Note 17 — Chapter I · PASCAL’S FAMILY AND YOUTH.

M. Lélut’s volume (already referred to) deserves special attention in its bearing on Pascal’s health, and the character of his sufferings. He lays great stress on Pascal’s highly-strung nervous constitution, in connection both with the precocity of his genius, his physical sufferings, his religious susceptibility, and the profound melancholy which affected his later years. The study is very interesting in some respects, but is overstrained in its physiological details and imaginary analysis.