A few thousand large handsome trees and
the three or four hundred thousand saplings, young and old, of the
reserve, contain more useful and valuable wood than the twenty or
thirty millions shrubs, bushes and heathers put together. It is the
same in a community which has existed for a long time under a
tolerably strict system of justice and police; almost the entire gain
of a secular civilization is found concentrated in its notables,
which, taking it all in all, was the state of French society in
1789.[48]
Let us first consider the most prominent personages. - It is
certain, that, among the aristocracy, the wealthiest and most
conspicuous families had ceased to render services proportionate to
the cost of their maintenance. Most of the seigniors and ladies of
the Court, the worldly bishops, abb?s, and parliamentarians of the
drawing-room, knew but little more than how to solicit with address,
make a graceful parade of themselves and spend lavishly. An ill-
understood system of culture had diverted them from their natural
avocations, and converted them into showy and agreeable specimens of
vegetation, often hollow, blighted, sapless and over-pruned, besides
being very costly, over-manured and too freely watered; and the
skillful gardening which shaped, grouped and arranged them in
artificial forms and bouquets, rendered their fruit abortive that
flowers might be multiplied.
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