Turbilly s bankruptcy In his Travels in france during the years 1787 1788 1789 p 112 Arthur Young gave an account on Turbilly s bankruptcy In this work he described that on 29 September he arrived at Tourbilly which he characterized as a poor village of a few scattered houses in a vale between two rising grounds which are yet heath and waste the chateau in the midst with plantations of fine poplars leading to it Young recalled I had read the translation of the marquis s history of his improvements in Mr Mills husbandry 78 and thought it the most interesting morsel I had met with long before I procured the original Memoire sur les defrichemens and determined that if ever I should go to France to view improvements the recital of which had given me such pleasure First he described the encounter with the then present owner I had neither letter nor introduction to the present owner the marquis de Galway I therefore stated to him the plain fact that I had read Mons de Tourbilly s book with so much pleasure that I wished much to view the improvements described in it he answered me directly in good English received me with such cordiality of politeness and such expressions of regard for the purport of my travels that he put me perfectly in humour with myself and consequently with all around me He ordered breakfast a l Angloise gave orders for a man to attend us in our walk who I desired might be the oldest labourer to be found of the late marquis de Tourbilly s I was pleased to hear that one was alive who had worked with him from the beginning of his improvement At breakfast Mons de Galway introduced me to his brother who also spoke English and regretted that he could not do the same to Madame de Galway who was in the straw he then gave me an account of his father s acquiring the estate and chateau of Tourbilly His great grand father came to Bretagne with King James II when he fled from the English throne some of the same family are still living in the county of Cork particularly at Lotta His father was famous in that province for his skill in agriculture and as a reward for an improvement he had wrought on the landes the states of the province gave him a waste tract in the island of Belleisle which at present belongs to his son Hearing that the marquis de Tourbilly was totally ruined and his estates in Anjou to be sold by the creditors he viewed them and finding the land very improveable made the purchase giving about 15 000 louis d ors for Tourbilly a price which made the acquisition highly advantageous not withstanding his having bought some law suits with the estate It is about 3000 arpents nearly contiguous the seigneury of two parishes with the haute justice c a handsome large and convenient chateau offices very compleat and many plantations the work of the celebrated man concerning whom my enquiries were directed About Turbilly s bankruptcy Young learned I was almost breathless on the question of so great an improver being ruined You are unhappy that a man should be ruined by an art you love so much Precisely so But he eased me in a moment by adding that if the marquis had done nothing but farm and improve he had never been ruined One day as he was boring to find marl his ill stars discovered a vein of earth perfectly white which on trial did not effervesce with acids It struck him as an acquisition for porcelain he shewed it to a manufacturer it was pronounced excellent the marquis s imagination took fire and he thought of converting the poor village of Tourbilly into a town by a fabric of china he went to work on his own account raised buildings and got together all that was necessary except skill and capital In fine he made good porcelain was cheated by his agents and people and at last ruined A soap manufactory which he established also as well as some law suits relative to other estates had their share in causing his misfortunes his creditors seized the estate but permitted him to administer it till his death when it was sold The only part of the tale that lessened my regret was that though married he left no family so that his ashes will sleep in peace without his memory being reviled by an indigent posterity His ancestors acquired the estate by marriage in the fourteenth century His agricultural improvements Mons Galway observed certainly did not hurt him they were not well done nor well supported by himself but they rendered the estate more valuable and he never heard that they had brought him into any difficulties I can not but observe here that there seems a fatality to attend country gentlemen whenever they attempt trade or manufacture In England I never knew a man of landed property with the education and habits o