Note 4 — Front matter

One part of the taille, that which fell upon the cultivator, reached the privileged orders indirectly through their farmers, but even then there were certain exemptions in their favour. The franc-fief was the tax of one year's revenue levied every twenty years on non-noble holders of noble lands. The calculation of income given here I take from the note on the subject contained in the appendix to M. Taine's volume on the Ancien Régime, which is founded on the procès-verbaux of the provincial assemblies. On an income of 100 francs, he estimates the taille (with its accessories), the poll-tax, and the road-tax together, at 42 fr. 15 c.; the two vingtièmes at 11 fr., the tithe at 14 fr. 28 c., and the feudal dues at 14 fr. 28 c.; total 81 fr. 71 c.