they are generally kind to the villager. "Let any one travel through
the provinces," says a contemporary advocate, "over the estates
occupied by the seigniors. Out of one hundred one may be found
tyrannizing his dependents; all the others, patiently share the misery
of those subject to their jurisdiction . . . They give their debtors
time, remit sums due, and afford them every facility for settlement.
They mollify and temper the sometimes over-rigorous proceedings of the
fermiers, stewards and other men of business."[8] An Englishwoman, who
observes them in Provence just after the Revolution, says that,
detested at Aix, they are much beloved on their estates. "Whilst they
pass the first citizens with their heads erect and an air of disdain,
they salute peasants with extreme courtesy and affability." One of
them distributes among the women, children and the aged on his domain
wool and flax to spin during the bad season, and, at the end of the
year, he offers a prize of one hundred livres for the two best pieces
of cloth. In numerous instances the peasant-purchasers of their land
voluntarily restore it for the purchase money. Around Paris, near
Romainville, after the terrible storm of 1788 there is prodigal alms-
giving; "a very wealthy man immediately distributes forty thousand
francs among the surrounding unfortunates." During the winter, in
Alsace and in Paris, everybody is giving; "in front of each hotel
belonging to a well-known family a big log is burning to which, night
and day, the poor can come and warm themselves." In the way of
charity, the monks who remain on their premises and witness the public
misery continue faithful to the spirit of their institution. On the
birth of the Dauphin the Augustins of Montmorillon in Poitou pay out
of their own resources the tailles and corvées of nineteen poor
families. In 1781, in Provence, the Dominicans of Saint Maximin
support the population of their district in which the tempest had
destroyed the vines and the olive trees. "The Carthusians of Paris