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son, whose presence was so inconvenient that she abandoned him on a church doorstep. She had been the mistress of the regent, who had told her when pressed that he “never discussed politics with a whore between the sheets,” and later of his foreign minister Dubois. There were many rumors that Law also shared her favors, along with those of others: Fanny Oglethorpe let slip in a letter, “Law is in love with Mlle de Nail [possibly Madame de Nesle] and gives her 10,000 livres [today about US$60,000] a month to visit her when Prince Soubise is not there.” There were whispers, too, of an improbable romantic entanglement between Law and the Princess Palatine, who, at sixty-eight, clearly found him attractive. Her letters mention that he “was worthy of praise on account of his cleverness,” and that she was “greatly taken with him and he does all he can do to please me.”

Keeping a mistress was a common enough practice among the elite of Paris. Nevertheless it is likely that there was little substance to most such stories, and that the majority were no more than scurrilous gossip. Yet, whether they were true or not, Katherine, who can hardly fail to have been aware of what was said, must have been pained. She could do little, however, but turn a blind eye. Later events revealed that her affection for Law survived. At the time she distracted herself by falling into the role of society wife and became one of the most celebrated hostesses in Paris. “If you want your choice of duchesses,” one courtier reportedly told the regent, “go to Madame Law’s house, and you will find them all gathered there.” Few realized that she and Law were not married. Perhaps those who suspected the alliance was illicit dared not mention it, bearing in mind her social clout and the desirability of an invitation to her salon.

Her children were propelled into an equally elevated social orbit. The thirteen-year-old John learned to hunt and to dance with the young Louis XV and was invited to perform in a ballet with him—although at the final moment an attack of measles prevented him from taking part. He was educated, as befitted nobility, by a private tutor, one Charles Chesneau, by all accounts a kindly and gifted man. Mary Katherine received numerous offers of marriage from noble families—among them the Prince de Tarente, all of which Law, a devoted and protective father, turned down. When Law gave a party in his daughter’s honor, the papal nuncio Cardinal Bentivoglio was among the first to arrive and amazed everyone by kissing the child’s hand and playing with her doll.

Along with the invasion of his family life came a sprinkling of public accolades. Law was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences, and as he passed through the streets for the inauguration ceremony the crowds shouted, “God save the King and Monsieur Law.” Scotland bestowed on him the freedom of the city of Edinburgh; the document was delivered to his door in a gold box valued at £300 (US$480) and obsequiously engraved with the legend “The Corporation of Edinburgh, having done themselves the honour to enrol in the liberties of their city, John Law, Earl of Tankerville etc., a gentleman of a graceful person, fine parts, the first of all the bankers in Europe, a happy contriver and manager of societies for trade in the remotest parts of the world . . .”

At heart, in the beginning, Law was little changed. Though now a man of inordinate wealth—he owned at least 100 million livres’ worth of shares—with stereotypical Scottish canniness, he spent his money carefully. Property continued to be a major investment. Along with a dozen or so French country estates, he bought vast areas of Paris, including a third of the houses in the Place Vendôme, where he lived. He also acquired land in the area surrounding the Boulevard St. Honoré, and the Palais Mazarin (which today houses the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque Nationale with his memoirs and documents). The balustrade from this building now adorns the Wallace Collection and features a cornucopia out of which gushes a torrent of