The Ancient Regime

of the Anci

shion, in the talent for representation and in entertaining and receiving, in the gift of graceful conversation, in finesse and in gaiety, in the art of converting life into a brilliant and ingenious festivity, regarding the world as a drawing room of refined idlers in which it suffices to be amiable and witty, whilst, actually, it is an arena where one must be strong for combats, and a laboratory in which one must work in order to be useful.-Through the habit, perfection and sway of polished intercourse they stamped on the French intellect a classic form, which, combined with recent scientific acquisitions, produced the philosophy of the eighteenth century, the disrepute of tradition, the ambition of recasting all human institutions according to the sole dictates of Reason, the appliance of mathematical methods to politics and morals, the catechism of the Rights of Man, and other dogmas of anarchical and despotic character in the CONTRAT SOCIAL.-Once this chimera is born they welcome it as a drawing room fancy; they use the little monster as a plaything, as yet innocent and decked with ribbons like a pastoral lambkin; they never dream of its becoming a raging, formidable brute; they nourish it, and caress it, and then, opening their doors, they let it descend into the streets.-Here among the middle class which the government has rendered ill-disposed by compromising its fortunes, which the privileged have offended by restricting its ambition, which is wounded by inequality through injured self-esteem, the revolutionary theory gains rapid accessions, a sudden asperity, and, in a few years, it finds itself undisputed master of pu

ns for the 'Gr

bertine stories, and great ladies had listened to these without recourse to their fans. Hence a deluge of witticisms against religion, one quoting a tirade from 'La Pucelle,' another bringing forward certain philosophical stanzas by Diderot. . . . and with unbounded applause. . . . The conversation becomes more serious; admiration is expressed at the revolution accomplished by Voltaire, and all agree in its being the first title to his fame. 'He gave the tone to his century, finding readers in the antechambers as well as in the drawing-room.' One of the guests narrates, bursting with laughter, what a hairdresser said to him while powdering his hair:

one of reason. . . . You, Monsieur de Champfort, you will sever your veins with twenty-two strokes of a razor and yet you will not die for months afterwards. You, Monsieur Vicq-d'Azir, you will not open your own veins but you will have them opened six times in one day, in the agonies of gout, so as to be more certain of success, and you will die that night. You, Monsieur de Nicolai, on the scaffold; you, Monsieur Bailly, on the scaffold; you, Monsieur de Malesherbes, on the scaffold;. . . you, Monsieur Roucher, also on the scaffold.'-'But then we shall have been overcome by Turks or Tartars?'-'By no means; you will be governed, as I have already told you, solely by philosophy and reason. Those who are to treat you in this manner will all be philosophers, will all, at every moment, have on their lips the phrases you have uttered within the hour, will repeat your maxims, will quote, like yourselves, the stanzas of Diderot and of "La Pucelle."'-'And when will all this happen?'-'Six years will not pass before what I tell you will be accomplished.'-'Well, these are miracles,' exclaims La Harpe, 'and you leave me out?'-'You will be no less a miracle, for you will then be a Christian.'-'Ah,' interposes Champfort, I breathe again; if we are to die only when La Harpe becomes a Christian we a

O

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Paris 1739-1803). Author and critic, mad

**

OF V

TE

OF ECCLESIASTI

mates are arrived at i

inatif des gentilhommes en 1789," by Laroque and De Barthélemy, the number of nobles voting, directly or by proxy, in the elections of 1789, in Provence, Languedoc, Lyonnais, Forez, Beaujolais, Touraine, Normandy, and Ile-de-France, as 9,167.-According to the census of 1790, given by Arthur Young in his "Travels in France," the population of these provinces was 7,757,000, which gives a proportion of 30,000 nobles voting in a population of 26,000,000.-On examining the law and on summing up the lists, we find that each n

e Soissons 31, Théatins 25, abbaye de Saint-Victor 21, Maisons soumises à l'ordinaire 305. Total 20,745 monks in 2,489 convents. To this must be added the Pères de l'Oratoire, de la Mission, de la Doctrine chrétienne and some others; the total of monks being about 23,000.-As to nuns, I have a catalogue from the National Archives of twelve dioceses, comprising according to "France ecclésiastique" 1788, 5,576 parishes: the diocèses respectively of Perpignan, Tulle, Marseilles, Rhodez, Saint-Flour, Toulouse, le Mans, Limoges, Lisieux, Rouen, Reims, and Noyon, in all, 5,394 nuns in 198 establishments. The proportion is 37,000 nuns in 1,500 establishments for the 38,000 parishes o

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000 square ki

tat actuel de la Direction de Bourg

around 1884, in 1996 it remains a small commune and a village of 800

proprietor, inasmuch as the tithes and the champart (field-rents)

GHTS AND ON THE STATE OF

debted to M. de Boislisle, is derived from a

se, is a "good parish; the soil is excellent, mostly in wood and pasture, the surplus being in tillable land for wheat, rye and oats. . . . The roads are bad, especially in winter. T

y 300 remain,6202 which is the fate of nearly all the towns in this country." The estate of Blet, for many centuries in the possession of the Sully family, passed, on the marriage of the heiress in 1363, to the house of Saint-Quentin, and was then transmitted in direct line down to 1748, the date of the death of Alexander II. of Saint-Quentins, Count of Diet, governor of Berg-op-Zoom, and father of three daughters from whom the actual heir

; the others consist of a kitchen with an oven outside, and stables and barns. Repairs on the tenements are essential on all the farms except three, "having been neglected for thirty years." "The mill-flume requires to be cleaned out, and the stream, whose inundations injure the large meadow; also repairs are necessary on the banks of the two ponds; on the church, which is the seignior's duty, the roof being in a sad state, the rain penetrating through the arch;" and the roads require mending, these being in a deplorable condition during the winter. "The restoration and repairs of these roads seem never to have been thought of." The soil of the Blet estate is excellent, but it requires draining and ditching to carry off the water, otherwise t

, from which must be deducted a capital of 65,056 livres, representing the annual charges (the fixed salary of the curate, repairs, et

that of Blet. Thus rated it is worth 73,583 livres, from which must be deducted a capital of 12,359 livres for actual charges, t

at the Chatelet, April 29, 1702, "take cognizance of all actions, real and personal, civil and criminal, even actions between nobles and ecclesiastics, relating to seals an

warden decides in all cases concerning waters, and woods

let); he may remove them "in case they make no returns." "The rights of the greffe were formerly secured to the seignior, but as it is now very difficult to find intelligent persons in the country able to fulfill its functions,

attle awarded by his officers. The profit t

is not stated whether there was one). No s

M. Baujard, fiscal attorney. This commission is assigned him gratuitously, to keep up the privilege,

a long time, this sergeant pays n

r fiefs and courts, at the present time, enjoy rights of succession to their vassals in all cases, even to the prejudice of their children if non-resident and no longer dwelling unde

re, effects, stray swarms of bees, treasure-tro

t of deceased bastards, the possessions of condemned criminals

of fishing, the latter wor

all others six bushels and six deniers. "These rights of bourgeoisie are well established, set forth in all court-rolls and acknowledgments rendered to the king and perpetuated by numerous admissions the motives that have led former stewards an

ction of its tribunals, those of Charly, Boismarvier, etc., at five sous per fire per annum, which has been carried out. "Only lately has the collection of this

except grain, flour and vegetables. (A trial pending before the Council of State since

nsuring to the seignior nine pints of wine per cask, l

heads and feet of all calves. No slaughter-house at Blet, and yet "during the harvesting of each year about twel

irs per annum and one market-day each week, but little frequented; n

(five teams and twenty-one hands). The seignior pays six sous for food, each corvée, on men, and twelve sous on each corvee of four oxen. "Among those subject to this corvée the larger number

let, and to pay a fine for having ceased to have grain ground there during three years). The miller reserves a sixteenth of

domicile of three squares, six inches each, to bake pies, biscuits and cakes; in other respects subject to the district oven. He is enti

bier, dove-cot. The ch

live with their parents at the time of his death. This right covers an area of forty-eight arpe

abandoned ground and to

n the choir, of incense and of special prayer, o

fth rate." The seignior of Blet and Brosses collects at rate six. It is estimated that sales are made once in eighty years; these rights bear on 1,356 arpents which are worth, the best, 192 livres per arpent the seco

save a few belonging to the canons of Don-le-Rol and to the prior of Chaumont.

sheaf, on the fifth, sixth, seventh, and commonly one-quarter; at Blet it is the twelfth." The seignior of Blet collects terrage only on a certain number of the farms of his seigniory; "in

condition, and their cens annually consists of 137 francs in money, sixty-seven bushels of wheat, three of barley, 159 of oats, sixteen hens, 130 chickens, six cocks and capons; the total valued at 575 francs. On the Brosses estate, eighty-five arpents, di

ns (124 arpents in Blet a

on which they exercise this right of pasturage, belongs to the seigniors, save t

ch mutation. Formerly the seignior of Blet enforced, in this case, the right of redemption which has been allowed to fall into desuetude. Others are situated in Berry where the right of redemption is exercised. One fief in Berry, that of

s indicated there

f this fixed salary, yielded to the seignior all the dimes, novales, etc. The edict of 1768 having fixed the curate's salary at 500 livres, the curate claimed this sum through writs. Th

lodging, warming and the use

ives, look after repairs, collect lods et ventes, an

es paid 810 livres for the two vingtièmes and the two sous per livre.

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t actuel de la Direction de Bourges

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ound 1884, in 1996 it remains a small commune and a village of 800 p

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oprietor, inasmuch as the tithes and the champart (field-rents),

-NO

ND NOMINAL REVENUES OF ECCLESIA

France en 1789," p.195), this must be tripled and even quadrupled. I think that, for the episcopal sees, one-half extra should be added and, for the ab

lbert Babeau ("Histoire de la Révolution dans le department de l'Aube"), it brings in 70,000 livres. In "France Ecclésiastique," the bishopri

vres. I find it bringing to the monks alone 30,000, while the abbés portion is at least as large. ("De l'Etat religieux, par les abbés de Bonnefoi et Bernard.," 1784). The abbé thus receives 30,000 livres, Bernay (Eure)

ral de la France en 1789,") at 60,000. According to Beugnot, who belongs to the

set down at 18,000 livres

ermont, who formerly had it, leased it at 160, 000 livres, "not including reserved fields and all that th

ardinal de Rohan refused 1,000 livres per month for his portion offered to him by th

the most powerful monasteries, the richest and best endowed

THE EDUCATION OF PRI

devoted to this subject; I

, 1670). The Dauphine has ju

i apporte; elle ne peut pas lui toucher. Il y a des remueuses et femmes préposées pour cela, mais qui n'ont point d'ordre à recevoir de la nourrice. Il y a des heures pour remuer l'enfant, trois ou quatre fois dans la journée. Si l'enfant dort, on le réveille pour le remuer. Si, après avoir été changé, il

4. Conversation with Madame Louise, daughter o

oubled you most in getting acc

deed, who had never descended any but the grand staircase at Versailles, leaning on the arm of her cavalier in waiting and surrounded by pages, necessarily trembled on finding herself alone on the brink of steep winding steps. (Such is) the education,

n, "Mémoires

lthough twelve years of age, she had

ver dish and, if the juice coagulated in one-quarter of an hour, the bird might be considered fat. Madame Victoire immediately put it to test; the juice did not coagulate. The princess was highly delighted, as she was very fond of this species of game.

l on which Charles X. left France in 1830. Quoted by

ative seemed to interest them very much, their interruptions consisting of questions of remarkable naiveté, showing that they possessed no notion

te

e of direc

ed from the proces-verbaux of the

s-Tot

e Capitation Im

llable. routes

6,040 2,207,826 2,6

954 903,653 898,

,671,939 1,595,051 1,7

1,939,665 1,212,429

448,431 464,9

1 1,113,766 1,40

2,392 911,883 734

892 1,256,125 1,4

850 1,459,780 1,3

1,742,655 1,120,041

0 1,399,678 1,753

,440,533 931,261 797

,314 1,267,619 1,268

rage of all these is 2.53. The accessories of the taille, the poll-tax and the tax for roads, are fixed for each assessable party, pro rata to his taille. Multipl

. on 100 francs. For example, according to the declarations of the provincial assemblies, in Champagne, it deducts 3 sous and 2/3 of a denier per livre, or 15 fr. 28 c. on 100 francs; in the Ile-de-France, 35 livres 14 sous on 240 livres, or 14 fr. 87 c. on 100; in Auvergne, 4 sous per livre of the net income

, the total of the four taxes above mentioned, takes 16 fr. 66 c. X 2,53 = 42 fr. 15 c. on 100 fr. income. To which must be added 11 fr. for

valued at the same sum also take off 14 fr. 28 c., total 28 fr. 56 c. Sum total of deductions of the direct royal tax, o

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e assessable poll-tax, this being the mode followed by the provincial assembly of Lyonnais. By the declaration of June 2, 1717, the tax on road

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e rem

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this amount to one-eleventh of the