The bust of Pascal

I would gladly believe it. It is indeed Pascal's bony mask, his long curved nose, his eyes turned towards the inner abyss, the curls of his hair falling over the flap of Port-Royal. The bust is in bronze, blackened by time. It overlooks an old fountain flanked by two columns with Corinthian capitals. In front of Pascal is a stone basin in which a large copper faucet weeps. A slender plane tree with stunted leaves provides some shade in the vast sunny courtyard. We also see, near the bust of the great man, a jar in which blackcurrants are soaked in brandy. But it is by chance that he is there, and not as a token of admiration,

Or ? you will ask me. During the celebration of the tercentenary, people were rightly surprised that Blaise Pascal had not received any lapidary tribute that was personal to him, if we except the statue of Cavelier which is under the keystone of the Tour Saint-Jacques. I only speak for the record of the busts, among many others, of the Sorbonne, the Janson-de-Sailly high school and one of the statues that watch over the pediment of the Louvre...

But, in this list, made many times, no one understood the modest fountain that I discovered yesterday, certainly less majestic than the Molière fountain, but certainly more touching, in the silent setting of a grassy courtyard, in the very heart of Paris.

Or ? Simply at number 11 rue Saint-Florentin. I asked the concierge about the provenance of this anonymous bust. He doesn't know anything, the concierge, but he declares it to me politely and
further assures me that the owner of the house is no better informed than he.

__ All I'm sure of, he told me, is that it didn't date from yesterday. It's older than the building

Is it Pascal? If so, what godly hands put it there? —

PIERRE VARENNE.