1623-1662.
Bayle's Praise of the Genius of Pascal's Works 183
His Family 184
1623. Birth of Blaise Pascal 184
1631. Ætat. 9. His Father superintends his Studies 184
Philosophy of Descartes 185
1635. Ætat. 12. Pascal's Study of Physics 186
Being restricted to the Study of Greek and Latin, he occupies his
leisure Moments with the Study of Geometry 186
His Father surprising him in his eager Pursuit of Mathematics,
is overjoyed, and consults a Friend 187
Blaise Pascal comprehends Euclid without a Master's
Instructions 188
Ætat. 16. His "Essay on Conic Sections" 188
His Father Etienne, being compromised in some Political Affairs,
flies from Paris to Auvergne 189
Jaqueline Pascal's Performance at fourteen Years of Age in the
Theatre of Cardinal de Richelieu; recites Verses declaratory of
her Father's Innocence 189
1639. Ætat. 16. Richelieu pardons M. Pascal, and Blaise is presented
to him as a young Mathematician 189
1641. Pascal studies Logic and Physics 190
1642. Ætat. 19. He invents an Arithmetical Computing Machine 190
Galileo's Investigations of the Atmosphere 191
Torricelli pursues this Inquiry 192
Father Mersenne explains this matter to Blaise Pascal 192
1647. Ætat. 24. Account of Pascal's Discovery of the Atmospheric
Pressure, and his Experiments made on the Puy de Dôme 193
Descartes claims a Priority in this Invention 194
1653. Ætat. 30. Pascal's Treatises "On the Weight of the Atmosphere,"
and "On the Equilibrium of Liquids" 194
He quits the Study of Mathematics to devote himself to
Religion 195
His Sister Jaqueline imitates his Devotion 195
He falls into a State of general Debility 195
1651. Death of Etienne Pascal 196
Jaqueline takes the Veil in the Abbey of Port Royal aux
Champs 196
1654. Ætat. 37. Pascal meets with an alarming Accident, which injures
his already feeble Health 196
Is delirious, and makes a Record of some supposed Vision 197
He renounces the World, and lives solitarily, using monastic
Rules of Self-denial 197
Description of the Abbey of Port Royal, and of the Arnauld
Family 198
Pascal frequents the Society of Abbé Arnauld and his Friends 199
Controversy between the Jansenists and Molinists 200
The Jesuit Molina 200
Cornelius Jansen, Bishop of Ypres 200
"Five Propositions" of Jansenius condemned by the Pope at
the Desire of the Jesuits 200
Antoine Arnauld's Defence of Jansenism 201
1656. Ætat. 33. Pascal's "Lettres Provinciales" 202
Jaqueline Pascal, a Nun of Port Royal, cured by Miracle of a
Fistula of the Eye 203
Pascal writes his "Pensées" 203
He subjects himself to Privations and Mortifications, for
Religion 204
1658. Ætat. 35. Entails chronical sufferings thereby on his frame 204
Pascal solved many difficult Problems in Mathematics 204
1658. Ætat. 35. He challenged scientific Men to solve the same; and
when Huygens, Wallis, and Wren were foiled, he published
his Solutions 205
New Persecution of the Jansenists 207
1661. Ætat. 38. His "Lettres Provinciales" condemned to be burnt 207
The Nuns of Port Royal expelled from their Convent 207
Jaqueline Pascal, the Sub-Prioress of Port Royal, dies in
consequence of it 207
Pascal declares the "Five Propositions" to be in accordance
with St. Paul 208
His dying Sentiments 209
1662. Ætat. 39. His Death 210
His admirable Character 210
Eloquence of his Works 211
His Address to Atheists 211