276 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL books, chez Goberr, peintre, place du Palais Royal, in the same neighbourhood. ? In 1723 Lacly Mary Wortley Montagu writes to her sister, the Countess of Mar If you please to send my night-gown to Mr. Hughes, an English banquier at Paris, clirectecl for Madame Cantilion, it will come safe to my hancls; she is a new neighbour of minc has a very hanoisome house in the village, ancl herself eclipses _n_?ost of our Lonclon beauties. A foot-note explains that the lady is the wife of Cantilion, the banker. e The Letters and Journals of Jevons s show that he held in his hand a clue which, rightly followed, may yet lead to a satis- factory account of Cantillon's career. Jevons had seen at Somerset House a copy of the will, in which Cantilion speaks of lawsuits depending against him. Search among the papers of the Public Record Office has brought to light numerous Chancery bills and answers relative to these suits. Others remain hope- lessly entombed until they are indexed and rendered accessible. Before passing to these records (which include copies of over thirty letters written by Cantilion) it may be well to repeat the outline of the history to which currency was given by Grimm, that Cantilion carried on business first as a merchant in London, and then as a banker at Paris. His great credit during the Regency aroused the jealousy of John Law, who held blunt lan- guage with him: ' I can send you to the Bastille to-night if you don't give me your word to quit the kingdom in four and twenty hours!' Cantilion answered: ' I shall not go away; but I will make your system succeed.' Accordingly he floated a mass of Law's paper to great advantage, made a large fortune in a few days, prudently retired to Holland, and ultimately returned to London, where he was murdered by his cook. Cantillon's own story is to the following effect. ? He was' a naturall born subject of the Crown of Great Britain,' and' did for severall years carry on the Business of a Banker in the Citty of Paris until the beginning of the month of August 1719.' Being 'then desirous to exercise his Trade in the names of others,' he took into his House--the Clu?teau de la Samaritaine, Rue de la Monnoye, paroisse St. Germai? l'A,uxerrois, Paris--Mr. Edmund Loftus & Co., and ? Lettres de Bolinqbroke, c?dition Grimoard, Paris, 1808, iii. 93. ? Letters, ed. W. l?ioy Thomas, London, 1861, i. 468. .? 1886, p. 425. 4 See especially, Chancery Proceedings, 1714-1758: Hughes v. Moore, 1441; Hughes v. Harrold, 1441, 1746; Herbert v. Cantilion, 1596; Herbert v. Garvan, 356; Stafford r. Cantilion, 573.
