the entire breadth of literature in the romance languages was exceptional. His scrupulous accuracy and keen insight gave substance not only to his core studies, those dealing with French language and civilization, but also to those in areas with which he was less familiar.A profile of Bishop, perhaps based on interviews with him, has a more modest description of his language abilities: "He speaks fluent German, French, and Italian; can 'get by' in Spanish and Swedish; and has only a little difficulty with Latin and Greek." C. Michael Curtis, "Faculty 10: Morris Bishop: The versatile belle-lettrist", Cornell Alumni News, September 1962, pp. 16–19. On working in those areas of relative unfamiliarity, Bishop himself commented: I get bored by doing the same thing over. No, it's not a question of being the "well-rounded" man, but I simply wish to satisfy my curiosity about one thing and then go on to another. Bishop's papers are held at Cornell University Library's Special Collections. Pascal The review of Bishop's book Pascal: The Life of Genius (1936) in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called it "the first complete description of Pascal as man and as historical figure to appear in English", and praised it highly, particularly for its lively description of the dispute between the Jesuits and Port-Royal. The New York Times review described it as "a solid, comprehensive and valuable addition to the library", with "a heroic attempt to explain the achievements of Pascal as a scientist, philosopher and theologian", and praised Bishop's enthusiasm in writing about Pascal. The Romance studies scholar Arthur Livingston admired the book as a literary biography, particularly for the way in which Bishop "follows the motive of the 'child prodigy' through the varied influences of that fact in Pascal's life upon his temperament, his moral outlook and the various episodes of his career" – a viewpoint that, Livingston thought, led to perceptiveness and fairness. However, Livingston criticized Bishop's unnecessary dalliance with "a rather timid Freudianism". He claimed that Pascal evolved "[from] a prig into a charlatan" and that his learning is obsolete; and "It is in recovering Pascal the poet and artist from the dross of his biography and his thought that Professor Bishop's criticism is perhaps least effective". But Livingston concluded by praising the book as suggestive, comprehensive, and thorough. The reviewer for Isis found that Bishop "succeeds in painting an objective as well as an enthusiastic picture"; for