John Law of Lauriston: Financier and Statesman, Founder of the Bank of France, Originator of the Mississippi Scheme, Etc.Wiston-Glynn, A. W.
History
John Law of Lauriston: Financier and Statesman, Founder of the Bank of France, Originator of the Mississippi Scheme, Etc.
Wiston-Glynn, A. W.
Law, John, 1671-1729
man, well shaped, above six foot high, large pock-holes in his face,
big high nosed, speaks broad and loud, made his escape from the said
prison. Whoever secures him, so as he may be delivered at the said
prison, shall have fifty pounds paid immediately by the Marshall of the
King’s Bench.”
Having arrived in safety upon French territory, Law made his way to
that haven of refuge for all needy Scotsmen of birth and influence,
the Court of St. Germains. Here he hoped to recover his lost position
and fortunes by placing the services of his naturally great abilities
at the disposal of a Court to whom they could not but be of some
advantage if properly directed. His efforts to secure a place were
unsuccessful, but it was probably at this time that he met the lady
who was afterwards to be his wife, although for a time she lived with
him as such while yet she was the wife of another. Lady Catherine
Knollys, sister of the fourth Earl of Banbury, was the wife of a
gentleman called Senor or Seignieur. Law’s attractions were probably
too captivating to be resisted, with the result that she “liked him so
well as to pack up her alls, leave her husband, and run away with him
to Italy.”
The moral obliquity of the incident lends colour to the unsparing
attacks of his enemies, and certainly cannot be extenuated even
according to the loose standards of his day. The gravity of the offence
he could not be ignorant of, notwithstanding his youth. His finer
susceptibilities, however, had been impaired by the contagion of vice,
which led him to embark upon risks, especially of gallantry, from mere
impulsiveness, and regardless of consequence. What little credit can be
extended to Law in connection with this affair, he derives from having
remained faithful to her to the last, while the death of her husband,
shortly after, relieved him of possible embarrassment during his
subsequent visits and residence in Paris.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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