o8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SA.TNT-SIMOST.

work remained, therefore, in the hands of D'Argenson and the
Intendants, and it continued to "be done with the same harsh-
ness as ever.

Without passing a more definite judgment on those who in-
vented and profited by this scheme, it may be said that there
has scarcely been a century which has produced one more mys-
terious, more daring, better arranged, and resulting in an.
oppression so enduring, so sure, so cruel. The sums it pro-
duced were innumerable; and innumerable were the people
who died literally of hunger, and those who perished after-
wards of the maladies caused by the extremity of misery; in-
numerable also were the families who were ruined, whose ruin
"brought down a torrent of other ills.

Despite all this, payments, hitherto most strictly made,
began to cease. Those of the customs, those of the divers
loans, the dividends upon the Hotel de Ville—in all times
so sacred—all were suspended; these last alone continued, but
with delays, then with retrenchments, which desolated nearly
all the families of Paris and many others. At the same time
the taxes—increased, multiplied, and exacted with the most
extreme rigour—completed the devastation of France. Every-
thing rose incredibly in price, while nothing was left to buy
with, even at the cheapest rate; and although the majority of
the cattle had perished for want of food, and by the misery of
those who kept them, a new monopoly was established upon
horned beasts. A great number of people who, in preceding
years, used to relieve the poor, found themselves so reduced as
to be able to subsist only with great difficulty, and many of
them received alms in secret. It is impossible to say how
many others laid siege to the hospitals, until then the shame
and punishment of the poor; how many ruined hospitals re-
vomited forth their inmates to the public charge—that is to
say, sent them away to die actually of hunger; and how many
decent families shut themselves up in garrets to die of want.

It is impossible to say, moreover, how all this misery
warmed up zeal and charity, or how immense were the alms
distributed. But want increasing each instant, an indiscreet