est part of two months, to the astonishment of all the
people in the country; yet during all that time I have enjoyed good
health and spirits. On Christmas-Eve, I went to the cathedral at
midnight, to hear high mass celebrated by the new bishop of Nice, in
pontificalibus, and stood near two hours uncovered in a cold gallery,
without having any cause in the sequel to repent of my curiosity. In a
word, I am now so well that I no longer despair of seeing you and the
rest of my friends in England; a pleasure which is eagerly desired
by,--Dear Sir, Your affectionate humble Servant.

LETTER XXXVI

NICE, March 23, 1766.

DEAR SIR,--You ask whether I think the French people are more taxed
than the English; but I apprehend, the question would be more apropos
if you asked whether the French taxes are more insupportable than the
English; for, in comparing burthens, we ought always to consider the
strength of the shoulders that bear them. I know no better way of
estimating the strength, than by examining the face of the country, and
observing the appearance of the common people, who constitute the bulk
of every nation. When I, therefore, see the country of England smiling
with cultivation; the grounds exhibiting all the perfection of
agriculture, parcelled out into beautiful inclosures, cornfields, hay
and pasture, woodland and common, when I see her meadows well stocked
with black cattle, her downs covered with sheep; when I view her teams
of horses and oxen, large and strong, fat and sleek; when I see her
farm-houses the habitations of plenty, cleanliness, and convenience;
and her peasants well fed, well lodged, well cloathed, tall and stout,
and hale and jolly; I cannot help concluding that the people are well
able to bear those impositions which the public necessities have
rendered necessary. On the other hand, when I perceive such signs of
poverty, misery and dirt, among the commonalty of France, their
unfenced fields dug up in despair, without the intervention of meadow
or fallow ground, without cattle to furnish manure, without horses to
execute the plans of agriculture; their farm-houses mean, their
furniture wretched, their apparel beggarly; themselves and their beasts
the images of famine; I cannot help thinking they groan under
oppression, either from their landlords, or their government; probably
from both.

The principal impositions of the French government are these: first,
the taille, payed by all the common