1 drew from this valuable testimony her consolation 
 and strength in the midst of the severest trials. 
 
 I cannot speak better of the moral bearing of the work under- 
 taken by the solitaries of Port-Royal than Henri Martin has done 
 in that admirable and well-thought-out page of his Histoire de 
 France: "Thorough sincerity in the action of man upon man, 
 and a thorough disdain of all precautions and of all polity in 
 things pertaining to God, characterize what may be called the 
 method of Saint -Cyran. He desires to regenerate souls indi- 
 vidually, not to obtain by surprise the superficial adhesion of 
 a great number, still less to demand a verbal adhesion that 
 the heart does not ratify. He was not the man to compel 
 heretical populations to become Catholics in appearance. What 
 matters appearance to him'? What matter outward forms to 
 him 1 It is better to gain one soul to the internal Christ 
 than an empire to the external Church. Here Saint -Cyran 
 touches Descartes, although turning his back on him. . . . 
 Descartes regenerated the mind ; Saint - Cyran endeavours to 
 regenerate the heart. ... It is for this that Jansenism deserves, 
 even at the present time, our serious study, too much inclined 
 as we are now to place our hopes in social and collective reforms, 
 which will remain unrealizable so long as they are not based on 
 the reformation of the human soul. . . . We must be very self- 
 
 1 The Mother Agnes writes to Mme. de Foix, April 16, 1663: " There 
 was a Jesuit who preached, this Lent, in Burgundy, that solitude, retire- 
 ment, the desire for penance, love and zeal for the penitential canons, and 
 to see the ancient penance and all the other maxims of Christian perfection 
 re-established in the Church was the true mark of heresy. After that, must 
 we not consider ourselves very happy, according to the Gospel ? " Arnauld 
 said, on his side, "The whole court knows that, a bishop reproving an abbe 
 of good family because his conduct was not sufficiently regular, ' What do 
 you wish us to do ? ' replied the abbe. ' If we were more regular we should 
 be taken for jansenists, and that would mean exclusion from all dignities." 
 (Phantdme du jansdnisme, p. 28.) A few pages further on he quotes the 
 words of Cardinal Bona : "What! to be poor, diligent in prayer, and to 
 exhort the faithful to be diligent in it, to live in an exemplary manner, 
 and to preach Christ in an apostolic manner, is that what is called Jansenism ? 
 Please God we were all jansenists in this manner ! " (p. 33.) 
 
66 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 reliant in order to be as wrong as the jansenists. However far 
 removed we may be from their doctrines, we must acknowledge 
 that they have enhanced the moral grandeur of man; they are 
 the Stoics of Christianity." (t. xii. pp. 84, 85.) 
 
 If they were vanquished in their generous efforts, their adver- 
 saries paid dear for their victory ; they received a mortal wound 
 from the arrow of the Provincials, or rather, to speak more 
 correctly, it was the ancient faith that succumbed in this re- 
 lentless conflict. Contemplating the field of battle, Boileau, 
 who had friends in both camps, said like a satirist, " Oh ! 
 what madmen men are !" (Letter to M. Brossette.) Bayle 
 decided in his usual manner, "It is properly a matter of 
 Pyrrhonism." (Letter to Math. Marais.) "All that is nonsense !" 
 exclaimed the courtiers and men of the world, according to Mme. 
 de Choisy (letter to the comtesse de Maure, 1655); and Christians 
 complained, with Mme. de Sevign, of all these over-refined dis- 
 cussions on grace : " Thicken religion a little, it is all evaporating 
 through being over-refined." Kidicule had invaded the sanctuary 
 with that cloud of pamphlets that they were throwing at one 
 another's heads, to set the laughers on its side. The titles are 
 sufficiently significant : A Damper for the Jansenists, The Lantern 
 of St. Augustine, Snuffers for the Lantern, A Curry-comb for the 
 jansenist Pegasus, Ointment for the Burn, The Country of Jansenia, 
 Illustrations of the Jesuits' Almanack, Essay of the New Tale of 
 Mother Goose, or Illustrations of the Game of the Constitution, 
 The Jesuit Harlequin, The Pasquinade of St. Medard, An 
 Apology for Cartouche, or the Villain without Reproach, by 
 the grace of Father Quesnel, The Precept and Pastoral Ordinance 
 of Momus. And what songs, quatrains, satirical prints, comedies, 
 and public masquerades ! 1 
 
 1 Gerberon describes the procession organized by the Jesuits of Macon : 
 "They made all their scholars march in order, two by two, through the 
 streets of the town, dressed in white. After them came a triumphal car, 
 on which was a handsome young man dressed up as a girl, with everything 
 that the vainest women use as ornaments ; and in order to denote what he 
 represented, he carried a banner, on which were read these words, in hand 
 some characters, GKACE STJFFISANTE. Behind this car was seen anothe 
 young man tied and bound, who wore a paper mitre and other pontific 
 ornaments to match, and who was covered from head to foot with a lar{ 
 black veil to denote the defeat and disgrace of Jansenius." (Hist. gtn. < 
 janstnisme, t. i. p. 483.) 
 
Introduction. 67 
 
 French humour indulged in it to its heart's content, and found 
 the subject inexhaustible. What became of religious beliefs in 
 the midst of this universal bantering 1 Father Kapin has said 
 a word which is really the best and most sensible in all his 
 writings : "It is not by these means that the Gospel is preached 
 and defended." (Mem. t. ii. p. 195.) While the pastors were fight- 
 ing with their crooks, as they are shown in a print, the wolves 
 carried off the sheep. Is this, after all, to be so much regretted ? 
 I think not ; for behind incredulity and indifference walked 
 liberty of conscience, tolerance, justice, and humanity. Maurepas, 
 who, under Cardinal Fleury, took an active part in this trifling, 
 was not, perhaps, wrong in saying, " We have no other means of 
 avoiding the civil war that the Jesuits wish to bring on us." (Mem. 
 t. ii. p. 73.) In fact, really religious minds have no reason to 
 complain that all this polemical theology has ceased to separate 
 them from God ; and those who are more sensitive to the 
 love of their neighbour rejoice to see so copious a source of 
 terrible hatred exhausted and religious persecutions for ever 
 ended. May Port-Koyal, to which we owe so many grand 
 lessons, still secure to us, by the sight of its ruins, this glorious 
 conquest of the modern spirit horror of intolerance, and respect 
 for liberty. 
 
 FELIX CADET. 
 
PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITERS OF PORT-ROYAL. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE PETITES ECOLES. 
 
 I WISH you could read in my heart the affection that I have for 
 children, and how there is nothing that is not modified by the 
 reflections that the prudence of faith and grace obliges us to 
 make. And when I formed the design of building a house which j 
 should be, as it were, a seminary for the Church, to preserve in j 
 it the innocence of the children, without which I perceive every : 
 day that it is difficult for them to become good ecclesiastics, 
 I only intended to build it for s_tx_childcfin, whom I would have 
 chosen throughout the city of Paris, as it might please God that 
 I should meet with them, and I would have given them a master 
 especially to teach them Latin, and with him a good priest, whom 
 I had already in view, to direct and govern their consciences. 
 And I intended to give them for Latin (if he whom I had should 
 happen to fail me) a man of twenty or twenty-five years of age, 
 knowing that an older man is usually rather unfit to teach 
 languages to children. This design having been destroyed by 
 my imprisonment, 1 I have thought no more of it, and have given 
 all the money that I had, except two thousand francs for this 
 house, to the poor. It is true that finding here the son of a poor 
 widow, who seemed to have good abilities, I have gradually taught 
 him in my room; but a domestic disturbance 2 having driven him 
 
 1 On Friday, 14 May, 1638, Saint-Cyran was taken to the Castle of 
 Vincennes, where he remained a prisoner until the death of Richelieu. 
 
 2 M. de Saint-Cyran, although very badly treated by the lieutenant of the 
 governor of Vincennes, had given some attention to his two sons ; and " as his 
 zeal for the education of children was very great," says Lancelot, " he added 
 
 69 
 
7O Port-Royal Education. 
 
 away, I have been obliged to continue my charity to him by send- 
 ing him to Port-Koyal, because otherwise he would have been 
 ruined among the soldiers, and those who had taken him from me 
 by their authority would have succeeded in their design of injur- 
 ing him. In fact, the circumstances were such that I could not 
 abandon him without displeasing God and violating the character 
 that He has given me, which is a personal law, and ought rather 
 to be obeyed than public laws. 1 But I have since willingly con- 
 sented that the good work that I began with the children of 
 M. Bignon 2 should be continued at Port-Eoyal, as much because 
 it is difficult for me to interrupt what I am doing for God's 
 service as because M. Bignon gave me two thousand francs to 
 employ as I should think fit, and which I had determined to 
 employ on the above - mentioned building, in order that the 
 children might share in the charity of their father. For I am 
 much concerned lest those who have chosen me as the instrument 
 of some good work should not be the first to reap the benefit of it. 
 Nevertheless, I understood this in such a manner that if the 
 children turned out intractable and unwilling to submit to the 
 discipline under which I wished them to live in this house, it 
 should be in my power to dismiss them without those from whom 
 I had received them, not even excepting M. Bignon, bearing me 
 any ill-will for it. ... 
 
 a third to them, who was the son of a poor woman, a niece of the precentor 
 of the Sainte-Chapelle. This last s<ftm outstripped the other two, which 
 made the lieutenant's wife so jealous, tnat she forbade M. de Saint-Cyran to 
 see any children, under the pretext that lie might instil bad principles into 
 them." (M&m. t. i. p. 133.) 
 
 1 The clearness of these declarations explains the ascendancy of Saint-Cyran. 
 He said one day to Lemaitre : ' ' You are not yet accustomed to this language, 
 and people do not talk so in the world, but here are six feet of ground (his 
 room) where neither chancellor nor any one else is feared. There is no power 
 that can prevent us speaking the truth here as it ought to be spoken." 
 
 2 "The establishment of the Petites iZcoles de Port-Royal was due to the 
 solicitations of this celebrated magistrate (Jerome Bignon). M. de Saint- 
 Cyran had often given him his ideas on the Christian education of children, 
 and M. Bignon, after pressing him for a long time to put his ideas in practice, 
 demanded as a tribute due to their mutual friendship that the pious abbe 
 should undertake the charge of the Christian education of his sons, Jerome 
 and Thierri Bignon. It was on their behalf that the Petites ticoles were set 
 up outside Port-Royal by MM. Lancelot and de Saci, while their sister, 
 Marie Bignon, was educated within the monastery." (Supplement au Necro- 
 loge, p. 398.) 
 
Saint-Cyran : The Petites (Lcoles. 71 
 
 The duty of instructing children is in itself so irksome, that 
 I have seldom seen a wise man who has not complained andj 
 grown tired of it, however short a time he has worked at it ; and 
 the most devout men in the order of Saint-Benedict have found 
 this penance the hardest of all. You may read an example of 
 it in the life of St. Arsenius j 1 and for my own part I have always 
 considered this occupation so troublesome, 2 that I have never 
 employed any man in it to whom God had not imparted this gift ;\ 
 or if I have been deceived in my choice, I have removed him 
 as soon as I perceived that he did not possess it. I should think 
 I had done a great deal, although I had not advanced them much 
 in Latin up to the age of twelve years, by causing them to pass 
 these early years in the close of a house or monastery in the 
 country, by giving them all the pastimes suitable to their age, 3 
 and showing them the example of a good life in those who were 
 with me. . . . 
 
 Extract from a letter of M. de Saint-Cyran written from the 
 Bois de Yincennes. (Supplement au Necrologe, p. 46.) 
 
 OF THE CHAEITY OF M. DE SAINT-CYRAN TOWARDS 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 ... He thought that the whole course of life depended on 
 this early age, and that, provided the young were well brought up, 
 it might be hoped that public posts would be filled with the most : 
 worthy officers and the Church with the most virtuous men, and j 
 that the Republic 4 and private families would draw from it in- 
 
 1 Arsenius (350-445), governor of the children of Theodosius the Great, 
 whose court he quitted to pass the remainder of his life in a desert of Egypt. 
 
 2 He calls it "a tempest of the mind," on account of its religious 
 responsibility. 
 
 3 This wise care not to overpress the children suggested to Rousseau 
 his theory of negative education up to this age of twelve years: "You are 
 alarmed," he said, "to see the child waste his early years in doing nothing ? 
 What ! Is it nothing to be happy ? Is it nothing to jump, play, and run all 
 day long? He will never be so busy in all his life." Saint-Cyran, who 
 allows the child all the pastimes suitable to his age, is very careful to 
 surround him with good examples. 
 
 4 Tljat is, the State. This sense appears very clearly from the distinction 
 that Etienne Pasquier, in the sixteenth century, draws of " three kinds of 
 republics: the royal, the manorial, and the popular." (Lettres, liv. xix. 
 lettre 7.) 
 
Port-Royal Education. 
 
 calculable advantages. So that it might be said of this good work, 
 which is now so much neglected and abandoned, POTTO ununi est 
 necessarium, that it is, in a sense, the one thing needful, since, 
 if it were entirely successful, most other disorders would be 
 remedied; on the other hand, if this foundation be wanting, it 
 was a necessary consequence that the effects of it would be 
 felt during the remainder of life. 
 
 M. de Saint-Cyran also used to say that whatever virtues 
 parents might otherwise possess, this single point was fitted to 
 condemn them if they did not do their duty in obtaining a 'good 
 .education for their children, 1 which is at the present time more 
 Irare and difficult to find than is thought. He could not suffi- 
 ciently wonder at the blindness of most parents, who do not see 
 that, even if there were no question of eternity in it, their own 
 interest should lead them to fulfil this obligation, since it only too 
 often happens that those whom they think they have brought into 
 the world to be the support and honour of their family become 
 \ the disgrace and ruin of it for want of a good education. He 
 could not understand how, when it is a question of settling their 
 children in places, in employments, and in the world, they in- 
 convenience themselves as if they were staking everything on 
 it, although they often only procure for them the means of ruining 
 themselves; instead of which, when it is necessary to educate 
 them well, for the satisfaction of their own consciences and the 
 secure establishment of their children's well-being, they are unable 
 to find the means for it, and complain of the smallest expense. 
 And truly in this they show that they cannot be true Christians, 
 since not only is acting in this way like building their house on the 
 quicksands, but is even throwing themselves with those who 
 compose it, and who ought to support it, into the flood which beats 
 against it. He deplored the misfortune of our age, in which the 
 devil had found a much easier means than did formerly that 
 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who was only his shadow, of ruining the 
 children of the Church ; this plague being so much the more 
 
 1 Saint-Cyran, in a letter addressed to a person of quality, says : " As they 
 hasten to baptism they should hasten to education, and all that is done for 
 children without that brings the malediction of God on the father and 
 mother, who are the visible guardian angels." (Lettres chretiennes et spiritu- 
 elks de Saint-Cyran, 1685, t. ii. p. 326.) 
 
Lancelot : The Charity of Saint-Cyran. 73 
 
 appalling, as he often makes use of the negligence or avarice or 
 other passions of their parents in order to ruin them, instead of 
 which the Israelites felt at least their ill-fortune, and did all in 
 their power to save their children from the rage of the tyrant. 
 
 He admired the Son of God, who, in the highest functions of 
 His ministry, would not that little children should be forbidden to 
 approach Him; who embraced and blessed them; who has charged 
 us so strictly not to despise or neglect them, and who has spoken 
 of them in such favourable and astonishing terms as to astound 
 those who offend the least of them. Thus M. de Saint-Cyran 
 always showed a kindness for children that went even so far as a 
 sort of respect, to honour in them the innocence of the Holy 
 Ghost who dwells in them. He blessed them and made the sign 
 of the cross on their foreheads, and when they were able to 
 understand it, he always spoke some kind word, which was like the I 
 seed of some truth that he threw out in passing, and in the sight 
 of God, that it might germinate in due season. Once when he 
 came to see us he went into the children's class-room, and as 
 he always had a cheerful look and a heart inclined to do good, he 
 said, caressing them : "Well, what are you doing? for you must 
 not lose time, and what you do not fill up the devil takes for him- 
 self. ..." They showed him their Yirgil that they were studying, 
 and he said, "Do you see all those beautiful verses 1 Yirgil, 
 in making them, procured his own damnation, because he made 
 them through vanity and for glory. But you must save yourselves! 
 in learning them, because you ought to do it for the sake ofj 
 obedience and to fit yourselves for serving God." 
 
 A boy of whom he had taken charge during his imprisonment, 
 and to whom he afterwards continued his kindness, having fallen 
 into evil courses, gave him so much pain that he told me that all 
 his troubles in prison were nothing compared to this affliction. 
 After his release he wished him to visit him every day, and 
 received him, and left whatever occupation he was engaged in, 
 even his great work, in order to speak a kind word to him, or to 
 try and lead him back to God. He did not succeed, however, and 
 this would be a story 1 worth writing at length, to show how 
 
 " For nothing," said Lancelot, who had been entrusted with the educa- 
 tion of this boy, and shared the work with M. de Saci, "shows more 
 
74 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 unfathomable are the judgments of God, and that the prayers of 
 the saints do not suffice to avert the perdition of those whom God 
 has abandoned. This boy, having begun by stealing an old skull- 
 cap from M. Singlin, 1 and selling it for two liards in order to have 
 something to gamble with, and afterwards taking all he could 
 pilfer, advanced by such rapid strides towards his ruin, that he 
 even took the silver spoons, fell into all kinds of debauchery, and 
 became at length a thorough rogue, as his mother herself once told 
 me. . . . 
 
 M. de Saint-Cyran thought so highly of the charity of those 
 who employed themselves in bringing up children in a Christian 
 manner, that he said there was no occupation more worthy of 
 a Christian in the Church ; that after the love of which it is 
 said, majorem haec dilectionem nemo kobei* (St. John xv. 13), 
 which makes us willing to die for our friends, this was the 
 greatest ; that it was the shortest way of going back in his mind 
 and expiating the faults of his youth; that one of the greatest 
 consolations we could have in dying was that we had contributed 
 to the good education of some child; and that, in fine, this 
 employment was sufficient by itself to sanctify a soul, provided it 
 had been carried out with charity and patience. He said that we 
 ought to be, not only the guardian angels, but in some sort the 
 providence of children who were committed to our charge, because 
 our chief care should be always to attach them to what is good 
 with gentleness and charity, as we have need that God should 
 attach us to it and make us do it. He usually reduced what it is 
 necessary to do with children to three things : to speak little, 
 bear with much, and pray more. 
 
 plainly that a person does not do all the good he imagines in undertaking the 
 care of a child if he does not seriously devote himself to it and take 
 all necessary trouble. He acts then like a nurse, who should be satisfied 
 with giving the breast to her nursling at stated hours, and should expose it 
 the rest ot the time to whatever might happen. This poor child then, not 
 being sufficiently watched over, fell into disorderly ways. " (Mem. de Saint- 
 Cyran, t. i. p. 133.) 
 
 1 Singlin, confessor of the nuns at Port-Royal for twenty-six years, then 
 superior of the two houses des Champs and the Faubourg Saint-Jacques for 
 eight years, died 1664. 
 
 2 " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for 
 liis friends." 
 
Lancelot: The Charity of Saint- Cy ran. 75 
 
 He desired that we should bear with their faults and weak-i 
 nesses, in order to induce God to show mercy to ours, andj 
 perhaps afterwards to strengthen these young plants when they\ 
 should learn what patience we have exercised towards them. 
 He added that we should have still more charity and pity for 
 those whom we saw to be more unformed and backward. . . . 
 He could not bear that anyone should employ too severe looks 
 and too imperious a manner, which had something of disdain, 
 or was likely to intimidate them and make them pusillanimous, 1 
 which is expressly forbidden us by the Prince of the Apostles. 
 
 On the contrary, he wished a suitable familiarity to be used\ 
 with them, which should win them by a calculated gentleness and | 
 a truly paternal love, and which should lead us to be very 
 condescending to them, since if they had no confidence in us, and 
 did not perceive that we felt kindly towards them, it would 
 be impossible to do anything. 2 And this explains why he often 
 condescended in prison to play at ball on a table with children of 
 seven or eight years old. 
 
 He did not wish the teachers to have recourse hastily to the 
 use of the birch, unless for very serious faults, and then only 
 after having employed all other means of punishment. For he 
 desired them to bear with their faults in order to put themselves 
 to the test before God, and to do nothing rashly, and also to pray 
 for them before punishing them; then he wished them to be 
 warned by signs only, then by words, and after several reprimands 
 to employ threats, that they should be deprived for a time of 
 
 1 The recommendation is excellent, but how is it to be reconciled with the 
 precept to annihilate our own will ? The Mother Agnes wrote, 30 April, 
 1652, to Mdlle. Perdreau: " Read, in IS Amour de Dieu of the saintly bishop 
 of Geneva, what he says on the death of the will." 
 
 44 Leading them with watchfulness and gentleness," said Saint-Cyran, in 
 a letter to a person of quality, "and sometimes requesting instead of 
 commanding them, and complying a little with their humour for a time 
 in order to lead them to act without such compliance in the future. . . . 
 Only care must be taken to use this compliance with much circumspection 
 and impartiality, always bearing in mind that we must not stop there, and 
 that, if we are obliged to condescend to them, it is only in order to 
 raise them to our own level and to withdraw them little by little from their 
 inferior position, and not to satisfy our own inclinations by following theirs, 
 and to indulge ourselves with them in an indolent compliance so easy to our 
 nature." (Lcttres chrctiemies et spirituelles, 1685, t. ii. p. 326.) 
 
76 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 something they liked, or of play, even of their luncheon or part of 
 their breakfast, and that the birch should be used only in the last 
 extremity and for grave faults, especially with those who were 
 seen to be capable of being won by gentleness and reason. He, 
 however, desired this punishment to be used with those who 
 were naturally thoughtless, or hasty-tempered, or who were given 
 to lying or laughing on the most serious occasions. 1 In fine, he 
 did not wish, any more than Saint Benedict, that faults committed 
 in church should be pardoned. 
 
 But he said that using chastisement without much previous 
 prayer was to act like a Jew, and not to know that all 
 depended on the blessing and grace of God, which we should 
 endeavour to draw down on them by our patience in bearing 
 with them. He added that sometimes even we should punish 
 and chastise ourselves instead of them, as much because we 
 should always fear that we may have been partly responsible 
 for their faults by our hastiness or negligence as because this 
 duty was a general obligation on all who were entrusted with the 
 conduct of others. 2 He said that it was necessary to oppose 
 a constant watchfulness to that of the devil, who is always 
 seeking an entrance into these tender souls. He recommended 
 also to sustain the prayers of the children of whom they had 
 charge by their own, thus aiding the attention which was not 
 to be expected from them. 
 
 / He was careful to warn that, in order to guide children well, it 
 /was necessary plus prier que crier? to ask rather than scold, and to 
 
 1 M. Varin makes this sprightly remark : " Saint-Cyran only whipped 
 children for grave faults, but he put bursts of laughter in the number of 
 grave faults." (La vtrite sur Us Arnauld, t. ii. p. 185.) The critic should 
 not have omitted these important words : " On the most serious occasions." 
 
 2 A very wise precept, in which we are not to suppose a refinement of 
 spirituality. It is a very judicious and exact estimation of the responsibility 
 for the faults of the pupils that may often be traced back to the master. 
 May not their inattention, for example, be often explained by facts which 
 are not in the least personal to them ? The unprepared lesson is not 
 interesting, it is too long, it is not sufficiently within their capacity, &c. 
 
 3 A very effective conjunction of words. How many young teachers, 
 in the inconsiderate zeal of their first attempts, would derive profit from 
 meditating upon it ? It is not only hygiene that recommends it for the 
 wise conservation of energy, it is especially pedagogy, which teaches that 
 the authority of the master has no surer foundation than calmness and self- 
 control. 
 
Lancelot: The Charity of Saint-Cyran. 77 
 
 l speak more of them to God than of God to them, for he did not 
 like long speeches on piety to be made to them, or that they 
 
 \ should be wearied with instruction. He wished that they should 
 only be spoken to at those opportunities and on those occasions 
 which God called into existence, and according to the impulse 
 that He gave us, and the disposition to receive it well that He 
 showed us in them, because the impulse to give depended on God 
 as well as the gifts, and that what we said to them in this 
 way had a quite different effect from what we might say of 
 ourselves. 
 
 In fine, he thought that the chief point in the good education 
 of children was the good example that should be given them, 1 
 and the perfect regularity of the house in which they were 
 pupils. A Father of the Church once said, speaking of the 
 education of a young girl, "Kemember, you who have brought 
 a virgin into the world, that you must teach her more by 
 example than precept .... She must hear nothing but what 
 has reference to the fear of God. Keep from her that criminal 
 liberty that children take; do not let the girls or the servants 
 who accompany her frequent the world lest they teach their 
 pupils more evil than they would otherwise have learnt." And 
 this is what M. de Saint-Cyran recommended for the boys as 
 well as the girls, desiring also that they should be careful to 1 
 limit intercourse with the outside world, from which they might 
 receive some hurtful influence; and he was accustomed to say 
 that communication with the world was infectious, and did no 
 
 \less harm to the soul than the plague did to the body. Neither 
 did he wish that money should be left with them. And one day 
 when he sent some sweetmeats to a little girl he gave this caution 
 to a person who had charge of some children : "Do not accustom 
 them to the delights of earth, which destroy the taste for those 
 of Heaven." 
 
 He could not tolerate that the sciences and study should be' 
 
 1 We feel that Saint-Cyran means here by good example especially the 
 practice of religion, but it is easy to give a wider and more general interpre- 
 tation to this advice. Pedagogy has no more important precept. The 
 teachers of Port-Royal, with Saint-Cyran at their head, had the right to 
 place in the first rank of maxims that which they practised so well themselves, 
 namely, example. 
 
Port-Royal Education. 
 
 jmade the principal thing in the education of children as we 
 do now. He regarded this conduct as one of the greatest 
 mistakes which could be committed against the sanctity of 
 this employment, and observed that, besides dissatisfying those 
 who were backward and making others vain, it reacted on 
 the State and the Church, burdening the Spouse of Christ 
 with a number of persons whom she had not called, and the 
 State with a great number of idlers who considered themselves 
 above the rest because they knew a little Latin, and who thought 
 they would be dishonoured in following the calling in which their 
 birth would have placed them. Therefore he said that among 
 the children of whom one should be entirely master, although 
 there might be a great many of them, very few ought to be 
 put to study, 1 and only those in whom great docility and sub- 
 mission had been noticed, with some mark of piety and of assured 
 virtue. 
 
 M. de Saint-Cyran, having this conception of the education 
 of youth, and regarding it as one of the most necessary duties 
 of the State and the Church, often said, and he once wrote 
 to me, that he would have been delighted to pass all his life 
 in it. But he did not intend, in saying that, to make himself 
 a slave to the temper and injustice of parents who only burden 
 us with their children in order to relieve themselves at a time 
 when they have only the trouble of them, and take them away 
 as soon as they can to sacrifice them to their interest and vanity ; 
 for it may be said in this case that an occupation worthy of 
 the angels and a work of love is turned into meanness and 
 pedantry. And certainly it would be better, if some persons 
 are reduced by necessity to submit to such conditions, to learn 
 a trade or to cultivate the land. They would have at least 
 this consolation, that they were doing penance in the way 
 that God imposed it on the first man, and would be exempt 
 from a great number of bad consequences in which they are 
 often involved either for themselves or for those who are brought 
 
 1 Arnauld d'Andilly advises the queen-mother to diminish the number 
 of colleges, and only to have schools to teach reading and writing. (VAKIN, 
 Id Vtritt^ sur Us Arnauld, 1847, t. ii. p. 353.) This was also the idea 
 of Richelieu, 
 
Lancelot: The Charity of Saint-Cyran. 79 
 
 up in a thoroughly pagan manner; and besides, the labour a man 
 undergoes in this employment, when it is not governed by the 
 mnxims of God, is much greater when he takes some care in 
 discharging it, than that of cultivating the land, and under- 
 mines the body more, and very much accelerates the end of 
 our life. 1 
 
 M. de Saint-Cyran never undertook the charge of children 
 unless he had some hopes of being entirely their master, and 
 was certain of the mind and intentions of the parents. Thus, 
 one day, the late duchesse de Guise having sent a person to 
 speak to him about the education of the present M. de Guise 
 (Henri II.), who was then destined for the Church, as he had 
 a great desire to see persons of high rank better educated than 
 others, because he knew its importance, he did not decline the 
 proposal, and even partly pledged his word, but only on condition 
 that this princess should not interfere in it at all, and should 
 entrust the care of her son entirely to him, which Mme. de Guise 
 not being sufficiently disposed to do, he withdrew his promise, and 
 would not hear it spoken of again. 
 
 After that we ought to be less astonished that M. de Saint- 
 Cyran was so eager to induce everybody to do charitable offices 
 to children, since he did not decline to do them himself; and 
 that he thought that the merit and rank of private persons did 
 not give them the right to despise them, since God judged them 
 worthy of His angels, according to this saying of Christ, "Their 
 angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." 
 
 But it is perhaps one of the greatest artifices of the devil to 
 have rendered contemptible that method by which he foresaw 
 that very many souls might be rescued from him by preserving 
 the children in innocence. There are means of inducing persons 
 of every condition to undertake all sorts of pious works, but 
 simply to propose this to them would seem to be an error. No 
 one is afraid to expose them to the infectious diseases of prisons 
 in order to visit the prisoners, or to the vitiated air of the 
 
 1 Camper, of Berlin, has calculated that out of 100 persons, the age 
 of 70 years is reached by 42 theologians, 29 lawyers, 28 artists, 27 school- 
 masters and professors, and 24 doctors. (MICHEL LVY, Traitt d'hygttne, 
 t. ii. p. 872.) 
 
So Port-Royal Education. 
 
 hospitals in order to assist the sick, to serve the poor, and to dress 
 wounds, which are sometimes loathsome ; and yet they would 
 think they were lowering themselves and taking too much trouble 
 if they undertook the education of a child. I know very well 
 that everybody is not fitted for it ; but if this gift is rare, that is 
 no reason for despising it; and if the lack of this gift excludes 
 many persons, it would seem to me very reasonable that men's 
 fancies should not exclude still more. 
 
 I have sometimes wondered why, when the profession of doctors 
 obliges them to see so many foul and disagreeable things, and 
 often exposes them to infected air, so many, nevertheless, are found 
 to adopt it presumably it is because men's attachment to life 
 makes this profession honourable and why, at the same time, 
 these same men have so little scruple in despising that profession 
 which can most contribute to the eternal salvation of their 
 children. . . . And I have in the same way been astonished 
 that the apostle St. Paul, having expressly stated that judicial 
 affairs should be the portion of the inferior persons in the Church 
 (1 Cor. vi. 4), we, nevertheless, see no one higher placed now than 
 those who take part in them, and that one of the greatest of the 
 successors of the apostles having assured us that the guidance of 
 the most tender soul is a greater thing than the government of a 
 world, 1 we see no employment so despised as this to which it 
 appertains to lay the foundations of a good character. 2 But it is 
 still more astonishing to see occupations and offices which are base 
 in themselves so highly esteemed in princes' houses, such as those 
 of seneschal and master of the stables, and that what has reference 
 to the care and education of reasonable creatures, who have been 
 redeemed by the blood of God, is considered the lowest employ- 
 ment in nature. Truly we must acknowledge that men's blindness 
 is very great. 
 
 1 CHANNING, De V education personnelle, p. 35: "The perfect education 
 of a child requires more reflection, and perhaps more wisdom, than the 
 government of a State, for this simple reason, that political interests and 
 needs are more tangible, material and sensible than the development of 
 thought and feeling, or than the subtle laws of the soul, which should all be 
 studied and understood before education is finished. ..." 
 
 2 "Lucian has said somewhere that the gods made schoolmasters of those 
 whom they hated ; and Melanchthon has written an oration de miseriii 
 paedagogorum." (Gui PATIN, Lettres, t. iii. p. 140.) 
 
 iseriis 
 
Lancelot : The Charity of Saint-Cyran. 81 
 
 I know very well that most worldly people would laugh at me 
 if they saw this. But let them laugh, if Thou, my God, dost 
 not laugh at it. ... Let them say what they will, that the 
 world is ordered thus, that habits cannot be changed, and that 
 men will never be induced to hold in esteem an employment 
 which they have always despised. Let them not pretend, then, 
 to induce us to pity them very much for misfortunes which often 
 happen in their families for want of this esteem; or, rather, let 
 them not prevent us pitying them very much, since the love of 
 Christ constrains us to blame this unfortunate habit. . . . 
 
 As M. de Saint-Cyran was very enlightened, he was far removed 
 from these worldly maxims, and knowing the importance of the 
 care and education of the young, he looked upon them in a very 
 different manner. However painful and humiliating these offices 
 were in men's eyes, yet he did not fail to employ in them persons 
 of position without their thinking that they had a right to com- 
 plain, because they saw with how much zeal and charity he 
 practised what he advised others to do. For I have often seen 
 him give lessons to his nephews, who lived with him, not regard- 
 ing them as his nephews, as he once told me, but as children 
 whom he was endeavouring to bring up in a Christian manner. 
 
 One day, when he went into a shop to buy a pair of stockings, 
 he saw a little boy who seemed to him very promising. He was 
 sorry to learn that he was sent to college, where he ran the risk 
 of being spoilt, and told the shopkeeper to send him to him, and 
 that he would teach him with his nephew. He did so for some 
 time, but the child, not having turned out so well as he wished, 
 he was obliged to dismiss him. 
 
 When he was in prison he had three young children whom he 
 took the trouble to instruct; and when he placed M. d'Espinoy 1 
 and M. de Yilleneuve (son of M. d'Andilly) under my care, 
 he was good enough to tell me that he would be their under- 
 master, and that if God restored him to liberty he would take 
 them with him. 
 
 1 M. d'Espinoy, youngest son of M. de Saint-Ange, head steward to the 
 Queen, retired to Port-Royal des Champs on the death of his father in 1651, 
 and died in 1676, under the care of M. de Saci, who had a great affection for 
 him, says a note of Lancelot. (Altm. t. i. p. 338.) 
 
82 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Thus M. de Saint-Cyran reduced to practice his ideas of things 
 and his knowledge of virtue, and advised others in this spirit; 
 for when M. Singlin first submitted himself to him he was 
 delighted with the proposition that he made to him to devote 
 himself to children, and destined him for this employment, for 
 which he had told me that God had sent him to him. Long before 
 this he had given his nephew, M. de Barcos, to M. d'Andilly, in 
 order to take charge of his children, at a time when Cardinal 
 Kichelieu would have been glad to have him. He entrusted 
 M. de Saci with the instruction of a little boy who had been 
 taken from him when he was in prison, and for whose guidance 
 he wrote him two beautiful letters, in which it is wonderful to 
 see with how much care and precision he descends to the smallest 
 details; and after he had placed this boy with me he wished 
 M. de Saci to take charge of him in the mornings, because I was 
 occupied in the church. 1 When M. Arnauld placed himself 
 under his direction, he proposed to him to undertake the charge 
 of a young marquis who gave signs of wishing to retire from the 
 world. In fine, we know that he set everybody, on every oppor- 
 tunity, to this employment. . . . (Lancelot, Memoires touchant 
 la vie de M. de Saint-Cyran, t. ii. p. 330.) 
 
 SAINT-CYRAN'S LITERARY THEORY. 
 
 If M. de Saint-Cyran had a great desire to see truth defended, 
 he was not less particular about the manner in which he wished 
 its defence to be conducted. What he has written on the subject 
 in various letters 2 would almost dispense me from speaking of it 
 here if I did not consider this point very important, and had not 
 learnt from him several things on this subject which I should 
 scruple to omit. 
 
 The first maxim that M. de Saint-Cyran laid down on that 
 subject was that one should never write unless the impulse came 
 from God, and he said that it was sometimes more difficult 
 to know when a truth should be published or defended than to 
 
 1 Lancelot fulfilled the sacristan's duties. 
 
 2 Chiefly in letters addressed to M. Arnauld, bearing on the title-page : A 
 un eccUsiastique de ses amis. In vols. ii. and iii., ed. 1679. 
 
 
Lancelot: Saint-Cyraris Literary Theory. 83 
 
 know the truth itself. Nevertheless, he thought that it was neces- 
 sary to do so when it was attacked by its enemies, or there were 
 some persons who desired instruction in it. He said that then 
 God would guide our pen and direct our steps ; * otherwise there 
 was nothing more dangerous than to advance by oneself, and 
 that nothing led more easily to deception and error than such 
 rashness, whatever natural ability and learning a man might 
 possess. He showed this by the books of Origen, 2 De Principiis, 
 in which he wished to treat of questions more curious than 
 useful. And he always said, Qui a semetipso loquitur gloriam 
 propriam quaerit. (He who speaketh of himself seeketh his 
 own glory), paying attention to what is said in the same place that 
 he only who submits to the will of God can know the truth, as he 
 who seeks only this glory is true and free from all unrighteousness. 
 Nor was it sufficient that the motive should be legitimate. M. 
 de Saint-Cyran still wished that it should not be carried out 
 in too solely human a manner, 3 as if it were only a question 
 of carrying things by force of words, or that God had need 
 of our eloquence, because truth has need of no one ; and after 
 having done all we can, and all we think ourselves obliged to 
 do, we must still say, Servi inutiles sumus (St. Luke xvii. 10), 
 
 1 " I have often seen him," says Lancelot, " after having soared like an eagle 
 while speaking to us, suddenly stop short, ' not because I have nothing to 
 say, on the contrary, because too many things present themselves to my 
 mind ; and I look to God to know what is best for me to say to you.' Thus 
 his speech as well as his reading, in a word, his whole life, became a continual 
 oblation to God, neither saying nor doing anything of himself, and always 
 looking to the Holy Spirit with deep humility, in order to act only in and by 
 Him." (Mtmoires, vol. i. p. 45.) 
 
 2 Origen, of Alexandria (185-254), a doctor of the Church, author of 
 Commentaries on Holy Scripture, an Apology for Christianity against Celsus, 
 a treatise against heresies, entitled Philosophumena. Several of his opinions 
 have been condemned. 
 
 3 The disciples of Saint-Cyran did not always follow this important 
 advice. Lancelot candidly acknowledges it: " Perhaps," said he, "the 
 manner in which we acted in defence of the truth was not pure enough, and 
 the means employed were too hasty or ill-concerted, or even too human . . . 
 Sometimes the things of God are injured by too much action rather than by 
 remaining in humble repose. . . We may also add that we did not con- 
 fine ourselves within the limits marked out by M. de Saint-Cyran, contenting 
 ourselves (as he wished) by showing that the doctrine that was followed was 
 not that of M. d'Ypres, but of St. Augustine ; it was thought safer to insist 
 on the distinction between law and fact, for which we had contended for ten 
 or twelve years. 
 
84 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 ( We are unprofitable servants). Therefore he wished that in such 
 conjunctures a man should rather consult the movements of his 
 heart than those of his mind, in order to listen to God and not be 
 led astray by his own imagination. 
 
 Just as in order to derive profit from the sacred books we 
 should read them in the same spirit in which they were written, 
 so, in order usefully to defend sacred truths, we should be 
 animated with the spirit of the saints. 
 
 Therefore M. de Saint-Cyran wished men to write as they 
 prayed, that is, with the same respect and submission to the 
 Divine Majesty. He recommended men always to keep their 
 hearts attentively fixed on God, that they might say nothing but 
 what He inspired, so that work becoming as it were a prayer, 
 it might draw down His blessing on their labours. For that 
 reason his maxims were that, in order to write the truth, it was 
 not so much necessary to look to the moments that human wisdom 
 might choose as to those suggested by the Spirit of God, which it 
 was necessary to wait for, and to follow the impulse that it might 
 please Him to give us; and that nothing was more dangerous than 
 to speak of God from memory, or by a mere human effort of our 
 spirit, and it was, in his judgment, far from being permissible 
 to mingle with such matters our own interests or passions. 
 
 Thus, as those who are skilful in eloquence remark very justly 
 that it consists almost entirely in vividly representing a picture of 
 the thing they wish to express, so M. de Saint-Cyran, in a much 
 more pointed manner, said that we could only speak usefully 
 of truth, which is God Himself, by following the idea of it that 
 He impressed on us, and accompanying it by the movements that 
 it pleased Him to inspire in us, when we were careful to look to 
 Him with great purity of heart. Hence it was that He did 
 not wish men to waste time over speech, 1 and to take more tin 
 
 1 " I do not know who that Monsieur de Vaugelas is who writes to you. 
 seems to me that lie has the humour of M. de Balzac, whom I esteem mon 
 than his letter, which I intend to read in three days because I am otherwis 
 occupied, and I wish that, following iny example, you would moderate th 
 passion you have for words, of which the fine tissue is less estimable thai 
 you think." (SAINT-CYRAN, Lettre d Arnauld d'Andilly.} Saint-Cyran gav< 
 that day very wittily an excellent lesson in literature to the grand dpistolic 1 
 de France. But the Discourses of Balzac are worth more than his letter; 
 
Lancelot: Saint-Cyraris Literary Theory. 85 
 
 in weighing their words than a miser in weighing his gold in his 
 scales, because nothing more retarded the movement of the Holy 
 Spirit, which we ought to follow. He said that this precision of 
 speech was rather fitted for academicians than for defenders of the 
 truth; that it was almost enough that there should be nothing 
 that offended in our style ; and that what carried away readers 
 most was the eloquence of the thoughts and the purity of 
 the movements that the Spirit of God impressed on us when 
 we were careful to keep ourselves in that sacred union which 
 we should have with Him. It is certain that there is a secret 
 in writings which it seems we do not sufficiently know. There is 
 a certain transmission on to the paper of the mind and heart of 
 him who writes, 1 which is the cause that we perceive, so to say, 
 his likeness in the picture of the thing that he represents," and 
 that we feel, in a certain way, that mood in which he was when 
 he wrote. The most incomprehensible thing is that this impres- 
 sion remains in the books for ages, so that the devil lives in 
 the books of the wicked as well as in their souls, and in the same 
 way the Holy Spirit lives in good books in proportion to the grace 
 that animated the soul of him who wrote them. And this shows 
 that a man cannot purify his heart too much in order to speak of 
 the things of God and of His sacred truths, and that we should 
 work longer and more seriously to mortify our passions than 
 to acquire knowledge, when we find ourselves called to speak 
 of things that may benefit others. 2 
 
 The slightest cloud that is found in our heart overflows on to 
 
 and Joubert has estimated him well : " One of our greatest writers, and the 
 first among the good, if we take into account the order of time, useful 
 to read and to meditate and excellent to admire ; he is equally fit to instruct 
 and to form, both by his defects and his good qualities. He often overshoots 
 the mark, but he leads to it. It lies in the reader's power to stop there, 
 although the author goes beyond it." (t. ii. p. 181.) 
 
 1 Pascal said with more clearness and force: "When we see a natural 
 style we are astonished and delighted, for we expected to see an author, and 
 we find a man." (Pensecs.} 
 
 - " When a man feels himself called upon to compose some work for God," 
 writes Saint-Cyran to Lemaitre on a project of Lives of the Saints, " for 
 which, although he may not be very humble, he should always think 
 himself not very fit, he should withdraw into himself, humble himself, 
 lament, and pray. He must think of himself as the tool and the pen of 
 God. . . You have seen in St. Bernard that he compares God, with 
 
86 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 the paper, like a breath that dims the surface of a mirror, and 
 the slightest corruption that we have will be like a gnawing 
 worm, which will pass into this writing and gnaw the heart of 
 those who shall read it till the end of the world. (Lancelot, 
 Memoires, t. ii. p. 127.) 
 
 REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE SCHOOL 
 OF LE CHESNAI.i 
 
 On Rising. 
 
 The elder children rise every day at five o'clock winter and 
 summer, the younger at six. 
 
 As they sleep in the same room, each master has no trouble to 
 awaken his own pupils. 
 
 They rise quickly, it being very dangerous to accustom them to 
 idling at the first hour of the day. 
 
 They kneel immediately they are out of bed to worship God. 
 
 After which they finish dressing, comb each other in great 
 silence, it being very reasonable that their first words should be 
 prayers and thanksgiving to God for their preservation during the 
 night. 
 
 If, however, anyone had need to leave the room he should ask 
 permission in a low voice. 
 
 Of Morning Prayer. 
 At six o'clock they all kneel before the crucifix which is in 
 
 respect to men, to a writer or painter who guides the hand of a 
 little child, and only asks the child not to move his hand, but to let it 
 be guided. . . It is, then, the writer and not the child who writes, and 
 it would be ridiculous for the child to be vain of what he had done. . . 
 Holding these sentiments, we grow at once in virtue and knowledge. We 
 acquire wonderful strength, and throw an odour of piety over the work, which 
 first strikes the author and then those who read it." (FONTAINE, Mem. t. ii. 
 p. 51.) 
 
 1 A small village a quarter of a league from Versailles. The house 
 belonged to M. de Bernieres, one of the most active and generous friends 
 of Port-Royal ; he sold his office of maitre des requetes in order to devote 
 his time and fortune to the relief of the poor in the provinces of Normandy, 
 Picardy, and Champagne. His connection with Mme. de Longueville and 
 Port-Royal caused his exile to Issoudun, where he died in 1662. (See notice 
 of him, BESOGNE, Hist, de Port-Eoyal, t. iv. p. 143.) 
 
De Beaupuis : Regulations for Children. 87 
 
 the room, and repeat the usual prayers, namely, the Veni Creator, 
 the Lord's Prayer, the Ave-Maria, and the Creed. 
 
 Then follows Prime for the elder scholars, who all remain 
 standing during the repetition of this prayer. 
 
 After this is finished each goes to his table to study his lesson 
 and write his composition, and they remain there in great silence 
 until seven o'clock. At seven repetition of lessons, which lasts 
 until breakfast. 
 
 Of Breakfast. 
 
 They breakfast about eight o'clock. 
 
 During this time, which lasts a good half -hour, they are at 
 liberty to converse aloud with one another on what subject they 
 like, or to read some history, or look at maps, &c. They do not, 
 however, leave the room. In winter they are round the fire. 
 
 After breakfast, each goes back silently to his table, to work at 
 his second lesson until ten o'clock. 
 
 This second lesson consists, for the elder scholars, in repeating 
 their Greek lesson, which they translate into French, or reading 
 their Latin composition. The Greek lesson is usually three pages 
 of Plutarch, in folio, in the morning and as much in the after- 
 noon; for the juniors, translation of Livy, Justin, Severus 
 Sulpicius, &c. 
 
 The second lesson lasts until eleven o'clock, which is the 
 dinner hour. 
 
 Of Mass. 
 
 They do not go to mass every day, especially the juniors, until 
 they are sufficiently advanced for it ; for great care is taken that 
 they are well-behaved in church, and do not look about them. 
 Two are usually sent to make the responses, which they do in 
 turn. 
 
 As on this occasion they fulfil the office of the angels, they are 
 exhorted to behave with great respect, and to present themselves 
 at this bloodless sacrifice of Jesus Christ in remembrance of that 
 which He offered to His Father for our sins on Mount Calvary. 
 
 If the seniors commit any fault they are reprimanded, and 
 especially as, being more advanced in age, they should be wiser, 
 and edify the others by their example. 
 
Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Of Grace before Meat. 
 
 At eleven o'clock they all assemble in one of the rooms, where 
 they make an examination of conscience, after having said the 
 Confiteor as far as Mea Culpa. After the examination is ended 
 they finish the remainder with the prayer. 
 
 One of the seniors repeats by heart a Latin sentence taken 
 from the Proverbs. They then go down to wash their hands and 
 go into the refectory. 
 
 Of the Dinner. 
 
 The children are seated beside and in front of their own 
 master, who distributes to them what has been served up, after 
 they have eaten their soup each in his own porringer. 1 
 
 They endeavour to accustom them not to affect an inconvenient 
 delicacy, and always to eat with propriety. 
 
 During dinner all sorts of histories are read, as the History of 
 the Jews by Josephus, Church History by M. Godeau, History of 
 France, Koman History and such like. Nothing has been so 
 useful, and it is surprising that the children who are busy eating 
 lose scarcely anything of what is read. 
 
 On feast-days and Sundays books of piety are read, such as 
 some of the fine translations that have been made, the Christian 
 Instructions, the Confessions of St. Augustine, and others like 
 them. 
 
 Of Recreation after Dinner. 
 
 One of the masters, who never loses sight of the children, is 
 always present; but his presence does not incommode them in 
 any way, because he gives them entire liberty to play at the 
 games which they like to choose; this is always done with 
 
 1 A song of M. de Coulanges teaches us that this custom was quite recent. 
 Advice to Fathers : 
 
 Formerly they ate their soup 
 
 Without ceremony from the dish, 
 
 And often wiped the spoon 
 
 On the boiled fowl ; 
 
 Formerly in the fricassee 
 
 They dipped their bread and their fingers, 
 
 Now each one eats 
 
 His soup in his plate. 
 
De Beaitpnis : Regulations for Children. 89 
 
 modesty and good manners, and as the close in which they play 
 is very large, they can choose their walks. 
 
 In summer, during the heat of the day, they usually walk in 
 the shade of the woods. 
 
 In winter they exercise themselves in running, or retire to a 
 large room, and as there is a good billiard table in it, when they 
 have warmed themselves some stop at it, others like better to 
 play at backgammon, draughts, chess, or cards. 
 
 These cards were a certain pack which embraced the history of 
 the first six centuries j 1 that is to say, the time and place in which 
 the chief councils were held, in which the popes, emperors, 
 eminent saints, and profane authors lived, and in which 
 the most memorable events of the world happened. By 
 constantly playing this little game, the greater number had 
 these things so impressed on their mind, and the circumstances 
 of the different times and places in which these great men lived, 
 that no doctor could speak on them more pertinently. What M. 
 de Sainte-Beuve 2 often wondered at, after having put it to the 
 proof, was what gave these lads, of whom the greater number had 
 not yet reached the age of sixteen or seventeen, such a great and 
 wide knowledge of all things, of all the countries of the world, 
 and of periods of time, that they were able to converse agreeably 
 with all sorts of persons, to study all sorts of affairs, and even to 
 explain them. 
 
 No disputes or contentions were ever seen among them upon 
 any matter. They had been so accustomed to respect one another 
 that they never used the familiar " thou," and were never heard 
 to utter the least word that they might think would be disagree- 
 able to any of their companions. 
 
 Kecreation usually lasted a good hour and a half. 
 
 1 The pack was composed of 52 cards. When, for instance, those relating 
 to the popes had been dealt, he who had in his hand the longest pontificate 
 gained, and if he recited correctly the information given on his card he took 
 a counter. 
 
 2 Jacques de Sainte-Beuve (1613-1677), a doctor of the Sorbonne, and a 
 great friend of Port-Royal. He would not subscribe the censure pronounced 
 against Arnauld, was excluded from the Faculty, and lost his chair of 
 theology (1658). Nicole had been his pupil. Sainte-Beuve, however, 
 eagerly signed the formulary in 1661, and refused all intercourse with the 
 nuns of Port-Royal. 
 
9O Port-Royal Education. 
 
 On holidays they left the close and went towards Marly, 
 Versailles, and Saint-Cyr (the building of Versailles was not 
 yet commenced 1 ). 
 
 During these walks the children conversed familiarly and gaily 
 with the masters upon all subjects, which formed their minds in a 
 remarkable manner. 
 
 After recreation they repeated alternately what they had read 
 in history or talked about geography. 
 
 As children have good memories, they noticed the smallest facts 
 of history, so that when the seniors began to talk first the juniors 
 always said something on the subject, and thus they were accus- 
 tomed to speak in good terms and to form an opinion on the facts 
 mentioned in the history which had been read. In fine, by 
 making them pass their early years in these kinds of exercises, 
 the teachers endeavoured to put them in a position to render 
 jservice to God and the public when they should be grown up. 
 
 Of the Return to the Glass-room in the Afternoon. 
 
 On entering they said a short prayer, to ask for the grace of 
 God to pass the rest of the day in a godly manner, and to 
 accustom them to do no action without beginning and ending 
 by prayer. 
 
 Each being at his table, they began to work ; some wrote their 
 copy, which was always some sentence taken from the Holy 
 Scripture, and the others copied their notes on Virgil. 
 
 Others prepared 2 their lessons or read some good book. That 
 lasted until afternoon refreshment, which was regularly brought 
 them at three o'clock ; it lasted a good half-hour, during which 
 they were at liberty to converse with one another as they did 
 f during breakfast. This refreshment was thought necessary for 
 the juniors on account of their greater natural activity. The 
 others might go without it if they wished. 
 
 1 It was not until after 1672 that Louis XIV. passed a large part of the 
 year at Versailles, and only fixed his residence there in 1682. The Court was 
 then at Paris, which it left for Saint-Germain in 1661. 
 
 2 An excellent practice, which involves individual initiative, permits 
 greater benefit to be derived from the lessons, and singularly facilitates 
 the taking of notes. 
 
De Beaupuis : Regulations for Children. 91 
 
 . At half-past three all took their places at their tables to study 
 their lessons, which they repeated from four to six o'clock, when 
 they supped. 
 
 [ Kecreation was the same as after dinner. 
 
 ' In summer opportunity was often taken of conversing during 
 this time with the seniors on some points of history or on other 
 useful subjects, while the juniors amused themselves with games. 
 
 This recreation lasted till eight o'clock. They then returned to 
 pass a good half -hour in the class-room in preparing what they had 
 to do for the next morning. 
 
 Evening Prayer. 
 
 Evening prayer was said at half-past eight, when they repeated 
 the Pater-noster, Credo, and Confiteor in Latin, the litanies of the 
 Virgin, Sub tuum praesidium, &c. 
 
 Then, after examination of conscience, each returned to his 
 room in silence. 
 
 Of going to Bed. 
 
 After saying his prayers, each undressed and got into bed 
 quickly and in silence. 
 
 Thus all were in bed at nine o'clock. 
 
 As all the exercises of the day were, in this manner, regulated 
 and diversified, the children had no time to become wearied ; and 
 the greatest punishment that could be given to those who some- 
 times showed a disagreeable humour was to threaten to send them 
 home, as I have already said. 
 
 Directions for Sundays and Holy-days. 
 
 They rose at five o'clock as usual. 
 
 After they were dressed Prime was said ; after which they 
 read privately some pious books, until they all assembled to go to 
 catechising, which lasted until the bell rang for mass. 
 
 They always had to learn by heart two or three articles of the 
 catechism of M. de Saint-Cyran, which is esteemed one of the best 
 that have been written. 
 
 The teachers always began by making the juniors repeat what 
 
92 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 had been said the last time, in order to impress it well on theu 
 memory. 
 
 They always had to hear high mass at the parish church ; for i\ 
 is necessary to accustom children of good family early to submit 
 to the order which has been established in the Church, and which 
 has been followed during a long succession of ages. 1 For, thinking 
 only of amusing ourselves, feasting and paying visits after having 
 been to hear low mass, as quickly as possible, is not sanctifying 
 the Sunday .... (Supplement au Necrologe, p. 54.) 
 
 A LETTER FROM M. LE MAITRE DE SACI 
 TO ONE OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 PATIENCE AND SILENCE. 
 
 It seems to me, Sir, that if I were allowed to choose an 
 employment, I should readily desire yours, so much do I esteem 
 it, and think you happy to have devoted yourself to it. I am 
 convinced that there is no occupation equal to yours, nor one 
 more worthy of a Christian, when it is undertaken from pure 
 love. It is sufficient to say that Jesus Christ has commended 
 it to us, and that, in order to oblige us still more to acquit 
 ourselves well in it, He exhorts us to become as children, and 
 assures us that we must do so in order to enter paradise. 
 
 Children whose nature is good and docile render their in- 
 
 1 This is one of the grievances of Father Rapin in an interest that he does 
 not conceal : " At Port-Royal they only recommended the worship at the 
 parish church and the spiritual direction of the cures, who were called 
 the true pastors because they wished to acknowledge their position in order 
 to obtain their favour. This notion became then so fashionable, that even in 
 the freest and most polite society they laughed at ladies who confessed to 
 the regular clergy as not belonging to the hierarchy .... Nothing so 
 much lowered the esteem in which the religious orders were held, and which 
 it was desired to annihilate in order to destroy the Jesuits, and nothing more 
 tended to raise the ecclesiastical spirit and everything that related to the 
 parishes which had been formerly so despised, that even the most important 
 parishes in Paris were abandoned to Picards, Normans, and Manceaux as 
 being posts unworthy of men of position .... It was, properly speaking, 
 the scheming of the janseiiists that set in fashion this spirit of parochialism 
 which afterwards dominated Paris, and by which the beneficed clergy 
 became so important, that they made themselves dreaded by the great, 
 respected by the lower classes, and held in honour by everybody." (Memoires, 
 t. i. p. 484.) 
 
De Sad: Letter on Education. 93 
 
 -truction easier and more agreeable; but the others, who try 
 W patience more, also give reason to deserve more. 1 It is 
 iecessary to labour to root out in them the works of the old 
 nan, and that is done better by actions and example than by 
 exhortations, which are not of much use to children unless they 
 are few, short, and adapted to their age, and appear to spring | 
 from particular circumstances rather than from a general intention $ 
 to exhort and reprove them. Children are not usually so capable 
 of being taught by reason as by the senses and habit which 
 insensibly impress on them the spirit of modesty and humility, 
 the love of heavenly things and contempt of earthly things, 
 especially when those who guide them are careful to unite the 
 spirit of prayer to their work, and to offer them every day to 
 God, remembering that he who plants and he who waters is 
 nothing, and that it is God alone who, possessing all power, 
 thus produces the result. As the chief end of education should 
 be to save them and ourselves with them, we must also have 
 more trust in Him who is the true Saviour and Master than 
 in all human means and industry, considering ourselves as 
 instruments, which can have no movement except what He 
 gives them, that He may thus shed His blessing on the scholars 
 through the masters. That is all the desire of my heart, for 
 the children as much as for yourself. If you see any good in 
 them, praise God for it, who has put it in them, but let it be 
 in secret, and be careful to speak little of it ; 2 if, on the contrary, 
 you find that there is much to do, do not despair, remembering 
 their age. 
 
 1 Fontaine, who has reproduced the principal passages of this letter, and 
 commented on them, adds some ideas worthy of note : "M. de Saci always 
 gave this advice, not to undertake the charge of other children than those 
 of respectable parents." Education at Port- Royal, as with Montaigne, 
 Rabelais, Locke, and Rousseau, preserves an aristocratic character. The 
 large heart of Pestalozzi will be devoted to those who have the greatest need 
 of education the poor and neglected. 
 
 1 It requires, in fact, much tact and discretion to praise without exciting 
 the bad feeling of vanity. De Saci, perhaps, uses too much reserve ; we, 
 on the contrary, misuse publicity. Why insert in our scholastic journals 
 that a child found a purse and did not keep it ? A simple act of honesty 
 is praised as an act of heroism. Let us reserve our public acknowledgments 
 for acts of courage and devotion. 
 
94 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 } Every day we see those degenerate who were good in thei r 
 childhood ; and, on the contrary, those in whom we saw nothin g 
 good when they were children improve as they grow oldei". 
 They are like the young wheat, which often produces more oi r 
 less than was expected. We must not be too uneasy aboujt 
 'their faults, or too precise in marking them. 1 If there is any?- 
 conduct which it is necessary to feign not to notice, it is that, 
 of children whom we should be satisfied to reprove for serious 
 faults, closing our eyes to others, although they may not appear 
 small. It is sufficient not to encourage them by too much' 
 indulgence in excessive liberty; and, for the rest, we must, 
 work little by little, and with reference to one thing at a time, 
 to cure them, having towards them an untiring charity ; otherwise j 
 we give ourselves great trouble, and do them no good, we even 
 sour their tempers by too frequent and injudicious reproofs. We 
 must endeavour to instil into them some feelings of piety and 
 the fear of God .... We must make the most of the 
 confidence that they have in those who guide them, and en- 
 courage it, in order to use it for their salvation. When it is 
 necessary to reprove and warn them, it should be well considered, 
 in order not to discourage them. By overlooking some of their 
 faults we correct others which are of more consequence; and 
 we provide against the small irregularities that we wish to / 
 prevent in children more by prayer than by words. Then God J 
 shows us when it is time to speak to them, and most frequently 
 we find that there was nothing to be said. We can only under- 
 stand these tender souls by adapting ourselves to them, and 
 conforming ourselves to their inclinations; otherwise they do 
 not understand our words, and this imposes on us the need 
 of continual prayer and attention both for ourselves and them, 
 not telling them all they should do, but only as much as their 
 weakness, for which we should have great regard and con- 
 sideration, can bear. We should not exercise authority over 
 them untempered by charity, adapting ourselves in such a 
 manner to them, that it is they who draw the conclusion, and 
 
 1 This language is truer and more simple than that of Saint-Cyran, who 
 speaks too much of "trembling" and of " tempest of the mind." 
 
De Sad: Letter on Education. 95 
 
 do by persuasion what is demanded of them. 1 When we see 
 that they cannot submit, we should retire and feign not to notice! 
 leaving them with a few imperfections for a time, rather than^ 
 forcing their will, by which we gain nothing, and which might) 
 even irritate them. 
 
 Above all, they should never be left alone; and whether they 
 are studying, playing, or doing anything else, we should always 
 be witnesses, either by ourselves or by grave persons to whom we 
 entrust this duty, of all their actions. 
 
 In fine, there are no virtues that should be more practised 
 with children than patience and silence, avoiding, by patience, 
 hasty reproof, and taking care, by cultivating silence, to say no 
 more than they can bear. 
 
 Jesus Christ often withdrew Himself from His disciples to 
 tpray to His Father, in order not to be obliged constantly to 
 reprove them, as their imperfect condition often gave Him 
 reason to do. Thus you would do well to take for a motto 
 these two words, Patience and silence, and this verse of the 
 Psalmist, Adhaereat lingua faucibus meis, desiring that your 
 words should cleave to your mouth rather than that any should 
 drop which might wound the children. (LECLERC, Vies inter- 
 essantes, t. iv. p. 351.) 
 
 PASCAL AT PORT-ROYAL. 2 
 
 M. Pascal came, at that time, to live at Port-Royal des Champs. 
 I do not stop to tell who this man was, whom not only all France 
 but all Europe admired. His active mind, always at work, had 
 a breadth, elevation, firmness, penetration, and clearness beyond 
 anything that can be imagined. There was no adept in mathe- 
 matics who did not yield to him, as witness the story of the 
 
 1 This is, in fact, true education ; education from within and not from 
 without, by the association of the pupil with the master, and by his personal 
 influence on himself. Without this condition education is but a very super- 
 ficial work, without real efficacity. 
 
 2 " I can scarcely believe," observes Sainte-Beuve with reason, "that the 
 fine conversation between Pascal and M. de Saci on Epictetus and Montaigne 
 is not the compilation of M. Lemaitre himself." (Port-Royal, t. i. p. 395.) 
 
96 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 famous roulette, 1 which was then the subject of conversation of 
 all the learned. He could animate copper and put mind into 
 brass. He brought it about that little wheels without reason, on 
 each of which were the first ten figures, should give a reason to 
 the most reasonable persons ; and, in a manner, he made dumb 
 machines speak, to solve, in working, the difficulties in numbers 
 which puzzle the learned \ and this cost him so much application 
 and effort of mind, that to arrange that machine to the point at 
 which everyone admired it, and which I have seen with my own 
 eyes, his own head was almost deranged during three years. This 
 wonderful man, being at last touched by God, submitted this 
 eminent mind to the yoke of Jesus Christ, and this grand an(l 
 noble heart humbly submitted to penance. He came to Pari s 
 to throw himself into the arms of M. Singlin, resolved to d(V 
 whatever he ordered him. 
 
 M. Singlin thought, on seeing this great genius, that he should 
 do well to send him to Port-Royal des Champs, where M. Arnauldj 
 would measure his strength with him in what regarded the other 1 
 sciences, 2 and M. de Saci would teach him to despise them. He 
 came, then, to live at Port-Royal. M. de Saci could not excuse; 
 himself from seeing him, especially as he was requested to do so 
 by M. Singlin ; but the sacred light that he found in the 
 Scriptures and the Fathers made him hope that he should not 
 be dazzled with the brilliancy of M. Pascal, which, nevertheless, 
 charmed and carried away everybody. He was strongly impressed 
 with the force of all he said. He admitted with pleasure the 
 strength of his reasonings, but he learnt nothing new from them. 
 All that Pascal told him that was grand he had seen before in 
 St. Augustine ; and, doing justice to everybody, he said : " M. 
 Pascal is very estimable in that, not having read the Fathers 
 of the Church, he has of himself, by the penetration of his mind, 
 discovered the same truths that they did. He thinks them 
 
 1 The roulette or cycloid is the name given to the curve described by a 
 point in a circumference rolling on a straight line. This problem very much 
 occupied the learned in the seventeenth century. Descartes, Roberval, 
 Father Mersenne, Torricelli, Fermat, Huyghens, &c., made it the object of 
 their studies. 
 
 2 Bossuet calls Arnauld "a man eminent in every kind of knowledge." 
 ((Etivres, t. ix. p. 451.) 
 
Fontaine : Epictettis and Montaigne. 97 
 
 surprising, because he has not seen them anywhere ; but, for 
 our part, we are accustomed to see them everywhere in our 
 books. . . ." 
 
 It was a habit of M. de Saci, in conversing with people, to 
 adapt his conversation to those with whom he was speaking. If, 
 for instance, he saw M. Champagne, 1 he spoke to him of painting. 
 If he saw M. Hamon, 2 he conversed with him about medicine. 
 If he saw the surgeon of the place, he questioned him about 
 surgery. Those who cultivated trees, the vine, or grain, told 
 him what he should observe. He used everything as an occasion 
 to speak of God and to lead others to Him. He thought, then, 
 that he ought to take M. Pascal on his strong point, and to speak 
 to him of the reading of philosophy, in which he was most 
 occupied. He led him to this subject in the first conversations 
 they had together. M. Pascal told him that the two books he 
 usually read had been Epictetus and Montagne, and highly 
 praised these two intellects. M. de Saci, who had always thought 
 he ought to read these authors very little, begged him to make 
 him acquainted with them. 
 
 "Epictetus," 3 said M. Pascal, "is one of the men of the world 
 who has best known the duties of man. He wishes him before 
 all things to look upon God as his chief object, to be persuaded 
 that He does everything with justice, to submit to Him heartily, 
 to follow Him willingly in everything, because He does everything 
 
 1 Philippe de Champagne (1602-1674), "this jansenist Poussin," says 
 Theophile Gautier, who points out in the gallery of the Louvre "that 
 singular and characteristic painting in which we see Sister Sainte-Suzanne 
 (the daughter of Ph. de Champagne and a nun of Port-Royal) sitting with 
 her feet stretched out on a stool, her hands joined, while the Al other 
 Catherine Agnes Arnauld, on her knees, implores of heaven the healing 
 of the sick woman, who was, in fact, restored to health, as the inscription 
 on the picture states. When we have seen this picture," he adds, "we 
 know Port- Royal as well as if we had read the voluminous work of Sainte- 
 Beuve." (Guide de T amateur au musee du Louvre, p. 158.) Two chefs-d'oeuvre 
 of this painter are exhibited in the salon d'honneur, namely, Christ lying in 
 His shroud, and a portrait of Richelieu. 
 
 2 See note, p. 243. 
 
 8 Epictetus, a Greek Stoic philosopher of the first century after Christ. 
 Abstain, be resigned, were the two principles of his morality. See the study 
 of M. Martha on Stoic virtue, personified in that slave who honours humanity 
 as much as the wise emperor Marcus Aurelius. (Les moralistes sous V empire 
 romain, p. 155.) 
 
98 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 with great wisdom; that thus this disposition will stop all his 
 complaints and murmurings, and prepare his heart to support the 
 most painful occurrences. Never say, he said, I have lost that, 
 but rather I have returned it ; my wife is dead, but I have given 
 her back ; and thus of goods and everything else. But he who 
 takes 'it from me is a wicked man, you say. Why do you trouble 
 yourself through whom He who lent it to you comes to demand 
 it again f 1 While He allows you the use of it, take care of it 
 as of a good that belongs to another, as a man who is travelling 
 looks upon himself in an inn. You ought not to wish, said he, 
 that things which happen should happen as you desire, but 
 you ought to wish them to happen as they do. Eemember, 
 said he, that you are here like an actor, and that you play 
 your part in a comedy, such as it pleases the Master to give 
 you. Eemain on the stage as long as He wishes, and appear 
 rich or poor as He commands. Your business is to play the 
 part that He gives you well, but the choice of the part is another's 
 business. Always keep before your eyes death and the ills which 
 seem the most insupportable, and you will never think of any- 
 thing low, nor desire anything inordinately. 
 
 "He shows in a thousand ways what man should do. He 
 wishes him to be humble, to hide his good resolutions, above 
 all in their initial stages, and to accomplish them in secret. 
 Nothing ruins them more than showing them. He never tires 
 of repeating that all the study and desire of man should be to 
 recognize the will of God and to follow it. 2 
 
 "You see here, Sir, the intelligence of this great man who 
 understood so well the duty of man, and I dare to say that he 
 would deserve to be worshipped if he had known equally well 
 his impotence, since it would be necessary to be God to teach 
 both these things to men. Thus, as he was dust and ashes, after 
 having so well comprehended what ought to be done, this is how 
 he loses himself in the presumption of what can be done. He 
 
 1 This is really showing too much resignation. Would not this sort of 
 fatalism put at their ease assassins and robbers, transformed into agents 
 of Providence ? 
 
 2 " To will what God wills is the only science 
 That gives us repose." MALHERBE. 
 
Fontaine : Epictetus and Montaigne. 99 
 
 said that God has given to every man the means of fulfilling all 
 his obligations ; that these means are always in our power ; that 
 we must only seek happiness through the things which are always 
 in our power, since God has given them to us for this end ; that 
 we must consider what is free in us; that goods, life, and esteem 
 are not in our power and do not lead to God, but that the mind 
 cannot be forced to believe what it knows to be false, nor the will 
 to love what it knows must make it unhappy; that these two 
 powers are entirely free, and that by them alone we can make 
 ourselves perfect; that man, by these powers, can thoroughly 
 know God, love Him, obey Him, please Him, cure himself of 
 all his vices, acquire all virtues and thus make himself holy and 
 a companion of God. These principles, which spring from a 
 diabolical pride, lead him to other errors; for example, that the 
 soul is a part of the divine substance, that pain and death are not 
 evils, that we may kill ourselves when we are so persecuted that 
 we may believe God summons us, &c. 
 
 " As to Montagne, Sir, of whom you wish me to speak to you, 
 being born in a Christian state, he professed the Catholic religion, 
 and in that there is nothing peculiar. But as he wished to find 
 a morality founded on reason without the light of faith, he took 
 his principles on this supposition; and thus considering man 
 deprived of all revelation, he discourses in this manner. He 
 puts everything in universal doubt, and so general that this doubt 
 doubts of itself, and that man doubting even whether he does 
 doubt, his uncertainty rolls on itself in a perpetual circle without 
 ceasing, opposing itself equally to those who say that everything 
 is uncertain and to those who assert that all is not so, because 
 it will assert nothing. It is in this doubt which doubts of itself, 
 and in this ignorance which is ignorant of itself, that the essence 
 of his opinion lies, which he has not been able to express by any 
 positive term. For if he says that he doubts he betrays himself 
 by asserting at least that he does doubt ; which, being expressly 
 contrary to his intention, he has only been able to explain himself 
 by interrogation, so that not wishing to say / do not knoiv, he says 
 what do I know ? And this he takes for his motto, under a pair 
 of scales, which, weighing contradictories, are in perfect equili- 
 brium, that is to say, he is a pure Pyrrhonist. All his discourses 
 
IOO Port- Royal Education. 
 
 and Essays move on this principle, and this is the only thing that 
 he pretends to thoroughly establish, although he does not always 
 let his intention be seen. He insensibly destroys by it all that 
 passes among men as most certain, not in order to establish the 
 contrary with a certainty of which by itself he is the enemy, but 
 simply to show that appearances being equal on both sides, a man 
 does not know on what to found his belief. 
 
 " In this spirit he laughs at all assertions. For example, he 
 combats those who have wished to provide in France a great 
 remedy for lawsuits by the number and so-called precision of the 
 laws, as if the root of the doubt whence lawsuits spring could be 
 cut and there were dams that could stop the torrent of uncertainty 
 and fix conjectures. In this, however, when he says that it would 
 be just as well to submit the case to the first passer-by as to judges 
 armed with this number of laws, he does not mean that the order 
 of the State should be changed, he has not so much ambition ; nor 
 that his opinion is the best, he does not think any opinion good ; 
 it is solely to prove the vanity of the most generally received 
 opinions showing that the exclusion of all law would rather 
 diminish the number of disputes than that multitude of laws, 
 which only serves to augment it, because obscurities increase in 
 proportion as it is hoped to remove them, that these obscurities 
 increase by the commentaries, and that the surest means of under- 
 standing the sense of a discourse is not to examine it, but to take it 
 as it appears at first, for if it is examined ever so little all its clear- 
 ness disappears. Thus he judges at random all the actions of men 
 and all the points of history, sometimes in one manner and some- 
 times in another, freely following his first view, and without 
 submitting his thought to the rules of reason, which has only 
 false standards, delighted to show by his example the contradic- 
 tions of the same mind. As a result of this wholly independent 
 attitude, it is the same to him either to get angry or not in 
 disputes, having always by one example or the other a means 
 of showing the weakness of opinions, being led with so much 
 advantage into universal doubt that he fortifies himself in it 
 equally by his triumph or defeat. It is on this foundation, all 
 floating and tottering as it is, that he combats with invincible 
 firmness the heretics of his time upon this that they are certain 
 
 
Fontaine: Epictetus and Montaigne. IOI 
 
 that they alone know the true meaning of Scripture, and it is 
 from there also that he most rigorously strikes down the horrible 
 impiety of those who assert that there is no God. 
 
 " He takes them in hand especially in the apology of Kaymond 
 of Sabunde, 1 and finding them voluntarily deprived of all revela- 
 tion and left to their natural reason, which is nevertheless put on 
 one side, he questions them by what authority they who really 
 know not one of the least things in nature undertake to judge of 
 that sovereign Being who is infinite by His own definition. He 
 asks them on what principles they rely, and presses them to point 
 them out to him. He examines all those that they can produce, 
 and goes so far by the talent in which he excels that he shows the 
 self-conceit of all those who pass for the most enlightened and the 
 most firm. He asks if the soul knows anything, if it knows itself, 
 if it is substance or accident, body or spirit ; what each of these 
 things is, and if there is anything that is not of either of these 
 orders, if it knows its own body, if it knows what matter is, and 
 if it can distinguish bodies in the vast variety in which they are 
 produced; how it can reason if it is material, and how it can 
 be united to a particular body and feel its passions if it is 
 spiritual. When did it begin to exist with the body or before 1 
 and if it ends with it or not, if it is never deceived, if it knows 
 when it errs, considering that the essence of error consists in not 
 knowing it, if in obscurities it does not as firmly believe that two 
 and three are six as it believes afterwards that they are five; if 
 animals reason, think, and speak, who can decide what time is, 
 what space or extension is, what movement is, what unity is, 
 all which things surround us and are entirely inexplicable ; what 
 health is, or death, life, sickness, good, evil, righteousness, sin, of 
 which we are constantly talking; if we have in ourselves the 
 principles of the true, and if those that we believe and which are 
 called axioms or notions common to all men are conformable to 
 essential truth. And since we know by faith alone that an 
 infinitely good Being has given them to us true, creating us to 
 know the truth, who will know without this light if, being formed 
 
 1 Raymond of Sabunde professed, about the middle of the XVth century, 
 at Toulouse, medicine, theology, and philosophy. Montaigne translated his 
 Thtologie iiaturclle into French. 
 
IO2 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 by chance, our notions are not uncertain ? or if, being formed by a 
 false and wicked being, he has not given them to us false in order 
 to mislead us, thus showing that God and the true are inseparable, 
 and that if the one is or is not, if it is certain or uncertain, the 
 other is necessarily the same? Who knows if common sense, 
 which we usually take for the judge of the true, was destined for 
 this office by Him who created it *\ And more, who knows what 
 truth is, and how we can be assured of having it without knowing 
 it 1 Who knows even what a being is ? Since it is impossible to 
 define it, there is nothing more universal, and to explain it we 
 should have to start by making use of the word being itself, 
 saying it is such or such a thing. And since we do not know 
 what the soul, body, time, space, motion, truth, good, nor even 
 being are, nor how to explain the idea that we form of them, 
 how can we assure ourselves that it is the same in every man, 
 seeing that we have no other marks than uniformity of conse- 
 quences, which is not always a sign of uniformity of principles ? 
 For they may be different and yet lead to the same conclusions, 
 everybody knowing that the true is often deduced from the false. 
 " Then he examines profoundly all the sciences : geometry, of 
 which he endeavours to show the uncertainty in its axioms, and 
 in the terms which it does not define, as extension, motion, &c. ; 
 natural science and medicine, which he depreciates in many ways ; 
 history, politics, ethics, jurisprudence, and the rest ; so that, with- 
 out revelation, we might believe, according to him, that life is 
 a dream from which we shall only awake at death, and during 
 which we possess the principles of truth as little as during natural 
 sleep. Thus he depreciates so strongly and cruelly reason devoid 
 of faith, that, making it doubt if it is reasonable, and if animals 
 are so or not, or more or less so than man, he brings it down from 
 the excellence it has attributed to itself, putting it as a favour on 
 a level with the brutes, without permitting it to leave this order 
 until it be informed by its Creator Himself of its true rank, of 
 which it is ignorant ; threatening, if it complains, to put it below 
 all, which appears to him as easy as the contrary, and in the mean- 
 while only acknowledging its power to act so far as to recognize its 
 weakness with sincere humility, instead of exalting itself by a 
 foolish vanity." 
 
Fontaine: Epictetus and Montaigne. 103 
 
 M. de Saci thought himself in a new country, and listening to 
 a strange language; and repeated to himself these words of St. 
 Augustine : " God of truth ! are those who know these subtle- 
 ties of reasoning more pleasing to thee on that account 1" He 
 pitied this philosopher, who pricked and tore himself everywhere 
 with the thorns that he himself made, as St. Augustine says 
 of himself, when he was in that state. After having patiently 
 heard all, he said to M. Pascal, " I am much obliged to you, Sir ; 
 I am sure that if I had read Montagne for a long time I should 
 not know him so well as I know him through the conversation that 
 I have just had with you. This man should wish to be known 
 only by the account that you give of his writings, and he might 
 say with St. Augustine, Ibi me vides, attends. I certainly think 
 that this man had talent, but I am not sure that you do not lend 
 him a little more than he had by that exact concatenation that 
 you make of his principles. You may judge that, having passed 
 my life as I have done, I have seldom been advised to read this 
 author, all whose works contain nothing that we ought especially 
 to seek in our reading, according to the rule of St. Augustine, 
 because his words do not spring from humility and Christian 
 charity, and because they overturn the foundations of all know- 
 ledge, and consequently of religion itself. This is what this pious 
 doctor blamed in those philosophers of former times, who were 
 called academicians, and who wished to throw doubt upon every- 
 thing. 
 
 " But what need had Montagne to divert his mind by reviving 
 a theory which rightly passes among Christians for folly ? If it is 
 alleged in his excuse that, in what he says, he puts faith on one 
 side, we who have faith ought to put on one side all that Mon- 
 tagne says. I do not find fault with the talent of this author, 
 which is a great gift of God ; but he ought to make a better use of 
 it, and rather offer it to God than to the devil. Of what use is a 
 good thing when it is used so ill 1 You, Sir, are happy in having 
 raised yourself above these doctors who are plunged in the intoxi- 
 cation of science, and whose hearts are void of the truth. God 
 has poured into your heart other sweetness and attractions than 
 those you found in Montagne. He has recalled you from that 
 dangerous pleasure, as St. Augustine says, who gives thanks to 
 
IO4 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 God that He has pardoned him the sins he had committed in 
 loving these vanities too much. St. Augustine is to be believed 
 in this so much the more as formerly he held those opinions ; and, 
 as you say of Montagne, that he combats the heretics of his time 
 by this universal doubt, it was also by this same doubt of the 
 academicians that St. Augustine forsook the heresy of the Mani- 
 chaeans. After he devoted himself to God, he renounced this 
 vanity, which he calls sacrilegious. He acknowledged the wisdom 
 of St. Paul in warning us not to be led away by eloquent argu- 
 ments. For he admits that there is a certain pleasure in them that 
 carries us away. We sometimes think that things are true because 
 they are said eloquently. They are dangerous viands, said he, that 
 are served up on fine dishes ; but these viands, instead of nourish- 
 ing the heart, leave it empty. We are then like men who are 
 asleep, and who think they are eating while they are sleeping." 
 
 M. de Saci added several similar things ; upon which M. Pascal 
 said that if he complimented him on knowing Montagne so 
 thoroughly, and knowing how to turn him so well, he might say, 
 without compliment, that he knew St. Augustine more thoroughly 
 and knew how to turn him better, although not very much to the 
 advantage of poor Montagne. M. Pascal appeared to be very 
 much edified by the solidity of all that M. de Saci had just put 
 before him. However, being still full of his author, he could not 
 avoid saying, " I admit, Sir, that I cannot see without pleasure, in 
 this author, haughty reason so irresistibly attacked with its own 
 weapons, and this sanguinary revolt of man against himself, which 
 casts him down to the condition of the brutes, from that inter- 
 course with God to which he raised himself by the principles of 
 his feeble reason. I should, with all my heart, have loved this 
 instrument of a great punishment, if, being a humble disciple of 
 the Church through faith, he had followed the rules of morality by 
 inducing these same men, whom he had so profitably humbled, not 
 to irritate by new crimes Him who alone can draw them from those 
 which he has proved to them that they cannot even understand. 
 But he acts, on the contrary, like a pagan. From this principle, 
 says he, that apart from faith everything is uncertain, and con- 
 sidering how long we have been seeking the true and the good 
 without making any progress towards tranquillity, he concludes that 
 
Fontaine: Epictetus and Montaigne. 105 
 
 we ought to leave the search for these to others and to remain in 
 repose, passing lightly over these subjects, lest by bearing on them 
 we sink into them ; and to take the true and the good as they first 
 present themselves without insisting upon them, because they have 
 so little solidity that, however slightly we close our hand on them, 
 they run through the fingers and leave it empty. For this reason 
 he follows the impressions of the senses and common feelings, 
 because lie would have to do violence to himself to ignore them, 
 and does not know whether he would gain by doing so, being 
 ignorant as to where the truth lies. Thus he flies from pain 
 and death because his instinct drives him to do so, and because he 
 will not resist this instinct. He does not, however, decide whether 
 they are true evils, as he does not altogether trust these natural 
 feelings of fear, seeing that we have other feelings of pleasure 
 which are censured as being bad, although nature, he says, asserts 
 the contrary. Thus, he adds, there is nothing irrational in my 
 conduct. I act like others, and all that they do, with the silly 
 idea that they are following the true good, I do in accordance with 
 another principle, which is that, appearances being equal on both 
 sides, example and convenience are the influences which should 
 determine me. 
 
 " He follows, then, the manners of his country, because custom 
 governs him. He mounts his horse because the horse allows him 
 to do so, like any ordinary man who is not a philosopher; he 
 does not conceive that he has any moral right to do this, inasmuch 
 as he does not know whether the animal has not, on the contrary, 
 just as good a right to make use of him. He also does some 
 violence to himself in order to avoid certain vices, and even keeps 
 his marriage vow because of the trouble that follows disregard of 
 it, his rule of action in everything being his own convenience and 
 tranquillity. He casts far from him that Stoic Virtue that is 
 painted with a severe countenance, a fierce look, dishevelled hair, 
 a wrinkled and perspiring forehead, in a strained and painful 
 attitude, far from men, in gloomy silence and alone on the top of 
 a rock, a phantom, as he says, to frighten children, and which 
 does nothing but seek repose, which she never finds, by constant 
 toil. His science is artless, familiar, humorous, sportive, and 
 frolicsome. She follows what pleases her, and jests about things 
 
io6 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 that happen whether good or bad, lying softly in the lap of an 
 idle tranquillity whence she shows men who are so painfully 
 seeking happiness, that it is only to be found there where she 
 is reposing, and that ignorance and absence of curiosity are two 
 soft pillows for a sound head, as he says himself. 
 
 "I cannot conceal from you," added M. Pascal, "that in 
 reading this author and comparing him with Epictetus, I have 
 thought that they were most certainly the two greatest defenders 
 of the two most celebrated schools of the infidel world, which 
 alone, among those of men destitute of the light of religion, have 
 judgments which are in some measure connected and consistent. 
 For what could they do but follow one or other of these two 
 systems *? The first, there is a God ; hence, it is He who created 
 man. He made him for Himself. He created him such as he 
 should be in order to be just and to become happy. Man can, 
 then, know the truth, and is in a position to raise himself by 
 wisdom up to God, who is his highest good. Second system, 
 man cannot raise himself up to God. His inclinations contradict 
 the law. He is prone to seek his happiness in visible good things, 
 and even in those which are most disgraceful. Everything appears 
 then uncertain, and the true good is so also ; and this seems to 
 reduce us to a state in which we have neither a fixed rule for 
 morals nor certainty in the sciences. I have had great pleasure 
 in remarking, in these various reasonings, in what points both 
 have perceived something of the truth that they have essayed to 
 learn. For if it is agreeable to observe in nature her desire to 
 paint God in all her works, in which indeed we see some mark 
 of Him, because they are images of Him, how much more just 
 is it to consider in the productions of men's minds the efforts that 
 they make to arrive at the truth, even while flying from it, and to 
 note in what points they touch it and in what points they depart 
 from it, as I have endeavoured to do in this study ^ 
 
 "It is true, Sir, that you have just shown me, in an admirable 
 manner, the little need that Christians have of these philosophical 
 readings. I will, nevertheless, with your permission tell you my 
 thoughts on the subject, being ready notwithstanding to give up 
 all knowledge that does not corne from God, from whom alone we 
 can receive the truth with confidence. It seems to me that the 
 
Fontaine: Epictetus and Montaigne. 107 
 
 source of the errors of the Stoics on the one hand, and of the 
 Epicureans on the other, is that they did not recognize that man's 
 present state differs from that at his creation ; so that the one 
 sect, noting some traces of his primitive dignity and ignorant of 
 his corruption, has considered nature as sound and without need 
 of a restorer, which leads it to the most extreme pride; while 
 those who belong to the other, feeling man's present misery, and 
 ignorant of his primitive dignity, consider nature as necessarily 
 unsound and incapable of improvement ; this makes them despair 
 of attaining a true good, and hence throws them into extreme 
 sloth. These two states, which it is necessary to see together 
 in order to perceive the whole truth, being seen separately, 
 necessarily lead to one of these two vices, pride or sloth, 
 in which all men are infallibly plunged before grace, since, 
 if they do not continue in their disorders through sloth, they 
 emerge from them through pride. Thus they are always slaves 
 of the spirits of evil, to whom, as St. Augustine remarks, men 
 sacrifice in many fashions. From this imperfect knowledge, then, 
 it happens that the one, knowing his impotence and not his duty, 
 sinks into sloth; and that the other, knowing his duty without 
 knowing his impotence, rises up in his pride ; whence it seems 
 that by combining them we should form a perfect morality. But 
 instead of this peace, there would only result from their junction 
 war and general destruction. For, the one establishing certainty 
 and the other doubt, the one the dignity of man and the other 
 his weakness, they cannot unite and agree ; so that they can 
 neither exist separately by reason of their defects, nor unite 
 because of their opinions, and thus they must necessarily be 
 shattered and annihilated in order to give place to the truth of 
 the Gospel. This truth, by a divine art, reconciles contradic- 
 tories. Uniting all that is true, and rejecting all that is false, 
 it teaches a truly heavenly wisdom, in which the opposing 
 principles, which were incompatible in those human doctrines, 
 agree. And the reason of this is that those wise men of the 
 world have placed the contraries in the same object. For one 
 attributes strength to nature, the other weakness to this same 
 nature, which cannot be; whereas faith teaches us to put them 
 in different objects, all that is weak appertaining to nature, and 
 
io8 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 all that is powerful appertaining to grace. This is a new and 
 astonishing union, which a God alone could teach, which He alone 
 could make, and which is but an image and effect of the ineffable 
 union of two natures in the sole person of a God-man. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Sir, for transporting myself before you into 
 theology instead of remaining in philosophy. But my subject 
 led me to it insensibly ; and it is difficult to avoid entering into 
 it, whatever truth is treated of, because it is the centre of all 
 truths ; and this is very plain here, since it so visibly contains 
 all those which are found in these opinions. Moreover, I do not 
 see how any one of them can refuse to follow it. For, if they 
 are full of the idea of the dignity of man, what have they 
 imagined in it that does not give way before the promises of the 
 Gospel, which are nothing else than the worthy reward of the 
 death of a Godl And if they take pleasure in seeing the 
 infirmity of nature, their idea does not equal that of the real 
 weakness of sin, of which the same death was the remedy. Thus 
 all find in it more than they wished ; and, what is wonderful, they 
 find themselves united in it, they who could not unite in an 
 infinitely lower grade." 
 
 M. de Saci could not avoid showing M. Pascal his surprise at 
 the manner in which he turned things. He acknowledged at the 
 same time that everybody had not the secret, like him, of making 
 such wise and elevated reflections on their reading. He told him 
 he was like those clever doctors, who by their skilful manner of 
 preparing the most powerful poisons could draw from them the 
 most powerful remedies. He added that, although he saw very 
 well, by all he had just told him, that this reading was useful 
 to him, nevertheless he could not think that it was advantageous 
 to many people, whose minds would not have sufficient elevation 
 to read and weigh these authors, and be able to pick up some 
 pearls from the dunghill, whence a black smoke arose, which 
 might obscure the tottering faith of those who read them ; that, 
 for this reason, he always advised those persons not to expose 
 themselves lightly to this reading, for fear of losing themselves 
 with those philosophers, and becoming the prey of demons, and 
 food for worms, according to the language of Scripture, as those 
 philosophers had been. 
 
r -I \ 
 
 Fontaine: Epictetus and Montaigne. 109 
 
 "As to the utility of this reading," said M. Pascal, "I will tell 
 you very simply my opinion. I find in Epictetus an incomparable 
 art to trouble the repose of those who seek it in exterior things, 
 and to compel them to acknowledge that they are veritable slaves 
 and miserable blind men ; that it is impossible for them to find 
 anything else than the error and pain that they shun if they do 
 not give themselves unreservedly to God. Montagne is incom- 
 parable for confounding the pride of those who, without -faith, 
 boast of true righteousness ; for disabusing those who cling to 
 their opinions, and who think they find in the sciences unshaken 
 truths, independently of the existence and perfections of God ; 
 for so thoroughly convicting reason of its small intelligence and 
 of its aberrations, that it is difficult, after that, to be tempted 
 to reject the mysteries because we think we find contradictions 
 in them ; for the mind is so beaten by them that it is far from 
 being willing to consider whether the Incarnation and the mystery 
 of the Eucharist are possible, which ordinary men do only too 
 often. But if Epictetus opposes idleness, he leads to pride, and 
 may be very hurtful to those who are not persuaded of the 
 corruption of all righteousness that does not spring from faith. 
 
 " Montagne is absolutely pernicious for those who have a leaning 
 towards impiety and vice. Therefore this reading should be 
 regulated with much care, discretion, and regard for the position 
 and morals of those to whom it is recommended. 1 It seems to 
 me even that by combining them they would not succeed entirely 
 ill because one opposes the evil of the other. They cannot give 
 virtue to man, but only disturb him in his vices; man finding 
 himself opposed by contraries, one of which chases away pride 
 and the other idleness, and not being able to rest in any of 
 these vices, although he cannot flee them all." 
 
 In this manner these two large-minded men agreed on the 
 subject of the reading those philosophers, and arrived at the same 
 
 1 Mme. de Sevigne recommends Mme. de Grignan not to let her daughter 
 Pauline ' ' dip her little nose into Montaigne, nor Charron . . . There is time 
 yet for her." (1690.) But how she felt the charm of the author of the 
 Essays! "Ah ! what an amiable man ! What good company he is ! He 
 is my old friend ; but, by force of being old, he is new to me." (6 Oct., 
 1679.) 
 
no Port- Royal Education. 
 
 result, although they did so by slightly different means ; M. de 
 Saci arriving at once by solely regarding Christianity, and M. 
 Pascal only arriving after many deviations by following the prin- 
 ciples of these Philosophers. (Fontaine, Memoires, t. iii. p. 77.) 
 
 OF A NEW METHOD OF EASILY LEAENING TO 
 READ IN ANY LANGUAGE, 1 
 
 This method chiefly concerns those who cannot yet read. 
 Simply learning the letters is not much trouble to beginners ; 
 there is more in putting them together. 
 
 Now what makes this more difficult at present is that, each 
 letter having its name, it is pronounced alone differently than 
 when it is joined with others. For example, if we make a child 
 put together / r y, we make him pronounce ef, ar, wy ; which 
 infallibly confuses him when he wishes to join these three sounds 
 together to make the sound of the syllable fry. 
 
 It seems then, that the most natural way, as some intelligent 
 persons have already remarked, would be, that those who are 
 teaching to read should, at first, only teach the children to know 
 their letters by their value in pronunciation; and that thus, to 
 teach to read in Latin, for example, they should give the same 
 name e to simple e, ce and ce, because they are pronounced in the 
 same way ; and the same to i and y; and also to o and au, as 
 
 1 M. Cousin has edited an unpublished letter of Jacqueline Pascal (26 Oct., 
 1655), from which it results that the method of reading styled of Port-Royal 
 must be attributed to Pascal. " . . . Our mothers have commanded me to 
 write to you to send me all the particulars of your method of learning by the 
 B, C, D, E, in which it is not necessary for the children to know the names 
 of the letters ; for I see very well how they can be taught to read, for 
 example, Jesu, making them pronounce Je e, ze u ; but I do not see how they 
 can easily be made to understand that final letters must not add e; for 
 naturally, following this method, they will say Jesuse, unless they are told 
 that they must not pronounce e at the end unless it is really there ; nor do I 
 see how to teach them to pronounce the consonants which follow the vowels, 
 for instance en; for they will say ene, instead of pronouncing an as the 
 French often requires. In the same way, for on they will say one, and even 
 by making them slur over the e they will not pronounce it with a good accent 
 if they are not taught separately the pronunciation of the o with the n." 
 (Jacqueline Pascal, p. 265.) Jan. 31, 1656, Arnauld writes to the mother 
 Angelique to have Pascal's method of reading, in order to try it on a boy of 
 twelve years of age. 
 
Lancelot : Learning to Read. 1 1 1 
 
 they are now pronounced in France, for the Italians make au a 
 diphthong. 
 
 Let the consonants also only be named by their natural sound, 
 simply adding e mute, which is necessary in order to pronounce 
 them. For example, let the name given to b be what is pro- 
 nounced in the last syllable of the French word tombe; to d that 
 of the last syllable of ronde ; and thus to the others which have 
 only a simple sound. 
 
 Let those which have several sounds, as c, g, t, s, be named by 
 the most natural and usual sound, which is for c the sound of &, 1 
 and for g the sound g hard, for t the sound of the last syllable of 
 forte, and for s that of the last syllable of bourse. 
 
 And then they would be taught to pronounce separately, and 
 without spelling, the syllables ce, ci, ge, gi, tia, tie, tii. And they 
 would be taught that s between two vowels is pronounced like z ; 
 miseria, misere, as if it were mizeria, mizere, &c. 
 
 These are the most general observations on this new method of 
 teaching to read which would certainly be very useful to children. 
 But to set it out in full would require a small separate treatise, in 
 which the observations necessary to fit it for any language might 
 be made. 2 
 
 OF THE VERB. 
 
 Men have not had less need to invent words which should 
 mark affirmation, which is the principal mode of our thought, 
 than to invent those which should mark the objects of our 
 thought. 
 
 1 Duclos proposed to employ Tc instead of c, keeping c for the sound ch t 
 for which there is no character in the alphabet. Charles- Quint would be 
 written Carle-Kint. 
 
 2 "The whole of this chapter is excellent," writes Duclos, " and admits of 
 no exception or reply. It is astonishing that the authority of Port-Royal, 
 especially at that time, and supported as it has since been by experience, has 
 not yet caused reason to triumph over the absurdities of the ordinary method. 
 Following the reasoning of Port-Royal, the Typographic Table gave their most 
 natural denomination to the letters fe, he, ke, le, me, ne, re, se, ze, ve, je, 
 and the abbreviation cse, gse; and not efe, ache, ka, ele, &me, ene, esse, zede, i 
 and u consonants, icse. This method, already admitted in the last edition 
 of the Dictionary of the Academy, and practised in the best schools, will 
 prevail sooner or later over the former system by the advantage that cannot 
 fail to be eventually acknowledged ; but it will require time, because that is 
 reasonable." (Commentaire sur la grammaire g6n6rale.) The victory is not 
 yet complete. See note on p. 255. 
 
1 1 2 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 And it is in this properly that what we call the verb consists, 
 which is nothing else than a word tvhose chief use is to signify 
 affirmation, that is to say, to mark that the discourse in which 
 this word is used is the discourse of a man who not only conceives 
 of things, but judges of them and affirms something of them. 
 And in this the verb is distinguished from some words which also 
 signify affirmation, as affirmans, affirmatio, because they signify it 
 only in so far as, by a reflection of the mind, it has become the 
 object of our thought, and thus they do not mark that he who uses 
 these words affirms, but simply that he conceives an affirmation. 
 
 I have said that the principal office of the verb was to signify 
 affirmation, 1 because we shall show further on that it is also used 
 to signify other movements of the mind, as to desire, to ask, to 
 command, &c., but it is only by changing inflection and mood, 
 and thus we only consider the verb in the whole of this chapter 
 according to its principal signification, which is that which it has 
 in the indicative mood. According to this idea we may say that 
 the verb in itself ought to have no other office than to mark 
 the connection that we make in our mind between the two terms 
 of a proposition. But it is only the verb to be, which is called 
 substantive, that has preserved this simplicity ; and also, properly 
 speaking, it has only preserved it in the third person of the 
 present tense, is, and in certain connections ; for, as men are 
 naturally led to shorten their expressions, they have almost 
 always added other significations to the affirmation in the same 
 word. 
 
 1. They have joined to it that of some attribute, so that then 
 two words form a proposition ; as when I say, Petrus vivit, Peter 
 lives, because the word vivit contains in itself the affirmation, and 
 also the attribute to be living ; and thus it is the same thing 
 to say, Peter lives, as to say, Peter is living. Hence has come 
 the great diversity of verbs in every language; whereas if men 
 had been content to give the verb the general signification of 
 affirmation, without adding to it any particular attribute, a single 
 verb only would have been necessary in any language, namely, 
 that which is called substantive. 
 
 1 To affirm would be more exact than to signify affirmation. 
 
Lancelot : Of the Verb. 1 1 3 
 
 2. They have also joined to it in certain circumstances the 
 subject of the proposition, so that then two words, and even one 
 word, may form a complete proposition. Two words, as when 
 I say, sum homo, because sum not only signifies affirmation, 
 but includes the signification of the pronoun ego, which is the 
 subject of this proposition, and which is always expressed in 
 our language, I am a man. One word, as when I say, vivo, sedeo; 
 for these verbs include in themselves both the affirmation and the 
 attribute, as we have already said ; and being in the first person, 
 they include also the subject : I am living, I am sitting. Hence 
 has arisen the difference of persons which is usually found in all 
 verbs. 
 
 3. They have also joined a reference to the time with respect 
 to which they affirm, so that a single word, as ccenasti, signifies 
 that I affirm of him to whom I speak the action of supping, not 
 for the present time, but for the past, and hence has come the 
 diversity of tenses, which is also usually common to all verbs. 
 
 The diversity of these significations joined to the same word 
 has prevented many persons, otherwise very intelligent, from 
 thoroughly understanding the nature of the verb, because they 
 have not considered it in its essential part, which is affirmation, 
 but in its other relations, which are accidental to it in so far 
 as it is a verb. 
 
 Thus Aristotle, 1 having stopped at the third of the significations 
 added to that which is essential in the verb, has defined it as 
 a word that signifies with time. 2 
 
 1 M. Egger very justly blames the author for not taking the trouble 
 to refer to the original texts, and for giving as Aristotle's an incomplete 
 definition of the verb from a quotation of Boxhorn's : "This idea of 
 affirmation is very clearly expressed in the second part of Aristotle's phrase, 
 which has been omitted in the quotation : It is always the sign of what 
 is affirmed of some other thing. This is precisely what the Port- Royal 
 logician wished to show. In no edition that I know of the work of Port- 
 Royal has this omission been noticed." (De VlielUnisme en France, t. ii. 
 p. 61.) 
 
 2 Beauzee remarks the same mistake in Scaliger. "The verb," says he, 
 * ' is the only kind of word which appears susceptible of distinction of tense. 
 Julius Csesar Scaliger thought it so essential to this part of speech that 
 he took it for the specific character which distinguishes it from all the rest." 
 (Grammaire gdne'rale, t. i. p. 422.) "The German grammarians," he adds, 
 " have given to the verb, in their language, the name of Zeit wort, composed 
 
H4 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 Others, as Buxtorf, 1 having added the second to it, have defined 
 it as a word which has different inflexions with times and persons. 
 
 Others having stopped at the first of these added significations, 
 that of the attribute, and having considered that the attributes 
 which men have joined to the affirmation in a word are usually 
 those of actions or passions, have thought that the essence of the 
 verb consisted in signifying actions or passions. 
 
 And, in fine, Julius Caesar Scaliger 2 thought that he had found 
 a mystery in his book on the Principles of the Latin Tongue, 
 by saying that the distinction of things in permanentes et fluentes, 
 into those which remain and those which pass, was the real origin 
 of the distinction between nouns and verbs, the nouns signifying 
 what remains and the verbs what passes. 
 
 But it is easy to see that all these definitions are false, and do 
 not explain the true nature of the verb. 
 
 The manner in which the first two are conceived shows this 
 sufficiently ; since it is not said what the verb signifies, but only 
 that with which it signifies, with times and persons. 
 
 The last two are still worse ; for they have the two greatest 
 defects of a definition, that they do not include the whole of the 
 thing defined, nor only the thing defined. 
 
 For there are verbs which signify neither actions nor passions, 
 nor that which passes, as existit, quiescit, friget, alget, tepet, calet, 
 albet, viret, claret, &c. 
 
 And there are words which are not verbs, which signify actions 
 and passions, and even things which pass, according to the 
 definition of Scaliger; for it is certain that participles are true 
 nouns, and that, nevertheless, those of active verbs do not the 
 less signify actions, and those of the passive verbs passions, than 
 the verbs from which they come ; and there is no reason to assert 
 that fluens does not signify a thing which passes as well as fluit. 
 
 of Zeit, time, and Wort, word ; so that das Zeit wort signifies literally 
 the word of the time." Beauzee would only accept it by interpreting, by 
 metonymy, the name time by that of existence. 
 
 1 Buxtorf, a celebrated professor of Hebrew at Bale, died 1629. 
 
 2 Julius Caesar Scaliger, a celebrated philologer (1484-1558). His work, 
 De causis linguae latinae, libri xiii., appeared at Lyons in 1540. We see 
 even by Arnauld's criticism that Scaliger had endeavoured to introduce the 
 philosophical spirit into grammatical studies. 
 
Lancelot : Of the Verb. 1 1 5 
 
 To which may be added, in opposition to the first two definitions 
 of the verb, that the participles also signify with time, since there 
 are present, past, and future, especially in Greek ; and those who 
 think, and not without reason, that a vocative is a true second 
 person, above all when it has a different termination from the 
 nominative, will find that there will only be, on that point, a 
 difference of more or less between the vocative and the verb. 1 
 
 Thus the essential reason why a participle is not a verb is that 
 it does not signify affirmation; 2 whence it comes that it cannot 
 make a proposition, which is the property of the verb, unless by 
 restoring what has been taken from it in changing the verb into a 
 participle. For why is Petrus vivit, Peter lives, a proposition, and 
 Petrus vivens, Peter living, not one, unless you add est, is, to it, 
 Petrus est vivens, Peter is living, unless, because the affirmation 
 contained in vivit has been taken away to make the participle 
 vivens? Whence it appears that the affirmation which is or 
 which is not in a word makes it a verb or not a verb. 
 
 On which it may be remarked, in passing, that the infinitive 
 which is very often a noun, as we shall state, as when we say le 
 boire, le manger, to drink, to eat, is then different from participles 
 in this, that the participles are nouns adjective, and that the in- 
 finitive is a noun substantive, made by the abstraction of this 
 adjective, as from candidus is made candor, and from white 
 whiteness. Thus the verb rubet signifies is red, including the 
 affirmation and the attribute ; the participle rubens signifies 
 simply red, without any affirmation ; and rubere, taken as a 
 noun, signifies redness. 
 
 It must, then, be regarded as certain, considering only what is 
 essential in the verb, that its only true definition is, vox significans 
 affirmationem, a word signifying affirmation. For no word denot- 
 ing affirmation can be found which is not a verb, nor a verb which 
 does not denote it, at least in the indicative. And it is undoubted 
 that, if we had one, as is would be, which should always mark 
 
 1 The nominative is the case that indicates the subject ; Dominus, the 
 Lord, the vocative is used to call Domine, Lord. 
 
 2 Certain grammarians admit, however, and not without reason, the 
 participial proposition. In this phrase, the parts being made, the lion 
 spoke thus, the words in italics are exactly equivalent to this proposition, 
 \ohen the parts were made. 
 
Ii6 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 affirmation without any difference of person or tense, so that the 
 difference of person should be marked only by nouns and pro- 
 nouns, and the difference of tense by adverbs, there would still 
 be one real verb. As, in fact, there is in the propositions that 
 philosophers call eternal truths, as, God is infinite ; every body is 
 divisible ; the whole is greater than its part ; the word is signifies 
 simple affirmation only, without any regard to time, because it is 
 true for all times, and without our mind taking into consideration 
 any difference of persons. 
 
 Thus the verb, according to what is essential to it, is a word 
 which signifies affirmation ; but if we wish to put into the defini- 
 tion of the verb its principal accidents, we may define it thus : 
 vox signiftcans affirmationem, cum designations personae, numeri 
 et temporis; a word which signifies affirmation, with designation of 
 person, number, and tense, which exactly agrees with the verb 
 substantive. 
 
 For, in so far as the other verbs differ from the verb substantive 
 by the union which men have made of the affirmation with certain 
 attributes, they may be thus defined : vox signiftcans affirmationem 
 alicujus attributi ; cum designations personae, numeri et temporis ; 
 a word ivhich marks the affirmation of some attribute, with designa- 
 tion of the person, number, and tense}- 
 
 And it may be remarked, in passing, that the affirmation, in so 
 far as it is conceived, being able to be the attribute of the verb, 
 as in the verb affirmo, this verb signifies two affirmations, of 
 which one regards the person speaking, and the other the 
 person spoken of, whether it be oneself or another. For, when 
 I say Petrus affirmat, affirmat is the same thing as est affirmans? 
 and then est marks my affirmation, or the judgment that I form 
 concerning Peter ; and affirmans the affirmation that I conceive 
 and attribute to Peter. The verb nego, on the contrary, contains 
 an affirmation and a negation for the same reason. 
 
 For it must still be remarked that although all our judgments 
 
 1 There is room to complete this definition by adding to the mention of 
 time that of mood. 
 
 2 In English these two forms are not equivalent ; the present participle 
 with the auxiliary to be expresses more precisely that the affirmation is 
 relative to the moment in which the person is speaking. 
 
Arnauld: Questions of Grammar. 117 
 
 are not affirmative, but some are negative, the verbs, nevertheless, 
 never signify by themselves anything but affirmations, the negation 
 being marked by the particles no, not, or by words which include 
 it, nullus, nemo, none, no one, which, being joined to verbs, change 
 the affirmation into negation, as no man is immortal; nullum 
 corpus est indivisibile, 1 no body is indivisible. (Grammaire generale 
 et raisonnee.) 
 
 QUESTIONS OF GRAMMAR. 
 
 MADAM, 2 Nothing could be more obliging than the reply of 
 the Academy. But as you would have reason to take it amiss 
 if I did not speak to you with all sincerity, I will tell you frankly 
 than I expected something more from such a celebrated society. 
 For of the five questions proposed to them, the last only regarding 
 French grammar in particular, and the first four regarding general 
 grammar, and being some of those which M. de la Chambre 3 
 admits can only be resolved by the deepest meditations of phil- 
 osophy, it would have been desirable that they should rather have 
 attended to them than to the last, which they might with more 
 reason refer to French grammar than the former; since it is 
 not usual to treat in special grammars what is common to every 
 language. . . . After all, Madam, it would be an ill return for 
 the obligation we are under to them for the information they 
 have given us to stop and make complaints that they have not 
 thought proper to give us more. 
 
 1 Beauzee (Grammaire gdnerale, t. i. p. 395) does not accept the theory of 
 Port-Royal. But his objections do not appear to me to be sound, and the 
 definition that he proposes to substitute has not been received very favour- 
 ably : Verbs are words which express indeterminate beings, pointing them out 
 by the precise idea of intellectual existence with relation to an attribute. The 
 least defect in this phrase is its abstractness and want of clearness. 
 
 Lancelot would, in my opinion, be inattackable if he had more clearly 
 laid it down that the essential and not only the principal office of the verb 
 is to affirm, and that it is by that that it has deserved to be called the word 
 par excellence, for it is the soul of the sentence. The moods, which he has 
 forgotten to mention, are only different manners of affirming. A negation is 
 still an affirmation contrary to another. 
 
 2 Letter of Arnauld to a lady on the subject of the reply of the French 
 Academicians to five questions that M. Arnauld had proposed to them on 
 general grammar, &c. 
 
 3 De la Chambre (1594-1660), physician to Louis XIV., member of the 
 French Academy and of the Academy of Sciences. 
 
1 1 8 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 The manner in which they have answered the question which 
 specially referred to the French language shows such a strict 
 investigation into all the modes of expression in our language, 
 that there is nothing perfect and finished which may not be 
 expected from this society, if they give to the public, as we are 
 led to hope, their meditations and remarks. You will, neverthe- 
 less, Madam, allow me to lay before you a few small doubts. 
 
 I have some difficulty with the examples they bring forward 
 at the beginning, mile, qui parlemente, eau qui dort, &c. For our 
 language should be regulated by present and not by former usage. 
 Now I do not think that these modes of speaking, mile qui 
 parlemente^ eau qui dort, &c., are in the present use, but are 
 proverbs which have survived from the ancient language in which 
 the articles were almost always omitted. 1 To speak as we do now 
 we must no doubt say, une mile qui parlemente, une eau qui dort, 
 &c. And reason itself requires it thus, because, excepting proper 
 names, I think that it is a general rule that when a noun is the 
 subject of a proposition it should have an article or some word 
 standing in place of it, as tout, plusieurs, and names of number 
 deux, trois, &c. ; Phomme est raisonnable, tout homme est raison- 
 nable, deux hommes Font attaque, &c. But these gentlemen have 
 well remarked that vocatives must be excepted, because it is the 
 having no article 2 that distinguishes them from the nominative. 
 And besides, in our language they are only the subject of a 
 proposition when the pronoun vous is added, del, vous voyez mes 
 maux ; Soleil, vous eclair ez toutes choses. It is true that the 
 pronoun is not used when they are joined to the imperative ; del, 
 voyez ce que je souffre ; Seigneur , ecoutez ma voix. But then they 
 are not the subject of a proposition. I may easily be mistaken, 
 never having paid much attention to these things which depend 
 on usage. Nevertheless I think that this rule, that in our 
 language a common noun should always have an article when it is 
 the subject of a proposition, is true ; and that it should not be 
 thought false because the contrary is seen in many proverbial 
 modes of speaking, which have survived from the old language, 
 
 1 Latin, whence French is derived, has no article. 
 
 2 See note, p. 115. 
 
Arnauld: Questions of Grammar. 119 
 
 and which it is proper to notice, but not to take as rules of usage 
 at the present time. 
 
 I am not sure, Madam, that we cannot say as much for the 
 greater number of the phrases that are given in the five remarks 
 that these gentlemen make to show in what circumstances qui 
 may be put after nouns without the article. For Jiomme qui vive, 
 dine qui vive, vie qui dure are the remains of the old style, which 
 continue to pass because usage permits it, especially in popular 
 style, but upon which, as I have already said, I do not think we 
 should regulate our language. 
 
 I also think that, to speak correctly according to present usage, 
 we should rather say, fai un homme en main qui /era ; je connais 
 dcs gens qui disent, &c., than fai homme en main, je connais 
 gens qui disent, &c. And I doubt, Madam, if you would use 
 this last, or if you ever said, Prenez ratines de betoine qui aient ete 
 sechees au soleil, or prenez eau-de-vie qui ait ete rectifiee, instead of 
 saying, as you no doubt have always done, prenez des racines de 
 betoine, &c. ; prenez de Veau-de-vie, &c. If doctors and apothe- 
 caries speak thus we should value their remedies without imitating 
 their style. 
 
 Nor do I think that you would agree that it would be speaking 
 correctly to say, tfest yrele qui tombe, c'est poison qu'il a pris, 
 c'est vin que vous buvez. But I think that you would always say, 
 c'est de la grele, &c. ; c'est du poison, &c. ; c'est du vin, &c. 
 
 Their remarks on these expressions, il vit en philosophe, &c., 
 which are used sometimes absolutely and sometimes with qui, as, 
 il vit en philosophe qui suit Epicure, appeared to me very good ; 
 but I find a difficulty in the reason they give for them. They say 
 that some of these expressions are indeterminate and others deter- 
 minate ; that the indeterminate do not take the qui, and that the 
 others do. But it seems to me that this is giving for a reason the 
 thing itself for which we are seeking the reason. For it is incon- 
 testable that the qui which is joined to a word without the article 
 determines its signification; and thus it is the qui itself which 
 determines the expressions in which it is found, and which 
 without it would not be determined. So that it must not be said 
 that it is because they are determined that they take the qui, since, 
 on the contrary, they are only determined because they have a qui. 
 
I2O Port-Royal Education. 
 
 And, in fact, if this rule were good, the rule would never be 
 broken by putting qui after a noun without the article ; since, the 
 qui making the expression determinate, we should always be 
 making an exception to the rule. 
 
 Thus, if we could say, c'est un effet d' } avarice, qui est la plus 
 injuste des passions, or qui le possede depuis longtemps, we might 
 say, il a ete enleve par violence, qui est tout d fait cruelle. For we 
 might always give this reason, that these expressions are good 
 because they are determinate, whereas, what makes them bad 
 is that they are determined by the qui, the noun not being deter- 
 mined by the article. Therefore, as far as possible, the article 
 should be used with the noun, when we wish it to be followed by 
 qui. I say as far as possible, because there are combinations 
 in which the article cannot be used. And then, in such a case of 
 necessity, we can put the qui or an adjective, when we wish 
 to determine the general noun that we are using. Now I think 
 that one of these combinations is when the particle en is used 
 in the sense of the Latin ut, and not in that of in. For when it 
 is taken for in the article may be used ; il est alle en un pays 
 Stranger; il est en la ville $ Amiens. But in the sense of 
 ut, usage does not allow us to use the article; vivit ut philosophus, 
 il vit en philosophe, and not il vit en un philosophe; il donne 
 en roi, il agit en politique. Thus, when we wish to determine 
 these expressions it is done with qui ; il agit en politique qui sait 
 gouverner ; because on the one hand it was necessary to be able to 
 determine them, and on the other the article could not be used, as 
 it always should be when it is possible. And thus I can say with- 
 out determining, il lui a gagne son argent par fourberie. But if I 
 wish to determine this fourberie I cannot do so simply by adding 
 qui, il a gagne son argent par fourberie, qui est horrible, but must 
 also add the article to fourberie, par une fourberie qui est horrible. 
 Whence it seems that we should conclude .that, if we use qui in 
 the other expressions, en philosophe, en roi, although the noun has 
 no article, it is not because they are determined, for they are 
 so only by the qui itself, and they are no more so than this 
 one, par fourberie qui est horrible; but it is by a necessity 
 that dispenses with the rule, because they are not capable of 
 taking the article. 
 
Arnauld ': Questions of Grammar. 121 
 
 There remains, Madam, a word to say on the question which 
 was the object of this resolution of the Academy. It was not on 
 the general rule ; but, on the contrary, taking that for granted, it 
 was asked why this expression is riot contrary to it, // est accuse de 
 crimes qui meritent la mort. 
 
 These gentlemen answer, as they had done in the preceding 
 difficulty, that it is not contrary to it, because it is only used 
 to specify the nature of the crimes, which is done by adding qui, or 
 an epithet which virtually contains it. But, besides what I have 
 already said against this reason, I do not see, if it is true, why it 
 does not take place in the singular as well as in the plural. Those 
 persons, however, who wish to speak correctly will not say, il a ete 
 accuse de crime qui merite la mort; but il a ete accuse d'un 
 crime qui merite la mort. There is an intention to specify the 
 nature of the crime in the singular as well as in the plural. Why 
 does not this reason, then, dispense from putting in the singular 
 the qui without the article, as is done in the plural, according to 
 the opinion of these gentlemen 1 This difficulty, Madam, gave me 
 an idea which I submit to the judgment of this illustrious society. 
 I think that the article un has a plural, not formed from itself, for 
 we do not say uns, unes, but taken from another word, which 
 is des before substantives, and de when the adjective precedes. 
 What inclines me to think so is that in every case, except 
 the genitive, for the reason that we shall give afterwards, wher- 
 ever un is put in the singular des is put in the plural, or de before 
 adjectives, as I have already said, and it should always be put in 
 all those cases where a qui is added. 
 
 Nominative. Un crime qui est si horrible merite la mort, des 
 crimes qui sont si horribles, &c. 
 
 Dative. II a eu recours a un crime qui merite la mort, il a eu 
 recours a des crimes qui meritent, &c. 
 
 Accusative. II a commis un crime qui merite la mort, il a 
 commis des crimes qui meritent la mort. 
 
 Ablative. II est puni pour un crime qui merite la mort, il est 
 puni pour des crimes qui meritent la mort. 
 
 According to this analogy, as a, which is the dative particle, 
 is added to form the dative of this article, as well in the 
 
122 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 singular a un as in the plural a des ; il a eu recours a un crime, 
 il a eu recours a des crimes ; and as the genitive particle de is also 
 added to form the genitive singular d'un ; il est accuse d'un 
 crime, it is evident that the genitive plural should be formed in 
 the same manner by adding de to des, or de ; but this has not 
 been done, for a reason which causes the greater number of the 
 irregularities of languages, namely, disagreeable sound. For de 
 des, and still more de de, would have grated on the ear, which 
 would scarcely have supported il est accuse de des crimes, or il est 
 accuse de de grands crimes ; whereas it is not offended by hearing 
 in the dative, il a pardonne a des criminels, il a pardonne a de 
 mechants homines. Thus, Madam, if you will kindly pardon 
 me this little Latin sentence, which M. Yalant will explain to 
 you, impetratum est a ratione ut peccare suavitatis causa liceret. 1 
 If that is well founded, there is no longer any difficulty in the 
 question proposed. For either it is resolved, as in the preceding, 
 by the impossibility of putting the article, which gives liberty to 
 use the qui, although the noun has no article ; or, indeed, we may 
 say that the mere difficulty of pronunciation preventing the use 
 of the articles with nouns in these combinations, the article is 
 in the sense, although it is not expressed. 
 
 If I had not the honour, Madam, of knowing you as well 
 as I do I should offer you many excuses for having importuned 
 you by so long a letter upon things which appear very small. 
 But I know that you will not judge of them like ordinary people, 
 and that you consider nothing small that has reference to the 
 mind and reason. And, indeed, since speech is one of the greatest 
 endowments of man, the possession of this endowment in the 
 greatest possible perfection must not be despised, namely, not 
 only to have the use of it, but also to know the reason. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 (Arnauld, CEuvres, t. iv. p. 125.) 
 
 1 Reason allows a fault to bo made for the satisfaction of the ear. 
 
Arnauld: Regulation of Studies. 123 
 
 MEMOIR OF ARNAULD ON THE REGULATION OF 
 STUDIES IN THE HUMANITIES. 1 
 
 The regulation of the order of studies should be considered 
 both from the end proposed and from the means employed to 
 attain it; for among the various ends that might be proposed, it 
 is necessary to choose those which are of the greatest, most 
 general, and most lasting utility. And among the different 
 means that may be adopted, those which lead the most directly 
 and easily to it should be employed. 
 
 After having censured exercises in versification, amplification, 
 and declamation, themes and "empty phrases void of sense, in 
 order to make them learn rules which might be taught viva voce," 
 theatrical representations, dictated lectures, and the infrequent 
 reading of authors, he proposes the following remedies : 
 
 " 1. The examination of scholars, in order to promote them 
 from one class to another, should only consist in seeing if they 
 thoroughly understand the authors they have been reading in the 
 class from which they wish to remove; without which they 
 should be retained in it with inflexible rigour, unless they are 
 found to be incapable of doing more or better. 
 
 "2. An entire hour should be given to the explanation of 
 an author every time the class meets, morning and afternoon ; 
 and this exercise should always be preferred to every other, and 
 never omitted. 
 
 " 3. It is, above all, very important to divide this explanation 
 into different portions, and oblige the scholars to give an account 
 in Latin and in French of what has been explained to them. 
 They would be accustomed without trouble to take the turn of 
 good Latinity by always making them speak like the best authors, 
 and they would acquire that spirit of analysis so necessary in all 
 positions. . . . 
 
 "4. The scholars should question themselves mutually, and 
 correct one another with politeness ; firstly, on the substance of 
 what has been translated during the week ; secondly, on the most 
 
 1 Although this memoir treats of classical studies, judicious advice on 
 teaching will he found in it, of which our teachers can make good use in 
 primary instruction. 
 
124 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 remarkable thoughts and the finest turns of language ; thirdly, on 
 the explanation of certain passages that the teacher may have 
 thought necessary to give in a few words. 
 
 " 5. The regent should be careful to make them mark in the 
 margin, in different ways, the sentences and the fine thoughts, and 
 generally all that is noticeable in the authors, then to review them 
 after the reading is finished, and then to sum up the whole at the 
 end of each week. 
 
 "6. Places should only be awarded every month, or every 
 fortnight, by the examination of those who have succeeded best 
 in all the exercises, either viva voce or by written translation, not 
 of French into Latin, but of Latin into French, at least in the 
 four lower classes ; for what sort of Latin can really be expected 
 from those who do not yet know that language ] 
 
 " 7. Without excluding compositions for which prizes are offered, 
 the chief prizes will be distributed to those who have most dis- 
 tinguished themselves during the first six months, or the whole 
 year, if they are given only once ; and by this means the hopes 
 of all the scholars will be excited. It must not be forgotten 
 to publish the names of those who nearly succeeded in gaining 
 them; but the first prizes should be given to those who have shown 
 most religion and whose morals are irreproachable. Those who 
 have made efforts to imitate these should also be mentioned. The 
 heart should be rewarded before the head. Besides books that 
 will be explained in class, a book should be given to the scholars 
 to read privately, prescribing the same book to the whole class ; 
 and they should be compelled, as far as possible, to give to it every 
 day an hour of their private study. 
 
 " 8. In order to induce them to give more attention to it, one 
 day in the week should be set apart to review this particular 
 book, when the regent, who will have read and annotated the 
 book, will question the scholars on the difficult expressions and 
 fine thoughts which they ought to have remarked in it, in order 
 to make them accurate and judicious. 
 
 "9. In order to teach elocution, beginning from the lower 
 classes, it is useful to make two scholars tell a short story every 
 day, which they may take from Valerius Maximus, or Plutarch, or 
 any book they like, leaving them the choice ; and those must be 
 
A man Id: Regulation of Studies. 125 
 
 judged the best who make the recital in the most free and natural 
 manner, and most in the spirit of the author, without confining 
 themselves to the same terms and expressions. This story should 
 be told in French in the three lower classes, setting them French 
 books. A very short piece of these authors will be given them 
 to recite, and all will be required to read every day a certain 
 portion of the history of France, and to be ready to recite it as 
 well as they can. 1 
 
 "10. A short time only should be given to the recitation of the 
 lessons that have been set, and which should be very short; a 
 quarter of an hour is sufficient, because this is one of the things 
 that cause much loss of time. When the regent explains the 
 lessons he should confine himself to making them well understood 
 without many words. 
 
 "11. The regents will never teach any verse or declamation of 
 their own making, nor dictate any rhetoric that they have com- 
 posed. They should explain especially Aristotle and Quintilian 
 . . . with the books of Cicero . . . the best part of the time is 
 lost in dictating. 
 
 " 13. It would be still better 2 to read out distinctly the Latin of 
 what has been dictated to them in French, and to make them 
 compose at once from the Latin they have just heard. The 
 model is correct, their time is spared, and, repeating this short 
 exercise, they are led by use to speak Latin well, without much 
 hesitation. 3 
 
 " 14. Useless methods, for the most part ill-conceived, ill- 
 digested, and wearisome for the young, should not be set to be 
 learnt by heart. They should be taught viva voce and by 
 
 1 Rollin, the recognized inheritor of the traditions of Port-Royal, ought to 
 have thoroughly assimilated this formal recommendation of Arnauld, and not 
 have permitted himself to write this phrase, a strange one in the mouth of 
 an ex-rector of the University of Paris : " Young people have no time to 
 learn the History of France ! " 
 
 2 Instead of giving a translation to be put into Latin. 
 
 3 Franklin declares that he had no other master for composition. About 
 the age of fifteen, when he was a printer's apprentice, he procured an odd 
 volume of Addison's Spectator, read an article in it, noted the principal ideas, 
 then, a few days after, in the evening or the morning, before work or on 
 Sundays, he tried to reproduce the original, which served him for a key. 
 This exercise may safely be recommended in primary schools, and in classes 
 for adults. 
 
126 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 practice what are called rules, and only set in the lower classes 
 to bring them up as a small history ; and according as a noun or 
 a v/6rb is met with out of the general rule, the attention of the 
 scholars should be called to it, and they should be required to 
 
 /give a reason for it, as we have just explained, on the next meet- 
 
 | ing of the class. 
 
 "18. Lessons and translations should only be given to the 
 juniors and composition to the seniors in so far as it may be 
 reasonably calculated that they will have time remaining after 
 reading the prescribed authors. This article is more important 
 than may be thought, for we may be easily misled in it. Much 
 is thought to be gained by overloading the children with lessons 
 and compositions. There is no greater mistake. 1 They do not 
 know the value of the time sufficiently to make good use of it 
 when they are left to themselves. They are in no hurry, time 
 flies, the clock strikes; hence punishments, all is sadness, and 
 disgust finally spoils the whole. Those who learn more easily, 
 and have better memories, will be set to do more than the others, 
 by attaching rewards for it. 
 
 "19. It is usually lost time to set them to compose verses at 
 home. There may be two or three scholars out of seventy or 
 eighty from whom something may be drawn. The rest lose 
 heart, or torment themselves to do nothing of any value. A 
 subject may be prescribed to those who show taste and facility, 
 and the others may be set something according to their ability. 
 It may, however, be proposed to all to compose then and there 
 a small piece of verse of which the subject is given, each having 
 the liberty of saying how he will turn the matter of each line. 
 An epithet then comes from one corner, a more appropriate one 
 from another; with permission to speak, which is asked and 
 obtained by a sign only, in order to avoid confusion, they judge, 
 criticise, and give a reason for their choice. Those who have the 
 least energy try their utmost, and all strive at least to distinguish 
 themselves. This is one of the most useful exercises to please 
 them, and to form at least those who have some talent.'' 
 
 1 An excellent observation. "We are always too much inclined to think 
 that the child is a vase that cannot be sufficiently filled. It is a soul that 
 must be formed. 
 
Arnauld : Regulation of Studies. 127 
 
 Art. 22. He inscribes the History of France among the con- 
 ditions for the degree of Master of Arts. 
 
 "... what is gained by the exclusion of verses in the upper 
 classes, of themes in the lower, and, in fact, of lessons which 
 produce nothing of any value, will give time which will be much 
 more agreeably employed in reading for repetition and in learning 
 set passages by heart, and for private preparation of what has been 
 set in Latin grammar and rhetoric, according to the classes to 
 which one or two rules of grammar have been set, on which the 
 class will be questioned at their next meeting, in the evening or 
 morning, without compelling anyone to learn them word for 
 word. 1 They will the more readily give themselves up to this 
 study, which will even be useful in teaching them the art of 
 reasoning in a small way ; and more will be gained in this manner 
 than would have been from the other. 
 
 " Objection. By making fewer compositions they neither learn 
 to write nor speak Latin. 
 
 " Reply. We answer that the scholars will most certainly learn 
 much more by reading much, and speaking frequently after the 
 best authors, than by writing many dictations and incorrect 
 expressions to which they become accustomed, and which must 
 be corrected. Not being in a position to produce solid thoughts, 
 they do nothing else in all these school compositions but contract 
 the habit of bad speaking and bad thinking. On the contrary, 
 by filling their minds with good models their judgment is formed. 
 
 " Objection. The regents do not acquire practice if the liberty 
 of speaking is taken from them. 
 
 "Reply. We answer, they may speak as much as they like, 
 provided that it be not in the class time set apart for the in- 
 struction of the scholars. So much talk is not necessary to point 
 out the beauties of an author." (Arnauld, CEuvres, t. xli. p. 85.) 
 
 1 The definitions and rules, however, require great accuracy. When they 
 are well understood, it is very easy to retain the exact formula, which is 
 preferable, and is not useless to intellectual education. 
 
128 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 POBT-KOYAL LOGIC. 
 
 FIRST DISCOURSE, SETTING FORTH THE DESIGN 
 OF THIS NEW LOGIC. 
 
 Nothing is more estimable than good sense and accuracy of 
 mind in discriminating the true from the false. All other mental 
 qualities have limited uses ; but accuracy of reasoning is useful 
 generally in all parts and employments of life. It is not alone 
 in the sciences that it is difficult to distinguish truth from error ; 
 but also in the greater number of the subjects on which men 
 speak, and the affairs of which they treat. Almost everywhere 
 there are different courses, some true, some false ; and it is the 
 part of reason to make choice between them. Those who choose 
 well are those who have sound minds, those who take the wrong 
 course are those whose minds are unsound ; and this is the chief 
 and most important distinction that can be made between the 
 qualities of men's minds. 
 
 Thus we should set ourselves principally to form our judgment, 
 and make it as accurate as possible ; and the greater part of our 
 studies should tend to this. We use reason as an instrument to 
 acquire the sciences, but we should, on the contrary, use the 
 sciences as an instrument for perfecting the reason ; 1 accuracy 
 of mind being infinitely more important than all speculative 
 knowledge, which we may attain by means of the most accurate 
 and solid sciences. And this should lead sensible persons to take 
 them up only in so far as they can serve to this end, and to make 
 an essay of them simply, and not employ the whole strength of 
 their minds. . . . 
 
 This care and study are so much the more necessary, that it is 
 strange how rare a quality this accuracy of judgment is. We 
 meet everywhere with unsound minds which have scarcely any 
 
 1 This pedagogic point of view is excellent ; but, without neglecting it, 
 we must attach more value to the acquisition of the sciences than Tort- 
 Royal does ; they are not only an instrument and means of culture, they 
 are also an aim and an end. To learn the truth is the most legitimate 
 employment of the intellect. They are besides, as Bacon says, the only 
 source of man's power over nature, and the most effective agents of civiliza- 
 tion and progress. 
 
Nicole : Port-Royal Logic. 1 29 
 
 clear perception of the truth ; who take everything the wrong 
 way ; who are satisfied with bad reasons, and wish to satisfy 
 others with them ; who are carried away by slight appearances ; 
 who are always in excess and extremes ; who have no firm hold 
 on the truths which they know, because it is rather by chance 
 than real knowledge that they are attached to them ; or who 
 stop short, on the contrary, at the evidence of their senses, with 
 so much obstinacy, that they will hear nothing that may un- 
 deceive them ; who rashly decide on what they are ignorant of, 
 what they do not understand, and what no one, perhaps, has ever 
 understood ; who make no difference between one way of speak- 
 ing and another, 1 or who judge of the truth of things only by 
 the tone of voice : he who speaks fluently and gravely is right ; 
 he who has some difficulty in explaining himself, or who shows 
 some warmth, is wrong ; they know no more about it than this. 
 
 Therefore there are no absurdities so gross as not to find 
 supporters. Whoever means to deceive the world is certain to 
 find persons very willing to be deceived ; and the most ridiculous 
 nonsense always finds congenial minds. After seeing so many 
 persons infatuated with the follies of judicial astrology, 2 and even 
 grave persons treating this matter seriously, we need be astonished 
 at nothing. There is a constellation in the heavens which it has 
 pleased some persons to name the Balance, and which resembles 
 a balance as much as it does a wind-mill ; the balance is the 
 symbol of justice, hence those who are born under this con- 
 stellation will be just and equitable. 3 There are three other 
 signs of the Zodiac, which are named, one the Earn, another the 
 Bull, another the Goat, and which might just as well have been 
 called Elephant, Crocodile, and Rhinoceros. The ram, the bull, 
 and the goat are ruminating animals, hence those who take 
 
 1 The opposition is still clearer in that very sensible judgment that 
 Moliere puts in the mouth of Chrysale, who is laughing at Trissotin : 
 We seek what he said after he has spoken. 
 
 (Les Femmes savantes, act ii. sc. 7.) 
 
 8 "This is," said Bailly, "the longest malady that has afflicted human 
 reason ; it is known to have lasted fifty centuries." (Hist, de T astronomie. ) 
 
 3 Louis XIII. was surnamed the Just, not by the gratitude of his people, 
 but from the day of his birth, because he was born under the sign of the 
 Balance ! 
 
 K 
 
130 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 medicine when the moon is in these constellations run the risk 
 of vomiting it again. However extravagant these reasonings may 
 be, there are persons who promulgate them, and others who suffer 
 themselves to be persuaded by them. 1 
 
 This unsoundness of mind is not only the cause of the errors 
 that are mixed up in the sciences, but also of the greater part 
 of the faults that are committed in civil life, unjust quarrels, 
 ill-founded lawsuits, rash advice, and ill-concerted enterprises. 
 There are few of these things which have not their source in 
 some error or fault of judgment, so that there is no defect which 
 we have more interest in correcting. 
 
 But it is as difficult to succeed in this correction as it is 
 desirable, because it depends very much on the measure of 
 intelligence we have at birth. Common sense is not so common 
 a quality as is supposed. 2 There is an infinite number of coarse 
 and stupid minds 3 that cannot be amended by giving them a 
 knowledge of the truth, but only by keeping them to the things 
 that are within their capacity, and preventing them passing judg- 
 ment on what they are not capable of understanding. It is true, 
 nevertheless, that many of the false judgments of men do not 
 
 La Fontaine protested against this popular error in the fable of the 
 
 I do not think that Nature 
 Has tied her hands, and ties ours still 
 So far as to write our fate in the skies : 
 
 It depends on a conjuncture 
 
 Of places, persons and times ; 
 Not of conjunctions of all the mountebanks. 
 This shepherd and this king are under the same planet ; 
 The one bears the sceptre, the other the crook. 
 
 Jupiter willed it so. 
 What is Jupiter ? An inanimate body. 
 
 Whence comes it then that his influence 
 Acts differently on these two men ? 
 Then, how can it penetrate to our world ? 
 How pass the deep regions of the air, 
 Mars, the Sun and the infinite void ? 
 An atom may turn it aside in its course : 
 Where will the casters of horoscopes find it again ? . . . 
 
 (LA FONTAINE, Fables, viii. 16.) 
 
 2 In spite of its name, common sense is rare. (ANDRIEUX.) 
 
 3 Here we recognize Nicole, the author of the Traitt de la faiblesse de 
 rhomme, who indulges himself too much in painting the mass of his fellow- 
 creatures as " steeped in stupidity." (Chap, x.) 
 
Nicole: Port-Royal Logic. 131 
 
 spring from this principle, and are only caused by hastiness of 
 mind and want of attention, which cause men to judge rashly 
 what they only know in a confused and obscure manner. The 
 little love that men have for truth is the reason that they take 
 no trouble, for the most part, to distinguish the true from the 
 false. They allow all sorts of reasonings and maxims to enter 
 their minds ; they prefer to consider them as true rather than to 
 examine them. If they do not understand them they are willing 
 to believe that others understand them well ; and thus they load 
 their memories with a host of things false, obscure, and not 
 understood, and then reason from these principles, scarcely paying 
 attention to what they say or what they think. 
 
 Vanity and presumption contribute still more to this defect. 
 They think there is some disgrace in doubt and ignorance, and 
 prefer to speak and decide at a venture rather than to acknowledge 
 that they are not sufficiently informed on the matter to give a 
 decision. We are all of us full of ignorance and errors ; yet, 
 nevertheless, it is the greatest trouble in life to draw from men 
 this confession so true and so conformable to their natural state : 
 I am wrong, and know nothing about the matter. 
 
 There are others, on the contrary, who, having sufficient intelli- 
 gence to know that there are very many things obscure and 
 uncertain, and wishing, by another sort of vanity, to show that 
 they do not allow themselves to be carried away by popular 
 credulity, pride themselves on maintaining that nothing is certain. 
 They thus relieve themselves of the trouble of examining them ; 
 and, on this vicious principle, they throw doubt on the most 
 certain truths and on religion itself. This is the source of 
 Pyrrhonism, another extravagance of the human mind, which, 
 appearing contrary to the rashness of those who believe and 
 decide on everything, nevertheless springs from the same source, 
 namely, want of attention. For if the one set will not take the 
 trouble to discriminate errors, the other will not be at the pains 
 to examine the truth with the care necessary to discover the 
 evidence for it. The slightest glimmer suffices to persuade one 
 set of things very false, and to make the other doubt of the 
 most certain things; but the same defect of application produces 
 in both such very different results. 
 
132 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 True reason sets all things in their proper rank ; it causes the 
 doubtful to be doubted, rejects those which are false, and honestly 
 recognizes those which are evident, without pausing over the 
 empty reasonings of the Pyrrhonists, which do not destroy, even 
 in the minds of those who propose them, the reasonable assurance 
 we have of things that are certain. No one ever seriously doubted 
 that there is an earth, a sun, and a moon, nor that the whole is 
 greater than its part. We can say outwardly, with our mouth, 
 that we doubt of these things, because we may lie ; but we cannot 
 say so to our heart. Thus the Pyrrhonists are not a sect of men 
 who are convinced of what they say, but are a sect of liars. 1 
 Moreover, in speaking of their opinions, they often contradict 
 themselves, their reason not being able to agree with their words, 
 as may be seen in Montaigne, who endeavoured to revive this sect 
 in the last century. . . . 
 
 SECOND DISCOURSE, CONTAINING A REPLY TO THE PRINCIPAL 
 OBJECTIONS MADE AGAINST THIS LOGIC. 
 
 Some persons have objected to the title The Art of Thinking, 
 instead of which they would have written, The Art of Reasoning 
 well ; but we beg them to consider that, the end of logic being 
 to give rules for all the operations of the mind, as well for simple 
 ideas as for judgments and arguments, there was scarcely any 
 other word that included all these different operations; and 
 certainly the word thought includes them all ; for simple ideas 
 are thoughts, judgments are thoughts, and arguments are thoughts. 
 We might, indeed, have said, The Art of Thinking well ; but this 
 addition was unnecessary, being sufficiently indicated by the word 
 art, which in itself signifies a method of doing something well, 
 as Aristotle himself remarks. Hence it suffices to say the art of 
 painting, the art of reckoning, because it is supposed that no art 
 is required to paint badly or to reckon badly. 
 
 1 This, in a work on the art of thinking, is a very bad example of 
 reasoning. Insults are never reasons, and the good faith of opponents 
 should never be doubted. Some years later Nicole will give the sage 
 advice "to put our mind in a condition to calmly support the opinions 
 of others, which appear to us to be wrong, in order to oppose them only 
 with a desire of being useful to them." See p. 185. 
 
Nicole: Port- Royal Logic. 133 
 
 A much more important objection has been made against the 
 great number of examples drawn from different sciences that are 
 found in this logic ; and since it attacks its whole design and thus 
 gives us an opportunity of explaining it, we will examine it with 
 more care. Of what use, they say, is this medley of rhetoric, 
 ethics, physics, metaphysics, and geometry 1 When we expect to 
 find the rules of logic we are suddenly carried off to the highest 
 sciences, without the authors knowing if we have learnt them. 
 Ought they not to suppose, on the contrary, that if we already 
 had this knowledge we should not want this logic 1 And would 
 it not have been better to give us one quite simple and plain, in 
 which the rules were explained by examples taken from common 
 things, than to load them with so much matter as to deaden them ? 
 
 But those who reason in this way have not sufficiently con- 
 sidered that a book can scarcely have a greater defect than not 
 to be read, since it is only of use to those who read it ; and thus 
 everything that contributes to make a book read contributes also 
 to make it useful. Now it is certain that, if we had followed 
 their opinion, and only written a dry logic with the usual examples 
 of animal and horse, however accurate and methodical it might 
 have been, it would only have added to the great number of 
 others, of which the world is full, that are not read. Whereas 
 it is precisely that collection of different things that has given 
 some reputation to this one, and caused it to be read with a little 
 less tedium than the others. 
 
 But, nevertheless, our principal aim was not to attract people to 
 read it by making it more amusing than the ordinary books on 
 logic. We claim, in addition, to have followed the most natural 
 and advantageous mode of treating this art by remedying, as far 
 as possible, an inconvenience which rendered its study almost 
 useless. 
 
 For experience shows that of a thousand young men who learn 
 logic there are not ten who know anything of it six months after 
 they have finished their course. Now the real cause of this 
 forge tfulness, or this negligence, which is so common, seems to 
 be that all the matters treated of in logic being of themselves 
 very abstract and far removed from ordinary usage, they are 
 illustrated by uninteresting examples, such as are never spoken 
 
134 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 of elsewhere. Thus the mind, which has some difficulty in 
 attending to it, has nothing to fix its attention, and easily loses 
 all the ideas that it had acquired, because they are never renewed 
 by practice. 
 
 Besides, as these ordinary examples do not clearly show how 
 this art can be applied to anything useful, they are accustomed 
 to confine logic to itself, without extending it further ; x whereas 
 it is only made to be an instrument for the other sciences ; so that 
 as they have never seen its real use they never use it, and are 
 very glad to get rid of it as a trivial and useless knowledge. 
 
 We have thought, then, that the best remedy for this dis- 
 advantage was not to separate logic so much as is usually done 
 from the other sciences for which it is intended, but to join it in 
 such a way, by means of examples, to solid knowledge, that the 
 rules and their application may be seen at the same time, in order 
 that we may learn to judge of the sciences by logic and retain 
 logic by means of these sciences. 
 
 Thus, so far from this diversity suppressing the rules, nothing 
 can more contribute to the understanding of them and cause their 
 retention, because they are too subtle by themselves to make 
 an impression on the mind, if they are not attached to something 
 more agreeable and more obvious. 
 
 In order to render this diversity more useful, the examples 
 have not been taken at random from these sciences; but the 
 most important points have been chosen, and those which might 
 best serve as rules and principles for discovering the truth in 
 other matters which we have not been able to treat of. ... 
 
 It only remains to answer a more unworthy complaint that 
 some persons make, namely, that examples of defective definitions 
 and bad arguments have been extracted from Aristotle, which 
 appears to them to arise from a secret desire to depreciate this 
 philosopher. 
 
 But they would never have formed so inequitable a judgment 
 
 1 Ramus had already complained of the little practical utility of the 
 exercises: "They have never regarded their rules but under the shadow 
 of scholastic disputations ; they have never brought logic into the dust and 
 sunshine of every-day use ; they have never called it into the conflict of 
 human examples." 
 
Nicole: Port- Royal Logic. 135 
 
 if they had sufficiently considered the true rules that should be 
 followed in quoting examples of errors, and which we have had 
 in view in quoting Aristotle. 
 
 Firstly, experience shows that the majority of examples that 
 are usually given are not very useful, and make little impression 
 on the mind, because they are formed at pleasure, and are so 
 plain and palpable that it is thought impossible to fall into them. 
 It is, then, advantageous, in order to cause what is said of these 
 faults to be remembered and the faults to be avoided, to choose 
 real examples taken from some eminent author, whose reputation 
 excites us the more to beware of this kind of mistakes to which 
 we see that the greatest men are liable. 
 
 Besides, as our aim should be to make all we write as useful 
 as possible, we must endeavour to choose examples of faults of 
 which it is proper not to be ignorant, for it would be very useless 
 to load the memory with all the reveries of Flud, 1 Van-Helmont, 2 
 and Paracelsus. 3 It is better, therefore, to seek these examples 
 in authors so celebrated, that we are obliged in some sort to 
 know them, even to their faults. 
 
 Now all this is met with in Aristotle; for nothing can more 
 powerfully lead us to avoid an error than showing that such a 
 great mind fell into it ; and his philosophy has become so 
 celebrated through the great number of meritorious persons who 
 have embraced it, that it is necessary to know what defects it 
 might have. Thus, as it was judged to be very useful that those 
 who read this book should learn, in passing, various points of this 
 
 1 Robert Fludd, an English physician and philosopher (1574-1637), fell 
 into the errors of Alchemy. Gassendi, Mersenne, and Kepler did him the 
 honour of refuting him. 
 
 2 Van-Helmont (1577-1644), born at Brussels, chemist and physician. 
 Gui-Patin is never tired of calling him a wretch, ignorant, a mountebank, 
 a public impostor, and a sorry rogue. "He passes at the present day," says 
 Dr. Reveille-Parise, "for one of the greatest physicians that ever lived, for 
 the boldness, depth, and originality of his conceptions, in spite of the 
 oddity of his language and a certain affectation of mystical obscurity." 
 
 3 Paracelsus (1493-1541), a Swiss physician. "This prince of mounte- 
 banks," exclaims again the irascible Gui-Patin, "and shameless impostor." 
 While a professor at Bale, he publicly burned the works of Avicenna and 
 Galen. His shoe-strings knew more than these authors, he impudently 
 asserted, and all the universities knew less than the hairs of his beard ! He 
 boasted of being able to prolong life and cure incurable diseases. 
 
136 Port- Royal Edtication. 
 
 philosophy, and that, nevertheless, it is never useful to be deceived, 
 they have been brought forward in order to explain them, and 
 the error that has been found has been noted in passing in order 
 to prevent anyone being deceived. 
 
 It is not, then, to disparage Aristotle, but, on the contrary, to 
 honour him as much as possible in those things in which we are 
 not of his opinion, that we have taken examples from his books ; 
 and it is plain, besides, that the points on which he has been 
 criticised are of very slight importance, and do not touch the 
 foundation of his philosophy, which no one had any intention 
 of attacking. 
 
 If several excellent things which are found throughout 
 Aristotle's books have not been quoted, the reason is that they 
 did not enter into the subject of the discourse ; but if there had 
 been occasion to do so, it would have been taken with pleasure, 
 and we should not have failed to award the just praise due to 
 him. For it is certain that Aristotle had a vast and compre- 
 hensive mind, which discovers in the subjects of which he treats 
 a great number of connections and consequences; and for this 
 reason he has succeeded so well in what he has said on the 
 passions in the second book of his Rhetoric. 
 
 There are, besides, several beautiful things in his books on 
 Politics and Ethics, in his Problems and in the History of 
 Animals. And although there may be some confusion in his 
 Analytics, it must, nevertheless, be acknowledged that almost 
 all that is known of the rules of logic is taken from it ; so that, 
 in fact, there is no author from whom more things in this logic 
 have been borrowed than from Aristotle, since the whole body 
 of rules belongs to him. 
 
 It is true that his Physics appears to be his least perfect work, 
 as it is also that which has been the longest' condemned and 
 forbidden by the Church, as a learned author has shown in a 
 book written expressly for this purpose; 1 but yet its principal 
 defect is not that it is false, but, on the contrary, that it is too 
 true, and teaches us only things of which it is impossible to be 
 
 1 M. de Launoi, a doctor of the Sorbonne (1603-1678). De varia 
 Aristotelis in Academia Parisiensi fortuna. 
 
Nicole: Port-Royal Logic. 137 
 
 ignorant. For who can doubt that all things are composed of 
 matter and of a certain form of that matter'? Who can doubt 
 that matter, in order to acquire a new manner and form, must 
 not have had it before, that is to say, that it had the privation 
 of it? Who can doubt, in fine, those other metaphysical 
 principles, that everything depends on form, that matter alone 
 does nothing, that there are place, motion, qualities, and 
 faculties'! But after having learnt all these things, it does not 
 seem that we have learned anything new, or that we are in a 
 position to give a reason for any of the effects in nature. 
 
 If there are persons who assert that it is by no means allowable 
 for a man to say that he is not of Aristotle's opinion, it would be 
 easy to show them that this scrupulousness is unreasonable. 
 
 For if any deference is due to certain philosophers, this can 
 only be for two reasons : either on account of the truth that they 
 have followed, or of the opinion of the men who support them. 
 
 In regard to the truth, respect is due to them when they 
 are right, but the truth cannot oblige us to respect falsehood 
 in any man, whoever he be. 
 
 The general consent of men in their estimation of a philosopher 
 certainly deserves some respect, and it would be imprudent to run 
 counter to it without using great precautions, and for this reason, 
 that by attacking what is generally accepted, a man renders 
 himself suspected of presumption in supposing that he has more 
 intelligence than others. 
 
 But when men are divided touching the opinions of an author, 
 and there are persons of eminence on either side, a man is not 
 obliged to show this reserve, but may freely declare what he 
 approves or disapproves in those books with regard to which men 
 of letters are divided, because this is not so much preferring 
 his own opinion to that of this author and his supporters, as 
 taking the side of those who are against him on this point. 
 
 This is exactly the position in which Aristotle's philosophy 
 is at the present time. As it has had various fortunes, having 
 been at one time generally rejected and at another generally 
 received, it is now reduced to a position that holds the mean 
 between these extremes ; it is upheld by many learned men and 
 is opposed by others of no less reputation, and every day men 
 
138 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 write freely for and against Aristotle's philosophy in France, 
 Flanders, England, Germany, and Holland. 
 
 The conferences at Paris are divided, as well as the books, and 
 no one offends by opposing him. The most celebrated professors 
 no longer submit to the servitude of blindly accepting all that 
 they find in his books, and some of his opinions even are generally 
 abandoned. For what physician would now maintain that the 
 nerves spring from the heart, as Aristotle thought, since anatomy 
 clearly shows that they originate in the brain] . . . And what 
 philosopher persists in saying that the velocity of falling bodies 
 increases in the same ratio as their weight, since there is no 
 one now who cannot refute this opinion of Aristotle by letting 
 fall from a height two things of very unequal weight in which, 
 nevertheless, a very small inequality of velocity will be perceived] 
 
 Violent states are not usually lasting, and all extremes are 
 violent. To condemn Aristotle generally, as was formerly done, 
 is too severe ; and it is a great constraint to be obliged to approve 
 him in everything, and to take him as the standard of the truth 
 of philosophical opinions, as it seems men wished to do after- 
 wards. 
 
 The world cannot long submit to this constraint, and is in- 
 sensibly regaining possession of natural and reasonable liberty, 
 which consists in approving what we think true and rejecting 
 what we think false. 1 
 
 For it is not strange that reason should be subjected to 
 authority in those sciences which, treating of things that are 
 above the reason, must follow some other guidance, which cannot 
 be other than divine authority ; but it seems to be very just that 
 in human sciences, which profess to be founded only upon reason, 
 it should not be subjected to authority against reason. 2 
 
 1 "In every nation," Luis Vives had already written in the early part 
 of the sixteenth century, "great and free spirits, impatient of servitude, 
 arise ; they courageously shake off the yoke of the most dull and hard 
 servitude, and call their fellow-citizens to liberty." 
 
 2 Pascal has eloquently claimed the rights of reason in scientific matters. 
 See the preface to his Traitt du Tide. 
 
Nicole : Of Bad Reasoning. 139 
 
 Of bad reasoning employed in civil life and in 
 ordinary discourse. 
 
 .... In considering generally the causes of our errors, it 
 appears that they may be referred chiefly to two ; the one 
 internal, namely, the uncertainty of the will, which troubles and 
 disorders the judgment ; the other external, which lies in the 
 objects on which we form a judgment, and which deceive our 
 minds by a false appearance. Now, although these causes are 
 almost always conjoined, there are, nevertheless, certain errors in 
 which one is more apparent than the other, and therefore we treat 
 of them separately. 
 
 Of the sophisms of self-love, inter 'est, and passion. 
 
 1. If we carefully examine that which usually attaches men to 
 one opinion rather than to another, it will be found that it is not 
 the penetrating power of the truth and the force of reasons, but 
 some bond of self-love, interest, or passion. This is the weight 
 which inclines the balance and which decides the majority of our 
 doubts ; it is this which gives the greatest impulse to our judg- 
 ments, and attaches us to them the most firmly. We judge of 
 things, not by what they are in themselves, but by what they are 
 with respect to us, and truth and utility are, in our opinion, one 
 and the same thing. 
 
 No other proofs are needed than those which we see every day, 
 that things held everywhere else as doubtful, or even false, are 
 held to be very true by all those of some one nation, profession, 
 or institution. For it not being possible that what is true in 
 Spain should be false in France, 1 nor that the minds of all 
 Spaniards should be formed so differently from those of French- 
 men, as that, judging things only by the rules of the reason, 
 what appears generally true to the former should appear generally 
 false to the latter, it is plain that this diversity of judgment can 
 proceed from no other cause than that it pleases some to hold as 
 
 1 "Truth on this side the Pyrenees, error on the other," said Pascal 
 ironically in liis Peiisees. 
 
140 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 true what is advantageous to themselves, and that the others, not 
 having any interest in it, judge of it in another manner. 
 
 Nevertheless, what is less reasonable than to take our interest 
 as the motive for believing a thing 1 ? All that it can do at most 
 is to induce us to examine more attentively the reasons that may 
 lead us to discover the truth of that which we wish to be true ; 
 but it is only this truth which must be found in the thing, even 
 independently of our wish, which ought to persuade us. I belong 
 to such a country, therefore I must believe that such a saint 
 preached the Gospel there. I belong to a given order, therefore 
 I believe that a given privilege is right. These are no reasons. 
 Whatever country you may belong to you ought to believe only 
 what is true, and what you would be inclined to believe if you 
 were of another country, another order, or another profession. 
 
 2. But this illusion is still more apparent when some change 
 takes place in the passions; for although all things have remained 
 in their places, it seems, nevertheless, to those who are stirred by 
 some new passion that the change which has only taken place in 
 their hearts has transformed all external things which had any 
 connection with them. How often do we see persons who cannot 
 recognize any good quality, either natural or acquired, in those 
 against whom they have conceived an aversion, or who have 
 been opposed in some way to their opinions, their wishes, or 
 their interests ! That suffices to make them become at once, in 
 their eyes, rash, proud, and ignorant, without faith, without 
 honour, and without conscience. Their affections and desires 
 are not more just nor moderate than their hatred. If they love 
 anyone, he is free from all defects ; everything he wishes is just 
 and easy, all that he does not desire is unjust and impossible, 
 without their being able to allege any other reason for all these 
 judgments than the passion itself that possesses them; so that,' 
 although they do not make this formal reasoning in their mind, 
 I love him, therefore he is the most clever man in the world; 
 I hate him, therefore he is worthless, they do so, in a certain 
 way, in their hearts; and for this reason we may call this kind 
 of aberration sophisms and illusions of the heart, which consist 
 in transporting our passions into the objects of our passions, and 
 in judging that they are what we wish or desire they should be ; 
 
Nicole : Of Bad Reasoning. \ 4 1 
 
 which is, doubtless, very unreasonable, since our wishes change 
 nothing in the existence of what is outside ourselves, and that 
 it is God alone whose will is so efficacious that things are what 
 He wills them to be. 
 
 3. We may refer to the same illusion of self-love that of those 
 who decide everything by a very general and convenient principle, 
 which is, that they are right, that they know the truth; whence 
 it is not difficult for them to conclude that those who are not of 
 their opinion are wrong ; in fact, the conclusion is necessary. 
 
 The fault in these persons springs only from this, that the 
 favourable opinion they have of their own sagacity makes them 
 consider all their thoughts as so clear and evident, that they 
 imagine it to be sufficient to state them in order to oblige all 
 the world to assent to them. They therefore give themselves 
 little trouble to advance proofs; they scarcely listen to others' 
 reasons; they wish to carry everything by their authority, 
 because they never distinguish their authority from reason. 
 All those who are not of their opinion they call rash, without 
 considering that, if others are not of their opinion, neither are 
 they of the opinion of others, and that it is not just to suppose, 
 without proof, that we are right, when it is a question of con- 
 vincing others who are of another opinion than ourselves simply 
 because they are persuaded that we are not right. 
 
 4. There are others, also, who have no other ground for reject- 
 ing certain opinions than this humorous reasoning : If that were 
 so, I should not be a clever man ; now I am a clever man, there- 
 fore it is not so. This is the principal reason which has caused 
 certain very useful remedies and some very decisive experiments 
 to be so long rejected, because those who had not yet known them 
 thought that they must have been in error up till that time. 
 " What ! " said they, "if the blood circulates in the body, 1 if the 
 food is not carried to the liver by the mesaraic veins, if the 
 pulmonary vein carries the blood to the heart, if the blood 
 rises by the descending vena cava; if nature does not abhor 
 a vacuum; if the air has weight and a downward motion, 
 
 1 The discovery of the circulation of the blood is due to Harvey, an 
 English physician, in 1628. 
 
142 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 I have been ignorant of important things in anatomy and 
 physics ! All this then cannot be." But, in order to cure 
 them of this fancy, it is only necessary to show them that it is 
 a very small disadvantage for a man to be mistaken, and that 
 they may be very clever in other things although they have not 
 been so in those which have been newly discovered. 
 
 5. Nothing is more usual than to see people blame one another, 
 and call each other obstinate, passionate, and captious when they 
 are of different opinions. There are very few litigants who do 
 not accuse each other of lengthening the suit and concealing the 
 truth by subtle speeches ; and thus those who are right and those 
 who are wrong use very nearly the same language, make the 
 same complaints, and attribute to each other the same faults. 
 This is one of the most mischievous things in men's lives, and 
 one which throws truth and error, justice and injustice, into 
 such obscurity that ordinary people are incapable of distinguish- 
 ing them; and thus it happens that some attach themselves, by 
 chance and without knowledge, to one of these parties, and others 
 condemn both as being equally wrong. 
 
 All this oddness springs from the same malady which makes 
 each man assume as a principle that he is right ; for from that 
 it is not difficult to conclude that all who oppose us are obstinate, 
 since obstinacy is not giving way to reason. 
 
 But, although it be true that these reproaches of passion, blind- 
 ness, and captiousness, which are very unjust on the part of those 
 who are mistaken, are just and legitimate on the part of those who 
 are not mistaken, nevertheless, because they suppose that truth is 
 on the side of him who makes them, wise and judicious persons, 
 who treat on any disputed matter, ought to avoid using them 
 before thoroughly establishing the truth and justice of the cause 
 which they uphold. They will never then accuse their opponents 
 of obstinacy, rashness, and want of common sense before they have 
 clearly proved it. They will not say, if they have not previously 
 shown it, that they fall into gross absurdities and extravagances, 
 for the others will say as much on their side, which advances 
 nothing . . . and they will be satisfied with defending the truth 
 by arms which are appropriate to it and which falsehood cannot 
 borrow, namely, by plain and solid reasons. . . . 
 
Nicole: Of Bad Reasoning. 143 
 
 Of False Reasonings which Spring from the 
 Objects Themselves. 
 
 ... It is a false and impious opinion that truth is so like false- 
 hood and virtue so like vice that it is impossible to discriminate 
 between them ; but it is true that in the majority of things there 
 is a mixture of error and truth, of vice and virtue, of perfection 
 and imperfection, and that this medley is one of the most ordinary 
 sources of the false judgments of men. 
 
 The reason of this is that men seldom consider things in detail ; 
 they judge only by their strongest impression, and appreciate 
 only what strikes them most; thus, when they perceive many 
 truths in a discourse, they do not notice the errors that are 
 mingled with them; and, on the contrary, if there are truths 
 mixed with many errors, they pay attention only to the errors; 
 the strong carrying off the weak, and the clearer impression 
 effacing the more obscure. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is a manifest injustice to judge in this manner ; 
 there cannot be a just reason for rejecting reason, and truth is 
 none the less truth through being mixed with error. . . . 
 
 Therefore justice and reason requires that in all things that are 
 thus made up of good and bad a discrimination should be made, 
 and it is especially in this judicious separation that accuracy of 
 mind appears. . . . 
 
 And reason obliges us to this when we can make this dis- 
 tinction; but since we have not always the time to examine in 
 detail how much good and bad there is in each thing, it is fitting, 
 in these circumstances, to give them the name they deserve 
 according to their most considerable part ; thus we should call 
 a man a good philosopher when he reasons well generally, and a 
 book good when it has markedly more good than bad in it. 
 
 And it is in this again that men are often mistaken, for they 
 often only appreciate or blame things from their least important 
 parts, their small understanding making them unable to grasp the 
 most important part when it is not the most striking. 
 
 Thus, although those persons who are judges of painting value 
 drawing very much more than colouring or lightness of touch, 
 nevertheless, the ignorant are more impressed by a picture whose 
 
144 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 colours are bright and striking than by another more sombre, 
 of which the drawing might be admirable. 
 
 It must, however, be admitted that false judgments are not so 
 usual in the arts, because those who know nothing of them more 
 readily defer to the opinion of those who are skilled in them ; but 
 they are very frequent in things which are in the jurisdiction 
 of the people, and of which the world takes the liberty of judging, 
 as, for example, eloquence. 
 
 A preacher, for instance, is called eloquent when his periods are 
 just, and he does not make use of inappropriate words ; and, 
 on this ground, Yaugelas says in one passage that an inappropriate 
 word does more harm to a preacher or an advocate than a bad 
 reason. We must believe that it is an actual truth that he states 
 and not an opinion that he sanctions. It is true that persons are 
 found who judge in this manner, but it is also true that nothing 
 is less reasonable than these judgments; for purity of language 
 and the number of rhetorical figures are, at most, to eloquence 
 what the colouring is to the picture, that is to say, its least 
 important and most materialistic part; but the principal part 
 consists in strongly conceiving and expressing the subjects, so that 
 a bright and lively image is impressed on the minds of the 
 hearers, 1 which presents not only the things themselves but also 
 the emotions with which they are conceived; and this may be met 
 
 1 Fenelon, who reduces all eloquence to three points, namely, to prove, to 
 painty and to move, thus develops the second : "To paint is not only 
 to describe things, but to represent their surroundings in such a lively 
 and impressive manner that the hearer may almost imagine he sees them. 
 For example, a cold historian relating the death of Dido would be satisfied 
 with saying she was so overcome with grief after the departure of ^Eneas that 
 she could not bear her life ; she \vent up to the top of her palace, threw her- 
 self on a funeral pyre, and killed herself. In listening to these words 
 you learn the fact, but you do not see it. Listen to Virgil, he will set 
 it before your eyes. Is it not true that when he brings together all the cir- 
 cumstances of this despair, when he shows you Dido furious, with a face in 
 which death is already painted, when he makes her speak at the sight 
 of that portrait and sword, your imagination transports you to Carthage ; 
 you think you see the Trojan fleet retiring from the coast, and the queen 
 whom nothing is able to console ; you have all the feelings that the actual 
 spectators would have had. You no longer listen to Virgil ; you are too 
 attentive to the last words of the unhappy Dido to think of him. The poet 
 disappears, and we see nothing but what he shows, and only hear those 
 whom he makes speak. Here is the power of imitation and painting." (2 e 
 Dialogue sur V eloquence.) 
 
Nicole : Of Bad Reasoning. 145 
 
 with in persons who are not very precise in language nor exact in 
 harmony, and which is seldom met with in those who give too 
 much attention to words and embellishments, because this turns 
 them from the things and weakens the vigour of their thoughts, 
 as painters remark that those who excel in colouring do not 
 usually excel in drawing, the mind being incapable of this 
 divided attention, the one part injuring the other. 
 
 It may be said generally that in the world the majority of 
 things are judged only by the outside, because there is scarcely 
 anybody who examines the interior and foundation of them ; 
 everything is judged by the label, and woe to those who have not 
 a favourable one ! He is clever, intelligent, sound, what you 
 will ; but he does not speak fluently and cannot turn a compli- 
 ment neatly ; let him make up his mind to be held in small 
 esteem all his life by ordinary people, and to see a multitude 
 of little minds preferred to himself. Not to have the reputation 
 we deserve is not a very great evil, but to follow these erroneous 
 judgments, and only to look at things from the outside is so, and 
 is what we should endeavour to avoid. 
 
 2. Among the things which entangle us in error by a false 
 brilliancy, which prevents our recognizing it, we may rightly put 
 a certain sonorous and copious eloquence ; for it is strange how a 
 false reasoning glides gently from a period that satisfies the ear, 
 or from a figure that surprises us, and which it amuses us to 
 consider. 
 
 Not only do these ornaments conceal from us the falsehoods 
 that are mixed up in the discourse, but they insensibly form part 
 of them, because they are often necessary to the accuracy of the 
 period or the figure. Thus, when we hear an orator begin a long 
 climax or an antithesis with several clauses, we have a motive for 
 being on our guard, since it seldom happens that he extricates 
 himself without giving a wrench to the truth in order to fit it to 
 the figure. 1 He usually arranges it as a man would the stones 
 of a building or the metal of a statue ; he cuts it, spreads it out, 
 shortens it, and disguises it at need, in order to place it in 
 that useless work of words that he wishes to form. 
 
 1 Pascal compares these forced antitheses to "sham windows for 
 symmetry." (Pensees.) 
 
 L 
 
146 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 How often has the desire to make a point produced unsound 
 thoughts ! How often has rime invited men to lie ! How often 
 has the affectation of using only Ciceronian words and what 
 is called pure Latinity made certain Italian authors write non- 
 sense ! Who would not laugh to hear Bembo 1 say that a pope 
 had been elected by the favour of the immortal gods ! There are 
 indeed poets who imagine that it is the essence of poetry to 
 introduce the pagan divinities ; and a German poet, as good a 
 versifier as he is an injudicious writer, having been properly 
 censured by Francis Picus Mirandola for having introduced all the 
 divinities of paganism into a poem in which he describes the 
 wars of Christians against Christians, and for having mixed 
 up Apollo, Diana, and Mercury with the pope, the electors, and 
 the emperor, boldly maintained that without that he would 
 not have been a poet, employing this strange reason, in order 
 to prove it, that the verses of Hesiod, Homer, and Yirgil are 
 filled with the names and fables of these gods, whence he 
 concludes that it is allowable for him to do the same. 
 
 This unsound reasoning is often unperceived by those who use 
 it, and deceives them first ; they are stunned by the sound of their 
 own words, dazzled by the brilliancy of their figures, and the 
 grandeur of certain words draws them on, without their perceiving 
 it, to thoughts of little solidity, which they would no doubt regret 
 if they reflected on them at all. 
 
 It is probable, for example, that it was the word vestal which 
 pleased an author of the present time and led him to say to a 
 lady, to prevent her being ashamed of knowing Latin, that she 
 need not blush to speak a language that the Yestals spoke ; for if 
 he had considered this idea, he would have seen that he might 
 have said to the lady, with as much reason, that she ought to 
 blush to speak a language that the courtezans of Rome formerly 
 spoke, who were much more numerous than the Yestals; 2 or that 
 she ought to blush to speak any other language than that of her 
 
 1 Pierre Bembo (1470-1547), secretary to Leo X., was so enamoured with 
 Cicero's style as to imitate him even in his pagan expressions ; he was elected 
 cardinal, and took orders in 1539. 
 
 2 The Vestals were virgins appointed to keep up the sacred fire on the altar 
 of the goddess Yesta ; there were only six. 
 
Nicole : Of Bad Reasoning. 147 
 
 own country, since the ancient Vestals spoke only their native 
 language. All these arguments, which are worth nothing, are as 
 good as that of this author, and the truth is that the Vestals can 
 serve neither to justify nor condemn girls who learn Latin. 1 
 
 False reasonings of this sort, which are constantly met with in 
 the writings of those who most affect eloquence, show how the 
 majority of persons who speak or write would need to be per- 
 suaded of this excellent rule that nothing is beautiful but ivhat is 
 true? which would remove a vast number of worthless ornaments 
 and false thoughts from discourse. Certainly this precision renders 
 the style drier and less sonorous, but it also renders it more lively, 
 serious, clear, and worthy of a cultivated man; its impression is 
 stronger and more durable, whereas that which simply springs 
 from these nicely-balanced periods is so superficial, that it vanishes 
 almost as soon as it is heard. 8 
 
 3. It is a very common failing among men to judge rashly of 
 the actions and intentions of others, but they seldom fall into it 
 except through bad reasoning, by which, through not recognizing 
 with sufficient clearness all the causes that may produce a certain 
 effect, they attribute this effect to one cause alone, when it may 
 have been produced by several others ; or again, they suppose that 
 a cause which, by accident, has had a certain effect on one occasion, 
 when it was united with several other circumstances, ought to 
 have it under all conditions. 
 
 1 Malebranche quizzes good-naturedly the pretended reasons alleged by 
 Tertullian to justify himself for wearing the philosopher's mantle instead of 
 the ordinary robe. This mantle was formerly in use at Carthage, but " is it 
 allowable at the present time to wear the cap and ruff because our fathers 
 wore them ? " How could the phases of the moon, the variations of the 
 seasons, the renewing of the serpent's skin, &c., serve to justify his change ? 
 (Recherche de la vtrite', liv. ii. ) 
 
 2 Boileau will make it the rule of literature : Rien n'est beau que le mai ; 
 le vrai seul est aimable. (Epitre ix.) 
 
 " Nothing is beautiful but the true ; the true alone is pleasing." 
 
 3 Fenelon very happily puts this criticism in the mouth of one of his 
 characters, the admirer of the sermon for Ash-Wednesday. He cannot give 
 an account of it. "The thoughts are so delicate, and depend so much on 
 the tone and shades of expression, that after having charmed for the moment 
 they are not easily remembered afterwards, and even if they should be, say 
 them in other terms and it is no longer the same thing, they lose their grace 
 and force. They are very fragile beauties then, Sir ; on endeavouriug to 
 touch them they disappear. I should much prefer a discourse with more 
 body and less spirit." (l er Dialogue sur I' Eloquence.) 
 
148 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 A man of letters holds the same opinion as a heretic on a 
 matter of criticism, independent of religious controversies ; an 
 ill-natured opponent will conclude from this that he has some 
 leaning towards the heretics ; but he will conclude rashly and 
 maliciously, since it is perhaps reason and truth which lead him to 
 this opinion. 
 
 If a writer speak with some force against an opinion that he 
 thinks dangerous, he may be accused upon that of hatred and 
 animosity against the authors who have advanced it, but it would 
 be rashly and unjustly, for this force might spring from zeal for 
 truth quite as well as from hatred to persons. 
 
 A man is the friend of a bad man, hence it is concluded he 
 is allied with him by interest, and is a partaker in his crimes. 
 This does not follow ; perhaps he is ignorant of them, and perhaps 
 he has had no share in them. 
 
 A man fails to pay a compliment to those to whom it is due ; he 
 is called proud and insolent, but perhaps it is only inadvertence or 
 simply f orgetfulness. 
 
 All these exterior things are only equivocal signs, that is to 
 say, signs which may signify several things, and it is judging 
 rashly to limit this sign to a particular thing without having any 
 special reason for doing so. Silence is sometimes a sign of 
 modesty and judgment, and sometimes of stupidity. Slowness 
 sometimes indicates prudence and sometimes dulness of mind. 
 Change is sometimes a sign of inconstancy and sometimes of 
 sincerity ; thus it is bad reasoning to conclude that a man is 
 inconstant simply because he has changed his opinion, for he may 
 have had good reason to change it. ... 
 
 It is a weakness and an injustice, which is often condemned but 
 seldom avoided, to judge advice by the results, and to blame those 
 who have taken a prudent resolution according to the circum- 
 stances that they could then see, for all the bad results that have 
 followed, 1 either through a simple casualty or through the malice 
 
 1 Compared with this lagging prose how brilliant and striking is the 
 eloquence of Demosthenes, crushing that sophism in the mouth of uEschines ! 
 Accused of being the author of the disaster at Chseronea, he haughtily 
 accepts the responsibility : ' ' Athenians, I am going to say a strange thing. 
 , . . If all of us had clearly seen the future, if you, ^schines, had 
 
Nicole: Of Bad Reasoning. 149 
 
 of those who have thwarted it, or through some other circum- 
 stances which it was impossible for them to foresee. 
 
 Not only do men like to be fortunate as much as to be wise, 
 but they make no distinction between the fortunate and the wise 
 or between the unfortunate and the culpable. This distinction 
 appears to them too subtle. They are ingenious in finding out 
 the faults that they imagine have led to the ill-success, and as the 
 astrologers, when they know a certain event, never fail to discover 
 the aspect of the stars which produced it, they also never fail to 
 find, after disgraces and misfortunes, that those who have fallen 
 into them deserved them by some imprudence. He has not 
 succeeded, therefore he is wrong. Thus men of the world reason, 
 and have always reasoned, because there has always been little 
 equity in men's judgments, and because, not knowing the real 
 causes of things, they substitute others according to the event, 
 praising those who succeed and blaming those who do not. 
 
 If there are pardonable errors, they are certainly those that are 
 committed through excessive deference to the opinions of those 
 who are considered good men. But there is an illusion much 
 more absurd in itself, but which is, nevertheless, very common, 
 namely, thinking that a man speaks the truth because he is a man 
 of birth, wealth, or of high dignity. 
 
 Persons do not formally reason in this manner : he has a. 
 hundred thousand livres a year, therefore he is right; he is of 
 high birth, hence we ought to believe what he advances to be 
 true ; he is a poor man, therefore he is wrong. Nevertheless, 
 something of the kind passes through the minds of the majority 
 of men, and unconsciously carries away their judgment. 
 
 If the same thing be suggested by a person of quality and 
 by a man of no position, it will often be approved in the mouth 
 of the person of quality, while people will not deign to listen 
 to it from a man of the lower classes. Scripture intended to 
 
 announced it to us with your voice of thunder, you who did not even open 
 your mouth, even then Athens ought not to have renounced her principles, 
 if she had at heart her dignity, the glory of her ancestors, and the judgment 
 of posterity. . . . No, Athenians, you have not erred in throwing yourselves 
 into the midst of dangers for the liberty and the safety of all, I swear it by 
 your ancestors who braved the dangers of Marathon, by those who fought at 
 Platsea, at Salamis, at Artemisium," &c. 
 
150 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 teach us this disposition of man, representing it exactly in the 
 book of Ecclesiasticus : " When a rich man speaketh, every man 
 holdeth his tongue, and look, what he saith, they extol it to the 
 clouds; but if the poor man speak, they say, What fellow is 
 this?" 
 
 It is certain that complaisance and flattery have a large share 
 in the approbation that men give to the words and actions of 
 persons of good birth, and these often attract it by a certain 
 outward grace, and a noble, free, and natural manner, which is 
 sometimes so peculiar to them that it is almost inimitable by 
 those of low birth; but it is also certain that many approve 
 all that the great do and say from a poverty of spirit which 
 bends under the weight of grandeur, and has not a sufficiently 
 strong sight to support its brilliancy, and that this external pomp 
 which surrounds them always imposes a little, and makes some 
 impression on the strongest minds. 
 
 The cause of this deception is in the corruption of the human 
 heart, which, having an ardent desire for honours and pleasures, 
 necessarily conceives a great love for riches and the other qualities 
 by means of which these honours and pleasures are obtained. 
 Now, the love that we have for all these things that the world 
 values causes us to think those fortunate who possess them, 
 and, judging them fortunate, we place them above ourselves, 
 and look upon them as exalted and eminent persons. This 
 habit of looking upon them with esteem passes insensibly from 
 their fortune to their mind. Men do not usually do things by 
 halves. They attribute to them, then, a mind as exalted as 
 their rank, and yield to their opinions, and this is the reason 
 of the credit they usually have in the affairs of which they treat. 
 
 But this illusion is still stronger in the great themselves, who 
 have not been careful to correct the impression that their fortune 
 naturally makes on their own minds, than it is in their inferiors. 
 There are few of them who do not make a reason of their rank 
 and wealth, and do not think that their opinions ought to prevail 
 over the opinions of those who are below them. They cannot 
 bear that people upon whom they look down should lay claim 
 to as much judgment and reason as themselves, and this makes 
 them impatient of the least contradiction. 
 
Nicole : Of Bad Reasoning. 1 5 1 
 
 All this springs from the same source, that is to say, from the 
 false ideas they have of their grandeur, nobility, and wealth. 
 Instead of considering these as things entirely extraneous to their 
 existence, which do not prevent them being on a perfect equality 
 with the rest of mankind as to soul and body, nor having the 
 judgment as feeble and as capable of being deceived as that of 
 everybody else, they incorporate, in a certain way, in their very 
 essence all these qualities of great, noble, rich, master, lord, and 
 prince; they magnify their idea of them, and never think of 
 themselves without all their titles, their equipage, and their train. 1 
 
 They are accustomed to look upon themselves from their child- 
 hood as a separate species from other men ; they are never mixed 
 up in imagination with the crowd of mankind; they are always 
 counts or dukes in their own eyes, and never simply men ; thus 
 they cut out for themselves a mind and a judgment in proportion 
 to their fortune, and think themselves placed as far above others 
 in mind as they are in rank and wealth. 
 
 The folly of the human mind is such that there is nothing that 
 does not help it to aggrandize its idea of itself. A fine house, 
 a splendid coat, a long beard, make a man think himself more 
 clever; and if we take notice, he thinks more of himself on 
 horseback or in a coach than on foot. It is easy to persuade 
 everybody that nothing is more ridiculous than these judgments, 
 but it is very difficult to protect ourselves entirely against the 
 secret impression that all these things make on the mind. All 
 that we can do is to accustom ourselves, as far as possible, to 
 give no weight to those qualities which can in no way contribute 
 to the discovery of the truth, and to give to those that do 
 contribute to it only as much as they do really contribute. 
 Age, knowledge, study, experience, mind, activity, caution, 
 accuracy, and labour serve to discover the truth of hidden 
 things, and therefore these qualities deserve respect; but, never- 
 theless, they must be carefully weighed, and then compared with 
 
 1 You are deceived, Philemon, if you think you are more esteemed for 
 this brilliant carriage, this great number of knaves that follow you, and 
 these six animals that draw you. Men put aside all this outward show 
 to penetrate to you, who are nothing but a fop. (LA BKUY^RE, Caracteres, 
 cli. ii.) 
 
152 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 the opposite reasons, for we can decide nothing with certainty 
 from each of these things hy itself, since very erroneous opinions 
 have been maintained by men of great intellect who had many of 
 these Qualities. (Logique, part iii. ch. xx.) 
 
 V* RULES OF THE METHOD IN THE SCIENCES. 
 
 ^ Analysis consists more in the judgment and mental skill than 
 in particular rules. These four, nevertheless, that Descartes lays 
 down in his Method, may be useful in avoiding error in the 
 pursuit of truth in human sciences, although, to say the truth, 
 they are general for all kinds of methods and not peculiar to 
 analysis. 
 
 The first is, never to accept anything as true which we do not 
 plainly recognize as such ; that is to say, to carefully avoid hastiness 
 and prejudice, and not to include in our judgments anything that is 
 not presented so clearly to the mind that there is no room for doubt. 
 
 The second, to divide each of the difficulties that we are 
 examining into as many parts as possible, or as are requisite to 
 resolve it. 
 
 The third, to conduct our thoughts in order, beginning with the 
 simplest and most easily understood objects, in order to rise by 
 degrees to the knowledge of the more complex, and even to suppose 
 an order among those that do not naturally precede one another. 
 
 The fourth, to make throughout such complete enumerations and 
 general reviews that we may be certain of having omitted nothing. 
 
 It is true that there is much difficulty in observing these rules ; 
 but it is always useful to bear them in mind and to observe them, 
 as far as possible, when we wish to discover the truth by means of 
 the reason and as far as our mind is capable of knowing it. 
 
 The Method of the Sciences reduced to eight principal rules. 
 
 TWO RULES TOUCHING DEFINITIONS. 
 
 1. To leave no term in the least obscure or equivocal without 
 defining it. 
 
 2. To employ in the definitions only terms which are perfectly 
 known or already explained. 
 
Nicole: Method in the Sciences. 153 
 
 TWO RULES FOR THE AXIOMS. 
 
 3. To demand as axioms only things perfectly evident. 
 
 4. To accept as evident that which needs only a little attention 
 in order to be recognized as true. 
 
 TWO RULES FOR THE DEMONSTRATIONS. 
 
 5. To prove all propositions, which are in the least obscure, by 
 employing in proof of them only preceding definitions, accepted 
 axioms, or propositions already demonstrated. 
 
 6. Never to abuse what is equivocal in terms by failing to 
 substitute for them mentally the definitions which restrict and 
 explain them. 
 
 TWO RULES FOR THE METHOD. 
 
 7. To treat of things as far as possible in their natural order, 
 commencing with the simplest and most general, explaining 
 everything that belongs to the nature of the genus before passing 
 to its particular species. 
 
 8. To divide, as far as possible, every genus into all its species, 
 every whole into all its parts, and every difficulty into all its 
 cases. 
 
 I have added to these two rules, as far as possible, because it 
 often happens that we cannot observe them rigorously, either 
 on account of the limits of the human understanding or of those 
 we have been obliged to set to every science. 
 
 This often causes us to treat of a species when we are not able 
 to treat of all that belongs to its genus ; as we treat of the circle 
 in common geometry without saying anything specially of the 
 curved line, which is its genus, and which we are satisfied with 
 simply defining. 
 
 We cannot either say all that can be said of a whole genus, 
 because that would often be too long ; but it is sufficient to say all 
 we wish to say of it before passing to the species. 
 
 But I think that a science can only be treated perfectly by 
 observing these two last rules as well as the others, and only 
 resolving to dispense with them from necessity or for some 
 special advantage. (Logique, part iv. ch. ii. and iii 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
154 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 ON TEACHING READING AND WRITING ; EXERCISES IN 
 TRANSLATION, ELOCUTION, AND COMPOSITION. 
 
 "DEAR READER, Some of my friends having desired me to 
 speak more at length on the subject of teaching children Latin 
 than I haye done in the different prefaces to translations that 
 I have given to the puhlic, in which I have been satisfied with 
 representing chiefly that the system now followed is long, difficult, 
 and unnatural, and that I thought that there might be another 
 shorter, easier, and more conformable to nature, that is, to reason, 
 I will endeavour to satisfy them here as succinctly as possible, 
 labouring to build up, after having laboured in my other writings 
 to destroy. . . . 
 
 " In the first place, then, I say that it is a grave error to begin, 
 as is usually done, to teach children to read through Latin and not 
 through French. 
 
 " This road is so long and difficult, that it not only repels the 
 scholars from all other learning, by prejudicing their minds from 
 their earliest childhood with a distaste and an almost invincible 
 hatred for books and study, but it also makes the teachers 
 impatient and peevish, because both are equally wearied with the 
 trouble and time they give to it, which extends to three or four 
 years \ but the masters must consider that, if they have difficulty 
 in teaching, the children have incomparably more in learning, 
 which should be a motive for making them gentler and more 
 patient with them by making them sympathize with the weak- 
 ness of childhood. For they must not imagine that what they 
 find pleasure in knowing children can learn without trouble ; 
 but they should rather remember their own childhood, and the 
 difficulties they had in becoming learned. Thus they will adapt 
 themselves to the weakness of their scholars, and not give them 
 more trouble than they can help. . . . 
 
 " There will always be difficulties enough, either from things or 
 from their minds, or, in fact, from their natural inclinations or 
 aversions, without our adding others ourselves by the bad method 
 we follow in instructing them. 1 
 
 1 This justification of the method is full of good seuse and clearness. 
 
Guyot: On Teaching Reading, Writing, etc. 155 
 
 " How, then, can children be expected to learn in a short time 
 and with pleasure, or, at least, without very great trouble, by 
 commencing to make them read in Latin, which is a tongue they 
 ido not understand in the least, and which they never hear spoken 
 (for that would be of great use to them, at least for the pronuncia- 
 jbion) except while they are being taught it ? Is it not more natural 
 to make use of what they know already, in order to teach them 
 what they do not know, since the very definition of the method of 
 teaching tells us to act in this manner 1 . . . 
 
 "Now French boys already know French, of which they are 
 acquainted with a large number of words; why not, then, teach 
 them first to read in French, since this method would be shorter 
 and less tedious 1 ? for they would only have to retain in their 
 minds the shape of the letters and their combinations ; in which 
 the memory of the things and the words that they already know, 
 with what they are constantly hearing in every-day life, would aid 
 them little by little in remembering them again ; whereas in Latin 
 they are not helped in any way, everything is strange and new, 
 and they can only fix their attention on the characters and com- 
 binations which are shown them ; and this is the cause that they 
 only retain them with much trouble and time, during which they 
 must be dinned into their ears over and over again, before they can 
 remember them once, having nothing to hold by, neither words, 
 nor things, nor what they hear said every day. 
 
 "Since, then, we must use what the children already know to 
 teach them what they do not know, which is a general rule, with- 
 out exception, for everything we wish to teach them, it would be 
 proper to make them read at first detached words only, of which 
 they know the things they represent, as those which they commonly 
 use, as bread, a bed, a room, &c. But they should have been 
 shown beforehand the shapes and characters of these words in an 
 alphabet, making them pronounce the vowels and diphthongs only, 
 and not the consonants, which they should be taught to pronounce 
 only in the different combinations that they form with the same 
 vowels or diphthongs in the syllables and words. 
 
 " For yet another fault is committed in the ordinary method of 
 teaching children to read, which is the manner in which they are 
 taught to name the letters separately, both consonants and vowels. 
 
156 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 Now the consonants are called consonants only because they have 
 no sound by themselves, but they must be joined with vowels and 
 sound with them. 1 We are, then, contradicting ourselves in 
 teaching to pronounce alone letters which can only be pronounced 
 when they are joined with others ; for in pronouncing the conso- 
 nants separately, and making the children name them, we always 
 add a vowel, namely, e, which, belonging neither to the syllable 
 nor to the word, makes the sound of the letters named different 
 from their sound when joined with others ; thus, after the children 
 have spelled all the letters of a word one by one, they cannot pro- 
 nounce them altogether in the same word, because the medley of 
 different sounds confuses their ears and imagination. For example, 
 a child is made to spell the word bon, which is composed of three 
 letter , o, ra, which they are made to pronounce one after the 
 other. Now b, pronounced by itself, makes be-, o, pronounced 
 alone, is still 0, for it is a vowel ; but n, pronounced alone, makes 
 enne. How, then, can this child understand that all these sounds 
 that he has pronounced separately in spelling these three letters one 
 after the other can only make this single sound, bon ? He can 
 never understand this, and he only learns to put them together 
 because his teacher himself puts them together, and shouts in his 
 ear over and over again this single sound, bon. 
 
 " Again, the poor child is made to spell this other word, jamais, 
 and it is done in this way, j-a-m-a-i-s, jamais. How can this 
 child imagine that the six sounds which he has pronounced in 
 spelling these six letters make only these two, jamais ? For, when 
 we spell the letters of this word we pronounce separately j-a-em 
 a-i-esse. Here are six or seven sounds, of which, they say, he 
 ought to make these two, ja-mais. Would they not have done it 
 sooner by making him pronounce these two syllables only, ja-mais, 
 and not all the consonants and vowels separately, which only 
 confuses his mind by this multitude of different sounds, which he 
 can never put together as you wish him to do if you do not do it 
 yourself and pronounce it to him several times ? The same thing 
 
 1 The definition is not quite exact, since there are consonants which have 
 really a sound by themselves, for example, /, s, and even r. 
 
Guyot : On Teaching Reading, Writing, etc. 157 
 
 may bo said of a great number of difficult words, as aimoient 
 faisoient, disoient, &C. 1 
 
 " Besides, you may make a child spell his letters as much as 
 you like, but he will never learn by this means to pronounce the 
 syllables and words; it is only the use and habit that he has 
 of hearing the same sound pronounced many times when they 
 point out to him the letters which make him learn them. But 
 this is because we always want to reason with children and 
 teach them by rules what depends on usage alone, which is the 
 only rule of language. And if you will pay attention to what 
 I say you will see that the syllables and words together are 
 repeated to them so many times that at last they retain them, and 
 remember that such and such letters joined together have such a 
 pronunciation, which they would never otherwise have imagined 
 by spelling the letters one after another. Therefore it is very 
 useless to make them lose so much time and pains by this way of 
 spielling, whereas they would have learnt the combinations of 
 letters very much sooner than this multitude of sounds from 
 which they are desired to compose one or two syllables. Thus 
 the knowledge of reading, which the children acquire at length, is 
 attributed, without reason, to this manner of spelling the letters, 
 but it is only an effect of the habit they have of hearing the 
 syllables and entire words pronounced very often. And for a 
 similar reason it is thought that the rules of Despautere 2 are the 
 cause of the correctness with which a child composes in Latin, 
 although in composing he had not even thought of them, having 
 only followed in that the usage of the Latin, which he has only 
 learnt by reading and writing and by making many mistakes 
 which have been corrected. 
 
 " After having shown to the children and pronounced the five 
 
 2 The pronunciation of oi of the imperfect was not then fixed. Father 
 Chiflet wrote in 1677 : " It is softer and more common among the upper 
 classes who speak well to pronounce je parlais. Nevertheless, it is not a 
 fault to say je parlois, since at Paris, at the bar and in the pulpit, many 
 eloquent speakers do not condemn this pronunciation." (Nouvelle et parfaite 
 grammairefranqaise, p. 203. ) 
 
 2 Van Pauteren, in French Despautere (1460-1520), a professor at 
 Louvain and Bois-le-Duc. His Latin grammar was long in vogue in 
 schools. 
 
158 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 ^vowels a, e, i, 0, u, and the diphthongs ae, oe, au, eu, ei, 1 
 ;and making them only look at the shapes of the consonants 
 'without letting them pronounce them except in combination 
 in entire syllables, of whicli they have drawn up and learnt a 
 list, it will be well to make them read first entire words detached 
 from one another, of which they should make a list in which they 
 would only insert the most common words that they hear most 
 often and whose meaning they know. And as they are taught to 
 pray to God from the age of four or five years (I suppose it 
 is done in French), we must begin by their prayers and the 
 catechism, 2 which they already know by heart, to make them 
 read a connected narrative, then break the thread of it to see 
 if they read from a knowledge of the words, or by heart and 
 rote ; in order that, when they can read their prayers and their 
 catechism equally well anywhere they are asked, we may then 
 begin to give them French books. 
 
 " Being, then, in a position to be able to learn to read in French 
 books, they must be given those in which the matter is adapted to 
 their intelligence. The small colloquies of Mathurin Cordier 3 
 would be very proper for this use, if they were translated into 
 better French ; for the purity of their native language must not 
 be corrupted from this early age ; but the fables of Phaedrus, the 
 Captivi of Plautus, the Bucolics of Yirgil, the three comedies 
 
 1 It is an error to call " diphthong" (two sounds) ae, oe, au, eu, ei, since 
 there is only one sound represented by two letters, which lose their proper 
 sound to form a new one. The Grammaire gne~rale of Port-Royal did not 
 commit this error : ' ' Eu, as it is in feu, pen, is only a simple sound, 
 although we write it with two vowels." (Part i. ch. i.) However, in 
 chapter iii. the authors call "diphthong" the sound of eau, which is, 
 however, simple. 
 
 2 Even if the law had not taken its religious character from the school, we 
 do not think that these are books to interest young children. The subjects 
 are too serious and beyond their capacity. 
 
 3 "Cordier, Mathurin, a priest (1479-1564), was one of the best class 
 regents that could be desired ; he understood Latin well, was a man of much 
 virtue, and devoted himself to his office, being as careful to instruct his 
 pupils in good behaviour as in good Latinity. He employed his life in 
 teaching children at Paris, Never s, Bourdcaux, Geneva, Neufchdtel, Lausanne, 
 and, lastly, again at Geneva, where he died on Sept. 8, 1564, aged 85, teaching 
 the young in the sixth class three or four days before his death. There is 
 scarcely a book that has served more than that to accustom children to 
 speak Latin." (BAYLE.) 
 
Guyot : On Teaching Reading, Writing, etc. 159 
 
 of Terence, these letters and the collection of Cicero's letters 
 might be very useful to them ; for, by this means, they will learn 
 at the same time to read and speak their own language with 
 purity, as accomplished men talk in society, which is the principal 
 style in which it is necessary to bring them up, and they will 
 know in advance the subjects contained in the first Latin books 
 that they will read or learn by heart, which will make the 
 understanding of them easy, of which the beginning is so painful. 
 And, in this way, what they already know may be usefully 
 employed to teach them what they do not know. 1 
 
 " With regard to writing, great care should be taken to teach 
 children to write well, because, besides its usefulness, it is a very 
 good means of occupying them and driving away tedium ; for 
 when they can write well, they like to do so, because we 
 naturally like to do what we do well, and even desire to excel 
 in it. The best teachers should be chosen for this, provided they 
 will take the trouble and be careful that they hold the pen right, 
 for that is most important. They must not, then, be allowed 
 to write by themselves at the commencement, but before their 
 teachers, until they have acquired a good habit of holding the 
 pen, and when they have done that they should often pass| 
 the dry pen over the lines of their copy, in order that the muscles, / 
 nerves, and the whole hand should acquire the knack and 
 movement necessary for good writing. 2 And I should also wish 
 that they should not be given copies without rime or reason, but 
 some beautiful sentences in French or Latin verse, which might 
 serve to regulate their mind and their manners. 3 They would 
 
 1 There is an ingenious foresight in making the children read in French 
 what they will study later in Latin. But, looking closely into the matter, 
 are the proposed works well chosen ? The Fables of Phaedrus are perfectly 
 suitable. But the Comedies of Terence and Plautus and Cicero's Letters ? 
 It is a question of children "of tender years," who have just overcome the 
 first difficulties of reading ; this nutriment is much too strong. 
 
 2 This is a very judicious recommendation, and more simple in practice 
 than the use of those tablets over which the pupil moves his pencil in letters 
 formed of sunken lines. 
 
 3 At the time that Guyot was giving this wise advice Mine, de Maintenon 
 wrote with her own hand in the copy -books of her pupils at Saint-Cyr these 
 maxims as writing copies : * * Seek the truth in everything. Love to give pleasure 
 and never lie. There is nothing disgraceful but ill-doing. Submit to reason 
 as soon as you know it. Be severe towards yourselves and indulgent to others. 
 
160 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 ^unconsciously learn a great number of them, which would be 
 
 !so much good seed whose fruit would be seen in due season. 
 
 [It would be well to let them continue this exercise for several 
 
 years, and not to allow them to write either their themes or 
 
 translations badly ; for, besides that everything that we do should 
 
 , be well done, 1 as far as possible, they would soon unlearn what 
 
 [ they have learnt with much time and pains. 
 
 " I come now to the Latin, and I suppose, as everybody agrees, 
 that as native and living languages should be chiefly learnt by 
 use and intercourse with persons who speak them well, so the 
 dead languages should be learnt by reading the authors who 
 formerly spoke them well, and who live and speak to us now, in 
 a manner, in their works. But as the life and speech of these 
 dead authors is dying, not to say quite dead, and the tone of 
 their voice is so low and difficult to hear that it scarcely differs 
 from silence, it would be an incomparable advantage to resuscitate, 
 in some sort, these dead authors, and re-animate them with our 
 spirit, voice, and action, that they may teach us in a vivid and 
 natural manner. 2 And this may be done by translating their 
 works viva voce to the children, or reading the translation to them, 
 in this way serving them as a living and animated interpreter, 
 who speaks to them in their own tongue, as the dead would speak 
 to them in theirs if they were still living. And this shows that, 
 translation being the means that most nearly approaches the 
 natural manner of learning living languages, it is also the most 
 natural and useful means of learning the dead languages. 
 
 For is it not an inverted order, and quite contrary to nature, to 
 begin by writing in a language which they not only cannot speak 
 but do not even understand? Children who are beginning to 
 learn their native language begin by hearing it before speaking 
 
 If you feel pleasure when you are reproved, believe that you will have merit. 
 Let your conscience be simple and sincere. Never go to rest without having 
 learnt something," &c. 
 
 1 An excellent precept to recommend. Of what use is an hour's application 
 to the writing lesson, if they scribble the rest of the time ? Good teachers 
 have, from the same motive, suppressed the rough copy. 
 
 2 There is in all this page a very clear perception of the value of oral 
 teaching, of the living word of the teacher. Guyot returns to the subject a 
 little further on with a praiseworthy persistence. 
 
Guyot : On Teaching Reading, Writing, etc. 161 
 
 it, and speaking it before writing it. Why, then, reverse this 
 order that nature prescribes in order to make children begin to 
 write in a language they do not understand? And this shows 
 that the method which is so common of making children write 
 Latin themes before teaching them to understand Latin, to say 
 nothing of speaking it, is a method entirely opposed to nature, 
 of which art should be the imitator. It is, then, certain that we 
 must begin by teaching the children Latin in order that they may 
 understand it before they speak or write it, and that there is no 
 other means than translation of making them understand it. 
 
 "Now there are two sorts of translation, one viva voce, the 
 other written. There is no doubt that the first is incomparably 
 more useful and more natural than the second ; for the voice in 
 this matter is like a faithful interpreter, who conducts us in a 
 living manner into the country of the dead, and makes us speak 
 and converse with them, or, at least, makes us listen to them 
 speaking and conversing with us, as he would make us speak 
 and converse with Turks or Germans, first letting us hear their 
 language, then speak with them, and finally write to them. 
 
 "But the better to understand the advantage that viva voce 
 translation has over written, it must be remarked that words have 
 a double signification, one natural, the other artificial; for, as 
 words are arbitrary signs of things or of mental ideas, they are 
 also natural signs of the emotions of the heart ; and this natural 
 signification is lost, in a manner, in writings, at least for those 
 who are only commencing to learn a dead language, for they only 
 understand the artificial signification of the things according to 
 the ideas that it awakens in their mind, which ideas are usually 
 rather obscure and confused in children ; but the viva voce trans- 
 lation better preserves this signification of the emotions of the 
 heart, for voice was given to man, not only to make known 
 things or the ideas they have of them, but also to express the 
 various emotions of their heart with respect to these same things, 
 or the ideas they have of them. And this they do in many 
 other ways, as by gesture and action, by the movements of their 
 hands, eyes, head, or shoulders, in fine, by the mute language of 
 the whole body. It is this language of the heart that must be 
 heard in order to understand a language well, because it is, as 
 
 M 
 
1 62 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 it were, its spirit and life. For it is the passions and emotions 
 of the heart which make all the various beauties and figures of 
 the discourse, and which give it that omnipotence which is 
 attributed to eloquence and the distinct air or character which 
 is remarked in it, and which is found, not only in the particular 
 language of each individual man, but even in that of whole 
 tribes and nations. For some speak in a very gentle and others 
 in a rough manner, some in a modest, others in a haughty and 
 boastful manner, some in a simple and artless style, others in a 
 figurative and embellished style, some affect brevity, others a 
 great flow of words, some speak uncivilly, others with politeness, 
 some with amorous and tender air, others in a dry and harsh 
 tone ; all these differences spring from the emotions f-f the heart. 
 
 "Thus, in order to bring out this natural signification of the 
 movements of the soul which accompanies the artificial significa- 
 tion of the thoughts, the teacher must brighten the lesson by his 
 tone of voice and his gestures in reading it to them, first in 
 French and then in Latin, with all the appropriate inflections 
 and accents. They will then understand and retain it much 
 sooner, because it will appeal to them more; whereas a simple 
 reading which they do themselves or which is done by the 
 teacher makes little impression on their minds. Thus an orator 
 or an actor makes us understand the subject of a piece much 
 better than a simple reading of it, because, adding his voice and 
 action to the matter, he makes the ideas strike the mind, and the 
 emotions move the heart more vividly. This is how we breathe 
 life into a dead language, and give a double life to a language yet 
 living. This opens and even elevates the children's minds, by 
 stirring up and agitating them powerfully, and thus renders them 
 capable of imitating, by art, the natural passions, which they can 
 only understand and imitate by these means, not being yet able 
 to be touched by them. . . . 
 
 "Since, then, French is to serve us as introducer to and 
 interpreter in the Latin country, it must take a step in advance, 
 I mean, French must be taught before Latin; and the children 
 should be so well grounded in the ordinary and familiar French 
 style by reading the books that I have mentioned, making them 
 learn them by heart, that the Latin which they will afterwards 
 
Guyot : On Teaching Reading, Writing^ etc. 163 
 
 learn shall not be able to injure or corrupt the purity of their 
 French. Now the younger children are more fitted to learn 
 French in this way than the elder, because, having an imperfect 
 idea of things, they cannot detach them from the words by which 
 they entered their minds, being, so to say, clothed with the terms 
 and expressions which have made them conceive them ; whereas 
 the elder children, conceiving things in their own way, and accord- 
 ing to opinions which they have previously formed, express them 
 also in their own way, without confining themselves to the words 
 of their author. The younger children, then, must, as I have 
 said, be first grounded in the ordinary and familiar French, in 
 order that the Latin, which they will learn afterwards, and which 
 is so centre y to the French in its construction, may not injure 
 their native language, as usually happens. For we see that 
 children who have been taught in a different manner have often 
 unlearnt French, or rather have not learnt it at all, in learning 
 Latin, and have even rendered themselves more incapable of 
 learning it, as may be perceived by setting them to write in 
 French. . . . And this is the cause that at the present time the 
 most learned persons, and those who best understand the authors, 
 having neglected their native language in order to learn foreign 
 tongues, and having given up intercourse with the living in order 
 to converse only with the dead, can only translate their works 
 in a lifeless and foreign manner, and thus render themselves less 
 capable of filling the higher posts in the church and at the 
 bar. . . . 
 
 " The children, then, must acquire, through these French trans- 
 lations, a moderate usage of their native language, which consists 
 in the correctness of the words and their combinations, and in 
 clearness of style even in ordinary and familiar expressions. 
 They should not, therefore, read many French books of various 
 styles, and especially those of a bad style, for that would make 
 them incapable of distinguishing the good from the bad, as 
 persons who habituate themselves to all kinds of wines can no 
 longer appreciate nor distinguish their differences ; and their 
 minds should only be fed on delicate and intellectual things if 
 we wish to give them a delicate and intellectual taste. For this 
 reason it is a great error to make them read indifferently all sorts 
 
164 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 of authors, whether Latin or French, and those who guide them 
 in this way show that they themselves have had the misfortune 
 not to be better guided, so that the fault that was committed in 
 their education is perpetuated indefinitely by their instructing 
 others as they themselves were instructed; and very few are 
 found who rise above custom to follow reason. . . . 
 
 " Since, then, our intention is to form the children to an ordinary 
 and familiar style, we must choose books proper for this object, 
 both in matter and style 1 . . . . Add to them, for Sundays and 
 Holy-days, the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert, the last Lives 
 of the Saints, written by M. d'Andilly, his History of Josephus, 
 the Confessions of St. Augustine, the Imitation of Christ, the 
 Homilies of St. Chrysostom, and a few other books or histories 
 well written in French. This will fortify them in purity of 
 morals as well as in French, and furnish them with many good 
 things, of which they should lay up a store in good time. . . . 
 We may add a few of the most chaste poets, full of lively 
 descriptions, rich comparisons, and good moral teaching; for the 
 sweetness of the verses will charm their ears, and their harmonious 
 cadence will accustom them to a better pronunciation, and even 
 elevate their minds above ordinary thoughts and expressions. 
 
 "Children should read a little at a time and often, in a loud 
 and clear voice, because that will exercise the voice and chest, 
 and give an opportunity of teaching them to pronounce well, by 
 giving them the necessary accent to mark the different shades 
 which are appropriate to the subjects, and correct the false 
 cadences or inflections of voice into which they fall; thus they 
 will be habituated to fineness of ear, to the arrangement of the 
 words, and the harmony of the periods, and, in addition, by 
 reading a little at a time and often, their attention will not be 
 \ fatigued. For children are usually very inattentive, and too 
 [long application deadens their mind and extinguishes its fire. It 
 will be well also to read aloud before them, enlivening what is 
 read by the tone and accent proper to the subject, and to make 
 them attend to it ; that will do much to form them, for they have 
 a natural inclination to imitate and to learn by imitation. And 
 
 1 He repeats here the list already given above. 
 
Guyot : On Teaching Reading, Writing, etc. 165 
 
 this is noticed even in animals, so that tones, gestures, and move- 
 ments make a natural impression on their intelligence, and even 
 on their bodily organs, which turns and disposes them to imitate 
 what they see and hear, as those who dance make others dance, 
 and those who make grimaces cause others to do the same, without 
 their intending or perceiving it. ... 
 
 "It would also be very useful to make the children repeat, 
 then and there, what they have retained of their reading; 1 for 
 that makes them more attentive, and the reflection that they 
 make then will fix the subjects more firmly in their minds, on 
 which the images of the words have just been impressed, following 
 the order of their reading, especially when the subjects are new 
 to them, and they want terms and other expressions to speak of 
 them; for their discourse still retains all the arrangement of the 
 words, without a break, and if they happen to miss or hesitate 
 they must be prompted from the book, if only in order not to 
 change or misplace anything in their minds ; and this arrangement 
 of the words is extremely important, because they fail in that 
 more than in the correctness of the words themselves; this is a 
 common fault in those who do not speak or write well, whether in 
 French or Latin. 
 
 "But care must be taken, in exercising them in speaking or 
 writing, that they do it with clearness and precision, and as they 
 can only do so by the clear and accurate knowledge they have of 
 things, and according to the construction of each language, the 
 same things should be explained to them clearly in a few words ; 
 for the multitude and diversity of words, generally springing 
 from indistinctness and confusion of thought, will cause the same 
 indistinctness and confusion in the minds of the children. 2 And 
 for this reason they should usually be set to speak or write only 
 
 1 A very good and useful practice, applicable even to elementary classes, 
 with children who cannot yet write ; it fixes their attention, develops 
 their intelligence, teaches them to speak correctly, and prepares them for 
 composition. 
 
 2 The only means of avoiding this capital fault in teaching is a con- 
 scientious preparation of every lesson, in addition to the general preparation 
 that a teacher should never neglect by keeping himself abreast of methods 
 and books, and in deepening and completing his knowledge by extensive 
 reading. 
 
1 66 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 on the subjects that they know best, and in the style and terms 
 in which they have had most exercise ; otherwise they speak 
 confusedly as their thoughts are, and habituate themselves so 
 to speak, and to be satisfied with what they do not understand, 
 which is the cause of a very common fault among men, that is, 
 of speaking much on what they understand very little. It is 
 necessary, then, to explain to the children what they do not 
 understand, and to question them frequently, because we often 
 imagine that they understand very well what in fact they do 
 not understand, judging of their capacity by our own. They 
 should even be required to ask about what they do not under- 
 stand, and when they ask of their own accord, although the 
 subject may be above their capacity, we must not fail to instruct 
 them with so much the more care, as they are more disposed to 
 1 profit by it, since the curiosity which made them ask has opened 
 j their minds and rendered them capable of understanding what 
 iwill be said to them then. Children should be kept for a long 
 time to the same style ; for, in that, time will make more impres- 
 sion than all the observations that may be made to them on the 
 language, as water hollows out the stone more by falling drop by 
 drop than by falling all at once with great force. 
 
 " They may begin to write in French before they write in 
 Latin, by setting them to write short dialogues, narratives, or 
 stories, little descriptions or short letters, leaving them the choice 
 of subjects from their reading, that they may not be accustomed 
 to write obscurely and to be satisfied with what they do not 
 understand, which makes them lose the power of distinguishing 
 light from darkness, makes them take the false for the true, the 
 doubtful for the certain, in fine, evil for good. . . . 
 
 " I say nothing about synonyms and such expressions, about the 
 order and arrangement of the words, their natural or figurative 
 meaning, their connection and combinations, figures and transi- 
 tions, the turn of the discourse, or how to break it off, take it 
 up again and continue it. This must be reserved for practice, 1 
 
 1 It 13 evidently in the reading of a passage, or the explanation of a text, 
 that all these details should be taken up, much more usefully than in a dry 
 and barren nomenclature. 
 
Nicole: Education of a Prince. 167 
 
 and when they are more advanced in intelligence and judgment ; 
 it is better to tell the scholars these things than to demand them 
 of them, since any rules that may be given them do not so much 
 prevent faults as serve to correct them when they have been 
 made. 
 
 " It is not desirable that whole books should be set to be learnt 
 by heart, but only the finest passages; for the memory of children, 
 which has its limits, should only be charged with what is most 
 excellent in books ; it must, nevertheless, be well exercised. . . ." 
 (Guyot, Billets de Ciceron, 1668. Preface.) 
 
 GENERAL VIEWS ON THE EDUCATION OF A PRINCE.* 
 
 .... The most essential quality in the preceptor of a prince 
 is a certain nameless one which does not belong to any special 
 profession ; it is not simply the being qualified in history, mathe- 
 matics, languages, politics, philosophy, ceremonies, and the 
 interests of princes ; all that may be made up for. It is not 
 necessary for him who is charged with the instruction of a 
 prince to teach him everything; it suffices that he teach him 
 the use of^everything. He must necessarily be assisted some- 
 times, and while he is preparing for certain things be only a 
 witness of what is taught by others. But that essential quality 
 which renders him fit for this employment cannot be made up 
 for, it cannot be borrowed from another, nor can it be prepared 
 for. Nature implants it, and it is improved by long exercise and 
 much reflexion. And thus those who have it not when they are 
 a little advanced in age will never have it. 
 
 It cannot be better explained than by saying that it is that 
 quality which makes a man always blame what is blameworthy, 
 praise what is praiseworthy, disparage what is low, impress with 
 a sense of what is great, judge everything wisely and equitably, 
 
 1 It is a sign of the times, and very honourable to our age, that the advice 
 given by Nicole on the education of a prince may be recommended without 
 exaggeration to the teachers of the people. A very slight change is neces- 
 sary to adapt it to the needs of elementary education, both to the training 
 of the teaching staff in the normal schools, and to the proper direction of 
 elementary studies. 
 
1 68 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 and express his judgments in an agreeable manner, suitable to 
 those to whom he speaks, and, in fine, makes him direct the mind 
 of his pupil to the truth in everything. 
 
 It must not be imagined that he always does this from 
 special reflection, or that he stops every moment to give rules 
 on good and evil, the true and the false. On the contrary, he 
 almost always does it imperceptibly, by an ingenious turn that 
 he gives to the subject, which exposes to view what is grand 
 and deserves to be considered, and hides that which ought not 
 to be seen, which makes vice ridiculous and virtue pleasing, which 
 forms the mind imperceptibly to like and appreciate good things, 
 and to have a dislike and aversion for bad things. So that it 
 often happens that the same story or maxim which aids in form- 
 ing the mind when it is used by an able and judicious man only 
 serves to injure it when it is used by a man who is not so. 
 
 Ordinary preceptors only think themselves obliged to 
 instruct the princes at certain hours, when they give them 
 what they call a lesson; but the man of whom we are speaking 
 has no fixed hour for lessons, or, rather, he gives his pupils a lesson 
 at all hours ; for he often instructs him as much during play-time 
 and visits, or by conversations and table-talk, as when he is setting 
 him to read books. For his principal aim being to form his judg- 
 ment, the different subjects which offer themselves are often more 
 appropriate for this end than studied speeches, there being nothing 
 which sinks into the mind less than what enters it under the not 
 very agreeable form of a lesson and of teaching. 
 
 As this mode of instructing is unperceived, the advantage 
 drawn from it is so too, in a certain degree, that is to say, it is not 
 perceived by outward and visible signs ; and this deceives persons 
 of small intelligence, who imagine that a child instructed in this 
 manner is not more advanced than another, because, perhaps, he 
 cannot make a better translation from Latin into French, or does 
 not repeat a lesson of Virgil better; and thus, judging of the 
 instruction of their children only by these trifles, they often 
 make less account of a really able man than of one who has but 
 small knowledge and an unintelligent mind. 
 
 Not that common things should be neglected in the instruction 
 of princes, and that they should not be taught languages, history, 
 
Nicole : Education of a Prince. 1 69 
 
 chronology, geography, mathematics, and even jurisprudence up to 
 a certain point. Their studies must be regulated as those of other 
 persons are. The aim should be to make them industrious. 
 They should pass from one occupation to another without 
 leaving any vacant or unoccupied time. Every opportunity of 
 teaching them something useful should be cleverly turned to 
 account. If possible, they should not be ignorant of anything 
 that is celebrated in the world. All this is good, useful, and 
 necessary in itself, provided that a stand is not made there as 
 if it were the end of their instruction, but it should be used to 
 form their habits and their judgment. 
 
 To form the judgment is to give to the mind the taste for 
 and perception of what is true, to render it acute in recognizing 
 rather obscure false reasonings, to teach it not to allow itself to be 
 dazzled by the false glitter of words void of sense, nor to be 
 satisfied with indefinite words or principles, and never to be 
 contented until it has probed things to the bottom ; it is to 
 render it quick to seize the point in intricate matters, and to 
 distinguish those which depart from it; it is to furnish it with 
 the principles of truth, which help to discover it in all things, 
 and especially in those of which it has most need. . . . 
 
 Although the study of morality should be the principal and 
 most constant of those to which princes are set, nevertheless it 
 should be carried on in a manner suited to their age and the 
 quality of their mind, so that not only they should not be 
 burdened with it, ]}n fc sh on lj . jH?t_fi v&rL - ^- aware- of- it. The 
 aim should be for them to know all morality almost without 
 knowing that there is a morality, 1 or that there was a design 
 to teach it to them ; so that when they come to study it in the 
 course of their lessons, they will be astonished at knowing before- 
 hand much more than is taught in them. 
 
 1 Bain equally recommends this indirect but only effective method of 
 moral instruction : * * Every man who is able to maintain the order and 
 discipline necessary to good intellectual teaching is sure to leave on the 
 children's minds impressions of true morality, even without intending to do 
 so. If, besides, the teacher possesses sufficient tact to make his pupils like 
 their work, and submit freely and willingly to the restraint that study im- 
 poses, so that they have, in sum, only good feelings towards their school- 
 fellows and himself, he may be called an excellent teacher of morals, whether 
 he has wished to earn this title or not." (La science de ^education, p. 292.) 
 
I/O Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Nothing is more difficult than to adapt ourselves thus to 
 children's minds; and a man of the world rightly said that this 
 power of adaptation to these childish ways was the result of a 
 well-educated mind. It is easy to speak on morality for an hour ; 
 
 ibut to refer everything to it without a child perceiving it and 
 becoming disgusted demands a tact which few persons possess. 
 
 There are two things in vices : their unlawfulness, which 
 makes them displeasing to God ; and their folly, which makes 
 them despicable to men. Children, usually, are not very 
 sensible of the first, but they can be made to feel the second 
 in many ingenious ways that opportunities offer. Thus, by 
 making them hate vices as ridiculous, 1 they will be led to hate 
 them as contrary to the laws of God, and at the same time the 
 impression they make on their minds will be weakened. . . . 
 
 It is necessary to know the failings of the child whom we 
 instruct ; that is to say, to notice the bent of his desires, in 
 order to use all our tact to diminish it by removing all that 
 strengthens it, always carefully distinguishing passing faults 
 that age will remove from those which increase with age. 
 
 The aim should be not only to preserve him from failings, 
 but to scatter in his mind some seeds that will aid him to rise if 
 he should be so unfortunate as to let himself fall into them. . . . 
 
 It is not only necessary to form their minds to virtue as far 
 as possible, but it is also necessary to adapt their bodies to it; that 
 is to say, to prevent the body being an obstacle to their leading a 
 regular life, leading them, by its natural instincts, into irregu- 
 larities and disorders. 2 
 
 For it must be known that, men being composed of mind and 
 body, the bad direction given to the body in youth is often, in the 
 sequel, a great obstacle to piety. There are some who habituate 
 
 1 This is one of the favourite themes of Mme. de Maintenon : "Consider 
 that the best of your girls are those who appear the most vain . , , . with 
 a certain vanity that makes them afraid to be thought children, which 
 renders them sensitive to a public mortification, . . . They must die to this 
 sensitiveness when they are more advanced in piety ; but before dying to it 
 they must have lived in it." 
 
 2 One of the advantages of gymnastics is to usefully expend the strength 
 of the young, to maintain the equilibrium of body and mind, to secure a 
 refreshing sleep, and thus remove dangerous temptations. I think ^ this 
 moral action of physical exercises needs to be better understood than it is. 
 
Nicole : Education of a Prince. 1 7 1 
 
 themselves to be so restless, so impatient, and so hasty as to 
 become incapable of uniform and tranquil occupations; others 
 become so delicate, that they cannot bear anything that is in the 
 least painful. Some become subject to a mortal tedium that 
 torments them all their lives. 
 
 It will be said that these are defects of the mind, but they 
 have a permanent cause in the body, and therefore they continue 
 even when the mind contributes nothing to them. . . . 
 
 Love of books and reading is a general preservative against 
 a great number of irregularities to which the great are subject 
 when they have nothing to occupy them, and therefore it cannot 
 be too much instilled into young princes. They should be 
 accustomed to read much and to hear much read, and to awaken 
 their minds that they may find amusement in it. They should 
 even be attracted to it by the character of the books, as by books 
 of history, voyages, and geography, which would be of no little 
 use to them if they would acquire the habit of passing a con- 
 siderable time in it without tedium and without ill-humour. 1 
 
 SPECIAL ADVICE CONCERNING STUDIES. 
 
 The aim of instruction is to carry our minds to the highesti 
 point they are capable of attaining. 2 I 
 
 It does not give memory, imagination, nor intelligence, but it 
 cultivates them all. By strengthening them one by another the 
 judgment is aided by the memory, and the memory is assisted by 
 the imagination and the judgment. 
 
 When some of these parts are absent they should be supplied 
 by others. Thus the tact of a master is shown in setting his 
 scholars to things for which they have a natural liking. 3 Some 
 
 1 It was one of Mine, de Sevigne's great troubles to see her daughter 
 and grand - daughter appreciate so little the study of history. "What a 
 misfortune," she says gaily, " if Pauline is obliged to pinch her nose to 
 take it," as if it were a medicine ! To grow weary of history ! why it is 
 the support of all the world ! 
 
 2 The writers of Port-Royal have nowhere found a broader and more 
 admirable formula. 
 
 3 This tact, which bears fruit in competitive examinations, does not in the 
 least deserve encouragement. It is no doubt necessary to cultivate natural 
 aptitudes, but chiefly to endeavour to maintain the equilibrium of the 
 faculties, as lands are improved in which there'is an excess of such or such a 
 constituent element of the soil. 
 
I7 2 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 children should be instructed almost solely in what depends on 
 memory, because their memories are strong but their judgment 
 weak, and others should at first be set to things requiring judg- 
 ment, because they have more judgment than memory. 
 
 It is not properly the teachers nor extraneous instruction that 
 cause things to be understood, at most they only expose them to 
 the interior light of the mind, by which alone they are com- 
 prehended ; a so that when this light is not found instruction is as 
 useless as wishing to show pictures during the night. 
 
 The greatest minds have but a limited capacity, and have 
 always some dark and shady places in it; but children's minds 
 are almost alway full of darkness, and only catch a glimpse of 
 small rays of light. Thus everything consists in making the most 
 of these rays, in augmenting them, and exposing to them what 
 we wish to be understood. 
 
 For this reason it is difficult to give general rules for the 
 instruction of anyone whatever, because it is necessary to adapt 
 it to this mixture of light and shade which is different in different 
 minds, and especially in children. "We must seek the light and 
 bring to it what we wish to be understood, and for that we must 
 often try different ways to enter into their minds and fix upon 
 those which succeed the best. 
 
 We may, nevertheless, say generally that as the intelligence of 
 children depends very much on the senses, instruction must, as 
 far as possible, be given through the senses, and be made to enter, 
 not through the mind alone, but through the eye, 2 there being no 
 other sense that makes a more vivid impression on the mind and 
 forms more clear and distinct ideas. 
 
 From these observations it may be inferred that geography 8 is 
 a very suitable study for children, because it depends very much 
 
 1 An accurate and profound idea, in the development of which Nicole gives 
 a proof of great acuteness in analysis. 
 
 2 An excellent recommendation still to be insisted on. Two gates permit 
 access to the child's intelligence, hearing and sight. Why do so many 
 teachers fail to think of opening them both ? It should be a main point in 
 the preparation of lessons to exercise ingenuity in procuring or fabricating 
 everything that might render the objects of the lesson visible to the eyes.^ 
 
 3 The object lesson, still more than geography, lends itself to this teaching 
 through the sight. A great number of objects may be shown and handled, 
 for others we must be content with pictures. 
 
Nicole: Education of a Prince. 173 
 
 on the senses, and through them are shown the situations of towns 
 and provinces, and in addition it is very entertaining, which is 
 also necessary in order not to repel them at first, and has little 
 need of reasoning, which they lack most at that age. 
 
 But to render this study more useful and pleasant at the same 
 time it is not sufficient to point out the names of towns and 
 provinces on a map, many artifices must be used to aid them 
 to remember them. 
 
 Books may be had in which there are paintings of the largest 
 towns, 1 and may be shown to them. Children like this sort of 
 amusement. They may be told some remarkable story about the 
 principal towns to fix them in their memory, battles which have 
 been fought there, councils which have been held in them, or 
 great men who have come from them may be noted, and something 
 may be said upon their natural history if there is anything remark- 
 able, or on the government, size, and trade of these towns. . . . 
 
 To this special study of geography should be joined a small 
 exercise which is only an amusement, but which does not fail 
 to contribute much to fix it in their minds. If some story is told 
 them, its place should always be pointed out to them on the map. 
 If, for instance, the Gazette is read, all the towns named should be 
 pointed out on the map. In fine, they should mark on their maps 
 every place they hear spoken of, that they may serve them as an 
 artificial memory to retain the stories, and the stories should help 
 them to remember the places where they happened. 
 
 There are several other useful subjects besides geography that 
 may enter children's minds through their eyes. 
 
 The machines of the Komans, their punishments, dress, arms, 
 and several other things of the same kind are represented in the 
 books of Lipsius, and may be usefully shown to children ; 2 they 
 may be shown, for instance, what a battering-ram was, how they 
 made a testudo, how the Roman armies were organized, the 
 number of their cohorts and legions, their officers, and a number 
 
 1 We may add views of mountains, of the courses of rivers, and of other 
 geographical prospects-. The pictures of M. Felix Hement are a beginning 
 of the application of this mode of teaching through the eye. 
 
 2 Our editors have not failed to put in practice these sensible hints, and 
 our children have in their hands books usefully illustrated for the study of 
 natural history, geography, and common subjects, &c. 
 
174 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 of other pleasing and curious things, omitting those that are more 
 intricate. Very nearly the same advantage may be drawn from a 
 book entitled Roma Subterranea, and others in which have been 
 engraved what remains of the antiquities of this chief city of the 
 world, to which may be added the plates that are found in certain 
 voyages to India and China, in which the sacrifices and pagodas 
 of these wretched people are described, pointing out to them at 
 the same time to what excess of folly men are capable of going 
 when they follow only their own imagination and the light of 
 their own minds. 
 
 The book of Aldrovandus, 1 or rather the abridgment of it made 
 by Jonston, may also usefully serve to amuse them, provided that 
 he who shows it to them has taken pains to learn something of 
 the nature of animals, and to tell it to them not as a formal lesson 
 but in conversation. This book may also be used to show them 
 the pictures of the animals they hear spoken of either in books 
 or conversation. 
 
 An intelligent man has shown, at the present time, by a trial that 
 he made on one of his children, that at that age they are quite capable 
 of learning anatomy ; and no doubt they might be usefully taught 
 some general principles, if it were only to make them retain the 
 Latin names of the parts of the human body, 2 avoiding, however, 
 certain objectionable points on this matter. 
 
 It is useful, for the same reason, to show them the portraits of 
 the kings of France, the Koman emperors, the sultans, the great 
 captains and illustrious men of various nations. It is good that 
 they should amuse themselves by looking at them, and refer to 
 them whenever they are spoken of in their presence, for all this 
 serves to fix the ideas in their memories. 
 
 Teachers should try and cultivate a healthy curiosity in the 
 children to see strange and curious things, and lead them to 
 enquire the reasons of everything. This curiosity is not a vice 
 
 1 Aldrovandus, of Bologna (1520-1605), the author of a large Natural 
 History, comprising no less than 13 vols. in folio. We have nothing to 
 learn now from this immense and undigested compilation, in which poetry, 
 legends, and popular prejudices hold a larger place than real observation. 
 
 2 This is a very secondary consideration in comparison with the advantage 
 we might draw from it for the teaching of hygiene and gymnastics ; but 
 then they were more taken up with writing and even speaking Latin. 
 
Nicole: Education of a Prince. 175 
 
 at their age, since it serves to open their minds, and may divert 
 them from some irregularities. 
 
 History may be placed among the acquirements that are gained 
 through the eyes, since various books of pictures and figures may 
 be used to help them to remember it. But even if none should 
 be found, it is in itself very suitable to children's minds. And 
 though it only exercises the memory, it is very useful in forming 
 the judgment. Every artifice, then, should be used to give them 
 a taste for it. 
 
 At first they may be given a general idea of universal history, 
 of the various monarchies, and the principal changes that have 
 taken place since the beginning of the world, by dividing the 
 course of time into different ages; as, from the creation to the 
 deluge, from the deluge to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, 
 from Moses to Solomon, from Solomon to the return from the 
 Babylonish captivity, from the return from captivity to Christ, 
 from Christ to our own times, thus joining general chronology 
 to general history. 1 . . . 
 
 Besides these histories, which will form part of their studies and 
 occupations, it would be of advantage to relate to them every day 
 a detached episode, which would have no place in their regular 
 exercises, but would rather serve to amuse them. It might be 
 called the story of the day, and they might be practised in reciting 
 it in order to teach them to converse. 
 
 This story should contain some great event, some extraordinary 
 meeting, some striking example of vice, virtue, misfortune, 
 
 1 The present programmes of secondary classical instruction (decree of 
 2 Aug., 1880) are inspired by more correct ideas ; in the eighth class (the 
 lowest), History of France to Henri IV. ; seventh, from Henri IV. to the 
 present time ; sixth, History of the East ; fifth, History of Ancient Greece ; 
 fourth, Roman History ; third, History of Europe, and especially of France, 
 from 395 to 1270 ; second, from 1270 to 1610 ; in the class of rhetoric (first), 
 from 1610 to 1789 ; and in the class of philosophy, Contemporary History 
 from 1789 to 1875. 
 
 They have been less successful for primary instruction, where the short 
 time allowed for studies has compelled too great a condensation in the upper 
 forms. Where are the teachers to be found who are able to give properly, in 
 a year, notions on ancient history, Greek and Roman, the History of Europe 
 and of France to 1875 ? I regret, for my part, the old programme, which 
 made the pupils in the three courses review the History of France with new 
 developments. 
 
176 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 prosperity, or singularity. It might include uncommon incidents, 
 prodigies, earthquakes, which have sometimes engulphed entire 
 cities, shipwrecks, battles, and foreign laws and customs. By 
 making the most of this practice they might be taught what 
 is finest in all histories ; but, for that, it is necessary to be regular, 
 and not to pass a day without relating a story and referring every 
 day to what has been told them before. 
 
 They should be taught to connect in their memory similar 
 stories that one may serve to recall another. For example, it is 
 proper for them to know some examples of all the greatest armies 
 that are spoken of in books, of great battles and slaughters, of 
 great cruelties, of great pestilences, of great prosperity and 
 adversity, of great riches, of great conquerors and captains, of 
 fortunate and unfortunate favourites, of the longest lives, of the 
 signal follies of men, of great vices and great virtues. 1 . . . 
 
 The idea of those who will have no grammar 2 is only the idea 
 of idle persons who wish to spare themselves the trouble of 
 teaching it ; but, far from relieving the children, it burdens them 
 much more than the rules, since it deprives them of know- 
 ledge that would facilitate the understanding of the books, and 
 obliges them to learn a hundred times what it would have sufficed 
 to learn only once. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the book Janua Unguarum 3 may have 
 some utility ; but it is, nevertheless, irksome to load the memory 
 of children with a book in which there are only words to be 
 learnt, since one of the most useful rules that can be followed in 
 their instruction is to join several useful things, and to act so that 
 the books they read in order to learn the language may also be of 
 use to form their mind, judgment, and morals, to which this book 
 cannot contribute. . . . 
 
 It is a general opinion, and one of great importance to teachers, 
 that they should have in their mind all that they should teach 
 
 1 Add to this list the much more important history of great inventions 
 and discoveries. Nicole would have heartily approved of the creation of the 
 BiUiotheque des merveilles, whose plan, happily enlarged, responds to his 
 indications. 
 
 2 Nicole is here concerned with teaching Latin. His observations are none 
 the less accurate and useful. 
 
 3 See Lancelot's opinion on the book of Comenius. (Introduction, p. 15.) 
 
Nicole : Education of a Prince. 177 
 
 the children, and not be satisfied with simply finding it in their 
 memory when it is recalled to them. For we find many favour- 
 able opportunities of teaching children what we know well, and 
 make them when we will, and adapt ourselves better to their 
 capacity when the mind makes no effort to find what ought 
 to be read. . . . 
 
 Children should never be allowed to learn by heart anything 
 that is not excellent. For this reason it is a very bad method to 
 make them learn whole books by heart, because everything is not 
 equally good in books. . . . 
 
 This opinion is more important than is thought ; its aim is not 
 only to relieve the memory of children, but also to form their 
 mind and their style ; for things that are learnt by heart impress 
 themselves deeper on the memory, and are like moulds and forms 
 that the thoughts take when they wish to express them ; so that 
 if they only have good and excellent ones, they must necessarily 
 express themselves in a noble and elevated manner. 
 
 With respect to the study of rhetoric, Nicole makes this remark: 
 
 All those names of figures, all those subjects of arguments, all 
 those enthymemes and epicheremes will never be of use to any- 
 body ) and if they are taught to children, they should at least 
 be taught at the same time that they are very useless things. 1 
 
 Everything in the instruction of the elder scholars -should 
 be referred to ethics, and it is easy to apply this rule to what they 
 should be taught in rhetoric ; for true rhetoric is founded to true 
 ethics, since it should always leave a pleasing impression of the 
 speaker and make him pass for an honest man, which presupposes 
 that we know what honesty is, and which makes us liked. We 
 are speaking badly if we make ourselves disliked or despised 
 by speaking. And this rule obliges us to avoid all that savours of 
 vanity, levity, malignity, baseness, brutality, or effrontery, and 
 generally everything that gives an idea of any vice or defect 
 of mind. 
 
 1 It would be a signal service to the art of teaching to impress this upon 
 the masters and mistresses of our normal schools, who are still too much in 
 bondage to this old rhetoric. All these Greek names, that the children 
 so easily mispronounce, teach them nothing really useful. The secrets of the 
 art of writing should be taught by the explanation of good authors. 
 
 N 
 
Port-Royal Education. 
 
 There is, for example, in Pliny the Younger, an air of vanity 
 and a sensitive love of reputation which spoil his letters, kowever 
 full of wit they may be, and give them a bad style, because we 
 can only imagine him as a vain and superficial man. The same 
 defect makes the person of Cicero despicable at the same time 
 that we admire his eloquence, because this air appears in almost 
 all his works. 1 No man of honour would wish to resemble 
 Horace or Martial in their malignity and impudence. Now, 
 to give these ideas of oneself is to offend against true rhetoric as 
 well as against true morality. 
 
 There are two kinds of beauty in eloquence of which we should 
 endeavour to render children sensible. One consists of good and 
 solid, but extraordinary and surprising thoughts. Lucan, Seneca, 
 and Tacitus are full of this kind of beauties. 
 
 The other, on the contrary, does not at all consist in rare 
 thoughts, but in a certain natural air, an easy, elegant, and 
 delicate simplicity, which does not strain the mind, which only 
 presents to it common, but lively and pleasing images, and 
 which can follow it in its movements so well, that it never fails to 
 put before it, on every subject, objects by which it may be 
 touched, and to express all the passions and emotions that the 
 things it represents ought to produce on it. This is the beauty 
 of Terence and Virgil. And we see by this that it is still more 
 difficult than the other, since there are no authors who have been 
 less nearly approached than these two. 
 
 It is this beauty, however, that causes the pleasure and charm 
 
 1 M. Legouve has warmly taken up the defence of Cicero in his eloquent 
 reply to the address of reception of M. G. Boissier : "One day the Emperor 
 Augustus surprised his grandson reading a book that he made haste to hide ; 
 the Emperor took the volume, it was a work of Cicero. After having read a 
 few lines he returned it to the child, and added in an agitated voice, in which 
 perhaps there was some remorse : ' My son, that man deeply loved his 
 country ! ; This was Cicero's dominant trait, this effaces all his faults, 
 this nourishes and immortalises his genius. . . What matters that this 
 great man had some small weaknesses, some passing vanity ? As soon 
 as the interest of Rome appeared, vanity, fears, hesitation, all disappeared ; 
 he saw but one thing, his country ; he had but one aim, the safety of Rome, 
 and he went straight, not only to duty, but to heroism, so that it may be said 
 that in those terrible civil commotions he had many small fears and great 
 courage. . . Ah ! believe me, sir, when we meet with such men in history we 
 must not diminish their greatness by their weaknesses, but sink their weak- 
 nesses in their greatness ! " (Academic franchise, seance du 21 dec., 1876.) 
 
Nicole: Education of a Prince, 179 
 
 of polite conversation ; and thus it is more important to make it 
 appreciated by those whom we instruct than that other beauty of 
 thoughts, which is much less in use. 
 
 If we do not know how to mingle this natural and simple 
 beauty with that of great thoughts, we run the risk of writing 
 and speaking badly in proportion to our endeavour to write 
 and speak well; and the more intelligence we have the more 
 we fall into this vicious style. For this throws us into the 
 antithetic style, which is a very bad one. Even if thoughts 
 are good and solid in themselves, they nevertheless weary and 
 overwhelm the mind if they are in too great numbers, and 
 if they are employed on subjects which do not require them. 
 Seneca, who is admirable when taken in parts, wearies the mind 
 when read consecutively, and I think that if Quintilian rightly 
 said of him that he was full of agreeable defects, we may 
 say with as much reason that he is full of disagreeable beauties 
 disagreeable by their number and by the design that he appears to 
 have had of saying nothing simply, but putting everything in 
 antithetical form. There is no fault that it is more necessary 
 to point out to children when they are a little advanced than 
 that, because there is none which more destroys the fruit of 
 studies in what regards language and eloquence. 
 
 Everything should tend to form the judgment of the children, 
 and impress on their minds and hearts the rules of true morality. 
 Every occasion should be taken to teach it to them; but, 
 nevertheless, certain exercises may be practised which tend to 
 it more directly. And, firstly, we must endeavour to confirm 
 them in the faith, and strengthen them against the maxims of 
 free-thinking and impiety, which spread only too much in 
 courts. . . . 
 
 A book has just been published which may be one of the most 
 useful that can be put into the hands of intelligent princes. It is 
 the collection of Pensees of M. Pascal. In addition to the incom- 
 parable advantage that may be drawn from it to confirm them in 
 the true religion by reasons which will appear to them so much 
 the more solid the deeper they go into them, and which leave this 
 most useful impression that nothing is more ridiculous than 
 to make a boast of free-thinking and irreligion, a thing that 
 
i8o Port-Royal Education. 
 
 is more important than can be believed for the great, there is, 
 besides, an air so grand, so elevated, and at the same time so 
 simple and so far removed from affectation in everything that he 
 writes, that nothing is fitter to form their minds and to give them 
 the taste for and the idea of a noble and natural manner of 
 writing and speaking. 1 . . . 
 
 Saint Basil advises to teach children sentences taken from the 
 Proverbs and the other books of Solomon, to sanctify their 
 memory by the word of God, and to instruct them in the 
 principles of morality. . . . 
 
 To these sentences from the Proverbs might be added others 
 drawn from pagan authors, setting them to learn only one a day. 2 
 This practice would suffice in the course of a few years to make 
 them retain the finest thoughts of the poets, historians, and 
 philosophers, and would even give an opportunity by choosing 
 some suitable to their faults, which would serve to point them out 
 and set them before their eyes in a gentle and less unpleasant 
 manner. 
 
 It would be too severe to absolutely forbid the children to use 
 pagan books, since they contain a great number of useful things ; 
 but the teacher should know how to render them Christian by the 
 manner in which he explains them. There are very true maxims 
 in these books, and these are Christian in themselves, since all 
 truth comes from God and appertains to God ! 3 It remains, then, 
 either to approve of them simply, or to show that the Christian 
 religion carries them farther, and makes the truth penetrate them 
 deeper. There are others that are false in the mouth of pagans, 
 
 1 Nicole no longer holds this language in his strange letter on the subject 
 of the Pensees of Pascal. (See Introduction, p. 24. ) 
 
 2 Seneca, in his Letters to Lucilius, recommends his friend to gather in his 
 reading a maxim and to make of it "the food for the day." The suggestion 
 of Nicole is excellent, and deserves to be taken into consideration. Teachers 
 would find it a wonderful help in teaching morality. 
 
 3 These broader and sounder views soften what Nicole, led away by 
 an unreasoning piety, has said elsewhere of pagan literature, in which 
 he sees only the inspiration of the devil. (See Introduction, p. 23.) 
 Minucius Felix says in his Octavius: "It seems to me that at times the 
 ancient philosophers agree so well with the Christians, that it might be said, 
 either that the present Christians are philosophers, or that the former 
 philosophers were Christians. 
 
Nicole: On Preserving Peace with Men. 181 
 
 but very sound and true in that of Christians. 1 And this is what] 
 a teacher should distinguish, by pointing out the hollowness of the! 
 pagan philosophy and opposing to it the solidity of the principles! 
 of Christianity. 
 
 In fine, there are some absolutely false, and he must show their 
 falseness by clear and solid reasons. By this means everything in 
 these books will be useful, and they will become books of piety, 2 
 since the very errors they contain will be used to make known the 
 truths which are contrary to them. . . . 
 
 (Nicole, Traite de V education d'un prince.) 
 
 OF THE MEANS OF PRESERVING PEACE WITH MEN. 
 
 . . . This agreement of faith and reason appears nowhere so 
 well as in the duty of preserving peace with those who are united 
 with us, and of avoiding all occasions to disturb it. And if 
 religion prescribes this to us as one of the most essential duties of 
 Christian piety, reason leads us to it also as one of the most im- 
 portant for our own interest. 
 
 For we cannot consider with any attention the source of the 
 greater part of the disquiet and opposition from which we suffer, 
 or from which we see others suffer, without recognizing that they 
 usually come from the fact that we do not sufficiently give way to 
 each other. And if we will do justice to ourselves, we shall find 
 that we are seldom spoken ill of without reason, or that men take 
 pleasure in hurting and offending us for their amusement; we 
 always contribute something to it. If there are no approximate 
 causes there are distant ones. And we fall unconsciously into 
 a number of small faults, with respect to those with whom we 
 live, which dispose them to take in bad part what they would 
 
 1 A singular and inadmissible assertion ! Truth is truth. What differ- 
 ence, for example, can be found, without the spirit of system, between these 
 words of Plato, "There is no other means of making ourselves loved by 
 God than to labour with all our strength to resemble Him " (Lois, liv. iv.), 
 and this precept of Christ, "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is 
 perfect " ? (See the conscientious work of M. EM. HAVET, Le christianisme et 
 ses origines. ) 
 
 2 These books, which he denounced as the works of the devil, are here re- 
 habilitated. (See Introduction, p. 23.) 
 
1 82 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 suffer without any trouble if they had not already the beginning 
 of bitterness in their mind. In fine, it is almost always true that, if 
 men do not love us, it is because we cannot make ourselves loved. 
 
 We contribute, then, ourselves to this disquiet and opposition, 
 and to these troubles that others cause us ; and as it is partly this 
 that renders us unhappy, nothing is more important for us, even 
 from a worldly point of view, than to set ourselves to avoid them. 
 And the science that teaches us to do this is a thousand times 
 more useful than all those that men learn with so much pains and 
 time. There is reason, therefore, to deplore the bad choice 
 that men make in the study of arts, exercises, and sciences. They 
 take great pains to acquire a knowledge of matter, and to find the 
 means of making it useful for their needs. They learn the art of 
 taming animals and employing them in the labours of daily life, 
 and do not give a thought to that of making men useful to them, 
 and preventing them troubling them and rendering their lives un- 
 happy, although men contribute infinitely more to their happiness 
 or unhappiness than all the other creatures. . . . 
 
 Charity not only includes all men, but includes them at all times. 
 Thus we should have peace with all men and at all times, for there 
 is no time in which we ought not to love them and desire to serve 
 them ; and, consequently, there is none in which we should not, 
 for our part, remove all the obstacles that we may meet with, of 
 which the greatest is the aversion and coolness that they may feel 
 towards us. So that, even when we cannot preserve with them an 
 interior peace, which consists in unity of sentiments, we should 
 endeavour to preserve an exterior peace, which consists in the 
 duties of human civility, in order not to make ourselves incapable 
 of serving them some day, and to bear witness before God of our 
 sincere desire to do so. 
 
 Besides, if we do not actually serve them, we are obliged, at 
 least, not to hurt them. Now leading them to become cool 
 towards us by offending them is hurting them. It is doing them 
 a real harm to dispose them by the coolness they conceive towards 
 us to take our actions and words in bad part, to speak of them in an 
 unjust manner which would hurt their conscience and, in fine, to 
 despise even the truth from our mouth, and not to love justice 
 when it is we who defend it. 
 
Nicole: On Preserving Peace with Men. 183 
 
 It is, then, not only the interest of men, but also that of truth 
 itself, which obliges us not to embitter them needlessly against us. 
 If we love it, we should avoid making it odious by our impru- 
 dence, and closing its entrance into the heart and mind of men by 
 closing'it to ourselves; and thus, to lead us to avoid this defect the 
 Scripture warns us, that wise men adorn knowledge, that is to say, 
 render it venerable to men, and that the esteem that they attract by 
 their moderation makes the truth which they announce appear 
 more august ; whereas by making ourselves despised or hated by 
 men we dishonour it, because contempt and hatred usually pass 
 from the person to the teaching. . . . 
 
 The trouble does not lie in convincing ourselves of the necessity 
 of preserving union with our neighbour, it is really to preserve it 
 by avoiding all that can disturb it, and it is certain that a large 
 charity alone can produce the grand effect. But, among the 
 human means that it is useful to employ, it seems there is none 
 more fitting than to endeavour to learn the usual causes of the 
 divisions that take place among men, in order to be able to 
 prevent them. Now, considering them in general, we may say 
 that we only fall out with men because in offending them we lead 
 them to hold themselves aloof from us ; or because being offended 
 by their actions or words we ourselves keep away from them, and 
 give up their friendship. Both may happen either by open 
 rupture, or by gradually increasing coolness ; but however it may 
 happen, it is always these reciprocal discontents which cause 
 divisions ; and the sole means of avoiding them is never to do 
 anything that may offend another, and never to be offended by 
 anything ourselves. 
 
 Nothing is easier than to prescribe this generally. But there are 
 few things more difficult to practise in particular ; and we may say 
 that here is one of those rules which, being short in words, are 
 very general in sense, and include in their generality a great 
 number of very important duties. For this reason it will be 
 profitable to develop it by examining more particularly by what 
 means we may avoid offending men, and may put our own minds 
 in a condition not to be offended by what they may do or say 
 against us. 
 
 The means of succeeding in the practice of the first of these 
 
184 Porl-Royal Education. 
 
 duties is to learn what it is that offends them, and causes aversion 
 and coolness. Now it seems that all these causes may be reduced 
 to two, namely, contradicting their opinions and opposing their 
 passions. . . . 
 
 Men are naturally attached to their opinions, because they 
 always have some desire to rule over others in every possible 
 manner. Now we rule in a certain way by our reputation ; for 
 it is a kind of authority to make others receive our opinions. 
 And thus the opposition we meet with wounds us in proportion 
 as we are fond of this sort of domination. Man puts his joy, 
 says the Scripture, in the thoughts that he sets forth. For in 
 setting them forth he makes them his own, he makes them 
 his goods, he clings to them by interest; to destroy them is to 
 destroy something belonging to him. It cannot be done without 
 showing him that he is mistaken, and a man has no pleasure in 
 being mistaken. He who contradicts another on any point claims 
 to have more knowledge of it than he has. And thus two dis- 
 agreeable ideas are presented to him at once one, that he fails 
 in knowledge ; the other, that he who corrects him surpasses 
 him in intelligence. The first humiliates him, the second arouses 
 his jealousy. These impressions are more deep and clear as the 
 desire to rule is more lively and active ; but there are few persons 
 who do not feel them in some degree, or who submit to contradic- 
 tion without some displeasure. 
 
 Besides this general cause, there are several others which make 
 men cling to their ideas, or make them more sensitive to con- 
 tradiction. Although it may appear that piety, by diminishing 
 the esteem we may have for ourselves, and the desire to dominate 
 over the minds of others, ought to diminish our attachment to 
 our own opinions, it often has the contrary effect. For as 
 spiritual persons 1 look at all things from a spiritual point of 
 view, and yet are sometimes deceived, sometimes also they 
 spiritualize certain falsehoods, and support some unsettled or 
 ill-founded opinions with conscientious reasons, which cause them 
 to cling to them with obstinacy. So that, applying their general 
 love of truth, virtue, and the interests of God to those opinions 
 
 1 That is, those who live a spiritual rather than a bodily life. 
 
Nicole: On Preserving Peace with Men. 185 
 
 which they have not sufficiently examined, their zeal is aroused 
 and inflamed against those who oppose them, or who show that 
 they are not persuaded by them ; and what remains of the desire 
 to rule, mingling and blending with these impulses of zeal, spreads 
 so much the more freely as they make less resistance, and do not 
 discriminate this double movement which acts in their heart, 
 because their mind is only perceptibly occupied with these spiritual 
 reasons, which appear to them the sole source of their zeal. . . . 
 
 The impatience which leads us to contradict others with warmth 
 comes from the fact that we find a difficulty in allowing others to 
 hold different opinions from our own. These opinions offend us, 
 not because they are contrary to truth, but because they are 
 contrary to our feelings. If our aim were to be of use to those 
 whom we contradict, we should employ other means and measures. 
 We only wish to subject them to our opinions, and exalt our- 
 selves above them ; or, rather, we wish, by contradicting them, 
 to take a small vengeance for the annoyance they have given 
 us by offending our feelings. So that there are altogether in 
 this proceeding pride, which causes this annoyance, want of 
 charity, which leads us to revenge ourselves by an injudicious 
 contradiction, and hypocrisy, which makes us cloak our corrupt 
 feelings under the pretext of love of truth, and the charitable 
 desire of disabusing others, whereas, in fact, we are only seeking 
 to gratify ourselves. And thus what the sage says may be applied 
 to us, that the warnings that a man who wishes to insult gives 
 are false and deceitful : Est correptio mendax in ore coniumeliosi. 
 Not that he always says false things, but that, in wishing to appear 
 to have the desire to serve us by correcting us for some fault, he 
 only has the desire to displease and insult us. 
 
 We ought, then, to regard this impatience that leads us to 
 oppose without discernment what appears to us false as a very 
 considerable fault, which is even greater than the pretended 
 error from which we wish to free others. Thus, as we owe 
 the first charity to ourselves, our first care should be work 
 upon ourselves, and endeavour to put our mind into such a 
 state as to bear without emotion the opinions of others which 
 appear false to us, in order never to oppose them, but with the 
 desire to be useful to them. . . . 
 
1 86 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 We must not, however, carry the principles which we have 
 laid down so far as to scruple generally in conversation, to show 
 that we do not approve some of the opinions of those with 
 whom we live. This would be destroying social intercourse 
 instead of preserving it, because this restraint would be too 
 great, and everyone would prefer to stay at home. This reserve, 
 then, should be confined to the most essential things, and to 
 those in which we see men take most interest; and there are 
 methods of contradicting them by which it would be impossible 
 for them to be offended. And this should be especially studied, 
 since public intercourse could not exist if we had not the liberty 
 of showing that we do not hold the opinions of others. 
 
 Thus it is very useful to carefully study how we may express 
 our opinions in a manner so gentle, reserved, and agreeable, that 
 no one can be offended by them. 
 
 Men of the world do this admirably with respect to the great, 
 because cupidity makes them find the means. And we should 
 find them as easily as they do if charity were as active in us as 
 cupidity is in them . . . and made us as apprehensive of offending 
 our brethren ... as they are of offending those whom they have 
 an interest in making use of to further their fortune. 
 
 This practice is so important and so necessary during the whole 
 
 course of life, that special care should be taken in using it. For 
 
 i very often it is not so much our opinions that offend others as 
 
 i the haughty, presumptuous, passionate, disdainful, and insulting 
 
 I manner in which we express them. We should, then, learn to 
 
 'contradict politely and gently, and to consider the faults we 
 
 make in this as very considerable. 
 
 It is difficult to comprise in special rules and precepts the 
 various ways of contradicting the opinions of others without 
 offending them. Circumstances give rise to them, and the 
 charitable fear of offending our brethren makes us find them. 
 But there are certain common faults that we should be careful 
 to avoid, and which are the ordinary sources of this bad conduct. 
 The first is an air of superiority, that is to say, an imperious 
 manner of expressing our opinions, that very few people can 
 put up with, as much because it indicates a proud and haughty 
 spirit, which is naturally disliked, as because it seems that we 
 
Nicole: On Preserving Peace with Men. 187 
 
 wish to dominate and make ourselves masters over the minds of 
 others. . . . 
 
 For example, it is a kind of superiority to show displeasure 
 that we are not believed, and to complain of it; for it is like 
 accusing those to whom we speak either of a stupidity that 
 prevents them understanding our reasons, or of an obstinacy 
 which prevents their yielding to them. We ought to be per- 
 suaded, on the contrary, that those who are not convinced by our 
 reasons will not be shaken by our reproaches, since these re- 
 proaches give them no more information, and only show that we 
 prefer our own opinion to theirs, and that we are careless of 
 offending them. 
 
 Another great fault is to speak with an authoritative air, as 
 if what we say cannot reasonably be contested; for we offend 
 those to whom we speak in this manner by making them feel that 
 they are opposing an indubitable fact, or by making it appear 
 that we wish to deprive them of the liberty of examining and 
 judging by their own intelligence, which appears to them an 
 unjust assumption. 
 
 It was to lead religious men to avoid this offensive manner 
 that a saint advised them to season their discourse with the salt 
 of doubt, as opposed to that dogmatic and authoritative air: 
 Omnis sermo vester dubitationis sale sit conditus, because he 
 thought that humility did not allow us to claim such a perfect 
 knowledge of the truth as not to leave room for doubt. 1 
 
 For those who have this peremptory manner bear witness that 
 not only they have no doubt of what they advance, but also that 
 they will not have others doubt of it. Now this is demanding 
 too much of others, and claiming too much for ourselves. Every 
 man wishes to be the judge of his own opinions, and only to 
 accept -them because he approves them. All that these persons 
 gain, then, by this is that men attach themselves more than they 
 otherwise would to reasons for doubting what they say, because 
 
 1 We must not, however, on this pretext, adopt the ridiculous position of 
 Marphurius : "Seigneur Sganarelle, change this mode of speaking, if you 
 
 E lease. Our philosophy commands us not to enounce a decisive proposition, 
 ut to speak of everything with doubt, and always to suspend our judg- 
 ment ; and for this reason you should not say * I am come, but, * It seems 
 to me that I am conic.' " (MoLikiiE, U Afariage force, act i. sc. 8.) 
 
1 88 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 this manner of speaking arouses a secret desire of contradicting 
 them, and of showing that what they propose with so much 
 assurance is not certain, or not so certain as they imagine. . . . 
 
 Employing insulting and depreciatory terms in an argument is 
 so visible a fault that it is not necessary to refer to it. But it is 
 proper to remark that there is a roughness and incivility that 
 proceed from contempt, although they may come from another 
 principle. It is sufficient to convince those whom we oppose that 
 they are wrong and mistaken, without making them feel, by using 
 harsh and humiliating expressions, that we think they have not 
 the least spark of intelligence. And the change of opinion to 
 which we wish to drive them is sufficiently hard for human nature 
 without adding new difficulties to it. These terms can only be 
 useful in written refutations, in which the design is to convince 
 those who read them of the small intelligence of him who is 
 refuted rather than to convince the man himself. 
 
 In fine, abruptness, which does not so much consist in harshness 
 of terms as want of certain palliatives, offends also, usually 
 because it includes a species of indifference and disdain. For it 
 leaves the wound made by the contradiction without any remedy 
 to diminish the pain. Now it is not showing sufficient regard for 
 men to give them pain without feeling it ourselves, and without 
 endeavouring to relieve it; and abruptness does not do this, 
 because, properly speaking, its essence consists in not doing it, 
 and in saying harsh things harshly. We treat tenderly those 
 whom we love and esteem, and thus we openly testify to those 
 whom we do not treat so, that we have no friendship nor esteem 
 for them. 
 
 It is not enough to avoid offending men in order to preserve 
 peace with them; we must also bear with them when they 
 commit faults against us. For it is impossible to preserve 
 internal peace if we are so sensitive to what they may do and 
 say contrary to our inclinations and feelings; and it is difficult 
 for the internal displeasure that we have conceived not to break 
 out and dispose us to act towards those who have offended us 
 in a manner capable of offending them in their turn, and this 
 gradually increases the differences, and often carries them to 
 extremities. 
 
Nicole: On Preserving Peace with Men. 189 
 
 We must endeavour, then, to stop divisions and quarrels in 
 their very beginning. Self-esteem never fails to suggest to us 
 on this subject that the means of succeeding in it would be 
 to correct those who incommode us and to bring them to reason, 
 showing them that they are wrong in acting towards us as they 
 do. This leads us to complain of the proceedings of others and 
 to notice their faults, either to correct what displeases us in them, 
 or to punish them by the vexation our complaints may cause them 
 and the disapprobation they may draw upon them. 
 
 But if we ourselves were really reasonable, we should easily 
 see that this design of establishing peace by the reformation of 
 others is ridiculous, because its success is impossible. The more 
 we complain of the proceedings of others, the more we exasperate 
 them against ourselves without correcting them. We cause 
 ourselves to be considered fastidious, proud, and haughty, and 
 the worst is that this opinion will not be altogether unjust, since, 
 in fact, these complaints only proceed from fastidiousness and 
 pride. Those even who show that they accept our reasoning, 
 and who think that some injustice has been done us, will not 
 fail to be ill-satisfied with our sensitiveness. And as men are 
 naturally inclined to justify themselves, if those of whom we 
 complain have a little tact, they will turn things in such a 
 manner as to put us in the wrong ; for the same defect of 
 narrowness of mind and want of equity which attributes to 
 people the faults of which we complain, prevents them also 
 very often from acknowledging them, and makes them take as 
 true and just all that may serve to justify them. 
 
 For if those of whom we complain are higher than ourselves 
 in rank, influence, or authority, the complaints that we might 
 make would be still more useless and dangerous. They can only 
 give us the malignant and transitory satisfaction of getting them 
 condemned by those to whom we complain, and produce in the 
 sequel durable and permanent bad effects, by exasperating those 
 persons against us and destroying all harmony that we might have 
 with them. 
 
 Prudence, then, obliges us to take the opposite road, to entirely 
 abandon the chimerical design of correcting everything that dis- 
 pleases us in others, and to endeavour to found our peace and 
 
i go Port- Royal Education. 
 
 repose upon our own proper reformation and on the moderation 
 of our passions. Neither the mind nor the language of men is 
 at our command, and we are accountable for their actions only 
 in so far as we have given occasion to them, but we are account- 
 able for our own actions, words, and thoughts. We are charged 
 to watch over ourselves and correct our faults; and if we do so 
 properly, nothing that comes from without will be able to trouble 
 us. ... 
 
 It is not sufficient, in order to preserve peace with ourselves 
 and others, not to offend anyone, and not to demand either friend- 
 ship, esteem, confidence, gratitude, or civility from anyone; we 
 must have a patience proof against all sorts of humours and 
 caprices. For as it is impossible to make all those with whom 
 we live just, moderate, and faultless, we must despair of being 
 able to preserve tranquillity of mind if we confine it to this 
 means. 
 
 We must expect, then, that, living with men, we shall find 
 disagreeable tempers, people who get angry without a motive, 
 who take things amiss, who argue, who show a haughty superiority 
 or a base and displeasing complacency ; some will be too pas- 
 sionate, others too cold ; some will contradict without any reason, 
 others will not bear the least contradiction in anything; some 
 will be envious and malicious, others insolent, full of themselves 
 and without regard for others ; some will be found who think 
 that everything is due to them, and who, never thinking of how 
 they act towards others, will not fail to exact from them excessive 
 deference. 
 
 What hope should we have of living quietly if all these defects 
 disturb, trouble, and upset us, and unsettle our minds ? 
 
 We must, then, bear them patiently and firmly, if we wish to 
 possess our souls, as the Scripture says, and prevent impatience 
 making us break out every moment, and throw us into all the 
 difficulties that we have spoken of ; but this patience is not a 
 very common virtue. So that it is very strange that, it being on 
 the one hand so difficult and so useful on the other, we take so 
 little pains to exercise ourselves in it, at the same time that we 
 study so many other useless and unprofitable things/ 
 
 One of the principal means of acquiring it is to minimise the 
 
Nicole: On Preserving Peace with Men. 191 
 
 deep impression that the defects of others make on us. And for 
 
 this purpose it is useful to consider : \^^^ 
 
 1. That, defects being as common as they are, it is foolish "to 
 be surprised at them and not to expect them. Men are made up 
 of good and bad qualities; they must be taken on this footing, 
 and whoever wishes to reap advantages from their intercourse 
 ought to resolve to submit patiently to the inconveniences that 
 are attached to it. 
 
 2. That nothing is more ridiculous than to be unreasonable 
 because another is so, to injure ourselves because another injures 
 himself, and to become a participator in all the follies of another, 
 as if we had not enough with our own defects and the misfortunes 
 of all the rest. Now this is what we do in losing patience at the 
 faults of others. 
 
 3. That, however great the defects that we find in others may 
 be, they only injure those who have them, and do us no harm 
 unless we voluntarily receive .the impression of it. They are 
 objects of commiseration, not of anger, and we have as little 
 reason to be irritated against the maladies of others' minds as 
 against those that attack their bodies. There is even this 
 difference, that we may contract bodily maladies against our 
 will, whereas only our own will can give entrance to mental 
 maladies. 
 
 4. We should not only regard the defects of others as maladies, 
 but also as maladies that are common to us, for we are subject to 
 them as they are. There are no defects to which we are not 
 liable, and if there are some that we have not, we have, perhaps, 
 others greater. Thus, having no reason to prefer ourselves to 
 them, we shall find that we have none to take offence at what 
 they do, and that if we suffer from them we make them suffer in 
 our turn. 
 
 5. The faults of others, if we could regard them with a tranquil 
 and charitable eye, should be lessons for us so much the more useful 
 as we saw the deformity in them much better than in our own, a 
 part of which self-esteem always hides from us. They might 
 give us an opportunity of remarking that the passions usually 
 have a different effect from what is asserted. We get angry in 
 order to make ourselves believed, and the more angry we become 
 
1 92 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 the less we are believed. We are offended because we are not so 
 much esteemed as we think we deserve, and we are less esteemed 
 the more we seek to be so. We are angry at not being liked, 
 wishing to be so by force, and we draw upon us still more men's 
 aversion. 
 
 We might also see with astonishment how far these same 
 passions blind those who are possessed by them. For these 
 effects, which are so perceptible to others, are usually unknown to 
 themselves. And it often happens that, making themselves 
 odious and disagreeable, they are the only persons who do not 
 perceive it. 
 
 And all that may help us to remember either faults into which 
 we formerly fell through like passions, or those into which we still 
 fall through other passions, which are not, perhaps, less dangerous, 
 and to which we are not less blind; and in this way, all our 
 attention being drawn to our own faults, we shall become more 
 disposed to bear with those of others. 
 
 In fine, we should consider that it is as ridiculous to get angry 
 for the faults and whims of others as to be offended because 
 the weather is bad, or is too cold or too hot, because our anger is 
 as little capable of correcting men as of changing the seasons. 1 
 It is even more unreasonable in this point, that by getting angry 
 with the seasons we do not make them either more or less in- 
 commodious ; whereas the exasperation that we feel towards men 
 irritates them against us, and makes their passions more lively 
 and active. 
 
 1 Nicole compromises his thesis by insisting too much on this excellent 
 precept of indulgence, especially by means of these comparisons more striking 
 than exact. Cold and^ heat are necessary consequences of physical phenomena. 
 Do men's vices and faults obey the same law ? If so, what becomes of 
 morality ? And if we can no more correct men than change the seasons, 
 what is the aim of education or preaching ? We must not try to prove too 
 much. 
 
Arnauld: Eulogy of Descartes. 193 
 
 EULOGY ON DESCARTES' PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ... A man must ill understand the philosophy of M. Descartes 
 to believe of it what this author x says : That it consists in some 
 truths, or seeming truths, mixed with some errors or uncertain 
 conjectures; that it draws bad conclusions from good premisses ; that 
 it defends and explains truths by false reasoning ; that if it some- 
 times find* the truth it is more by a happy accident than by a sure 
 method ; that it supports it rather by imagination than by science; 
 and that it is more fertile in discussion than in doctrine. We have 
 only to take the opposite of all this to form a true idea of the 
 philosophy of M. Descartes ; for never has a philosopher reasoned 
 more clearly and exactly, avoided long discourses, and said more 
 things in fewer words, been less satisfied with seeming truths and 
 uncertain conjectures, and taken more pains to build on the rock 
 and not on the sand, that is to say, to lay down nothing but on 
 clear and certain principles. It is only necessary to read the first 
 book of his Principles or his Meditations to be convinced of that. 
 Nothing is more ill-founded in this respect than the parallels that 
 this writer draws between heresy and philosophy. . . . 
 
 The author of the treatise then objected to philosophy that it 
 passed off as common opinions and the prejudices of habit, the 
 notions most universally received by all men, as heresies make the 
 things most universally received pass for popular opinions. Arnauld 
 accepts the parallel, but with the conclusion that if "the heretics 
 are wrong the philosophers are right." 
 
 Many judgments that men form on natural things may be false, 
 although they may be common to all rneo, because they have 
 a cause of error common to all men, namely, the prejudices of 
 their childhood. For as long as we are children, judging things 
 only by the senses, we are inclined to think that what we do not 
 perceive by any sense does not exist. Thus we all think, in our 
 
 1 Le Moine, dean of the chapter at Vitre, in Britanny, had composed 
 a treatise on the essence of the body and of the union of the soul with the 
 body, against the philosophy of Descartes. Arnauld, then at Delft, in 
 Holland (1680), replied to it in a letter to his niece, the mother Angelique 
 de Saint- Jean, which was found and published in 1780. 
 
 O 
 
194 Port-Royal Education, 
 
 childhood, that there is nothing at all in a bottle when there 
 is no more wine in it, because we do not see the air that has taken 
 the place of the wine. We think, in the same way, that all 
 heavy things fall of themselves; but there is this difference 
 between these two false judgments, that many correct the first, 
 because by degrees we learn about the air ; for, being sometimes 
 hot and sometimes cold, and being able to be moved with force by 
 the wind or a fan against our faces, the sense of touch teaches us 
 that we were deceived when we thought that it was nothing. 
 But because we could not discover by any sense the subtle matter 
 that draws down heavy bodies, it has been an opinion almost 
 universally received by men before M. Descartes that they have 
 themselves a certain quality, called heaviness, which is the cause 
 of their fall. Now I maintain that he was right in not resting on 
 this opinion, although it is universally received, because it is false, 
 and destroys one of the clearest proofs of the divinity, which 
 is that matter can never move of itself ; so that, since there is 
 movement in nature, matter must necessarily have received it from 
 a higher cause, which can only be God. There are many other 
 things in which M. Descartes has done well to reject as vulgar 
 errors what is believed without reason, because it was believed 
 in childhood, however universally received these opinions may 
 be 
 
 uc. . . 
 
 In creating the philosophers of the present day, God does not 
 give them a larger, more enlightened, and less defective intellect 
 than He did to those who lived two thousand years ago. The 
 general corruption of human nature does not diminish with the 
 progress of the ages ; rather it increases, and with it the blindness 
 of the natural intellect. Nothing is less sound than this assertion. 
 It is not a question of intellect in itself, whether it be greater 
 and less defective in the men of the present day than in those 
 of former times. It is, perhaps, equal in all men, and possibly 
 it is only the manner of using it that makes some men more able 
 than others. It is only a question, then, of ability itself, and not 
 even of general ability, but only of that which regards the natural 
 sciences. Now it is a ridiculous paradox to suppose that the most 
 ancient have always been the most learned men, for the reason 
 that the number of centuries increases the general corruption of 
 
A rnauld : Eulogy of Descartes. \ 9 5 
 
 human nature, and with it the blindness of the natural intellect. 
 If that were so it follows that there were before the deluge more 
 able physicians, more learned geometricians, and greater astronomers 
 than Hippocrates, Archimedes, and Ptolemy. Is it not clear, on 
 the contrary, that human sciences are perfected by time ? I do 
 not condescend to discuss it. It is plain that nothing is more 
 ill-founded than what this writer advances on the increase of 
 blindness of the natural intellect, in order to conclude from it, as 
 he does, that M. Descartes is not comparable to the philosophers 
 of antiquity. We must not flatter the men of this age, he says. 
 If they are compared, having only the light that they bring ivith 
 them into the world and without that which they receive through 
 instruction in the Christian verities, they are not comparable for 
 energy of mind, soundness of judgment, and accuracy of reasoning 
 with the great men of pagan antiquity. 
 
 But it is rather those great men of pagan antiquity who are by 
 no means to be compared in respect to the natural sciences, of 
 which alone we are speaking, with the great men of these latter 
 times. For all that Ptolemy and the most able astronomers of 
 past ages knew of the heavens and of the courses of the stars 
 does not approach what is known at present, since Copernicus 
 and Tycho Brahe* have carried this science very much farther 
 than it was before their time ; that Galileo has still more improved 
 it by the use of telescopes; and that such men of our time as 
 M. Huyghens and M. Cassini are still making new discoveries. 1 
 Galen understood anatomy best of all the ancients, and better 
 described the uses of the parts of the human body ; nevertheless, 
 this is almost nothing if we compare it to what Harvey, Stenon, 
 
 1 Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer, second century B.C. Copernicus, a Pole 
 (1473-1543), demonstrated the falsity of Ptolemy's theories, and founded the 
 planetary system, which places the sun in the centre of the universe. 
 Tycho Brahe, a Swede (1546-1601) ; a better theory of the moon and 
 numerous observations of the stars are due to him. Cassini, Jean-Dominique 
 (1625-1712), an Italian naturalized in France, the head of an illustrious 
 family of scholars, author of some remarkable works on Jupiter, Mars, Venus, 
 the satellites of Saturn and the Zodiacal light ; organizer of the Observatory 
 of Paris. Huyghens, a Dutchman (1629-1695), a celebrated mathematician 
 and astronomer. To him are especially due the discovery of Saturn's ring, 
 the adaptation of the pendulum to clocks, &c. The disastrous revocation 
 of the Edict of Nantes obliged him to leave France. 
 
196 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 Willis, 1 and so many others have discovered in our time. How 
 many things has chemistry (of which the ancients had no 
 knowledge) made known in minerals, plants, and the parts of 
 animals, of which the ancients had not the least suspicion, the 
 least ideal The invention of the microscope has given us, as it 
 were, new eyes to see an infinite number of God's works, of which 
 the ancients had no knowledge. Is it otherwise than by reason- 
 ing more accurately than the ancients that it has been discovered 
 that a vast number of effects, which they attributed to a fantastic 
 horror of a vacuum, ought to be attributed to the gravity of the 
 air? And, in fine, although Archimedes, Apollonius, and many 
 other great men of antiquity have left us some very fine things 
 in geometry and other parts of mathematics, a man must be a 
 very bad judge of these things not to admit that M. Descartes 
 has gone incomparably farther than all of them in his Geometry 
 and Dioptrics? I might say as much of music and mechanics; 
 the two small tracts that he gave upon them, which are almost 
 nothing, and which he wrote for pastime, are worth more than 
 all the ancients wrote on both these sciences. . . . 
 
 OF THE UNION OF THE SOUL AND BODY. 
 
 I cannot avoid showing here some indignation against this 
 opponent of M. Descartes' philosophy ; for who can bear with 
 patience that he should single out, in order to decry it, what all 
 enlightened philosophers, if they are at all equitable, must admit 
 to be his greatest glory, and what all pious persons must regard 
 as a singular effect of God's Providence, which has willed to 
 prevent the frightful leaning that many persons in these latter 
 times seem to have towards irreligion and freethinking, by a 
 means suitable to their disposition ? They are people who will 
 
 1 Galen, a Greek physician, second century A.D., much attached to the 
 ideas of Aristotle, dominated medicine throughout the Middle Ages as his 
 master did philosophy. Harvey, an English physician (1578-1658) ; his 
 most celebrated discovery was that of the circulation of the blood (1628). 
 Stenon, a Swedish anatomist (1638-1687). Willis, an English physician 
 (1622-1675). 
 
 2 Dioptrics is that part of optics that especially treats of refraction and 
 catoptrics of reflection. 
 
Arnauld: Eulogy of Descartes. 197 
 
 accept nothing but what can be known by the light of reason, 
 who have a thorough disinclination to begin by believing, who 
 suspect all who profess piety to be weak-minded, and who close 
 every avenue to religion by the opinion which they hold, and 
 which is, in the greater number, a result of their moral corrup- 
 tion, that all that is said of another life is nothing but fables, 
 and that everything dies with the body. There are minds of 
 this sort in all religions, and still more now among heretics 
 than among Catholics. And it is sufficiently clear that as long 
 as they hold these false principles, it is not to be hoped either 
 that the former will become sincere Catholics or the latter 
 embrace piety and become good Christians. It seems, then, that 
 it was most important, in order to remove the greatest obstacle 
 to the salvation of all these people, and prevent this contagion 
 from spreading more and more, to disturb them in their false 
 repose, which only rests on their persuasion that it is a weakness 
 of mind to believe that the soul survives the body. Now could 
 God, who uses His creatures as it pleases Him, and in this way 
 hides the operation of His providence, cause them this trouble, 
 so well fitted to make them return to themselves, better than 
 by raising up a man 1 who possessed all the qualities that this 
 sort of people could desire, in order to abase their presumption, 
 and force them at least to a proper mistrust of their pretended 
 lights] a grandeur of mind quite extraordinary in the most 
 abstract sciences ; an application to philosophy alone, which is 
 not suspicious to them j an open avowal to throw off all ordinary 
 prejudices, which is much to their taste, and which, by that very 
 fact, has found a way to convince the most incredulous, provided 
 they will only open their eyes to the light that is presented to 
 them, that nothing is more contrary to reason than to wish that 
 the dissolution of the body, which is nothing but the disarrange- 
 ment of certain parts of the matter that composes it, should be 
 the extinction of the soul? And how did he discover thatl 
 
 1 Arnauld, alone at Port-Royal, exhibits this lively admiration for the 
 genius of Descartes. I have shown in the Introduction, p. 28, Nicole's in- 
 consistency on this point, and, p. 11, the prejudice of de Saci, who smiles at 
 seeing Aristotle despoiled by a robber, who will be despoiled in his turn. 
 
198 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 Precisely by doing what this author thinks it so bad that he has 
 done, so depraved is his taste. 
 
 By establishing on clear principles solely founded on natural 
 notions, with which every man of good sense should agree, 
 that the soul and the body, that it is say, that which thinks and 
 that which has extension, are two substances totally distinct ; so 
 that it is impossible that the extended substance should be a 
 modification of that which thinks or that thought should be a 
 modification of extended substance. For that alone being well 
 established, as it is in the Meditations of M. Descartes, no free- 
 thinker who has an equitable mind can remain convinced that 
 our souls die with our bodies. For there are none who more 
 readily agree that nothing that exists returns into nothingness, 
 and that thus what is called the death of the body is the destruc- 
 tion of some parts of matter, which always remains in nature. 
 They cannot, then, imagine that the thinking substance can 
 be reduced to nothing, since the bodies themselves are not so 
 reduced. And they must, besides, admit that what may be called 
 destruction in the body cannot be suitable to that, because there 
 can be neither change nor disarrangement of parts in a substance 
 which has none, such as a thinking substance. 
 
 But this author, far from being grateful to M. Descartes for 
 having so clearly established the distinction between soul and 
 body, which is the only solid foundation of its immortality, makes 
 it a reason for insulting him, as if he had spoilt everything by 
 that. If M. Descartes, he says, has found some new secret in 
 nature^ it is that of having separated soul and body rather than 
 uniting them. . . . He could not more highly praise those whom 
 he undertakes to decry. Yes, we admit it, if anything renders M. 
 Descartes commendable, it is to have so clearly separated soul and 
 body, and to have so well established that they are two totally 
 distinct substances, of which one only is material, that we need 
 no longer trouble ourselves, after that, how two substances so 
 different can be united to form one man. He need not carry his 
 views very far before recognizing that it is infinitely more important 
 to convince men that the thinking part in them is entirely differ- 
 ent from that part of matter which forms their bodies, than 
 to prove to them that this part of matter is joined to their soul. 
 
Arnauld ' : Eulogy of Descartes. 199 
 
 They arc sufficiently convinced of this union, and there is more 
 reason to fear that they will carry it too far by conceiving of their 
 soul only as a more subtle part of their body, like the Epicureans 
 and the Stoics, than there is to fear that they may believe that 
 their soul is to their body what a pilot is to a ship that he navigates. 
 "We know that this last was the idea of the Platonists ; hence the 
 definition that they gave of man was that he is a soul that 
 governs a body. And St. Augustine deemed so little that this was 
 a pernicious error, that he reproduces the opinion of these philo- 
 sophers without condemning it in the book, Morals of the Catholic 
 Church, ch. iv., admitting that it is a rather difficult question to 
 solve. . . . M. de Pibrac, 1 also, has not been censured for saying 
 the same thing in one of his quatrains, which have had great 
 vogue, and have been translated into many languages : 
 
 That which you see of man is not man ; 
 It is the prison in which he is shut up ; 
 The tottering bed on which he sleeps a short sleep. 
 
 It is, therefore, very strange that this author was ignorant of 
 such a common thing, which makes him exclaim, after having 
 falsely attributed this operation to M. Descartes, This thought is 
 irrelevant, ridiculous, false, and heretical in philosophy itself, in the 
 judgment of all men, in all times, and in every part of the world, 
 except among the Cartists. 2 
 
 That is doubly false ; for it is not true that this was the opera- 
 tion of the Cartists ; and it is true that it was that of the great 
 philosophers of antiquity. However it may be, although it might 
 be said that the distinction that M. Descartes has so well estab- 
 
 1 Gui diiK seigneur de Pibrac, born at Toulouse in 1529, died 1584, 
 president c^^wtier and chancellor of Queen Marguerite at Nerac. Et. 
 Pasquier calls him "one of the lights of the age." De Thou, in his 
 Memoires, says of him, " A man of incorruptible probity ... a noble heart 
 and generous mind." Montaigne also celebrates "the worthy Monsieur 
 Pibrac, a mind so gentle, opinions so sound, manners so agreeable." (Essays, iii. 
 9.) His Quatrains moraux, contenant preceptes et enseignements utiles pour la 
 vie de Vhomme public were printed for the first time in 1574. "Translated 
 into all the languages of Europe, and even into Arabic, Turkish, and 
 Persian, they did more than secularize the teaching of virtue, they popular- 
 ized it ; this very small book has truly been the catechism of several 
 generations." (E. COUGNY, Pibrac, sa vie et ses Merits, 1869.) 
 
 2 We say Cartesians, from the Latin name of Descartes, Cartesius. His 
 philosophy is called Cartesianism, 
 
2OO Port-Royal Education. 
 
 lished between the soul and body might give reason to think 
 of man as the Platonists did, this would be the prick of a pin in 
 comparison with the great plague that he cured in destroying 
 by this distinction the impious opinion of the mortality of the 
 soul, which is principally founded on the idea that it is of the 
 same nature as the body, and which is the most damnable of 
 all errors, those who hold it being led to abandon themselves to all 
 their passions, because, being persuaded that there is nothing 
 to expect after this life, they have no curb to restrain them. 
 Where, then, is the judgment of those who, being obliged to 
 acknowledge, if they are at all fair, that the philosophy of M. 
 Descartes has, without comparison, broken up more than any 
 other the foundation of freethinking, hold it in small esteem, and 
 do not show any gratitude towards him but are disturbed by the 
 fear that it will lead men to think that they are not composed of 
 body and soul 3 It is like a man who should quarrel with the 
 doctor who had cured a mortal ulcer by a small incision, which it 
 might be feared he would not be able to close. The comparison is 
 exact, for here in the same way the fear is imaginary, the union of 
 soul and body being at least as well explained in this philosophy 
 as in any other. 
 
 (Arnauld, (Euvres, t. xxxviii. p. 90.) 
 
 EXCELLENT MAXIMS, INCLUDING SOME OF THE RULES 
 
 THAT A PRECEPTOR SHOULD LAY DOWN FOR 
 
 HIMSELF IN THIS EMPLOYMENT. 
 
 No art is without its rules, and no science without^^principles 
 and particular maxims. 
 
 It must not, then, be doubted that the Christian education 
 of children has its own, which are as much more excellent as the 
 end proposed is infinitely above the temporal conveniences and 
 advantages that are the object of the other arts and sciences. 
 
 There would be a greater number of these maxims if we wished 
 to repeat them all; I shall here set down only the principal, on 
 which each man may, if he shall think fit, make others for his own 
 special use. 
 
Coustel: Rules for Education. 2OI 
 
 To be very Assiduous ivith Children. 
 
 Nothing is so useful as assiduity for learning the temper, mind, 
 and genius of children ; x they may be hid for some hours, but it 
 is impossible for them to use a constant dissimulation. Thus we 
 are in a better position to counteract their bad inclinations by 
 seeing from what sources they spring. . . . 
 
 In order to judge how useful this assiduity is, we have only to 
 consider that what Plautus says of the general of an army may be 
 said of a preceptor, that disorders always happen when he is 
 absent, which his presence, no doubt, would have prevented. . . . 
 
 To be very Watchful of Himself and Them. 
 
 It is not sufficient for a preceptor to be assiduous with the 
 children confided to his care ; besides that, he must be very 
 watchful over himself and them. 
 
 Over himself, because children are lynx-eyed for the smallest 
 actions, words, and movements of their masters, to make them 
 the subject of their conversations and often of their raillery if\ 
 they are not well disciplined ; for this reason he should always 
 be on his guard, as if he were in an enemy's country. 2 
 
 He should also carefully watch over his children, for three 
 reasons. 
 
 The first is that it is much easier to prevent faults than to 
 correct them when they are once fixed in their hearts. There- \ 
 fore it is necessary to reprove them constantly. That which has 
 been once cut, as St. Bernard says, will quickly shoot out again 
 in them ; what has been driven away returns ; what has been 
 extinguished is relighted ; and what has only been lulled to sleep 
 soon awakens. 1 ^ 
 
 1 These pedagogic reasons have quite another value than the motive so 
 often given by the masters of Port-Royal, namely, the necessity of watch- 
 fulness to prevent the devil devouring his prey. (See Saint-Cyran, p. 76.) 
 
 2 " Remember," says Mme. de Maintenon to the Ladies of Saint-Cyr, 
 ''that you must appear irreproachable to children. You cannot imagine 
 how clear-sighted they are, and what small account they make of persons 
 whom they do not esteem. . . . You must not think that you will impose 
 upon children, they can discover the bad faith of persons who seek for 
 pretexts to hide their defects or their passions. Truth, as you know, pierces 
 through walls, and sooner or later appears, whatever care may be taken to 
 hide it." (Entretien, Dec., 1706.) 
 
2O2 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 The second reason is that the faults of children are usually 
 imputed to the teachers, and attributed to their want of care or 
 negligence. 
 
 In fine, the third and most important is the indispensable 
 obligation they are under to answer for them to God. . . . 
 
 This watchfulness of the preceptor refers not only to those who 
 are firm, whom he should, if possible, prevent from falling, but 
 also to those who have fallen, to whom he should give a hand to 
 raise them from their fall. 
 
 It should go so far as to take note of the tempers and dominant 
 inclinations of the children, in order to quickly apply the remedies 
 that prudence will show them to be the most useful, for it may be 
 said that the strength of desire, which only ceases in us with 
 death, is so much the more violent in them as the reason is 
 weaker, and that they have as yet no experience of the world. 
 It is necessary, then, to weaken and diminish it by retrenching all 
 that is capable of fortifying and encouraging it. 
 
 In order to do this, it is necessary to note their inclinations and 
 the direction of their natural disposition ; that is to say, whether 
 they are gentle, 'affable, and obliging, or, on the contrary, whether 
 they are proud, irritable, and disdainful; whether they are sober and 
 temperate, or whether they like drinking and good cheer ; whether 
 they have the fear of God, or are hasty and disobedient, &c. 
 
 But how are we to know this 1 ? you will say. I answer that their 
 disposition soon shows itself in their conversation and actions. 
 
 But it is not sufficient to know what the disposition of children 
 is, it must also be remedied. And this is the difficulty; for 
 wherever there is opposition there is a struggle, which is unpleas- 
 ing to human nature, which does not like to be reproved. 
 
 It is in this, then, that the vigilance, wit, and tact of a preceptor 
 should appear ; he should rouse a naturally slow child, and, on the 
 contrary, soften and restrain a too impetuous and excitable nature. 
 
 On this subject, it has been remarked that those who had 
 charge of the education of Sebastian, King of Portugal, 1 made a 
 
 1 Sebastian, the successor of John III., in 1557. Philip II. perfidiously 
 encouraged him to go to war in Morocco, where he met his death in the 
 bloody battle of Alcazar-Kebir (1578). Portuguese nationality was lost 
 until the awakening in 1640. 
 
Coustel: Rules for Education. 203 
 
 very great mistake, for he was of an ardent and fiery nature. As 
 he burnt with the excessive desire of acquiring glory, there was 
 material to form an Alexander if he had had the good fortune 
 to find an Aristotle ; but that failed him. Instead of moderating 
 the excessive ardour that he showed in everything, he was allowed 
 to follow his course. The most violent exercises were his ordinary 
 diversions. He affected, in hunting, the chase of the wild boar, 
 and went on the sea when it was most stormy, and he was praised 
 for this. But at last this courage, which had not early been 
 trained to submit to reason and allow itself to be conducted by 
 its light, became fatal to him. He was carried away by his zeal 
 to turn his arms against the Moors ; and this zeal, which was good 
 but not sufficiently under control, caused the loss of the battle of 
 Alcacer, which brought on his subjects numberless miseries, and 
 caused them to fall under the yoke of their greatest enemies. 
 
 It must, however, be admitted that more difficulty is found in 
 the practice than in the theory of this maxim. 
 
 To have Special Regard to their Good Morals. 
 
 I have already said that there is much difference between the 
 education that the pagans gave to their children and that which 
 Christians should give theirs. As the former had only the world 
 in view, they paid especial attention to making their children 
 recommendable by the sciences and polite literature. But it is] 
 not so with Christians ; they have heaven in view, for which 
 sciences are much less necessary than good morals. 
 
 We must imitate sometimes the sculptors, who are constantly 
 removing their imperfections, and sometimes the painters, who 
 finish their works by daily adding some new touch of the brush 
 or some new lines of beauty. 1 
 
 St. Chrysostom compares the soul of children to a golden city, 
 in the midst of which the King of Heaven wishes to place His 
 residence ; and he compares the preceptor to the governor, who 
 should watch over its preservation. 
 
 He says that its citizens are thoughts which go in and out by 
 three principal gates, the eyes, the ears, and the mouth. 
 
 1 These graceful expressions are borrowed from St. Chrysostom. 
 
2O4 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 He wishes the council to take every precaution and to do its 
 duty by setting trusty guards at these three gates, through which 
 death may enter into the soul. 
 
 As to the eyes, which are, he says, very difficult to guard, he 
 wishes children not to be taken to balls or the theatre. 1 For the 
 mouth, he wishes care to be taken that the children hold proper 
 discourse, that they do not sing secular songs, that they do not 
 pass their time in answering, slandering, or laughing at persons. 
 And as there is a great tie between the ears and the tongue, in 
 order to provide for the safety of the ears, he forbids too great 
 freedom of speech to be used before children, because they 
 resemble echoes that only repeat what they have heard. 
 
 To Separate them from those whose Company might be 
 Injurious to them. 
 
 As vices, whether bodily or mental, are easily communicated, 
 and as they work their way by an imperceptible contagion even 
 into the hearts of children, through their inclination to evil, one 
 of the principal objects of the vigilance of a preceptor is to 
 prevent the children under his care from having any intercourse 
 with those of their own age who might corrupt them, especially 
 if they are swearers, not decent in conversation, or given to wine 
 and dishonesty, for children are usually very much disposed to 
 imitate others in evil as well as good . . . 
 
 To have the Heart full of Charity towards them. 
 
 As in this employment the preceptor holds the place of the 
 parents, he should endeavour to enter into their spirit, and fill 
 his heart with the tenderness and love that nature has given 
 them for their children ; or, better, with the charity that . . . has 
 all the tenderness of natural affection without its defects and 
 weaknesses. 
 
 1 All the masters of Port-Royal are unanimous in condemning the theatre. 
 Lancelot gave up his preceptorship with the princesse de Conti, rather than 
 take her children to the theatre. Nicole calls dramatic authors public 
 poisoners, and does not even spare the Cid. Racine, who on this occasion 
 quarrelled with Port-Royal, succeeded, however, in getting Phcdrc approved 
 by Arnauld. 
 
Coustel : Rules for Education. 205 
 
 This charity will teach him not to treat them in a base and 
 flattering manner, overlooking the imperfections that he should 
 correct; nor in a domineering manner, which would become 
 hateful and insupportable to them, but in a manner always gentle 
 and condescending, so that the children fear him as their master, 
 respect him as their father, and love him as their best friend. 
 
 This will make him take every precaution to make them avoid 
 what will be injurious to them. 
 
 This will lead him always to speak to them, not in a rough 
 and repellent tone, but with a moderation and gentleness which 
 will give them the confidence that they should always have in 
 him. . . . 
 
 And, in fact, as heavy rains run over the surface of the ground 
 without penetrating and fertilizing it, so rough words make no 
 impression on the mind, into which they do not sink. 
 
 As studies give most trouble to young children, it will cause 
 him to seek every means of relieving them ; for example, by 
 telling them the words that they cannot find, explaining the 
 difficulties that stop them, and thus making their understanding 
 of their authors more easy; in fine, by encouraging those of 
 moderate capacity, and aiding them to learn their lessons, &c. 
 
 This charity also will make him bear with much patience a 
 hundred small defects that age will cure, by showing very often 
 greater signs of affection to those who have greater natural 
 imperfections, and imitating in this way the conduct of mothers 
 who caress more, says St. Bernard, the weakest of their children. 
 
 No doubt nothing is so useful both to the preceptor and to the 
 children as this kindly and charitable conduct, because it is an 
 infallible means for the preceptor to make himself loved, and to 
 incline his children, in consequence, to study and virtue ; for as 
 the heart is the source of all actions, being once master of that, 
 he gets done all that he wishes. 
 
 Love with all your heart, says St. Augustine, and afterwards 
 do what you like to your neighbour. If you reprove him and 
 become angry with him, he will not take offence, because he 
 knows that you act in this way only because you love him; and 
 even if you go so far as to chastise him, he accepts it, because he 
 is convinced that you only wish for his good. . . . 
 
2o6 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 To bear their Inattention to Study and all their other Defects icith 
 much Patience. 
 
 We must not be astonished to find defects in children. . . . 
 Whether these defects proceed from the corruption of nature or 
 the weakness of their age, it is necessary to bear them with much 
 patience and compassion, and assist the children to correct them 
 little by little. . . . 
 
 But, you will say, how is it possible to bear so many small 
 trifles, whose repetition makes them tiresome, as also their in- 
 attention to study and their small liking for the finest things that 
 are told them? 
 
 I admit that it is troublesome and annoying, and the more 
 intelligence and energy a person has the more trouble he has to 
 descend to these minutiae. 
 
 But it is necessary, however, thus to descend, in order to 
 elevate them little by little, and to imitate nurses, who are 
 satisfied with giving milk to their little ones, waiting for them 
 to grow and arrive at a state in which more solid food may 
 be given them. 
 
 And, in fact, demanding reason from children and exacting 
 from them firmness and attachment to what is good is like seeking 
 fruit on a tree newly planted. We must put up with their weak- 
 ness for some time. . . . We must remember the fine saying of St. 
 Chrysologus, that a physician who will not suffer with the patient, 
 and who does not become infirm with the infirm, is not in a 
 position to restore him to health. . . . 
 
 To treat them, as far as possible, with great Gentleness. 
 
 It is not sufficient to bear the faults of children with great 
 patience, but this toleration must be accompanied with great 
 gentleness. 
 
 Experience sufficiently shows that children who are treated too 
 severely, under the pretext of making them accomplished men, 
 imperceptibly accustom themselves to dissimulate, and that under 
 an appearance of virtue they conceal a fund of corruption and 
 horrible licentiousness. 
 
Coustcl : Rules for Education. 207 
 
 It is the same as regards studies, for too great severity in the 
 master very often induces aversion for them. We must, then, as 
 far as possible, and following Plato's advice, rather lead children 
 to virtue and study by the gentleness of persuasion than by 
 excessive rigour. . . . 
 
 Away, then, with those looks in which the marks of an odious 
 severity are continually depicted ! We cannot expect by frighten- 
 ing children to make them respect us and to lead them to their 
 duties, love being incomparably more powerful than fear in obtain- 
 ing from them what we desire. . . . 
 
 " Labour rather," says St. Bernard, " to make yourselves loved 
 by children than feared. And if sometimes it is needful to use 
 severity, let it be the severity of a father, and not that of a tyrant. 
 Show that you are the mothers of the children by treating them 
 with much tenderness, and their fathers by reproving them for 
 their faults. Cease to be haughty and cruel, and become gentle. 
 Lay aside punishments and rods. . . ." 
 
 But when I say that a preceptor should treat his children with 
 much gentleness, I do not mean that it should degenerate into an 
 indulgence that encourages vice and tends to multiply faults which 
 he is bound to punish, since this gentleness would be equally pre- 
 judicial to himself and the children. 
 
 And as the corruption of human nature seems at present to 
 have reached its height, although it is to be wished that all 
 children could always be treated with great mildness, there are 
 some, nevertheless, with respect to whom we must be contented 
 to keep it in our hearts, it being more advantageous to their well- 
 being that we should always appear rather severe ; and this it 
 seems is what the Holy Spirit meant to confirm by opposing, as 
 He does, that indulgence which is natural to parents, in many 
 passages where He seems always to put the rod into their hands. 
 
 " He that loveth his son causeth him oft to feel the rod, that he 
 may have joy of him in the end." (Eccles. xxx. 1.) 
 
 " He that spare th his rod hateth his son." (Prov. xiii. 24.) 
 
 " The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself 
 bringeth his mother to shame." (Prov. xxix. 15.) 1 
 
 1 The worthy Rollin will equally tax his ingenuity to soften the most 
 precise texts by an interpretation inspired by his love of children: "The 
 
208 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 To employ Exhortations rather than Threats in order to lead them 
 to Piety and Virtue. 
 
 What a man does against his will and by a sort of constraint 
 not only is not praiseworthy, but cannot even be lasting; for 
 what is forced soon returns to its previous state, as a tree that 
 has been forcibly bent soon returns to its former direction, whereas 
 what is done from free choice is usually stable and permanent. 
 
 We must, then, always endeavour to render virtue lovable in 
 itself, sometimes by praising before the children 1 those who are 
 really virtuous, and sometimes by making them understand the 
 shame and confusion by which bad actions are usually followed. 
 
 They must also always be exhorted to look to God rather than 
 man in all their actions, and to fear much more in their thoughts 
 the judgment of Him who penetrates the depths of the heart than 
 men's reproof by words. 
 
 When they do well they must be encouraged to do better, 
 because not to advance constantly on the road of virtue is to 
 recede ; and they must remember this proverb, that however good 
 a horse may be, he always needs the spur. . . . 
 
 To add Good Examples to Good Teaching. 
 
 It is not enough to give children good instruction, we must also 
 endeavour to give them good examples. . . . 
 
 Nothing has more influence on the mind, and especially the 
 mind of children, who notice much more what they see their 
 
 Holy Scripture, by these and other similar words, means perhaps punishment 
 in general, and condemns the false tenderness and blind indulgence of parents. 
 . . . Supposing it necessary to take the word rod literally, there is great 
 appearance that this chastisement is advised for those hard, gross, un teach- 
 able, and intractable characters which are insensible to reprimands or honour. 
 But can we think that Scripture, so full of charity and mildness, and of 
 compassion for weaknesses, even at a more advanced age, means that children 
 should be treated harshly whose faults often spring rather from thoughtless- 
 ness than perversity?" (Traite des ttudes, liv. viii.) 
 
 1 This was not the opinion of M. de Saci. (See p. 93.) He advises 
 Fontaine to thank God in secret for the good that he recognizes in children. 
 Pascal, who laments that " admiration spoils everything in children," states, 
 on the other hand, that " the children of Port-Royal, to whom this stimulus 
 to envy and glory is not given, fall into heedlessness." (Pens&s, ed. Havet, 
 p. 449.) 
 
Coustel: Rules for Education. 209 
 
 teachers do than what they may say to them, and can have only 
 contempt for the good that they propose when their actions are 
 not conformable to their words. 
 
 And, in fact, can we listen to a man who does not listen to 
 himself? And have we reason to think that he is convinced 
 of the truths that he endeavours to make others believe, when 
 he will not take the trouble to practise them ? x . . . 
 
 A preceptor should be to his children like clear glass and like a 
 beautiful mirror, in which they may see their spots and imperfec- 
 tions, or, again, like a rule, which corrects by its straightness 
 whatever was uneven and defective. He must speak to them, 
 I say, more by his actions than by his words, and must show 
 them the way in which they should go more by acting than 
 talking. 
 
 If he does himself what he intends to enjoin on those under 
 his charge, not only will he correct their faults, but also he will 
 shield himself from the just reproach that the Apostle addresses 
 to those who do not act thus : " Why do you not teach yourselves, 
 you who pretend to teach others ! " 
 
 Now, nothing serves a teacher to set a good example so much as 
 uniformity of conduct. 
 
 Lay down for yourselves, then, a good mode of life, and set 
 yourselves a rule to follow, said Seneca ; regulate all your actions 
 by it, for irregularity of conduct is the mark of an inconstant 
 mind which has no firm foundation. . . 
 
 1 Mme. de Main tenon sets this excellent lesson in a clearer light in a 
 letter to a lady of Saint-Cyr : "You will make them reasonable only by 
 imparting reason to them by your discourses and by your example, which 
 will be still more efficacious than your words. They will be very nearly 
 what you are ; if you are sincere, they will be sincere ; if you act uprightly, 
 they will act uprightly ; if you are remiss, they will be remiss ; if you are 
 superficial, they will be superficial ; if you act otherwise when you are seen 
 than you do when you are not seen, they will do the same ; if you are in 
 earnest, they will be in earnest in the things you give them to do ; if you 
 hide yourselves from your superiors, they will hide themselves from you." 
 (A Mme. de la Mairie, 1714.) 
 
2io Port- Royal Education. 
 
 OF CIVILITY AND POLITENESS IN CHILDREN. 
 
 It is not sufficient to do good, but we must always endeavour 
 to do it in the best manner possible. . . . And, in fact, as meats 
 good in themselves but badly seasoned are not very agreeable, so a 
 good action awkwardly done cannot be pleasing. 
 
 What I here call politeness and civility is an easy, open, and 
 becoming manner ; and I maintain that, in order to acquire it, 
 not only is it necessary to learn its maxims early, but to put 
 them in practice, according to this axiom of the philosophers, 
 that things that are learnt for use are best learnt by use. Now 
 the politeness of children should especially appear in their 
 deportment and their behaviour at table as well as in their 
 conversation. 1 
 
 Of the Manner in which they should Sit and Behave at Table. 
 
 They should always sit upright, without moving their arms and 
 legs about, and, if possible, without inconveniencing those who 
 are near them. 
 
 It is very impolite to be constantly looking at the dishes, and 
 devouring with our eyes all the viands that are served up. 
 
 You must not put your hand in the dish first, nor show signs of 
 impatience before you are served, or too much haste and eagerness 
 in eating w r hat has been given you. 
 
 Put gently on your plate what is offered you, bowing your head 
 slightly, to thank him who serves you, without taking off your 
 Jiatj 2 unless to persons who are of higher rank than yourself, and 
 foFwhom you are bound to have a marked respect. 
 
 1 Coustel justifies himself for entering into details that may appear 
 trivial by this judicious saying of Quintilian : "What must be done 
 deserves to be learnt." The annexed extract on behaviour at table is a very 
 curious study of manners. 
 
 2 La Biensfance de la conversation entre les hommes, published at Pont-a- 
 Mousson in 1618, mentions this custom of wearing the hat at meals : 
 "When you are at table, it is sufficient to make a slight bow, for it is not 
 seemly to imcover at table." 
 
 Father de la Salle recommends the guests to remain standing and un- 
 covered until grace has been said, and not to put on their hats until they 
 are seated, and the most distinguished persons have put on theirs." (Les 
 flegles de la bicnsdance et de la civilite' chreticnne.) 
 
Coustel : Civility and Politeness in Children. 2 1 1 
 
 Never refuse what is offered, for this would be a tacit reproach 
 either that it has not been well chosen or to show that it is not to 
 your taste. 
 
 It is advantageous to habituate yourself early to cut the meat 
 neatly, to present it gracefully, and even to learn which is the 
 best part of a capon, a partridge, or waterfowl. * 
 
 If you may take the liberty of putting your hand in the dish, 
 take what is before you, without seeking right and left what may 
 seem to you better. 
 
 If there is a nice piece, never take it for yourself, but present 
 it to those whom you have invited, or who are the most dis- 
 tinguished in the company. 
 
 Keep your eyes on your plate, without constantly looking over 
 others to see what they are eating. 
 
 Take what is served you with your fork, and not with your 
 fingers. 
 
 Do not put very large pieces into your mouth nor inflate your 
 cheeks in eating, as if you were blowing the fire. 
 I Do not break your bread with your hand, but always use your 
 jknife to cut it. 
 
 Masticate the meat you have in your mouth slowly; this con- 
 tributes very much to health, for the second digestion does not 
 correct the imperfection of the first. 
 
 Never dip in the dish a morsel you have already put in your 
 mouth. 
 
 Avoid as much as possible a diversity of meats, for nothing 
 ruins the stomach so much, or is so prejudicial to health. 
 
 Never begin a meal by drinking; that has too much the 
 appearance of the drunkard, who drinks more by habit than 
 necessity. Never be the first to drink. Wipe your mouth, and 
 swallow what you have in it before drinking. 
 
 Always put water in your wine. Pure wine is to the body 
 what oil is to fire ; for it inflames it more, instead of moderating 
 and diminishing the heat that is consuming it. 
 
 1 Father de la Salle enters into kitchen details on the different meats, 
 boiled or roast, and fish, "in order that you may not take the best parts 
 for yourself (which might happen by mistake, for want of knowing), and 
 may offer them seasonably to those to whom it is fitting." (CiviliM chrttienne, 
 p. 107.) Coustel, a few lines further on, gives the same reason. 
 
212 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 If anyone does you the honour of drinking your health, 
 modestly thank him who does so. 
 
 Do not make a boast of drinking to excess ; a barrel has a 
 much greater capacity than the largest stomach. 
 
 The custom of forcing others to drink the healths which have 
 been proposed, to the prejudice of their own, is neither honest 
 nor praiseworthy; a man must be a glutton and unmannerly to 
 do so. 
 
 \ Equals do not offer things to one another, presuming to do so 
 ps attempting to take the upper hand and act the host. 
 
 It is showing too great daintiness to complain that the viands 
 are ill-cooked, or that they are not to our taste. 
 
 If the company remain too long at table you may retire quietly, 
 after saluting them in a civil and obliging manner. 
 
 OF CONVERSATION. 
 
 Conversation must not be judged by the oddities and bad 
 temper of certain melancholy persons, but by the general feeling 
 that the Author of Nature has imprinted on the mind of all men. 
 God did not give them the use of speech to make them pass their 
 lives in the deserts, but to converse with one another, that they 
 may learn what they did not know, and may perfect themselves 
 in the knowledge of what they already know. As, then, con- 
 versation sharpens the wit, forms the judgment, makes us know 
 ourselves, and not have a blind attachment to our own opinions, 
 in fine, as it teaches us to live with everybody in an honest and 
 seemly manner, we are right in calling it the school of wisdom and 
 the teacher of civility. We may say that it is certainly very 
 useful, and may even go farther and maintain that it is necessary. 
 And, in fact, there are very many things that Jesus Christ 
 commands in the gospel that can only be done by conversing with 
 men, as, for example, consoling the afflicted, instructing the 
 ignorant, correcting those who commit faults, and setting on the 
 right road those who have strayed. 
 
 Admitting, then, the necessity for conversation, it may be asked 
 here, What ought to be its qualities? with what persons should 
 we converse? how should young persons conduct themselves 
 
Coustel ': Civility and Politeness in Children. 213 
 
 in it l \ what arc the principal faults to be avoided ? . . . Oaths, 
 blasphemy, indecent and equivocal words should be banished 
 from it, and, in a word, nothing should ever be said that may 
 pain the listener or shame the speaker. 
 
 It should be very circumspect. Thus it is ill to play the 
 cheerful man before persons who are afflicted or the sad with 
 those who only think of amusing themselves. . . . 
 
 It should be respectful and full of deference, especially towards 
 women and the aged, to whom good breeding should lead us 
 to give the best places. . . . 
 
 In the fourth place it should be sincere; for, as soon as we 
 accustom ourselves to disguises and deceit, we lose all influence, 
 and get involved in many awkward affairs. 
 
 In fine, it should be charitable towards ourselves and towards 
 others ; towards ourselves, by profiting by what is said ; for if a 
 learned man is speaking all that he says instructs, and if a 
 thoughtless person he should make those who listen to him more 
 reticent, in order not to commit the same faults. 
 
 It is also necessary in conversation to be charitable towards 
 others by falling in with their humour, by interpreting favourably 
 all that they say, by overlooking their defects, and, in fine, 
 by preventing improper talk and slander, if we have sufficient 
 authority for that, or, at least, in showing by our coolness and 
 silence that we will take no part in it. 
 
 It may be asked here if women's conversation is advantageous 
 to young men; to which it is not difficult to respond, if we 
 follow the light of Christianity rather than the corrupt maxims of 
 the age. . . . There is danger, no doubt, in the conversation of 
 women, who are called, on this subject, the snares of the devil, 
 and the net in which those who are not on their guard are 
 caught. 1 . . . 
 
 To show here that young men seldom think of forming their 
 minds by conversing with women, and of learning, as they say, 
 politeness and civility, they do not usually like the conversation 
 of those who are somewhat old, although their seriousness and 
 
 1 Nicole says, not very gallantly : " Having a woman for adviser is 
 having a double concupiscence." (Essais de Morale, t. vi. p. 266.) This was 
 not Franklin's opinion. 
 
214 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 great experience might be more useful to them; but they like 
 bodily much more than mental beauty; and the brightness of 
 a young face has more charms for them than the marks of 
 extraordinary virtue and merit in an old person. . . . 
 
 It is necessary to become acquainted with the ceremonies that 
 are practised in the country where we are. I mean by ceremonies 
 the outward marks of honour and respect that are paid to certain 
 persons. . . . 
 
 Ceremonies must be used with much prudence and propriety, 
 not too sparingly nor too prodigally. 
 
 To use none is boorish ; to use them through interest is 
 disguise and flattery ; to use them with persons who are very 
 busy is indiscreet ; and to use them with those whom we do not 
 intend to oblige is an insult. 
 
 Useless ceremonies should not be affected, refusing, for instance, 
 the first place when it is undoubtedly our due, and offering 
 battle, as they say, in order not to enter a door first. 
 
 You must not walk about when the others are sitting down, 
 nor bite your nails nor pick your teeth before company, thus 
 showing that their society is not agreeable, and that you seek 
 amusement by these little pastimes. 
 
 When you are seated you must not lean upon others nor turn 
 your back to them, nor stretch out your arms nor make un- 
 becoming gesticulations; such liberties are only allowable in 
 persons of much higher rank than the others. 
 
 It is a fundamental maxim of our religion always to treat 
 others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Always excuse, then, 
 the faults of others, and put a good construction on their actions 
 and words. Thus, if on entering someone does not salute you, 
 do not say that he despises or disdains you ; but rather suppose 
 that he did not see you, or that his mind was elsewhere and 
 occupied with something else. 
 
 Endeavour to keep an even temper, and fall in with the temper 
 of others when it is not in sympathy with your own. 
 
 Complaisance is the soul of society and the seasoning of conver- 
 sation. It should, then, be very great with respect to everybody, 
 yet without ever making us approve of what is manifestly unjust 
 and bad. . . . 
 
Const el : Civility and Politeness in Children. 215 
 
 Always be more pleased to listen to what others say than 
 to talk yourself, and on this subject remember what Plutarch 
 says, " that Numa taught the Komans to reverence more than any 
 other a goddess to whom he gave the name of Tacita (the 
 Silent). . . ." 
 
 The advantage gained by silence is that it makes those who 
 know how to observe it pass before the world as very wise, how- 
 ever ignorant and stupid they may be. 1 
 
 There are times when nothing should be said, there are others 
 when it is necessary to say something ; but there are none when it 
 is necessary to say all that we know. 
 
 Be very reserved when you are in company where there are 
 persons of rank, very learned men, and old men to whom age has 
 given much experience. 
 
 When you take upon yourself to speak, be careful of these 
 three things : of what you speak, before whom you have to speak, 
 how you ought to speak. 
 
 Do not open your mouth before you have well arranged and 
 digested in your mind what you have to say, 2 lest your thoughts 
 be like those abortions which have not had sufficient time to 
 be perfectly formed ; for the trouble we have in expressing our- 
 selves usually comes from the fact that we have not thoroughly 
 arranged what we have to say ; for we always express ourselves 
 well when we have arranged in our minds what we wish to 
 say. . . . 
 
 Do not undertake to speak of things which are above your 
 capacity, and only speak of those that you think you know best 
 with great moderation and reserve. 
 
 If you wish to pass for an able man strive to be really so ; for 
 
 1 Grimarest, in the Life of Molitrc, relates a very amusing scene. Moliere 
 and Chapelle, returning by water from Auteuil to Paris, were discussing 
 about Gassendi and Descartes before a friar minim who was on the boat, 
 and the two speakers took him for judge. The friar minim only replied by 
 "hum! hum I" or by motions of his head. Our philosophers were a little 
 confused on perceiving a little later by his wallet that he was a serving 
 brother, and quite a stranger to these questions. Moliere then said to 
 the young baron who accompanied them, " See, my lad, what silence does 
 when it is carefully observed." 
 
 2 " There are people," says La Bruyere shrewdly, "who speak a moment 
 before they have thought." (Caracteres, ch. iv.) 
 
216 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 time, which discovers all, will show you such as you are ; and 
 there may be someone in the company who will perhaps expose 
 your ignorance to your mortification. 
 
 If an opportunity offers of telling some story, come to the 
 point at once, without stopping to make a long and tiresome pre- 
 face, and always use in telling it proper, natural, and pleasing 
 expressions. . . . 
 
 Always endeavour to excuse him of whom evil is spoken ; and 
 if you cannot excuse the action that is blamed, excuse at least its 
 motive by saying that he was surprised, and that he did not 
 sufficiently reflect. If you cannot excuse the motive, attribute his 
 act to human infirmity and the strength of the temptation which 
 would very likely have carried away others if they had been in 
 the same position as he. 
 
 If anyone says something indecent, either pretend not to have 
 heard it, or show by your coolness or silence that you are 
 unwilling to take any part in it. 
 
 It is not necessary in company to remain always silent nor 
 to be continually talking ; the first would be a mark of stupidity 
 or contempt, and the other would show a too great assumption 
 of capacity. It is right for everyone to pay his share as much 
 for food for the mind as for food for the body. 
 
 Conversation should always be adapted to the places and 
 the persons with whom we are. Thus it is ungraceful to play 
 the Cato 1 before women, or the preacher before people who are 
 thinking only of amusing themselves. 
 
 Points of theology or questions difficult to resolve should not 
 be brought forward at table, but only those things on which each 
 may express his ideas without too much concentration of 
 mind. . . . 
 
 If a man has advanced an extravagant or pernicious opinion 
 it is useful and even praiseworthy for him to change it ; whereas 
 it would be a shameful thing to change an opinion that is just 
 and true. It is only persons of understanding and judgment, 
 says St. Augustine, who recall things ill said; and a man is 
 
 1 Cato the Censor (233-183 B.C.), celebrated for his seventy against luxury, 
 especially that of women. 
 
Coustel : Civility and Politeness in Children. 217 
 
 usually more admired when he becomes, against himself, the censor 
 of an opinion advanced out of season than if he had never held 
 it, or if he had corrected another. . . . 
 
 Jokers, boasters, and great talkers are not usually liked. 
 
 Here, however, innocent joking must be distinguished from that 
 which is altogether odious. 
 
 For there is joking that is not only permissible but which 
 even enlivens conversation, and, therefore, those who succeed in 
 it are always well received. Now I call a joke a sensible thing 
 said to the point, and which amuses. For this it should be : 
 
 1. Subtle and refined, for both the joke and the joker are 
 laughed at when it is not so. 
 
 2. The things that are joked upon should not be serious or 
 criminal, for there is no subject for joking when there is no 
 subject for laughing. 
 
 3. Great defects of body or mind should not be taken as 
 subjects for it. Man did not make himself; God made him 
 as he is; it is upon Him then that the jokes fall. 
 
 4. Joking must be used with discretion ; thus we should never 
 joke about the powerful. 
 
 5. We should never joke about the wretched, because they are 
 worthy of compassion. 
 
 In fine, joking should be used in moderation, for excess is 
 always blamable, and there is no pleasure in driving people to 
 extremes. 
 
 I do not speak here of those whose jokes are stinging, and 
 who do not care if they give pain and trouble to others, provided 
 that they show themselves off and acquire the reputation for 
 wit. Nothing lowers and makes a young man disliked more than 
 that. 
 
 Boasters, again, are very disagreeable persons in conversation, 
 for they have always in their mouths the names of their ancestors 
 and their estates, and talk only of their own clever schemes. 
 
 Be afraid of pleasing yourself, lest you please yourself alone. 
 It is the same with the good qualities of our minds as with the 
 nudity of our bodies. We should always hide them from our 
 servants, and modesty does not permit us to dwell on them. 
 
 There are also odd people who love only themselves, whom 
 
2i8 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 everything that others say displeases, and who think nothing 
 well done which they do not do themselves. 
 
 Obstinate and opjninnfl.f.p.fl persons are also very disagreeable. 
 
 When things are oi small consequence we should not wish to 
 carry them with a high hand ; victory is always dangerous in this 
 sort of encounters, since we often lose a good friend for a thing of 
 no value. Besides, we show our bad humour in good company. 
 (Coustel, Regies de ^education des enfants.) 
 
 ON THE PERSECUTIONS OF PORT -ROYAL. 1 
 
 . . . There must be a strange confusion in the affairs of this 
 world, since we see those who may certainly be said to have done 
 some service to the Church persecuted, ill-treated, calumniated, 
 and oppressed under the fictitious name of an imaginary sect, and 
 scarcely daring to defend themselves against the most unjust and 
 outrageous accusations ; and those, on the contrary, who dishonour 
 the Church by their ignorance and passion, as M. Mallet has done, 
 held in honour and credit, and not only free from fear of punish- 
 ment for their excesses, but making themselves feared, through the 
 power that is given them, by all those whom they consider their 
 enemies, because they are the enemies of their errors, their 
 extravagances, and their falsehoods. 
 
 Nevertheless, after all, we have no reason to be astonished at 
 this conduct. God permits it, God ordains it, for the good of 
 His elect. And, considering it in this light, we should not only 
 submit to it, but adore and kiss the hand which strikes us. I 
 adore the infinite variety of Thy commands, my God, ever just, 
 ever holy in the government of Thy creatures, both old and new, 
 that is to say, the world and the Church. 
 
 1 "We can scarcely read now those great volumes of heavy discussion. 
 Their conclusion alone need be noticed for its eloquence and sentiment. It 
 is said that the Chancellor Le Tellier could never tire of reading these 
 pages nor of making his friends read them ; his enthusiasm, however, 
 did not lead him so far as to repeat anything of them to the king. 
 Racine, it is said, re-read them with a lively admiration which I wish 
 we could share for the moral beauty of it!" (SAINTE-BEUVE, 'Port-Royal, 
 t. v. p. 297.) 
 
Arnauld: Persecutions of Port- Royal. 219 
 
 It would be showing little faith in Thy promises to be moved 
 by what is passing in these days of clouds and darkness, in diebus 
 nulis et caliyinis, as Thou in Thy Scriptures callest these times of 
 trouble and tempest, in which it seemeth that Thou abandonest 
 innocence to the rage of the wicked, and takest pleasure in 
 permitting vice, injustice, and violence to triumph. What, after 
 all, can they do to those who put their confidence only in Thee, 
 and only love eternal things'? 1 
 
 They deceive princes, and cause them to take their most faithful 
 servants for enemies. But the heart of kings is in Thy hands, and 
 Thou canst change it in a moment by discovering what is hidden 
 from them, and removing the false impressions that have been 
 given them. If it do not please Thee to dissipate these clouds, 
 should it not suffice Thy servants that the depths of their hearts 
 are known to Thee, waiting till Thou give grace to princes, who 
 are incited against them, to penetrate the artifices by which they 
 are prejudiced, and to use their power only for the punishment 
 of the wicked and the protection of the good, for it is for this 
 only that Thou hast given it to them, as Thy apostles declare. 
 
 In the meanwhile they are proscribed, banished, and deprived 
 of liberty. Can a Christian, to whom all the earth is a place of 
 exile and a prison, be much troubled by a change of dungeon? 
 Thou art found everywhere, my God. Even loaded with fetters, 
 those who possess Thee are more free than kings. No prison is 
 to be dreaded but that of a soul whose vices and passions hold it 
 confined arid prevent it enjoying the liberty of the children of 
 God, and this it was that made one of Thy saints 2 say that the 
 conscience of a wicked man is full of darkness, more fatal and 
 more horrible, not only than all prisons, but even than hell itself. 
 
 But we may die from the fatigues and labours of a wandering 
 life. Should we avoid it if we were more at ease 1 ? A little 
 sooner, a little later, what is that when compared with eternity 1 
 
 1 This sentiment of confidence also greatly animated the Mother Angelique 
 Arnauld when she supported the courage of her nuns : " What ! are we 
 weeping here ? Come, my children, what is this ? Have you no faith ? At 
 what are you surprised ? What ! men are bestirring themsel ves ; well ! they 
 are flies that make a little noise when they fly. Do you trust in God and yet 
 fear ? Believe me, fear Him alone, and all will be well." 
 
 a Saint Augustine. 
 
22O Port- Royal Education. 
 
 Thou hast numbered our days; we came into the world when 
 Thou wouldest, and go from it when it pleaseth Thee. The evils 
 of this world affright us when they are seen from afar ; we grow 
 accustomed to them when they are present, and Thy grace renders 
 all things endurable ; and besides, they are always less than we 
 deserve for our sins. Thou hast taught us by Thine apostle that 
 all who serve Thee should be willing to say like him : / know both 
 how to be abased, and I know how to abound : everywhere and in 
 all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to 
 abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Him who 
 strengtheneth me. 
 
 But how far are we still removed from the state of those of 
 whom the same apostle says : they were destitute, afflicted, tor- 
 mented, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in the 
 deserts and on the mountains, and hiding in dens and caves of 
 the earth! 
 
 We have but to acknowledge Thy bounty, Lord, who hast 
 condescended to treat as weak those whom Thou knowest to have 
 yet not much strength. Thou fulfillest the promises of Thy 
 Gospel, and givest them, in place of what they have left for love 
 of Thee, fathers, mothers, brethren, and sisters, in whom Thou 
 breathest a charity so tender towards those whom they regard as 
 suffering for the truth, and so great diligence in supplying all their 
 needs, that by singular goodness Thou changest the cross that 
 Thou layest upon them into sweetness and consolation. But they 
 trust in Thy mercy that if Thou preparest for them harder trials 
 Thou wilt also give them more grace and a greater abundance of 
 Thy Spirit to support them as true Christians. This is the sole 
 foundation of their confidence ; for they know well that we can 
 do nothing without Thee, and that however persuaded we may 
 be of the truths that Thou teachest us, they are only practised 
 when Thou makest them pass from the mind to the heart, and 
 that Thou fulfillest that which one of Thy saints has said, that 
 Thou alone settest the will to the good work, and removest the 
 difficulties to make it easy for the will. ... I am ready then, 
 my God, to follow Thee wherever it shall please Thee to lead 
 me ; and though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear 
 nothing while Thou leadest me by the hand. On this hope I rest, 
 
Mere Agnes : Constitutions of St.-Sacrement. 221 
 
 and shall await with patience until, being softened by the prayers 
 of so many good men, Thou restore to Thy Church the tranquillity 
 that she cannot enjoy unless Thou quellest, by the authority of 
 Thy ministers, the stormy winds of human opinions that strive to 
 raise themselves above the truths of Thy Gospel, and until Thou 
 appease by Thy Word the storms that carnal men raise when they 
 are troubled in the right they think they have to live as heathens 
 and none the less to expect the rewards of the other life, which 
 Thou hast only promised to true Christians. 1 
 
 (Arnauld, GEuvres, t. vii. p. 902.) 
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE MONASTERY OF PORT- 
 ROYAL DU SAINT-SACREMENT. 2 
 
 Of the Instruction of the Girls? 
 
 Girls may be received in the monastery for instruction in the 
 fear of God during several years, but not for one year only, 
 because that is not sufficient to form them in good morals 
 according to the rules of Christianity. 
 
 Those only will be received whose parents desire them to be 
 instructed in this way, and who offer them to God without an 
 expressed desire for them to be nuns or lay persons, but as it may 
 please God to ordain. 
 
 The girls shall be in a department separate from the nuns, with 
 a mistress to instruct them in virtue, to whom assistants will be 
 given to instruct them in reading, writing, needlework, and other 
 useful things, and not those which only minister to vanity. 
 
 1 Many men have spoken of their misfortunes, their unmerited troubles, 
 and their noble poverty, and have even turned them to account to make an 
 ostentatious display. What renders the words which we have just read 
 really noteworthy is that there is not a syllable that is not sincere, that 
 Arnauld says nothing more than he feels and is ready to do on the instant ; 
 the character of the writer confirms and completes the eloquence. I have 
 been obliged to quote the whole passage, which was formerly celebrated. It 
 is classic in the history of the exiled Arnauld. (SAINTE-BEUVE, Port-Royal, 
 t. v. p. 300.) 
 
 2 " The Constitutions of the monastery of Port-Royal du Saint-Sacrement, 
 which are the result of the instructions of M. de Saint-Cyran, were written 
 by the Mother Agnes (at the time of the foundation of the Institut du Saint- 
 Sacrement in 1647), after having been long practised. They were printed for 
 the first time in 1666." (Me'moires de Lancelot, t. i. p. 423.) 
 
 3 See Introduction, p. 46. 
 
222 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 They will wear the novices' dress ; nevertheless, they shall not 
 be compelled to do so at first, if they show any dislike to it, until 
 familiarity and the sight of their companions make them desire it. 
 If anyone persists in not wishing it, she shall wear secular dress, 
 but not silk, and without lace, in order that the others may not 
 envy her. 
 
 They shall sing in the choir at certain hours when they shall be 
 of age to do so, and demand it ; as also in the refectory, where 
 they shall sit at a separate table with their mistress. 
 
 No more than twelve girls, under ten years of age, will be 
 received, lest the charity that the sisters show in that be preju- 
 dicial to them, by giving them too much occupation, and with- 
 drawing them from their other duties ; and also that they may 
 fulfil their duties more perfectly, without failing in any attentions 
 necessary to their good education. 
 
 They may be kept until the age of sixteen years, although they 
 do not wish to be nuns, provided that they are docile and modest, 
 that they take no liberties, and profit by the instruction given 
 them, confirming themselves more and more in Christian virtue. 
 If, on the contrary, they have a vain and worldly temper, they 
 shall be promptly dismissed, at any age, lest they corrupt the rest. 
 
 If one had lost her mother, and it were beneficial for her to 
 remain after the age of sixteen, permission may be asked of 
 the superior to keep her, and action will be taken as he shall 
 think fit. 
 
 The number of junior girls shall be at the most twelve, as we 
 have said; nevertheless, when they have passed the age of ten 
 years they shall not be considered juniors, and younger girls may 
 be taken in their place, although they still live in the monastery, 
 because there is much less care and work with them than with the 
 younger. 
 
 The nuns shall not ask to receive girls, nor use any influence 
 with the parents to make them give them, not even with those 
 who are related to them; this should proceed from their own 
 proper impulse, and a sincere desire for the good education of 
 their children. 
 
 Girls of three or four years of age, who have no mother, will 
 be more easily and willingly received, and all necessary assistance 
 
Mere Agnes : Constitutions of St.-Sacrement. 223 
 
 will be affectionately given them in their helplessness, considering 
 in this that the charity is so much greater as these young orphans 
 are sometimes badly brought up, having no mother to watch over 
 them. 
 
 And let not the sisters think this an occupation ill-fitted for 
 their position, namely, to undertake the bringing-up of children 
 who are not yet capable of receiving any instruction for their 
 salvation, since in that they imitate God Himself, who first 
 formed the body of the first man, into which He then inspired 
 the breath of life. 
 
 Let them take, then, for their share the nourishment of their 
 small bodies with all necessary care, until their age is fitted for 
 the infusion of grace, by this means becoming like the mothers 
 of these children, which will make their virginity fruitful before 
 God, whose spouses they are, as He is the Father of souls and 
 spirits according to St. Paul. 
 
 The sisters who shall be employed in this duty having under- 
 taken, as has been said, a work of charity, should consider that 
 it is at the same time an exercise of patience, there being much 
 to suffer from these little creatures, and a great restraint with 
 them. 
 
 Let them not complain of either, but make themselves, for the 
 love of Christ, who became a child for us, the servants of these 
 children in whom He Himself dwells, humbling Himself in their 
 weaknesses. Let them also bear with their little tempers, which 
 are sometimes very tiresome. Let them never reprove them by a 
 movement of anger, but let them suspend punishment until their 
 emotion has passed, and that the children themselves may think 
 that they do not love them less when they punish than when they 
 caress them. 
 
 The mistresses will take great care not to be partial towards the 
 children, not loving more those who are more agreeable and pretty, 
 in order not to make the others jealous. Let them not amuse 
 themselves by playing with them more than is necessary for their 
 diversion, while they are still incapable of joining the other girls, 
 nor permit the children to caress them too much, nor attach them- 
 selves too much to them, which would make them ill-humoured 
 with others who might be given to them. 
 
224 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 They must only gain their affections in so far as they are their 
 mistresses, and not as private persons. And although children are 
 not able to make this distinction, the mistresses should do so, and 
 oblige the children to give as much to one of the mistresses as to 
 another. For example, if a child would not obey one of the 
 mistresses because she liked her less, the other mistress, instead 
 of being gratified that this child liked her more, should show 
 severity, and make her give her companion the obedience which 
 is due to her. 1 And as a proof that the sisters do not wish to 
 be loved by the children, except for the good of the children 
 themselves, when they are removed from this office they will 
 no longer caress them when they meet them any more than the 
 other sisters do, who should never so amuse themselves, even if 
 they should be their relations, except in so far as the mother should 
 think convenient, in order to accustom the children on their first 
 entrance, or under some special circumstances. With these 
 exceptions, they will not show any tenderness they may feel 
 for them, and they will make a sacrifice of it to God, to obtain 
 from His goodness that these children may benefit by the good 
 education that will be given them. 
 
 When the mistresses take the children to the parlour they will 
 not exhibit a too marked affection for them before the parents ; 
 but only show that they love them so far as they are obliged, and 
 that they take the greatest possible care of them. They will not 
 praise the children too much, if some were very pretty, but will 
 simply say that they are very docile, or something of the sort. 
 They will not blame them for their faults nor accuse them of 
 anything, unless the mother has expressly told them to do so ; if 
 they are questioned to know if they are bad or tiresome, they will 
 say that much still remains to be done, without showing that they 
 are wearied or disgusted with it, in order not to give pain to the 
 
 1 Mme. de Maintenon gives the same recommendation to the Ladies of 
 Saint-Cyr, but with less measure and accuracy : * ' If the girls carry 
 flattery so far as to give you to understand that they like you more than 
 they like the others, show such a profound contempt for this baseness, and 
 so great a desire that your sisters may be not less esteemed and loved than 
 yourself, that they may understand that you are far from taking pleasure in 
 their discourse. It would be very wrong to let them perceive that you had 
 this weakness." (Entretiens, 1703.) 
 
Mere Agnes: Constitutions of St.-Sacrement. 225 
 
 parents. They will ask nothing for the children without the per- 
 mission of the mother, not even toys, nor books, nor anything 
 else, as much not to importune the parents as not to give occasion 
 for jealousy to the others, to whom nothing will be given. And 
 for this reason it would be desirable that they were all equal ; l 
 therefore we shall continue, as heretofore, to undertake their 
 maintenance in order to avoid the inequality that is found 
 among their parents, some of whom would give liberally and 
 others would withhold what would be necessary for them, which 
 would make the former proud and give pain to the others ; this is 
 avoided by treating them almost all equally, so far as discretion 
 permits. 
 
 The junior girls shall not be left in the parlour alone when they 
 are very young, nor when they are older, unless with their father 
 and mother, if they desire it, and only for a very short time. 
 
 The very young children should never be lost sight of, lest they 
 fall and hurt themselves ; they will not even be allowed to play 
 together in a remote part of their room, but will be constantly 
 watched, to correct them in the small irregularities they may 
 commit. 
 
 The senior girls shall not be exempt from this supervision ; on 
 the contrary, the inconveniences may be greater ; therefore equal 
 or greater care will be taken that they shall not be left without a 
 person to take charge of them. 
 
 They are not to be allowed to whisper together, however little. 
 One of the mistresses is to sleep in their room, and in going 
 through the monastery to the choir and the refectory, they are 
 always to be conducted, care being taken that they do not go 
 together. In fine, constant attention must be given to remove 
 from them, as far as possible, all occasions of doing harm to one 
 another, which is usually what most corrupts the young. . . . 
 
 The sisters who shall be employed in the care of the children 
 
 1 It was unavoidable to make some exception in an age when ranks were so 
 distinct. We see in Leclerc that Mile. d'Elbceuf, who entered Port-Royal at 
 the age of nine years, was the object of special care in the boarders' room ; the 
 Mother Angelique had a small space divided off where she slept. "As to 
 food, she was served first, and her ordinary fare was also different. ... At 
 thirteen she had a room to herself and a sister to wait on her. ..." (Vies 
 inter essantes, t. iii. p, 183.) 
 
 Q 
 
226 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 shall act, as has been said, with great affection and fidelity, and at 
 the same time great indifference, dreadiog this charge on account 
 of the many opportunities it gives of committing errors, of 
 diverting themselves too much, and of losing the spirit of 
 meditation, which it is not easy to preserve in such an important 
 occupation ; if, nevertheless, obedience retains them in it, let 
 them trust that God will support them, and that the charity 
 which necessarily accompanies this duty will cover their faults. 
 Let them know also, for their consolation, that in taking care 
 to bring up these children well, they are recalling before God the 
 years of their own childhood and youth, which they perhaps 
 employed ill for want of a similar education. 
 
 REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN OF PORT-ROYAL. 
 
 Advertisement. 
 
 Although this regulation for children is not a mere fancy, but 
 has been drawn up on what has been practised at Port-Royal des 
 Champs during many years, it must, nevertheless, be admitted 
 that, for what is external, it would not always be easy nor even 
 useful to put it in practice with all its severity. For it may be 
 that all the children are not capable of such strict silence and so 
 strained a life without being depressed and wearied, which must 
 be avoided above all things, and that all mistresses cannot 
 keep them under such exact discipline, gaining at the same time 
 their affection and love, which is absolutely necessary in order to 
 succeed in their education. It is the part of prudence, then, to 
 moderate all these things, and, according to the saying of a pope, 
 to join the strength which retains the children without repelling 
 them to a gentleness tljk wins them without enervating them : 
 Sit rigor, sed non exasp^j^ ; sit amor, sed non emolliens. 
 
 Regulation for the Children. 
 To MONSIEUR SINGLIN, APRIL 15, 1657. 
 
 I humbly beg your pardon for having so long delayed to give 
 you an account of the manner in which I act with children. 1 
 
 1 Jacqueline Pascal, younger sister of Pascal, born in 1625, retired from 
 the world in which she had early shone by her wit and a certain poetic 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port-Royal. 227 
 
 What prevented me doing so from the first word you said to 
 me about it was, that I thought you asked me to set down in 
 writing how they ought to be treated, which I did not think 
 myself able to undertake without great temerity, having so little 
 knowledge for so difficult an employment. For I can assure you 
 that obedience alone can make me do the least thing in it, and 
 if I do not spoil all, it is to be attributed to the efficacity of the 
 words of our mother, who told me, when giving me the charge, 
 not to be anxious about anything, and God would do all. This 
 so appeased the trouble in which my impotence had put me, that 
 I remained full of confidence and with as much tranquillity as 
 if God Himself had given me this promise, and I acknowledge 
 to my confusion that, when I look at myself and fall into 
 despondency, as you know I do very often, these words alone, 
 God will do all, repeated with confidence, restore peace to my 
 mind. But what removed my trouble was that you told me 
 afterwards that you did not ask me to write how they should 
 be treated, but only how I treated them, in order to notice 
 the faults that I commit, which, not only destroy what God 
 does in it through me, but even place great obstacles to the grace 
 that He puts in these souls. . . . 
 
 I, In what spirit we should render service to the children. 
 Union of the mistresses. Some general advice for their conduct, 
 chiefly towards the younger children. 
 
 1. I think, then, that to be useful to the children, we should 
 never speak to them, nor act for their good, without looking 
 to God and asking His grace, desiring to take in Him all that 
 is needful to instruct them in His fear. 
 
 2. We should have great charity and tenderness for them, 
 neglecting them in nothing whatever, either spiritual or bodily, 
 showing them upon every occasion that we set ourselves no limits 
 
 talent, and entered Port-Royal in 1652, where she took the name of sister 
 Sainte-Euphemie. From 1657 to 1659 she had charge of the education of 
 the children, and, in virtue of this, drew up the annexed regulation. She 
 was afterwards sent to Port-Royal des Champs, as sub-prioress, to direct the 
 novices. She died in 1661 from sorrow and remorse at having signed the 
 formulary against her conscience in deference to the authority of Arnauld. 
 M. Cousin has devoted a volume full of interest to this distinguished 
 
228 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 for their service, and that we do it with affection and with all our 
 heart, because they are children of God, and that we feel ourselves 
 obliged to spare nothing to render them worthy of this sacred 
 title. 
 
 3. It is very necessary to devote ourselves to them without 
 reserve and not to leave their quarters without unavoidable 
 necessity, in order to be always present in the room where they 
 are working, if we are not talking to them or visiting them 
 when they are ill or employed in other things which concern 
 them. 
 
 4. No difficulty should be made in missing all the service for 
 this, unless the elder children are present at it. The constant 
 care of the children is of such importance, that we should prefer 
 
 Jhisjiuty to all others, 1 when obedience lays it on us, and much 
 more than our own private gratification, even when it concerns 
 spiritual things. The charity with which all the services which 
 are useful to them will be given, will cover not only many of our 
 faults, but will take the place of many things that we think would 
 be useful for our own perfection. 
 
 5. There will be a sister on whom we can rely, without in any 
 way relieving us of our duty. This sister who will be given 
 us should be attached, as far as possible, to the schoolroom. 
 Therefore it would be desirable to have two, animated with the 
 same zeal and the same spirit for the children, and who most 
 often should be together in the schoolroom, even in the presence 
 of the head mistress, in order that, seeing the respect with which 
 the children behave before her, they may both have the right to 
 demand for themselves the same respect in her absence as in her 
 presence. 
 
 6. We should act in such a manner that the children may 
 notice a great harmony and perfect union and confidence with 
 the sister who is given to us for a companion. She should not, 
 therefore, be reproved for what she has done or ordered, if what 
 she has ordered is not well, in order that the children should 
 
 1 For greater security, Mnie. de Maintenon will make the Ladies of Saint- 
 Cyr, in addition to the usual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, take a 
 fourth and special vow, namely, to devote themselves to the education of the 
 , girls of Saint-Cyr. 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port- Royal. 229 
 
 never notice any contrariety, but should be warned privately. 
 For it is important, and almost necessary, in order to govern 
 the children well, that the sister who is given as assistant 
 should be inclined to think everything good that is said to her. 
 If it were not so, it would be necessary to report it to the 
 mother superior. If what she might do contrary to us only 
 touched our temper, and did no harm to the children, we should 
 demand God's grace to rejoice that we had an occasion to be 
 vexed. 
 
 7. We should pray to God to give the children a great respect 
 for the sisters who are with us. We should also give them great 
 authority, but especially to her who is next to us. It is well, then, 
 to show the children, and even tell them at times, that she has a 
 great charity for them, that she loves them, and that we order her 
 to tell all that takes place in the schoolroom, and to tell her before 
 the children that she is obliged by duty and charity to tell us not 
 only all their greater faults, but even their slight failings, in order 
 to aid them in correcting them. 
 
 8. We put a sort of confidence in the sisters who aid us, by 
 telling them the inclinations of the children, especially of the 
 younger ones, and also those of the elder which might cause some 
 disorder, that they may the better watch over them. We should 
 not, however, so readily tell them things that the children tell 
 us privately if we do not see in this a necessity for their good, 
 lest they should inadvertently let them know something of it. I 
 think it of great importance that the children should see that we 
 can keep a secret, although what they tell us may not be of great 
 importance for the time, because it might happen that they would 
 have something important to tell us another time, especially when 
 they advance in age, which they would have some difficulty in 
 telling us if they had found out that we had not been faithful in 
 small things. 
 
 9. As it is very important that we should be in perfect harmony 
 and complete accord with the sisters who are appointed to assist 
 us, it is still more so that these sisters act only according to the 
 order that they find and see established, and that they should so 
 conform to the ideas of the head mistress as to speak only through 
 her mouth and see only through her eyes, in order that the children 
 
230 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 may notice nothing that is not in perfect agreement between them; 1 
 and if the sisters find anything to object to in the conduct of the 
 head mistress they should tell her, if they have sufficient con- 
 fidence in her, and have permission from their superiors. If God 
 does not give them this confidence they should inform the mother 
 of it, lest unintentionally they let something of it appear before 
 the children. 
 
 10. When two nuns are in the schoolroom when the bell rings 
 for service, they may say it one after the other, that there may be 
 one to overlook the children ; but she will say nothing of the faults 
 she may see them commit if they are unimportant until her com- 
 panion has finished her prayers, in order to inspire them with 
 great respect when they see anyone engaged in prayer. But as 
 soon as the service is over, which is very short when it is said 
 in a low voice, they must be punished according to the gravity 
 of the fault, and more severely than when prayers are not being 
 said. 
 
 11. When there is only one, she need make no difficulty in 
 casting a look at them, but must say nothing until she has 
 finished her prayer. We have seen by experience the good this 
 does them, and when we are strict in not speaking to nor 
 reproving them during the prayer, 2 this makes them more re- 
 
 1 Mme. de Maintenon equally insists on this recommendation : " In order 
 to succeed in your government it would be necessary for all to have the same 
 ideas and the same maxims, or at least, if you have different ones, to be 
 sufficiently humble to renounce your own opinions and follow those of your 
 /superiors, maintaining what is established by them against your own judg- 
 mient. . . . Lay aside the private projects that self-love makes in order to 
 compensate the necessity of falling in with the opinion of an official. You 
 have still the pleasure of inwardly disapproving of her conduct and of 
 saying, If I ever have that place I shall act in a different manner, I shall 
 
 ,do this or that, I shall be more gentle or more firm. Never, I repeat, will 
 I your authority be established by such diversity of conduct. It would be 
 I better not to do quite so well but to do always the same, than to show this 
 \ unevenness in the manner of educating your young ladies and fulfilling your 
 duties." (Entretiens, 1703.) 
 
 2 No detail, perhaps, shows better the depth and sincerity of the religious 
 feeling that animated the monastery of Port-Royal. The Constable Anne de 
 Montmorency had fewer scruples. "He never missed his devotions nor 
 prayers," says BrantOme ; " for he did not fail to repeat his Paternosters 
 every morning, whether he remained at home or mounted his horse and 
 went through the fields to the armies, where they used to say that they 
 must beware of the Constable's Paternosters ; for while saying and mumbling 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port- Royal. 231 
 
 specif ul when they pray, and more "afraid of interrupting us. 
 We cannot too much inspire the young with respect for God 
 as much by our example as by our words. For this reason we 
 shall be very precise in repeating our prayers at the hours when 
 they are said in the choir, in leaving off what we are doing at 
 the second bell, and never letting ourselves be carried away by 
 the desire to finish something. Not that, if the necessity of 
 rendering some service to the children occurred, we should not 
 attend to it before our prayers ; but it is right that the children 
 and our own conscience should be convinced that we are only 
 working for God, our example being the best instruction we can 
 give them, for the devil gives them memory to make them 
 remember our least faults, and takes it away to prevent them 
 remembering the trifling good that we do them. 
 
 12. Therefore we cannot pray to God too much, nor humble 
 ourselves and watch over ourselves too much, in order to discharge 
 our duty to the children, since obedience binds us to it; and I 
 think that it is one of the most important duties of the house, 
 and we cannot be too apprehensive 1 in fulfilling it, although we 
 must not be pusillanimous, but put our trust in God, and force 
 Him, by our groans, to grant us what we do not deserve of our- 
 selves, but what we ask of Him through the blood of His Son, 
 shed for these innocent souls that He has put into our hands. For 
 we should always look upon these tender souls as sacred deposits 
 that He has entrusted to us, and of which He will make us give 
 account ; therefore we should speak less to them than to God for 
 them. 
 
 13. And as we are obliged to be with them always, we must 
 behave so that they cannot see in us any inequality of temper, 2 
 
 them, when the circumstances occurred, because many outbreaks and dis- 
 orders now happen there, he used to say, ' Hang me such a one, bind that 
 man to this tree, send that man through the pikes immediately. . . . burn 
 me that village,' and thus he pronounced such or suchlike sentences of justice 
 and military police according to emergencies, without leaving his Pater- 
 nosters, until he had finished them." 
 
 1 The saying of Saint-Cyran, ' ' a tempest of the mind," will be remembered. 
 
 2 * ' The sole desire of children is to find out the weak side of their teachers, 
 as of those to whom they are subject ; as soon as they can encroach upon 
 them they gain the upper hand, and assume an influence over them that they 
 never lose. That which makes us once lose this superiority over them also 
 prevents us recovering it." (LA BRUYEUE. ) 
 
232 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 by treating them sometimes with too much mildness and at other 
 times with severity. These two faults usually follow each other ; 
 for when we allow ourselves to caress and flatter them, giving 
 them liberty to go as far as their temper and inclination lead 
 them, reproof infallibly follows, and this causes that unevenness 
 of temper which is much more painful to the children than 
 always keeping them to their duty. 
 
 14. We must never be too familiar with them, nor show them 
 too much confidence, even when they are grown up ; but we must 
 show them real kindness and great gentleness in all that they need, 
 and even anticipate them. 
 
 15. We must treat them with courtesy and speak to them with 
 deference, and give way to them as far as possible. This wins 
 them over, and it is well to condescend to them sometimes in 
 things which in themselves are indifferent, in order to gain their 
 hearts. 
 
 16. When it is necessary to reprove their levity and awkward- 
 ness, they should never be mimicked nor excited by harshness, 
 although they may be in a bad temper; on the contrary, they 
 must be spoken to with great mildness and given good reasons in 
 order to persuade them ; which will prevent them becoming 
 soured, and make them accept what is said to them. 
 
 17. We must pray to God to make the children straight- 
 forward, and labour ourselves to turn them from all tricks and 
 artifices, but this must be done so simply as not to make them 
 artful while exhorting them to be artless. 1 Therefore, I think 
 that we should not let it appear that they have so much artifice. 
 For sometimes by constantly telling them that they must not be 
 
 1 This wise advice recalls this lively passage of a letter of Mme. de 
 Maintenon to Mme. de Fontaine, 20 September, 1691, at tl^lHfcie of the 
 reformation of Saint-Cyr : " Pray to God, and make the others pray that He 
 will change their hearts (the girls'), and that he will give us all humility ; 
 but, Madam, it is not necessary to talk much of it to them. Everything 
 at Saint-Cyr is turned into discoursing ; they often talk of simplicity, seek 
 to define it correctly, to understand it, to distinguish what is simple from 
 what is not so ; then in practice they amuse themselves by saying, ' Through 
 simplicity I take the best place, through simplicity I am going to praise my- 
 self, through simplicity I desire what is farthest from me on the table.' 
 Really, this is playing with everything, and making a joke of what is most 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port-Royal. 233 
 
 artful we make them so, and that they make use of everything 
 which was told them, when they were not so, at another time, 
 when they need to use artifice to hide some faults which they do 
 not wish to be known. 
 
 18. Therefore the children must be constantly watched, never 
 leaving them alone in any place whatever, in health or in sickness, 
 but without letting them see that this is done so strictly, in order 
 not to foster in them a distrustful spirit constantly on the watch. 
 For that accustoms them to play tricks on the sly, especially 
 the young ones. Thus, I think, that our constant watching 
 should be effected with mildness and a certain confidence which 
 may make them think they are loved, and that it is only for the 
 sake of accompanying them that we are with them. This makes 
 them like this supervision rather than fear it. 
 
 19. As to the youngest children, they must be, more than the 
 rest, familiarized and brought up, if possible, like young doves. 
 When they have committed a considerable fault which deserves 
 punishment, few words should be used; but when you are 
 perfectly certain, they must be punished without saying a word 
 why they are punished until it is over. And even then it is 
 good to ask them, before telling them anything, if they know why 
 they have been punished ; for usually they have not failed to 
 recognize it. This punishment, promptly administered without 
 a word, prevents them telling untruths in order to make excuses 
 for their faults, to which young children are very prone ; and I 
 think that they correct their faults better themselves, because 
 they fear being surprised. 
 
 20. I think also that in slight faults small warning should be 
 given them, for insensibly they get accustomed to be always 
 talked to. Therefore you should pretend only to see one out of 
 three or four faults; but after having looked at them some 
 time, they must be caught and made to give satisfaction at once. 
 That corrects them much better than many words. 
 
 21. When young children are very obstinate and rebellious, they 
 should be made to undergo the same punishment three or four 
 times, which subdues them completely when they see that you are 
 not wearied. But when you do this one day and forgive them the 
 next or neglect them, it makes no impression on their minds, and 
 
234 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 it is found to be necessary to adopt more stringent measures 
 than those which would have been necessary with any sort of 
 regularity. 
 
 22, Lying is very common with young children. Everything 
 therefore should be done to accustom them not to fall into this 
 vicious habit ; and for that it seems to me that they should 
 be cautioned with great gentleness, to make them confess their 
 faults, saying that we know very well what they have done, 
 and when they confess of themselves they should be forgiven, 
 or their punishment should be mitigated. 
 
 23. While the children are still very young, as four or five years 
 old, they should not be left all day with nothing to do, but their 
 time should be divided, making them read for a quarter of an 
 hour, then play for another quarter, and then work again for 
 a short time. These changes amuse them, and prevent them 
 falling into the bad habit, to which children are very liable, 
 of holding their book and playing with it, or with their work, 
 of sitting sideways and often turning their heads. But when 
 they are told to employ a quarter or half an hour well, and 
 are promised that if they attend to their lesson or their work 
 they shall be allowed to play, they work quickly and well for this 
 short time in order to be rewarded afterwards. And when you 
 have made this promise before work, although they play during 
 the time, you must say nothing ; but at the end, when the time is 
 up, and they think they are going to play, they must again give 
 the time to the work, pointing out to them that you do not always 
 wish to speak, but that, since they have done nothing but trifle, 
 they must begin again. That surprises them, and puts them on 
 their guard another time. 1 
 
 II. To what we lead them in general conversations and in con- 
 junctures in which they give us cause to speak to and ivarn them. 
 
 They are made to understand that perfection does not consist in 
 doing many special things, but in doing well what they do in 
 common, that is to say, cheerfully and for the love of God, with 
 
 1 This is an application of natural sanction, so dear to Rousseau and 
 Spencer. That is better than all arbitrary punishments and reprimands. 
 The child feels the justice of it, and corrects himself. 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port-Royal. 235 
 
 a great desire to please Him, and always to do His holy will with 
 
 joy- 
 
 They are taught to value the small opportunities that God gives 
 them of suffering something for His sake, as some slight contempt 
 shown by their sisters, some accusations wrongly made against 
 themselves, some privations of their desires and inclinations, 
 some occasion for renouncing their own will which may be 
 given by their teachers, or by some other occurrence. They are 
 asked to receive all this as a gift of God, and a witness of His 
 great love, and of the care that He takes to give them oppor- 
 tunities of perfecting themselves every day. 1 
 
 They should often be spoken to of the pleasure and satisfaction 
 of giving themselves entirely to God and of serving Him in truth 
 and simplicity, without wishing to keep anything back from Him ; 
 . . . that some will gain heaven and others deserve only chastise- 
 ment for the same action, according to the impulse of their heart 
 and the purity or impurity of their motives. It is well to make 
 them understand this by some slight comparisons, as, for example, 
 that a good action done for God's sake, and from a desire to please 
 Him and to do His holy will leads us to heaven ; and that, on the 
 contrary, the same action done in a spirit of hypocrisy or vanity, 
 and only with the desire to be well thought of by our fellow- 
 creatures, deserves only punishment; 2 for having done nothing 
 for God, we ought not to expect a reward, but only punishment in 
 recompense of our hypocrisy. 
 
 Children should be strongly exhorted to know themselves, their 
 
 1 This morality is very ill adapted to the intelligence and character of 
 children. It is simpler and more practical to tell them that in order to 
 render social life possible, we ought mutually to bear our imperfections, 
 to avoid offending our neighbours, and to arm ourselves with patience. 
 These are the reasons that Nicole develops in his celebrated treatise on 
 the Means of living in peace with men. 
 
 2 Mme. de Maintenon will be less severe. * ' You cannot too much inspire 
 your young ladies with the love of reputation. They must be very scrupulous 
 on the subject. Consider those who are the vainest as the best of your 
 pupils . . . they must die to this scrupulousness when they are more 
 advanced in piety ; but before dying to it they must have lived in it. 
 Nothing is so bad as certain natures without honour and without vanity ; 
 we do not know how to take them in order to make them surmount the 
 obstacles they find in their path ; thus it would be very dangerous to stifle 
 these sentiments in young persons who usually are incapable of an exalted 
 piety." (Entretiens, 1703.) 
 
236 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 inclinations, vices, and passions, and to go to the root of their 
 defects. It is well, also, that they know to what their nature 
 inclines them, in order to remove what may be displeasing 
 to God, and to change their natural inclinations into spiritual. 
 To tell them, for example, that if they are of a sympathetic 
 disposition they should change the love they have for themselves 
 and their fellow-creatures into loving God with all their hearts, 
 and thus with their other inclinations. 
 
 They may be shown sometimes that one of the greatest faults 
 of the young is indocility, and that it is, as it were, natural to 
 them ; that if they do not take care this vice will ruin them, 
 making them incapable of accepting advice, and that this is always 
 the mark of a proud spirit. Therefore, they will often be told 
 that they should wish to be treated with firmness, and that they 
 should show, by the meekness with which they receive advice 
 that is given them, that they are willing that everything that may 
 be displeasing to God should be destroyed in them. 
 
 We exhort them not to be ashamed of doing good. For some- 
 times those who have been unruly are ashamed to do what is right 
 before those who have seen their unruliness. They must be told 
 to pray to God to strengthen them that they may do good freely, 
 and that, although at first they often fall back, they must raise 
 themselves again often and more courageously. These instructions 
 should be given generally, and even at times when none are dis- 
 orderly, that they may serve for another time, and that those who 
 should be more orderly may apply them to themselves if needful. 
 
 We tell them that their difficulties in acquiring virtue proceed 
 from this, that as soon as some vice to be overcome or some virtue 
 to be acquired appears, they fall back upon themselves in order to 
 consult their own temper, inclination, self-love, and weaknesses, 
 and the trouble that they have to conquer themselves ; but instead 
 of weakening themselves by these human views, they must turn to 
 God, in whom they will find all strength, even in their weakness ; 
 . . , that if they were told to throw off their troubles and weak- 
 nesses by themselves they would have good reason to be discouraged ; 
 but since they are told that God will Himself remove their diffi- 
 culties, they have only to pray and hope. . . . 
 
 We ought not to anticipate them touching religion, especially in 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port-Royal 237 
 
 general, nor let them see how few persons we think are saved 
 in the world ; it is sufficient to let them see that there are 
 many difficulties in being saved in it. ... What they ought 
 to avoid if they return to society should be pointed out to 
 them. . . . 
 
 If they enter on the subject of religion of their own accord, in 
 order to express their opinions on it, the opportunity may very 
 well be taken to tell them something of the happiness of a good 
 nun. 1 . . . 
 
 It is well to let them know sometimes that they are loved for 
 God's sake, and that this affection makes us so sensitive to their 
 faults and renders it so difficult to support them, and that the 
 ardour of this love makes the words we use in reproving them 
 sometimes so severe. At the same time, we shall assure them 
 that, in whatever manner we act. we are led only by the 
 affection we bear them and the desire to make them such as God 
 would have them to be ; that our heart is always tender towards 
 them, that our severity is only for their faults, and that we do 
 great violence to ourselves, having much more inclination to treat 
 them gently than severely. 
 
 III. How children should be spoken to in private. 
 
 The habit of speaking to children in private makes their govern- 
 ment easier. In these conversations their troubles are relieved, we 
 enter into their spirit to make them strive against their faults, 
 we lay bare their vices and passions to the roots, and I may say 
 that when God gives them a thorough confidence in their teacher, 
 there is much to be hoped for ; and I have not seen one who en- 
 joyed this perfect confidence who has not succeeded. 
 
 The conversations with them should be very serious, and great 
 kindness should be shown them, but no familiarity ; and if there 
 were one who was seen to seek talking for amusement, she should 
 be treated more coolly than the rest. Therefore we have need of 
 great discretion, not only in the conversation itself, but also in the 
 time chosen for it. I think about every fortnight is sufficient, 
 unless for some special need, for which no rule can be given. 
 
 1 The recommendation was not needed. Everything in this education 
 tended to conventual life. 
 
238 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 We must take great care, and not allow ourselves to be deceived; 
 and it is a great advantage when they are forewarned that we know 
 all the artifices of children, which makes them give up the design, 
 and unconsciously return to simplicity and sincerity, without which 
 it is impossible to serve them usefully. 
 
 It is, then, very necessary not to allow ourselves to be surprised, 
 and we cannot avoid this without God's continual help. Therefore 
 we shall never speak to them without having prayed to God, and 
 considered, even in His presence, what we think they should tell 
 us, and what we think He wishes that we should reply to them x 
 . . . and if, while speaking to them, they tell us something of 
 the truth of which we are not quite certain, we shall tell them 
 that we will take time to pray to God before replying to them, in 
 order that He may prepare them to receive with a heart entirely 
 free from all human interest, all that we shall tell them from Him 
 for their good. We shall also use this retardation as soon as we 
 see that their mind is soured by what we have said to them, or 
 that they do not take in good part some advice that we have 
 given them. We may tell them that we see that they are not 
 very well disposed to listen to us, or that perhaps we are not well 
 informed, and that by both praying to God, if we do it with 
 humility, He will no doubt have pity on us. This slight con- 
 descension and all these things should not be told to all, but is 
 of great use to the elder girls and to those who are intelligent. 
 Great discretion is needed to speak to them at a proper time 
 and place. Therefore I repeat here what I cannot say too often, 
 and what I do not do enough, namely, to pray more than talk, and 
 I think we must always have our heart and mind raised to heaven 
 to receive from God all the words that we should say to them. 2 
 
 Constant vigilance is necessary in order to form an opinion of 
 them and to discover their tempers and inclinations, that we may 
 learn, by regarding them attentively, what they have not the 
 courage to disclose to us. It is well to encourage them when 
 we see that they are ashamed to tell of their faults in order to 
 give them more freedom to disclose them ; it is well to hide from 
 
 1 This is, indeed, the teaching of Saint-Cyran. (See p. 77.) 
 
 2 See the saying of Saint-Cyran. (p. 70.) 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port- Royal. 239 
 
 them many truths that we think would be too hard for their 
 imperfect state. . . . 
 
 If they ask to be set to do many private things, few or none 
 will be given them, pointing out to them that they will not please 
 God in that way if it does not come from a heart really touched 
 by love of Him and a sincere desire to please Him and do 
 penance ; that we do not judge them by these actions, but by 
 their obedience to the smallest rules of the schoolroom, by the 
 support they give their sisters, by the kindness with which they 
 help them at need, and by their care in mortifying their faults ; 
 these things will make us think they wish to serve God, and not 
 a number of private actions. . . . 
 
 We shall tell them these things, although sometimes we shall 
 not fail to allow them to do in other circumstances what they ask 
 us, without appearing to take notice or taking any account of it ; 
 on the contrary, during the time that they are asking for some- 
 thing extraordinary to do, we shall pretend not to be occupied 
 with them, not failing to notice their actions much more than at 
 other times, in order to point them out afterwards when 
 opportunity offers. By behaving thus to them we shall soon 
 discover if they only ask these things through hypocrisy. For 
 then, if they have only done it to be noticed, when they see that 
 we do not notice them they will let them go and ask nothing 
 more. . . . 
 
 IV. Of General and Private Penances that may be imposed 
 on them. 
 
 They must be obliged to beg pardon of those sisters or of their 
 companions of whom they have spoken ill with mockery, or given 
 some other offence or shown a bad example. 
 
 This pardon may be asked in several ways, according to the 
 gravity of the fault, either in public or in private, in the refectory 
 or during lessons. They may also be commanded to kiss the feet 
 of the companion whom they have offended. Above all, care 
 must be taken that if the fault was only witnessed by two or 
 three persons, they must make amends only in private, at least, if 
 the fault was of little consequence, it being very dangerous to N 
 inform needlessly those who have not seen the faults of others. 
 
240 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 I say the same of the faults of some of the leading girls ; when a 
 considerable numher have fallen into them it will be necessary to 
 wait and reprove each privately or all the guilty together, in order 
 not to inform the weak needlessly. 
 
 They may be obliged to wear a grey cloak, to go to the refectory 
 without a veil or a scapulary, and even to stand at the church 
 door in this state. 
 
 They should also be deprived of going to church for one or 
 more days, according to the gravity of their fault, or made to 
 stand at the church door or in some other place separate from the 
 rest ; above all, care must be taken that the deprivation of going 
 to church is not indifferent to them. 
 
 The children of the lower and middle classes may be made to 
 wear a paper written in large characters expressing their faults ; 
 it is sufficient if there is a word or two, as idle, negligent, un- 
 truthful, &C. 1 
 
 To make them ask the sisters of the refectory to pray for them, 
 telling them the fault into which they have fallen or the virtue 
 which they lack. 2 
 
 The elder girls should be made to fear for God's sake, and 
 through fear of His judgments, and in certain circumstances 
 some of the penances that are imposed on the younger may be 
 imposed on them, as making them go without a veil, or ask the 
 prayers of the sisters in the refectory. But it must be considered 
 if that would be useful and not harmful to them by only exas- 
 perating them. This obliges us to pray to God that He will 
 enlighten us and guide us in everything for His glory and the 
 salvation of these souls that He has committed to our care. . . . 
 
 V. Of Confession. 
 
 . . . The youngest girls will not go so soon or so often to 
 confession ; before making the younger go, you will wait until 
 they are reasonable and show a wish to correct their small 
 failings, nothing being so much to be dreaded as making the - 
 
 1 This public humiliation has the grave disadvantage of weakening the 
 sentiment of honour in children ; it depraves instead of correcting. 
 
 2 It was demanding great perfection from the children to impose a burden 
 which, moreover, ran the risk of being insincere. 
 
Pascal: The Children of Port- Royal. 241 
 
 children go so young without seeing any change in them, and you 
 should at least wait until they have persevered for some time in 
 trying to do better. . . . 
 
 We take care that the children are benefited by the confession 
 before permitting them to return to it; and when they have 
 committed some considerable faults, we exhort them to make 
 amends for them first ; and if they have the confidence to tell 
 them to us, which is the most useful, we advise them to make 
 amends according to the gravity of their faults, but especially 
 in things which mortify them and are opposed to their faults. 1 
 As, for example, if they have failed in the charity that they owe 
 to their sisters, they will be made to serve them and fulfil towards 
 them all the duties of charity with more unction and gentleness ; 
 and if the fault has been seen, they will ask pardon both of her 
 who has been offended and of those who have seen it ; they will 
 also repeat some prayers for those whom they have offended. We 
 shall act in such a way that they do not return to confession until 
 their heart is really humbled, and they are sorry that they have 
 offended God. We shall act thus with respect to the greater faults 
 that the children commit in order that they may not make their 
 confession by routine, which is much to be feared for everybody, 
 but especially for children. . . . 
 
 VI. Of Reading. 
 
 The books used for the instruction of the children are the 
 Imitation of Christ, Fr. Luis de Granada, The Philothee, St. 
 John Climacus, The Tradition of the Church, the Letters of M. 
 de Saint-Cyran, the Familiar Theology, the Christian maxims in 
 the Boole of Hours, the Letters of a Carthusian Father, lately 
 translated, and other books whose object is to form the true 
 Christian life. 
 
 For the reading by one of them after vespers other books may 
 be used, as some letters of St. Jerome, the Christian Almsgiving, 
 
 1 This is one of the important points of the moral reform of Saint-Cyran. 
 He thought it shameful that Christians should think it sufficient to go and 
 tell their faults to a priest, and consider themselves absolved by God and 
 their conscience for having afterwards recited a few prayers by way of 
 penance, without altering their conduct in the least. (See Introduction, 
 pp. 61 and 62, the violent outburst of Arnauld against this abuse.) 
 
 R 
 
242 Port-Royal Education, 
 
 some passages of St. Teresa's Way of Perfection, and also of The 
 Foundations in what concerns the narrative, the Lives of the 
 Fathers of the Desert, and other lives of saints which are in 
 special books. 
 
 We ourselves do all the reading in public except that after 
 vespers, but we are always present to explain what is read to 
 them and address them upon it. The object should be to 
 habituate them not to listen to the reading for the sake of 
 amusement or curiosity, but with a desire to apply it to them- 
 selves ; and for that it is necessary that the manner of explaining 
 it should aim rather at making them good Christians and leading 
 them to correct their own faults than making them learned. . . . 
 
 In the readings that we do not do ourselves we mark what they 
 have to read, and they are not permitted to change either the 
 passage or the book, for there are very few books in which there 
 is not something to pass over. 
 
 At the reading after vespers they are allowed and even enjoined 
 to ask questions constantly upon everything that they do not 
 understand, provided that it be done with respect and humility ; 
 and in replying we teach them how to apply this reading to the 
 correction of their manners. If, in reading, we see that they ask 
 no questions on something that we think most of them do not 
 understand, they are asked if they understand it, and, if we see 
 that they cannot answer, they will be reproved for remaining in 
 ignorance, since they have been told to ask for instruction in what 
 they do not know. 
 
 As soon as the reading is finished the book is taken away, for 
 we leave them no other book in private than their Hours, the 
 Familiar Theology, the Words of our Lord, an Imitation of Christ, 
 and a Latin and French Psalter. Their mistress keeps all their 
 other books, which they think very proper, having recognized that 
 it is more advantageous to them, and that the most pious reading 
 is of no use to them when it is done through curiosity. . . . 
 
 They are never allowed to open a book that does not belong to 
 them, nor to borrow from each other without permission from their 
 mistress, which is seldom given, in order to avoid the confusion 
 that these loans occasion. 
 
Pascal : The Children of Port-Royal. 243 
 
 VII. Of the Sick and their Bodily Needs. 
 
 Very great care must be taken of those who fall sick, attending 
 upon them properly and exactly at the stated hours; calling in the 
 physician if the malady requires him, and carrying out punctually 
 all that he orders for the relief of their sickness. . . . 
 
 We accustom them not to make difficulties in taking the most 
 disagreeable remedies. We are always present, in order to speak 
 to them of God, to encourage them, and make them offer their 
 sickness to God. . . . 
 
 They are exhorted never to find fault with the doctor's pre- 
 scriptions, because he holds the place of God with respect to them 
 in their sickness. Therefore they ought to obey him as they 
 would God Himself, abandoning their life, their health, or their 
 sickness to the order of Divine Providence, who uses the good 
 or ill success of the remedies for our welfare. Therefore, in every- 
 thing untoward that may happen, the blame must never be laid on 
 the physician nor on the remedies, but, in silence and humility, the 
 order that the Divine Goodness lays upon us must be adored; and 
 to give occasion to the sick to be in this frame of mind, I pre- 
 suppose that we always have, if possible, physicians who are good 
 Christians as well as good physicians. 1 
 
 There will always be a room set apart for the sick, which the 
 other children will not be allowed to enter, unless in case of great 
 necessity, and with the permission of their mistress. During the 
 time of recreation one of the more steady may be sent to amuse 
 them. The sister in attendance must not leave them, unless there 
 be some older children, as those who are ready to enter upon their 
 
 1 Port-Royal, in fact, counted some distinguished physicians among her 
 solitaries ; first Pallu, from 1643 to 1650, of whom Fontaine has left us this 
 delightful portrait: "Everything belonging to him was small, except his 
 mind ; a small body, a small house, a small horse, but everything well fitting, 
 well proportioned, and very agreeable. Who would not have loved this 
 worthy recluse ? It was almost agreeable to fall ill in order to have the 
 pleasure of enjoying his conversation." Then Hamon, from 1650 to 1687, 
 graver, more authoritative, and an ardent mystic, which made this simple 
 layman, during the years of persecution, the consoler and director of the 
 sisters. The Mother Angelique wrote to him: "After the great gift of a 
 perfect confessor, nothing is more important than that of a truly Christian 
 physician, who expresses, in all his words and actions, the pious maxims of 
 Christianity." His pupil, Racine, desired to be interred at the foot of his 
 grave. And lastly, Hecquet, from 1668 to 1693. 
 
244 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 novitiate, and who may be entirely trusted, who may watch and 
 even attend upon them if the illness is not very serious. 
 
 . When there are many patients a sister is placed there, besides 
 her who takes care of them in health, and the sisters must be 
 discreet and gentle ; discreet, to keep them to their duty, lest 
 during the sickness they lose what they have acquired with so 
 much labour in health, and also not to humour them in their 
 inclinations or the repugnance they have in taking the remedies 
 that are ordered them, and the abstinence they should practise 
 from certain food which would be hurtful to them; but they must 
 also be gentle, in order to soften, by the kind way in which they 
 act and by gentle words, all that must be refused them for their 
 health. 1 
 
 We pay great attention to the sick, leaving rather even the 
 healthy, as much to treat them properly, as to keep them in 
 order and teach them to be sick like Christians. . . . 
 
 As soon as the children are cured they go back to the others, lest 
 they should become unruly, which is to be feared in the young, 
 who most often only ask for liberty. 2 But, although they have 
 returned to the schoolroom, great care will be taken to feed them, 
 and give them repose when they need it for the perfect recovery of 
 their health. 
 
 For slight ailments which may come upon them every attention 
 will be paid them, but they will not be petted too much; for 
 children sometimes pretend to be ill. I have seen some of this 
 sort, although, through God's grace, it has not happened among 
 ours for a long time. But, when it does occur, you must not 
 show that you think that they wish to deceive you, but, on the 
 contrary, pity them a good deal and tell them that they are really 
 
 1 Pascal said during his sufferings : * ' Do not pity me, sickness is the 
 natural state of Christians." According to the fine expression of Saint- 
 Cyran, "the sick should regard their bed as an altar, on which they offer to 
 God continually the sacrifice of their life, to restore it to Him when He shall 
 please ! " Pliny the younger wrote upon this thought one of his finest 
 letters : " We are all good people when we are ill ; for what sick man does 
 avarice or ambition tempt ? . . . I can give here, between us two and in few 
 words, a lesson on which the philosophers make whole volumes. Let us 
 persevere in being such in health as we should wish to become when we are 
 sick." 
 
 2 "What a criticism on this monastic system of education ! 
 
Besogne: Sister Anne-Eugenie. 245 
 
 ill, and immediately put them to bed in a separate room, with a 
 sister to nurse them, but who is not to speak to them at all, telling 
 them that talking will do them harm, and that they require rest. 1 
 
 They are put for a day or two on a diet of broth and eggs. If 
 the illness is real this diet is very good for them, and if not there 
 is no doubt they will say next day that they are not ill; and 
 thus they will be cured of their deceit, without giving them an 
 opportunity of complaining, a thing that happens when they are 
 told that they have not the illness that they complain of, and even 
 risks making them tell untruths and pretend still more. 
 
 SISTER ANNE-EUGENIE DE I/INCARNATION, MISTRESS 
 OF THE BOARDERS. 
 
 The Mother Angelique recalled sister Eugenie, after a residence 
 of three and a half years at Maubuisson, in 1631. 
 
 Her return to Port-Royal was a subject of great joy for the 
 house. She was entrusted with the care of the younger boarders, 
 and performed this duty with very great success. This will easily be 
 understood when it is known on what principles and on what 
 method she acted in this office. First, she had a special zeal 
 in making the children value the grace of baptismal innocence. 
 She often spoke to them of it, and did so with incredible energy, 
 and, consequently, she took them to the parlour, to the visitors who 
 came to see them, with very great reluctance ; and when she was 
 there, took very great care to avoid conversation which might 
 inspire them with love of the world. She taught the children 
 that the society of worldly people was contagious for the soul, as 
 the plague is for the body. 2 She knew how to impress upon them 
 a great respect for the mysteries of religion, for the grandeur of 
 God, and for the truths of the gospel. She never told any of 
 these truths to the children, except after having prepared them, 
 
 1 This little comedy, so legitimately acted, shows another application of 
 natural sanction. (See note, p. 234.) 
 
 2 This was a strange preparation for social life. Mme. de Maintenon, 
 notwithstanding her desire to educate better than the convent, paints the 
 world in frightful colours, without recalling to mind the wise definition 
 of Fenelon : ' ' The world is not a phantom, it is the assemblage of all the 
 families." 
 
246 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 and often after having made them do something to deserve it. 
 She announced several days in advance that she had a great 
 truth to tell them, and thus made it expected and desired. She 
 only taught these truths one by one, dreading lest the habit of 
 hearing them should accustom the children to them, and that they 
 should be no longer touched by them, having known them before 
 they had sufficient grace and understanding to comprehend and 
 feel them. She gave a constant attention to everything that 
 concerned the spiritual welfare of the children, she was quite 
 taken up with it, she prayed without ceasing for them, she even 
 made a practice of regularly attending all the prayers of the 
 children that were said in common, and of saying them with 
 them, considering herself charged to pay to God the worship 
 that these children were not yet able to pay Him, and to supply 
 by her will that which the children lacked. 
 
 The children's faults affected her as much as her own ; she did 
 penance for them, and incited them to do it for themselves accord- 
 ing to their slender capacity. If she found one who was not 
 willing to acknowledge her fault she said nothing more to her, 
 prayed for her in private, and left her with a kindness and tolera- 
 tion that sooner or later bore fruit. She had this maxim from 
 M. de Saint-Cyran, as well as all the preceding, that with the young 
 it was necessary to speak little, tolerate much, and pray still more. 
 She contrived little artifices of charity to make them love what is 
 good, she composed devout little notes on the virtues, and made 
 them draw lots for them, which piously amused the children. 
 She represented some virtue by an emblem, she made an enigma- 
 tical portrait of it, and left them to guess what virtue it was. 
 Recreation usually began with that, and then she left them to 
 amuse themselves with their little games ; for she never failed 
 to be present at the commencement of their recreation every day, 
 which astonished the sisters, who knew how devout she was, and 
 not being ignorant of how much natural dislike she had for 
 teaching children, wondered how she constrained herself to 
 become a child with the children and willingly remain among 
 these little people. Moreover the great punishment she employed 
 with regard to them when she had any reason for displeasure, 
 was not to be present at their recreation. All the party then 
 
Nicole: A Recreation at Port-Royal. 247 
 
 burst into tears, and the other sisters had to go and beg Sister 
 Eugenie to return and dry their tears. She was fifteen or sixteen 
 years in this employment. 
 
 Her humble simplicity was towards the end put. to a proof 
 which turned to her glory, but not to the welfare of the children. 
 The mothers, who had received and admitted to the house a sister 
 from Gif, named Sister Flavie Passart, were thoroughly deceived 
 in her. They saw that she was capable of many things by the 
 mental qualities that she possessed, and they thought that she had 
 also those of the heart. They made her assistant mistress of the 
 boarders under Sister Eugenie. This young woman, who was full 
 of ambition, set to work to draw all authority to herself. 1 She 
 substituted a high-handed and despotic manner for that of Sister 
 Eugenie, who was full of gentleness. She even succeeded in 
 making Sister Eugenie believe that hitherto she had acted 
 wrongly, that her gentleness was the cause that the children 
 did not correct themselves, and that they would succeed better 
 by severity. Sister Eugenie was simple and humble enough to 
 adopt the views of this young woman. She allowed her to act, 
 believing that she was doing better than herself, she bewailed 
 without ceasing the pretended faults that she had committed in 
 her place ; at last she earnestly begged to be relieved of her 
 employment, especially as she was getting very infirm. 
 
 (Besogne, Hist, de Vabbaye de Port-Royal, t. i. p. 348.) 
 
 A RECREATION AT PORT-ROYAL. 
 
 " In the monastery of Port-Royal des Champs," Desmarets 2 
 relates, "the mistress of the boarders had instructed her scholars 
 in matters contested between the disciples of Jansenius and the 
 Jesuit fathers, and having inspired them with a terrible aversion 
 for these fathers, had given them the idea of making a doll and 
 
 1 Sister Flavie, Nicole tells us, was mistress of the boarders for fifteen 
 years. (Les Visionnaircs, p. 347.) 
 
 2 Desmarets de Saint -Sorlin (1595-1676), a member of the French 
 Academy, the author of the comedy of the Visiannaires, and of the poem 
 Clovis ; he was distinguished among the most violent enemies of Jansenism. 
 His reason went astray in the folly of a mystical illuminism. Nicole 
 defended Port-Royal against him, as Boileau undertook to avenge antiquity 
 for his attacks. 
 
248 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 dressing it like a Jesuit. Then they made another doll and dressed 
 it like a capuchin. They took them to the sisters for their amuse- 
 ment, and after several questions between one and another, one, 
 who was the president, summed up and condemned the Jesuit. 
 Then all the boarders and the sisters clapped their hands in token 
 of victory, rose up tumultuously, and carried the Jesuit doll in 
 triumph into the garden, where there was a pond, plunged it in 
 several times, and at last drowned it. This was done with trans- 
 ports of joy, bursts of laughter, flying veils and wimples in 
 disorder, and laughing frenzy, and the poor counterfeit Jesuit was 
 like a wretched Orpheus in the hands of furious Menads. Never- 
 theless, that was called a becoming recreation for pious nuns and 
 devout school girls, and passed off with the great satisfaction and 
 approbation of the mothers, who are very pious, if you will believe 
 their apologist." 
 
 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 "Here," replies Nicole, "is one of the strangest examples to be 
 found of the artifices that malice can inspire to raise the blackest 
 calumnies on the slightest and most simple grounds. This is all 
 that can have given rise to this scandalous story. When nothing 
 but Escobar was spoken of in Paris and throughout France, some 
 engravers made a ridiculous picture of him. A young child of 
 good family, who was then about eight or nine years old, gave one 
 to his sisters, who were about his own age, and were brought up 
 in the monastery of Port-Royal des Champs. These little girls 
 having seen it, and being struck with the name and the expression 
 of the personage of whom their brother had sometimes spoken to 
 them laughing, brought him to trial and condemned him to be 
 drowned. To carry out this sentence they made a paper boat, 
 and their intention was to put Escobar 1 in it, and send him to be 
 drowned into the middle of the canal that ran through their 
 garden. But this design was discovered before it was executed 
 ... so that it was very near costing these poor little girls more 
 than Escobar. . . . This is all that is true in this tale, which only 
 shows the wisdom of the nuns of Port-Royal." (Les Visionnaires, 
 p. 350.) 
 
 1 Escobar y Mendoza (1589-1669), a Spanish casuist of the Society of 
 Jesus, whose lax morality Pascal has branded with immortal ridicule. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A STUDY OF THE WRITEES OF PORT-ROYAL BY 
 FATHER BOUHOURS. 1 
 
 . . . WHAT do you think, said Ariste, of those solitaries who have 
 written so much during the last twenty years? I do them justice, 
 replied Eugene, and I candidly admit that they have contributed 
 much to the perfection of our language. 
 
 Have you seen, said Ariste, the translation that they have made 
 of the Imitation of Christ? I have heard say that it is one of their 
 best works, and that they propose it themselves as a model of the 
 purity of the language. 
 
 I have been reading it for some days, replied Eugene, and I esteem 
 it at least as much as the Confessions of St. Augustine and the Life 
 of Doni Barthelemy des Martyrs, in which the long sentences rather 
 fatigue the reader. 
 
 It is true, replied Ariste, that these very famous writers cannot 
 be accused of brevity ; they like long discourses naturally, long 
 parentheses please them very much, long periods, and especially those 
 which, by their excessive length, make one out of breath to read them, 
 are quite to their taste. The fine Life of the Archbishop of Prague 
 
 1 Father Bouhours, a Jesuit (1628-1702) and a meritorious critic, author 
 of the Entretiens d* Ariste ct d' Eugene, of Remarques sur la langue franqaise, 
 and of the Maniere de bien penser dans les ouvrages d' esprit. ' ' He overflows 
 with wit," Mme. de Sevigne wrote of him. Racine, addressing to him, 
 about 1676, the first four acts of Phedre, begs him "to mark the faults that 
 he may have committed agOTst the language, of which you are one of our 
 most excellent masters." But his character and morals do not deserve the 
 same praise: "He is a wretch of whom nothing good is to be expected," 
 writes Arnauld to M. du Vaucel (18 August, 1690). If this testimony 
 seems suspicious, why did the archbishop of Paris not permit Bouhours to 
 put his name, "as being too undignified," to his translation of the New 
 Testament ? 
 
250 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 begins with an inordinately long sentence ; a man must have good 
 lungs to deliver it all in one breath, and pay great attention to under- 
 stand it the first time of reading. 
 
 That may be called getting tired at the beginning of the journey, 
 said Eugene ; but the fact is, he added, these gentlemen have been 
 going on in this style for a long time ; they are used to it, and 
 apparently they will have some difficulty in giving it up. After all, 
 we must not quarrel with them for a fault that only proceeds from 
 copiousness ; if making long sentences is a vice, it is the vice of great 
 orators ; and this makes me think that these gentlemen will not get 
 rid of it. 
 
 Why should they not get rid of their long periods ? replied Ariste ; 
 with time they have got rid of their exaggerations. Nothing was 
 more common in their earlier books than extravagant expressions, as : 
 la plus granule et la plus punissaUe de toutes les hardiesses, la plus sanglante 
 de toutes les invectives, la plus etrange tSme'rite et la plus grossiere ignorance 
 qui fut jamais. There was seen, even in titles and narratives that 
 ought to be plain and simple, une audace qui n'eut jamais de pareille, 
 une ignorance insupportable, une insolence punissable, la plus insigne de 
 toutes les fourberies, la plus Idche ^prevarication qui fut jamais. One of 
 the most judicious critics of our time formerly reproached them with 
 this. 
 
 They have not entirely given up this kind of expressions, said 
 Eugene. They still put le plus in many places where it is not wanted ; 
 or, if they do not use this term to exaggerate what they say, they use 
 big words and grand epithets, which have nearly the same effect. For 
 instance, une impertinence signak'e, un e'garement prodigieux, un attentat 
 insupportable, un emportement diabolique, un effroyable exces de malice 
 et de folie. As to the length of the sentences, far from shortening 
 them, they add tails, which make the discourse extremely long. For 
 example, after long sentences, which are tiring in themselves, they 
 usually put some participle, as : etant certain que . . . , rien n'etant 
 plus avantageux que . . . , which does not give much repose to the 
 mind, nor allow readers to take breath. 
 
 I do not, indeed, find hyperbolical expressions nor inordinately long 
 sentences in the Imitation of Christ ; notwithstanding, to hide nothing 
 from you, there is a something, I do not know what, that I do not 
 like. These are scruples, perhaps ; you shall judge, if you like, and 
 I begin with the epistle dedicatory. 
 
 Tant s'en faut que ce glorieux rabaissement soit indigne du courage de 
 votre naissance. I confess that this glorieux rabaissement does not please 
 me very much. It does not please me at all, said Ariste, and I doubt 
 
Appendix. 251 
 
 whether rabaissement is French. I have heard talk of the rate's of 
 money ; and perhaps we might say the rabaissement of a person who 
 lias been deprived of his dignity and rank ; but I do not think we say 
 rabaissement for humility and this glorieux does not suit very well, 
 according to my idea. 
 
 There is a word which surprised me in the Avertissement au lecteur, 
 continued Eugene. II e'yale la hautesse et la magnificence des ouvrages 
 des saints Peres. What do you say of hautesse? Until now, said 
 Ariste, I thought that the title hautesse was given to a nobleman, and 
 I did not think the title hautesse ought ever to be given to the Fathers. 
 I would as soon call them altesse, and I should think the altesse of their 
 works as good as hautesse. Joking apart, hautesse offends me still more 
 than rabaissement. But let us see the rest (Eugene then read the 
 following passages) : Uwil est insatiable de voir ; Us travaillent plus d 
 s'acque'rir de Ve'clat qu'a se fonder dans Vhumilite'. Geux qui sont encore 
 nouveaux et inexpe'rimente's dans la voie de Dieu. 
 
 I think your previous doubts are very well founded, said Ariste. 
 Insatiable is one of those words that have nothing after them, that 
 govern nothing. We say insatiable avarice (une avarice insatiable), an 
 insatiable heart (un coeur insatiable), but we cannot say insatiable de 
 manger, nor insatiable de voir. We may, indeed, say un desir insatiable 
 d'apprendre; but then d'apprendre is governed by desir, and not by 
 insatiable. 
 
 Se fonder dans Vhumilite' does not seem to me very good ; but 
 acque'rir de Veclat does not seem to me to be French. We say indeed 
 aimer V eclat, faire de P&lat ; but we do not say, that I know, acque'rir 
 de Ve'clat in any sense whatever. 
 
 Inexperimente* is a word in the style of these gentlemen, as well as 
 inallie, inalliable, incorrompu, inconvertible, intolerance, clairvoyance^ 
 inobservation, inattention, desoccupation, desoccuper, desaveugler, coronateur, 
 insidiateur ; to which may be added elevement, abregement, brisement, 
 dechirement, resserrement, attiedissement ; and these adverbs de'clarement, 
 inexplicablement, and incontestablement. For they have no difficulty in 
 making new words, and even claim to have the right to do so ; as 
 if private persons and solitaries had a power that kings themselves 
 do not possess. 
 
 It is apparently in virtue of this assumed authority, said Eugene, 
 that the translator of the Imitation has coined a word, of which we 
 have never heard speak, namely, indisposer, with an active signification 
 Celui qui, apres m'avoir regu, se repand aussit6t en des satisfactions 
 exterieures, ^indispose beaucoup pour me recevoir. . . . 
 
 This indisposer is pleasant, replied Ariste, and I shall be very much 
 
252 Port- Royal Education. 
 
 deceived if that word makes its way ; for it is with words something 
 like it is with men : some have a lucky star, so to say, and are received 
 as soon as they present themselves ; but there are some unlucky ones 
 that cannot be tolerated, and to which we can never get accustomed. 
 Indisposer is one of these unfortunate ones, as well as Jtevemcnt, which 
 these gentlemen put everywhere, and nobody but themselves uses. 
 
 Well, what would you have ? said Eugene ; they are fond of new 
 words, and like making them. But let us go on. Do you like 
 se trouver dans Vobscurcissement, dans Venivrement et dans le resserrement ? 
 ... Do you like Venivrement of the amusements of the world? 
 Complaire a Dieu instead of plairel . . . 
 
 To be plain with you, said Ariste, I do not like all that. 
 
 I do not know, said Eugene, if you will like better what remains 
 to read. . . . Vous serez sujet malgre vous d la mutabilite et au change- 
 ment. Gelui qui est encore assujetti au trouble de ses passions. These 
 two phrases do not please me. A man is subject to change, but is not 
 subject to mutability ; mutabilite means a disposition to change ; to 
 be changeable is to be subject to change, so that to be subject to 
 mutability means the same as to be subject to a disposition to change 
 and to the power of changing, which does not seem to me very reason- 
 able. I say the same of assujetti au trouble de ses passions, a man is 
 subject to his passions, he is the slave of his passions, but is not 
 assujetti au trouble, nor esclave du trouble de ses passions ; that is neither 
 according to reason nor usage. 
 
 Qu'il est triste, au contraire, et penible de voir des personnes sans ordre 
 et sans regie ! II est triste de voir, il est penible de voir displease me. 
 
 Celui-ld est vraiment sage qui ne prete point Voreille aux amorces et aux 
 enchantements de ces sirenes qui tuent en caressant. I would pardon this 
 preter Voreille aux amorces in insignificant writers, who are not expected 
 to be so correct ; but I cannot pardon it in great writers, who should 
 excuse nothing in themselves. Amorces (bait) is one of those meta- 
 phorical words in which something of their primary meaning still 
 remains. We say indeed the amorces of vice ; we might say, To allow 
 ourselves to be caught by the amorces of the sirens ; but I doubt if we 
 can say, Preter Voreille aux amorces (to listen to the bait). It seems 
 to me that these two words, oreille and amorces, do not go well 
 together. 
 
 Que cette vie est malheureuse, puisqu'elle est toujours assitfge'e de pieges 
 et de filets, et pleine d'une infinite* d'ennemis qui Venvironnent de toutes 
 parts! This word assiege'e does not very well agree with pieges and 
 filets ; it would agree better with ennemis, and this passage would be 
 better thus : Que cette vie est malheureuse, puisqu'elle est toujours assiegee 
 
Appendix. 253 
 
 tfennemis, et pleine tfune infinite de pieges et de filets qui I'environnent 
 de toutes parts ! 
 
 Afin que vous soyez le dominateur de vos actions. 
 
 Good heavens ! what a way to talk ! I would as soon say le seigneur 
 et le roi de vos actions. Not that dominateur is not French ; but 
 dominateur and actions do not harmonize. 
 
 II faut que vous conserviez votre dme dans une privation de toutes les 
 douceurs. Abaissez mon cou et ma tite superbes, afin de faire plier ma 
 rolonte' ddreyUe et inflexible sous la rectitude et la saintete' de la v6tre. 
 Here are what may be called phrases. To preserve his soul in the 
 privation of all delights ; to make his will bend under the rectitude 
 of the will of God : either I am no judge, or else this is rather like 
 Nerveze. 1 
 
 Je suis dans une defaillance generale de toutes choses. This is not well 
 expressed, meaning I am in want of all things ; defaillance does not 
 mean manquement and defaut, in that sense. We say defaillance de 
 c&ur, defaillance d'esprit, defaillance des astres; but not defaillance in 
 speaking of money, of clothes, or of things necessary to life. 
 
 L'impuissance ou je me trouve d'etre console* par aucun homme. Etre 
 dans Vimpuissance agrees very well with an active verb, but not with 
 a passive verb. We say, Je suis dans Vimpuissance de vous assister, de 
 vous servir ; but 1 do not think we can say, Je suis dans Vimpuissance 
 d'etre assist^ de mes amis, d'etre console par aucun homme. 
 
 Si impuissant a vous taire ; si facile pour la dissipation et le ris ; si 
 fecond a former de bonnes resolutions, et si sterile a en produire les effets. 
 These phrases are not French. What style ! Je suis impuissant d 
 parler, je suis impuissant a me taire, meaning I cannot speak, I cannot 
 be silent. Foreigners who are beginning to learn French speak in 
 that manner ; they should say, Si peu maitre de votre langue, instead 
 of Si impuissant a vous taire. Facile does not go well with pour, nor 
 with a noun; either it requires nothing after it or d and a verb. C'est 
 un esprit facile, c'est une chose facile d faire. Fecond and sterile are not 
 joined with verbs. The earth is feconde, a field is sterile; but the earth 
 is not feconde a former metals in its bowels ; a field is not sterile d 
 produire du bU ; at most the earth is feconde en mttaux, a field is 
 sUrile en ble. The translator should have said, Si fecond en bonnes 
 resolutions, et si sterile en bons effets. 
 
 1 De Nerveze, the author of Essais potttiques, dedicated to Henri de 
 Bourbon (1603). Furetiere, in \\isfactums, speaks of the strained metaphors 
 which make his songs, sonnets, heroic epistles, ballets, &c., ridiculous. 
 Father Bouhours says a little above : the nerveze, the gibberish, and the 
 bombast. 
 
254 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 De peur que m'abstenant plus longtemps de votre sacre corps, je ne me 
 refroidisse pen a peu de mes saints dfoirs. Se refroidir de ses saints desirs 
 is a new phrase that I have not yet heard. I have always heard say : 
 Se refroidir dans ses exercices de piete', dans une entreprise ou Von s'est 
 engag& avec chaleur. 
 
 etat sacr6 de la vie religieuse, qui rend Vhomme cheri de Dieu ! Si 
 vous aviez soin de rendre votre dme vide de I'affection de toutes les creatures. 
 I am sure that persons at all fastidious in language will not like 
 this style of speaking : Rendre cheri, rendre vide. Rendre does not agree 
 with participles, nor with all kinds of adjectives. We do not say 
 II se rend aime', although we may say II se rend aimaUe. Nor do we 
 say rendre vide any more than rendre plein, meaning vider and remplir. 
 These expressions are like rendre connu, which Balzac has absolutely 
 condemned in the sonnet on Job. 
 
 Comme Us n'ont pas en moi une pleine confiance, Us s'entremettent encore 
 du soin d'eux-mSmes. That is not French. We say indeed, S 'entremettre 
 d'une affaire ; but we do not say, S 'entremettre du soin d'ime affaire, nor 
 du soin d'une personne. 
 
 Tous mes desirs soupirent vers vous. It is the heart, the person that 
 sighs (soupire) ; but desires do not sigh, they cause to sigh. Soupirent 
 vers vous is not good ; it should be Soupirent apres vous, or pour vous. 
 
 Je ne trouve du repos en aucune creature, mais en vous seul, 6 mon Dieu. 
 This construction is not regular. Je ne trouve du repos does not agree 
 well with mais en vous seul. The phrase should be turned differently, or 
 at least it should be mais fen trouve en vous seul. The verb should not 
 be understood in these constructions ; it should always be expressed, 
 and we should not be afraid to repeat the same word ; repetition is 
 not disagreeable when it contributes to regularity of construction and 
 clearness of style. 
 
 Vous vous aimes trop par un amour de're'gle'. Conside'rer tout par un 
 ceil si pur et si eclaire*. As soon as a person loves himself too much, 
 he loves himself extravagantly ; thus par un amour de're'gle' is useless 
 after trop. Besides, s'aimer par un amour de're'gle' is not well expressed, 
 no more than considerer par un ceil si pur et si e'claire; we must say, 
 S 'aimer d'un amour dere'gle', considerer tout d'un ceil si pur et si e'claire'. 
 
 II y en a peu qui sortent entierement de leurs inclinations et de kur 
 humeur. This is not good French for saying, Qui renoncent enticement 
 a leurs inclinations et a leur humeur. We say of a man carried away 
 by passion, il est hors de soi, il est rentre' en soi-m$me; but we do not 
 say, II est sorti de soi-meme; thus we say, Sortir de son pe'che', sortir de 
 son caract&re; but we do not say, Sortir de ses inclinations et de son 
 humeur. . , f 
 
 
Appendix. 255 
 
 We should never end, said Eugene, if I were to read you all the 
 passages that I have marked. There is not a chapter on which I have 
 not some doubts. Nevertheless, the Imitation of Christ is the smallest 
 book of these gentlemen, and has had the greatest popularity of all 
 their books ; it has gone to thirteen editions. 
 
 I conclude from all this, said Ariste, that the greatest masters are 
 liable to be mistaken sometimes. 
 
 (Deuxieme entretien d } Ariste et <V Eugene, p. 187.) 
 
 The Bureau typographique or Typographic Table was a method of 
 teaching the alphabet invented by Louis Dumas (1676-1744), a French 
 litterateur of Montpellier. It was a table with compartments like a 
 printer's case, containing the letters of the alphabet and the ortho- 
 graphical signs written on cards ; over the compartments the names 
 of the letters were written as they are given in the note (p. 111). 
 The child picked out the letters to form the words that were given 
 him to spell, and afterwards distributed the letters into their proper 
 divisions, thus learning, in play, orthography and the elements of 
 grammar. This was a favourite system in the 18th century. 
 
 (Note by the Translator.) 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abgarus : 38. 
 
 Agnes, The Mother, (Jeanne-Cathe- 
 rine Agnes Arnauld, sister of Dr. 
 Arnauld) : 6, 46, 49, 51, 53, note; 
 65, note; 75, note; 95, note; 221, 
 note. 
 
 Aguesseau, D': 40. 
 
 Aldrovandus : 174 and note. 
 
 Alembert, D': 64. 
 
 Alet (Bp. of) : 63, note. 
 
 Alvares : 14, note. 
 
 Ambrose, St.: 13. 
 
 Andilly, D', see Villeneuve, son of. 
 
 Arnauld d' (elder brother of Dr. 
 Arnauld): 25, 45, 46, note; 78, 
 note ; 81, 82. 
 
 Angelique, The Mother (Marie Ange- 
 lique Arnauld, sister of Dr. 
 Arnauld) : 45 and note ; 46 and 
 note ; 48, 50, 54, note ; 55 and 
 note ; 60, note ; 110, note ; 
 219, note ; 225, note ; 243, note ; 
 245. 
 
 de Saint-Jean (Arnauld), The 
 Mother (niece of Dr. Arnauld) : 
 46, 193, note. 
 
 Annat, Father, Jesuit : 19, 44. 
 Anne of Austria, 63. 
 
 Eugenie de 1' Incarnation, Sister 
 (sister of Dr. Arnauld) : 50, 54, 
 245 seq. 
 
 Archimedes : 195. 
 
 Aristotle : 11, 28, 29 ; definition of 
 
 the verb, 113 and note ; 125, 132 
 
 seq. 
 Arnauld (advocate) : 43, note. 
 
 Antoine, Dr. (son of preceding) : 
 1, 9 and note ; Author of Port- 
 Royal books, 12, 17, 19, 21, note ; 
 22, 25 ; Logic, 26 ; a Cartesian, 
 27, 28 and note ; Logic, 31, 43 seq. 
 and note ; composition of the 
 Logic, 44, 52, 55, 56, 59, note; 
 
 61, 62 and note; 65, note; 82, 
 89, note ; 96 and note ; 110, note ; 
 114, note ; letter on grammar, 
 117 seq.; on classical studies, 123 
 seq., 193, note ; 197, note ; 204, 
 note; 221, note; 227, note; 241, 
 note ; his opinion of Bouhours, 
 249, note. 
 
 Arsenius, St. : 71 and note. 
 
 Aubry, Mile.: 21, 39. 
 
 Augustine, St.: 13, 36, 83, note ; 96, 
 103, 104, 107, 199, 205, 216, 219, 
 note. 
 
 Avaux, M. d' : 21, note. 
 
 Bacon : 31 and notes his opinion of 
 the Jesuits as educators, 59, note ; 
 128, note. 
 
 Bailly : judicial astrology, 129, note. 
 
 Bain : indirect moral instruction, 
 169, note. 
 
 Balzac, M. de : 16, 84, note ; 254. 
 
 Barbier, notice on Guyot : 42. 
 
 Barcos, M. de : 21, 82. 
 
 Basil, St. : 180. 
 
 Bauny, Father : 36. 
 
 Bayle: 66. 
 
 Beaubrun, M. de, on Nicole's Jansen- 
 ism : 22. 
 
 Beauzee : 113, note ; 117, note. 
 
 Bembo : 146 and note. 
 
 Benedict, St. : 71, 76. 
 
 Bernard, St. : 85, note ; 201, 205, 
 207. 
 
 Bernieres, M. de : 86, note. 
 
 Berulle, De : 60. 
 
 Besogne : Nicole's classical know- 
 ledge, 22, 41, 44, 47 and note; 50, 
 55, note ; 62. 
 
 Bignon, M. Jer6me : 3, note ; 8, 13, 
 31, note ; 70 and note. 
 
 JerOme and Thierri : 3, note ; 45, 
 70, note> 
 
Index, 
 
 257 
 
 Bignou, Marie : 3, note ; 47, 70, note. 
 Boileau : 20 ; Arrtt burlesque, 30, 
 
 66, 147, note. 
 Boisguilbert, 45, 46, note. 
 Boissier, M. G. : 178, note. 
 Bona, Card. : 65, note. 
 Bossuet : 19, note ; 24, 27, note ; 
 
 29, note; 34, 37, note; 44, 
 
 96, note. 
 Bouhours, Father : 16 and note ; 19, 
 
 note ; 249 and note ; 253, note. 
 Bourbon, Henri de : 63, 253, note. 
 Bourdoise : 60. 
 Boutiot, M. Th. : 47, note. 
 Boxhorn : 113, note. 
 Breal, Michel : 17. 
 Brisacier, Father: 19, note; 44. 
 Bruno, Giordano : 29. 
 Burnouf: 17. 
 Bussy : 14. 
 Buxtorf : 114 and note. 
 
 Calvin : 19, note ; 62. 
 
 Camper : 79, note. 
 
 Canaye, Father : 59. 
 
 Cassini, astronomer: 195. 
 
 Cato the Censor : 216 and note. 
 
 Chambre, M. de la : 117 and note. 
 
 Champagne, Philippe de- 97 and 
 
 note. 
 
 Channing : 2, note ; 80, note. 
 Chapelain : 17, 20, 25, 26. 
 Chapelle: 215, note. 
 Charron : 109, note. 
 Chaze, Mme. de : 50. 
 Chevreuse, Due de : 20, 44. 
 Chiflet, Father : pronunciation of oi t 
 
 157, note. 
 
 Choisy, Mme. de : 66. 
 Chrysologus, St. : 206. 
 Chrysostom, St.: 13, 203 and note. 
 Cicero: 125, his letters, 176 and note. 
 Clemencet : 47, note. 
 Canard: 14. 
 Comenius : 15. 
 Condillac: 17. 
 Contarini : 60, note. 
 Conti, La princesse de : 63, 204, note. 
 Conti, Le prince de : 20, 63 and note. 
 Copernicus : 195. 
 Corbinelli: 14. 
 Cordier, Mathurin, teacher : 158 and 
 
 note. 
 Corneille : 18, 24, 46, note. 
 
 Cousin, M.: 46, 63, 110, note; 227, 
 
 note. 
 Coustel or Coutel : 12, 41, 210, note ; 
 
 211, note. 
 
 Descartes: 10, 11, 17, 18, 27, 28, 29 
 
 and note ; 30, 65, 96, note ; 193 
 
 seq., 196 seq., 215, note. 
 Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin : 247 and 
 
 note. 
 
 Despautere : 14, 157, note. 
 Diez: 17. 
 Diibner: 15. 
 Duclos: 17, 111, notes. 
 DufossiS : 7, 48, 49, note. 
 Du Fargis, Mile : 54, note. 
 Duguet : 59, note. 
 Du Marsais: 17. 
 Duvergier de Hauranne, see Saint- 
 
 Cyran : 1. 
 
 Egger, M.: 14, 15, 113, note. 
 Elboeuf, Mile, d': 225, note. 
 Elzevier, Daniel : 18. 
 Embrun (Abp. of) : 44. 
 Epictetus : 10, 95, note ; Pascal's 
 
 opinion of, 97 seq. 
 Epicurus : 27. 
 
 Escobar : 36, 54, 56, 248 and note. 
 Espinoy, M. d': 81 and note ; see 
 
 also Saint- Ange (the young). 
 
 Fayette, Mme. de la : 24, 34, 39. 
 Fenelon: 14, 18, note; on eloquence, 
 
 144, note ; id. 147, note ; definition 
 
 of the world, 245, note. 
 Fermat : 96, note. 
 Fleurv, Card.: 67. 
 Fludd, Robert : 135 and note. 
 Foix, Mme. de : 53, note ; 65, note. 
 Fontaine (Nicolas) : 2, 8 ; description 
 
 of de Saci, 10, 20, 93, note ; 208, 
 
 note ; 243, note. 
 Fontaine, Mme. de : 232, note. 
 Fontpertuis, Mme. de : 21, note. 
 Fouruel, M. V.: 39. 
 Francois de Sales : 60. 
 Franklin : 125, 213. 
 Fromageau, Abb6 : 47. 
 Furetiere : 253, note. 
 Furstemberg, Card.: 4l. 
 
 Galen : 195, 196, note. 
 Galileo: 29. 
 
2 5 8 
 
 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Garasse, Father : 23, note. 
 
 Gassendi : 27, 135, note ; 215, note. 
 
 Gerberon : 66, note. 
 
 Gregory Nazianzen, St. : 6. 
 
 Grignan, Mme. de : 64, 109, note. 
 
 Grimarest : 215, note. 
 
 Grimm : 17. 
 
 Guedreville, De : 47. 
 
 Guenegaut, Mme. de : 63. 
 
 Guise, Due de : 79. 
 
 Duchesse de : 4, 79. 
 
 Gui Patin : 60, note ; 135, notes. 
 
 Guy Joly : 63, note. 
 
 Guyot : 4, 6, 12 ; his translations, 
 
 41, 42 and note ; 159, note ; 160, 
 
 note. 
 
 Hamon, M., physician: 97, 243, 
 
 note. 
 
 Harcourt, D': 63. 
 Harlai (Abp. of Paris) : 44. 
 Harvey, physician : 141, note ; 195, 
 
 196, note. 
 
 Hecquet, physician : 243, note. 
 Hement, M. Felix : 173, note. 
 Hippocrates, 195. 
 Hocquincourt, Marquis d': 59. 
 Huet: 27. 
 Hufeland : 5. 
 Humboldt: 17. 
 Huyghens : 96, note ; 195 and note. 
 
 Innocent X : 60, note. 
 
 James II.: 21, note. 
 
 Jansenius (Cornelius, Bp. of Ypres) : 
 
 11, 43, note ; 57, 60, 66, note ; 83, 
 
 note. 
 Joubert : 11, 36, note ; his estimate 
 
 of Balzac, 85, note. 
 Jurieu : 27, 44. 
 
 Kepler : 135, note. 
 
 La Boetie : 40. 
 
 La Bruyere: 23, 40, 43, note; 151, 
 
 note ; 215, note. 
 La Fontaine : 20 ; the Horoscope, 
 
 130, note. 
 
 La Marans : 32, note. 
 Lamoignon, Sister Louise Saint- 
 
 Praxede de : 46, note. 
 
 Lancelot, Claude : 1, 2, 3, and note; 
 4, 6 ; pedagogic directions, 7, 8, 12 ; 
 enters Port-Royal, 13 ; publishes 
 Latin Grammar, id. , Greek Gram- 
 mar, 14 ; his opinion on Janua 
 linguarum, 15 ; Grammaire gene- 
 rale, 17 and note ; , Italian and 
 Spanish Grammars under the name 
 of M. de Trigny, id. ; declines to 
 write a French Grammar, 18, 19 ; 
 publishes four treatises on poetry, 
 20 ; end of his pedagogic career, 21 ; 
 his exile and death, id. and note, 
 41, 62, 70, note ; 73, note ; 81, 
 note ; 82, note ; 83 note ; 117, 
 note ; 204, note. 
 
 La Rochefoucauld : 35, 40. 
 
 Launoi, M. de : 136, note. 
 
 Lavaur (Bp. of) : 44. 
 
 Leclerc : 50, 54, note ; 225, note. 
 
 Legouve, M., his defence of Cicero, 
 178, note. 
 
 Leibnitz, his objections to Descartes' 
 philosophy, 27 and note; his opinion 
 of the Jesuits as educators, 59, note. 
 
 Le Maistre, J.: 34. 
 
 Lemaitre (Antoine) : 5, note ; 7, 41, 
 51, 70, note ; 85, note ; 95, note. 
 
 Lemoine : 27, 44, 193, note. 
 
 Le Nain de Tillemont : 45. 
 
 Leo X.: 146, note. 
 
 Le Tellier : 12, 218, note. 
 
 Lipsius, 173. 
 
 Littre, 17. 
 
 Locke, 5, 93, note. 
 
 Longueville, Mme. de : 62, 63 and 
 note ; 86, note. 
 
 Louis XIII.: 129, note. 
 
 Louis XIV.: 62, 63, 90, note; 117, 
 note. 
 
 Lucian : 80, note. 
 
 Luines, Due de : 44, 63. 
 
 Luther: 62. 
 
 Maimbourg, Jesuit : 44. 
 
 Maintenon, Mme. de : 4, note ; her 
 opinion on the books of Port- Royal, 
 19, 51, 55 and note; relates two 
 anecdotes 56, 62 ; sets writing 
 copies, 159, note ; 170, note ; 
 advice to teachers, 201, note, and 
 209, note ; 224, note ; 228, note ; 
 230, note ; 232, note ; 235, note ; 
 245, note. 
 
Index. 
 
 259 
 
 Malebranche: 44, 147, note. 
 
 Mallet, M.: 218. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius : 97, note. 
 
 Maria Teresa, Donna: 17. 
 
 Marie, Mme. de la: 4, note ; 209, note. 
 
 Martha, M.: 97, note. 
 
 Martin, Henri, method of Saint- 
 
 Cyran, 65. 
 Maurepas : 67. 
 Me'gret, Louis: 18, note. 
 Melanchthon : 80, note. 
 Manage, M. : 16 and note. 
 Mersenne, Father : 27, 29, 96, note ; 
 
 135, note. 
 Michelet: 46. 
 Minucius Felix : 180, note. 
 Mirabeau : 46, note. 
 Mirandola, Francis Picus : 146. 
 Moliere : 51, note ; 129, note ; 215, 
 
 note. 
 Montaigne : 5, 10, 32, note ; 40, 93, 
 
 note ; Pascal's opinion of, 97 seq., 
 
 132, 199, note. 
 Montmorency, Constable Anne de : 
 
 230, note. 
 Morel : 44. 
 
 Nerveze, De : 253 and note. 
 
 Nicole: 12, 21, 22; his prejudice 
 against ancient literature, 23 ; 
 criticism on French literature, 24 ; 
 his literary taste, 25 ; Logic, 26, 
 28, 31 ; Essais de morale, 32 seq. ; 
 education of a prince, 40, 41, 43, 
 44, 46, 59, note ; 62, 89, note ; 
 130, note ; 132, note ; 167, note ; 
 172, note ; 176, note ; on study of 
 rhetoric, 177, 192, note ; 197, 
 note ; 204, note ; 213, note ; 235, 
 note ; 247, note ; reply to Des- 
 marets, 248. 
 
 Nouet: 44. 
 
 Olivet, Abbe d' : 25. 
 Olympia, Signora : 60, note, 
 Origen : 83 and note. 
 
 Pallu, physician : 243, note. 
 Palsgrave, French Grammar: 18. 
 
 note. 
 
 Paracelsus, physician : 135 and note. 
 Pascal : 10, 19 ; Pens6es, 24 ; their 
 
 style corrected, 25, 32 and note ; 
 
 36, note ; 39, 40, 44, 45, 59, note; 
 
 85, note ; at Port-Royal, 95 seq. ; 
 
 his method of reading, 110, note; 
 
 138, note; 139, note; 145, note; 
 
 Nicole's opinion on the Pensees, 
 
 179, 208, note ; 244, note. 
 Pascal, Jacqueline (Sister Sainte- 
 
 Euphe'mie) : 50, 53 ; Port-Royal 
 
 method of reading, 110, note ; 
 
 226, note. 
 
 Pasquier, Etienne : 71, note. 
 Pasquin : 60, note. 
 Passart, Sister Flavie : 247 and note. 
 Perdreau, Sister Marie -Doro the" e : 49, 
 
 75, note. 
 Perefixe (Archbishop of Paris) : 44, 
 
 56. 
 
 Perrier, M. : 25. 
 Pestalozzi : 93, note. 
 Petau, Father : 19, 44. 
 Philip II. : 202, note. 
 Pibrac, M. de, his quatrains : 199 
 
 and note. 
 Plato: 207. 
 Plautus: 201. 
 Pliny the Younger, his letters : 178, 
 
 244, note. 
 Plutarch : 32 note. 
 Pomponne, M. Arnauld de: 46, note. 
 Ptolemy: 195 and note. 
 
 Quesnel, Father : 22. 
 Quintilian: 13, 14, 125, 179, 210, 
 note. 
 
 Rabelais : 5, 93, note. 
 
 Racine (Jean) : 8, 15, 20, 24, 45, 47, 
 
 48, 59, 63, 204, note ; 243, note ; 
 
 249, note. 
 
 (Bonaventure), Abbe : 45, note. 
 Ramus : 14 ; French Grammar, 18, 
 
 note ; 134, note. 
 Ranee, De : 60. 
 Rapin, Father: 2, 14, note; 19, 22, 
 
 52, 55, 62 and note ; 64, 67, 92, 
 
 note. 
 
 Raymond of Sabunde: 101 and note. 
 Renan, M : 63. 
 
 Retz, Card, de : 62, 63 and note. 
 Richelieu : 3, 69, note ; 78, note ; 
 
 82, 97, note. 
 Rivet, D.: 49. 
 Roberval : 96, note. 
 Rollin : 17, 40, 125, note ; 207, note. 
 
26o 
 
 Port-Royal Education. 
 
 Rousseau : 5, 6 ; negative education, 
 71, note ; 93, note ; 234, note. 
 
 Sabl^, Mme. de : 28, note. 
 
 Saci, Louis- Isaac Lemaitre de (brother 
 of Antoine Lemaitre) : 3, note ; 
 6 ; his poetical talent, 8 seq. ; his 
 translation of the Bible, 11, 21, 
 59, note ; 62 and note ; 70, note ; 
 73, note ; 82 ; Patience and silence, 
 92, 93, note ; 96 seq., 197, note ; 
 208, note. 
 
 M. Sylvestre de : 40. 
 
 Sainte- Agnes de Feron, Sister Eliza- 
 beth de : 50. 
 
 Sainte - Aldegonde des Pommares, 
 Sister Marie de ; 49. 
 
 Saint- Ange, M. de : 81, note. 
 
 (the young) : 7. See also Espinoy. 
 
 Saint-Amour, Dr.: 18. 
 
 Sainte-Beuve : 11 ; Lancelot's incon- 
 sistency, 20, 45, 46, note ; 95, 
 note ; 97, note. 
 
 Jacques de : 89 and note. 
 Saint-Cyran, Abbe de : his ideas on 
 
 education, 1 seq., 13, 21, 23, 43 
 and note; 46, note; 50, 55, 57, 
 59, note ; 60, 62, 65, 69, notes, 
 et seq. ; on corporal punishment, 
 75 and note; 221, note; 231, 
 note : 241, note ; 244, note ; 246. 
 
 Sainte-Domitille, Sister Jeanne de : 
 54, note. 
 
 Saint- Evremond : 59. 
 
 Saint-Pierre, Abbe de : 24. 
 
 Sainte-Suzanne. Sister : 97, note. 
 
 Salle, Father de la: 210, note; 211, 
 note. 
 
 Sanctius : 14, note. 
 
 Scaliger, Julius Caesar: 113, note; 
 114 and note. 
 
 Scioppius : 14, note. 
 
 Sebastian, King of Portugal : 202 and 
 note. 
 
 Seneca: 178, 179, 180, note; 209. 
 t Senecey, Marquis de : 63. 
 
 Sevigne" , Marquis de : 24, 32, note ; 
 63. 
 
 Sevigne, Mme. de : 16 and note, 21 ; 
 her admiration of Nicole, 31, 32, 
 34 ; her criticism of Nicole, 35 
 seq., 39, 40, 63, note ; 64, 66, 109, 
 note; 171, note; 249, note. 
 
 Simon, Richard: 44. 
 
 Singlin, Abbe", 3, 8, 21, 22, 50, 62, 
 63, note ; 74 and note ; 82, and 
 Pascal, 96, 226. 
 
 Sirmond, Jesuit : 44. 
 
 Socrates, Nicole's opinion of, 28. 
 
 Spencer, 234, note. 
 
 Stenon: 195, 196, note. 
 
 Sully- Prudhomme, M.: 38. 
 
 Tetu, Abbe* : 32, note. 
 
 Theodosius the Great : 71, note. 
 
 Thou, De : 199, note. 
 
 Torricelli : 96, note. 
 
 Tracy, De : 17. 
 
 Trigny, M. de : 17 ; see Lancelot. 
 
 Tycho Brahe : 195 and note. 
 
 Vabres (Bp. of) : 44. 
 
 Valant, M.: 122. 
 
 Van-Helmont : 135 and note. 
 
 Vanini: 29. 
 
 Varin : 76, note. 
 
 Vaucel, M. du: 21, note ; 249, note. 
 
 Vaugelas : 18, note ; 84, note ; 144. 
 
 Vauvenargues : 40. 
 
 Vavasseur, Father : 25. 
 
 Vergara : 14. 
 
 Villeneuve, M. de: 81; see also 
 
 Andilly, D'. 
 Villeroi: 63. 
 
 Vincent de Paul : 2, 60 and note. 
 Virgil: 6, 73. 
 Vitard, M.: 13. 
 Vives, Luis : 138, note. 
 Voltaire : 21, 40, 45. 
 Vossius : 14 and note. 
 
 Wallon de Beaupuis, M : 12, 42. 
 Willis, physician : 196 and note. 
 
 Ypres^ 
 
 Jansenius. 
 
 W. Brendon and Son, 
 
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
 University of California Library 
 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 
 (415)642-6233 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books 
 
 to NRLF 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days 
 
 prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 MAY 2 9 1839 
 
 1994 
 
 . ? ? 
 
 APR Q5 1996 
 
 REC.MOFFiTT 
 
 28 
 

 U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES