Since My Return To Nice, It Has Rained The Best Part Of Two
Months, To The Astonishment Of All The People In The Country; Yet
During All That Time I Have Enjoyed Good Health And Spirits.
On
Christmas-Eve, I went to the cathedral at midnight, to hear high
mass celebrated by the new bishop of Nice, in pontificalibus, and
stood near two hours uncovered in a cold gallery, without having
any cause in the sequel to repent of my curiosity.
In a word, I
am now so well that I no longer despair of seeing you and the
rest of my friends in England; a pleasure which is eagerly
desired by, - Dear Sir, Your affectionate humble Servant.
LETTER XXXVI
NICE, March 23, 1766.
DEAR SIR, - You ask whether I think the French people are more
taxed than the English; but I apprehend, the question would be
more apropos if you asked whether the French taxes are more
insupportable than the English; for, in comparing burthens, we
ought always to consider the strength of the shoulders that bear
them. I know no better way of estimating the strength, than by
examining the face of the country, and observing the appearance
of the common people, who constitute the bulk of every nation.
When I, therefore, see the country of England smiling with
cultivation; the grounds exhibiting all the perfection of
agriculture, parcelled out into beautiful inclosures, cornfields,
hay and pasture, woodland and common, when I see her meadows well
stocked with black cattle, her downs covered with sheep; when I
view her teams of horses and oxen, large and strong, fat and
sleek; when I see her farm-houses the habitations of plenty,
cleanliness, and convenience; and her peasants well fed, well
lodged, well cloathed, tall and stout, and hale and jolly; I
cannot help concluding that the people are well able to bear
those impositions which the public necessities have rendered
necessary. On the other hand, when I perceive such signs of
poverty, misery and dirt, among the commonalty of France, their
unfenced fields dug up in despair, without the intervention of
meadow or fallow ground, without cattle to furnish manure,
without horses to execute the plans of agriculture; their farm-houses
mean, their furniture wretched, their apparel beggarly;
themselves and their beasts the images of famine; I cannot help
thinking they groan under oppression, either from their
landlords, or their government; probably from both.
The principal impositions of the French government are these:
first, the taille, payed by all the commons, except those that
are privileged: secondly, the capitation, from which no persons
(not even the nobles) are excepted: thirdly, the tenths and
twentieths, called Dixiemes and Vingtiemes, which every body
pays. This tax was originally levied as an occasional aid in
times of war, and other emergencies; but by degrees is become a
standing revenue even in time of peace. All the money arising
from these impositions goes directly to the king's treasury; and
must undoubtedly amount to a very great sum.
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