Seven pounds of oil 700 A dozen wicks 60 A bushel and a half potatoes 300 Laundry bill for one month 215 One pound of powder for the hair 70 Three ounces of pomade (that used to be three sous) 50 _________ 4,275 fr. Over and above this is the provision for the month, butter, eggs, at 100 francs, as you know, and meat from 25 to 30 francs a pound and all else in proportion 576 Bread, there has been none for two days; we only get it every other day—for the last ten days I have only bought 4 pounds at 45 fr. 180 _________ 5,022 fr. “‘When I think of this royal expenditure which costs me from eighteen to twenty thousand francs without allowing myself the least luxury, _J’envoie au diable le régime_.’ “Shortly after this the value of paper money decreased still more and the price of commodities increased in alarming proportion. In another letter to her sister-in-law Julie gave the following details: “‘Ten thousand francs which I have scattered in the last two weeks, give me such a fright, seize me with such pity that I no longer know how to count my income. In the last three days, wood has risen from 4,200 francs to 6,500 and all the costs of transporting and piling are in proportion, so that my load of wood has cost me 7,100 francs. Every week it costs from 700 to 800 francs for a _pot-au-feu_, and other meat without counting butter, eggs, and a thousand other details; laundry work has increased so that 8,000 francs are not enough for one month. All this makes me impatient and I solemnly affirm that I have not for two years allowed myself a luxury, or gratified a single whim, or made any other expenditures but for the house; nevertheless the needs I have are urgent enough to make me need potfulls of money.’ “But if the sister of Beaumarchais is at the point of famine, the wife and the daughter are no better off; I see in the correspondence of Madame de Beaumarchais that one of her friends went the rounds of the neighborhood to try to obtain some bread which was becoming rarer than diamonds; ‘I am told,’ she wrote, the 5th of June 1795, ‘that at Briare, flour is to be had, if that is true I will make a bargain with some country man and send it direct to you by the barge which goes from Briare to Paris, but that will greatly increase the cost. Please tell me what you think, while waiting I still hope to get hold of a small loaf somewhere. Oh, if I had the gift of miracles, I would send you, not manna from heaven—but good bread and very white!’