ally different. In the later years
of his life he set himself to the collection of statistical facts as to
the economic condition of France, and the result was the two books
called _Oisivetes de M. de Vauban_ and _La Dime Royale_, 1707. The
former of these contained the facts, the latter the deduction from them,
which was, to put it briefly, that the existing system of privilege,
exemption, and irregular taxation was a loss to the Crown, and a torment
to the people. Vauban received the reward of his labours, attention to
which would probably have prevented the French Revolution, in the shape
of the royal displeasure, and nothing came immediately of his
investigations. In the next century, however, a regular sect of
political economists arose. They had, indeed, been preceded by an
eccentric man of letters, the Abbe de Saint-Pierre, who occupied his
life in propounding Utopian schemes of universal peace and general
prosperity. But the first and greatest of the economists properly so
called was Quesnay. The extreme misery of the common people attracted
his attention, and set him upon calculating the causes and remedies of
periodical failings. He was himself a frequent contributor to the
Encyclopaedia. Many others of the _philosophe_ set occupied themselves
with these and similar subjects, notably the Abbes Morellet and Galiani.
The former was a man of a certain vigour (Voltaire called him 'L'Abbe
Mord-Les'), the latter has been noticed already. His _Dialogue sur le
Commerce des Bles_ acquired for him a great reputation.

[Sidenote: Turgot.]

Very many writers, among them the father of the great Mirabeau (in his
curious and able, though unequal and ill-proportioned _Ami des Hommes_),
attacked economical subjects at this time. But Turgot, though not
remarkable for the form of his writings, was the most original and
influential writer of the liberal school in this department. He was a
Norman by birth, and of a good legal family. He was born in 1727, and,
being destined for the Church, was educated at the Sorbonne. Turgot,
however, shared to the full the _philosophe_ ideas of the time as to
theological orthodoxy, and did not share the usual _philosophe_ ideas as
to concealment of his principles for comfort's sake. He refused to take
orders, turning his attention to the law and the Civil Service instead
of the Church. His family had considerable influence, and at the age of
twenty-four he was appointed intendant of Limoges, a