Is man a great or a miserable being? Should he feel proud or ashamed of belonging to the human race? J. J. Rousseau resolutely maintains the first opinion, while Molière, on the contrary, speaks as a man who has taken the other view of the question.

Pascal, to whom we are now going to look for a solution of this important moral problem, commences by proving it to be a very ancient enigma, which has always claimed the attention of those, who have made the moral nature of man the subject of thought and investigation. Some philosophers, he says, inspire emotions of pure grandeur. But this is not the natural condition of man; while others, on the contrary, inspire emotions wholly base; but neither is this the real nature of man. He vehemently protests against these two extreme conclusions, and exclaims on the authority of our moral sense: "Man is neither an angel nor a beast."

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What is he then? Pascal is going to inform us. And, for that purpose, he enters into a complete, profound, and above all, an impartial analysis of every thing he finds in human nature. In the first part of his work, we should be led to believe, that he belonged to the school of Molière; for he entitles it, "The Misery of Man." He infers this misery from the presence of three great wants in the human heart, which can never be satisfied. These are, the desire of truth; the desire of happiness; and the desire of justice.

He

1. The desire of truth. Man can never satisfy his desire of truth, and his capacity for knowledge. "Man," he says, "is only a subject, full of error, inherent and ineffaceable, without grace. Nothing shows him truth; but every thing deceives him. The two principles of truth, reason and sense, beside lacking sincerity, reciprocally wrong each other." Imagination is, above all, a great source of error, and Pascal treats it rudely. thus defines it. "It is the deceitful part of man; the instructress in error and falsehood; and it is the more beguiling, since such is not always its character; otherwise it would be a sure guide to the truth, were it always infallibly known to lie." The influence of this deceitful power is still stronger over wise men than fools. She bestows respect and honor; and without her concurrence, all the riches of the world avail nothing "She deadens the senses, or quickens them; she has her fools and her wise men; and nothing vexes us more than to see that she fills her disciples with a satisfaction, much more full and entire than reason can produce." Pascal presents to us a respectable senator entering a church, with a devout and serious air; and you believe that he is going to be edified? But, you have reckoned without the imagination. "Let the preacher come in

and if nature has given him a hoarse voice, and an odd expression of countenance; or if his barber has done his duty awkwardly; or his uncouth appearance is increased by his having been accidently bespattered, I would insure, that our noble senator would lose his gravity."

The greatest philosopher will allow his imagination to influence him to such a degree, that he will not dare to cross a precipice where the path is much wider than necessary, even though reason tells him that he has nothing to fear. Imagination regulates every thing; for, by ruling in the departments of beauty, justice, and happiness, she controls the world.

"Our magistrates have understood this mystery. Their red robes, their ermine, in which they wrap themselves like stuffed cats; the palaces in which they administer justice; the fleur de lis-all these august accessories were very necessary, and if physicians had not cassocks, and slippers, and doctor's square caps," (Pascal alluded to the customs of his time and country; but the reader, I imagine, will easily be able to find similar examples around him,) "if these doctors had not also had robes four times too large, they would never have duped the world, which could not resist this imposing display. And if the former administered true justice, and the latter really understood the art of healing, they would not need the square cap; the majesty of science would command respect on its own account. But having only imaginary science, they must use these vain helps to strike the imagination of those with whom they have to deal; and by these they really gain respect. We cannot even see an advocate in cassock and cap, without forming a favorable opinion of his abilities." *

* II. 51.

Prejudice, the fear of novelty, the diseases which warp the judgment and senses are joined with distracting cares to trouble our minds. “It is not necessary to have a cannon fired, to divert the attention of this great judge of the world; it needs nothing more than the turning of a weathercock or a pulley. You must not be astonished, if he fails to reason well just now, for a fly is buzzing about his ears; and this is sufficient to render him incapable of giving good counsel."

After having showed the mistakes which are produced by personal interests and self-love, Pascal in a third chapter, entitled, “ Disproportions of Man," directs the attention to another source of error. This is one of the finest pieces of the author; in which he shows man, the weakness of his understanding, measuring him with nature, and holding him suspended between the infinite above his head and under his feet. "Let man once leisurely and seriously contemplate nature; let him also turn his attention to himself, and judge whether he is in harmony with her. Let him then look upon nature in all her majestic grandeur; let him turn from the low objects which surround him, and fix his gaze upon that glorious luminary placed as an eternal lamp to enlighten the universe; let the earth appear to him as a point, in comparison to the vast circumference which this planet describes; and let him be astonished that this vast orbit itself, is only a delicate point in regard to that which the stars in the firmament describe. But if our eye can penetrate no further, imagination does not stop there, and will sooner be weary of conceiving, than nature will be of furnishing material for the fancy to feed upon. All this world is but an imperceptible part, of that which is found in the ample field of nature. No idea can make any approach to it. We

may raise our conceptions beyond all imaginable space, but we shall only create atoms in comparison with what is reality. It is an infinite sphere, whose centre is everywhere, while its circumference is nowhere, fine, it is the greatest sensible proof of the omnipotence of God, that our imagination loses itself in this thought."

In

He grants a moment of respite. "Let man having now rallied his forces, consider what he is, in comparison with what is; let him regard himself as a wanderer in this by-province of nature; and let him learn from this little dungeon in which he finds himself, (I mean the created universe,) to estimate the earth, the kingdoms, the cities, and himself even, at their true value." After which, he confounds him by another spectacle.

66 But, in order to present him another wonder equally astonishing, let him extend his researches among the most delicate things. Let him examine a small insect, with parts incomparably smaller, the limbs with joints, veins in the limbs, blood in the veins, fluids in this blood, drops in these fluids, and air in these drops; let him still divide these last substances, until his power of imagination is exhausted; and the last object which he is able to conceive, shall now be the theme of our discourse. He will think, perhaps, that he has attained the extreme limit of minuteness to which nature can reach. I would show him within that, a new abyss. I would paint for him, not only the visible universe, but all the immensity of nature of which he can form a conception, within the space of that abridged atom. Let him there behold an infinity of universes, each one having its firmament, its planets, its earth, in the same proportions as the visible world: in the earth there will be animals, and finally, worms, in which he will find, that which the first possessed and finding still in these