2-329-875 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

John Law, Scottish economist, late 17th-early 18th century (c1880). A Scottish economist, gambler, banker, murderer, royal advisor, exile, rake and adventurer, Law (1671-1729) fled to France after killing a man in a duel. Gaining the favour of the Regent of France, the Duc d'Orleans, he became influential in French political and economic circles. He is best known as the founder of the Mississippi Scheme (1717-1720) to develop colonies in the Mississippi valley, which gained him great popularity in France and made him a paper millionaire. The scheme was largely based on speculation rather than actual economic growth however, and a crisis in confidence caused the 'Mississippi Bubble' to burst, forcing Law to leave France, dying in poverty in Venice. A print from Cassell's History of the United States, by Edmund Ollier, Volume I, Cassell Petter and Galpin, London, c1880.