says another memorandum, every beneficiary must give a quarter
of his income to the poor; nevertheless in our parish there is a revenue
of more than twelve thousand livres, and none of it is given to the poor
unless it is some small matter at the hands of the curate." "The abbe
de Conches gets one-half of the tithes and contributes nothing to the
relief of the parish." Elsewhere, "the chapter of Ecouis, which owns the
benefice of the tithes is of no advantage to the poor, and only seeks
to augment its income." Nearby, the abbe of Croix-Leufroy, "a heavy
tithe-owner, and the abbe de Bernay, who gets fifty-seven thousand
livres from his benefice, and who is a non-resident, keep all and
scarcely give enough to their officiating curates to keep them alive."
"I have in my parish, says a curate of Berry,[1343] six simple benefices
of which the titularies are always absent. They enjoy together an
income of nine thousand livres; I sent them in writing the most urgent
entreaties during the calamity of the past year; I received from one
them two louis only, and most of them did not even answer me." Stronger
is the reason for a conviction that in ordinary times they will make no
remission of their dues. Moreover, these dues, the censives, the lods et
ventes, tithes, and the like, are in the hands of a steward, and he is a
good steward who returns a large amount of money. He has no right to be
generous at his master's expense, and he is tempted to turn the subjects
of his master to his own profit. In vain might the soft seignorial hand
be disposed to be easy or paternal; the hard hand of the proxy bears
down on the peasants with all its weight, and the caution of a chief
gives place to the exactions of a clerk.--How is it then when, instead
of a clerk on the domain, a fermier is found, an adjudicator who, for
an annual sum, purchases of seignior the management and product of his
dues? In election of Mayenne,[1344] and certainly also in many others,
the principal domains are rented in this way. Moreover there are a
number of dues, like the tolls, the market-place tax, that on the flock
apart, the monopoly of the oven and of the mill which can scarcely be
managed otherwise; the seignior must necessarily employ an adjudicator
who spares him the disputes and trouble of collecting.[1345] This
happens often and the demands and the greed of the contractor, who is
determined to gain or, at least, not to lose, falls on the peasantry:

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