The nation was assured that there was no reason for uneasiness, that there was more than a sufficient supply of food, and that the scarcity had been produced by the villanous arts of misers, who locked up their stores in the hope of making enormous gains.

Commissioners were appointed to inspect the granaries, and were empowered to send to market all the corn that was not necessary for the consumption of the proprietors.

Such interference of course increased the suffering which it was meant to relieve.

But in the midst of the general distress there was an artificial plenty in one favoured spot.

The most arbitrary prince must always stand in some awe of an immense mass of human beings collected in the neighbourhood of his own palace.