tax. "In Burgundy[5211] it is common to see a poor mechanic,
without any property, taxed eighteen and twenty livres for his poll-tax
and the taille." In Limousin,[5212] all the money brought back by the
masons in winter serves "to pay the taxes charged to their families." As
to the rural day-laborers and the settlers (colons) the proprietor, even
when privileged, who employs them, is obliged to take upon himself a
part of their quota, otherwise, being without anything to eat, they
cannot work,[5213] even in the interest of the master; man must have his
ration of bread the same as an ox his ration of hay. "In Brittany,[5214]
it is notorious that nine-tenths of the artisans, though poorly fed and
poorly clothed, have not a crown free of debt at the end of the year,"
the poll-tax and others carrying off this only and last crown. At
Paris[5215] "the dealer in ashes, the buyer of old bottles, the gleaner
of the gutters, the peddlers of old iron and old hats," the moment they
obtain a shelter pay the poll-tax of three livres and ten sous each. To
ensure its payment the occupant of a house who sub-lets to them is
made responsible. Moreover, in case of delay, a "blue man," a bailiff's
subordinate, is sent who installs himself on the spot and whose time
they have to pay for. Mercier cites a mechanic, named Quatremain,
who, with four small children, lodged in the sixth story, where he had
arranged a chimney as a sort of alcove in which he and his family
slept. "One day I opened his door, fastened with a latch only, the room
presenting to view nothing but the walls and a vice; the man, coming
out from under his chimney, half sick, says to me, 'I thought it was the
blue man for the poll-tax."' Thus, whatever the condition of the person
subject to taxation, however stripped and destitute, the dexterous hands
of the fisc take hold of him. Mistakes cannot possibly occur: it puts on
no disguise, it comes on the appointed day and rudely lays its hand
on his shoulder. The garret and the hut, as well as the farm and the
farmhouse know the collector, the constable and the bailiff; no hovel
escapes the detestable brood. The people sow, harvest their crops, work
and undergo privation for their benefit; and, should the pennies so
painfully saved each week amount, at the end of the year to a piece of
silver, the mouth of their pouch closes over it.

IV. Collections And Seizures.--Observe the system actually at work. It
is a sort of sheari