in his wheat.  The market on Wednesday was almost in a state of revolt, there being no bread in it after seven o’clock in the morning. . . .  The poor creatures at Bicêtre prison were put on short rations, three quarterons (twelve ounces), being reduced to only half a pound.  A rebellion broke out and they forced the guards.  Numbers escaped and they have inundated Paris.  The watch, with the police of the neighborhood, were called out, and an attack was made on these poor wretches with bayonet and sword.  About fifty of them were left on the ground; the revolt was not suppressed yesterday morning.”

Ten years later the evil is greater.[8]

“In the country around me, ten leagues from Paris, I find increased privation and constant complaints.  What must it be in our wretched provinces in the interior of the kingdom? . . .  My curate tells me that eight families, supporting themselves on their labor when I left, are now begging their bread.  There is no work to be had.  The wealthy are economizing like the poor.  And with all this the taille is exacted with military severity.  The collectors, with their officers, accompanied by locksmiths, force open the doors and carry off and sell furniture for one-quarter of its value, the expenses exceeding the amount of the tax . . . " — “I am at this moment on my estates in Touraine.  I encounter nothing but frightful privations; the melancholy sentiment of suffering no longer prevails with the poor inhabitants, but rather one of utter despair; they desire death only, and avoid increase. . . .  It is estimated that one-quarter of the working-days of the year go to the corvées, the laborers feeding themselves, and with what? . . .  I see poor people dying of destitution.  They are paid fifteen sous a day, equal to a crown, for their load.  Whole villages are either ruined or broken up, and none of the households recover. . . .  Judging by what my neighbors tell me the inhabitants have diminished one-third. . . .  The daily laborers are all leaving and taking refuge in the small towns.  In many villages everybody leaves.  I have several parishes in which the taille for three years is due, the proceedings for its collection always going on. . . .  The receivers of the taille and of the taxes add one-half each year in expenses above the tax. . . .  An assessor, on coming to the village where I have my country-house, states that the taille this year will be much increased; he noticed that the peasants here were fatter than elsewhere; that they had chicken feathers before their doors, and that the living here must be good, everybody doing well, etc. — This is the cause of the peasant’s discouragement, and likewise the cause of misfortune throughout the kingdom.” — “In the country where I am staying I hear that marriage is declining and that the population is decreasing on all sides.  In my parish, with a few fire-sides, there are more