LAW, JOHN, comptroller-general of the finances of France., was the son of William Law, goldsmith and banker in Edinburgh, and proprietor of the lands of Lauriston, in the parish of Cramond. He was born at Edinburgh, on the 21st of April, 1671. During period of puberty, and for some considerable time after it, he applied him self with great vigour to the sciences of geography, arith metic, and algebra, in all of which he made such astonish ing progress, as to be able, with a single glance, to solve the most difficult problems. His mind seems also to have been led to the comprehensive and complicated ques tions connected with political economy. He directed his attention to the state of trade, manufactures, and com merce, in his native country ; to the principles of pub lic and private credit ; to the best means of national im provement ; and, in a word, to the system of finance in all its branches, connections, and consequences. A na tural predilection for these pursuits, laid the foundation of all his future greatness, and particularly of all the fame which he afterwards acquired as a political specu lator.
Shortly after the death of his father, which happened in 1685, Mr. Law visited London. This step he was in duced to take, from motives similar to those which sti mulate most of our young adventurers, considering Lon don as the theatre on which mental endowments and ex ternal graces may be displayed to most advantage ; and borne up, no doubt, by a sense of his own superiority in these respects, he naturally conceived, that a residence in the capital of the British empire, would not only fa vour his progress in the pursuits to which he had the strongest attachment, but likewise gratify him, sooner or later, in all his hopes and wishes. In London, Mr. Law, remarkable as he always was for elegance of person, en gaging convivial powers, and an extreme propensity to deep play, soon gained admission into the first circles of fashion. His company was courted particularly by the fair sex ; and his conversation was prized by every votary of the beau Mcnde.
While thus at the very outset of his career, a circum stance happened which, at first view, was likely to blast all his rising prospects. His fondness for affairs of gal lantry involved him in a quarrel with one Mr. "Wilson, a gentleman inferior only to himself in those endowments which attract the notice and ensure the attention of the gay. This quarrel, as commonly happens in similar cases, ended in a mutual challenge to the field. In the en counter Law came off victorious, having left his antago nist dead upon the spot where they fought. Having ne glected to seek his safety by flight, he was soon after wards apprehended, and committed to the King's Bench Prison. Thinking it unadvisable to stand trial, he took the first opportunity of making his escape. He went to
the continent, and, during the period of his exile, betook himself to his fivourite pursuits. In these, which his residence in London had been almost totally neglected, he soon made greater progress than ever. Indeed, it could not be otherwise, since his mind was formed with that inquisitive disposition which prompts to the pursuit of knowledge on all hands, and which no difficulties can dis cour.ge. The field of information also was now much enlarged. While in Britain, his attention was confined exclusively to the state of things around him. Now, how ever, his residence on the continent put it in his power to view things on a larger scale. He examined the state of manufactures and trade in the chief commercial cities of Europe. He visited the principal banking houses ; and the office of secretary to tie British resident in Holland, which he held for some time, put it in his power to gain an acquaintance with the operations of the mysterious bank of Amsterdam. It appears, however, that before the commencement of the 18th century he returned to his native country, where, in December 1700, he published at Edinburgh the Introduction to his Proposals and Rea sons for Constituting a Council of Trade. His professed object in this work was, to suggest measures whereby the commercial interests of his country might he pro moted. The attempt was laudable, and, which is not always the case, well-timed. A variety of unfortunate circumstances, and particularly the failure of the Da rien expedition. had reduced the trade and manufactures of the country to a low ebb. In such a state of things, it might have been expected that the exertions, however feeble, of any public-spirited individual, in support of the interests of the country, would have met with general encouragement. This, however, was not the case with the publication of Mr. Law. His projects did not accord with the sentiments of the supreme judicature, and, con sequently, met with no encouragement from that quarter. The proposal, also, which he made to parliament in 1705, for the establishment of a paper currency, was rejected by the house, from an idea that, if carried into effect, it would be prejudicial to the landed interests of the coun try. This repeated disappointment in his plans, the object of which was, at one and the same time, personal aggran dizement and public good, naturally alienated his mind front his native country. Accordingly he left Scotland soon after, and was at Genoa in 1708. For five or six years after he rambled about the continent, observing the manners of the different nations, and making his fortune by skill in games of hazard. It is said, that when he set tled at Paris in 1714, he was possessed of a fortune, ac quired in this way, of 110,000/.