Very Few Of Them Have Above Six
Thousand Livres A Year, Which May Amount To About Two Hundred And
Fifty Pounds Sterling; And Many Of Them Have Not Half This
Revenue.
I think there is one heiress, said to be worth one
hundred thousand livres, about four thousand two hundred pounds;
but then her jewels, her cloaths, and even her linen, are
reckoned part of this fortune.
The noblesse have not the common
sense to reside at their houses in the country, where, by farming
their own grounds, they might live at a small expence, and
improve their estates at the same time. They allow their country
houses to go to decay, and their gardens and fields to waste; and
reside in dark holes in the Upper Town of Boulogne without light,
air, or convenience. There they starve within doors,
that they may have wherewithal to purchase fine cloaths, and
appear dressed once a day in the church, or on the rampart. They
have no education, no taste for reading, no housewifery, nor
indeed any earthly occupation, but that of dressing their hair,
and adorning their bodies. They hate walking, and would never go
abroad, if they were not stimulated by the vanity of being seen.
I ought to except indeed those who turn devotees, and spend the
greatest part of their time with the priest, either at church or
in their own houses. Other amusements they have none in this
place, except private parties of card-playing, which are far from
being expensive.
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