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By Root 719 0

several eighteenth-century economists, including Marmont du Hautchamp, Sir James Steuart, Du Tot, and others. The Regency period in France, John Law’s career, and the social effect of his policies are vividly documented in the numerous journals, letters, and diaries of the times, including the letters of the regent’s mother Charlotte Elizabeth, the Princess Palatine; and the journals and memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon, Barbier, Buvat, d’Argenson, and Marais. The effect of his policies is also richly reflected in diplomatic correspondence preserved in the Public Record Office. The most poignant record of Law’s escape from France and final years in exile are the letters contained in his letter book at the Bibliothèque Méjanes, Aix-en-Provence.

As this is intended as a book for the general reader I have deliberately simplified the sometimes mind-bogglingly complex financial details, and kept numbers to a minimum. The figures quoted in the text are mostly taken from those published in Professor Antoin Murphy’s recent scholarly analysis of Law’s economic theories and policies. The following notes detail the chief sources for the narrative. Fuller details of these and other relevant publications are listed in the bibliography that follows.

CHAPTER 1: A Man Apart

Law’s gambling activities in Paris: du Hautchamp, Histoire du système.

Rules of faro: Wykes, Gambling.

D’Argenson’s personality: Saint-Simon, Memoirs.

Expulsion from Paris because of paper-money scheme and Torcy’s interest in Hamilton, John Law of Lauriston.

CHAPTER 2: Gilded Youth

Family background: Fairley, Lauriston Castle; Wood, Life of John Law of Lauriston.

Edinburgh: McKean, Edinburgh; Defoe, Journey Through the Whole Island of Great Britain.

Goldsmith banking: Chandler, Four Centuries of Banking; Williams, Money: A History; Galbraith, Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went.

Lithotomy operations: Lister, A Journey to Paris in the Year 1698; Pepys, Diary.

Description of Law: du Hautchamp.

Law’s professed dislike of work: ms. Méjanes

Lockhart’s reminiscence of Law: Lockhart: Memoirs.

Journey to London: Hibbert, The English.

CHAPTER 3: London

London life: Ward, London Spy.

History of Bloomsbury: Chancellor, The History of the Squares of London.

Mrs. Lawrence: Proceedings of the King and Queen’s Commissions.

Thomas Neale: Ward; Hyde, John Law: the History of an Honest Adventurer; Dictionary of National Biography.

Probability: Bernstein, Against the Gods; Ashton, History of Gambling in England; Wykes.

Royal Mint: Chandler, Four Centuries of Banking.

“Public lotteries are less bad than private ones . . .”: AS Turin Law to the Duke of Savoy, December 7, 1715, quoted by Hamilton and Murphy.

CHAPTER 4: The Duel

The events leading to the duel: Proceedings of the King and Queen’s Commissions.

Wilson: Evelyn, Diary.

“took a great house . . .”: Gray, The Memoirs, Life and Character of the Great Mr. Law and his Brother at Paris.

Description of prison life: Ward, London Spy; Anthony Babington, The English Bastille.

“The mixtures of scents . . .”: Ward.

Lovell’s personality: West, The Life and Surprising Adventures of Daniel Defoe.

Legal procedures: Baker, The Legal Profession and the Common Law; Beattie, Crime and the Courts in England 1660-1800.

“An accidental thing, Mr. Wilson drawing first . . .” Proceedings of the King and Queen’s Commissions.

CHAPTER 5: Escape

“Mr. Laws knows best how he made his escape . . .” PRO SP 35/20.

Dueling: Kiernan, The Duel in European History.

William’s order to keep Wilson’s family informed: State Papers April 22, 1694.

Warriston letters, detailing Law’s trial and escape: PRO SP 35/18 fo 118; PRO SP 35/20-21.

Appeal trial reports recorded by: Leach; Skinner; Carthew; Comerbach.

Traditional version of Law’s escape: Gray, The Memoirs, Life and Character of the Great Mr. Law and His Brother at Paris.

Escape attempt: Luttrell, A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs.

Escape theories: The Unknown Lady’s Pacquet of Letters; Hyde; alternative version discussed in Murphy, John Law.

CHAPTER 6: The Exile