One frequently seen explanation for the popularity of the mansard style is that it served as a method of tax evasion. One such example of this claim, from the 1914 book "How to Make a Country Place", reads, "Monsieur Mansard is said to have circumvented that senseless window tax of France by adapting the windowed roof that bears his name." This is improbable in many respects: Mansart was a profligate spender of his clients' money, and while a French window tax did exist, it was enacted in 1798, 132 years after Mansart's death, and did not exempt mansard windows.