This article systematically examines a set of articles on poverty and assistance issues in a sequence that covers seven encyclopedias, from the Parisian Encyclopédie to the Encyclopédie méthodique. The criticism of traditional charity and hospitals is enriched, starting with the Dictionnaire universel of Yverdon, by the theory and social program of the Physiocratic school, particularly developed in the Éphémérides du Citoyen. Through practices of plagiarism and compilation, Francophone encyclopedism proves to be a good observatory of the evolution of the common sense of the ‘enlightened’ elites in the 18th century on the government of the poor, which becomes more expert and specialized without being uniform. English title: Government of the Poor and Encyclopedism in the 18th century Keywords: History of Economic Thought, Poverty, Public Assistance, Philanthropy, Francophone Encyclopedism, Physiocracy