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One of the Italians was farmer-general for one of the Roman princes; he was a man of broad views, and having traveled to Paris and London, came home with ultra-liberal sentiments, and to Bagswell's astonishment, spoke his mind so clearly on the Roman rulers, that our Englishman's eyes were slightly opened at the by no means complimentary expressions used toward the wire-workers of the Papal government.
We farmed the general wretchedness, and the First Hall-man was Farmer-General over all of us. We held our particular grafts by his permission, and we had to pay for that permission. As I say, he was reputed to be wealthy; but we never saw his money, and he lived in a cell all to himself in solitary grandeur.
This verdant country-seat owes its origin to a farmer-general of the good old times, a certain Bergeret, celebrated for his originality; who among other fantastic dandyisms adopted the habit of going to the opera, with his hair powdered in gold; he used to light up his park for his own solitary delectation and on one occasion ordered a sumptuous entertainment there, in which he alone took part.
He was driven on, and other carriages came whirling by in quick succession; the Minister, the State-Projector, the Farmer-General, the Doctor, the Lawyer, the Ecclesiastic, the Grand Opera, the Comedy, the whole Fancy Ball in a bright continuous flow, came whirling by.
One of her relations, or friends, was a candidate for a vacant post as farmer-general, and besought her to make some useful efforts for him. "I have no one but Madame de Maintenon," she replied to this relation. And the other said to her: "Madame de Maintenon? It is as though you had the King himself!"
"He could like to take a trip to England," and asked much of the English ladies. Stay where you are, I beseech you, Monsieur le Marquis, said I. Les Messieurs Anglois can scarce get a kind look from them as it is. The Marquis invited me to supper. Monsieur P-, the farmer-general, was just as inquisitive about our taxes. They were very considerable, he heard.
His body was taken into the Beaujon Chapel before burial, so that he passed for the last time, as Victor Hugo remarks, through that door, the key of which was more precious to him than all the beautiful gardens which had belonged to the old Farmer-General. The funeral service was held on Wednesday, August 20th, at the Church of Sainte Philippe du Roule.
When, in 1765, she became a mother, her husband's family became reconciled to his union, and, later on, took her to court. Before her marriage, upon the departure of her father to San Domingo to retrieve his fortunes, her mother had found an asylum for her at the elegant home of the farmer-general M. de La Popelinière.
One only, Samuel Bernard, a rich banker, and farmer-general of a province remote from the capital, was sentenced to death. So great had been the illegal profits of this man, looked upon as the tyrant and oppressor of his district, that he offered six millions of livres, or 250,000 pounds sterling, to be allowed to escape. His bribe was refused, and he suffered the penalty of death.
"In 1747," says Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his "Confessions," "we went to spend the autumn in Touraine, at the Château of Chenonceaux, a royal residence upon the Cher, built by Henry II. for Diana of Poitiers, whose initials are still to be seen there, and now in possession of M. Dupin, the farmer-general.
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