The father persists.

At last Despreaux takes hold of his arm, and squeezing it very hard, says, 'You will have it, father; well, then, egad! it is Pascal.' 'Pascal,' says the father, all blushes and astonishment; 'Pascal is as beautiful as the false can be.' 'False,' replied Despreaux: 'false! Let me tell you that he is as true as he is inimitable; he has just been translated into three languages.' The father rejoined, 'He is none the more true for that.' Despreaux grew warm, and shouted like a madman: 'Well, father, will you say that one of yours did not have it printed in one of his books that a Christian was not obliged to love God?
Dare you say that that is false ?' 'Sir,' said the father, in a fury, 'we must distinguish.' 'Distinguish!' cried Despreaux; 'distinguish, egad! distinguish! Distinguish whether we are obliged to love God!' And, taking Corbinelli by the arm, he flew off to the other end of the room, coming back again, and rushing about like a lunatic; but he would not go near the father any more, and went off to join the rest of the company.

Here endeth the story; the curtain falls." Literary taste and religious sympathies combined, in the case of Boileau, to exalt Pascal.
The provincials could not satisfy for long the pious ardor of Pascal's soul; he took in hand his great work on the _Verite de la Religion_.
He had taken a vigorous part in the discussions of Port-Royal as to subscription of the formulary: his opinion was decidedly in favor of resistance.

It was the moment when MM.

Arnauld and Nicole had discovered a restriction, as it was then called, which allowed of subscribing with a safe conscience.