P. 33. Diversion. Under this heading Pascal comprises not only trivial occupations, and the distractions of idle society, but all which, save truth alone, can form the study or the research of man. The main idea of the chapter is borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. iii. chap. x.
P. 35. l. 17. The counsel given to Pyrrhus. Ib., l. i. ch. xliii.
P. 36, l. 11. as children are frightened at a face. Borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. iii., and Montaigne in his turn borrowed it from Seneca, Ep. 24.
P. 36, l. 28. superintendent. Of finances. The last who held this office was Fouquet, still in office when this was written. He was dismissed in disgrace in 1661.
P. 36, l. 29. first president. Of the Parliament of Paris.
P. 36, l. 32. dismissed to their country houses. At that date, and for a long time afterwards, a Minister of State rarely fell from Office without receiving a Lettre de cachet which banished him to the seclusion of his country estate.
P. 39, l. 17. In omnibus requiem quæsivi. Eccles. xxiv. 7.
P. 40, l. 9. will arise weariness. Compare Montaigne, Essais, l. iii.
P. 41, l. 7. Cæsar was too old. See Montaigne, Essais, l. ii. ch. xxxiv.