The writers of Grub Street, the Grub Street Hacks, were left feeling bitter about the relative success of the men of letters, and found an outlet for their literature which was typified by the libelle. Written mostly in the form of pamphlets, the libelles "slandered the court, the Church, the aristocracy, the academies, the salons, everything elevated and respectable, including the monarchy itself". Le Gazetier cuirassé by Charles Théveneau de Morande was a prototype of the genre. It was Grub Street literature that was most read by the public during the Enlightenment. More importantly, according to Darnton, the Grub Street hacks inherited the "revolutionary spirit" once displayed by the philosophes, and paved the way for the French Revolution by desacralizing figures of political, moral and religious authority in France.

What term was given to the writers of Grub Street?