which preceded the outbreak of the Revolution. Two 
     centuries before, the very material for such a conception 
     would, so to speak, have been wanting.
          Not only did the provinces resemble each other more 
     and more, but in each province the men of different 
     classes, at least all those who ranked above the common 
     people, became more and more alike, despite the 
     differences of rank.
          Nothing shows this more clearly than the reading of 
     the ‘instructions’ presented by the different orders in 
     1789. Those who drew them up differed profoundly in 
     their interests, but in everything else they showed 
     themselves alike.
          What is still more strange is that all these men, who 
     kept themselves so apart from each other, had become 
     so much alike that it would have been impossible to