Blaise Pascal

===Leaving Paris===
In France at that time offices and positions could be—and were—bought and sold. In 1631, Étienne sold his position as second president of the ''[[Cour des Aides]]'' for 65,665 [[livres]].<ref>Connor, James A., ''Pascal's wager: the man who played dice with God'' (HarperCollins, NY, 2006) {{isbn|0-06-076691-3}} p. 42</ref> The money was invested in a [[government bond]] which provided, if not a lavish, then certainly a comfortable income which allowed the Pascal family to move to, and enjoy, Paris, but in 1638 [[Cardinal Richelieu]], desperate for money to carry on the [[Thirty Years' War]], defaulted on the government's bonds. Suddenly Étienne Pascal's worth had dropped from nearly 66,000 livres to less than 7,300.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Like so many others, Étienne was eventually forced to flee Paris because of his opposition to the fiscal policies of Richelieu, leaving his three children in the care of his neighbour Madame Sainctot, a great beauty with an infamous past who kept one of the most glittering and intellectual salons in all France. It was only when Jacqueline performed well in a children's play with Richelieu in attendance that Étienne was pardoned. In time, Étienne was back in good graces with the Cardinal and in 1639 had been appointed the king's commissioner of taxes in the city of [[Rouen]]—a city whose tax records, thanks to uprisings, were in utter chaos.