ncs at Paris and 50 francs in the
provinces. Every graduate who begin to lecture on law or medicine
must pay beforehand 150 francs at Paris and 100 francs in the
provinces.[6111] There is the same annual duty on the directors of
secondary schools, boarding-schools and private institutions. Moreover,
to obtain the indispensable license, the master of a boarding-school at
Paris must pay 300 francs, and in a province 200 francs; the principal
of an institution in Paris pays 600 francs, and in the provinces 400
francs; besides that, this license, always revocable, is granted only
for ten years; at the end of the ten years the titular must obtain
a renewal and pay the tax anew. As to his pupils, of whatever kind,
boarding scholars, day scholars, or even gratis,[6112] the University
levies on each a tax equal to the twentieth of the cost of full board;
the director himself of the establishment is the one who fixes and
levies the tax; he is the responsible collector of it, book-keeper
and the debtor. Let him not forget to declare exactly the terms of his
school and the number of his pupils; otherwise, there is investigation,
verification, condemnation, restitution, fine, censure, and the possible
closing of his establishment.

Regulations, stricter and stricter, tighten the cord around his neck
and, in 1811, the rigid articles of the last decree draw so tight as to
insure certain strangling at short date. Napoleon counts on that.[6113]
For his lycees, especially at the start, have not succeeded; they have
failed to obtain the confidence of families;[6114] the discipline is too
military, the education is not sufficiently paternal, the principals and
professors are only indifferent functionaries, more or less egoist or
worldly. Only former subaltern officers, rude and foul-mouthed, serve
as superintendents and assistant-teachers. The holders of State
scholarships bring with them "habits fashioned out of a bad education,"
or by the ignorance of almost no education at all,[6115] so that "for
a child that is well born and well brought up," their companionship is
lopsided and their contact as harmful as it is repulsive. Consequently,
the lycees during the first years,[6116] solely filled with the few
holders of scholarships, remain deserted or scarcely occupied, whilst
"the elite of the young crowd into more or less expensive private
schools."

This elite of which the University is thus robbed must be got back.
Since the young do