Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance Read Online Free Page A

perform the operation: “He boldly thrusts in a broad lancet or stiletto into the middle of the muscle of the thigh near the anus, till he joins the catheter or staff, or the stone betwixt his fingers; then he widens his incision of the bladder in proportion to the stone with a silver oval hoop . . . then with the duck’s bill [a surgical implement] he draws it out.” Nine similar operations, Lister observed, were “very dexterously” performed within three-quarters of an hour.
    The speed with which experts could complete the procedure did little to reduce the risk. Samuel Pepys, who was “cut of the stone” in London, celebrated his recovery from the operation with an anniversary party. In William Law’s case, the procedure proved fatal. He died without seeing his family or homeland again, and was buried in the Scots College in Paris, in the heart of the city that his eldest son would hold one day in his thrall.

    It was left to Jean Law to unravel the complexities of her husband’s will. The document revealed the extent of his financial business, which totaled over £25,000 of outstanding loans. There were pages of debtors’ names, among them many from Scotland’s most eminent families. This intricate web of indebtedness was evidently not easy to resolve: many were slow to repay the sums outstanding, and letters from Jean to her debtors were still being exchanged years after her husband’s death.
    According to the terms of William Law’s will, the newly acquired estate of Lauriston and its rental income was bequeathed to his twelve-year-old son John. He also left ample provision for his children to be educated as their mother deemed appropriate to their status. Perhaps because John was already displaying a worrying waywardness as well as mathematical brilliance, Jean removed him from his school in Edinburgh and sent him “far away from the temptations of the city,” to Eaglesham in Renfrewshire, a distant boarding school run by a relative. In this remote but pleasant environment John Law completed his formal education. Along with his remarkable ability in mathematics he also emerged as a skilled exponent of “manly pursuits.” These included fencing, which was soon to play a pivotal role in his career, and tennis, which was popular all over Europe and particularly in Scotland. By now he had matured into a strikingly attractive man—contemporaries euphemistically characterized him as of “marked individuality.” A description of him by a later acquaintance recalls his “oval face, high forehead, well placed eyes, a gentle expression, aquiline nose, and an agreeable mouth.” He took such keen interest in his clothes and appearance that friends dubbed him “Beau Law” or “Jessamy [meaning fop or dandy] John.”
    With no father to guide him, John Law, who later confessed that he always hated work, did not attend university but succumbed to adolescent indolence, happily passing the days in the pleasurable pursuits of gaming and womanizing. There had always been a daredevil strand to his personality, and the risk taking of gambling perhaps appealed as much as, if not more than, any money he might win. The poker-faced gamesmanship necessary to do well in games of chance must also have become second nature to him. Perhaps it was in these early days that he learned the chameleon knack of playing his cards close, shrouding his feelings, and having the confidence to follow a hunch. With women, his handsome face, sartorial finery, and nonchalant charm apparently combined to yield innumerable easy conquests. One of his friends from these Edinburgh days, George Lockhart of Carnwarth, said, with a tinge of jealousy as well as reluctant admiration, that he was already “nicely expert in all manner of debaucheries,” although frustratingly he did not record any in detail.
    Before long, however, the life of self-indulgence palled, and John Law began to hanker for new challenges and the world beyond Edinburgh’s