LAW. 
retie terms on which It tranfaXed bufinefs, and the punc¬ 
tuality of its payments, its credit was fo well eftablilhed, 
that its notes were preferred to ready money, and the 
(hares foon bore a premium. This bank became the of¬ 
fice for all the public receipts. There was annexed to it 
a Miffiflipi company, which had grants of land in Loui- 
fiana, and was expected to realize an immenfe furn by 
planting and commerce. To this were afterwards joined 
the trade of Senegal, the privilege of the old India com¬ 
pany, and the farms of the revenue. In 1718 it was de¬ 
clared a royal bank; and, by a number of advantages ar¬ 
bitrarily conferred upon it, fuch was the extent of its bu- 
finefs and funds, that its (hares rofe to twenty times then- 
original value. All France was feized with the rage of 
gambling in its funds. Money and valuables of all kinds 
were brought to the market, and inverted in bank paper; 
and happy were they who could ftrip themfelves of every 
thing for a participation in this imaginary wealth. In 
1720, Law, who had undergone the farce of converfion 
to the catholic religion, was made controller-general of 
the finances. Regarded as the Plutus of the kingdom, 
he faw at his levee dukes, peers, and marfhals of France; 
and titled ladies were proud to appear in the carriage of 
his wife, (or miftrefs,) who was accuftomed to fay, that 
“there was not fo tirefome an animal in the world as a 
duchefs.” It was not to be wondered at that his head 
fhould turn with this elevation ; but he had too much 
politenefs to be infolent, and rather indulged a ridiculous 
vanity : he required that his fon fhould be put on the lift 
with the youths of quality who were to dance with the 
king in a ballet; and the regent thought fit to comply 
with his requeft. 
At length the bafelefs fabric of this profperity began 
to give way; the (hares daily funk in value, and the ruin 
of the fyrtem appeared inevitable. The parliament of 
Paris interfered, but was banifhed by the regent. The 
credit of the projector, however, could not be fupported. 
He was obliged to refign his port, after holding it only 
five months ; and, loaded with the public execration, re¬ 
tired firft to an eftate in the country, and then, for far¬ 
ther fafety, quitted the kingdom. He carried with him 
but a fmall refidue of the vaft fortune he once poffefled, 
and lived afterwards in obfeurity. After vifiting Eng¬ 
land, Holland, Germany, and other countries, he finally 
fettled at Venice, where he died in 1729, (till occupied 
with vaft projects, and fully convinced of the folidity of 
his fyrtem, the failure of which he attributed to the op- 
pofition it met with. The principles upon which Law’s 
original fcheme was founded, are explained by himfelf in 
A Difcourfe concerning Money and Trade, which he pub- 
lifhed in Scotland, where (as we have feen) he firft pro- 
pofed it. “The fplendid but vifionary ideas which are 
fet forth in that and fome other works upon the fame 
principles, (Dr. Adam Smith obferves,) dill continue to 
make an impreflion upon many people ; and have perhaps 
in part contributed to that excefs of banking which has 
of late been complained of, both in Scotland and in other 
places.” 
LAW (William), a learned and pious divine of the 
church of England, was born at King’s ClifFe, Northamp- 
tonfhire, in 1696, and educated at Oxford, where he took 
his degrees. He entered Into holy orders ; but it does not 
appear that he ever had the cure of fouls, owing probably 
to his adherence to nonjuring principles, which he main¬ 
tained to the clofe of his life. He was for fome time a 
private tutor in a gentleman’s family at Putney ; after 
which he chiefly refided in a very retired way at the houfe 
of Mrs. Hefter Gibbon, aunt of the celebrated hiftorian, 
in Northamptonfhire, where he died in 1761. He was 
author of a great many theological publications, of which 
the moft important is “The ferious Call to a devout and 
holy Life, adapted to the State and Condition of all Or¬ 
ders of Chriftians.” His “ PraXical Treatife on Chriftian 
Perfection” was likewife very much efteemed. He en¬ 
tered the lifts againft bifhop Hoadley ; and was a zealous 
VOL. XII. No. 839. 
397 
difciple of the doXrines of Jacob Behmen, whofe works 
he publifhed. 
LAW (Edmund), a learned and excellent Englifh pre¬ 
late, the fon of a clergyman who held a fmall chapel in 
the neighbourhood of Cartmel, in Lancafhire, where he 
was born in the year 1703. He was educated in grain- 
mar-learning for fome time at Cartmel-fchool, and after¬ 
wards at the free grammar-fehool at Kendal ; whence lie 
was fent, w'ell inftruXed in the clafncs, to St. John’s col¬ 
lege, Cambridge. He was admitted to the degree of B. A. 
in 1723; and foon afterwards was defied fellow of Chart’s 
college. In 1727 he proceeded M. A. During his reii- 
dence in this college, he became known to the public by 
a tranflation of archbifhop King’s Eftay upon the Origin 
of Evil, with copious notes, 8vo. in which many meta- 
phyfical fubjefls, curious and interefting in their own na¬ 
ture, are treated with great ingenuity, learning, and no¬ 
velty. To this work was prefixed, under the name of 
“ A preliminary Diflertation,” a very valuable piece, writ¬ 
ten by the Rev. Mr. Gay, of Sidney-coilege. In the 
controverfy which took place in confequence of the ap¬ 
pearance of Dr. Clarke’s Demonftration of the Being and 
Attributes of God, this tranflation, and the notes, were 
not overlooked ; and Mr. Law’s Poftfcript to the fecond 
edition was a replication to A Second Defence of Dr. 
Clarke. Farther controverfy enfued ; which produced, 
in 1734, or 1735, our author’s very ingenious Enquiry 
into the Ideas of Space, Time, &c. 8vo. in which he 
combats the opinions of Dr. Clarke and his adherents on 
thefe fubjeXs. This wmrk is mentioned with great com¬ 
mendation by the celebrated Mirabeau in his Syfteme da 
la Nature. 
In 1737 he was prefented by the univerfity to the liv¬ 
ing of Grayftock, in the county of Cumberland, a rec¬ 
tory of about three hundred pounds a-year. In 1743 he 
was promoted, by Fleming bifhop of Carlifle, to the arch¬ 
deaconry of that diocefe; and in 1746, went from Gray¬ 
ftock to refide at Salkeld, a pleafant village upon the 
banks of the river Eden, the reXory of which is annexed 
to the archdeaconry. During his relidence at Salkeld, he 
publifhed his Confiderations on the Theory of Religion, 
8vo. to which he fubjoined, RefleXions on the Life and 
Character of Chrift ; and an appendix, concerning the ufe 
of the words “foul and fpirit” in holy feripture, and the 
date of the dead as there deferibed. The Reflexions 
were publifhed at Cambridge, in 1776, as a traX ; accom¬ 
panied with a fummary and appendix on the Gofpel-mo- 
rals, by Mr. Paley. In 1749, Mr. Law proceeded D. D. in his 
public exercife for which degree he defended the doXrine 
of what is ufually called, “ the deep of the foul.” In 
1754, upon a vacancy taking place in the mafterfhip of 
Peter-houfe, in Cambridge, he was eleXed to fill that fta- 
tion ; when he refigned his archdeaconry. About the 
year 1760, he was appointed head-librarian of the univer¬ 
fity ; a finecure place, with a falary of fifty pounds per 
ann. annexed to it; and in 1764, he was nominated ca« 
fuiftical profeflor. Two years before this, he had fuf- 
tained an irreparable lofs, by the death of his wife ; a lofs 
rendered peculiarly affliXing by the fituation of his fa¬ 
mily, which then confifted of eleven children, many of 
whom were very young. Some time afterwards, he re¬ 
ceived feveral fmall preferments, which were rather ho¬ 
nourable expreffions of regard from his friends, than of 
much advantage to his fortune. In 1783, Dr. Cornwallis, 
then bifhop of Lichfield, who had been his pupil at 
Chart's college, appointed him archdeacon of Stafford, 
and gave him a prebend in the church of Lichfield ; and 
in 1764, his old acquaintance Dr. Green, bifliop of Lin¬ 
coln, prefented him to a (tall in his cathedral; but in 
1767, by the intervention of the duke of Newcastle, to 
whofe intereft, in the memorable conteft for the high-ftew- 
ardfhip of the univerfity, he had adhered in oppofition to 
fome temptations, he obtained a (tall in the church of 
Durham. In the year 1769, on the recommendation of the 
duke of Grafton, who had a fhort time before been eleXed 
5 I chancellor 
