forfeited his rank in the peerage. It was decided in the
negative. A caricature of him was made, dressed as a
street-porter, carrying a large bale of spices on his back,
with the inscription, "Admirez LA FORCE."

When fortunes such as these were gained, it is no wonder that Law should
have been almost worshipped by the mercurial population. Never was monarch
more flattered than he was. All the small poets and _litterateurs_ of the
day poured floods of adulation upon him. According to them, he was the
saviour of the country, the tutelary divinity of France; wit was in all
his words, goodness in all his looks, and wisdom in all his actions. So
great a crowd followed his carriage whenever he went abroad, that the
regent sent him a troop of horse as his permanent escort to clear the
streets before him.

It was remarked at this time that Paris had never before been so full of
objects of elegance and luxury. Statues, pictures, and tapestries were
imported in great quantities from foreign countries, and found a ready
market. All those pretty trifles in the way of furniture and ornament
which the French excel in manufacturing were no longer the exclusive
playthings of the aristocracy, but were to be found in abundance in the
houses of traders and the middle classes in general. Jewellery of the most
costly description was brought to Paris as the most favourable mart; among
the rest, the famous diamond bought by the regent, and called by his name,
and which long adorned the crown of France. It was purchased for the sum
of two millions of livres, under circumstances which shew that the regent
was not so great a gainer as some of his subjects by the impetus which
trade had received. When the diamond was first offered to him, he refused
to buy it, although he desired above all things to possess it, alleging as
his reason, that his duty to the country he governed would not allow him
to spend so large a sum of the public money for a mere jewel. This valid
and honourable excuse threw all the ladies of the court into alarm, and
nothing was heard for some days but expressions of regret that so rare a
gem should be allowed to go out of France, no private individual being
rich enough to buy it. The regent was continually importuned about it, but
all in vain, until the Duke de St. Simon, who with all his ability was
something of a twaddler, undertook the weighty business. His entreaties
being seconded by Law, the