It is somewhat difficult to trace the history of this lesser provincial nobility, engaged sometimes in petty wars, sometimes in the cultivation of their domains. In a book glorifying the humble service of ancient French society, _Gentilshommes Campagnards_, M. Pierre de Vaissiere has shown how this race of rural proprietors lived in the closest contact with French agriculture, counseling and defending the peasant, clearing and cultivating their land, and maintaining their families by its produce. In his _Memoires_, the famous Retif de la Bretonne paints in the most picturesque manner the patriarchal and authoritative manners of his grandfather who, by virtue of his own unquestioned authority prevented his descendant from leaving his native village and establishing in Paris. Paris was already exercising its fascination and uprooting the youth of the time. The Court of Versailles had already weakened the social authority of families still attached to their lands. [Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors in the original were corrected: batallion (to battalion) Fleugzeg (to Flugzeug) eclaties (to eclatiez) Kamfflieger (to Kampfflieger)]