“ MIRABEAU, VICTOR RIQUETI, Marquis de (1715–1789) , French author and political economist, father of the great Mirabeau, was born at Pertuis, near the old château de Mirabeau, on the 4th of October 1715. He was brought up very sternly by his father, and in 1728 joined the army. He took keenly to campaigning, but never rose above the rank of captain, owing to his being unable to get leave at court to buy a regiment. ”

“ He was recognized as a leader of political thinkers by Prince Leopold of Tuscany, afterwards emperor, and by Gustavus III. of Sweden, who in 1772 sent him the grand cross of the order of Vasa. But his marriage had not been happy ”

“ In 1756 Mirabeau made his first appearance as a political economist by the publication of his Ami des hommes cu traité de la population. This work has been often attributed to the influence, and in part even to the pen, of Quesnay, the founder of the economical school of the physiocrats, but was really written before the marquis had made the acquaintance of the physician of Madame de Pompadour. ”