Thomas-François de Grace

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Thomas François de Grace (* 1713 in Paris ; † November 28, 1798 ibid) was a French agronomist and writer.

Life

After finishing school, Thomas François de Grace joined the Irish Clare Regiment , where his father served as captain . But he soon took his leave, because the military career did not suit him. He then continued his studies and opened a private teaching establishment in Paris. The well-known scholar Nicolas Fréret , who met de Grace and knew how to appreciate his knowledge, got him the post of second secretary at the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres , which he kept until it was abolished and on which he lived as his needs were very humble.

In the leisure hours which his office gave him in abundance, de Grace occupied himself with literary work and botany , which he thoroughly understood and tried to promote by caring for rare flowers and foreign plants. He put the results of his observations down annually in an overview that he published in the Almanach du bon jardinier (Paris 1783–1796). He also headed the Journal d'agriculture, du commerce et des finances from 1766 to 1770 . At the same time he wrote numerous articles for the Journal de Verdun and from 1769 for the Journal de médecine . He also published the second and third volumes of the Tables de Mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions .

His overview of the history and chronology as well as the basic rules of the French language , which was originally intended to facilitate school lessons, appeared under the following title:

  • Tableaux historiques et chronologiques de l'histoire ancienne et du moyen age, des principaux pays de l'Asie, de l'Afrique et de l'Europe, avec un précis de la mythologie grecque, expliquée d'après Hésiode , et un tableau des principes généraux de la langue française , Paris 1789

His treatise on the origins of the French monarchy ( Lettre sur l'origine de la monarchie française , published in the Mercure , May 1765) also contains some excellent hints. In his new edition of the French translation of Samuel von Pufendorf's Introduction to the History of the Noble Empires and States ( Introduction à l'histoire moderne, générale et politique de l'univers, commencée par le baron de Putendorf, augmentée par Antoine-Augustin Bruzen de La Martinière . Revue, considérablement augmentée, corrigée par les meilleurs auteurs et continuée jusqu'en 1750 par M. de Grace , 8 volumes, Paris 1753–1759). He enriched this edition with numerous explanations borrowed from the Mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions and the writings of Fréret and Hénault . He also published an edition of the Handbook of Practical Agriculture by Sarcey de Sutières ( École d'agriculture pratique suivant des principes de M. Sarcey de Sutières , Paris 1770; new edition ibid. 1796).

De Grace was also a royal censor. As a result of the French Revolution , he not only lost this office, but also his position at the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres . Finally the active man also lost his eyesight. He would have been subjected to great misery during the last years of his life if two of his former students, Pierre Bénézech and Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau , who became ministers of the interior in 1795 and 1797 respectively, had not given him a pension as a former censor. He died in Paris on November 28, 1798 at the age of 85.

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personal data
SURNAME Grace, Thomas-François de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grace, Thomas François de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French agronomist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1713
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1798
Place of death Paris