What a frightful revolution! Three mistaken Aldermen, aided by public ignorance, have brought down on us this terrible calamity.
_Son._ Tell me this story, my father.
_Father._ It is very simple.

Under the pretext of establishing three new trades at Paris, and of thus supplying labor to the workmen, these men secured the prohibition of wood, butter, and meats.

They assumed the right of supplying their fellow-citizens with them.

These articles rose immediately to an exorbitant price.

Nobody made enough to buy them, and the few who could procure them by using up all they made were unable to buy anything else; consequently all branches of industry stopped at once--all the more so because the provinces no longer offered a market.
Misery, death, and emigration began to depopulate Paris.
_Son._ When will this stop?
_Father._ When Paris has become a meadow and a forest.
_Son._ The three Aldermen must have made a great fortune.
_Father._ At first they made immense profits, but at length they were involved in the common misery.
_Son._ How was that possible?
_Father._ You see this ruin; it was a magnificent house, surrounded by a fine park.