my intelligence and illuminate my thought.’ But the illumination
was not of a kind Fenelon had intended; the theologian’s ‘tottering
physics’ sapped rather than strengthened Pierre-Joseph’s original
faith, and, in trying to refute the sceptics, revealed unorthodox
beliefs which proved irresistibly fascinating. ‘When I learnt...
that there were atheists, men who denied God and explained
everything by a combination o f atoms, or, as said La Place, by
matter and movement, I fell into an extraordinary reverie. I
wanted to hear these men defend their own thesis, to read them,
as I had read Fenelon.’ But, though shaken, Proudhon’s faith was
by no means destroyed, and it would be some years before the
ineffectual logic o f the Archbishop o f Cambrai bore its full fruit
of scepticism.
Economic difficulties continued to pursue the Proudhon family
throughout Pierre-Joseph’s school years. A t this period Claude-
Frangois appears to have been in possession o f land in the neigh
bourhood o f Besangon, in addition to the house in Battant. But
the life o f the petty proprietor in the early nineteenth century was
often as precarious and as unrewarding as that of the landless
labourer; Claude-Frangois had still to supplement agriculture by
coopering, and during bis holidays Pierre-Joseph would go into
the woods to cut branches for the hoops on his father’s barrels.
But the family’s unremitting efforts were frustrated by a succes
sion of sicknesses and other misfortunes. The crowning blow to
their hopes was given by Claude-Frangois’ obstinate passion for
litigation, and on the very day when Pierre-Joseph was about to
receive the laurel wreath of graduation, his father was risking the
family’s whole future in a last desperate lawsuit. It was a day the
son remembered with bitterness and humiliation.
‘I went with a very sad heart to that solemnity where everyone
else seemed to smile... while my family was at the court, awaiting
the decision. I shall remember it always. The Rector asked if I
would like to be presented by some relative or friend who would
see me crowned by his hand. “ I have nobody, Monsieur le
Recteur,” answered. “ Very well,” he said, “ I will both crown and
embrace you.” Never have I felt more moved. But I found my
family in consternation, my mother in tears; our case was lost.
That evening we all supped on bread and water.’
Instead o f going on to take the baccalaureat for which he was
studying, Pierre-Joseph had to start work in order to help his
THE HILLS OF THE JURA