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senius, of course they were contained in his book.* Itwas considered necessary that Arnaud should reply to thisattack; but, though a learned man, an eloquent writer,and a great theologian, his defence was addressed to thestudious rather than the public, and it gained no partisans.

It was far otherwise when Pascal took up his pen, and, 1656.under the name of Louis de Montalte, published his first ZEtat.letter a un Provincial; it was written in a popular, yet 33 .clear and conclusive manner, and in a style at once so ele-gant, perspicuous, and pure, that a child might read andunderstand, while a scholar would study the pages as amodel for imitation. The success of this letter wasprodigious : it did not however change the proceedingsof the Sorbonne; it assembled—its sittings were crowdedwith monks and mendicant friars, ignorant men whoseopinions were despicable, but whose votes counted.Arnaud’s work was condemned, and he himself expelledthe Sorbonne. This sentence roused Pascal to continuehis labours. He wrote another letter, which met withequal approbation ; but the success only served to irritateArnaud’s enemies ; they obtained another censure of thefive propositions from the pope, and insisted on all sus-pected persons signing a formula in which they wererenounced. The nuns of Port Royal were called onto put their names, and, on their resistance, they werethreatened with the destruction of their house, and dis-persion.

At this moment, a singular circumstance occurred,which to this day is, by many, considered a miracle. Asacred relic, one of the thorns of our Saviour’s crown ofthorns, had been lately brought to Paris . To a protest-ant the pretence of the existence of such a relic is ri-diculous, but the catholic church has always upheld abelief in the miraculous preservation of these instrumentsof our Saviour’s passion and death. The holy thorn

* Innocent X. , in condemning these propositions, did not cite the pas-sages in which they were to be found 5 and, in fact, they are not quotedwith verbal correctness. Voltaire asserts that they are to be found therein spirit; and he cites passages which establish his assertion. Si&cle deLouis XIV., chap, xxxvii.