nhappy period. A Master of Requests, named Falhonet, together with the
Abbe Clement, and two clerks in their employ, had been concerned in divers
acts of peculation to the amount of upwards of a million of livres. The
first two were sentenced to be beheaded, and the latter to be hanged; but
their punishment was afterwards commuted into imprisonment for life in the
Bastille. Numerous other acts of dishonesty were discovered, and punished,
by fine and imprisonment.

D'Argenson shared with Law and the regent the unpopularity which had
alighted upon all those concerned in the Mississippi madness. He was
dismissed from his post of Chancellor to make room for D'Aguesseau; but he
retained the title of Keeper of the Seals, and was allowed to attend the
councils whenever he pleased. He thought it better, however, to withdraw
from Paris, and live for a time a life of seclusion at his country-seat.
But he was not formed for retirement; and becoming moody and discontented,
he aggravated a disease under which he had long laboured, and died in less
than a twelve-month. The populace of Paris so detested him, that they
carried their hatred even to his grave. As his funeral procession passed
to the church of St. Nicholas du Chardonneret, the burying-place of his
family, it was beset by a riotous mob, and his two sons, who were
following as chief mourners, were obliged to drive as fast as they were
able down a by-street to escape personal violence.

As regards Law, he for some time entertained a hope that he should be
recalled to France, to aid in establishing its credit upon a firmer basis.
The death of the regent in 1723, who expired suddenly as he was sitting by
the fireside conversing with his mistress, the Duchess de Phalaris,
deprived him of that hope, and he was reduced to lead his former life of
gambling. He was more than once obliged to pawn his diamond, the sole
remnant of his vast wealth, but successful play generally enabled him to
redeem it. Being persecuted by his creditors at Rome, he proceeded to
Copenhagen, where he received permission from the English ministry to
reside in his native country, his pardon for the murder of Mr. Wilson
having been sent over to him in 1719. He was brought over in the admiral's
ship--a circumstance which gave occasion for a short debate in the House
of Lords. Earl Coningsby complained that a man who had renounced both his
country and his religion, should have been treated with such honour, and