An account of the miserable and lamentable condition of the subjects of France, in a letter from a gentleman of Paris, of good credit, to his kinsman here in London

1694

Oxford Text Archive

AN ACCOUNT Of the miserable and lamentable Condition Of the Subjects of France, In a LETTER from a Gentleman of Paris, of good Credit, to his Kinsman here in London. Licenced the 13th of March, 1693/4.

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AN ACCOUNT Of the miserable and lamentable Condition Of the Subjects of France, In a LETTER from a Gentleman of Paris, of good Credit, to his Kinsman here in London.
Licenced the 13th of March, 1693/4.

Paris, the 24th of February, 1694.

SIR,

ILE tell you that we are here in a very deplorable condition, the misery is so great that it is incredible: There dye many People every day, small and great, with hunger and necessity. There is nothing heard Day and Night in the streets but the groans of the Poor which cry out for hunger, and that they have eaten no Bread these three days, and are forced to seek in the filth thrown in the streets such nasty things as the Dogs will hardly eat. They go to the Butchers to fetch buckets of blood of Beeves and Sheep, which they boyl in Water without Salt, and when tis thickned they eat it for want of Bread, and what is more surprising, is, when any Horse dies and the Skinner carries the Carcass to the place appointed for it, the poor People run after the Carrian more eagerly (without comparison) than the Dogs, to take every one a piece to eat: and eight days since there dyed a Horse, belonging to a Neighbour of of mine, of Rottenness and the Farcye: as soon as he was skinn'd he was taken away in the Court, so that he could not reserve any for his Dogs.

This passeth the thought and the imagination to see that a Kingdom (so abounding and rich as France was very lately, where you would say God was pleased to shed abroade his most precious Blessings, is now in so lamentable a condition. It is visible, that there appears an extraordinary Chastisement of Heaven, and that since he hath withdrawn his Light from amongst us, for our Chastisement he hath withdrawn his most precious favours. Its feared that in Summer there will happen some dangerous Sickness by the bad sustenance and so many nasty things which the greatest number of the People eat to sustain their hunger and their life.

And as if a bloody War were not enough, and a troublesome one too, which occasions great distractions every where, tis to be feared that it will draw after it the two other Plagues upon us for the crimes and the great number of sins we have committed, which have provoked Heaven against Mortals; insomuch that our cries and groans do not reach him to have pity on us: and I must avow that we have deserved it and condemn our selves in his holy Presence: I assure you (my dear Cousin) that I live here a languishing life deprived of all spiritual food, and as for what is necessary for this Corporal life. We liv'd better heretofore for 400 Livers than we can now for 1000; which throws daily a great many People into extream want and necessity, and to sell all they have to live and get Bread.

LONDON, Printed by J. Wilkins, 1694.

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