duke are still preserved in the Archives of the French Foreign Office, where I have courteously been allowed to examine them; but they prove to be entirely of military or political interest.
The letter, like the transcript of the Essai which it accompanies, was revised by Mirabeau in the process of writing. He breaks off in the midst of word or a phrase to substitute another form of expression. The language of the dedication bears the strong imprint of Mirabeau's Most of its phrases may be matched his published writings; and the of and arrogance, of Cantillon shows no trace, out even here to remind us of Mirabeau's absolute deficiency of self-control.
A few examples of the personal touches added to the transcript may suffice. Fearing, apparently, that the intimate acquaintance with the working of commerce shown in the book might arouse suspicion, he concludes Part II. (Home Trade) with the remark, 'peu de gens me reconnoitront à ce que j'ay dit pour être au passé présent et futur de la classe des emprunteurs et non entrepreneurs' Part III. opens thus:
And Cantillon's history of the variations in the ratio between gold and silver is replaced by the sentence:
Je crois inutile de grossir mon ouvrage des détails de l'affinage et des monnoyes.
What use Mirabeau actually made of is not clear. The authorities at the National Archives are unable to say from what quarter it came it possible to resist the conviction that Mirabeau's motives in the matter were entirely dishonourable. The circumstances were such as might have shielded from detection such an imposture; for he possessed what he believed to be, and what perhaps really was, the only; of Cantillon's Works. But this possession came to him through dishonest hands; and he was obliged, it would seem, to make restitution of the manuscript to its rightful owner. For this, or some other reason, he next
