The French pronounced his name in this manner to avoid the ungallic sound, aw. After the failure of his scheme, the wags said the nation was lasse de lui, and proposed that he should in future be known by the name of Monsieur Helas!

The curious reader may find an anecdote of the eagerness of the French ladies to retain Law in their company, which will make him blush or smile according as he happens to be very modest or the reverse. It is related in the Letters of Madame Charlotte Elizabeth de Bavière, Duchess of Orleans, vol. ii. p. 274.

The following squib was circulated on the occasion: “Foin de ton zèle séraphique, Malheureux Abbé de Tencin, Depuis que Law est Catholique, Tout le royaume est Capucin!” Thus somewhat weakly and paraphrastically rendered by Justandsond, in his translation of the Memoirs of Louis XV.: “Tencin, a curse on thy seraphic zeal, Which by persuasion hath contrived the means To make the Scotchman at our altars kneel, Since which we all are poor as Capucines!”