the notion that child labour in either theory or practice was a result of the Industrial Revolution is diametrically opposed to reality. Under mercantilism it was an ideal to employ children almost from the age when they could walk, and, for example Colbert [King Louis XIV’s statist Minister of Finances from 1665 to 1683] introduced fines for parents who did not put their six-year-old children to work in one of his particularly cherished industries.
