PROVINCIAL LETTERS (
saults were made against the morals of the Jesuits as Molinists or followers of the casuist Molina. The Jansenists were rigid, unbending moralists, unwilling to compromise in the slightest degree in word or in deed, even for the sake of a greater good. The Jesuits de sirous of making converts had not invented but developed doctrines of casuistry, or the study of cases of conscience, by which in cer tain contingencies allowance could be made for deviation from the path of rectitude. Pascal made the most of his opportunities to attack the Jesuits' excuses for aequivocationa and
restrictions," and charged them with teaching hypocrisy, unchastity and other sins.
The Letters form one of the most important examples of pamphlet literature in history. They deal, of course, with conditions and events now largely forgotten, but they were of ex traordinary importance in their day and con tributed greatly- to the permanent discrediting with so many people of the Jesuit order. They are undoubtedly often unfair in their sarcasm and dialectical victories, perhaps sometimes even in statements of facts, but their vivid ness and lucidity make them a monument in French literature and one of the chief examples of early classical French prose.
Bibliography.— Important editions of the 'Lettres provinciales' are by Feugere (2 vols., 1887-95), and in the edition of Pascal's works, edited by Brunschvicg, Boutroux and Gazier and published in the series of Ecri vains de la France.'