Your two letters have not been confined to me. Everybody has
seen them, everybody understands them, and everybody believes them.
They are not only in high repute among theologians- they have proved
agreeable to men of the world, and intelligible even to the ladies.

    In a communication which I lately received from one of the
gentlemen of the Academy- one of the most illustrious names in a
society of men who are all illustrious- who had seen only your first
letter, he writes me as follows: "I only wish that the Sorbonne, which
owes so much to the memory of the late cardinal, would acknowledge the
jurisdiction of his French Academy. The author of the letter would
be satisfied; for, in the capacity of an academician, I would
authoritatively condemn, I would banish, I would proscribe- I had
almost said exterminate- to the extent of my power, this proximate
power, which makes so much noise about nothing and without knowing
what it would have. The misfortune is that our academic power is a
very limited and remote power. I am sorry for it; and still more sorry
that my small power cannot discharge me from my obligations to you,"
&c.

    My next extract is from the pen of a lady, whom I shall not
indicate in any way whatever. She writes thus to a female friend who
had transmitted to her the first of your letters: "You can have no
idea how much I am obliged to you for the letter you sent me- it is so
very ingenious, and so nicely written. It narrates, and yet it is
not a narrative; it clears up the most intricate and involved of all
possible matters; its raillery is exquisite; it enlightens those who
know little about the subject and imparts double delight to those
who understand it. It is an admirable apology; and, if they would so
take it, a delicate and innocent censure. In short, that letter
displays so much art, so much spirit, and so much judgment, that I
burn with curiosity to know who wrote it," &c.

    You too, perhaps, would like to know who the lady is that writes
in this style; but you must be content to esteem without knowing
her; when you come to know her, your esteem will be greatly enhanced.

    Take my word for it, then, and continue your letters; and let
the censure come when it may, we are quite prepared for receiving
it. These words proximate power and sufficient grace, with which we
are threatened, will frighten us no longer. We have learned from the
Jesuits, the Jacobins, and M. le Moine, in how many different ways
they may be turned, and how little solidity there is in these
new-fangled terms, to give ourselves any trouble about them.
Meanwhile, I remain, &c.

                        LETTER III

                                              Paris, February 9, 1658

  SIR,

    I have just received your letter; and, at the same time, there was
brought me a copy of the censure in manuscript. I find that I am as
well treated in the former as M. Arnauld is ill treated in the latter.
I am afraid there is some extravagance in both cases and that
neither of us is sufficiently well known by our judges. Sure I am
that, were we better known, M. Arnauld would merit the approval of the
Sorbonne, and I the censure of the Academy. Thus our interests are
quite at variance with each other. It is his interest to make
himself known, to vindicate his innocence; whereas it is mine to
remain in the dark, for fear of forfeiting my reputation. Prevented,
therefore, from showing my face, I must devolve on you the task of
making my acknowledgments to my illustrious admirers, while I
undertake that of furnishing you with the news of the censure.

    I assure you, sir, it has filled me with astonishment. I
expected to find it condemning the most shocking heresy in the
world, but your wonder will equal mine, when informed that these
alarming preparations, when on the point of producing the grand effect
anticipated, have all ended in smoke.

    To understand the whole affair in a pleasant way, only
recollect, I beseech you, the strange impressions which, for a long
time past, we have been taught to form of the Jansenists. Recall to
mind the cabals, the factions, the errors, the schisms, the
outrages, with which they have been so long charged; the manner in
which they have been denounced and vilified from the pulpit and the
press; and the degree to which this torrent of abuse, so remarkable
for its violence and duration, has swollen of late years, when they
have been openly and publicly accused of being not only heretics and
schismatics, but apostates and infidels- with "denying the mystery
of transubstantiation, and renouncing Jesus Christ and the Gospel."

    After having published these startling accusations, it was
resolved to examine their writings, in order to pronounce judgement on
them. For this purpose the second letter of M. Arnauld, which was
reported to be full of the greatest errors, is selected. The examiners
appointed are his most open and avowed enemies. They employ all
their learning to discover something that they might lay hold upon,
and at length they produce one proposition of a doctrinal character,
which they exhibit for censure.

    What else could any one infer from such proceedings than that this
proposition, selected under such remarkable circumstances, would
contain the essence of the blackest heresies imaginable. And yet the
proposition so entirely agrees with what is clearly and formally
expressed in the passages from the fathers quoted by M. Arnauld that I
have not met with a single individual who could comprehend the
difference between them. Still, however, it might be imagined that