SI* 



LAW, JOHN. 



LAWKS, HENRY. 



810 



with a capital of 100 million, of livrw. and allie I to the bank, having 

 secured to it for twenty-fir* yean the sole right of trading to that 

 quarVr, and alao of prosecuting the Canada beaver trade. Still further 

 to a*d*t the tchemr, the receiver-gn*ral of Uic were dfcMM to 

 make all their payment* in the paper of the bank. With all these 

 advantages it ww yet a long time before the favour of the public was 

 o far gained that the subscriptions amounted to 100 million! of livrea. 



In 1718 the Misaiasippi Company had the entire farming or 

 monopoly of tobaooo granted to it for nine yean, and thereupon sent 

 great number* of planter*, artificers, and labourers to Louisiana. In 

 the following year the French East India Company and the Senegal 

 Company were both incorporated with the Missiuippi Company, 

 which then enjoyed the monopoly of the trade of France " from the 

 Cape of flood Hope eutward* to all the other parti of Africa ; to 

 Persia, India, China, Japan, and the Isles, even to tho Strait* of 

 Magellan and Le Maire." The prospect of advantages to be derived 

 from these various sources soon began to operate upon the public ; 

 and tuch numbers crowded forward to make investments in tho stock 

 of the MiasUsippi Company, that in August 1710, it* price was driven 

 up to 500 per cent. It may serve to show the feverish state of excite- 

 ment then prevalent to state, that on the rumour of Law being seized 

 with illness, the stock fell from 500 to 445 per cent., and that his 

 convalescence raised it again to 610 per oent. In the month just 

 named the general farm of all the public revenues was granted to tho 

 Company, all of whose privileges were by the same arrdt prolonged to 

 the year 1770, in consideration of which concessions the Company 

 agreed to advance to the government, for paying off the public debt, 

 1200 millions of livras, about 50 millions sterling at 3 per cent A 

 further sum of 50 millions of livrea was paid by the Company for 

 the exclusive privilege of coining during nine years. In a few weeks 

 the stock rose in price to 1 200 per cent., when 150 millions of livrea 

 were added to the capital by fresh subscriptions at 1000 per cent., 

 and, to take every advantage of the existing mania which had seized 

 all classes, the new capital was divided into very small shares. By 

 this means the Company was enabled to lend to the government an 

 additional sum of 300 millions of lirres at 3 per cent. In the midst 

 of all this speculation, the bank having issued notes to the amount of 

 1000 millions of livres, upwards of 40 millions sterling, there was 

 such an abundance of money afloat, that the prices of all commodities 

 rose exorbitantly, and land was sold at fifty years' purchase. At this 

 time Law was considered to be a man of so great consequence, that 

 his levee was constantly crowded by persons of eminence from all 

 parts of Europe, who flocked to Paris that they might partake of the 

 golden shower. " I have seen him," wrote Voltaire, " come to court, 

 followed humbly by Duke*, by Marshals, and by Bishops." Indeed 

 such was his influence at court that the English ambassador Lord 

 Stair having resented his arrogance, the English government found 

 itself under the necessity of recalling Lord Stair, though his services 

 had been of the greatest importance and such as to secure the full 

 approbation of his own court. 



From November 1719 to the following April, the price of Mississippi 

 stcck continued to rise until it reached 2050 per cent. On the 21st 

 of the following month a royal arret appeared, which suddenly pro- 

 duced an entire revulsion in the public feeling. Under tho pretence 

 of a previous depreciation of the value of tho coin, it was by this arrOt 

 declared necessary to reduce the nominal value of bank-notes to one- 

 half, and of the actions of the India or Mississippi Company from 9000 

 to 5000 livrea. It is not possible adequately to describe the calamitous 

 effects produced throughout Franco by this step. The bank-notes could 

 no longer be circulated at more than one-tenth of their nominal value; 

 and the parliament having represented the fatal consequences of the 

 arrfit, another was issued, stating that " the king being informed that 

 his reduction of bank-bills has had an effect quite contrary to his 

 intention, and has produced a general confusion in commerce ; and 

 being desirous to favour the circulation of tho said bank-bills fur the 

 oonveniency of such as give or take them in payment, and having 

 heard the report of the Sieur Law, he bos ordained that bank-bills be 

 current on the same footing as before the above arret, which he hereby 

 revokes." 



The charm woe however broken. This and ten other arrots which 

 were issued in the course of a month from its date, could not restore 

 the confidence of the public. Law found it prudent to retire from the 

 management of the public finances, and for his personal protection a 

 guard waa assigned to him. Many prudent persons applied themselves 

 earnestly to realise their property, and to send it for ssfety to other 

 countries, which proceeding occasioned the issue of a royal ordonnouce, 

 in which such a course was forbidden upon pain of forfeiting double 

 the value, while all investment* in the stocks of foreign countries were 

 prohibited on the like penalty. By these means the public alarm was 

 carried to it* height. The bank-notes being generally refused in all 

 transaction* of Imrinecs, an arret appeared forbidding any person to 

 refuse them, under penalty of double their nominal value ; and this 

 occasioning a still greater run upon the bank, another arret waa issued 

 on the same day, ordering the bank " to suspend the payment of its 

 note* till further orders." 



By these proceedings many thousands of families, once wealthy, were 

 suddenly reduced to indigence ; and Law, who was the original oon- 

 coctor, and had been the chief instrument in carrying out these vos 



I 



financial delusions, wu obliged to quit Fr.inco with an inconsiderable 

 fortune, the wreck of what he might at one time have realised : ho 

 resided for some time hi different places in Germany, and settled at 

 length at Venice, whore he died in 1729. 



In 'A Discourse upon Money and Trade,' which he wrote and 

 published in Scotland, Law has left a record of the flattering bat 

 visionary views whi -h led him to his financial scheme*. 



LAW, WILLIAM, the author of various works of practical and 

 mystical divinity, was born in 1886 at King's Cliff in Northampton- 

 shire. We should have known little of Law, probably, had it not 

 happened that he was for some time living in the family of Mr. Qibbon, 

 father of the historian Gibbon, which leads to the intro duotion of some 

 valuable notic-s of his life, habit*, and opinions, in the beautiful frag- 

 ment of ' Autobiography ' which the historian prepared. William Law 

 went to Cambridge with a view of entering the Church, t >ok the 

 degrees of R A. and M.A., was of Emanuel College, and in 1711 wu 

 elected a Fellow. On the accession of King George I. he refused to 

 take the oath* prescribed by act of parliament, and in consequence 

 vacated hit fellowship. It was soon after this that he entered the 

 family of Mr. Gibbon, who resided at I'utuey. Here he continued 

 several years, and his connection with the family became perpetuated 

 to his death in consequence of a design which Miss Hester Gibbon, 

 the sister of the historian, formed and executed, of retiring from the 

 world in company with her friend Mrs. Elizabeth Hutche<on, and 

 living a life of charity and piety, with Mr. Law for their chaplain. 

 They fixed upon King's Cliff, the place of Mr. Law's birth, as the spot 

 to which they retired ; and there Mr. Law lived the last twenty years 

 of his life, dying April 9, 1701. 



Mr. Law was the author of various works, in which ho recommends 

 the exercise of a piety which approaches to the character of ascetic, 

 and which it is almost impossible for any one to practise who is not 

 in a great degree relieved from the necessity of attention to the 

 ordinary business of life. The most popular of them is entitled ' A 

 Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life,' a work containing many 

 passages of great beauty, and many spirited sketches of various cha- 

 racters to be found in the world, which has hal great influence on 

 many minds, and might awaken a proper spirit of seriousness in nil. 

 Dr. Johnson said of this work, that it first led to his thinking in 

 earnest of religion. Law was a disciple and ardent admirer of Jacob 

 Bohmo [Bo'HME, JACOB], and his writings are strongly imbued with the 

 sentiments of that remarkable man. Law contemplated editing an 

 English version of the works of Bohme, and the edition of ' The 

 Works of Jacob Behmen,' 4 vols. 4 to, 1764, bears the name of Law on 

 tho title-page, but it is certain that he had nothing to do with its 

 preparation, though some of his marginal notes appear to have been 

 used : the first volume did not appear till three years after Law's 

 death. Law did however incorporate and elucidate the philosophy of 

 Bohme in his ' Way to Knowledge,' the next in importance of his 

 works to his ' Serious Call,' as well as in his ' Way to Divine Know- 

 ledge,' ' Spirit of Love,' and in his ' Letter.''.' 



LA WES, HENKV, a composer to whom English music is much 

 more indebted than its two historians seem to have been inclined to 

 admit, was a native most probably of Salisbury, of which cathedral 

 his father was a vicar-choral. He was born in the year 1600, as 

 appears from on inscription under his portrait, now in the episcopal 

 palace of that city. Lawes received his professional education under 

 John Cooper, an Englishman, who having travelled and studied in 

 Italy, thought fit to Italianise his names, and is generally mentioned 

 as Giovanni Coperario. In 1625 Lawes was appointed one of the 

 gentlemen of the chapel, and afterwards clerk of the cheque to 

 Charles I. In 1633, in conjunction with Simon Ives, he produced the 

 music to a masque presented at Whitehall by the members of the four 

 inns of court, under the direction of such grave personages as Noy, 

 the attorney-general, Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, Whitelooke, 

 Selden, c , ami received one hundred pounds for his .-hare in the 

 business. About the same time he composed the muic to Milton's 

 ' Comus,' which was performed at Ludlow Castle in 1634. He was 

 well acquainted with the best poets of his time, and set many of their 

 verses to music, particularly Waller's. He also lived much with 

 persona of rank, whose poetical effusions were, in abundance of 

 instances, mode vocal by the notes of Lawes. These appear in the 

 publications of his time, but chiefly in his three sets of ' Ayres and 

 Dialogues for One, Two, and Three Voices,' published in 1653, 1655, 

 and 1009, comprising about 150 songs, duets, and trios, printed in 

 ' lozenge ' notes, in type of an indifferent kind, with no accompaniment 

 but an unfigured base, and therefore not very appreciable ha the present 

 day except by tolerably good harmonists, who to musical knowledge 

 add some acquaintance with the style of our old music and its 

 notation. 



Lawea continued in the service of Charles till the king's death. 1 lu 

 then had recourse to teaching, in which pursuit his time was much 

 occupied, for his superior taste and ability, his good sense and gentle- 

 manlike manners, occasioned his instructions to be eagerly sought 

 after. At the Restoration he resumed his places in the chapel-royal, 

 and composed the anthem for the coronation of Charlea II. He died 

 in 1662, and his remain* were deposited in Westminster Abbey. 



From tho cold language in which Hawkins and Burney speak of 

 Henry Lawes, and more especially from the disparaging expression* 



