* Pascal avait laissé les matériaux d'un grand livre sur la religion. Ces matériaux étaient jetés au hasard en notes éparses comme les grains d'un chapelet dans une soucoupe.

Nicole ou d'autres Jansénistes de Port-Royal enchaînèrent les grains du chapelet dans un fil ascétique.

Depuis lors, et très récemment, un professeur philosophique (Cousin) a voulu enchaîner les grains par un fil sceptique. Est-ce le vrai?—Peut-être.

Un érudit (M. Faugère) a collationné et imprimé le manuscrit avec ses tâtonnements et ses ratures.

Ce sont les grains d'un chapelet sans fil. Chacun peut les rouler dans ses doigts et les attacher l'un à l'autre, traversés par le fil de sa propre pensée et de son intention secrète.

On peut choisir.

Regrettable incertitude, à jamais regrettable. H faut que chacun rentre en lui-même et s'efforce de terminer sa pensée?

^{Note 1 in page 533} Cousin, Œuvres, 4th Ser. (Littérature), new éd., rev. and cor., 3 vols. (Paris, 1849). Vol. I contains Cousin's writings on Pascal, and the preface to this edition (pp. 1-66) is in part a vigorous defense of his thesis of Pascal's skepticism. All references are to this edition.

^{Note 2 in page 533} Œuvres completes, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris, 1948), ii, 1275. All references to Vigny's works are to this edition.

^{Note 3 in page 533} In particular, L. Séché (Alfred de Vigny, Paris, 1913, I, 431 ff.) and G. Bonnefoy (La pensée religieuse et morale d'Alfred de Vigny, Paris, 1944, passim) have discussed the relationship.

^{Note 4 in page 533} See Henri Peyre, “Friends and Foes of Pascal in France Today,” YFS, xii (Fall-Winter 1953), 8-18, among others.

^{Note 5 in page 533} Particularly in “Une âme devant Dieu,” written in 1826. Although in the words of F. Baldensperger this collection of poems, “partant de la terre et d'une doléance humaine, devait porter aux pieds de Dieu l'expression d'une vibration exceptionnelle” (i, 294), only two pieces, “Les amants de Montmorency” in 1830 and “Paris” in 1831, were published under this title, and their primary significance is social rather than religious.

^{Note 6 in page 533} Bonnefoy (p. 151) pointed out that the text of the Mémorial quoted by the novelist presented the record of Pascal's vision as a sort of amulet, as Voltaire and Condorcet had done. In 1853 Vigny insisted that Pascal was “blessé à la tête par sa chute de voiture” and “atteint d'une fièvre cérébrale” (ii, 1313).

^{Note 7 in page 534} A careful reading of Stella renders less surprising new evidence against the “ivory tower” view of Vigny. The poet's generous aid to younger colleagues (cf. recently published letters to Brizeux and Leconte de Lisle), a practical application of his outcry against human suffering, is now well known, as is the thinker's genuine interest in contemporary philosophy (besides Cousin and Joseph de Maistre especially Saint-Simon and Lamennais).

^{Note 8 in page 534} In 1842 Vigny characterized France's religious condition as Pascalian, since, after having experienced the skepticism of the 18th century, she was now trying to find once again “la foi du charbonnier” (ii, 1174). He was forced to admit, however, that he had made a hasty generalization, which indicates that the poet was not always aware of the complexities involved in the comparison of historical moments. His choice of Pascal is nevertheless significant in view of his own religious disquietude.

^{Note 9 in page 534} Pensées el opuscules, pub. by Léon Brunschvicg (Paris, n.d.), p. 426 (Fragment 200). AH references to Pascal are to this Brunschvicg “mineur.”

^{Note 10 in page 535} See E. Auerbach, “The Triumph of Evil in Pascal,” Hudson Rev., iv (Spring 1951), 58-79.

^{Note 11 in page 536} This altering of Pascal's manuscript, condemned by both Cousin and his reader, also led the critic to differentiate between the spirit of the Pensées and that of Port-Royal. J.-J. Demorest has pointed out in “Pascal et les premiers romantiques,” FR, xxn (1948-49), 436-442, that Joseph de Maistre, Maine de Biran, and Chauteaubriand had made this distinction at the turn of the century as a part of their defense of Pascal against the inroads made by Voltaire. Cousin's evidence is more objective, but his critique is in an entirely different spirit.

^{Note 12 in page 536} “Que Pascal dise: ‘J'ai peur de la mort et du diable, voilà pourquoi je me brise la tête de peur de penser,‘ cela ne prouve pas autre chose que sa faiblesse” (n, 1195, 1196).

^{Note 13 in page 536} M. Lafums presentation of the letters in his choice of Opuscules et lettres (Paris, 1955).

^{Note 14 in page 536} In a projected poem, “La herse,” Vigny was to express a similar idea, with the emphasis on the strength of Man which would overcome God's inertia.

^{Note 15 in page 537} See J. Fabre, “Réflexions actuelles sur l'angoisse de Pascal,” Revue d'histoire et de philosophie religieuses, No. 4 (1948-49), pp. 265-281.

^{Note 16 in page 537} P. André makes the point in “Pascal devant la critique moderne,” Le monde français (Dec. 1950), pp. 431-455, that the most common attitude today, emphasizing Man and not God, is pascalisante rather than pascalienne. The same could be said equally well of Vigny. Cf. also Séché: “Qui sait si Pascal et Racine n'auraient pas fini comme Vigny s'ils avaient vécu au dix-neuvième siècle” (i, 23).