Turgot
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Turgot. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ANNE ROBERT JACQUES, BLUES, French statesman; born in Paris, France, May 10, 1727. He was educated for the Church, but renouncing this purpose he studied law, and in 1761 was appointed intendant at Limoges, which post he occupied for 12 years. Shortly after the accession of Louis XVI. in 1774 Turgot was appointed comptrollergeneral of France, and in order to reform the political and financial condition of the country, he moderated the duties on articles of the first recessity, freed commerce from many fetters, and encouraged industry by enlarging the rights of individuals, and abolishing the are numerous wide squares and gardens. The chief buildings are the cathedral, a renaissance building, completed in the beginning of the 16th century , and remarkable for its marble façade; the royal palace, a plain brick building, which contains the king's private library, with valuable MSS., and the royal armory; the university, a fine edifice recently constructed, in which there is a large library; the Palazzo dell' Accademia delle Scienze, with a picture gallery and museums of natural histories antiquities; the Palazzo Carignano, used at one time by the Sardinian and Italian Parliaments when they met here (1848-1865), and now given up to a collection of natural history ; the Madama Palace, an old and interesting building, and several theaters. The environs of the city are beautiful, and offer many objects of interest. Among the educational establishments , in addition to the university, which is attended by over 2,000 students, are an episcopal seminary, a royal military academy, a polytechnic school, and various other colleges and schools. The manufactures consist, besides the staple of silk, chiefly of woolens, cottons, linens, paper, iron mongery, earthenware, and porcelain . Turin in recent years has become one of the chief manufacturing cities of Italy. Turin was anciently the capital of a tribe called the Taurini, and under the Roman empire was called Augusta Taurinorum. It was long the capital of Savoy , then of the Sardinian kingdom , and from 1861 to 1865 of United Italy. Pop. about 450,000.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
tur-go' (1727-1781), a French minister of finance. He is said to have descended from a Scottish family long settled in Normandy. He intended at first to become a priest, but turned from the service of the church to public life. In 1761 he was made intendant of the department of Limoges, a position he held for thirteen years, to the great relief of the peasantry. In 1774 Louis XVI , being in distress, made him minister of finance. Turgot immediately set about reform. He held office but twenty months. Six of these were occupied in putting down peasant insurrections organized by his opponents, the nobility, and six precious months were spent ill in bed, yet Turgot left a reputation for work accomplished. He abolished the custom of forcing the starving peasants to build roads and carry military supplies for nothing. He allowed peasants and dealers to sell their grain without paying taxes at the town gate. He cut down the frivolous expenses of the court, and cut off many pensions. "No bankruptcy, no increase of taxation, no borrowing," said he to the king. The clergy and nobility whom he prepared to saddle with a part of the burden carried by the peasants were too much for him, however. Turgot was dismissed from office in 1776. He was an able financier, a man of truth, unselfishness, and fidelity. It is sufficient to say that if he had been kept in office, and if his plans had been carried out, the economic reforms of the French Revolution would have taken place by degrees and without bloodshed. He had no idea, however, of a government by the people; his ideal was government for the people by a beneficent despot. See Octroi