In
their own day, Cureau de la Chambre, Coeffeteau and Senault were
considered the first of moral philosophers, but there must be few who
turn over the pages of the "Usages des Passions" now, whereas the
"Caracteres" enjoys a perpetual popularity.
The writers whom I have just named are dead, at least I presume so,
for I must not profess to have done more than touch their
winding-sheets in the course of my private reading. But there are two
moralists of the period who remain alive, and one of whom burns with
an incomparable vivacity of life. If I am asked why Pascal and Nicole
have not been chosen among my types, I can only answer that Pascal,
unlike my select three, has been studied so abundantly in England that
by nothing short of an exhaustive monograph can an English critic now
hope to add much to public apprehension of his qualities. The case of
Nicole is different. Excessively read in France, particularly during
the eighteenth century, and active always in influencing the national
conscience--since the actual circulation of the "Essais de Morale" is
said to have far exceeded that of the "Pensees" of Pascal--Nicole has
never, in the accepted phrase, "contrived to cross the Channel," and
he is scarcely known in England.
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