Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 02.djvu/281

Rh .—Well, sir, how much will these fourscore millions of acres yield of revenue, estimated in money?

.—The account is ready made; they will produce two thousand four hundred millions of livres of the present currency.

.—I have read that Solomon possessed, of his own property, twenty-five thousand millions of livres, in ready money; and certainly there are not two thousand four hundred millions of specie circulating in France, which, I am told, is much greater and much richer than Solomon's country.

.—There lies the mystery. There may be about nine hundred millions circulating throughout the kingdom, and this money, passing from hand to hand, is sufficient to pay for all the produce of the land and of industry. The same crown may pass ten times from the pocket of the cultivator into that of the ale-housekeeper and of the tax-gatherer.

.—I apprehend you. But you told me that we are, in all, about twenty millions of inhabitants, men, women, old and young. How much, pray, do you allow for each?

.—One hundred and twenty livres, or forty crowns.

.—You have just guessed my revenue. I have four acres, which,