l'emportait. See note on p. vii

1. 21. V abondance des assignats. The assignats, so called because their value was assigned on the national domains, were established by virtue of a law passed December 21, 1789. Towards the end of the Convention the number of assignats in circulation represented the immense sum of 40,000,000,000 francs, and they had become so depreciated that a 200 fr. assignat was only worth one franc. **The man who in the year 1790 had received a loan of 10,000 francs, bought a similar amount in paper, in the summer of 1795, for 20 louis d'or; and the creditor who received thèse assignats for his demand saw them melt in about four weeks to the value of 12 or 15 louis.*' (Von Sybel, vol. m. p. 333.)