Mirabeau, Honor� Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de 1749-91
French revolutionary politician and orator

Born in Bignon, he was dismissed from the cavalry for his disorderly behaviour, and wrote Essai sur le despotisme in hiding in Amsterdam, having eloped with a young married woman. In May 1777 he was imprisoned for three and a half years, during which he wrote Erotica biblion, Ma conversion, and his famous Essai sur les lettres de cachet (2 vols, 1782). In 1786 he was sent on a secret mission to Berlin, and there obtained the materials for his work Sur la monarchie prussienne sous Fr�d�ric le Grand (4 vols, 1787). In 1789 he was elected to the States General by the Third Estate for both Marseilles and Aix. When the Third Estate constituted itself the National Assembly, Mirabeau's political acumen made him a great force, while his audacity and volcanic eloquence endeared him to the people. He advocated a constitutional monarchy on the English model but was distrusted both by the court and the extremists. Nonetheless he was elected president of the Assembly in January 1791, but died soon afterwards.