ejtcore que, al though

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1. 6. ne déroge pas, does not make persons lose caste. '^Déroger, faire une chose qui entraînait la perte des droits et des privilèges de la noblesse."

1. 14. pouvait coîitenir. It will be convenient to give hère, in a gênerai note, the principal dates connected with the varions commercial companies alluded to by Voltaire, i. Compagnie des Indes Orientales, founded in 16 15, by Louis XIII, very unsucccssful at first ; reorganized by Colbert (August 1664), amalgamated in 17 19 with the Compagnie de rOccidetit, and thus formed the Compagnie des Indes. 2. Compagnie de VAcadie, founded in 1683 for the purpose of the fur-trade with North America ; its charter ended in 1703, at which epoch the Company was broken up. 3. Compagnie du Car.ada succeeded in 1706 to the Compagnie de VAcadie, and was amalgamated in its turn with the Compagnie des Indes. 4. Compagnie du Nord, founded in 1669. 5. Compagjiie d'Occident, founded in 1717 for the exclusive trade with Louisiana ; its privilège was to last twenty-five years. 6. Compagnie des Indes, formed in 17 19 by the amalgamation of the Compagnie des Indes-Orientales, de la Chine (founded in 1687) and de r Occident. This new trading association was the work of the financier Law, and its connection with the spéculations of that enterprising man justifies Voltaire's statement that it was " reproduite de nos jours par des secousses singulières. "

1. 17. avec df/iance. M. Pierre Clément, on the contrary, speaks {Ilist. de Colbert) of the "mémoires très-sérieux et sensés de ce fertile abbé."

1. 19. On lui sut âr'c., people were much more angry with hini for &c.

1. 2 1.. quclcptcs rentes ô^c, some public funds, or stocks, held at the Hôtel de Ville, which acted then as a sort of Royal Exchange for the purchase or exchange of public stocks. Some of thèse investments had been sold at a loss by Foucquet when in need of money, and it was the object of Colbert to redress the balance in favour of the government: see next note and below, p. 86, 1. 34.

1. 24. qîi il faisait. The measure enforced by Colbert was severe but necessary; the only fault was the arbitrary manner in which the minister carried out his views. " On peut blâmer la rigueur excessive et empreinte d'arbitraire avec laquelle Colbert, devenu le maître, procéda à la répression des abus dont son honnêteté s'était révoltée. Les retranchements et suppressions de rentes qu'il pratiqua à cette époque, occasionnèrent, bien que suggérés par un ardent patriotisme, et malgré l'indignité d'un certain nombre de rentiers, des réclamations assurément légitimes. Mais ce qu'on ne saurait trop louer, c'est la réserve avec laquelle, au milieu des circonstances les plus critiques, il usa du crédit, et la résolution, réalisée immédiatement après la guerre, de rembourser des rentes onéreuses avec le produit de nouvelles rentes émises dans de meilleures conditions." (P. ClévcïQwt, Histoire de Colbert, vol. I. chap. Vii.) The billets de Pépargne (treasury bonds) under the administration of Foucquet had become as worthless as the assignats were afterwards during the Révolution.

plus de botu'gcois que de citoyens. Note the distinction between a bourgeois whose sympathies do not extend further than the rights and privilèges of his town, parish, corporation, or guild, and a citoyen, who, on the contrary, is ready to sacrifice thèse rights and privilèges for the good of the whole country.

1. 32. avec complaisance, with satisfaction. The anecdote hère alluded to was first published by Amelot de la Houssaye in his Mémoires historiqîies, vol. II. p. 99.

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1. 2. V esprit philosophique, the spirit of liberalism. Philosophique hère means unprejudiced.