icially appointed to assess this obligatory use of salt and, like the
collectors of the taille, these are "jointly responsible for the price
of the salt." Others below them, ever following the same course as in
collecting the taille, are likewise responsible. "After the former have
been seized in their persons and property, the speculator fermier
is authorized to commence action, under the principle of mutual
responsibility, against the principal inhabitants of the parish."
The effects of this system have just been described. Accordingly, "in
Normandy," says the Rouen parliament,[5233] "unfortunates without bread
are daily objects of seizure, sale and execution."

But if the rigor is as great as in the matter of the taille, the
vexations are ten times greater, for these are domestic, minute and
of daily occurrence.--It is forbidden to divert an ounce of the seven
obligatory pounds to any use but that of the "pot and the salt-cellar."
If a villager should economize the salt of his soup to make brine for a
piece of pork, with a view to winter consumption, let him look out for
the collecting-clerks! His pork is confiscated and the fine is three
hundred livres. The man must come to the warehouse and purchase other
salt, make a declaration, carry off a certificate and show this at
every visit of inspection. So much the worse for him if he has not the
wherewithal to pay for this supplementary salt; he has only to sell his
pig and abstain from meat at Christmas. This is the more frequent case,
and I dare say that, for the metayers who pay twenty-five francs per
annum, it is the usual case.--It is forbidden to make use of any other
salt for the pot and salt-cellar than that of the seven pounds. "I am
able to cite," says Letrosne, "two sisters residing one league from a
town in which the warehouse is open only on Saturday. Their supply was
exhausted. To pass three or four days until Saturday comes they boil a
remnant of brine from which they extract a few ounces of salt. A visit
from the clerk ensues and a proces-verbal. Having friends and protectors
this costs them only forty-eight livres."--It is forbidden to take water
from the ocean and from other saline sources, under a penalty of from
twenty to forty livres fine. It is forbidden to water cattle in marshes
and other places containing salt, under penalty of confiscation and
a fine of three hundred livres. It is forbidden to put salt into
the bellies of mackerel on returning f