 The companion volume, on the other hand, "De la science du monde et des connaissances utiles à la conduite de la vie" is less known, though it was quickly translated into English and was admired by Jefferson and Harold Nicolson.He was the son of Jacques de Callières, governor of Cherbourg and the author of "La Fortune des gens de qualité et des gentilshommes particuliers, enseignant l'art de vivre à la cour suivant les maximes de la politique et de la morale" ("The Fortune of people of quality and private gentlemen, teaching the art of living at court according to the maxims of politics and morality")

His first commission, at the age of twenty-two, was on behalf of Henri, duc de Longueville, who sent him to Poland in order to press for the election of a Longueville, the comte de Saint-Pol, as King of Poland.The unlucky count was drowned in a crossing of the Rhine, and the commission came to nothing.