ters who relinquished office,
             " How lucky you are! Why can't I resign too? "2
             Still impressionable and sensitive, his true feelings remained concealed behind a facade once blunt and severe. As kind hearted as ever, the king could not bring himself to be gracious to his courtiers, to offer them sympathy in times of grief or illness, to speak to them other than off handedly or with harsh banter and tactless.
             The king had no interest in the state affairs of France. Laboriously painstakingly, the king occupied himself for hours with petty details, minor cash accounts and lists of game killed in forests. As though to avoid the wider, complicated problems that the state was experiencing; showing a total lack of interest in most matters. When the king took some sort of interest in state affairs, he was always influence by his noblemen; and hence doing no thinking for himself nor showing his own opinions. The first estate controlled most of France, and controlled most areas of French society. During the Ancien regime the church was unrivalled in terms of social, economic and spiritual power. The first order, or estate of the realm owned nearly 10% of all land in France; estimated at an area of 20,000 square miles. The income from the land, property and tithes totalled over 150,000,000 livres a year. As the most privileged constitution in the state, it paid no direct taxes; instead negotiating a free gift to the crown once every five years.
             The vast majority of Frenchmen opposed the church. The church was riddled with corruption, and was least concerned about the spiritual views it was meant to be preaching. The Church clergy in France numbered no more than 100,000 people, yet it controlled all aspects of French society. The church as an institution was not only rich but powerful, the church held considerable influence over government policy. Nearly all schools in France were in the hands of the churc...