, mayor, and
receiver-general, became a purchasable office, filled sometimes by two
provosts at a time. The burghers no longer found justice or security in
the city where the king resided. At his return from his first crusade,
Louis recognized the necessity for applying a remedy to this evil; the
provostship ceased to be a purchasable office; and he made it separate
from the receivership of the royal domain. In 1258 he chose as provost
Stephen Boileau, a burgher of note and esteem in Paris; and in order to
give this magistrate the authority of which he had need, the king
sometimes came and sat beside him when he was administering justice at
the Chatelet. Stephen Boileau justified the king's confidence, and
maintained so strict a police that he had his own godson hanged for
theft. His administrative foresight was equal to his judicial severity.
He established registers wherein were to be inscribed the rules
habitually followed in respect of the organization and work of the
different corporations of artisans, the tariffs of the dues charged, in
the name of the king, upon the admittance of provisions and merchandise,
and the titles on which the abbots and other lords founded the privileges
they enjoyed within the walls of Paris. The corporations of artisans,
represented by their sworn masters or prud'hommes, appeared one after the
other before the provost to make declaration of the usages in practice
amongst their communities, and to have them registered in the book
prepared for that purpose. This collection of regulations relating to
the arts and trades of Paris in the thirteenth century, known under the
name of _Livre des Metiers d'Etienne Boileau,_ is the earliest monument
of industrial statistics drawn up by the French administration, and it
was inserted, for the first time in its entirety, in 1837, amongst the
_Collection des Documents relatifs d l'Histoire de France,_ published
during M. Guizot's ministry of public instruction.

St. Louis would be but very incompletely understood if we considered him
only in his political and kingly aspect; we must penetrate into his
private life, and observe his personal intercourse with his family, his
household, and his people, if we would properly understand and appreciate
all the originality and moral worth of his character and his life.
Mention has already been made of his relations towards the two queens,
his mother and his wife; and, difficult as they were, they were
n