ABSTRACT
The practice of nursing out was prevalent throughout France in all social classes, except the very poorest, throughout the eighteenth century. The contrast between the incomes of the lower and upper clergy has often been used as an example of corrupt Church practices, but the reality of corporate society in Ancien Regime France and Europe meant that such discrepancies were part and parcel of the social fabric. The General Assembly of the Clergy was the only national representative institution in France outside the Estates General. Since the General Assembly met only once every five years, the Agent-General constituted a permanent executive and spokesman of the clergy after its adjournment until the next five-year session. Patronage was rife at all levels of the clergy and adopted a familiar pattern by which uncles introduced their nephews, or brothers introduced their brothers, into positions already made for them.
