Revolutionszeit’ contains the best existing account of the economic condition of Paris between 1789 and 1800. As it is improbable that those for whom this book is in the first place intended will have any idea of the amount represented by so many thousand or million livres, I have invariably given the English equivalent of the French money, following the table inserted by Arthur Young in his ‘Travels in France.’ After the introduction of the revolutionary calendar, I have in giving dates followed the table in ‘L’Art de vérifier les Dates.’ In consequence of the different system of intercalation pursued in the two calendars, the correspondence of dates varies from year to year, and in consequence of leaving this fact unnoticed even French historians sometimes give the date in the old style wrongly. I have only further to add that the purple lines upon the map of France in provinces represent the frontiers where customs duties were levied under the old Monarchy. They are copied from a map published with Necker’s works. It will be seen that Alsace and Lorraine, as well as Bayonne and Dunkirk, were allowed to trade freely with the foreigner. Marseilles enjoyed the same privilege. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. FEUDALISM AND THE MONARCHY. PAGE The Monarchy in France 1 Social condition of France 3 Feudal rights 4 Condition of the Church 6 Government and administration 7 The privileged classes 8 Taxation 9 Condition of the People 11 Interference with trade 13 Public opinion in France 13 Voltaire and his followers 13 The Encyclopædists 14 The Church and Christian Theology attacked 15 The Economists 16 Rousseau 16 CHAPTER II. FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XVI., 1774–1789.