friends, Nicole, Pascal, and others, as to his defence, it was resolved that Arnauld should undertake a general vindication of himself and the institution. This was done; but it did not seem to be relished by his friends so heartily as he anticipated. He, consequently, withdrew the document; and, addressing Pascal, said, "You, who are young, why cannot you produce something?" The appeal was responded to; Pascal retired to his room, and, in a few hours, produced the sketch of the first of these "Provincial Letters;" on seeing which, Arnauld exclaimed, "That is excellent! that will go down; we must have it printed immediately." The first letter appeared on the 13th of January, 1656; and the remaining ones, eighteen in number, at irregular intervals, during fifteen months. They were published in separate sheets, of a quarto size; and most all of them were comprised within eight pages. They went under the name, at first, of the "Little Letters ;" and were published anonymously, under the fictitious signature of Louis de Montalte. The most profound secrecy as to their authorship was observed; and it was not till Pascal was on his deathbed that he was known to be the writer of them. We have been subsequently informed that the author took remarkable pains in writing all the letters save the first. His friend Nicole, to whom they were occasionally submitted for correction and enlargement, says that Pascal "was often twenty whole days on a single letter; and some of them he recommenced seven or eight times before bringing them to their present state of perfection. He wrote over the last letter no less than thirteen times*." * "Hist. des Provinciales." Nothing had hitherto appeared in Europe equal to the interest excited in the public mind by the publication of these letters. They were circulated in countless thousands throughout France. The Society of Jesuits were filled with alarm and consternation. As everybody read the "Little Letters," a jesuit became an object of universal derision and contempt. "The persecution," says one writer, "which the jesuits suffer from the buffooneries of Port-Royal, is perfectly intolerable. The wheel and the gibbet are nothing to it; it can only be compared to the torture inflicted on the ancient martyrs, who were first rubbed over with honey, and then left to be stung to death by wasps and wild bees. Their tyrants have subjected them to empoisoned raillery, and the world leaves them unpitied to suffer a sweet death, more cruel in its sweetness than the bitterest punishment *." The style and treatment of the subjects were so popular, that they were level to the lowest capacity. "I conceived it," says Pascal, "my duty to write so that my letters might be read by women, and people in general, that they might know the danger of all those maxims and propositions, which were then spread abroad, and admitted with so little hesitation." The English political reader will certainly experience something like disappointment on reading these far-famed "Letters," on finding so little in them which bears directly upon the general science of civil polity. Abstract principles of government, and the papal dogma of absolute supremacy, are but seldom hinted at, and seem to have been topics which the sensitive mind of the author, considering himself a member of Father Daniel. the catholic church, shrunk from investigating. But we must not test him by these apparent omissions. The great merit of the "Letters" lay-and indeed lies at this hour-in their attack upon the broad principle of infallibility; upon the hollowness of those casuistical reasonings, commonly adopted by theological writers, for justifying political measures of a questionable and pernicious tendency; and, above all, upon that governmental theory which is adopted and advocated by the Society of Jesuits in every country where they can gain a footing. These are the several points of attack which made these writings popular, and considered so politically important to every wellregulated community in Christendom. The French Theatre was an organ of political expression. It was established about the year 1400; but its representations, for a full century and a half, consisted almost entirely of religious mysteries. In the progress of general literature, political opinions were gradually introduced to stage audiences, who seemed to have relished them keenly. In 1552, the theatre underwent a change, chiefly through the instrumentality of Jodelle. Historical events were more generally dramatised, and a wider range for political feelings was opened up to the play-going portion of the nation. There were a great many very curious and interesting caricatures published in Paris during the greater part of the seventeenth century. The chief of these were descriptive of national hatreds and animosities, occasioned by the changeable positions of different countries by political circumstances. The badauds of Paris amused themselves with representations of the Spaniard taking an emetic, to make him disgorge all the cities which his arms had taken. Seven or eight Spaniards are depicted seated round a large turnip, with their frizzled mustachios, their hats en pot-abeurre; their long rapiers, with their pummels down to their feet, and their points up to their shoulders; ruffs stiffened by many rows, and pieces of garlick stuck in their girdles. The Dutch were exhibited in as great variety as the uniformity of frogs would allow." There were likewise many caricatures ridiculing the English, the Austrians, and the Germans. There were a great number done on wood and circulated throughout France by the protestants, representing the Romish faith in every conceivable fantastic shape. They excited great attention at the time of their publication. There are private collections of these satirical publications, but only to be found here and there throughout France. About the year 1625, newspapers were established in Paris. The first speculator in this line, was one Renaudot, a physician, who found it favourable to his professional purposes to tell his patients the news of the day. His scheme succeeded; and he obtained a government privilege for publishing news in 1632. The journals were not, however, of any political moment, till a considerable period after the close of the century. "Le Mercurie Francois," was published in 1648, in twenty-five volumes*. See Note C, at the end of the volume. CHAPTER IV. POLITICAL LITERATURE OF ITALY, FROM THE YEAR 1400 TILL 1700. THE reform writings in Germany, which appeared after the movements of Luther and Zuinglius, soon found their way into Italy, and the political opinions they contained, mixed as they were with religious matters, began to make an impression even under the very walls of Rome itself. Protestant churches were formed in Naples, in Ferrara, in Mutina, in Mantua, and in Venice. These religious bodies carried with them a certain portion of the liberal and enlightened political principles of the Reformation, and induced writers and thinkers to study the nature of civil polity, and government authority and power*. The revival of letters in Italy, in the fifteenth century, naturally awakened its more thoughtful inhabitants to its social and political institutions, in bringing before their minds, in all the different republican cities and territories of the country, the many brilliant events and exploits recorded of the Grecian republics. There were, however, many important differences be * Gorde's "Specimen Italia Reformatæ." |