he roads are bad,
especially in winter. The trade consists principally of horned cattle
and embraces grain; the woods rot away on account of their remoteness
from the towns and the difficulty of turning them to account."[6201]

"This estate," says the act of valuation, "is in royal tenure on account
of the king's chateau and fortress of Ainay, under the designation of
the town of Blet." The town was formerly fortified and its castle still
remains. Its population was once large, "but the civil wars of the
sixteenth century, and especially the emigration of the Protestants
caused it to be deserted to such an extent that out of its former
population of 3,000 scarcely 300 remain,[6202] which is the fate of
nearly all the towns in this country." The estate of Blet, for many
centuries in the possession of the Sully family, passed, on the marriage
of the heiress in 1363, to the house of Saint-Quentin, and was then
transmitted in direct line down to 1748, the date of the death
of Alexander II. of Saint-Quentins, Count of Diet, governor of
Berg-op-Zoom, and father of three daughters from whom the actual heirs
descend. These heirs are the Count de Simiane, the Chevalier de Simiane,
and the minors of Bercy, each party owning one-third, represented by
97,667 livres in the Blet estate, and 20,408 livres in the Brosses
estate. The eldest, Comte de Simiane, enjoys, besides, a preciput
(according to custom in the Bourbonnais), worth 15,000 livres,
comprising the castle with the adjoining farm and the seigniorial
rights, honorary as well as profitable.

The entire domain, comprising both estates, is valued at 369,227 livres.
The estate of Blet, comprises 1,437 arpents, worked by seven farmers and
furnished, by the proprietor, with cattle valued at 13,781 livres. They
pay together to the proprietor 12,060 livres rent (besides claims for
poultry and corvees). One, only, has a large farm, paying 7,800 livres
per annum, the others paying rents of 1,300, 740, 640, and 240 livres
per annum. The Brosses estate comprises 515 arpents, worked by two
farmers to whom the proprietor furnishes cattle estimated at 3,750
livres, and these together return to the proprietor 2,240 livres.[6203]
These metairies are all poor; only one of them has two rooms with
fire-places; two or three, one room with a fire-place; the others
consist of a kitchen with an oven outside, and stables and barns.
Repairs on the tenements are essential on all the farms except thr