lay before M. Necker a picture of the frightful condition of
Touraine and of Orléanais. Every letter I receive from these two
provinces is the narrative of three or four riots, which are put
down with difficulty by the troops and constabulary,"[15] -- and
throughout the whole extent of the kingdom a similar state of things
is seen. The women, as is natural, are generally at the head of
these outbreaks. It is they who, at Montlhéry, rip open the sacks
of grain with their scissors. On learning each week, on market day
that the price of a loaf of bread advances three, four, or seven
sous, they break out into shrieks of rage: at this rate for bread,
with the small salaries of the men, and when work fails,[16] how can
a family be fed? Crowds gather around the sacks of flour and the
doors of the bakers. Amidst outcries and reproaches some one in the
crowd makes a push; the proprietor or dealer is hustled and knocked
down. The shop is invaded, the commodity is in the hands of the
buyers and of the famished, each one grabbing for himself, pay or no
pay, and running away with the booty. -- Sometimes a party is made
up beforehand[17] At Bray-sur-Seine, on the 1st of May, the
villagers for four leagues around, armed with stones, knives, and
cudgels, to the number of four thousand, compel the metayers and
farmers, who have brought grain with them, to sell it at 3 livres,
instead of 4 livres 10 sous the bushel. They threaten to do the
same thing on the following market-day: but the farmers do not
return, the storehouse remains empty. Now soldiers must be at hand,
or the inhabitants of Bray will be pillaged. At Bagnols, in
Languedoc, on the 1st and 2nd of April, the peasants, armed with
cudgels and assembled by tap of drum, "traverse the town,
threatening to burn and destroy everything if flour and money are
not given to them." They go to private houses for grain, divide it
amongst themselves at a reduced price, "promising to pay when the