Nevertheless, all over Lorraine and Alsace the Jews, during this century, were harshly dealt with. Their usurious exactions rendered them odious to the people, as indeed had been the case with their ancestors for many generations. In Strasburg only a few Jewish families were allowed to reside. In Lorraine the laws of Duke Leopold, made in 1724, continued long in force. By these only 180 families were permitted to reside and to carry on trade; and even these were required to live within the Jewish quarters. When the Edict of Nantes was revoked, and all the subjects of the King of France were required to accept the ordinances of the Catholic Church, the Jews in France were in some danger of persecution. But the act seems never to have been carried out so far as they were concerned. As before, the clergy were too busy in enforcing the law against Huguenots to trouble themselves about a handful of Jews. But, though they were kindly treated, it would be a mistake to suppose that they were naturalized, as some writers have affirmed. It is said that they offered the Regent Orleans two million livres in exchange for the privilege of naturalization—a sum which that impecunious potentate would have been well pleased to lay his hands on. But he was afraid of the unpopularity he would incur by the act, and refused the offer. The writer of the pamphlet respecting the Naturalization Bill of 1753, quoted in a previous chapter, says: ‘It is a vulgar error to suppose that the Jews in France were naturalized subjects; and any Frenchman of whom you asked the question would laugh in your face.’ It appears to have been only in certain cities that the Jews were allowed to reside permanently. In Lyons they could only reside three months consecutively. In Paris it is said their residence was altogether prohibited. Louis XV. appears to have treated them with kindness, and to have discouraged a step which was made to abridge their privileges. He also showed much favour to the celebrated Samuel Bernard, the famous banker of his day, who afterwards became a convert to the Church. As the century advanced, and Voltaire and the Encyclopædists began to exercise a wide influence in France, it might have been expected that they would have exerted it in favour of the Jews; who, although they were no longer exposed to the terrible sufferings they had undergone in previous generations, were still subject to a more modified religious persecution—a thing utterly abhorrent to the writers in question. But the Encyclopædists disliked the Jews almost as much as the Christians. The Hebrew race had suffered cruelly in previous ages, as being the enemies of the Gospel. But in the eyes of the infidel writers they were almost as objectionable, as being the living witnesses of its truth. No Dominican persecutor of the fifteenth century would have viewed the Jews with more contempt and hatred than does Voltaire, the advocate of religious tolerance.