Glass- L P' 
Book .*Lf? J^_ 



Port -Royal Education 



A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY 



WITH 



EXTRACTS FROM ITS LEADING AUTHORS 



EDITED BY 



FELIX CADET 



French Inspector General of Public Instruction 




SYRACUSE, N. Y. 

C. W. BARDEEX, PUBLISHER 

1S99 



Copyright. 1899. by C. W. Daudeen 






C'aiw. 






*WOOOPies 



^sceivfc 



CONTENTS 

History of the Port- Royal Schools 

Page 

Origin of the Petites Ecoles of Port-Royal 9 

Ideas of Saint-Cyran on Education 10 

His collaborators, Lemaitre 20 

deSaci 21 

The real masters : 

Lancelot 28 

Nicole 42 

Coustel 76 

Guyot..... 77 

Wallon de Beaupuis 78 

Arnauld 79 

Boisguilbert. 83 

Of the education of girls at Port-Royal according to 
constitution of the monastery and the rule of 

Jacqueline Pascal 85 

Reasons which led to the closing of the schools and 

the destruction of Port-Royal 107 

General criticism 119 

Extracts from Port- Royal Writers 

Saint-Cyran. — Origin of the Petites Ecoles 123 

Lancelot. — Charity of M. de Saint-Cyran towards 

children 128 

Lancelot. — Saint-Cyran' s literary theory 146 

(5) 



6 cadet's port-royal 

Page 

De Beaupuis. — Regulations for the school of Le 

Chesnal 154 

De Saci. — Letter on Education 165 

Fontaine. — Conversation between Pascal and M. de 

Saci on Epictetus and Montaigne 170 

Lancelot. — A new method of learning to read 183 

Of the Verb 186 

Arnauld — Questions of grammar....- 196 

Regulation of studies in the humanities 205 

Nicole. — Design of the New Logic 214 

Reply to the principal objections 221 

Of bad reasoning in civil life 233 

Rules of the method in the sciences 256 

Guyot. — On teaching reading and writing. Exer- 
cises in translation, elocution, and composition. 259 
Nicole.- — General views on the education of a 

Prince 282 

Special advice concerning studies 289 

Arnauld. — Eulogy on Descartes' philosophy 308 

Coustel. — Rules for education 315 

Of civility and politeness in children 331 

Mere Agnes. — Constitutions of the monastery of 

Port-Royal 345 

Jacqueline Pascal. — Regulations for the children 

of Port-Royal 354 

Besogne. — Sister Anne Eugenie, mistress of the 

boarders 387 

Nicole. — A recreation at Port-Royal 391 

Index 394 



PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 



PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 
INTRODUCTION 

The Petites Ecoles of Port-Royal had but a short and 
troubled existence. Their foundation goes back to the 
year 1637, * 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, 1661. 2 

They hold, nevertheless, an honorable 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 re- 
form in methods of teaching and the books which they 

1 In 1637 we see the beginning of this celebrated 
community of recluses, which was formed outside the 
monastery of Port-Eoyal, 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 
N'ecrologe de Port-Royal ) 

2 The nuns were allowed to receive boarders again 
from 1669 to 1679. 

(9) 



10 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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. x He was so profoundly moved by the import- 
ance of the education of the young, that he did not 
scruple to apply to this work the saying in the 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 irregu- 
larities had no other origin or cause than bad educa- 
tion. 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 sacri- 
fice 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 sene- 
schal and master of the stables, and looking upon the 

1 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, t. i. p. 288), on the frontiers of 
Touraine, Berry, and Poitou. 



SAINT-CYKAN 11 

education of reasonable creatures as the lowest employ- 
ment. 1 

" I confess," he said to Fontaine, " that I should 
consider it a religious duty if I could be of use to chil- 
dren." " 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 col- 
lect 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 



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 em- 
ployment 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. ' ' ( (Euvres 
Societies, trans. Laboulaye, p. 177.) Our schoolmas- 
ters have no longer to strive against the indifference 
and contempt of society; they have to guard them- 
selves against the feeling of pride that their new posi- 
tion in public opinion might cause in them. It is only 
in this way that they will preserve the sympathy of 
everyone. 



12 PORT-KOYAL EDUCATION 

Father Rapin 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 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 chil- 
dren at most in Christian virtue." (Lancelot, M<- 
moires, t. i. p. 291.) 

His arrest and detention at Vincennes 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 disinterested as 
his own, but better guided, and therefore more effica- 
cious. He sometimes said that he would have gone to 
the world's end to find a competent master. (Lancelot, 
t. i. p. 129.) 

1 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. 



SAIXT-CYRAX 13 

Saint-Cyran, then, was really the inspirer and mover 
of the pedagogic work of Port-Royal, x 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 unbaptizecl, and all the consequences which he 
logically deduces from them as to the end of educa- 
tion, 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 discus- 
sion on this ground, which has only a purely historical 
interest. Its starting-point is different, as is also its 
end. The child is, in its view, a personality necessarily 

1 We read, nevertheless, in the supplement to the 
Xecrologe de Port-Royal, p. 398: "The establishment 
of the Petite* Ecoles de Port- Royal was due to the solicita- 
tion 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 Ecoles were started outside Port-Royal de Paris 
by MM. Lancelot and De Saci, while their sister, Marie 
Bignon, was educated within the convent/' 



14 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 knowl- 
edge 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 ful- 
filling our destiny, whatever 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 under- 
takes the charge 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 cabinet-maker, this con- 
dition is a sine qua non. 1 

1 Mine, de Maintenon dreads the influence of the 
family no less. She writes to Mme. de la Mairie, 
March 5, 1714: " The first impressions given to chil- 
dren 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 



SALST-CYRA^ 15 

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 labor. "It is 
very remarkable," observes Lancelot with some reason 
(t. ii. p. 194), "that he is 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 corrup- 
tion, but only a strange eagerness for knowledge, 
joined to great inquisitiveness and an ardent 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 them- 
selves dishonored by following the profession in which 

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 relatives once every 
three months for half an hour at most. 



16 POKT-KOYAL EDUCATION 

their birth would have placed them. Those only in 
whom great docility and submission, 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 atten- 
tion 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 Renaissance, that is to say, the return to classical 
antiquity, which enlarged the domain of pedagogy and 
restored their due share to hygiene, games, and physi- 
cal exercises. Rabelais and Montaigne in the sixteenth 
century, Locke in the seventeenth, Rousseau in the 
eighteenth, Hufeland in the nineteenth, 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 

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 labor. Our curricula, well filled, 
too uniform, and not sufficiently adapted to the needs 
of the various localities, are, perhaps, not irreproacha- 
ble in this respect. 



SAINT-CYRAX 17 

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 import- 
ance, has a bearing on the method of feeding. l 

But he seems to me to have very well understood the 
necessity of not overpressing the child by too early in- 
tellectual labor. " I should think I had done a great 
deal," he says very sensibly, " although I had not ad- 
vanced 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 monastry in the country, and 
by giving them all the pastimes suitable to their age." 
The monastry excepted, this reminds us of the negative 
education extolled by Rousseau. 

Saint-Cyran sacrificed intellectual to moral educa- 
tion 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 Xazian- 
zen, 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 

1 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-fish, and herring." 



18 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

literary beauties. Is it not strange to hear him say 
seriously during a visit to Port-Royal to the children 
who were studying Virgil: "You see that author? 
He has procured his own damnation, yes, he has pro- 
cured 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", 
Rousseau would say, the fourth book of the ^Eneid, 
even the Eclogues of Alexis and Gallus (Saci and Guyot 
translated 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 ? 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 teach- 
ing of morality the precept that the Mother Agnes re- 
calls to the memory of a sister on the subject of relig- 
ious 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 ? It is not a 
question of setting out learned abstractions, logical 



SAINT-CYRAX 19 

deductions, or methodical 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 in- 
spire 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 
compassion towards those who are seen to be more un- 
formed and backward; not to dishearten them by a too 
severe look and a too imperious manner; to know how 
to condescend discreetly to their humor 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 negli- 
gence ; 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 ex- 



20 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

tremity ; 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 pleased him, to speak little, bear 
with much, and pray more. But for him the princi- 
pal 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 Memoires 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 solid in- 
struction in studies as well as in piety. He read to 
me, and made me read 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 Racine. 

1 Memoires pour servir a V hist, de Port- Royal. 1739, p. 
156. 



LEMAITKE, DE SACI 21 

His younger brother, M. de Saci, who, after Saint - 
Cyran and M. Singlin, was the director of Port-Royal, 
took part incidentally in the teaching. With Lance- 
lot, 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 translation of the Fables of Phsedrus, 1 and of three 
comedies of Terence. 2 It is to be noticed with what 
4 'ingenious charity " the man of letters, enamored 
with noble antiquity, endeavors to conciliate the cul- 
tivation 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 aspir- 
ing to make them citizens of ancient Rome they are 

1 The Fables of Phaedrus, 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. (164T.) 

2 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 translat- 
ing well into French, by the Sr. de Saint- Aubin. 
(Paris, 1647.) 



22 POET-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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. ' ' 

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 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 colors, 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. 



DE SACI 23 

" 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 almanac entitled, The Rout and Confusion of the 
Jansenists. De Saci, with the applause of Arnauld x 
(Saint-Cyran would have energetically condemned such 
a freak), composed, in trifling verses of eight feet, the 
Enluminures de V almanack 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. 
Every other book is asked for, 
Seen, prized, and bargained for; 
But they are recluses, 
Whom no man has ever seen. 

1 Arnauld undertook, at a great expense of erudition 
and logic, to justify this pamphlet, in his Application 
des regies des Peres a V almanack. 



'24 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 pre- 
serves the imprint of its author: — 

" Thou, who cherishest the learned Greece, 

Where of old wisdom nourished; 

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 colors. 

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 classical authors was dangerous for 
those who could not " pick up some pearls from the 
dung-hill, whence arose even a black 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." 



DE SACI 25 

We see him in his admirable conversation with Pascal, 
firm and intrenched in his faith, despise the fine-drawn 
reasoning of Epictetns 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: 
" Xo one ever saw M. De Saci take an interest in 
those inquisitive sciences (the system of the world by 
Descartes, animal-machines). 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?" (Mhnoires, t. iii. p. 
75.) 



26 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

What a narrow-minded opinion, and what a preju- 
dice ! Sainte-Beuve answers him roundly : ' ' Jansenius 
made a disturbance in the bosom of the Church ; Des- 
cartes made a revolution everywhere." (t. iii. p. 120.) 

We recall this 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 fin- 
ished till 1707, twenty-three years after his death. 
Reading and meditating on the sacred books, and mak- 
ing their reading and meditation easier for the faith- 
ful, 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 cut- 
ting sentence of Joubert, " De Saci has shaved, pow- 
dered, 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 endeavored to remove from the Holy Scrip- 
ture obscurity and inelegance; and God has willed 



DE SAiCI 27 

until now that His Word should be enveloped in 
obscurities. Have I not, then, reason to fear that giv- 
ing, as I have tried to do, a clear version, and one per- 
haps sufficienty correct with regard to purity of 
language, is resisting the designs of the Holy Spirit f 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 orna- 
ments But I cannot hide from myself that I have 

endeavored 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 ? " (Fontaine, Mem&ires, 

t. iv. p. 322.) 

Evidently De Saci had not such soundness of taste 
as he had tenderness of conscience and ardor in devo- 
tion; but with these few reservations, how much ad- 
miration this pure and regular life, so enamored of 
perfection, so full 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 per- 
mission from his majesty that from time to time per- 



28 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

sons 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 with- 
out anyone even remembering why they have been im- 
prisoned, should not be left in perpetual oblivion." 
(Leclerc, Vies interessantes, t. iv. p. 56.) 

But the real masters of Port-Royal were those who 
were entrusted with the teaching at the time of the 
organization of the Petites Ecoles in 1646, Lancelot 
and Xicole, Guyot and Coustel, under the manage- 
ment of M. AVallon 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 the recluses of Port-Royal he devoted himself 
the most entirely to education, and composed the 
greatest number of classical works. He was born in 
Paris about 1615. Having early resolved to devote 
himself to God's service, he entered in 1627 the com- 
munity of Saint Xicolas du Chardonnet, where he re- 
mained 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." (Memories, t. i. p. 5.) 



CLAUDE LANCELOT 29 

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. (Me- 
moires, 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 en- 
trusted to him, Lancelot was sent to La Ferte-Milon 
with M. Vitard, 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 Ad- 
vocate-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 ivith 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. tk T have 



30 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 things 
that are not worth knowing. But I hope," he adds, 
" that the substantial and judicious remarks of these 
authors, 1 in order thoroughly to understand the 

ground of the Latin language, will show with how 

much reason the same Quintilian said that those are 
very much deceived who laugh at grammar as a low 
and despicable art, since, being to eloquence what the 
foundation is to the edifice, if it is not firmly estab- 
lished 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 
recommendation that Fenelon supports with his 
authority. 2 

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 Portugese 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 fre- 
quent use ; then he will take pleasure in noticing the 
details of the rules that he followed at first without 
remarking them." (Lettre a V Academic Francaise, § 2.) 



CLAUDE LANCELOT 31 

Thus Lancelot claims to do in six months what Des- 
pautere would take three years to do. In a letter to 
Bussy, CorbinelJi advises him to teach his daughter 
Latin by the method of Port-Royal: "There is only 
enough for a fortnight." (30 July, 1677.) Xothing 
shows that this was a joke on the pretension to im- 
provise 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 l'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 Vossius: " The barbarous quat- 
rains 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 Vhel- 
lenisme en France, vol. ii.p. 60.) It was not the fault 
of Port-Royal that the study of Greek was not again 
held in honor 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 de* racines grecques. It 



32 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

would not be very useful to pause on this work, which 
would not interest our readers. The learned Dtibner, 
otherwise a great partisan of the pedagogic reforms of 
Port-Royal, does not hesitate to call it " Ostrogothic ". 
M. Egger declares that this book, by its errors and 
want of criticism, " has been one of the greatest ob- 
stacles to progress in grammatical methods among us." 
(De V hellenisme 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 Come- 
nius and his method, Janua linguarum reserata (the 
gate of languages opened), 1631. " A work estimable 
in itself," said Lancelot, " but not sufficiently propor- 
tioned 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 1 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 



CLAUDE LANCELOT 33 

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 consummate 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.'" 

The other judgment is not so well founded in reason. 
For the etymologies, he quotes especially the Origines 
francaises of M. Menage, " who alone is worth a multi- 
tude 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 dis- 
credit 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 Mme. de Sevigne. 1 

1 " I read the angry books of Father Bouhours, the 
Jesuit, and of Menage, 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, bo- 



34 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

M. Menage especially excels in etymologies, he says 
with lively raillery. His mind seems to be made ex- 
pressly for this science ; sometimes he even seems to be 
inspired, so lucky is he in discovering 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 : bar- 
barus, barbaricus, baricus, various, uaricus, guaricus, 
guargus, gargo, gargonis, jargon. Baragouin is a 
near relation of jargon: barbarus, barbaracus, bar- 
baracuinus, 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 francaise, that jargon is Spanish and bara- 
gouin 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 divina- 
tion that M. de Balzac attributes to him, has discovered 
that laquais came from verna, vernula, vernulacus, 
vernulacaius, lacaius, laquay, laquais ; that boire atire- 

sides, some very good remarks on the French language. 
You cannot think how amusing this quarrel is." (16 
September, 1676.) 



CLAUDE LANCELOT 35 

larigot came from fistula: fistula, fistularis, fistularius, 

fistularicus, laricus, laricotus, lakigot All that is 

very fine and curious." 

In 1660 Lancelot, under the supervision of xlrnauld 1 , 
edited one of the most important works of Port-Royal, 
the Grammaire generate 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 philo- 
sophical grammarians of the eighteenth century, du 
Marsais, Duclos, Condillac, and de Tracy. This was 
the best that could be done until the discovery of San- 

1 " The General Grammar is the result of conversa- 
tions 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 speak- 
ing, and developed the first foundations of the Logic." 
(Vie de messire Ant. Arnauld, Paris et Lausanne, VTS:>, 
t. i. p. 218.) 



36 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

scrit, with a wider knowledge of languages and their 
filiation and history permitted Grimm, Humboldt, 
Bopp, Burnouf, Diez, Michel Breal, and Littre to sub- 
stitute the sure method of history, phonetics, and com- 
parison for the brilliant but barren speculations of 
philosophical abstraction. 

If we no longer share the enthusiastic admiration of 
the worthy Rollin 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 Xouvelle Methode pour apprendre 
facilement et en pen de temps la langue italienne, and the 
Xouvelle Methode pour apprendre facilement et en pen de 
temps la langue espagnole. He had recourse to the learn- 
ing 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 out to those engaged in 
teaching, for the proper management of the grammati- 
cal studies of all teachers as well as of students: 
" 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 declen- 



CLAUDE LANCELOT 37 

sion 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. 
i ' 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 ap- 
plied 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 diffi- 
culties, and so little likelihood of being able to sur- 
mount 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." 

1 Among ancient works that the study of our lan- 
guage produced we may cite : 

Palsgrave, 1' Esclaircmement de la langue frangoyse 
(1530); Louis Megret, le Trette de la grammar jran- 
c.oeze (1550) ; Ramus, Gramere fransoeze (1562). 

Vaugelas in 164? published only detached remarks 
on the French language, and not a methodical treatise. 
In 1714 Fexelox expressed a wish that the French 
Academy would add a grammar to its dictionary. 



38 PORT-KOYAL EDUCATION 

After all, the Port-Royalists rendered a greater ser- 
vice to the French language than drawing up its gram- 
mar: 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 invig- 
orated 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-Royal, more attentive to matter 
than form, to truth and virtue than to beauties of 
style, drew admiration even from its enemies. Father 
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 (1643), " Nothing had been 
seen better written in our language." (Memoircs, 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.) 1 Mme. de Maintenon, whose 

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, 



CLAUDE LANCELOT 39 

profound antipathy for " those gentlemen of Port- 
Royal " is well known, asserts that the works " con- 
tain 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 
(Villemain, Preface du Dictionnaire cle V Academic.) 

a grenade of impiety, a common sewer of all the works 
of Calvin collected in good French under the specious 
title of Office cle la Vierge." Quoted by Arxauld, la 
Morale pratique des je suites, 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 gran- 
deur 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 ) 



40 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

This service was more valuable than the composition 
of a French Grammar. 

To return to Lancelot. When in 1661 the Petites 
Ecoks were 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, precepteur du Mar- 
quis de LaynsSj a Port- Royal.'''' 

In 1663 he published fojir trsatises on poetry — Latin, 
French, Italian, and Spanish. He was probably work- 
ing on that Recueil de po'ede* chretiennes et diverses, dedi- 
cated to Mgr. le prince de Conti, which appeared in 

L671 in three volumes under the name of (the 

reader may guess a hundred times), under the name 
of La Fontaine ; his friendship for Racine and Boileau 
brought him into contact for a short time with Port- 
Royal. In offering this collection to the prince, he 
acknowledges that he has done little more than lend 
his name. 

" Those who by their labor 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." 

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. 



CLAUDE LANCELOT 41 

Lancelot had for two years been entrusted with the 
education of the princes de Conti. Fontaine has pre- 
served 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 after- 
wards to go to the theatre and hear Chimene, to permit 
neither the Jerusalem, the Aminta, Theagene, the An- 
thology, nor all Catullus ? This prohibition and 
interdiction 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 posi- 
tion 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 obstacle. He flew over the hedge like the 
bee." (Port-Royal, t. iii. p. 531.) 

This was the end of the pedagogic career of Lance- 
lot, who henceforth devoted himself to the religious 
life in the abbey of Saint-Cyran under the direction of 



42 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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, x 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 unre- 
servedly 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.) 

Nicole shed more lustre than Lancelot by his talents 
as a writer and moralist, so much praised by Mme. de 
Sevigne and Voltaire. In reality he was much less 

1 Nothing more is heard of him except one curious 
circumstance related by Arnauld to M. du Yaucel and 
Mme. de Fontepertuis, March 16 and 17, 1689. James 
II., King of England, who had been dethroned, ar- 
rived at Kimperlay (sic). " A great supper was await- 
ing 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 Brit- 
anny would have had the honor of supping with a king ?" 



NICOLE 43 

the man of Port-Eoyal. He scarcely knew Saint-Cyran, 
and did not altogether admire him when he compared 
him to a field, " capable of producing much, but pro- 
lific 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. X. and M. N. 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 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 generale, that is to say that he was writing in 
favor of Jansenism, while he had in his mind a system 
diamatically opposed to it." (Vie manuscrite, a passage 
quoted by Sainte-Beuve, t. iv. p. 516.) 

Nicole, besides, was less exclusively attached to the 
Petites Ecoles. He divided his time between the care 



44 POET-ROYAL EDUCATION 

of his pupils, his theological studies, and his prepara- 
tion 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-Eoyal. The young 
gentlemen were themselves much inclined 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 him- 
self, and being unable to do without him, soon carried 
him oif to the schools. He was well qualified for 
teaching belles-lettres and philosophy. 

" M. Mcole," says Besogne (t. v. p. 225), " studied 
under his father all the authors of profane antiquity, 
both Greek and Latin. x At the age of fourteen he had 
finished the usual course of the' humanities, he had so 

1 Nicole, Essais de morale, t. viii. p. 193, admits that 
he had not read Demosthenes. 



NICOLE 45 

much aptitude and penetration of mind joined to a 
most excellent memory. It was sufficient for him to 
read a book once in order to retain its substance, and 
at an advanced age he told his friends that he had for- 
gotten 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 iEneid. 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 in- 
deed 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 
Xicole among the solitaries of Port-Royal, lacks, how- 
ever, 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, " I take pleasure in discovering the falsehoods and 
great delusions in these same booh. I find a quantity of 



46 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

them. 1 ' This is a very unfortunate turn of mind, and 
would be calculated 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. 

Eecalling to mind that Saint- Cy ran never read the 
books of heretics " without having performed the ex- 
orcisms of the church, 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) l Happily he corrected this 
sally himself, and felt the moral value of ancient litera- 
ture. 

1 It is unpleasant to see Port-Royal, which stigma- 
tized 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 and stable-boys in hell ; 
it is true that the devil has taken the greatest philoso- 
phers of Greece, the wisest councillors of the Areopa- 
gus, the most famous orators of Eome, 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.) 



NICOLE 47 

What shall we say of several of his criticisms on 
French literature ? Did he not arouse the anger and 
ingratitude of Eacine by calling the dramatic poets 
public poisoners ? The great Corneille, whose theatre 
breathes in the highest degree heroism and the senti- 
ment of duty, finds no favor 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 Vis- 
ionnaires, Avertissement, p. 22.) Bossuet, unfor- 
tunately, 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; but he goes so far as to call him " a gath- 
erer 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 Se>igne, he reproaches Mme. de la Fayette with 
wishing to impose admiration of these Pensees without 
" telling us more particularly what we ought to admire 



48 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

in them," and to reduce us " to pretend to think ad- 
mirable 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 dis- 
cussions, and some attacks on the " worthy Fathers ". 

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 aberra- 
tion of mind, an absence of criticism, and a want of 
taste that we cannot describe; and we have some 
trouble to understand that this was, in great part, the 
work of him whom Bayle calls the finest pen of Port- 
Royal, and whom the papal nuncio named the golden 
pen. 1 

1 See in Havet's edition, especially pp. 13 and 267, 
two specimens of this literary profanation. 



NICOLE 49 

This imperfection of his literary sense, taste, and 
imagination is equally betrayed in the only book relat- 
ing to the teaching of belles-lettres on which Nicole 
worked, Epigrammatum delectus (A Selection of Epi- 
grams, 1659). A preface and a dissertation, both in 
Latin, indicate the aim and plan of the work — to cul- 
tivate 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 per- 
haps have acted as wisely in not including the constru- 
ing 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, notwith- 
standing the praises of Chapelain 1 , ill-satisfies the 
reader. Father Vavasseur, " the best humanist of his 
time," in the opinion of the abbe d' Olivet, the his- 
torian of the French Academy, has roughly handled 

1 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." 



50 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

him, and not without reason. AVas 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 con- 
formity 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 conse- 
quence of these premisses, he has been obliged to reject 
from his collection false, mythological, 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 mag- 
nificent 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 



NICOLE 51 

raind deeply, or its simplicity and playfulness, 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 mas- 
ter of this art. Martial and Port-Eoyal! Does not 
the approximation of these two names excite the most 
legitimate astonishment ? 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 disap- 
pointment and little glory." (CEuvres, 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 preceived in this 
work. Arnauld, alone at Port-Eoyal, is sincerely 
Cartesian; he declared himself a partisan of the new 
philosophy on the appearance of the Discours de la 
Methode 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. 



1 At Paris, in the rue de Rheims, then in 1682 rue 
d'Enfer; in 1761 it was united with the College Louis 
le Grand. 



52 POKT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 en- 
tirely of all that he has written touching the first phil- 
osophy " (i. e. Metaphysics). He held these opinions 
all his life. 

It was in vain that Leibnitz, in that interesting cor- 
respondence from 1686 to 1690, which has been pub- 
lished 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 * 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 
Pevpkuite de lafoi, so far as to make Jurieu say that 
the theologians of Port-Royal were more attached to 



1 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." ((Euvres, t. x. p. 97.) 



NICOLE 53 

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 philoso- 
phy in favor of the doctrines of Epicurus, in the Index, 
and that it had, in fact, placed the Meditations of Des- 
cartes in it. 

Nicole is much less firm in his attachment to Car- 
tesianism. With his turn of mind, readily sceptical in 
everything that does not relate to faith, he takes 
pleasure in disparaging philosophy. " 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 res*t, 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 his- 
tory 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 




54 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

mind with respect to a few human objects.' 1 (t. xi. p. 
119.) 

It wuuid^be difficult to have a more narrow and un- 
just prejudice and to decry 
thus gratuitously one of the 
most real glories of hu- 
manity ; the immortal think- 
er who recalled men to the 
study of themselves, who 
preached to them temper- 
ance and justice and the 
socrates, 470-399, b. c. dignity of labor, avIio cour- 
ageously 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 1 , the merit of the 

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 re- 
specting 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. 



XICOLE 0$ 

firm arid courageous attitude of the authors towards 
Aristotle and scholasticism must especially be attributed 
to the influence of Arnauld. 

In the struggle of the Cartesian philosophy to free 
modern thought from the heavy yoke of Aristotle and 
scholasticism, we know with what prudence * Descartes 
had in 1637 undertaken the destruction of the ancient 
philosophy by proclaiming the right of free examina- 
tion, 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." 

(Biscours de la Methode, 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 con- 
tain all the foundations of my physics ; but do not say 
so, if you please, for those who favor Aristotle will 
perhaps make more difficulty in approving of them; 
and I hope that those who read them will insensibly 

1 Bossuet thinks it excessive: ' w 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 Sor- 
bonne, 24 mai, 1701.) 



56 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

get accustomed to my principles, and will recognize 
their truth before perceiving that they destroy Aris- 
totle'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 Rome in 1600; that Vanini, in 1619, at Toulouse 
was condemned for his philosophical 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 
Rome in 1633 solemnly to abjure his theory of the 
movement of the earth. 

The Logic of Port-Royal, published in 1662, lays 
down clearly and boldly the right of human reason be- 
fore 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 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.' 1 

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 Descarte's philosophy, and that 



NICOLE 57 

shortly afterwards trie University presented a petition 
to the Parliament to forbid its teaching. The Arret 
Burlesque, composed by Boileau in 1675, did ample jus- 
tice to it. 

" The Court having examined the petition set- 
ting 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, without appeal, and 

not accountable for his opinions ; having examined 

the treaties, entitled Physics of Rohault, Logic of Port- 
Royal 

"The Court has maintained and kept, maintains 

and keeps, the said Aristotle in full and peaceable pos- 
session of the said schools And, in order that in the 

future he be not molested, has banished in perpetuity 
Reason from the schools of the said University; forbids 
him to enter them and disturb or molest the said Aris- 
totle 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 
introduced Cartesianism 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 



58 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 infallibility 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 
examples taken from the different branches of knowl- 
edge, 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 sci- 
ences 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 com- 
posed, 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 
feancis bacon, 1526-1626 Logic, namely, that it is so 
full of the spirit of, Descartes that it escapes the influ- 




NICOLE 59 

ence, 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 Eng- 
land, in the Novum Organum, in 1620, with the enthu- 
siasm 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 anatomise nature, to dis- 
cover 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 

1 Nevertheless we find the Advocate-General Bignon, 
one of the great friends of Port-Eoyal, speaking at 
length of Bacon to a traveller who came from England. 
(Vie par l'abbe Perau, vol. ii. p. 92.) Descartes, in his 
Letters (t. ii. p. 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.) 



60 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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, per- 
mits us to study the moralist under his true aspect. 

We know what an impassioned cult Mme. de Sevigne 
did not cease to profess for the moral philosophy of 
Xicole, notwithstanding the bitter criticisms of her 
son, 2 who openly declared the Traite de la connamance 
de sol 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 

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 accus- 
tomed 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 por- 
traits in which everyone recognizes himself are not 
there. Pascal, the, Port- Royal Logic, Plutarch, and Mon- 
taigne speak very differently ; this man speaks because 
he wishes to speak, and often he has not much to say." 
(2 February, 1676.) 



NICOLE 61 

its depths searched with a lantern ". " It is a treas- 
ure to have such a good mirror of the weaknesses of our 
heart." (vol. i. p. 71.) This patient, ingenious, some- 
times playful and gently satirical analysis of weak- 
nesses, eccentricities, prejudices, 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 Xicole. 
No comprehensive plan binds these "various Essais to- 
gether, 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. 

Xicole rarely raises his voice to the pitch of the keen 
eloquence of Pascal ; he lacks authority and real pas- 
sion in order to move us profoundly; he leaves us cold, 
and makes us smile rather than tremble when, for in- 
stance, 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 AVe 



62 POKT-KOYAL EDUCATION 

pass our days in the midst of this spiritual carnage, 
and we may say that we swim in the blood of sinners, 
that Ave 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 sud- 
den and letting in the broad daylight, all the serpents 
awake suddenly, and springing upon the wretch, they 
tear him to pieces with their bites, " etc. (Du jugement. ) 
To represent the primitive corruption of man, " let 
us imagine," says he, " a universal plague, or, rather, 
an accumulation of plagues, pests, and malignant car- 
buncles with which the body of a man may be covered, 
etc. ; 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 Xicole gives a smart and clever touch, 
that sets off the expression, and renders the truth 
pleasing. Here are two passages of a letter which de- 
serve to be extracted : — 

" The young children of our villages have a very 
amusing custom when they go in procession after 



NICOLE 63 

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," etc. (Essais, t. vii. p. 31.) 

And a few passages 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 imputa- 
tions 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, without having seen him drunk, 
in order to know by that whether he is merry or quar- 
relsome in his cups." (E^sais, t. vii. p. 35.) 

We have said that the jansenists use long and cum- 
brous sentences. This quotation is a sufficiently 
demonstrative proof of it. The matter is here spoilt, 
as if designedly, by the form. But at Port-Royal it 



64 POET-ROYAL EDUCATION 

was thought derogatory to Christian humility to pay- 
attention to style, and Nicole declares to Mme. de la 
Fayette 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 the quarrels of Port-Royal to the end inspired 
this gentle and witty raillery : — 

" It is the same with friends as with clothes. Some 
are only good for summer, others for winter, others for 
spring and autumn. But as we only put off our sum- 
mer clothes after the season is past, and keep them for 
another year, it is necessary in the same way to keep 
our friends, although they may not be good at all 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, when there is no cold to fear, and their number is 
sufficiently great." (Essais, t. vii. p. 167.) 

But most often Nicole, without bestowing much care 
on the form (he declares that he is incapable of a double 
attention), follows his thought, and conducts his fine 
and delicate analysis at a uniform and rather monoto- 
nous pace. He has been under no illusion with regard 
to this, and his declaration is most explicit: " As there 
are painters who, having little imagination, give all 
their characters the same features, there are also people 
who always write in the same manner, and whose style 
is always recognizable. No one ever had this defect 



NICOLE 65 

more than I." Mcole was not the man to make Bos- 
suet change his opinion on the judgment already de- 
livered by him in 1669: " The style of MM. de Port- 
Eoyal has little variety; without variety there is no 
pleasure." We know the passionate outburst of J. le 
Maistre: "Nicole, the coldest, the greyest, the most 
leaden, the most insupportable of the bores of that 
great and tedious house." 

We are here a long way from the enthusiasm of Mine . 
de Sevigne : " What language ! what skill in the arrange- 
ment of the words ! One thinks one has read French 
only in this book." (12 January, 1676.) 

It is precisely in the arrangement of the words and 
the turn of the phrase that Xicole 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 draw- 
ling and cumbrous sentence, overloaded with incidental 
or subordinate propositions, which the habitual employ- 
ment of the present participle makes still heavier. 
Here is a sufficiently striking example. Xicole 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 re- 
duced to loving myself, there being nothing more usual 



66 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

than^only to love in others the favorable 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 put- 
ting us on our guard without discouraging us by a bit- 
ter and trenchant condemnation of friendship! " But 
we should never say, " W^hat skill in the arrangement 
of the words! What a writer! " La Eochefoucauld 
draws this praise from us at the very time that we 
repudiate these distressing calumnies against the 
human heart. 

Notwithstanding her admiration, Mme. de Sevigne 
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 V art de vivre en paix avec 
les homines, of which she said she would like ' ' to make 
broth and swallow it", she agrees with her daughter 
that peace and union with our neighbor 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 soumis- 
sion a la volonte de Dieu : ' ' See how he represents it to 
us as sovereign, doing all, disposing of all, regulating 



NICOLE 67 

all. I agree to it, that is what I believe ; and if, on 
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 oppor- 
tunists, and will not make me change." (25 May, 1680.) 

Would anyone believe that she is speaking of her 
beloved Xicole in that curious letter of July 16, 1677 ? 
c ' 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 submissive, 
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 doc- 
trine and morals. Our brethren speak well and con- 
clude 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 Xicole it would 
not be difficult to point out many exaggerations and 
inexact ideas, false wit, "refinements of spirituality", 



68 POET-ROYAL EDUCATION 

a certain want of vigor and authority, of impulse and 
enthusiasm for what is good. 1 

Is it well to preach such enervating doctrines to pre- 
pare 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 con- 
versation of the world is almost constantly the school 
of the devil." (t. x. p. 198.) " The devil is the great- 
est author and the greatest writer in the world, as well 
as the greatest speaker, since he has a share in most of 
the writings and speecpes of men." (t. xii. p. 176.) 
" If Christ brought any sciences into the world it was 
that of despising all the sciences which are the subject 
and foundation of the vanity and curiosity of men." 2 
(t. xi. p. 89.) 

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 
Xicole 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.) 

2 How much better Bossuet keeps within bounds and 
reconciles everything: "I am not one of those who 



KICOLE 69 

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 judg- 
ment, 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. 

make much of human knowledge, yet, nevertheless, I 

confess that I cannot con- 
template without admira- 
tion the wonderful discover- 
ies that science has made 
in order to investigate na- 
ture, nor the many fine in- 
ventions that art has found 
to adapt it to our use. Man 
has almost changed the face 

jacques benigue BOSSUET, °* the w01 *ld He has 

1627-1704 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 honored the pulpit ; Xicole only made 
a canting discourse. 




70 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

But is it not forcing the note and missing the aim to 
lay down this principle: " No person is permitted to 
endeavor to raise and better either himself or his fam- 
ily " ? (t. xi. p. 321.) What father of a family, seek- 
ing very legitimately to prepare a better position for 
his children, would take seriously the reasons appealed 
to by Nicole, that it is rendering our salvation more 
difficult, and forsaking the example of Christ, whose 
whole life was only a continual abasement and humili- 
ation ? 

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 would make it accepted with more propri- 
ety 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 inter- 
ests that Bastiat has so eloquently described, and which 
so happily inspired the fine sonnet of M. Sully-Prud- 
homme. The poet, awaking from a dream, in which 
he believes himself for an instant abandoned by the 
laborer, the weaver, and the mason, and seeing with 
pleasure everybody at work, far from stigmatizing 



NICOLE 71 

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 neighbors ? 
mere sentimentalism ? Christ did, it is true, send to 
Abgarus, King of Edessa, the impression of His coun- 
tenance on a cloth, but that was to induce him to be 
converted. " 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 

Mcole out :to honor the steps of Jesus Christ! 

Notwithstanding his edification at the reply, he en- 
deavored, but in vain, to show her that useless steps 
could no more honor those of Christ than words with- 
out deeds and without necessity could honor His words. 
" She did not well understand my reply, and continued 
to honor 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 recom- 
mended as one of the most useful exercises the exam- 
ination of the conscience, the regulation of the 



72 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 comes into her mind; 
let her write 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 *ort 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 mar- 
riage, does he not ruin his whole argument by this 
subtle distinction, that he has spoken " as a mere ad- 
vocate " and not " as a judge ", or 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 
Eambouillet would have applauded! " You did not 
yet know that one of your duties was cleverly to pierce 
these pustules of the soul; I tell you so now." (t. 
viii. p. 58.) 



NICOLE 73 

To resume, it would be difficult to conclude, with 
Mme. de Sevigne, that all 'that "is of 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 con- 
cerned 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; 1 that 
his writings were not made to be printed. When the 

1 Nicole even says, humorously enough, of an apology 
that he had composed, that his only aim was " to pro- 
cure sleep It seems to me that it is a very legitimate 

purpose to wish to sleep." When his system of General 
Grace was attacked, he answered the objections by re- 
peating his sayings: "It is a sort of narcotic that I 
have always used." (Quoted by Sainte-Beuve, t. iv. 
p. 492.) 



74 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 especial attention to the matter. So 
that not being capable of a divided attention, I am 
astonished how many inexact expressions 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 favor 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 reputa- 
tion 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." (Siecle de Louis XIV., 
Ecrivains.) D'Aguesseau, like Kollin, 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 doubt- 

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." 



NTICOLE 75 

less 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 suffi- 
ciently of us, and we forget him. What a disillusion 
would not Mme. de Sevigne suffer on vainly seeking* 
the name of her favorite author in the fine study of 
M. Prevost-Paradol on les Moralistes firangais. The 
eminent critic has not given him the most humble 
place between Montaigne, La Boetie, Pascal, La Roche- 
foucauld, La Bruyere, and Vauvenargues. 

There is among the Essais de morale a tract which 
more especially interests us, De V education d'un prince. 

It does honor 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 
broad definition! " The aim of instruction is to carry 
the mind to the point that it is capable of attaining." 
This is a manly sentence that redeems many discourag- 
ing phrases on the vanity of curiosity and on the con- 
tempt for the sciences. Xicole 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 every- 



76 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

thing 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 under- 
stand.' 1 A perusal of this little tract cannot be too 
much recommended. A great deal of practical ad-vice 
on the different branches of teaching will be found in 
it. It is one of the most authoritative and suggestive 
books of Xicole. 

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, scavant en grec et en 
latin.' 1 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 Edu- 
cation of Children, a work dedicated to Cardinal Fur- 
stemberg, 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. Coutel 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 com- 
monplace of his style condemned him to a prompt 
oblivion. 



COUTEL, GUYOT 77 

As to Guyot, it is strange that the historians of Port- 
Royal 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 found- 
ation, and is the author of numerous publications. 
We -owe him A Xew Translation of the Captives of 
Plautus, 1666; Moral and Political Letters of Cicero to 
his friend Atticus, Translation, 1666 ; A Xew Translation 
of a Xew 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 r ; 

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 voire 
frere, mad a me votre mere, mademoiselle votre jille, 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 :1 (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 
pairots 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). 



78 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

A Political Letter of Cicero to his Brother Quintus, 
and Scipio's Dream, 1670; A New Translation of the 
Bucolics of Virgil, 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 mas- 
ter, who played such an active part, has been given by 
Bar bier, in a notice on Th. Guyot (Magasin encyclopedi- 
que, August, 1813); he did not remain faithful to 
Port-Royal. One of his works, published in 1666, is 
dedicated to Messeigneurs de Montbaron, students 
with the R.R. P.P. Jesuits at the college of Clermont, 
" that celebrated school, 1 ' says he, " that piety has 
dedicated to science and virtue. 1 ' He disowned his 
old friends in their misfortune, 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 instruction, will be read with interest. 

It is proper to devote a few lines 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 Hermaut; then, 



WALLON DE BEAU PUIS 79 

after a fourth year of rhetoric with the Jesuits at Paris, 
he studied philosophy with Arnauld at the College of 
Le Mans, and then theology at the College of Cluny. 
The book on Frequente Communion won him over to 
Port-Royal, where he was admitted in 1644. He was 
enlisted 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 en- 
gaged, 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 resistance, 
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 employ- 
ment, he passed the remainder of his life in the most 
austere retreat, without any other recreation 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 x deserves a place of honor 

1 Antoine 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. 



80 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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-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, Xouet, Brisacier, 
Annat, and Maimbourg, against the faculty of theol- 

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 aud 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 almanacs.'" His 
treatise, De la frequente Communion (1643), deserves 
special mention. " This book caused something like 
a revolution in the manner of understanding and prac- 
tising piety, and also in the manner of writing theol- 
ogy 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 con- 
formable to the character of the great director." 
(Sainte-Beuve, t. ii. p. 166.) Almost always com- 
pelled to hide and to fly, he died in exile at Brussels, 
August 8, 1694. His burial place was kept secret, 
lest the Jesuits should have him disinterred, as they 
did Jansenius. 



ANTOINE AKKTAULD 81 

ogy, 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 Richard Simon, against Jurieu, 
against the bishops of Lavaur and Vabres, against 
Malebranche, against the Calvinists, and against Nicole 
himself, that the indefatigable 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 acuteness of his criticism, and would alone suffice 
to justify the estimate of Bossuet — a sound and power- 
ful 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 con- 
versed 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 y 



82 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 1 '. And if we may 
believe a note of the editor, Pascal had judged this 
work so favorably that he had burned an essay on this 
science 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 pare 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 



BOISGUILBEET 83 

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- 
Eoyal (Jerome and Thierry Bignon, Racine, Le Nain 
de Tillemont, etc.). 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 high- 
est point that they can ever attain, we may say that 
that of making Greek and Latin writers speak our lan- 
guage 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 him- 

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 re- 
stored to them. " My daughters," she replied, " do 
not trouble yourselves about that. I am not anxious 
about whether your novices and boarders will be re- 
stored 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," (Ahregc de Vhistoire ecclesiastiquc, t. x. p. 541.) 



84 POET-ROYAL EDUCATION 

self in his Josephus, and of those famous anonymous writers 
so celebrated throughout France; so I shall candidly con- 
fess that if I am sufficiently happy that this small work 
is not found very imperfect, I owe it to some education 
that I received among them in my youth." l (Roman His- 
tory, 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-Royal may adorn herself. 

1 The names of Boisguilbert and his brother are, in 
fact, mentioned in the Vies 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 vigor and more gravity 
than Mirabeau did later ! " 



OF THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS AT PORT- 
ROYAL 

" At Port-Royal," 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 eleva- 
tion of thought ? 1 Is Nicole much above the Mother 
Agnes? She has more energy with as much gentle- 
ness. 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, 2 might have envied her? Who among the 
men has dared and struggled more, and has suffered 

1 " M. d'Andilly said to me, ' Count all my brothers, 
my children, and myself as fools in comparison with 
Angelique. 7 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 Sevigne, Nov. 29, 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.) 

2 M. de Pomponne, secretary of state, charge d'aifairs 
etrangeres from 1671 to 1679. 

(85) 



86 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

more, and more patiently than all these women ? 
They also have known and braved persecution, calum- 
ny, 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. l We know, in a general manner, that 

1 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 capable of any of the twelve 
professed nuns of Port-Royal. The monastery was 
transferred in 1626 to the faubourg Saint- Jacques (now 
the Maternite). 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. Be- 
sogne counts then 42 pupils. Xicole had founded a 
girls' school at Troyes in the preceeding 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 fur- 
nished us by M. Th. Boutiot (Histoire d V instruction 
publique et popv.laire a Troyes pendant Us qnatre d^miers 
siMes, 1864.) 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 87 

it was much praised and sought after. Testimony in 
its favor is not wanting. " A great number of girls 
brought up in this monastery," says Eacine, " might 
be cited who have since edified the world by their wis- 
dom and virtue. We know with what feelings of ad- 
miration and thankfulness 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. 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 " exhausted 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-Eoyal, came to inquire what grave reason 
caused the dismissal of the boarders, the prelate assured 
him of the irreproachable management of the house, 
and of the excellence of the education that was received 
there." 2 

1 " There was nothing to find fault with in the edu- 
cation that she gave to the children, he told the abbess ; 
on the contrary, nowhere was it so good." (Hist. gen. 
deP.-R., t. vii. p. 318.) 

2 Clemencet makes him say : " They train the 
boarders perfectly well, not only in piety and morals, 



88 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 their system of education ? 
Racine indeed tells us: " They were not satisfied with 
training them up in piety; they also took great pains 
to form their minds and reason, and labored to render 
them equally capable of becoming some day either per- 
fect nuns or excellent mothers." (Abregf tie Phidoire de 
Part-Royal.) The programme certainly is excellent ; it 
is very unfortunate that the proofs in support of it are 
absolutely wanting. 

The respectable du Fosse (Memories pour servir a Vhis- 
toin tie 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 ardor for penance, and her con- 
tempt of the world. But there is not a word relating 
to education. And, in fact, the Mother Angelique in 
her Entretieiis et Conferences has never treated a ques- 

but also by forming their minds; there is no place 
where they would be better for all things than there/ 1 



THE EDUCATION OP GIRLS 89 

tion having a bearing on education. Once only a sis- 
ter 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 
encouraging 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 remem- 
ber 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 : " Rejoice, 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. " 

Judging from the writings of the Mother Agnes, 
teaching appears to be an unpleasant task imposed on 



90 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

the sisters: x " You must not, if you please," we read 
in a letter of March 18, 1655, to the sister Marie- 
Dorothee 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 Con- 
stitutions 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 pre- 
cisely a motive for the superiors for choosing the nuns 
who, for the work of their salvation, need to be hum- 
bled and to suffer. " Do not put forward as an 
excuse," the Mother Agnes writes again, " that you 

1 Dufosse admits it implicity: " 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 incomparably greater 
peace that this release procured for them." (Mem. pour 
servir a Vhistorie de P.-R. p. 177.) 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 91 

do not discharge this duty well, and that you make 
many mistakes, for it is for that very reason that per- 
haps 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 peda- 
gogic, and the children appear to be sacrificed too 
much to the moral advancement of their mistresses. 
We cannot, however, but pay tribute to their devoted- 
ness 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-Eoyal, im- 
bued with an admirable sense of their responsibility. 
" She was so humble," says the Necrologe of D. Rivet, 
speaking of the sister Marie de Sainte-Aldegonde des 
Pommares, deputy mistress, " that she took upon her- 
self 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 testi- 
mony is borne to the sister Anne-Eugene by Besogne 
in an interesting page that we have extracted. 

The Constitutions of the monastery of Port-Royal 
and the Regulations for the children, by Jacqueline 



92 PORT-KOYAL EDUCATION 

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 con- 
tain 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 Mme. 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 ties re- 
ligieuses 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 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 93 

utmost to prevent them entering it." (t. i. p. 170.) 
His successor, the abbe Singlin, continues this teach- 
ing. We see him at work in the Vies interessantes by 
Leclerc. The sister Elizabeth de Sainte-Agnes de 
Feron entered Port-Eoyal 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 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 this 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 

1 This is the language of the precieuse 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 : — 



94 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

We know with what practical good sense Mme. 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 was not given to those who at first 
showed 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 Philo- 
thee, St. John Climacus, The Tradition of the Church, 
The Letters of M. de Saint-Cyran, The Familiar Theol- 
ogy, 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, etc. The morning reading is taken from the 
service for the day or from The Life of the Saints, and 

" 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." 

(Moltere, Les Femmes savantes, acte i. sc. 1.) 



THE EDUCATION OP GIELS 95 

is to serve for the subject of private conversation dur- 
ing the day. No other books are left with the children 
than their Hours, Familiar Theoogy, The Words of Our 
Lord, The Imitation of Christ, and a Latin and French 
Psalter. 

The regulation recommends to " exercise the memory 
of the chidren 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 Services 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 tran- 
scribe something when they are very good and are per- 
mitted to do so." 

We are glad to learn from an enemy that the French 
language was taught them formally. " There was 
always," says Father Rapin, " a certain spirit of polite- 
ness 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 



98 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

purity of language as much as in virtue, and it was in 
conversing with them that Doctor Arnauld found so 
much pleasure in noticing that great numher of new 
expressions that he had the art to utilize in his works, 
and of which he made a special study. 1 ' (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. w ' At the end of a lesson, three or four chil- 
dren are set to repeat what was told them the day 
before. They are not questioned in turn, in order to 
keep them on the alert ; sometimes one, sometimes 

another is addressed 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 their work, sit- 
ting sideways and constantly turning their heads." 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 9? 

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 Eegulations 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 break- 
fast at half -past seven, — silence during the household 
work, — increased silence during the writing lesson, — 
silence during the two hours 5 duration of the service 
and masses in the monastery, even when they do not 
attend it, — silence in the refectory, — complete silence 

1 Evidently these absolute precepts must have been 
very much modified in practice. The wise caution 
that precedes the Eegulations for children 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 Mine, de 
Foix, coadjutrix, of Saintes: "Our boarders are not 
constrained to keep silence, but they are carefully 
watched, in order that they may not converse about 
trifles." 



98 POET-ROYAL EDUCATION 

during work till vespers, — silence after the evening 
angelus, even in summer, when they are walking in 
the garden, — great silence while undressing 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 things to amuse and recreate themselves ' ' ? 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. 

Besides, they are forbidden to speak of their confes- 
sions, of the singing of the sisters, of the penances of 
the refectory, of their dreams, and of the parlor. 
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." 1 What an 
admission ! 

1 There is a question of recreations in the examina- 
tion 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 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 99 

Two extracts to be given later permit us to 
penetrate into Port-Koyal 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 ! 

Eeligious exercises occupy a place very dispropor- 
tionate to the age of the children, if the aim were not 
to train them all for the religious life. 1 Prayer is not 

over that, we did nothing but weep for our sins.' 
' This last answer, ' replied the sister, smiling 'comes 
as little from the children as the preceding. In the 
matter of recreation 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 per- 
secutions des religieuses, p. 171.) 

1 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 

yourself; you are too strong.' " 
LofC. 



100 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 festi- 
vals, to the feast-days of saints, doctors, and others, if 
they ask and deserve this favor. At eleven o'clock 
scrutiny of conscience. The elder girls may repeat 
their sexts. After recreation they sing the Veni Creator 
in preparation for religious instruction; then they are 
allowed the favor 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 favor of going to 
vespers. At last the evening recreation ends with 
complines, which they may recite in summer while 
walking in the garden. 

1 Mme. de Maintenon absolutely forbids this practice 
to the Ladies of Saint-Cyr: "Cultivate carefully in 

your young ladies the sentiments of honor 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 con- 
fession, which the Church has thought it right to sup- 
press." (Entretien, 1703.) Mme. de Maintenon is 
aiming here at the jansenists, who had begun to revive 
this ancient custom. 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 101 

We cannot approve of this excess of religious prac- 
tices 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. in At that age the body 
needs to grow and be strengthened. How much more 
sensible and humane is Mme. cle 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 knowledge necessary to salvation ? If they are not 

1 Besogne, praising the love of the Mother Angelique 
for mortification, relates that the most devout of the 
young girls prided themselves on emulation, and that 
it came near costing 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.) 



102 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

so, but are immaterial, why make so much clamor 
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 conse- 
quences ? Is it likely that the heads of this party are 
so zealous in teaching their maxims to the whole king- 
dom, and that Port-Royal alone, where they reside, is 
left in ignorance of the mysteries that are taught 
there?" (Memoires, vol. iii. p. 163.) 

Two anecdotes related by Mme. de Maintenoii at 
Saint-Cyr would tend to confirm the reasoning of the 
Jesuit father: " When the king forbade boarders to be 
placed at Port-Royal, Mme. la comtesse de * * * with- 
drew her daughter, who was only twelve years 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 under- 
stand how a child could speak with such boldness. 
During this very visit of the archbishop he made a 
speech to try to 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 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 103 

and humility that their directors inspire in them." 
(Lettres historiques et edifiantes, t. ii. p. 227.) ISTo 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 bring- 
ing 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 reproach- 
ing 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 Jansenie, 
accuses them of giving their pupils lessons in immod- 
esty, in consequence of the doctrine of Jansenius and 
Saint-Cyran on grace. 1 "Do not think, my daugh- 
ters," 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 unfortu- 
nate ? Chastity is commanded to us, and sometimes 



1 Relation . du pays de Jansenie, by the Capuchin 
Zacharie, under the name of Louis Fontaine (1658). 



104 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

we are deprived of the strength necessary to preserve 
it. Remember 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 weak- 
nesses than be angry for the faults into which we fall 
by the absence of the succor 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 argu- 
ment carried to excess is nothing but an insult and a 
calumny. Attack opinions, but do not outrage per- 
sons. 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 un- 
qualified infamy. 

Setting aside the exaggerated anxiety, the suspicious 
watchfulness, the constant nervousness that the nuns 
of Port-Royal, under the inspiration of Saint- Cyran, 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 105 

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 famil- 
iarity; great evenness of temper, for 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 repri- 
manded 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 seek- 
ing excuses ; to work upon their character with discre- 
tion in private conversations; to win their entire 
confidence, and to be on guard against their cunning; 
to infuse this idea into them, namely, that their pro- 
gress in what is good will be measured, not by extraor- 
dinary actions, but by the accomplishment of their 
every-day duties, " by the fidelity they shall bring into 

1 " ' Nothing weakens a reprimand more than a great 
many words." (Mme. de Maintenon, letter to a mis- 
tress, 1692.) 



106 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

the smallest regulations of the schoolroom, by the sup- 
port 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-Royal affect 
the history of pedagogy less than the boys' schools. 
These mark an epoch of notable reforms and real pro- 
gress. If we often disagree with their venerable mas- 
ters, 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 intercourse 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 deserved to be read 
and pondered. Their example especially ought to con- 
tinue living. A more absolute and disinterested de- 
votedness 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. 



THE HATRED OF THE JESUITS 

How did these humble schools rouse the implacable 
hatred of the Jesuits, a hatred that was not ex- 
tinguished, 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 ? 1 What do I say ? This 
hatred is not yet extent, 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 soli- 
taries and their friends. 2 

1 A letter of Eeb. 2, 1712, gives frightful details; the 
writer had them from an eye-witness. The laborers 
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 inter essantes, t. iv. p. 59.) 

2 The Catalogue minsuel de V ceuvre pontificate des vieux 
papiers (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. 

(107) 



108 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

If the Jesuits feared for a moment to see the educa- 
tion of youth slip out of their hands, and their colleges 
lose their prosperity, * as Racine and several writers of 
Port-Royal assert, they must have been promptly re-as- 
sured ; for the Pelites Ecoles could only be a brilliant 
and short-lived institution, the individual work of a 
few eminent masters, which was ill-adapted for imita- 
tion, and which, by its narrow limits, confined to a 
very small number of select pupils, could not respond 

The names of Arnauld, Xicole, Pascal, Saci, Saint- 
Cyran, Duguet, etc., 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 favorable 
moment for laying hands on them and thrusting them 
all at once into the sack. Comment seems to me 
needless. 

1 The testimony of Bacon in favor 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, "who when it is a 
question of a better educa- 
tion, is content to refer to 
the schools of the Jesuits." 

GOTTFRIED LEIBNITZ, 1646-1716 ((EuweS, t. vi. p. 65.) 




THE HATKED OF THE JESUITS 109 

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 growing favor 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-Evre- 
mond, who was present : " It was not their diversity of 
opinions upon grace nor the five propositions which had 
set them at loggerheads. The ambition of governing 
men's consciences did it all. The jansenists found us 
in possession of the government, and they wished to 

take it from us " (CEuvres de Saint-Evermond, t. 

ii. p. 156.) 

Victors along all the line, both as writers and direc- 
tors 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 Cod to 
the extreme, they had bewailed the disorders of the 
clergy, of the Court of Rome, 1 and the monastic 

1 The satirical Gui Patin is not the only person who 
complains of the abuse of nepotism at the Court of 



110 



PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 




orders, and, like Vincent de 

Paul, Francois de Sales, de 

Berulle, de Ranee, and Bour- 

doise, had felt deeply the need 

j of a complete reform. With 

the generous but somewhat 

chimerical idea of restoring 

Christianity to its primitive 

st. Vincent de i>aul, 1576-1660 purity, they expressed them- 

selves 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 

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, Con- 
tarini, 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 V affaire 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. 



THE HATEED OF THE JESUITS 111 

had been destroying His Church. 1 He repeated the 
melancholy saying of Francois 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 have more corrupted theology than those brawl- 
ers of the school that you know. If it had to be cor- 
rected 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 lafrequente communion, 
in 1643, protested with unparallelled energy against 
the moral and religious condition of his contem- 
poraries : ' ' 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 great- 
est of all crimes, for a piece of good fortune ; cheating 
and treachery for court virtues ; impiety and free- 

1 Vincent de Paul in his deposition remembered only 
the second half of the phrase ; but the Mother Ange- 
lique had noted down the first in writing. (See the 
letter of Lemaitre in the Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire 
de Port-Royal, t. ii. p. 207.) 



112 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

thinking for strength of mind fraud and lying for 

the knowledge of sale and trading; the rage for con- 
stant gaming as a genteel occupation for women 

the disguised simony and the profanation of church 
property as a legitimate accommodation which facili- 
tates 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 partie, 
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 mis- 
fortune that could happen to the Church, if we did 
not add that there is a still greater, namely, that per- 
sons are found who make profession of piety, who flat- 
ter 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 communicated once a month, and sometimes 
oftener They admit that morals are not less corrupt 



THE HATKED OE THE JESUITS 113 

than before yet, nevertheless, they will maintain 

that 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 

Xicole 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 dis- 
solute monasteries." (Visionnaires, p. 179.) This was 
to bring on their hands many powerless 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 apostol- 
ate 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 with- 
out proof and the perfidious insinuations of their 
adversaries. l 

1 The zealous annotator of the Memoires of Father 
Eapin is forced to admit it: "The Memoires are not 
very explicit on the part that the jansenists took in the 



114 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

It required, in truth, all the blindness of hatred to 
transform Saint-Oyran, Arnauld, Singlin, de Saci, 
Nicole, and Lancelot into conspirators and rioters. 
" Mme. de Longueville," Father Kapin relates, " said 
of Arnauld that he would never have been able to 
achieve his salvation if intrigue had been necessary 
to save him." (Memoires, p. 240.) And this is well 
seen when, hidden and disguised in the duchesse's 
house he betrayed his incognito so artlessly. 1 

The testimony of Cardinal de Retz is very favorable 
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 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." 2 (Hislt. v. p. 546.) 

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! 

1 Speaking of 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, "lam M. Arnauld." 

2 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 



THE HATEED OF THE JESUITS 115 

But it must be acknowledged that appearances were 
against them . ' 4 With a facility more Christian than 
judicious," according to the just comment of Racine, 
they welcomed a number of discontented or disgraced 
courtiers and a number of great ladies wearied of 
their intrigues. Their attachment to their archbishop, 
the Cardinal de Eetz, whose consummate perversity 1 
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 min- 
isters. Their connection with the duchesse de Lon- 
gueville, the due de Luynes, the marquis de Sevigne, 
Mme. de G-uenegaut, the prince and princess de Conti, 

sums to the poor, to repair the damages caused in the 
provinces by the civil wars. (Besogne, Hist. t. iii. pp. 
39 and 83.) 

1 His secretary, Guy Joly, reports this cynical con- 
versation: "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 I 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 my- 
self 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." (Memoires.) The ad- 
miration that Mme. de Sevigne did not cease to profess 
for Cardinal de Retz is well known. 



116 POET-ROYAL EDUCATION 

etc., caused the Fronde to be called the jansenist's 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 gov- 
ernor, Villeroi, represented them to him as people who 
" wanted neither pope nor king." (Memoires, du P. 
Rapin, t. i. p. 271.) Hence, we can understand the 
saying attributed to d'Harcourt, " A jansenist is very 
often only a man whom it is wished to ruin at court." 
M. Cousin and M. Renan have said that in this 
struggle it was the Jesuits who defended the good 
cause, that of human liberty. Mme. de Sevigne, so 
attached to her friends and her brethren of Port-Royal, 
separates from them, in fact, on this point of doctrine. 
She has just been reading the Bible of Royaumont, 
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 longerlib- 
erty." (To Mme. de Grignan, August 28, 1676.) 
D'Alembert twits them equally, and with spirit, on the 
contradiction between their inexorable dogma and the r 



THE HATEED OF THE JESUITS 117 

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 jesuites, p. 64.) 

And, in spite of all, the men of Port-Eoyal, van- 
quished, proscribed, and annihilated, make in history 
quite another figure than their triumphant vanquish- 
ers. 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. " (Villemain.) 

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 



118 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

prejudiced adversaries, was the strictness of their spir- 
itual discipline. " The jansenists," says Father Rapin, 
" advanced their affairs by disguising their real senti- 
ments ; this was by a morality that had nothing but 
what was beautiful and edifying." (Hist, du jansmisme, 
p. 496.) One of the least equivocal marks of heresy 
was purity of morals. Port-Royal 1 drew from this val- 
uable testimony her consolation and strength in the 
midst of the severest trials. 

1 The Mother Agnes writes to Mme. de Foix, April 
16, 1663 : " There was a Jesuit who preached, this Lent, 
in Burgundy, that solitude, retirement, 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 Gos- 
pel?" 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.'" 
(Phantome du jansenisme, 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.) 



THE HATKED OF THE JESUITS 119 

I cannot speak better of the moral bearing of the 
work undertaken by the solitaries of Port-Koyal 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 thor- 
ough disdain of all precautions and all polity in things 
pertaining to God, characterize what may be called the 
method of Saint-Cyran. He desires to regenerate 
souls individually, not to obtain by surprise the super- 
ficial 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 ? 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-reliant in order to be as 

wrong as the jansenists. However far removed we 
may be from their doctrines, we must acknowledge 



120 PORT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

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 
adversaries paid dear for their victory; they received 
a mortal wound from the arrow of the Provincials, or 
rather, to speak more correctly, it was fhe ancient 
faith that succumbed in this relentless conflict. Con- 
templating 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 Pyrrhon- 
ism." (Letter to Math. Marais.) "All that is non- 
sense! " 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 Sevigne, of all these over-refined discussions 
on grace: " Thicken religion a little, it is all evaporat- 
ing through being over-refined. " Eidicule 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 signifi- 
cant : 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 7 Almanack, Essay of 
the New Tale of Mother Goose, or Illustrations of the Game 
of the Constitution, The Jesuit Harlequin, The Pasquinade 



THE HATRED OF THE JESUITS 121 

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 

French humor indulged in it to its heart's content, 
and found the subject inexhaustible. What became 
of religious beliefs in the midst of this universal ban- 
tering ? Father Rapin 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 righting 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 



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 handsome characters, Grace suffisaxte. Behind 
this car was seen another young man tied and bound, 
who wore a paper mitre and other pontifical ornaments 
to match, and who was covered from head to foot with 
a large black veil to denote the defeat and disgrace of 
Jansenius." (Hist. gen. du jansenisme, t. i. p. 483.) 



122 POKT-ROYAL EDUCATION 

incredulity and indifference walked liberty of con- 
science, 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 neighbor rejoice to see so copious a 
source of terrible hatred exhausted and religious per- 
secutions for ever ended. May Port-Eoyal, 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. 



ORIGIX OF THE PETITES ECOLES.— Saixt- 
Cyrax 

I wish I 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 should be, as it 
were, a seminary for the Church, to preserve in 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 six chil- 
dren, 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 gov- 
ern 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 lan- 
guages to children. This design having been destroyed 
by my imprisonment, x I have thought no more of it, and 

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. 

(123) 



124 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAN 

have given all the money that I had, except two thous- 
and 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 1 having driven him 
away, I have been obliged to continue my charity to 
him by sending him to Port-Royal, 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 injuring 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 per- 
sonal law, and ought rather to be obeyed than public 
laws. 2 But I have since willingly consented that the 



1 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 Lance- 
lot, " he added a third to them, who was the son of a 
poor woman, a niece of the precentor of the Sainte- 
Chapelle. This last soon out-stripped the other two, 
which made the lieutenant's wife so jealous, that she 
forbade M. de Saint-Cyran to see any children, under 
the pretext that he might instil bad principles into 
them." (Mem. t. i. p. 133.) 

2 The clearness of these declarations explains the 
ascendancy of Saint-Cyran. He said one day to 
Lemaitre: " You are not yet accustomed to this Ian- 



ORIGIN OF THE PORT-ROYAL SCHOOLS 125 

good, work that I began with the children of M. Big- 
non 1 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- 

guage, and people do not talk so in the world, but 
here are- six feet of ground (his room) inhere neither chancel- 
lor nor any one else is feared. There is no power that can 
prevent us speaking the truth here as it ought to be 
spoken. ' ' 

1 The establishment of the Petites Ecoles 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 Chris- 
tian education of children, 
and M. Bignon, after press- 
ing him for a long time to 
put his ideas in practice, 
demanded as a tribute due 

Jerome Bignon. i59o-i«56 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 Ecoles 
were set up outside Port-Eoyal by^MM. Lancelot and 
De Saci, while their sister,'^\farie Bignon, was edu- 
cated within the monastery. '** (Supplement au Xrcrologe, 
p. 398.) 




126 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAX 

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 instru- 
ment 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 intrac- 
table 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 

The duty of instructing children is in itself so irk- 
some, that I have seldom seen a wise man who has not 
complained and grown tired of it, however short a time 
he has worked at it; and the most devout man 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; 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 

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. 



ORIGIN OF THE PORT-ROYAL SCHOOLS 127 

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 past- 
times suitable to their age, 1 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 Vincennes. (Supplement au Necrologe, 
p. 46.) 

1 This wise care not to overpress the children sug- 
gested 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 pastime suitable to his age, is 
very careful to surround him with good examples. 



OF THE CHARITY OF M. DE SAINT-CYRAX 
TOWARDS CHILDREN.— Lancelot 

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 offi- 
cers and the Church with the most virtuous men, and 
that the Republic ! and private families would draw 
from it incalculable advantages. So that it might be 
said of this good work, which is now so much neglected 
and abandoned, Porro unum 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 

1 That is, the State. This sense appears very clearly 
from the distinction that Etienne Pasquier, in the six- 
teenth century, draws of " three kinds of republics: 
the royal, the manorial, and the popular/' (Lettres, liv. 

xix. lettre 7.) 

(128) 



LANCELOT'S DESCRIPTION 129 

their duty in obtaining a good education for their chil- 
dren, 1 which is at the present time more rare and diffi- 
cult to find than is thought. • He could not sufficiently 
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 honor 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 inconvenience 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 

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 spirituelles de Saint-Cyran, 1685, t. 
ii. p. 326.) 



130 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAN 

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 mis- 
fortune 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 appalling, as he often makes use of the negli- 
gence 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 chil- 
dren should be forbidden to approach Him; who em- 
braced and blessed them; who has charged us so 
strictly not to despise or neglect them, and who has 
spoken of them in such favorable 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 honor 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 seed of some truth that he threw 



Lancelot's description 131 

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 himself " They 

showed him their Yirgil that they were studying, and 
he said, " Do you see all those beautiful verses ? Vir- 
gil, in making them, procured his own damnation, be- 
cause 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 of obedience and to fit 
yourselves for serving God.' 1 (See page 18.) 

A boy of whom he had taken charge during his im- 
prisonment, 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 unfathom- 

1 " For nothing," said Lancelot, who had been en- 
trusted with the education of this bov, and shared the 



132 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS ST. CYRAX 

able 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 pil- 
fer, 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 chil- 
dren 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, major em, haec 

work with M. De Saci, " shows more plainly that a 
person does not do all the good he imagines in under- 
taking 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 of 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. 



LANCELOT'S DESCRIPTION 133 

dUectionem nemo habet 1 (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 char- 
ity, 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. 

He desired that we should bear with their faults and 
weaknesses, in order to induce God to show mercy to 
ours, and 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 

1 " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends." 



134 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAN 

too imperious a manner, which had something of dis- 
dain, 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 calcu- 
lated 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 impossi- 
ble 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. 

1 The recommendation is excellent, but how is it to 
be reconciled with the precept to annihilate our own 
will ? The Mother of Agnes wrote, 30 April, 1652, to 
Mdlle. Perdreau : " Read, in V Amour de Dieu of the 
saintly bishop of Geneva, what he says on the death of 
the will." 

2 " 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 humor for a 
time in order to lead them to act without such compli- 
ance in the future Only care must be taken to use 

this compliance with much circumspection an impar- 
tiality, always bearing in mind that we must not stop 
there, and that, if we are obliged to condescend to 
them, it is onlv in order to raise them to our own level 



LANCELOT'S DESCRIPTION 135 

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 7 
and to do nothing rashly, and also to pray for them be- 
fore punishing them ; then he wished them to be warned 
by signs only, then by words, and after several repri- 
mands to employ threats, that they should be deprived 
for a time of something they liked, or of play, even of 
their luncheon or part of their breakfast, and tnat 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-tem- 
pered, or who were given to lying or laughing on the 
most serius occasions. 1 In fine, he did not wish, any 
more than Saint Benedict, that faults committed in 
church should be pardoned. 

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."" 
(Lettres chretiennes et spirituelles, 1685, t. ii. p. 3*26.) 

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." 



1M PORT-ROYAL WRITERS ST. CYRAX 

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 endeavor to drawdown on men by our 
patience in bearing with them. He added that some- 
times we should even 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. x 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. 



(La verite mr les Arnauld, t. ii. p. 185. ) The critic should 
not have omitted these important words: " On the 
most serious occasions ". 

1 A very wise precept, in which we are not to sup- 
pose 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 per- 
sonal to them ? The unprepared lesson is not inter- 
esting, it is too long, it is not sufficiently within their 
capacity, etc. 



LANCELOT'S DESCRIPTION 137 

He was careful to warn that, in order to guide chil- 
dren well, it was necessary plus prier que crier, 1 to ask 
rather than scold, and to speak more of them to God 
than of God to them : for he did not like lung speeches 
on piety to be made to them, or that they should he 
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 accord- 
ing to the impulse that He gave us, and the disposi- 
tion 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, 2 and the perfect regularity of 

1 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. 

2 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 interpretation to 
this advice. Pedagogy has no more important pre- 
cept. The teachers of Port-Eoyal, with Saint-Cyran 



138 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CTRAN 

the house in which they were pupils. A father of the 
church once said, speaking of the education of a 
young girl, " Remember, you who have brought a vir- 
gin 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 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 : 
11 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 made the principal thing in the education of 

at their head, had the right to place in the first rank 
of maxims that which they practised so well themselves, 
namely, example. 



Lancelot's description 139 

children as we do now. He regarded this condnct as 
one of the greatest mistakes which could he 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 dishonored in 
following the calling in which their birth would have 
placed them. Therefore he said that among the chil- 
dren 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 submission 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 

1 Arnauld d'Andilly advises the queen-mother to 
diminish the number of colleges, and only to have- 
schools to teach reading and writing. (Varin, la 
Verite sur les Arnauld, 1847, t. ii. p. 353.) This was 
also the idea of Richelieu. 



140 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAN 

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 up 
in a thoroughly pagan manner; and besides, the labor 
a man undergoes in this employment, when it is not 
governed by the maxims of God, is much greater when 
he takes some care in discharging it, than that of cul- 
tivating the land, and undermines the body more, and 
very much accelerates the end of our life. * 

M. de Saint-Cyran never undertook the charge of 
children unless he had some hopes of being entirely 

1 Camper, of Berlin, has calculated that out of 100 
persons, the age of 70 years is reached by 42 theolo- 
gians, 29 lawyers, 28 artists, 27 schoolmasters and 
professors, and 24 doctors. (Michel Levy, Traite 
,cV hygiene, t. ii. p. 872.) 



LANCELOT'S DESCRIPTION 141 

their master, and was certain of the mind and inten- 
tions 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 



142 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAN 

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 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 not everybody is 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 disa- 
greeable things, and often exposes them to infected 
air, so many, nevertheless, are found to adopt it — pre- 
sumably it is because men's attachment to life makes 
this profession honorable ; 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 por- 
tion of the inferior persons in the Church (1 Cor. vi. 
4), we, nevertheless, see no one higher placed now 



LANCELOT'S DESCRIPTION 143 

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, * we see 
no employment so despised as this to which it apper- 
tains 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 mas- 
ter of the stables, and that what has reference to the 
care and education of reasonable creatures, who have 

1 Chaining, De V education per wnnelle, 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 devel- 
opment of thought and feel - 

william ellert channing, mg> or than the subtle laws 
1780-1842 | t h e sou i ? w hi c h should all 

be studied and understood before education is fin- 
ished " 

2 " Lucian has said somewhere that the gods made 
schoolmasters of those whom they hated; and Mel- 
anchthon has written an oration de miseriis paedagogo- 
rwm." Gui Patin, Lettres, t. iii. p. 140.) 




144 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS— ST. CYRAN 

been redeemed by the blood of God, is considered the 
lowest employment in nature. Truly we must 
acknowledge that men's blindness is -very great. 

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 per- 
sons of position without their thinking that they had 
a right to complain, 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 regarding them as 
his nephews, as he once told me, but as children whom 



LANCELOT'S DESCRIPTION 145 

he was endeavoring 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 Villeneuve (son of M. 
d'Andilly) under my care, he was good enough to tell 
me that he would be their undermaster, and that if 
God restored him to liberty he would take them with 
him. 

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 

2 M. d'Espinoy, youngest son of M. de Saint-Ange, 
head steward to the Queen, retired to Port-Eoyal de& 
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. (Mem. t. L 
p. 338.) 



146 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAN 

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 Eichelieu 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 pre- 
cision 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 opportunity, to 

this employment (Lancelot, Memories touchant la vie 

de M. de Saint-Cyran, t. ii. p. 330.) 

SAINT-CYRAST'S LITERARY THEORY 

Lancelot 
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 

1 Lancelot fulfilled the sacristan's duties. 



HIS LITERARY THEORY 147 

lie has written on the subject in various letters * 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 know the truth itself. 
Nevertheless, he thought that it was necessary 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; 2 otherwise there was nothing more dangerous 

1 Chiefly in letters addressed to M. Arnauld, bearing 
on the title-page : A un ecclesiastique de ses amis. In 
vols. ii. and iii., ed. 1679. 

2 " I have often seen him," says Lanceot, " after 
having soared like an eagle while speaking to us, sud- 
denly stop short, ' not because I have nothing to say, 
on the contrary, because too many things present them- 
selves 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 con- 
tinual oblation to God, neither saying nor doing any- 
thing of himself, and always looking to the Holy Spirit 
with deep humility, in order to act only in and by 
Him." (Memoires, vol. i. p. 45.) 



148 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CI RAX 

than to advance by oneself, and that nothing led more 
easily to deception and error than such rashness, what- 
ever natural ability and learning a man might possess. 
He showed this by the books of Origen, x 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 sub- 
mits to the will of God can know the truth, as he who 
seeks only this glory is true and free from all un- 
righteousness. 

Nor was it sufficient that the motive should be legiti- 
mate. M. de Saint- Cyran still wished that it should 
not be carried out in too solely human a manner, 2 as 

1 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 Pkilosopkumena. Several of his 
opinions have been condemned. 

2 The disciples of Saint-Cyran did not always follow 
this important advice. Lancelot candidly acknowl- 
edges 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 remain- 
ing in humble repose We may also add that we did 



HIS LITERARY THEORY 149 

if it were only a question of carrying things by force 
of words, or that God had need of our eloquence, be- 
cause 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, We are unprofitable servants). Therefore he wished 
that in such conjuctures 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 sub- 
mission 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 

not confine 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. 



150 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS — ST. CYRAN 

down His blessing on their labors. For that reason his 1 
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 hjiman 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 move- 
ments that it pleased Him to inspire in us, when we 
were careful to look to Him Avith great purity of heart. 
Hence it was that He did not wish men to waste time 
over speech, 1 and to take more time in weighing their 

1 " I do not know who that Monsieur de Vaugelas is 
who writes to you. It seems to me that he has the 
humor of M. de Balzac, whom I esteem more than his 
letter, which I intend to read in three days because I 
am otherwise occupied, and I wish that, following my 



HIS LITERARY THEORY 151 

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 acade- 
micians 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 our- 
selves 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 

example, you would moderate the passion you have for 
words, of which the fine tissue is less estimable than 
you think." (Saint-Cyran, Lettre a Arnauld dJ An- 
dilly.) Saint- Cyran gave that day very wittily an ex- 
cellent lesson in literature to the grand epistolier de 
France. But the Discourses of Balzac are worth more 
than his letters, 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.) 



152 POET-EOYAL WEITEES — ST. CYEAtf 

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 cer- 
tain 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 our- 
selves called to speak of things that may benefit 
others. 2 

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." 
(Pensees.) 

2 " AVhen 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, al- 
though 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, 



HIS LITERARY THEORY 153 

The slightest cloud that is found in our heart over- 
flows on to the paper, like a breath that dims the sur- 
face of a mirror, and the slightest corruption that we 
have will be like a gnawing worm, which will pass in- 
to this writing and gnaw the heart of those who shall 
read it till the end of the world. (Lancelot, Memoires, 
t, ii. p. 127.) 

with 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 odor of piety over the work, 
which first strikes the author and then those who read 
it. ,, (Fontaine, Mem. t. ii. p. 51.) 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE 
SCHOOL OF LE CHESNAL. 1 — De Beaupuis 

On Rising 

The elder children rise every day at five o'clock, win- 
ter 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 accus- 
tom them to idling at the first hour of the day. 

They kneel immediately they are out of bed to wor- 
ship God. 

After which they finish dressing, and 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. 

1 A small village a quarter of a league from Ver- 
sailles. 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 de- 
vote 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, His. de Port- 
Royal, t, iv. p. 143.) 

(154) 



REGULATIONS OF THE LE CHESNAL SCHOOL 155 

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 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, etc. 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 afternoon ; 



156 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — DE BEAU PITS 

for the juniors, translation of Livy, Justin, Severus, 
Sulpicius, etc. 

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 
t'hrir-t 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. 
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 ikmjiteor as far as Meet, Culpa. 
After the examination is ended they finish the remain- 
der 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 £0 into the refectory. 



regulations of the le chesnal school 157 

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. l 

They endeavor to accustom them not to affect an in- 
convenient 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, Roman History, and 
such like. Nothing has been so useful, and it is sur- 
prising 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. 

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. 



158 port-royal writers — de beaupuis 

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 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 back-gammon, 
draughts, chess, or cards. 

These cards were a certain pack which embraced the 
history of the first six centuries; 1 that is to say, the 
time and place in which the chief councils were held, 
in which the popes, emperors, eminent saints, and pro- 
fane 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 



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 was the 
winner, and if he recited correctly the information 
given on his card he took a counter. 



REGULATIONS OF THE LE CHESNAL SCHOOL 159 

so impressed on their minds, and the circumstances of 
the different times and places in which these great 
men lived, that no doctor could speak of them more 
pertinently. What M. de Sainte-Beuve 1 often won- 
dered 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 coun- 
tries of the world, and of periods of time, that they 
were able to converse agreeably with all sorts of per- 
sons, to study all sorts of affairs, and even to explain 
them. 

N"o 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 disagreea- 
ble to any of their companions. 

Recreation usually lasted a good hour and a half. 

On holidays they left the close and went towards 



1 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). Xicole had been his pupil. 
Sainte-Beuve, however, eagerly signed the formulary 
in 1661, and refused all intercourse with the nuns of 
Port-Roval . 



160 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — DE BEAU PUIS 

Marly, Versailles, and Saint-Cyr (the building of Ver- 
sailles 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 be- 
gan to talk first the juniors always said something on 
the subject, and thus they were accustomed to speak 
in good terms and to form an opinion on the facts 
mentioned in the history which had been read. In 
line, by making them pass their early years in these 
kinds of exercises, the teachers endeavored to put them 
in position to render service to God and the public 
when they should be grown up. 

Of the Return to the Class-room in the Afternoon 
On entering they said a short prayer, to ask for t he- 
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 

1 It was not until after 1672 that Louis XIV. passed 
a large part of the year at Versailles, and he fixed 
his residence there in 1682. The Court was then at 
Paris, which it left for Saint-Germain in 1661. 



BEGULATIONS OF THE LE CHESNAL SCHOOL 101 

wrote their copy, which was always some sentence 
taken from the Holy Scripture, and the others copied 
their notes on Virgil. 

Others prepared 1 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 during break- 
fast. This refreshment was thought necessary for the 
juniors on account of their greater natural activity. 
The others might go without it if they wished. 

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. 

Recreation was the same as after dinner. 

In summer opportunity was often taken of convers- 
ing 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. 

1 An excellent practice, which involves individual 
initiative, permits greater benefit to be derived from 
the lessons, and singularly facilitates the taking of 
notes. 



16u port-royal writers — de beaupuis 

Evening Prayer 

Evening prayer was said at half-past eight, when 
they repeated the Pater-noster, Ci^edo, and Confiteor in 
Latin, the litanies of the Virgin, Sub tuum praesidium, 
etc. 

Then, after examination of conscience, each returned 
to his room in silence. 

On Going to Bed 

After saying his prayers, each undressed and got in- 
to 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 sometimes showed a disa- 
greeable humor 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 



REGULATIONS OF THE LE CHESNAL SCHOOL 163 

repeat what had been said the last time, in order to 
impress it well on their memory. 

They always had to hear high mass at the parish 
church ; for it 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, 

1 This is one of the grievances of Father Eapin in 
an interest that he does not conceal : " At Por t-Boyal 
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 
favor. 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 jansenists that 
set in fashion this spirit of parochialism which after- 
wards dominated Paris, and by which the beneficed 
clergy became so important, that they made them- 
selves dreaded by the great, respected by the lower 



164 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — DE BEAUPUIS 

thinking only of amusing ourselves, feasting and pay- 
ing visits after having been to hear low mass, as quickly 
as possible, is not sanctifying the Sunday. . . .(Supplement 
au Necrologe, p. 54.) 

classes, and held in honor by everybody.' 1 (Memoires, 
t. i. p. 484.) 



A LETTER FROM M. LE MAITRE DE SACI TO 

OXE OF HIS FRIEXDS 

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 devote yourself 
to it. I am convinced that there is no occupation 
equal to yours, nor one more Worthy of a Christain, 
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 our- 
selves 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 instruction easier and more agreeable; but the 
others, who try our patience more, also give reason to 
deserve more. l It is necessary to labor to root out 

1 Fountain, who has reproduced the principal pas- 
sages 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 chil- 
dren than those of respectable parents.' 1 Education 
at Port-Royal, as with Montaigne, Rabelais, Locke, and 

(165) 



lm PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — DE SACI 

in them the works of the old man, 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 im- 
press 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 are 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 Savior and 
Master than in all human means and industry, consid- 
ering 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 

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. 



PATIENCE AND SILENCE 16? 

in them, praise Grocl for it, who has put it in them, but 
let it be in secret, and be careful to speak little of it; 1 
if, on the contrary, you find that there is much to do, 
do not despair, remembering their age. 

Every day we see those degenerate who were good in 
their childhood ; and, on the contrary, those in whom 
we saw nothing good when they were children improve 
as they grow older. They are like the young wheat, 
which often produces more or less than was expected. 
We must not be too uneasy about their faults, or too 
precise in marking them. 2 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, 

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 con- 
trary, 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 acknowledgements 
for acts of courage and devotion. 

2 This language is truer and more simple than that 
of Saint-Cyran, who speaks too much of " trembling " 
and of " tempest of the mind ". 



168 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — DE SACI 

and with reference to one thing at a time, to cure them, 
having towards them an untiring charity; otherwise 
we give ourselves great trouble, and do them no good, 
we even sour their tempers by too frequent and inju- 
dicious reproofs. We must endeavor 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 encourage it, in 
order to use it for their salvation. When it is neces- 
sary to reprove and warn them, it should be well con- 
sidered, in order not to discourage them. By over- 
looking 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 shows us 
when it is time to speak to them, and most frequently 
we find that there was nothing to be said. We can 
understand these tender souls only by adapting our- 
selves to them, and conforming ourselves to their in- 
clinations ; 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 consideration, 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 do by persuasion what 



PATIENCE AND SILENCE 169 

is demanded of them. x When we see that they cannot 
submit, we should retire and feign not to notice, leav- 
ing 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 prac- 
tised with children than patience and silence, avoiding, 
by patience, hasty reproof, and taking care, by culti- 
vating silence, to say no more than they can bear. 

Jesus Christ often withdrew Himself from His dis- 
ciples to pray to His Father, in order not to be obliged 
constantly to reprove them, as their imperfect condi- 
tion often gave Him reason to do. Thus you would do 
well to take for a motto these two words, patience and 
■■iilence, 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 interes- 
santes, t. iv. p. 351.) 

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 superficial work, without real efficacy. 




PASCAL AT PORT-ROYAL 1 .— Fontaine 

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 
Blaise pascal. 1623-166-2 imagined. There was no 
adept in mathematics who did not yield to him, as wit- 
ness the story of the famous roulette, 2 which was 
then the subject of conversation of all the learned. 

1 " I can scarcely believe," observes Sainte-Beuve 
with reason, " that the fine conversation between Pas- 
cal and M. De Saci on Epictetus and Montaigne is not 
the compilation of M. Lemaitre himself." {Port-Royal, 
t. i. p. 395.) 

2 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, Huy- 
ghens, etc., made it the object of their studies. 

(170) 



EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE 171 

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 de- 
ranged during three years. This wonderful man, be- 
ing at last touched by God, submitted this eminent mind 
to the yoke of Jesus Christ, and this grand and noble 
heart humbly submitted to penance. He came to 
Paris to throw himself into the arms of M. Singlin, 
resolved to do whatever he ordered him. 

M. Singlin thought on seeing this great genius, that 
he should do well to send him to Port-Eoyal des 
Champs, where M. Arnauld would measure his 
strength with him in what regarded the other sci- 
ences, 1 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 

1 Bossuet calls Arnauld " a man eminent in every 
kind of knowledge ". ((Euvres, t. ix. p. 451.) 



172 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — FONTAINE 

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, dis- 
covered the same truths that they did. He thinks 
them surprising, because he has not seen them any- 
where; 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 , 

Philippe de Champagne (1602-1674), " this jansen- 
ist Poussin," says Theophile Gautier, who points out 
in the gallery of the Louvre " that singular and char- 
acteristic painting in which we see Sister Sainte- 
Suzanne (the daughter of Ph. de Champagne and a 
nun of Port-Royal) sitting with her f.eet stretched out 
on a stool, her hands joined, while the Mother Cather- 
ine Agnes Arnauld, on her knees, implores of heaven 
the healing of the sick woman, who was, in fact, re- 
stored to health, as the inscription on the picture 



EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE 173 

he spoke to him of painting. If he saw M-. Ham on 1 , 
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 Mon- 
taigne, 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," 2 said M. Pascal, " is one of the men 

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 F ama- 
teur au musee du Louvre, p. 158.) Two chefs-d 1 ceuvre of 
this painter are exhibited in the salon a r> honneur y 
namely, Christ lying in His shroud, and- a portrait of 
Richelieu. 

1 A distinguished physician who was at Port-Royal 
from 1650 to 1687. 

2 Epictetus, a Greek Stoic philosopher of the first 
century after Christ. Abstain, be resigned, were the 



1?4 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — POKTAINE 

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 every- 
thing with justice, to submit to Him heartily, to fol- 
low Him willingly in everything, because He does 
everything with great wisdom; that thus this disposi- 
tion will stop all his complaints and murmurings, and 
prepare his heart to support the most painful occur- 
rences. 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 V 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. Remember, said he, that you are here like 



two principles of his morality. See the study of M. 
Martha on Stoic virtue, personified in that slave who 
honors humanity as much as the wise emperor Marcus 
Aurelius. (Les moralistes sous V empire romain, p. 155.) 
1 This is really showing too much resignation. 
Would not this sort of fatalism put at their ease assas- 
sins and robbers, transformed into agents of Provi- 
dence ? 



EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE 175 

an actor, and that you play your part in a comedy, 
such as it pleases the Master to give you. Kemain 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 anything 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. 1 

" 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 worshiped 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 said that God has given to every man the 
means of fulfilling all his obligations ; that these 

1C ' To will what God wills is the only science 
That gives us repose.'' — Malherbe. 



176 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — FONTAINE 

means are always in our power; that we must seek hap- 
piness only 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, 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, etc. 
"As to Montaigne, Sir, of whom you wish me to 
speak to you, being born in 
a Christian state, he pro- 
fessed 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 

M-E.dk Montaigne. 1533-1592 ^^ congiderillg man de _ 




EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE 17? 

prived 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 doubt- 
ing even whether he does doubt, his uncertainty rolls 
on itself in a perpetual circle without ceasing, oppos- 
ing 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 ignor- 
ant 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 knmc, 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 and Essays move on this principle, and this 
is the only thing that he pretends thoroughly to estab- 
lish, 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. * * * 



17H FORT-ROYAL WRITERS — FONTAINE 

" 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 ? 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 consequences, 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 endeavors to show the uncer- 
tainty in its axioms, and in the terms which it does not 
define, as extension, motion, etc. ; natural science and 
medicine, which he depreciates in many ways; history, 
politics, ethics, jurisprudence, and the rest; so that, 
without revelation, we might believe, according to him, 
that life is a dream from whch we shall only awake at 
death, and during which Ave possess the principles of 



EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE 179 

truth as little as during natural sleep. Thus he depre- 
ciates 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 favor on a level with the brutes, with- 
out 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 meanwhile only acknowledging its power to act 
so far as to recognize its weakness with sincere humil- 
ity, instead of exalting itself by a foolish vanity." 

M. De Saci thought himself in a new country, and 
listening to a strange language ; and repeated to him- 
self these words of St. Augustine: " God of truth! 
are those who knosv these subtleties of reasoning more 
pleasing to thee on that account ? " He pitied this 
philosopher, who pricked and tore himself everywhere 
with the thorns that he himself made, as St. Augus- 
tine 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 Montaigne 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 writ- 



180 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — FONTAINE 

ings, and he might say with St. Augustine, Ibi me rides, 
attende. 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 read- 
ing, 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 knowledge, and consequently of religion itself. 
This is what this pious doctor blamed in those philoso- 
phers of former times, who were called academicians, 
and who wished to throw doubt upon everything.'" 

M. De Saci added several similar things; upon which 
M. Pascal said that if he himself had been compli- 
mented on knowing Montaigne so thoroughly, and 
knowing how to turn him so well, he might say, with- 
out compliment, that M. De Saci knew St. Augustine 
more thoroughly and knew how to turn him better, 
although not very much to the advantage of poor 
Montaigne. 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: 

a # * * As to the utility of this reading I will 



EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE 181 

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 miser- 
able 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. 
Montaigne is incomparable for confounding the pride 
of those who, without faith, boast of true righteous- 
ness; 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 intel- 
ligence 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. 

" Montaigne is absolutely pernicious for those who 
have a leaning towards impiety and vice. Therefore 
this reading should be regulated with much care, dis- 
cretion, and regard for the position and morals of those 



182 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS— FONTAINE 

to whom it is recommended. * It seems to me even 
that by combining them they would not succeed en- 
tirely 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 con- 
traries, 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 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. ;;.) 

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.) 



OF A NEW METHOD OF EASILY LEARNING TO 
EEAD IN ANY LANGUAGE. 1 — Lancelot 

This method chiefly concerns those who cannot yet 
read. Simply learning the letters is not much trouble 

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-Eoyal must 
be attributed to Pascal. " Our mothers have com- 
manded me to write to you to send me all the particu- 
lars 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 Jee, zeu; 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 conso- 
nants 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 c 
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. 

(183) 



184 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — LANCELOT 

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 from when it is joined with others, 
For example, if we make a child put together fry, we 
make him pronounce ef ar, wy ; which infallibly con- 
fuses 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, ze and oe, because they are pro- 
nounced in the same way ; and the same to i and y ; 
and also to o and au, as they are 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 neces- 
sary in order to pronounce them. For example, let 
the name given to b be what is pronounced 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 



THE PHOXIC METHOD OE LEAEXIXG TO READ 185 

for c the sound of k, 1 and for g the sound of 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 sepa- 
rately, and without spelling, the syllables ce, ci, ge, gi, 
tin, tie, tii. And they would be taught that s between 
two vowels is pronounced like z ; miseria, misere, as if 
it were mizeria, mizere, etc. 

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 observa- 
tions necessary to fit it for any language might be 
made. 2 

1 Duclos proposed to employ k instead of c, keeping 
c for the sound ch, 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 ex- 
perience, 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 abbreviations 
cse, gse; and not efe, ache, ka, ele, erne, me, esse, zede, i 
and u consonants, icse. This method, already admitted 



186 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS LANCELOT 

OF THE VERB.— Lancelot 
Men have not had less need to invent words which 
should mark affirmation, which is the principle mode 
of our thought, than to invent those which should 
mark the objects of our thought. 

And it is in this properly that what we call the verb 
consists, which is nothing else than a ivord whose chief 
use is to signify affirmation, that is to say, to mark that 
the discourse in which this word is used is the dis- 
course 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 qffirmans, 
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 principle office of the verb was 
to signify affirmation, 1 because we shall show further 

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." (Com- 
mentaire sur la grammaire generate.) The victory is not 
yet complete. 

1 To affirm would be more exact than to signify 
affirmation. 



OF THE VERB 187 

on that it is also used to signify other movements of 
the mind, as to desire, to ask, to command, etc., 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 oflice 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 r 
Petrvs 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 Uves r 
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 significa- 
tion 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 sub- 
stantive. 



188 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — LANCELOT 

2. They have also joined to it in certain circum- 
stances 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 mm not only signifies affirmation, but includes 
the signification of the pronoun ego, which is the sub- 
ject 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 in- 
clude 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 cwnasti, 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. 



OF THE VERB 189 

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 

Others, as Buxtorf, 3 having added the second to it, 

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- 
Koyal logician wished to show. In no edition that I 
know of the work of Port-Eo} r al has this omission been 
noticed." (De V hellenisme 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 
Cassar 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 
generate^, i. p. 422.) " The German grammarians," 
he adds, " have given to the verb, in their language, 
the name of Zeitwort, composed of [Zeit, time, and Wort, 
word ; so that das Zeitwort signifies literally the word 
of the time." Beauzee would only accept it by inter- 
preting, by metonymy, the name time by that of 
existence. 

3 Buxtorf, a celebrated professor of Hebrew at BAle, 
died 1629. 



190 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS— LANCELOT 

liave 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 con- 
sidered 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 1 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 etfluentes, into those which remain 
and those which pass, was the real origin of the dis- 
tinction 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 

1 Julius Caasar Scaliger, a celebrated philologist (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 endeavored to introduce 
the philosophical spirit into grammatical studies. 



OF THE VERB 191 

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, etc. 

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. 

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 per- 
son, 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. x 

1 The nominative is the case that indicates the sub- 
ject: Dominus, the Lord; the vocative is used to call: 
Domine, Lord. 



192 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS LANCELOT 

Thus the essential reason why a participle is not a 
verb is^that it does not signify affirmation; J 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 vivil, 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 f 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 parti- 
ciples are nouns adjective, and that the infinitive is a 
noun substantive, made by the abstraction of this 
adjective, as from candidus is made candor, and from 
white ivhiteness. Thus the verb rubet signifies is red, 
including the affirmation and the attribute ; the parti- 
ciple rubens signifies simply red, without any affirma- 

1 Certain grammarians admit, however, and net 
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 proposi- 
tion, when parts were made. 



OF THE VERB 193 

tion; 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 signify- 
ing affirmation. For no word denoting 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 affirmation without any difference 
of person or tense, so that the difference of person 
should be marked only by nouns and pronouns, 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, G-od is infinite ; 
every body is divisible; the whole is greater than its 
part. Here 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 definition of the verb its principal acci- 
dents, we may define it thus: vox significans affirma- 
tionem, cum designatione personae, numeri et temporis ; a 
word which signifies affirmation, with designation of person r 
number, and tense, which exactly agrees with the verb 
substantive. 



104 PORT- ROYAL WRITERS — LANCELOT 

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 significans qffirmationem alicujus attributi ; 
cum designatione personae, numeri et temporis; a ivord 
which marks the affirmation of some attribute, ivith designa- 
tion <>f the person, number, and tense. 1 

And it may be remarked, in passing, that the affirma- 
tion, 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 
/', torus affirmed, a [fir mat is the same thing as est qffirmans, 2 
and then est marks my affirmation, or the judgment that 
I form concerning Peter; and qffirmans 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 not all 
our judgments are affirmative, but some are negative, 
the verbs, nevertheless, never signify by themselves 

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. 



OF THE YEEB 195 

anything but affirmations, the negation being marked 
oy the particles no, not, or by words which include it, 
nuttus, nemo, none, no one, which, being joined to verbs, 
change the affirmation into negation, as no man is 
immortal; nullum corpus est indivisibile, l no body is indi- 
visible. (Grammaire generale et raisonee.) 

1 Beauzee (Grammaire generale, t. i. p. 395) does not 
accept the theory of Port-Eoyal. But his objections 
do not appear to me to be sound, and the definition 
that he proposes to substitute has not been received 
very favorably : 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 unattackable 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 verb 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. 




A QUESTIOX OF GRAMMAR.— Arstauld 

Madam, 1 — Xothing 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 sin- 
cerity, I will tell you frankly 
than I expected something 
more from such a celebrated 
society. For of the five ques- 
antowe arnauld, 1612-1694 tions 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 2 admits can 
only be resolved by the deepest meditations of philoso- 
phy, it would have been desirable that they should 
rather have attended to them than to the last, which 

1 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 gram- 
mar, etc. 

2 De la Chambre (1594-1660), physician to Louis 
XIV., member of the French Academy and of the 
Academy of Sciences. 

(196) 



USE OF THE ARTICLE 197 

they might with more reason refer to French grammar 
than the former; since M 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. 

The manner in which they have answered the ques- 
tion 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 per- 
fect 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, never- 
theless, Madam, allow me to lay before you a few small 
doubts. 

I have some difficulty with the examples they bring 
forward at the beginning, ville qui parlemente, eau qui do ft, 
etc. For our language should be regulated by present 
and not by former usage. Xow I do not think that 
these modes of speaking, ville qui parlemente, eau qui dort, 
etc., are-in the present use, but are proverbs which have 
survived from the ancient language in which the articles 
were almost always omitted. * To speak as we do now 
we must no doubt say, une ville qui parlemente, une eau 
qui dort, etc. And reason itself requires it thus, be- 

1 Latin, whence French is derived, has no article. 



108 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARNAULD 

cause, excepting proper names, I think that it is a 
general rule that when a noun is the subject of proposi- 
tion it should have an article or some word standing in 
place of it, as tout, plusieurs, and names of number 
rlfiix, trots, etc.; Vhomme est raisonnable, tout homme est 
raisonnable, deux hommes V oat attaque, etc. But these 
gentlemen have well remarked that vocatives must be 
excepted, because it is the having no article 1 that 
distinguishes them from the nominative. And besides, 
in our language they are only the subject of a proposi- 
tion when the pronoun rous is added : del, vous voyez 
mes mciux ; SoleiL rous cclairez 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 hav- 
ing 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, 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 

1 See note, p. 191. 



USE OF THE AETICLE 199 

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 homme qui vive, dme qui vive,. 
vie qui dure are the remains of the old style, which con- 
tinue, 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 f era; je connais des gens qui disent, etc., than 
fai homme en main, je connais gens qui disent, etc. And 
I doubt, Madam, if you would use this last, or if you 
ever said, prenez racines de betoine qui aient ete sechees au 
soleil or prenez eau-de-vie qui ait ete rectijiee, instead of 
saying, as you no doubt have always done, prenez des 
racines de betoine, etc.; prenez de V eau-de-vie, etc. If 
doctors and apothecaries speak thus we should value 
their remedies without imitating their style. 

Xor do I think that you would agree that it would 
be speaking correctly to say, tf est grele qui tombe, c' est 
poison qiCil a pris, c est vin que vous buvez. But I think 
that you would always say, c' est de la grele, etc.; c' 'est 
du poison, etc. ; c' est du vin, etc. 

Their remarks on these expressions, il vit en philosophe, 
etc., which are used sometimes absolutely and some- 
times with qui, as, il vit en philosophe qui suit Epicure, 



200 POKT-KOYAL WRITERS — ARNAULD 

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 incontestable 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 con- 
trary, they are only determined because they have a 
qui. 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 expres- 
sion determinate, we should always be making an 
exception to the rule. 

Thus, if we could say, c 1 est un effet aV 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 a fait 
cruelle. For we might always give this reason, that 
these expressions are good because they are determin- 
ate, whereas, what makes them bad is that thoy are 
determined by the qui, the noun not being determined 
by the article. Therefore, as far as possible, the article 



USE OF THE AETICLE 201 

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, ^ow 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 etr anger ; il est en la ville d* Amiens. 
But in the sense of ut, usage does not allow us to use 
the article; vivit ut philosophies, il vit en philosopjhe, 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 neces- 
sary 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 without 
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 vne fourberie qui est horrible. Whence it seems that 
we should conclude that, if we use qui in the other ex- 
pressions, en philosophe, en roi, although the noun has 
no article, it is not because they are determined, for 



202 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS— ARNAULD 

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. 

There remains, Madam, a word to say on the ques- 
tion 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 not contrary to it, II est accuse 
de crimes qui meritent la mart. 

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 <ti accusi de crime qui merite la mart ; but 
il a etc 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 ? This 
difficulty, Madam, gave me an idea which I submit to 
the judgment of this illustrious society. I think that 



USE OF THE ARTICLE 203 

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, wherever un is put in 
the singular des is put in the plural, or de before adjec- 
tives, as I have already said, and it should always be 
put in all those cases where qui is added. 

Xominative. — Un crime qui est si horrible merite la morfj 
des crimes qui sont si horribles, etc. 

Dative. — II a eu recours a un crime qui merite la mort, 
il a eu recours a des crimes qui meritent, etc. 

Accusative. — II a commis un crime qui merite la mort t 
il a commis des crimes qui meritent la mort. 

Ablative. — II est puni pour un crime qui merite la mort T 
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 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 cVun: il est accuse d' un crime, it is evident that 
the genitive plural should be formed in the same man- 
ner 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 



204 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARXAULD 

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 crime*, or il est accuse de de grands 
crime*; whereas it is not offended by hearing in the 
dative, il a pardonne a des criminels, il a pardonne a de 
mediants hommes. Thus, Madam, if you will kindly 
pardon me this little Latin sentence, which M. Valant 
will explain to you, impetratum est a ratione ut peccare 
mavitatis 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 jthe preceding, by the 
impossibility of putting the article, which gives liberty 
to use the qui, although the noun has no article; or, in- 
deed, we may say that the mere difficulty of pronuncia- 
tion 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 honor, Madam, of knowing you as 
well as I do, I should offer you many excuses for hav- 
ing 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 

1 Reason allows a fault to^be made for the satisfac- 
tion of the ear. 



ON THE REGULATION OF STUDIES 205 

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 etc. 
(Arnauld, CEuvres, t. iv. p. 125.) 

MEMOIR OX THE REGULATION OF STUDIES 
IX THE HUMAXITIES 1 .— Arxauld 

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, amplifica- 
tion, and declamation, themes and. u empty phrases void of 
sense, in order to make them learn rules which might he 
taught viva voce," theatrical representations, dictated lec- 
tures, and the infrequent reading of authors, he proposes the 
following remedies : — 

"1. The examination of scholars, in order to pro- 
mote them from one class to another, should only con- 

1 Although this memoir treats of classical studies,, 
judicious advice on teaching will be found in it, of 
which our teachers can make good use in primary 
instruction. 



206 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARXAULD 

sist in seeing if the} 7 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 explan- 
ation of an author every time the class meets, morning 
and afternoon ; and this exercise should always be pre- 
ferred 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 mutu- 
ally, and correct one another with politeness; first, 
on the substance of what has been translated during 
the week; secondly, on the most remarkable thoughts 
and the finest turns of language ; thirdly, on the explan- 
ation of certain passages that the teacher may have 
thought necessary to give in a few words. 

" o. 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 



OX THE REGULATION OE STUDIES 207 

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 distinguished 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 iu 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 



208 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARNAULD 

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 Vale- 
rius Maximus, or Plutarch, or any book they like, 
leaving them the choice; and those must be 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. x 

1 Eollin, the recognized inheritor of the traditions 
of Port-Eoyal, ought to have 
thoroughly assimilated this 
formal recommendation of 
Arnauld, and not have per- 
mitted 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 

Charles Roll™, 1161-1741 the History of France! " 




OX THE EEGULATIOX OF STUDIES 209 

" 10. A short time only should be given to the reci- 
tation 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 dec- 
lamation of their own making nor dictate any rhetoric 
that they have composed. They should explain especi- 
ally Aristotle and Quintilian with the books of 

Cicero the best part of the time is lost in dictating. 

" 12. It would be still better 1 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. 2 

1 Instead of giving a translation to be put into Latin. 

2 Franklin declares that he had no other master for 
composition. About the age 
of fifteen, when he was a 
printer's apprentice, he pro- 
cured an odd volume of Addi- 
son's Spectator, read an article 
in it, noted the principal 
ideas, then, a few days after, 
in the evening or the morn- 
ing, before work or on Sun- 
days, he tried to reproduce 

Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790 t h e original, which Served him 




210 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARXAULD 

" 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 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 verb is 
met with out of the general rule, the attention of the 
scholars should be called to it, and they should be re- 
quired to give a reason for it, as we have just explained, 
at the next meeting 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. l 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 

for a key. This exercise may safely be recommended 
in primary schools, and in classes for adults. 

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. 



OX THE REGULATION OF STUDIES 211 

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 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." 

Art. 22. He inscribes the History of France among the 
conditions 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 



212 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARNAULT) 

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 com- 
pelling anyone to learn them word for word. x 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 cer- 
tainly learn much more by reading much, and speak- 
ing 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 rilling their minds with good 
models their judgment is formed. 

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. 



OX THE REGULATION" OF STUDIES 213 

" Objection. — The regents do not acquire practice if 
the liberty of speaking is taken from them. 

" Reply. — AVe answer, they may speak as much as 
they like, provided that it be not in the class time set 
apart for the instruction of the scholars. So much 
talk is not necessary to point out the beauties of an 
author." (Arnauld, CEuvres, t. xli. p. 85.) 



PORT-ROYAL LOGIC— Xicole 

First discourse, setting forth the design of 
this New Logic 

Nothing is more estimable than good sense and ac- 
curacy 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 

(214) 



DESlCxX OP THE PORT-ROYAL LOGIC 2L5 

instrument for perfecting the reason; 1 accuracy of 
mind being infinitely more important than all specula- 
tive 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 neces- 
sary, that it is strange how rare a quality this accuracy 
of judgment is. We meet everywhere with unsound 
minds which have scarcely any 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 appear- 
ances; who are always in excess and extremes; who 
have no firm hold on the truths which, they know, be- 
cause it is rather by chance than real knowledge that 
they are attached to them; or who stop short, on the 

1 This pedagogic point of view is excellent; but, with- 
out neglecting it, we must attach more value to the 
acquisition of the sciences than Port-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 
civilization and progress. 



216 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

contrary, at the evidence of their senses, with so much 
obstinacy, that they will hear nothing that may unde- 
ceive them ; who rashly decide on what they are ignor- 
ant of, what they do not understand, and what no one, 
perhaps, has ever understood; who make no difference 
between one way of speaking 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 con- 
genial minds. After seeing so many persons infatu- 
ated 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 

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.) 
2 "This is," said Bailly, "the longest malady that 
has afflicted human reason ; it is known to have lasted 
fifty centuries." (Hist, de V astronomie.) 



DESIGN OF THE POET-EOTAL LOGIC 217 

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 constella- 
tion will be just and equitable. 1 There are three 
other signs of the Zodiac, which are named, one the 
Ram, another the Bull, another the Goat, and which 
might just as well have been called Elephant, Croco- 
dile, and Ehinoceros. The ram, the bull, and the 
goat are ruminating animals, hence those who take 
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 pro- 
mulgate them, and others who suffer themselves to be 
persuaded by them. 2 

1 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 ! 

2 La Fontaine protested against this popular error 
in the fable of the Horoscope : — 

I. do not think that Xature 
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; 
Xot 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. 



218 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

This unsoundness of mind is the cause not only 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 law-suits, 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. 1 
There is an infinite number of coarse and stupid 
minds 2 that cannot be amended by giving them a 

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.) 

1 In spite of its name, common sense is rare. (An- 
drieux.) 

2 Here we recognize Mcole, the author of the Traite 
de la faiblesse de V homme, who indulges himself too much 
in painting the mass of his fellow-creatures as " steeped 
in stupidity ". (Chap, x.) 



DESIGN OF THE PORT-ROYAL LOGIC 219 

knowledge of the truth, but only by keeping them to 
the things that are within their capacity, and prevent- 
ing their passing judgment on what they are not cap- 
able of understanding. It is true, nevertheless, that 
many of the false judgments of men do not spring from 
this principle, and are caused only by hastiness of mind 
and want of attention, which cause men to judge rashly 
what they only know in a confused and obscure man- 
ner. 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 thejr 
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 



220 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS NICOLE 

to their natural state: I am wrong, and know nothing 
about the matter. 

There are others, on the contrary, who, haying suf- 
ficient intelligence 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 them- 
selves to be carried away by popular credulity, pride 
themselves on maintaining that nothing is certain. 
They thus relieve themselves of the trouble of examin- 
ing 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 every- 
thing, 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. 

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 evi- 
dent, without pausing over the empty reasonings of 



DESIGN OF THE POKT-EOYAL LOGIC 221 

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. Xo 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. x 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 endeavored to revive this sect 
in the last century 

Second Discourse, Containing a Reply to the Prin- 
cipal 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 



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 Xicole will give the sage 
advice " to put our mind in a condition to calmly sup- 
port 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." 



222 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NTCOLE 

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 x\ristotle 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. 

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 ? 
When we expect to find the rules of logic we are sud- 
denly 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 ? And 
would it not have been better to give us one quite 



OBJECTIONS TO THE POKT-EOYAL LOGIC 223 

simple and plain, in which the rnles 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 
considered 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 at- 
tract 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 pos- 
sible, 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. 



224 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

Kow the real cause of this forge tfulness, or this negli- 
gence, 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 nsage, they 
are illustrated by uninteresting examples, such as are 
never spoken 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; 1 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 disadvantage 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 

1 Ramus had already complained of the little practi- 
cal utility of the exercises : " They have never regarded 
their rules but under the shadow of scholastic disputa- 
tions; 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." 



OBJECTIONS TO THE POET-EOTAL LOGIC 225 

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 understand- 
ing 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 de- 
fective 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 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. 

First, experience shows that the majority of exam- 



226 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — XICOLE 

pies that are usually given are not very useful, and 
make little impression on the mind because, they are 
formed at pleasure, and 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 endeavor to choose exam- 
ples 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 Fludd, 1 Van-Helmont, 2 and Para- 

1 Robert Fludd, an English physician and philoso- 
pher (1574-1637), fell into the errors of Alchemy. 
Gassendi, Mersenne, and Kepler did him the honor 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 pub- 
lic imposter, and a sorry rogue. "He passes at the 
present day," says Dr. Reveille-Praise, "for one of 
the greatest physicians that ever lived, for the bold- 
ness, depth, and originality of his conceptions, in sjrite 
of the oddity of his language and a certain affecta- 
tion of mystical obscurity." 



OBJECTIONS TO THE PORT-ROYAD LOGIC 227 

■celsus. * 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 




/ 1: 
//- 1 \ showing that such a great 

/ If \ mind fell into it; and his 

■ \ | philosophy has become so 
1 / celebrated through the 

\ j§ / great number of meritorious 

X^ %^ persons who have embraced 

Aristole, 384-322, b.c. 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 philoso- 
phy, and that, nevertheless, it is never useful to be 

1 Paracelsus (1493-1541), a Swiss physician. " This 
j>rince of mountebanks," exclaims again the irascible 
Gui-Patin, " and shameless imposter." While a pro- 
iessor 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 in- 
curable diseases. See, however, Browning's poems for 
a view of his character that investigation proves to be 
more just. 



228 POET-EOYAL WEITEES — NICOLE 

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 honor 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 criti- 
cised 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 through- 
out Aristotle's books have not been quoted, the reason 
is that they did not enter into the subject of the dis- 
course; 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 conse- 
quences; 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 



OBJECTIONS TO THE POET-KOTAL LOGIC 229 

some contusion in his Analytics, it must, neverthe- 
less, 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 belong to him. 

It is true that his Physics appears to be his least per- 
fect 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 ignorant. For who can doubt that all things 
are composed of matter and of a certain form of 
that matter ? AVho 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 ? 
AVho can doubt, in fine, those other metaphysical prin- 
ciples, that everything depends on form; that matter 
alone does nothing; that there are place, motion, quali- 
ties, 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. 

X M. de Launoi, a doctor of the Sorbonne (1603- 
1678). De varia Aristotdis in Accidentia Parisicnsi 
fort una. 



230 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

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 thi& 
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 attack- 
ing 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. 



OBJECTIONS TO THE POET-ROYAL LOGIC 231 

This is exactly the position in which Aristotle's phil- 
osophy 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 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 ex- 
tremes are violent. To condemn Aristotle generally, 
as was formerly done, is too severe ; and it is a great 



232 



POET-ROYAL WRITERS XICOLE 



constraint to be obliged to approve him in everything, 
and to take him as the standard of truth of philosophi- 
cal opinions, as it seems men wished to do afterwards. 

The world cannot long submit to this constraint, 
and is insensibly 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 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 six- 
teenth century, " great and 
free spirits, impatient of 
servitude, arise; they cour- 
ageously 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 
:he preface to his Traite du Vide. 




GlOVANNO LUDOYICO VlVES, 

1492-1540 



OF BAD REASONING 233 

Of Bad Reasoning Employed in Civil Life and in 
Ordinary Discourse 

In considering generally the causes of bur 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, Interest, 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 aud 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 judgments, 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, 



234 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS — X1COLE 

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 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 ? 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 per- 
suade 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 

1 "Truth on this side the Pyrenees, error on the 
other," said Pascal ironically in his Pensees. 



OF BAD REASOinXG 235 

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, never- 
theless, to those who are stirred by some new passion 
tbat the change which has taken place only in their 
hearts has transformed all external things which had 
any connection with them. How often do we see per- 
sons 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 honor, and without conscience. Their affec- 
tions 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 reason- 
ing 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:, 



236 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

and for this reason we may call this kind of aberration 
sophisms and illusions of the heart, which consists in 
transporting our passions into the objects of our pas- 
sions, and in judging that they are what we wish or 
desire they should be; which is, doubtless, very un- 
reasonable, since our wishes change nothing in the 
existence of what is outside ourselves, and it is God 
alone whose will is so efficacious that things are what 
He wills 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 favorable 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 author- 
ity from reason. All those who are not of 'their 
opinion they call rash, without considering that, if 



OF BAD REASONING 237 

others are not of their opinion, neither are they of 
the opinion of others, and that it is not just to sup- 
pose, without proof, that we are right, when it is a 
question of convincing others who are of another opin- 
ion than ourselves simply because they are persuaded 
that we are not right. 

4. There are others, also, who have no other ground 
for rejecting certain opinions than this humorous 
reasoning: If that were so, T should not be a clever 
man; now I am a clever man, therefore it is not so. 
This is the principal reason which has caused certain 
very useful remedies and some very decisive experi- 
ments to be so long rejected, because those who had 
not yet known them thought that they must have been 
in error up to that time. " What ! " said they, " if 
the blood circulates in the body ; T if the food is not car- 
ried to the liver by the mesaraic veins; if the pulmo- 
nary 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, 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 

1 The discovery of the circulation of the blood is due 
to Harvey, an English physician, in 1628. 



238 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

in other things although they have not been so in those 
which have been newly discovered. 

5. Xothing 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 lan- 
guage, 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 distin- 
guishing 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, blindness, 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 mis- 



OF BAD REASONING 239 

taken, nevertheless, because they suppose that truth 
is on the side of him who makes them, wise and judi- 
cious 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 

Of False Reasonings which Spring from the 
Objects Themselves 

It is a false and impious opinion that truth is 

so like falsehood 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 impres- 
sion, and appreciate only what strikes them most; 
thus, when they perceive many truths in a discourse. 



240 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

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 im- 
pression effacing the more obscure. 

Xevertheless, it is a manifest injustice to judge in 
this manner; there cannot be a just reason for reject- 
ing reason, and truth is none the less truth through 
being mixed with error 

Therefore justice and reason require that in all 
things that are thus made up of good and bad a dis- 
crimination 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 
distinction ; 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 



OF BAD SEASONING 241 

painting value drawing very much more than coloring 
or lightness of touch, nevertheless the ignorant are 
more impressed by a picture whose colors 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 fre- 
quent 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 inappro- 
priate words; and, on this ground, Vaugelas 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 
coloring is to the picture, that is to say, its least im- 
portant 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 



242 



PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 




Abp. Fenelon, 1651-1715 



on the minds of the hearers, 1 which presents not only 

1 Fenelon, who reduces all eloquence to three points, 
namely, to prove, to paint, and 
to move, thus develops the 
second: "To paint is not 
only to describe things, but 
to represent their surround- 
ings 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 sat- 
isfied with saying she was so overcome with grief after 
the departure of ..Eneas that she could not bear her 
life; she went 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 Carth- 
age ; you think you see the Trojan fleet retiring from 
the coast, and the queen whom nothing is able to con- 
sole ; 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.) 



OF BAD REASONING" 243 

the things themselves but also the emotions with which 
they are conceived; and this may be met with in per- 
sons who are not very precise in language nor exact in 
harmony, and it 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 vigor of their thoughts, as painters remark that 
those who excel in coloring 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 favora- 
ble one! He is clever, intelligent, sound, what you 
will; but he does not speak fluently and cannot turn a 
compliment 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. 
STot 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 endeavor to avoid. 

2. ximong 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 



244 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS NICOLE 

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. 

Xot 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. l 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, short- 
ens it, and disguises it at need, in order to place it in 
that useless work of words that he wishes to form. 

How often has the desire to make a point produced 
unsound thoughts ! How often has rhyme 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 nonsense! AYho 
would not laugh to hear Bembo 2 say that a pope had 

1 Pascal compares these forced antitheses to " sham 
windows for symmetry". (Pensees.) 

2 Pierre Bembo (1470-1547), secretary to Leo X, 
was so enamored with Cicero's style as to imitate him 
even in his pagan expressions; he was elected cardinal,, 
and took orders in 1539. . 



OF BAD SEASONING 345 

been elected by the favor of the immortal gods ! There 
are indeed poets who imagine that it is the essence of 
poetry to introduce the pagan divinities; and a Ger- 
man poet, as good a versifier as he is an injudicious 
writer, having been properly censured by Francis 
Picus Mirandola for having introduced all the divini- 
ties 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, employ- 
ing this strange reason, in order to prove it, that the 
verses of Hesiod, Homer, and .Virgil 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 Vestals spoke; for if he had consid- 



240 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — XICOLE 

ered 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 Vestals; 1 or that she ought to blush to 
speak any other language than that of her own coun- 
try, 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. 2 

False reasonings of this sort, which are constantly 
met with in the writings of those who most affect elo- 
quence, show how the majority of persons who speak 
or write would need to be persuaded of this excellent 

1 The Vestals were virgins appointed to keep up the 
sacred fire on the altar of the goddess Vesta; there 
were only six. 

2 Malebranche quizzes good-naturedly the pretended 
reasons alleged by Tertullian to justify himself for 
wearing the philosopher's mantle instead of the ordi- 
nary robe. This mantle was formerly in use at Carth- 
age, 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, etc., 
serve to justify his change ? {Recherche de la verite, 
liv. ii.) 



OF BAD REASOXIXG 247 

rule that nothing is beautiful but what is true, 1 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. 2 

3. It is a very common failing among men to judge 
rashly of the actions and intentions of others, but they 

1 Boileau would make it the rule of literature : Rien 
n^ est beau que le vrai; le vrai : le vrai seul est aimable- 
(Epitre ix.) 

" Xothing is beautiful but the true; the true alone 
is pleasing." 

2 Fenelon very happily puts this criticism in the 
mouth of one of his characters, the admirer of the ser- 
mon 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 endeavoring to touch 
them they disappear. I should much prefer a dis- 
course with more body and less spirit." (l er Dialogue 
sur V eloquence. ) 



248 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

seldom fall into it except through bad reasoning, by 
which, through not recognizing with sufficient clear- 
ness 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. 

A man of letters holds the same opinion as a heretic 
on a matter of criticism, independent of religious con- 
troversies ; 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 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 con- 
cluded he is allied with him by interest, and is a par- 
taker in his crimes. This does not follow; perhaps he 
is ignorant of them, and perhaps he has had no share 
in them. 



OF BAD SEASONING 249 

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 inadvertance or simply forgetfulness. 

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 particu- 
lar thing without having any special reason for doing 
so. Silence is sometimes a sign of modesty and judg- 
ment, and sometimes of stupidity. Slowness some- 
times indicates prudence and sometimes dullness of 
mind. Change is sometimes a sign of inconstancy 
and sometimes of sincerity ; thus it is had 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 circumstances that they 
could then see, for all the bad results that have fol- 
lowed, 1 either through a simple casualty or through 

1 Compared with this lagging prose how brilliant 
and striking is the eloquence of Demosthenes, 
crushing that sophism in the mouth of iEschines! 
Accused of being the author of the disaster at 
Chaeronea, he haughtily accepts the responsibility: 
"Athenians, lam going to say a strange thing 



250 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

the malice of those who have thwarted it, or through 
some other circumstances which it was impossible for 
them to foresee. 

Xot 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 misf or- 



If all of us had clearly seen the future, if you, 

iEschines, had 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 

Demosthenes, 384-322, B. C. Xo, 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 Mara- 
thon, by those who fought at Plataea, at Salamis, at 
Artemisium," etc. 




OF BAD SEASONING 251 

tunes, 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 suc- 
ceed 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, of 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, there- 
fore he is wrong. Xevertheless, 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 teach us this disposi- 



252 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

tion of man, representing it exactly in the book of Ec- 
clesiasticus : " 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 honors and pleasures, necessarily 
conceives a great love for riches and the other quali- 
ties by means of which these honors and pleasures are 
obtained. Xow, 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 for- 
tunate, we place them above ourselves, and look upon 
them as exalted and eminent persons. This habit of 



OF BAD REASONING 253 

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 opin- 
ions, 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 them- 
selves, who have not been careful to correct the im- 
pression 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 rea- 
son as themselves, and this makes them impatient of 
the least contradiction. 

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 their 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 de- 
ceived 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 



254 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

magnify their idea of them, and never think of them- 
selves without all their titles, their equipage, and their 
train. * 

They are accustomed to look upon themselves from 
their childhood 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 our- 

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 ani- 
mals that draw you. Men put aside all this outward 
show to penetrate to you, who are nothing but a fop. 
(La Bruyere, Caracteres, ch. ii.) 



OF BAD SEASONING 255 

selves, as far as possible, to give no weight to those 
qualities which can in no way contribute to the dis- 
covery of the truth, and to give to those that do con- 
tribute to it, only as much as they do really contribute. 
Age, knowledge, study, experience, mind, activity, 
caution, accuracy, and labor serve to discover the 
truth of hidden things, and therefore these qualities 
deserve respect; but, nevertheless, they must be care- 
fully weighed, and then compared with the opposite 
reasons; for we can decide nothing with certainty 
from each of these things by itself, since very errone- 
ous opinions have been maintained by men of great 
intellect who had many of these qualities. (Logique, 
part iii. ch. xx.) 



RULES OF THE METHOD IN THE SCIENCES.— 
Nicole 

Analysis consists more in the judgment and mental 
skill than in particular rules. These four, neverthe- 
less, 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 ivhich 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 
ivith 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 enumera- 
(256) 



METHOD IN THE SCIENCES 257 



tions and general reviews that we may be certain of 
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 rides. 

TWO RULES TOUCHING DEFINITIONS 

1. To leave no term in the least obscure or equivo- 
cal without denning it. 

2. To employ in the definitions only terms which 
are perfectly known or already explained. 

TWO RULES FOR THE AXIOMS 

3. To demand as axioms only things perfectly evi- 
dent. 

4. To accept as evident that which needs only a lit- 
tle 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 preced- 
ing definitions, accepted axioms, or propositions al- 
ready demonstrated. 

6. Xever to abuse what is equivocal in terms by 
failing to substitute for them mentally the definitions 
which restrict and explain them. 



258 PORT- ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

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 pass- 
ing to the species. 

But I think that a science can be treated perfectly 
only 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.) 



ON TEACHING READING AND WRITING; EX- 
ERCISES IN TRANSLATION, ELOCUTION, 
AND COMPOSITION.— Gutot . 

" Deak Reader. — Some of my friends having de- 
sired me to speak more at length on the subject of 
teaching children Latin than I have done in the differ- 
ent prefaces to translations that I have given to the 
public, in which I have been satisfied with represent- 
ing chiefly that the system now followed is long, dim- 
cult, and unnatural, and that I thought that there 
might be another shorter, easier, and more conforma- 
ble to nature, that is, to reason, I will endeavor to 
satisfy them here as succinctly as possible, laboring to 
build up after having labored 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 preju- 
dicing 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 

(259) 



260 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

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 

" 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 do not understand in the 
least, and which they never hear spoken (for that 
would be of great use to them, at least for the pro- 
nunciation) except while they are being taught it ? 

1 This justification of the method is full of good 
sense and clearness. 



OK TEACHING KEADIKG, WEITHSTG, ETC. 261 

" 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 teach- 
ing tells us to act in this manner ? 

" Xow 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 ? 
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 combinations 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, without 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 



262 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

the things they represent, as those which they com- 
monly use, as bread, a bed, a room, etc. 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 pro- 
nounce only in the different combinations that they 
form with the same vowels or diphthongs in the sylla- 
bles 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. Now the con- 
sonants are called consonants only because they have 
no sound by themselves, but they must be joined with 
vowels and sound with them. * We are, then, contra- 
dicting ourselves in teaching to pronounce alone letters 
which can be pronounced only when they are joined 
with others ; for in pronouncing the consonants sepa- 
rately, 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 let- 
ters named different from their sound when joined 
with others; thus, after the children have spelled all 

1 The definition is not quite exact, since there are 
consonants which have really a sound by themselves, 
for example, /, s, and even r. 



ON TEACHING READING, WRITING, ETC. 263 

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 ban, which is composed of three letters, 6, 
o, n, which they are made to pronounce one after the 
other. Xow 6, pronounced by itself, makes be ; o, pro- 
nounced alone, is still o, for it is a yowel; but n, pro- 
nounced alone, makes enne. How, then, can this child 
understand that all these sounds that he has pro- 
nounced separately in spelling these three letters one 
after the other can only make this single sound, bon f 
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 f 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-^niais. 
Would they not have done it sooner by making him 
pronounce these two syllables only, ja-^nais, and not 
all the consonants and vowels separately, which only 



264 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

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 may be said 
of a great number of difficult words, as aimoient, 
faisoient, disoient , etc. x 

" Besides, you may make a child spell his letters as 
much as you like, but he will ne^er 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 sylla- 
bles 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 

1 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 con- 
demn this pronunciation." (Nouvelle et parfaite gram- 
maire frangaise, p. 203.) 



ON TEACHING BEADING, WRITING, ETC. 265 

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 spelling, 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 Despau- 
tere 1 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 learnt only 
by reading and writing and by making many mistakes 
which have been corrected. 

" After having shown to the children and pronounced 
the five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, and the diphthongs ae, oe, 
au, eu, aij 2 and making them look only at the shapes of 

1 Van Pauteren, in French Despautere (1460-1520), 
professor at Louvain and Bois-le-Duc. His Latin 
grammar was long in vogue in schools. 

2 It is an error to call " diphthong " (two sounds) ae, 
o,e, 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 generate of Port-Royal did 



266 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

the consonants, without letting them pronounce them 
except in combination in entire syllables, of which 
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 insert only 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, l which 
they already know by heart, to make them read a con- 
nected 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 

not commit this error: " Eu, as it is in feu, peu, 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 raw, which is, however, 
simple. 

1 Even if the law had not taken its religious charac- 
ter from the school, we do not think that these are 
books to interest young children. The subjects are 
too serious and beyond their capacity. 



OK TEACHING READING, WRITING, ETC. 267 

which the matter is adapted to their intelligence. 
The small colloquies of Mathurin Cordier 1 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 Virgil, the three comedies 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 under- 
standing of them easy, of which the beginning is so 
painful. And, in this way, what they already know 

1 " Cordier, Mathurin, a priest (1479-1564), was one*, 
of the best class regents that could be desired ; he un- 
derstood Latin well, was a man of much virtue, and 
devoted himself to his office, being as careful to in- 
struct his pupils in good behavior as in good Latinity.. 
He employed his life in teaching children at Paris,. 
Nevers, Bourdeaux, 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.) 



268 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

may be usefully employed to teach them what they 
do not know. x 

" 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 at the commence- 
ment by themselves, 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 

1 There is an ingenious foresight in making the chil- 
dren 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 over- 
come 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 



OX TEACHIXG READING, WRITING, ETC. 269 

And I should also wish that they should not be given 
copies without rime or reason, but some beautiful sen- 
tences in French or Latin verse, which might serve to 
regulate their mind and their manners. 1 They would 
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 2 
as far as possible, they would soon unlearn what they 
have learnt with much time and pains. 

" I come noAV to the Latin, and I suppose, as every - 

which the pupil moves his pencil in letters formed of 
sunken lines. 

*At the time that G-uyot 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 — 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, ' ' etc. 

2 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. 



270 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

body 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 incompara- 
ble advantage to resuscitate, in some sort, these dead 
authors, and to re-animate them with our spirit, voice, 
and action, that they may teach us in a vivid and 
natural manner. x And this may be done by trans- 
lating 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 lan- 
guages, it is also the most natural and useful means of 
learning the dead languages. 

For is is not an inverted order, and quite contrary to 

1 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. 



02* TEACHING BEADING, WEITING, ETC. 271 

nature, to begin by writing in a language which, they not 
only cannot speak but do not even understand ? Chil- 
dren who are beginning to learn their native language 
begin by hearing it before speaking 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 taching 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 voice, 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 con- 
ducts 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 convers- 
ing 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. 



272 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

" But the better to understand the advantage that 
viva voce translation has over written, it must be re- 
marked 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 sig- 
nification is lost, in a manner, in writings, at least for 
those who are only commencing to learn a dead lan- 
guage, for they only understand the artificial significa- 
tion 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 translation 
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 under- 
stand a language well, because it is, as 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 omni- 
potence which is attributed to eloquence and the dis- 



ON TEACHING EEADLNG, WBITIXG, ETC. 273 

tinct 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 emo- 
tions of the heart. 

" Thus, in order to bring out this natural significa- 
tion of the movements of the soul which accompanies 
the artificial signification 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 ail the appropriate inflections and ac- 
cents. 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 under- 
stand 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 



274 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

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 be- 
fore 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 after- 
wards learn shall not be able to injure or corrupt the 
purity of their French. Xow 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, conceiv- 
ing things in their own way, and according 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, 



OlSr TEACHING READING, WRITING, ETC. 275 

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 contrary 
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 translate their works only in a 
lifeless and foreign manner, and thus render them- 
selves less capable of filling the higher posts in the 

church and at the bar 

" The children, then, must acquire through these 
French translations, 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 



276 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

good from the bad, as persons who habituate them- 
selves to all kinds of wines can no longer appreciate 
nor distinguish their differences; and their minds 
should be fed on only 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 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 fol- 
low 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, writ- 
ten by M. d'Andilly, his History of Josephus, the Con- 
fessions 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 

1 He repeats here the list already given above. 



ON TEACHING BEADING, WETTING, ETC. 277 

iew o£ the most chaste poets, full of lively descrip- 
tions, 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 bet- 
ter 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 teach- 
ing them to pronounce well, by giving them the neces- 
sary 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 the 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 
this is noticed even in animals, so that tones, gestures, 
and movements make a natural impression on their 
intelligence, and even on their bodily organs, which 



278 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

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 sub- 
jects 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 ex- 
pressions 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. 

1 A very good and useful practice, applicable even 
to elementary classes, with children who cannot yet 
write; it fixes their attention, develops their intelli- 
gence, teaches them to speak correctly, and prepares 
them for composition. 



OK" TEACHING READING, WKITIKG, ETC. 279 

" But care must be taken, in exercising them in 
speaking or writing, that they do it with clearness and 
precision, and as they can do so only by the clear and 
accurate knowledge they have of things, and accord- 
ing 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, gen- 
erally springing from indistinctness and confusion of 
thought, will cause the same indistinctness and con- 
fusion in the minds of the children. 1 And for this 
reason they should usually be set to speak or write only 
on the subjects that they know best, and in the style 
and terms in which they have had most exercise ; other- 
wise 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 neces- 
sary, 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 

1 The only means of avoiding this capital fault in 
teaching is a conscientious 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. 



280 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — GUYOT 

by our own. They should even be required to ask 
about what they do not understand; 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 profit by it, since the curiosity which made them ask 
has opened their minds and rendered them capable of 
understanding what will be said to them then. Chil- 
dren should be kept for a long time to the same style; 
for, in that, time will make more impression than all 
the observations that may be made to them on the lan- 
guage, 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 let- 
ters, 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 dis- 
tinguishing 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 ex- 
pressions, about the order and arrangement of the 
words, their natural or figurative meaning, their 



ON TEACHING READING, WRITING, ETC. 281 

connection and combinations, figures and transitions, 
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 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 " (G-uyot, 

Billets de Ciceron, 1868. Preface.) 

1 It is evidently in the reading of a passage, or the 
explanation of a text, that all these details may be 
taken up much more usefully than in a dry and bar- 
ren nomenclature. 



GENEKAL VIEWS ON THE EDUCATION OF A 
PKINCE. 1 — Nicole 

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, mathematics, 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 
sometimes, 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 bor- 
rowed from another, nor can it be prepared for. Nature 

1 It is a sign of the times, and very honorable 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 necessary 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 ele- 
mentary studies. 

(282) 



EDUCATION OF A PEIKCE 283 

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, dis- 
parage what is low, impress with a sense of what is 
great, judge everything wisely and equitably, and ex- 
press 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 forming 
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 think themselves obliged only 



284 POKT-KOYAL WRITERS— NICOLE 

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 conversation and table-talk, as when he is 
setting him to read books. For his principal aim being 
to form his judgment, 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 visi- 
ble signs; and this deceives persons of small intelli- 
gence, 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 Vir- 
gil 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, chronology, geography, 



EDUCATION QF A PBLNCE 285 

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 possi- 
ble, 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 ren- 
der it quick to seize the point in intricate matters, and 
to distinguish those which depart from it ; it is to fur- 
nish it with the principles of truth, which help to dis- 
cover 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 man- 



286 PORT-KOYAL WAITERS — NICOLE 

ner suited to their age and the quality of their mind, 
so that they should not only not be burdened with it, 
but should not even be aware of it. The aim should 
be for them to know all morality almost without know- 
ing that there is a morality, l 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 beforehand much more than is taught in 
them. 

— 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 ; but to re- 
fer everything to it without a child's perceiving it and 

1 Bain equally recommends this indirect but only 
effective method of moral instruction: " Every man 
who is able to maintain the order and discipline neces- 
sary 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 imposes, 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 f education, p. 292.) 



EDUCATION OF A PRINCE 287 

becoming disgusted demands a tact which few per- 
sons possess. 

— There are two things in vices : their unlawful- 
ness, which makes them displeasing to God ; and their 
folly, which makes them despicable to men. Chil- 
dren, 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 weak- 
ened 

— 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 

1 This is one of the favorite 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." 



288 POKT-KOYAL WKITEKS — NICOLE 

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 irregularities and 
disorders. 1 

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 themselves to be so rest- 
less, 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 contrib- 
utes nothing to them 

— Love of books and reading is a general preserva- 

1 One of the advantages of gymnastics is usefully to 
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. 



EDUCATION OF A PKIKCE 289 

tive 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 considerable time in it 
without tedium and without ill-humor. 1 

SPECIAL ADVICE CONCERNING STUDIES 

The aim of instruction is to carry our minds to the 
highest point they are capable of attaining. 2 

It does not give memory, imagination, nor intelli- 

1 It was one of Mme. 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 ! 

fW To grow weary of history! 
- v _ ^-—--^ why it is the support of all 

Madame de Sevigne, 1626-1696 the WOrld ! 

2 The writers of Port-Eoyal have nowhere found a 
broader and more admirable formula. 




290 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — 1STICOLE 

gence, 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 imagina- 
tion 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. l Some children should be in- 
structed 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 requir- 
ing judgment, because they have more judgment than 
memory. 

It is not properly the teachers nor extraneous in- 
struction that cause things to be understood, — at most 
they only expose them to the interior light of the mind, 
by which alone they are comprehended; 2 so that when 
this light is not found instruction is as useless as wish- 
ing to show pictures during the night. 

1 This tact, which bears fruit in competitive exam- 
inations, does not in the least deserve encouragement. 
It is no doubt necessary to cultivate natural aptitudes, 
but chiefly to endeavor 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. 

2 An accurate and profound idea, in the development 
of which Nicole gives a proof of great acuteness in 
analysis. 



EDUCATION OF A PRINCE 291 

The greatest minds have but a limited capacity, and 
have always some dark and shady places in it; but 
children's minds are almost always 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 in 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 especi- 
ally 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 in- 
telligence 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, 1 there being no other 

1 An excellent recommendation still to be insisted 
on. Two gates permit access to the child's intelli- 
gence, hearing and sight. Why do so many teachers 
fail to think of opening them both ? If should be a 
main point in the preparation of lessons to exercise in- 
genuity in procuring or fabricating everything that 
might render the objects of the lesson visible to the 
eyes. 



292 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

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 1 is a very suitable study for children, be- 
cause it depends very much 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, 2 and may be shown to them. Chil- 
dren 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 

1 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. 

2 We may add views of mountains, of the courses of 
rivers, and of other geographical prospects. The pic- 
tures of M. Felix Hement are a beginning of the appli- 
cation of this mode of teaching through the eye. 



EDUCATION OF A PRIXCE 293 

men who have come from them may he noted, and some- 
thing may be said upon their natural history if there 
is anything remarkable, 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 geog- 
raphy that may enter children's minds through their 
eyes. 

The machines of the Eomans, 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; 1 they may be shown, for 
instance, what a battering-ram was, how they made a 

1 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 his- 
tory, geography, and common subjects, etc. 



294 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

testudo, how the Eoman armies were organized, the 
number of their cohorts and legions, their officers, and 
a number 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, l 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 con- 
versation. This book may also be used to show them 
the pictures of the animals they hear spoken of either 
in books or conversation. 

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. 



EDUCATION OF A PEIXCE 295 

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 gen- 
eral principles, if it were only to make them retain the 
Latin names of the parts of the human body, * avoid- 
ing, 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 Eoman 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 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 

1 This is a very secondary consideration in compari- 
son 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. 



296 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

pictures and figures may be used to help them to re- 
member 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 form- 
ing 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 univer- 
sal history, of the various monarchies, and the princi- 
pal changes that have taken place since the beginning 
of the world, by dividing the course of time into differ- 
ent 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 captiv- 
ity to Christ, from Christ to our own times, thus join- 
ing general chronology to general history. l 

1 The present programmes of secondary classical in- 
struction (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, Eoman 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 instruc- 
tion, where the short time allowed for studies has com- 



EDUCATION OF A PKEN"CE 297 

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 re- 
citing 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, prosperity, or singularity. It 
might include uncommon incidents, prodigies, earth- 
quakes, 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 with- 
out 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. 

pelled 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 Eoman, 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 His- 
tory of France with new developments. 



298 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

For example, it is proper for them to know some exam- 
ples of all the greatest armies that are spoken of in 
books, of great battles and slaughters, of great cruel- 
ties, of great pestilences, of great prosperity and 
adversity, of great riches, of great conquerors and 
captains, of fortunate and unfortunate favorites, of 
the longest lives, of the signal follies of men, of great 
vices and great virtues. 1 

The idea of those who 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 chil- 
dren, it burdens them much more than the rules, since 
it deprives them of knowledge 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 linguarum z 

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 Bibliotheque 
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. 32.) 



EDUCATION OF A PRIXCE 



299 




may have some utility; but 
it is, nevertheless, irksome 
to load the memory of chil- 
dren with a book in which 
there are only words to be 
learnt, since one of the most 
useful rules that can be fol- 
lowed in their instruction is 
John Amos comenius, 1592-1671 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 con- 
tribute 

It is a general opinion, and one of great importance 
to teachers, that they should have in their mind all 
that they should teach the children, and not be satis- 
fied with simply finding it in their memory when it is 
recalled to them. For we find many favorable oppor- 
tunities of teaching children what we know well, and 
make such opportunities when we will, and adapt our- 
selves 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 not everything in books is equally good. . . 
This opinion is more important than is thought; its 
aim is not only to relieve the memory of childern, but 



300 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

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 mxikes this 
remark : 

All those names of figures, all those subjects of 
arguments, all those enthymemes and epicheremes will 
never be of use to anybody; and if they are taught to 
children, they should at least be taught at the same 
time that they are very useless things. x 

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 on 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 by speaking if we make 

It would be 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. 



EDUCATION OF A PEIXCE 



301 



ourselves disliked or despised. And this rule obliges 
us to avoid all that savours of vanity, levity, malignity, 
baseness, brutality, or effrontery, and generally every- 
thing that gives an idea of any vice or defect of mind. 
There is, for example, in Pliny the Younger, an air 
of vanity and a sensitive love of reputatian which spoil 
his letters, however 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 Xo man of honor would wish to resem- 
ble Horace or Martial in their malignity and impudence. 
Xow, to give these ideas of oneself is to offend against 
true rhetoric as well as against true morality. 

1 M. Legouve has warmly taken up the defence of 

Cicero in his eloquent reply 
to the address of reception 
of M. G. Boissier: Ci One 
day the Emperor Augustus 
surprised his grandson read- 
ing a book that he made 
haste to hide ; the Emperor 
took the volume, it was a 
work of Cicero. After hav- 
ing read a few lines he re- 
turned 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 




Cicero, 103-46 B C. 



302 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — XICOLE 

There are two kinds of beauty in eloquence of which 
we should endeavor to render children sensible. One 
consists of good and solid, but extraordinary and sur- 
prising thoughts. Lucan, Seneca, and Tacitus are full 
of this kind of beauties. 

The other, on the contrary, does not 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 pleas- 
ing 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 



all his faults, this nourishes and immortalizes 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 Eome, and he went 
straight, not only to duty, but to heroism, so that it 
may be said that in those terrible civil commations 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 weaknesses in their greatness! " (Acad- 
emie fmncaise, seance du 21 dec, 1876.) 



EDUCATION OF A PEI^CE 



303 



authors who have been less nearly approached than 
these two. 

It is this beauty, however, that causes the pleasure 
and charm 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 
endeavor to write and speak well ; and the more intelli- 
gence 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 conseeu- 
\ tively ; 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 — disa- 
greeable by their number and 




Lucius An*leus Seneca, 
3B.C.-65 A.D. 



304 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

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 elo- 
quence. 

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, 
first, we must endeavor 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 hand of 
intelligent princes. It is the collection of Pensees of 
M. Pascal. In addition to the incomparable advan- 
tage 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 leaves this most useful impression that noth- 
ing is more ridiculous than to make a bo#st of free- 
thinking and irreligion, a thing that is more impor- 
tant than can be believed for the great, there is, be- 
sides, an air so grand, so elevated, and at the same 
time so simple and so far removed from affectation in 



EDUCATION OF A PRINCE 305 

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. l 

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 in- 
struct 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 fin- 
est thoughts of the poets, historians, and philosophers ; 
and would even give an opportunity of 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 absolutely to forbid the chil- 
dren 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 

1 Nicole no longer holds this language in his strange 
letter on the subject of the Pensees of Pascal. (See 
Introduction, p. 47.) 

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 
Mcole is excellent, and deserves to be taken into con- 
sideration. Teachers would find it a wonderful help 
in teaching morality. 



306 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

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 ! 1 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, but very sound and true in that of Chri stains. 2 

1 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. 40.) 
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." 

2 A singular and inadmissible assertion! Truth is 
truth. What difference, for 
example, can be found, with- 
out the spirit of system, be- 
tween these words of Plato, 
" There can be no other 
means of making ourselves 
loved by God than to labor 
with all our strength to re- 
semble Him " (Lois, liv. iv.), 
and this precept of Christ, 

Plato, 429-347, B. C. << Be ye per f e ct, as your 

Father in heaven is perfect " ? (See the conscientious 
work of M. Em. Havet, Le christianisme et ses origines. ) 




EDUCATION OF A PRIXCE 307 

And this is what a teacher should distinguish, by point- 
ing 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, 1 since the very 
errors they contain will be used to make known the 

truths which are contrary to them 

(Xicole, Traite de V education dH an prince.) 

1 These books, which he denounced as the works of 
the devil, are here rehabilitated. (See Introduction, 
p. 46.) 




EULOGY OX DESCAETES'S PHILOSOPHY.— 
Arnauld 

A man must ill understand the philosophy of 

M. Descartes to believe of it 
what this author 1 says: That 
it consists in some truths, or 
seeming truths, mixed with some 
errors or uncertain conjectures ; 
that it draws bad conclusions 
from good premises; that it 
defends and explains truth hy 

Rene Descartes, 1596-1650 fal se reason i n g ; that if it Some- 

times finds 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; 

1 Le Moine, dean of the chapter at Vitre, in Brit- 
anny, 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. 

(308) 



EULOGY OF DESCAKTES 309 

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 princi- 
ples. 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 ivith the conclu- 
sion that if u 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 
men, 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 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 



310 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARNAULD 

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 noth- 
ing. 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 cer- 
tain 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 re- 
ceived, 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 move- 
ment in nature, matter must necessarilly 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 

In creating the philosopher of the 'present day, God does 
not give him 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, 



EULOGY OF DESCAETES 311 

and ivith it the blindness of the natural intellect. Xothing 
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 gen- 
eral 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 cen- 
turies increases the general corruption of human 
nature, and with it the blindness of the natural intel- 
lect. If that were so it follows that there were before 
the deluge more able physicians, more learned geome- 
tricians, and greater astronomers than Hippocrates, 

Archimedes, and Ptolemy. 
Is it not clear, on the con- 
trary, that human sciences 
are perfected by time ? I 
do not condescend to dis- 
cuss it. It is plain that 
nothing is more ill-founded 
than what this writer ad- 
HIPPOCRATES.46C-357, b. c. vances on the increase of 
blindness of the natural intellect, in order to conclude from 




»* 



312 PORT-KOYAL WRITERS — ARNAULD 

it, as he does, that M. Des- 
cartes is not comparable to 
the philosophers of an- 
tiquity. We must not flatter 
the men of this age, he says. 
If they are compared, having 
only the light that they bring 
with them into the world and 
without that ivhich they receive 
through instruction in the 

Archimebks, 287-212, B. C. Ckristian ^^ they are not 

comparable for energy of mind, soundness of judgment, and ac- 
curacy 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 sci- 
ence very much farther than 
it was before their time; 
that Galileo has still more 
improved it by the use of 
telescopes ; and that such 

Copernicus, 1473-1543 men Q f our t } me ag ]y[ 

Huyghens and M. Cassini are still making new discov- 




EULOGY OF DESCARTES 



313 




eries. x Galen understood anatomy best of all the an- 
cients, 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, Willis, 2 and 

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 fam- 
ily 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 astrono- 
mer. To him are especially 
due the discovery of Saturn's 
ring, the adaptation of the 
pendulum to clocks, etc. 
The disastrous revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes 
obliged him to leave France. 
2 Galen, a Greek physi- 
cian, second century A. D., 
much attached to the ideas 
of Aristotle, dominated med- 
claudius Galen, 130— icine throughout the Middle 



Ttcho Beahe, 1546-1601 




314 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — ARNAULD 

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 idea ? 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 
reasoning 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 vacu- 
um, 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 mathe- 
matics, a man must be a very bad judge of these 
things not to admit that M. Descartes has gone incom- 
parably farther than all of them in his Geometry and 
Dioptrics. l I might say as much of music and me- 
chanics; 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 

Ages as his master did philosophy. — Harvey, an Eng- 
lish physician (1578-1658) ; his most celebrated discov- 
ery was that of the circulation of the blood (1628). — 
Stenon, a Swedish anatomist (1638-1687). — Willis, 
an English physician (1622-1675). 

1 Dioptrics is that part of optics that especially 
treats of refraction and catoptrics of reflection. 



EXCELLENT MAXIMS, INCLUDING SOME OF 
THE EXILES THAT A PEECEPTOE 
SHOULD LAY DOWN EOE HIM- 
SELF ffl THIS EMPLOY- 
MENT.— Coustel 

No art is without its rules, and no science without 
its 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. 

To be Very Assiduous with Children 
Nothing is so useful as assiduity for learning the 
temper, mind, and genius of children; 1 they may be 

1 These pedagogic reasons have quite another value 
than the motive so often given by the masters of Port 
Eoyal, namely, the necessity of watchfulness to pre- 
vent the devil devouring his prey. (See Saint- 
Cyran, p. 136.) 

(315) 



316 POET-ROTAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

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 Thex 

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 mas- 
ters, to make them the subject of their conversations 
and often of their raillery if they are not well disci- 
plined; for this reason he should always be on his 
guard, as if he were in an enemy's country. l 

1U Kemember," says Mme. de Maintenon to the 
Ladies of Saint-Cyr, " that you must appear irre- 
proachable 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.) 



EULES FOE EDUCATION 317 

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. Therefore it is necessary to reprove them con- 
stantly. That which has been once cut, as St. Bar- 
nard says, will quickly shoot out again in them ; what 
has been driven away returns; what has been extin- 
guished is relighted ; and what has only been lulled to 
sleep soon awakens. 

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 indis- 
pensable 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 
quickly to 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 



318 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

reason is weaker, and that they have as yet no experi- 
ence 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 in- 
clinations and the direction of their natural disposi- 
tion; 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, etc. 

But how are we to know this ? you will say. I answer 
that their disposition soon shows itself in their con- 
versation 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 unpleasing 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 natur- 
ally slow child, and, on the contrary, soften and re- 
strain 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 



EULES FOE EDUCATION 319 

Portugal, 1 made a very great mistake, for he was of 
an ardent and fiery nature. As he burnt with the ex- 
cessive 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 ardor 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 al- 
low itself to be conducted by its lights, 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 Alcazar, 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. 

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. 



320 POKT-KOYAL WEITERS — COUSTEL 

To have Special Eegard 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 recom- 
mendable by the sciences and polite literature. But 
it is not so with Christians; they have heaven in view, 
for which the sciences are much less necessary than 
good morals. 

We must imitate sometimes the sculptors, who are 
constantly removing their imperfections, and some- 
times the painters, who finish their works by daily add- 
ing 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. 

He wishes the council to take every precaution and 
to do its duty by setting trusty guards at these three 

1 These graceful expressions are borrowed from St. 
Chrysostom. 



KULES FOE EDUCATION 321 

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 Sepaeate them eeom those whose Compact 

MIGHT BE I^JUKIOUS TO THEM 

As vices, whether bodily or mental, are easily com- 
municated, and as they work their way by an imper- 
ceptible 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 discourse 

1 All the masters of Port-Eoyal are unanimous in 
condemning the theatre. Lancelot gave up his precep- 
torship with the princesse de Conti, rather than take 
her children to the theatre. Xicole calls dramatic 
authors public poisoners, and does not even spare The 
Cid. Eacine, who on this occasion quarrelled with Port- 
Eoyal, succeeded, however, in getting Phedre approved 
by Arnauld. 



322 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS COUSTEL 

with those of their own age who might corrupt them, 
especially if they are swearers, not decent in conversa- 
tion, or given to wine and dishonesty, for children are 
usually very much disposed to imitate others in evil as 
well as in good 

TO HAVE THE HEART FULL OF CHARITY TOWARDS THEM 

As in this employment the preceptor holds the place 
of the parents, he should endeavor to enter into their 
spirit, and fill his heart with the tenderness and love 
that nature has given them for their children ; or, bet- 
ter, with the charity that has all the tenderness of 

natural affection without its defects and weaknesses. 

This charity will teach him not to treat them in a 
base and flattering manner, overlooking the imperfec- 
tions that he should correct; nor in a domineering 
manner, which would become hateful and insupport- 
able to them, but in a manner always gentle and con- 
descending, 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 



RULES FOR EDUCATION 323 

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 can- 
not 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, etc. 

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 imi- 
tating in this way the conduct of mothers who caress 
more, says St. Bernard, the weakest of their children. 

Xo doubt nothing is so useful both to the precep- 
tor and to the children as this kindly and charitable 
conduct, because it is an infallible means for the pre- 
ceptor to make himself loved, and to incline his chil- 
dren, 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 S. Augustine, and 
afterwards do what you like to your neighbor. If you 
reprove him and become angry with him, he will not 
take offence, because he knows that you act in this 



324 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

way only because you love him ; and even if you go so 
far as to chastise him, he accepts it, because he is con- 
vinced that you only wish for his good 

to bear their inattention to study and all their 
other Defects with much Patience 

We must not be astonished to find defects in chil- 
dren Whether these defects proceed from the cor- 
ruption of nature or the weakness of their age, it is 
necessary to bear them with much patience and com- 
passion, 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 inattention 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 minutiee. 

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 firmness and attachment to what is good 
is like seeking fruit on a tree newly planted. We must 
put up with their weakness for some time We must 



RULES FOE EDUCATION 325 

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 tkeat 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 accom- 
panied 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 licen- 
tiousness. 

It is the same as regards studies, for too great sever- 
ity in the master very often induces aversion for them. 
TTe 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 rigor 

Away, then, with those looks in which the marks of 
an odious severity are continually depicted ! We can- 
not expect by frightening children to make them re- 
spect us and to lead them to their duties, love being 
incomparably more powerful than fear in obtaining 
from them what we desire 

"Labor rather," says St. Bernard, "to make your- 



326 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

self 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 prejudi- 
cial 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 re- 
spect 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.) 



RULES FOR EDUCATION 327 

" He that spareth the 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 

To employ Exhortations rather than Threats in 

ORDER TO LEAD THEM TO PlETT AND VIRTUE 

What a man does against his will and by a sort of 
constraint not only is not praisworthy, but cannot even 
be lasting ; for what is forced soon returns to its previ- 
ous state, as a tree that has been forcibly bent soon 
returns to its former direction, whereas what is done 
from free choice is usually staple and permanent. 

We must, then, always endeavor to render virtue 

1 The worthy Eollin will equally tax his ingenuity 
to soften the most precise texts by an interpretation 
inspired by his love of children : " The Holy Scripture, 
by these and other similar words, means perhaps pun- 
ishment in general, and condemns the false tenderness 
and blind indulgence of parents. . . ...Supposing it neces- 
sary to take the word rod literally, there is great ap- 
pearance that this chastisement is advised for those 
hard, gross, unteachable, and intractable characters 
which are insensible to reprimands or honor. But can 
we think that Scripture, so full of charity and mildness, 
and of compassion for weaknesses, even at a more ad- 
vanced age, means that children should be treated 
harshly, whose faults often spring rather from thought- 
lessness than perversity ? " (Traite des etudes, liv. viii.) 



328 POKT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

lovable in itself, sometimes by praising before the 
children l those who are really virtuous, and some- 
times by making them understand the shame and con- 
fusion 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 endeavor to give them good examples 

Nothing has more influence on the mind, and espec- 
ially the mind of children, who notice much more 
what they see their teachers do than what they may 

1 This was not the opinion of M. de Saci. (See p. 167.) 
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- 
Eoyal, to whom this stimulus to envy and glory is not 
given, fall into heedlessness." (Pensees, ed. Havet, 
p. 449.) 



KULES FOE EDUCATION 329 

say to them, and can have only contempt for the good 
that they propose when their actions are not conform- 
able 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 endeavors to 
make others believe, when he will not take the trouble 
to practise them himself ? 1 

A preceptor should be to his children like clear glass 
and like a beautiful mirror, in which they may see 
their spots and imperfections; or, again, like a rale, 
which corrects by its straightness whatever was un- 
even and defective. He must speak to them, I say, 
more by his actions than by his words, and must show 

1 Mme. de Maintenon 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 sin- 
cere, they will be sincere ; if you act uprightly, they 
will act uprightly; if you are remiss, they will be re- 
miss; 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." (To 
Mme. de la Mairie, 1714.) 



330 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

them the way in which they should go more by acting 
than by 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! " 

Xow, 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 ; regu- 
late all your actions by it, for irregularity of conduct 
is the mark of an inconstant mind which has no firm 
foundation 



OF CIVILITY AND POLITENESS IN CHIL- 
DREN.— Coustel 

It is not sufficient to do good, but we must always 

endeavor to do it in the best manner possible And, 

in fact, as meats good in themselves but badly sea- 
soned are not very agreeable, so a good action awk- 
wardly 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 max- 
ims 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 polite- 
ness of children should especially appear in their de- 
portment and their behavior at table as well as in 
their conversation. l 

Of the Manner in which they should Sit and Be- 
have at Table 

They should always sit upright, without moving 

1 Coustel justifies- himself for entering into details 
that may appear trivial by this judicious sa} r ing of 
Quintilian: "What must be done deserves to be 
learnt." The annexed extract on behavior at table 
is a very curious study of manners. 

(331) 



332 POKT-KOYAL WEITERS — COUSTEL 

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 your 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 what has been 
given you. 

Put gently on your plate what is offered you, bow- 
ing your head slightly, to thank him who serves you, 
without taking off your hat, 1 unless to persons who 
are of higher rank than yourself, and for whom you 
are bound to have a marked respect. 

1 La Bienseance de la conversation entire les homines , 
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 
seemingly to cover at table." 

Father de la Salle recom- 
mends the guests to remain 
standing and uncovered until 
grace has been said, and not 
to put on their hats until 
they are seated, and the most 

John Baptist de la Salle, distinguished persons have 

1651-1719 put on t i ieirs> (Regies de la 

hienseance et de la civilite chretienne.) 




CIVILITY AND POLITENESS IN CHILDKEN 333 

Xever 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. 1 

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 distinguished in the company. 

Keep your eyes on your plate, without constantly 
looking over others to see what they are eating. 

Take what is served to 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 blowiug 
the fire. 

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 know- 
ing), and may offer them seasonably to those to whom 
it is fitting." (Civilite chretienne, p. 107.) Coustel, 
a few lines further on, gives the same reason. 



334 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

Do not break your bread with your hand, but always 
use your knife to cut it. 

Masticate the meat you have in your mouth slowly ; 
this contributes 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 prejudic- 
ial 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 con- 
suming it. 

If anyone does you the honor 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. 



CIVILITY AND POLITENESS IN CHILDREN 335 

Equals do not offer things to one another ; presuming 
to do so is 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 oblig- 
ing 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 per- 
fect themselves in the knowledge of what they already 
know. As, then, conversation 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 



336 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

men, as, for example, consoling the afflicted, instruct- 
ing 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 in it ? what are the 

principal faults to be avoided? Oaths, blasphemy, 

indecent and equirocal 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 circumspect. Thus it is ill to play the 
cheerful man before persons who are afflicted or the 
sad with those who think only of amusing themselves... 

It should be respectful and full of deference, espec- 
ially 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. 



CIVILITY AXD POLITENESS IX CHILDKEX 337 

It is also necessary to be charitable towards others 
by falling in with their humor, by interpreting favor- 
ably 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 ad- 
vantageous 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 dan- 
ger, 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. x 

To show here that young men seldom think of form- 
ing 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 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 

1 Xicole 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. 



338 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

than the marks of extraordinary virtue and merit in an 
old person 

It is necessary to become acquainted with the cere- 
monies that are practised in the country where we 
are. I mean by ceremonies the outward marks of 

honor 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 undobtedly 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 sit- 
ting 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 unbecoming 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 



CIVILITY AND POLITENESS IN CHILDREN 339 

treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Al- 
ways excuse, then, the faults of others, and put a 
good construction on their actions and words. Thus, 
if on entering some one 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 else- 
where and occupied with something else. 

Endeavor to keep an even temper, and fail in with 
the temper of others when it is not in sympathy with 
your own. 

Complaisance is the soul of society and the season- 
ing of conversation. It should, then, be very great 
with respect to everybody, yet without making us ap- 
prove of what is manifestly unjust and bad 

Always be more pleased to listen to what others say 
than to talk yourself, and on this subject remember 
what Plutarch says, " that Xuna taught the Romans 
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, however ignorant and stupid they 
may be. x 

1 Grimarest, in the Life of Moliere, 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 



340 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

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. 

AVhen 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 ar- 
ranged and digested in your mind what you have to 
say, 1 lest your thoughts be like abortions which have 
not had sufficient time to be perfectly formed ; for the 
trouble we have in expressing ourselves usually comes 
from the fact that we have not thoroughly arranged 
what we have to say; for we always express ourselves 

on the boat, and the two speakers took him for judge. 
The friar minim only replied by " hum! hum! " 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." 

1 " There are people," says La Bruyere shrewdly, 
" who speak 'a moment before they have thought." 
(Caracteres, ch. iv.) 



CIVILITY AiND POLITENESS IN CHILDREN 341 

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 speak of those that you 
think you know best only with great moderation and 
reserve. 

If you wish to pass for an able man strive to be really 
so ; for time, which discovers all, will show you such 
as you are; and there may be some one in the company 
who will perhaps expose your ignorance to your morti- 
fication. 

If an opportunity offers of telling some story, come 
to the point at once, without stopping to make a long 
and tiresome preface, and always use in telling it 
proper, natural, and pleasing expressions 

Always endeavor 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 



342 POET-ROYAL WRITERS COUSTEL 

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 un- 
graceful to play Cato 2 before women, or the preacher 
before people who are thinking only of amusing them- 
selves. 

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 
usually more admired when he becomes, against him- 
self, the censor of an opinion advanced out of season 
than if he had never held it, or if he had corrected 
another 



1 Cato the Censor (233-183 B. C), celebrated for 
his severity against luxury, especially that of women. 



CIVILITY AND POLITENESS IN CHILDREN 343 

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. Xow 
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; 
G-od 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, be- 
cause 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 sting- 
ing, and who do not care if they give pain and trouble 



344 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — COUSTEL 

to others, provided that they show themselves off and 
acquire the reputation for wit. Nothing lowers and 
makes a man disliked more than that. 

Boasters, again, are very disagreeable persons in con- 
versation, 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 your- 
self 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 old people who love only themselves, whom 
everything that others say displeases, and who think 
nothing well done which they do not do themselves. 

Obstinate and opinionated persons are also very dis- 
agreeable. 

When things are of 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 humor in good company. 

(Coustel, Kegels de V education des enfants.) 



THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE MONASTERY 

OF POET-EOYAL DU SAIXT-SACEE- 

MEXT. 1 — Mere Agxes 

Oe the Instruction of the Girls 2 

Girls may be received in the monastery for instruc- 
tion 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 Chris- 
tianity. 

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 

1 " The Constitutions of the monastery of Port- 
Eoyal 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." (Memoires de Lancelot, t. i. p. -4-23.) 

2 See Introduction, p. 85. 

(345) 



346 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — MERE AGNES 

whom assistants will be given to instruct them in read- 
ing, writing, needlework, and other useful things, and 
not those which only minister to vanity. 

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 per- 
sists 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. 

Xo more than twelve girls, under ten years of age, 
will be received, lest the charity that the sisters show 
in that be prejudicial to them, by giving them too much 
occupation, and withdrawing 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 aud more in Christian virtue. If, on 
the contrary, they have a vain and wordly temper, they 



CONSTITUTIONS OP ST.-SACEEMENT 347 

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 
a necessary assistance will be affectionately given them 
in their helplessness, considering in this that the charity 
is so much greater as these young orphans are some- 
times 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 



348 POKT-KOYAL WKITEKS — MERE AGNES 

bringing-up of children who are not yet capable of re- 
ceiving 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 hav- 
ing undertaken, 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 surfer from these lit- 
tle creatures, and a great restraint with them. 

Let them not complain of either, but make them- 
selves, for the love of Christ, who became a child for 
us, the servants of these children in whom He Him- 
self 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, so that 
the children themselves may think that they do not 
love them less when they punish than when they 
caress them. 



CONSTITUTIONS OF ST.-SACKEMENT 349 

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 themselves too much to them, which 
would make them ill-humored with others who might 
be given to them. 

They must gain their affections only 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 mis- 
tresses 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 com- 
panion the obedience which is due to her. 1 And as a 

1 Mme. de Maintenon gives the same recommenda- 
tion 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 



350 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — MERE AGNES 

proof that the sisters do not wish to be loved by the 
children, except for the good of the children them- 
selves, 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, ex- 
cept 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 ex- 
ceptions, 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 parlor 
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 great- 
est possible care of them. They will not praise the 
children too much, if some are 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 

in their discourse. It would be very wrong to let them 
perceive that you had this weakness." (Entretiens, 
1703.) 



CONSTITUTIONS OF ST.-SACKEMENT 351 

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 parents. They will ask nothing for 
the children without the permission 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; 1 therefore we shall continue, as 
heretofore, to undertake their maintenance in order 
to avoid the inequality that is found among their par- 
ents, 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 parlor alone 

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-Eoyal 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 differ- 
ent At thirteen she had a room to herself and a 

sister to wait on her " (Vies interessantes, t. iii. 

p. 183.) 



352 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — MERE AGNES 

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 super- 
vision; on the contrary, the inconvenience 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 refactory, they are always to be con- 
ducted, 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 cor- 
rupts the young 

The sisters who shall be employed in the care of the 
children shall act, as has been said, with great affection 
and fidelity, and at the same time with great indiffer- 
ence, dreading this charge on account of the many op- 
portunities it gives of committing errors, of diverting 



CONSTITUTIONS OF ST.-SACEEMENT 353 

themseves too much, and of losing the spirit of medita- 
tion, which it is not easy to preserve in such an impor- 
tant 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. — Jacqueline Pascal 

Advertisement 
Although this regulation for children is not a mere 
fancy, but has been drawn up on what has been prac- 
tised at Port-Royal des Champs during many years, it 
must, nevertheless, be admitted that, for what is ex- 
ternal, it would not always be easy nor even useful to 
put if 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 affec- 
tion 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 
that wins them without enervating them: Sit rigor, 
sed non exasperans ; 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 
(354) 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 355 

to give you an account of the manner in which I act 
with children. 1 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 efficacy 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, 

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 talent, and en- 
tered Port-Eoyal 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 after- 
wards sent to Port-Eoyal 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 woman. 



356 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

when I look at myself and fall into despondency, as 
you know I do very often, these words alone, God icill 
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 con- 
duct, chiefly toivards 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 for their service, and 
that we do it with affection and with all our heart, be- 
cause they are children of God, and that we feel our- 
selves obliged to spare nothing to render them worthy 
of this sacred title. 

3. It is very necessary to devote ourselves to them 



EEGULATIONS FOE THE CHILDEEK" 357 

without reserve and not to leave their quarters, with- 
out unavoidable necessity, in order to be always pres- 
ent 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 im- 
portance, that we should prefer this duty to all others, 1 
when obedience lays it on us, and much more than our 
own private gratification, even when it concerns spirit- 
ual things. The charity with which all the services 
which are useful to them will be given, will not only 
cover many of our faults, but will take the place of 
many things that we think would be useful for our 
own perfection. 

o. There will be a sister on whom we can rely, with- 
out in any way relieving us of our duty. This sister 
who will be given us should be attached, as far as pos- 
sible, to the schoolroom. Therefore it would be desir- 
able to have two, animated with the same zeal and the 
same spirit for the children, and who most often should 
be together in the school-room, even in the presence 

1 For greater security, Mme. 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 edu- 
cation of the girls of Saint-Cyr. 



358 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 com- 
panion. 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 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 school- 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 359 

room, 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, al- 
though what they tell us may not be of great impor- 
tance 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 per- 
fect 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 



360 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

order that the children 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 
confidence in her, and have permission from their 
superiors. If God does not give them this confidence 
they should inform the mother of it, lest unintention- 
ally they let something of it appear before the children. 
10. When two nuns are in the school-room when the 
bell rings for service, they may say it one after the 
other, that there may be one to overlook the children ; 

1 Mme. de Maintenon equally insists on this recom- 
mendation: " 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, maintain- 
ing what is established by them against your own judg- 
ment 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. Xever, I repeat, will your 
authority be established by such diversity of conduct. 
It would be better not to do quite so well but to do al- 
ways the same, than to show this unevenness in the 
manner of educating your young ladies and fulfilling 
your duties." (Entretiens, 1703.) 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 361 

but she will say nothing of the faults she may see them 
commit if they are unimportant until her companion 
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 diffi- 
culty 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 
prayer, 1 this makes them more respectful when they 

1 No detail, perhaps, shows better the depth and sin- 
cerity of the religious feeling that animated the mon- 
astery of Port-Eoyal. The Constable Anne de Mont- 
morency 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 them, 
when the circumstances occurred, because many out- 
breaks and disorders 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 



362 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 pray- 
ers 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 can- 
not be too apprehensive x in fulfilling it, although we 

sentences of justice and military police according to 
emergencies, without leaving his Paternosters, until he 
had finished them." 

1 The saying of Saint-Cyran, " a tempest of the 
mind ", will be remembered. 



REGULATIONS EOR THE CHILDREN 363 

must not be pusilanimous, but put our trust in God, 
and force Him, by our groans, to grant us what we do 
not deserve of ourselves, 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, 1 by treating them sometimes 
with too much mildness and at other times with sever- 
ity. 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 

1 " 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 Bruyere.) 



364 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 antici- 
pate 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 con- 
descend to them sometimes in things which in them- 
selves are indifferent, in order to gain their hearts. 

16. When it is necessary to reprove their levity and 
awkwardness, they should never be mimicked nor ex- 
cited by harshness, although they may be in a bad tem- 
per; on the contrary, they must be spoken to with 
great mildness and given good reasons in order to per- 
suade 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 labor 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 

1 This wise advice recalls this lively passage of a let- 
ter of Mme. de Mamtenon to Mme. de Fontaine, 20 
September, 1691, at the time 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 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 365 

not let it appear that they have so much artifice. For 
sometimes by constantly telling them that they must 
not be 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 what- 
ever, 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 ac- 
companying them that we are with them. This makes 
them like this supervision rather than fear it. 

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 myself, through sim- 
plicity I desire what is farthest from me on the table. 5 
Really, this is playing with everything, and making a 
joke of what is most serious.' 7 



366 POET-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 cer- 
tain, 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 punish- 
ment, 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 them- 
selves, because they fear being surprised. 

20. I think also that in slight faults small warning 
should be given them, for insensibly they get accus- 
tomed to be always talked to. Therefore you should 
pretend to see only 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 re- 
bellious, 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 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 367 

next or neglect them, it makes no impression on their 
minds, and 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 what they have done, and when they 
confess of themselves they should be forgiveu, 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, mak- 
ing 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 lessons 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, al- 



368 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

though 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 
conjunctures in which they give us cause to speak to and 
warn 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, cheer- 
fully and for the love of God, with 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. 

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. 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 369 

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 opportunities of perfecting them- 
selves every day. x 

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 wish- 
ing to keep anything back from Him; that some 

will gain heaven and others deserve only chastisement 
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 hypoc- 
risy or vanity, and only with the desire to be well 
thought of your fellow-creatures, deserves only pun- 

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 neighbors, and to arm ourselves 
with patience. These are the reasons that Xicole de- 
velops in bis celebrated treatise on the Means of living 
in peace with men. 



370 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

ishment; 1 for having done nothing for God, we ought 
not to expect a reward, but only punishment in recom- 
pense of our hypocrisy. 

Children should be strongly exhorted to know them- 
selves, their 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 sympa- 
thetic disposition they should change the love they 
have for themselves and their fellow-creatures into lov- 
ing God with all their hearts, and thus with their 
other inclinations. 

1 Mme. de Main tenon 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 honor 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 in- 
capable of an exalted piety." (Entretiens, 1703.) 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 371 

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 sometimes 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 disorderly, 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 vir- 
tue 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 



372 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

trouble that they have to conquer themselves ; but in- 
stead 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 weaknesses 
by themselves they would have good reason to be dis- 
couraged ; but since they are told that God will Him- 
self remove their difficulties, they have only to pray 
and hope 

We ought not to anticipate them touching religion, 
especially in 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 some- 
thing 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 ardor of this love makes 
the words we use in reproving them sometimes so 
severe. At the same time, we shall assure them that, 

1 The recommendation was not needed. Everything 
in this education tended to conventual life. 



REGULATION'S FOR THE CHILDREN 373 

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 our- 
selves, having much more inclination to treat them 
gently than severely. 

III. Hoiv children should be spoken to in 'private. 

The habit of speaking to children in private makes 
their government 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 enjoyed this perfect confidence who has not suc- 
ceeded. 

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. 

We must take great care, and not allow ourselves to 



374 PORT-KOYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 uncon- 
sciously 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 1 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 re- 
tardation 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 

1 This is, indeed, the teaching of Saint-Cyran. 
(p. 137.) 



REGULATIONS FOE THE CHILDREN 375 

on us. This slight condescension 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. l 

Constant vigilance is necessary in order to form an 
opinion of them and to discover their tempers and in- 
clinations, that we may learn, by regarding them at- 
tentively, 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 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 school-room, by 
the support they give their sisters, by the kindness 

1 See the saying of Saint-Cyran. (p. 124.) 



376 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 

AVe shall tell them these things, although sometimes 
we shall not fail to allow them to do in other circum- 
stances 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 something 
extraordinary to do, we shall pretend not to be occu- 
pied 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 done it only 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 im- 
posed on them. 

They must be obliged to beg pardon of those sisters 
or of their companions of who they have spoken ill 
with mockery, or given some other offence or shown a 
bad example. 

This pardon may be asked in several ways, accord- 
ing to the gravity of the fault, either in public or in 
private, in the refectory or during lessons. They 



EEGULATIOXS TOR THE CHLLDEEX 377 

may also be commanded to kiss the feet of the com- 
panion whom they have offended. Above all, care must 
be taken that if the fault was witnessed only 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 inform needlessly those who have not 
seen the faults of others. I say the same of the faults 
of some of the leading girls; when a considerable 
number have fallen into them it will be necessary to 
wait and reprove each privately or all the guilty to- 
gether, 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, untruthful, etc. 

1 This public humiliation has the grave disadvantage 
of weakening the sentiment of honor in children: it 
depraves instead of correcting. 



378 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 1 . 

The elder girls should be made to fear for God's 
sake, and through fear of His judgments, and in cer- 
tain circumstances some of the penances that are im- 
posed 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 exasperating them. This obliges us to pray to 
God that He will enlighten us and guide us in every 
thing 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 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 

1 It was demanding great perfection from the chil- 
dren to impose a burden which, moreover, ran the risk 
of being insincere. 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 379 

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 

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 ab- 
sovled by God and their conscience for having after- 
wards recited a few prayers by way of penance, without 
altering their conduct in the least. (See Introduction, 
pp. 112 and 113, the violent outburst of Arnauld 
against this abuse.) 



380 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

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 Book 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, 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 to listen to the read- 
ing not for the sake of amusement or curiosity, but 
with a desire to apply it to themselves; and for that 
it is necessary that the manner of explaining it should 
aim rather at making them good Christians and lead- 
ing them to correct their own faults than making them 
learned 



REGULATIONS EOR THE CHILDREN 381 

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 verspers they are allowed and 
even enjoined to ask questions constantly upon every- 
thing 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, iu reading, we see that they ask 
no questions on something that we think most of 
them do not understand, they are asked if they under- 
stand 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 the 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 



382 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS J. PASCAL 

belong to them, nor to borrow from each other with 
out permission from their mistress; which is seldom 
given, in order to avoid the confusion that these loans 
occasion. 

VII. Of the sick and their bodily needs. 

Very much 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 pres- 
ent, 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 doc- 
tor's perscriptions, 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 everything untoward that may happen, the blame 
must never be laid on the physician nor on the reme- 
dies, 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 presuppose that we always have, if possible, 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDEEN 383 

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 permis- 
sion 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 

1 Port-Koyal, in fact, counted some distinguished 
physicians among her solitares ; 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 conversa- 
tion." Then Hamon (see page 173), from 1650 to 1687, 
graver, more authoritative, and an ardent mystic, which 
made this simple layman, during the years of persecu- 
tion, 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 Chris- 
tianity." His pupil, Racine, desired to be interred 
at the foot of his grave. And lastly, Hecquet, from 
1688 to 1693. 



384 PORT-KOYAL WRITERS — J. PASCAL 

to enter upon their 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 labor 
in health, and also not to humor them in their inclina- 
tions or the repugnance they have in taking the reme- 
dies that are ordered them, and the abstinence they 
should practise from certain food which would be hurt- 
ful 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 

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." 



REGULATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN 385 

We pay great attention to the sick, leaving rather 
even the healthy, as nmch 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 ask only for 
liberty. 1 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 con- 
trary, pity them a good deal and tell them that they 
are really 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 talk- 
ing will do them harm, and that they require rest. 2 

1 What a criticism on this monastic system of edu- 
cation ! 

2 This little comedy, so legitimately acted, shows- 
another application of natural sanction. (See note 
p. 368.) 



386 POKT-KOYAL WRITEES — J. PASCAL 

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 L'lXCARXATIOX, 
MISTRESS OF THE BOARDERS.— Besogxe 

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 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 in- 
nocence. She often spoke to them of it, and did so 
with incredible energy, and, consequently, she took 
them to the parlor 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 
vras contagious for the soul, as the plague is for the 
body. 1 She knew how to impress upon them a great 

1 This was a strange preparation for social life. Mine. 
de Maintenon, notwithstanding her desire to educate 

(387) 



388 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — BESOGNE 

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, and often after having made 
them do something to deserve it. She announced sev- 
eral days in advance that she had a great truth to tell 
them, and thus made it expected and desired. She 
taught these truths only 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 con- 
cerned 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 com- 
mon, and of saying them with them, considering her- 
self 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 

better than the convent, paints the world in frightful 
colors, without recalling to mind the wise definition 
of Fenelon: " The world is not a phantom; it is the 
assemblage of all the families." 



SISTEE AtfUE-EUGEKIE 389 

do it for themselves according to their slender capa- 
city. If she found one who was not willing to ac- 
knowledge her fault she said nothing more to her, 
prayed for her in private, and left her with a kind- 
ness and toleration that sooner or later bore fruit. 
She had this maxim from M. de Saint-Oyran, as well 
as all fche preceding, that with the young it was neces- 
sary 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 enigmatical por- 
trait of it, and left them to guess what virtue it was. 
Eecreation 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 ignor- 
ant 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 punish- 
ment 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 burst into tears, 
and the other sisters had to go and beg Sister Eugenie 



390 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — BESOGNE 

to return and dry their tears. She was fifteen or six- 
teen years in this employment. 

Her humble simplicity was towards the end put to a 
proof which turned to her glory, but not to the wel- 
fare 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 Sis- 
ter Eugenie. This young woman, who was full of am- 
bition, set to work to draw all authority to herself. L 
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 gentle- 
ness 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 pre- 
tended faults that she had committed in her place ; at 
last she earnestly begged to be relieved of her em- 

1 Sister Flavie, Nicole tells us, was mistress of the; 
boarders for fifteen years. {Les. Visionnaires y p.. 347.), 




A RECREATION AT PORT-ROYAL 391 

ployment, especially as she was getting very infirm. 
(Besogne, Hist, de V abbaye de Port-Royal, t. i. p. 348.) 

A RECREATIOX AT PORT-ROYAL.— Xicole 

" In the monastery of Port-Royal des Champs," 
Desmarets l relates, "the 
mistress of the boarders had 
i instructed her scholars in 
%, matters contested between 
| the disciples of Jansenius 
; 7 and the Jesuit fathers, and 
having inspired them with a 
terrible aversion for these 
Cornelius Jansenius, 1585-1638 fathers, had given them the 
idea of making a doll and dressing it like a Jesuit. 
Then they made another doll and dressed it like a 
capuchin. They took them to the sisters for their 
amusement, and after several questions between one 
and another, one, who was the president, summed up 
and condemned the Jesuit. Then all the boarders and. 

1 Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1595-1676), a member 
of the French Academy, the author of the comedy of 
the Visionnaircs, and of the poem Clovis ; he was dis- 
tinguished among the most violent enemies of Jan- 
senism. His reason went astray in the folly of a mys- 
tical illuminism. Xicole defended Port-Royal against 
him, as Boileau undertook to avenge antiquity for his 
attacks. 



392 PORT-ROYAL WRITERS — NICOLE 

the sisters clapped their hands in token of victory, 
rose up tumultuous] y, 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 transports of joy, bursts of laugh- 
ter, 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. 
Nevertheless, 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." 

" 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, 



A RECREATION AT PORT-ROYAL 393 

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- 
Eoyal." (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. 



INDEX 



Page 

a, b c, reading by 183 

Abgarus 71 

accuracy of judgment ...214 

of mind 215 

actions more than words 329 

adaptation to conversation 342 

to children 286 

advice concerning studies 289 

Aeschines 249 

affected style 22 

affections of children 349 

Agnes, Mother (Jeanne-Catherine 
Agnes Arnauld, sister of An- 

toine Arnauld) 18, 85 

q. 89, 90, 93, 97, 118, 134 

agnosticism 178 

Aguesseau, d', q 74 

a question of grammar 196 

aiding first steps 323 

aim of i nstruction 75, 289 

Aldrovaudus. sketch of 294 

Alembert, d', q 117 

Alet, Bishop of 114 

all truth from God 306 

Alvares 30 

Ambrose, St 28 

amplification. 205 

Andilly. Aruauld d', (elder broth- 
er of Antoine Arnauld) 

49, 83, 145; q. 85, 139, 145, 146 

books of 83, 276 

anecdotes of pupils 102 

Angelique, Mother (Marie, sister 
of Antoine Arnauld) 82, 83, 
85, 86, 88, 101, 111, 308, 351, 387 

q 92. 99. 383 

de Saint-Jean, Mother (niece 

of Antoine Arnauld) 85, 308 



Page 

Annat, Father 39, 80 

Anne-Eugenie de 1' Incarnation, 
Sister (sister of Antoine Ar- 
nauld) 91, 99,387-391 

Anne of Austria 116 

antithetic style 303 

Appolonius 314 

approbation, love of 369 

aptitude of children 290 

Archimedes 314 

portrait of 312 

Aristotle 25, 56,209,225,228 

criticized 232 

not infallible 230 

philosophy of 231 

portrait 227 

q 189,222 

Arnauld, Agnes 18, 85 

q 89, 90,93,97, 118, 134 

Antoine. . . .9, 23, 28, 35, 38, 43, 

51, 52, 55, 79, 85, 96, 101, 103, 108, 

146, 147,159, 171,321 

a Cartesian 52, 54 

a question of grammar 196 

as an author 

... .28, 35, 38, 42, 44, 48, 80, 96, 108 

heir to Saint-Cyran 28 

on classical studies 205-213 

on confession 112, 379 

portrait 196 

q 48, 54,114,118, 183 

sketch of 79 

— — Frequent communion 80,111 

General grammar 81 

Geometry 82 

Letter on French syntax 81 

Logic 59,82 

Arsenius, St 126 



(394) 



INDEX 



305 



Page 

article, use of 196, 205 

artifices of children... 374 

artless simplicity 364 

ashamed of doing good 371 

ask rather than scold 137 

asking pardon 376 

often privately 37? 

asking questions 381 

assiduity 315 

astrology 216 

Aubry, Mile 43,72 

Augustine, St 172 

philosophy of 180 

q 179,323,342 

Avaux, M. d' 42 

axioms 257 

back-gammon 158 

backward pupils encouraged 19 

Bacon 108; q. 215 

Novum Organum 59 

bad company avoided 321 

reasoning in conduct 233-255 

Bailly, q 216 

Bain, q 286 

Balzac, de 34, 150 

Barbier, q 78 

Barnard, St., q 317 

Basil, St., q 305 

Bastiat 70 

Bauny, Father 67 

Bay le , q 120, 267 

bear and forbear 369 

Beaubrun, de, q 43 

Beaupuis, Wallon de 28, 78 

regulations of 154 

beauty in eloquence 302 

Beauzee, q 189, 195 

behavior at table 331 

Bembo 244 

Beuedict, St 126, 135 

bent of children 290 

Bernard, St., q 323, 325 

Beruieres, de 154 

Berulle, de 110 



Page 

Besogne 86. 387 

q 44, 77, 87, 101, 114, 154 

Bible translated by de Saci 26 

Bignon, Jerome 13, 21, 29. 59, 83 

portrait 125 

Marie 13. 87, 125 

Thierry 83, 125 

billiards 158 

boasters 344 

Boetie, La 75 

Boileau 40, 57; q., 120, 247 

Boisguilbert 83 

Bona, Cardinal, q 118 

books, for children's reading. 94, 380 

greatest defect of 223 

love of 288 

must be expurgated 381 

not allowed in pupil's hands. 381 

only of good style 275 

recommended for children.. 276 

Bopp 36 

Boissier, M. G 301 

Bossuet 47, 81 

portrait of 69 

q 39,52,55,65,68, 171 

Bouhours, Father 33, 39 

Bourbon, Henri de 116 

Bourdoise 110 

Boutiot, Th., q 86 

Boxhorn, q , 189 

Brantome, q 361 

Breal, Michel 36 

Brisacier, Father 38, 80 

Browning, Robert 227 

Bruno, Giordano 56 

Bruyere, La 75 

q 46,80,254,340 

Burnouf 36 

Bussy 31 

Buxtorf 189 

Calvin 39, 113 

Camper, q 140 

Canaye, Father, q 109 

captiousness 238 



396 



cadet's port-royal 



Page 
Cassini, Jean-Doniiuique, sketch 

of 313 

Cato, the Censor 342 

sketch of 342 

Chambre, de la 196 

Champagne, Phillippe de 172 

Chauning, W. E, portrait 143 

q 11, 143 

Chautelauze, de, q 110 

Chapelain 36,40,50; q., 49 

Chapelle 339 

charitable conversation 336 

charity toward children 322, 356 

■ of Saint-Cyran 128-146 

charm of conversation 303 

change of occupation 367 

changing opinion 342 

Charron 182 

chastisement in silence 105 

Chaze, Mme. de 92 

chess 158 

Chevreuse, Due de 40, 81 

chief object of education 14, 24 

Chiflet, q 264 

child-study 317 

children lynx-eyed 317, 363 

not left alone 169, 316, 365 

se parated 352 

children's minds dark 291 

secrets kept 359 

Choisy, Mme. de 120 

Christian teaching 320 

chronology 284 

Chrysologus, St., q 325 

Chrysostom, St 28, q. 320 

Homilies of 276 

Cicero 209, 244, 267, 268, 301 

portrait 301 

circulation of the blood 237 

circumspect talk 336 

civility of children 331-344 

classical authors condemned.. 24, 46 

clear ex planation 279 

definitions 257 

Clemoncet, q 87 

Henard 31 



Page 

combing each other 154 

Comeuius 32 

Janua 33, 298 

OrbisPictus 32 

portrait 299 

common sense 178, 218 

competitive examinations 290 

complaisance 339 

composition 212, 259, 280 

condescending to children... 364, 375 

to teach 141 

Condillac 35 

confession 378, 383 

confidence of children 

105, 168,359,373 

conscience 106 

consonants 262 

constant teaching 284 

constitution of the monastery. . . .345 

constitutions of Port- Royal 91 

Coutarini, q 110 

contempt of the world 99 

Conti, Prince of 40, 41, 115,321 

conventual education 94 

life 372 

conversation 95, 335, 368, 373 

Copernicus, portrait 312 

sketch 313 

Corbi nelli 31 

Cordier, Mathurin, sketch 267 

Corneille 38, 47, 84 

corporal punishment 19, 135 

corruption in the church Ill 

of human nature 310, 326 

course of study 96, 284 

courtesy to children 364 

Coulanges, de, song of 157 

Cousin, Victor.... 116, 183,355; q., 85 

Coustel (or Coutel) 28, 76, 331 

rules for education 76 

cumbrous sentences 63 

cycloid 170 

death of the will 135 

declamation 205 

in translation 273 



INDEX 



397 



Page 

deference to children 364 

definitions 212 

of the verb 186-190 

Demosthenes 249 

portrait 250 

Descartes 25, 35, 

38, 51, 52, 57, 58, 119, 170, 308 

philosophy of 308-314 

portrait 308 

q 256 

design of the new logic 214-221 

Desniarets de St. Sorlin, q 391 

Despautere 31 ; q. , 265 

devotedness 106 

Diez 36 

difficulties divided 256 

dignity of teaching 140, 165 

of the schoolmaster Ill, 143 

dinner 157 

dioptrics 314 

diphthongs 265 

disagreeable beauties 303 

discussion, spirit of.... „ 148 

dishonesty 322 

dispute 159 

diversity of verbs 186 

domineering 322 

double signification of words 272 

draughts 158 

drunkenness 322 

Diibner, q 32 

Duclos 35; q., 185 

Du Fargis, Mile 99 

Dufosse, q 20, 88, 90 

Duguet 108 

Duvergier de Hauranne, 10. See 

Saint-Cyran. 

education, conventual 94, 372 

definition of 283 

for nuns only 92 

from within 169 

im portance of 128-9 

of a prince 282-307 

of girls 138 

of girls at Port-Royal 85 



Page 

education, rules for 315-330 

Egger, q 31,32, 189 

Elboeuf , Mile d' 351 

elementary studies 139 

elocution 208, 259 

eloquence 150 

nature of 242 

of preachers 241 

Elzevier, Daniel 37 

Embrun, Abp. of 81 

Epictetus 25, 170 

and Montaigne 173 

Pascal's opinion of 174 

philosophy of 173, 181 

Epicurus 53 

equivocal terms 257 

Escobar 67, 99, 103, 392 

Espinoy, d' 145. See also St. 

Ange, the younger. 

essence of things 229 

ethics 222, 300 

Eugenie, Sister 99, 387-391 

eulogy on Descartes's philosophy 

308-314 

even temper 339 

evening prayer 162 

examination for promotion 205 

example added to precept 328 

better than precept 166 

examples first 137 

exhortation rather than threats.. 327 

explanation 206 

expurgating books 381 

exterior signs 248 

fallacies in life 60 

false brilliancy 243 

judgment , 309 

reasonings 239-255 

familiarity 344, 363, 366 

family rights ceded 14 

faults overlooked 168 

Fayette, Mme.de La 47, 64, 73 

Felix. Minucius, q 306 

Fenelon 37 

portrait C42 



398 



cadet's port-royal 



Page 

Fenelon, q 242, 247, 388 

Fermat 170 

fine thoughts noted 207 

flattering 322 

Flavie, Sister 390 

Fleury, Cardinal 122 

Fludd, Robert, sketch 226 

Foix, Mme. de 97, 118 

Fontaine, Jean de La 40; q., 217 

Mme. de 364 

Nicolas 11, 22, 328, 382 

q 25, 152,383 

Foutpersius, Mme. de 42 

food 101,135, 155 

forced wit 22 

form the judgment 285 

Fountain, q 165 

Fourneh M. V. t q 73 

Francois de Sales 110 

Franklin, Benjamin 337; q. 209 

portrait of 209 

free-thinking 304 

French 155 

before Latin 261, 274, 280 

grammar needed 37 

from the simple to the complex . .256 

Fromageau, Abbe, q 87 

Furstemburg, Cardinal 76 

gai ning confidence 19 

Galen, Claudius, portrait of 313 

sketch of 313 

Galileo 312 

Garasse, Father, q 46 

Garden of Greek roots 24 

Gassendi 53, 226, 339 

gentle tone 322 

gentleness 325, 364 

not indulgence 326 

genus before species 258 

geography 284, 292 

connected with reading 293 

geometry 222 

uncertain 178 

Gerberon, q 121 

girls at Port-Royal 345 



Page 

girls, education of 85, 106 

instruction of 345 

God, fear of 378 

reliance on 372, 374 

service of 369 

Godeau 157 

golden pen of Nicole 73 

good example 20 

governi ng consciences 109 

grace before meat 156 

grammar, a question of 196, 205 

essentia] 298 

importance of 30 

learned by use 30 

minutiae 29 

rules of 27 

great events 298 

greatness of teachers 143 

Greek 31, 155 

Gregory Nazianzen, St 17 

Grignan, Mme de 116, 182 

Grimarest, q 339 

Grimm 36 

growth of teachers 140 

guardian angels 133 

Guedreville, de 87 

Guenegaut, Mme de 115 

Gui-Patin 109; q., 226, 227 

Guise, Due de 141 

Duchesse de 14, 141 

Guy, Joly, q 115 

Guyot 18,28,77 

— faithful to Port-Royal 78 

on teaching reading.. 259; q., 14 

translation of Cicero 77 

gymnastics 288, 295 

Hamon 173, 383 

Harcourt, d' 116 

Harlai, abp. of Paris 81 

harmony in the teacher 358 

Harvey 237, 313 

hasty judgment avoided 256 

reproof 169 

hatred of the Jesuits 107 

Havet, Em 308 



INDEX 



399 



Page 
heart rewarded before the head. .207 

Hecquet 383 

Hement, Felix, pictures of 292 

Henri II 141 

Hermant, Godefroi 78 

Hesiod 245 

Hippocrates, portrait 311 

historical cards. 158 

history 96, 284, 295 

connected with geography.. 292 

of France 211 

of the Port-Royal schools ... 9 

programmes in class 296 

Hocquincourt, Marquis d' 109 

home work '. 211 

Homer 245 

honor, sentiment of 377 

Horace 45, 301 

housekeeping 96 

Huet 52 

Hufeland 16 

humanities, studies in 205, 213 

Humboldt 36 

Huyghens 170 

sketch of 313 

hygiene 295 

hypocrisy, 369, 376 

illustrated text-books 293 

immodesty taught 103 

importance of teaching 10 

impulse to write from God 147 

in loco parentis 322, 326 

■ Rome do as the Romans do . . 338 

inattentive children 277, 324 

indecency 322, 341 

independence of thought 117 

individual fitness 15 

indocility 371 

indulgence 326 

inexact expressions 74 

influence of the sciences 257 

information announced 388 

Innocent X 110 

instruction, aim of 289 

1 of the girls 345 



Page 

interest 233 

influences reason 233 

intrigue 114 

irreligion 304 



James II 

Jansenius 26, 

portrait 

— q 8, 

Jansenism 42 

jansenists 

...23,63, 100, 103, 109, 118, 188, 

war of 

Janua Linguarum 33, 

Jerome, St 

Jesuit doll 

Jesuits 12 

. .23, 39, 56, 67, 78, 80, 103, 116, 

hatred of 107, 

joking 

Josephus 

Joubert, q 26, 68, 

judgment aided by memory 

formed 

judicial astrology 

Jurien 81: q, 

jurisprudence.. 

Justin i 



42 
,80 
391 
111 
,43 

391 
116 



127 



156 



Kempis, a, Imitation of Christ... 

94-5, 276,380 

Kepler 226 

La Boetie 75 

La Bruyere 46, 75, 80; q. 254, 340 

La Fayette 47, 64, 73 

La Fontaine, Jean de 40; q., 217 

La Marans 60 

Lamoignon, Sister de 86 

Lancelot, Claude 11, 

13,21,24,28,114,125,321 

q. . . .10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 28, 124, 345 

Garden of Greek roots. .... 31 

General grammar 35 

New method 29, 31, 36 

on the verb 186 



400 



cadet's port-royal 



Page 

Lancelot, works on poetry 40 

language by use 36 

languages 284 

La Rochefoucauld 65, 75 

Latin 123, 

. . . .127, 139, 206, 209, 259, 265, 269 

analysis 206 

composition 155 

in a fortnight 31 

through French . . .274 

laughter a fault 135 

Launoi, de 229 

law-suits 218 

Le Chesnal school regulations. . 

154,164 

Leclere 93; q., 28,99, 107, 169, 315 

Legouve, q 301 

Leibnitz, Gottfried 52 

portrait 108; q., 108 

Le Maistre, J., q 65 

Lemattre, Antoine.20, 76, 111, 124, 170 

Lemoine 52,81,308 

Le Nain de Tillemont 83 

LeoX 244 

LeTellier 27 

letters, sound of 184 

Levaur, Bishop of 81 

Levy, Michel, q 140 

liberty of conscience 117 

Lipsius 293 

literary beauty disregarded 18 

Littre 36 

Livy 156 

Locke 16, 165 

logic forgotten 223 

joined to knowledge 224 

Port Royal 214-255 

Longueville, Mine de 114,154 

Louis XIII 217 

XIV 113,115,160,196 

love of books 288 

of childhood 106 

of Saint-Cyran for children. 128 

Lucian q 143 

Luines, Ducde ..81,115 

Lucan 302 



Page 

Luther. ...'. 113 

lying 366, 367. 374 

Maimbourg 80 

Maintenon, Mme. de 113, 357. 387 

q . . . .14, 38, 94, 100, 101, 102. 

269, 287, 316. 329, 349, 360, 364, 370 

Mairie, Mme. de la 14 

Maistre, J. le. q 65 

Malebranche. q ..246 

Malherbe, q 175 

manual labor 16 

Marcus Aurelius 174 

Maria Teresa, Donna 36 

marriage 72, 92, 111 

Marsais,du 35 

Martha 174 

Martial 49, 51, 301 

Martin, Henri, q 119 

mass 156 

mathematics 284 

Maurepas, q 122 

maxims for teachers 315, 330 

Megret, Louis, q.... 37 

Melanchthon, q 143 

memoir on regulation of studies. 205 

memorizing 278 

fine passages 281 

only what is excellent 299 

memory assisted by imagination.290 

exercised 296 

of Nicole 44 

Menage, q 33 

Menage's etymology 34 

Mersenne, Father. . ..27, 55, 170, 226 

metaphysics 222 

method in geography 292 

in the sciences 256 

of teaching reading 183 

Michelet 84 

mimicking forbidden 364 

mind vs. heart 119 

Minucius, Felix, q 306 

Mirabeau 84 

Mirandola, Picus 245 

modesty.... 340 



IXDEX 



401 



Page 

Moliere, q 93-4, s216, 340 

monastery of Port-Royal 345 

monastic education 385 

Montaigne ... .16, 60, 75, 165, 170, 221 

pernicious 181 

philosophy of , ... 177,181 

portrait . . 176 

Montmorency, Constable Anne 

de 361 

moral advancement more than 

the children 91 

education 17 

education of the nuns 104 

grandeur 117 

instruction 318 

teaching 320 

morality — 285 

taught unconsciously 286 

morals 118 

Morel 81 

morning prayer 155 

mortification, spirit of 101 

mutual questioning 206 

names of letters 184, 262 

natural sciences 96 

needlework 96 

negative education ... 127 

Nicole 28, 79, 

. .81, 85, 86, 108, 114, 159, 321, 369 

a destructive critic 45 

clever touch of 62 

Education of a prince 74 

epigrams of 49 

exaggeration of 62 

finest pen of Port-Royal ... 48 

memory of 44 

moral essays of 60 

neglected . . 64 

q.... 53,113,337,390.392 

rhetoric of 61 

no art without rules 315 

article in Latin 197 

money for children 138 

science without principles. . .315 

nobility 252 

' false ideas of 252 



Page 

not everything taught 282 

Nonet 80 

novice, education for 99 

dress of. 346 

obedience 371, 375 

in sickness 382 

object lessons 292 

objections to the new logic .. 221-232 

obstinate children 366 

of what you speak, to whom you 
speak, and what, and when, 

and where 240 

old books on language 37 

Olivet, Abbe de 49 

Olympia, Signora 110 

one proverb a day 305 

only the true beautiful 246 

oral teaching 270 

translation preferable 271 

Origen. 148 

original Latin discouraged 209 

Orbis Pictus 32 

ornaments of speech , 244 

ostrogothic 32 

overloading children 210 

overlooking faults 366 

over-pressure 17 

pagan books 305 

minds 312 

Pallu 383 

Palsgrave on language 37 

Paracelsus, sketch 227 

pardon asked 376 

parental authoritj' renounced... 92 

parents as teachers 140 

participial proposition 192 

participle not a verb 192. 

Pascal, Blaise. . . .25, 38, 47, 48, 60, 
. .61, 68, 73, 75. 79, 82, 108, 183. 384 

at Port-Royal 170-1S2 

faults of 304 

portrait 170 

q 86,92,152,234,244,328 

Regulations for children. 354-386 



402 



cadet's port-royal 



Page 

Pascal, Blaise, sketch of 355 

Jacqueline 91, 97 

Pasquier, Btienne, q 128 

Pasquin, q 110 

Passart, Flavie 390 

passion 233 

passions 235 

influence reason 235 

paternal love 134 

patience 324 

and silence 165-169 

with girls 348 

Patin, Gui, q 143, 226, 227 

Paul, St. Vincent de 11, 110 

portrait 110 

pedagogic directions 19 

penances 376 

penmanship 259, 268 

Perdreau, Sister Marie-Dorothee. 

90, 134 

Pereflxe, Archbishop, q 103 

perfection 368 

permissible joking 343 

Perrier 48 

Pestalozzi 166 

Petau, Father 38, 80 

petting children 385 

Phaedrus 267 

fables of 21, 267, 268 

Philip II 319 

Pyrrhonism 120, 177, 220, 221 

physical education 15, 288 

physicians of Port-Royal 383 

physics 222 

of Aristotle 229, 231 

physiology of Aristotle 231 

taught 295 

Plato, portrait of 306 

q 325 

Plautus 267,268 

q 316 

play 158 

as a recompense 367 

teacher's presence 389 

playing cards 158 

■ with children 134 



Page 

Pliny the younger 301 , 384 

Plutarch 60, 155 

q 339 

politeness of children 331-344 

to children 364 

political cabals 115 

Pommares, Marie de 91 

Pomponne, de 85 

Port-Royal logic. 51, 56, 57, 60, 81, 214 

style 38 

portraits in history 295 

utility of questioned 71 

position gives weight 251 

praise of children 167 

pray more than talk 375, 389 

prayers, sanctity of 361 

preparation of the teacher 279 

pretended illness 385 

prevention easier than cure 317 

Prevost-Paradol, M 75 

prince, education of a 282-307 

private reproof 373 

prizes awarded 207 

profession of teaching 142 

pronunciation of oi 264 

proper action from within 291 

providence of children 133 

Ptolemy, sketch of 313 

public humiliation 377 

punishment, means of 364 

by natural sanction 368 

general and private penance. 376 

of pretended illness 385 

private reproof 373 

without telling why 366 

pusillanimity 134 

pustules of the soul 72 

quarrels at Port-Royal 64 

Quesnel, Father 44 

questions encouraged 381 

mutual 206 

Quintilian 209 

q 30, 303,331 

Rabelais 16. 165 



IKDEX 



403 



Page 

Racine, Abbe Bonaventure, q 83 

Jean .20, 31, 40, 47, 83, 321 

q 87,88,108,115 

Ramus, q 30, 224 

on language 37 

Ranee, de 110 

Rapin, Father 12, 30, 113 

q 44, 95, 101,114, 121, 163 

readiness of knowledge 299 

reading 20, 51, 94, 275, 288, 380 

aloud 277 

at meals 157 

by a, b, c 183 

new method 183, 185, 259-281 

purpose of 380 

taught 259-281 

real masters of Port-Royal 28 

examples 226 

reason, function of 220 

through sciences 214 

reasoning, art of 221 

rebellious children 366 

recitation, short 209 

recreation 98, 100, 158 

at Port-Royal 391 

reform of manners 117 

regulations at Port-Royal. 91, 154-164 

of Port-Royal children.. 354-386 

of studies in the humanities 

205-213 

relative pronouns 63 

religion, teaching of 372 

the sole force 24 

religious belief 121 

exercises 99 

practices 101 

Renaissance 16 

Renan 116 

repression of girls 97 

reproof in private 373 

republics 128 

respect for children 130 

— - for the aged 336 

for the teacher 358 

for women 336 

Retz, Cardinal de, q 114, 115 



Page 

Reveille-Praise, q 226 

reviews 207 

rhetoric 222 

founded on ethics 300 

study of 300 

rich men influential 252 

Richelieu 12, 123, 139, 146 

ridicule of the Jansenists 120 

Rivet, D., q 91 

Roberval 170 

Rochefoucauld, La 65, 75 

Rollin, Charles 36, 74 

portrait 208 

q 127 

rough words 323 

Rousseau 16, 17, 127, 166, 368 

— q 327 

rules 212 

by practice 210 

for the teacher 315-330 

of scientific method 256 

Sable, Mme de 54 

Saci, de..l3, 18, 21, 41, 43, 108, 114, 

125, 145, 146, 170, 171, 172, 173 

chief work of 26 

letter of 165 

q 179,328 

—— Silvestre de 74 

sacredness of prayer 360 

of teacher's calling 363 

Sainte-Agnes de Feron, Sister 

Elizabeth de 93 

Sainte-Aldegonde des Pommares, 

Sister Marie de 91 

Saint-Ange, de 145 

the younger 20 

Saint-Amour, Dr 37 

Sainte-Beuve 25, 80,83, 159 

q 41,80.85, 170 

Saint-Cyr 364 

Saint-Cyran 10, 43, 46, 

80, 85, 92, 94, 101, 104, 108, 114, 

132, 167, 315, 345, 374, 375. 389 

catechism of 162 

charity towards children. 128-146 



404 



cadet's poet-royal 



Page 
Saint-Cyran, Christian letters of. 92 

letters 380 

literary theory 146-153 

on confession 3T9 

on matrimony 92 

— — Origin of the Port-Royal 

schools 123 

q 10, 11, 110, 362, 384 

Sainte -Domitille, Sister Jeanne 

de 98 

Saint-Evermond, q 109 

Saint Pierre, Abbe de 47 

Saint-Sacrament, constitutions of 

345-353 

Sainte-Suzanne, Sister 172 

Salle, de la, J. B. , portrait 332 

q 332,333 

Sales, Francois de 110; q. Ill 

Sanctius 30 

Scaliger 190 

science, rules in 256 

sciences 138 

decried 68 

depreciated 178 

rules of the method in.. 256-258 

to form reason 214 

Scioppius 30 

Sebastian, king of Portugal 318 

sketch of 319 

self-chastisement 136, 368 

knowledge 370 

love 233, 371 

love influences reason 236 

Seneca 302 

portrait of 303 

q 305 

Senecey, Marquis de 116 

sense-instruction 291 

severity of a father, 326 

Severus 156 

Sevigne, Mme. de...42, 47, 60, 75, 115 

portrait 289 

q. . . .33, 65, 70, 73, 85, 116, 120, 182 

sickness of pupils 382 

silence enforced 97 

Simond, Richard ! 81 



Page 

simplicity 364 

sincerity 336 

singing 96 

Singlin, Abbe 21, 43, 114, 132, 171 

on matrimony 93 

Sirmond 80 

slight faults overlooked 105 

social economy 70 

Socrates 53 

Solomon's Proverbs 305 

sonorous eloquence 243 

sophisms 233 

sound of letters 184 

speak well of the absent 341 

Spencer, Herbert 368 

spirit of inquiry 117 

— of the teacher 356 

spiritual discipline 118 

Steuon 313 

stoicism 1 74 

story of the day 297 

straightforwardness 364 

studies for girls 94 

regulation of 205 

study made attractive 106 

not for all 15,139 

studying the children 317 

style 64-66 

— a vanity 73 

simple 273 

Sully Prudhomme, q 70 

Sulpicius 156 

supreme love of duty 128 

sweetmeats 138 

table manners 157, 331-335 

Tacitus 302 

tact of the teacher. 290 

needed 318 

talkers 343 

teacher like a clear glass 329 

teacher's three means 133 

maxims for 315-330 

often at fault 136 

sanctified 133 

teachers vs. physicians 1 42 



INDEX 



405 



Page 

teachers, weak side of 363 

teaching as a calling. 11, 140, 143, 165 

honorable 347 

irksome 126 

not to be despised 141 

unpleasant to the nuns 89 

technical terms ..300 

temper 105, 363, 364 

tenderness for children 356 

Terence 45, 267, 268, 302 

comedies of 21 

Teresa, St 380 

Tertullian, q 246 

Tetu, Abbe de 60 

theatre 41, 47 

condemned 321 

Theodosius the Great 126 

theology 342 

thinking, art of 221 

thought before speech 340 

vs. thoughts 64 

times for silence. , 340 

Torricelli 170 

Tracy, de 35 

training for novices 99 

translation 20, 259, 270 

before composition 271 

two sorts of 271 

travelling defined 26 

Trigny, de 36 

two gates to intelligence 291 

Tycho Brahe, portrait 313 

unchastity condoned 104 

unconscious tuition 284 

uniform treatment 136, 363, 366 

universal doubt 177 

history 296 

unjust reproaches 238 

unkind jests 343 

unremitting attention 356 

untruths 366 

use of everything taught 282 

useless ceremony 338 

Vabres, Bp. of 81 



Page 

Valant 204 

Van-Helmont, sketch 226 

Vanini 56 

vanity 369 

Van Pauteren, q 265 

variable punishment 136, 363. 366 

Varin, q 135, 139 

Vaucel, du 42 

Vaugelas, q 37, 241 

Vauvenargues 75 

Vavasseur, Father 49 

verb signifies affirmation.... 186-195 

Vergara..: 31 

vernacular 21, 95 

employed 31, 38 

taught 207 

used 259 

versification 205 

Vestals 245 

vices 287, 371 

made ridiculous 287 

vigilance needed 169, 316, 318, 365 

Villemain, q 117 

Villeneuve, de 145 

Villeroi 116 

Vincent de Paul, Saint 11, 110 

Virgil 18, 45, 245, 267, 302 

condemned 131 

q 242 

virtue difficult to acquire 371 

made lovable 327 

Vitard 29 

viva voce 210 

Vives, G. L., portrait ....232 

Voltaire 42, 83 

q 51,74 

Vossius 30 

Wallon de Beaupuis 28, 78. 154 

warning before punishment 366 

watchfulness 169, 316, 318, 365 

weak side of teachers 363 

weakness to be expected 324 

will, death of the 134 

Willis, physician 314 

wit needed 138 



406 



cadet's port-royal 



Page 

women's conversation 337 

words the signs of emotions 272 

work constantly 98 

worldly life renounced 92, 387 

writing as a narcotic 73 



Page 

younger children £366, 367, 378 

teachers 123 

Ypres, d', see Jansenius 

Zacharie, Capuchin 103 



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