Hotel de Soissons, which had a garden of several acres in the rear. A
bargain was concluded, by which Law became the purchaser of the hotel,
at an enormous price, the Prince reserving to himself the magnificent
gardens as a new source of profit. They contained some fine statues
and several fountains, and were altogether laid out with much taste.
As soon as Law was installed in his new abode, an edict was published,
forbidding all persons to buy or sell stock anywhere but in the
gardens of the Hotel de Soissons. In the midst among the trees, about
five hundred small tents and pavilions were erected, for the
convenience of the stock-jobbers. Their various colours, the gay
ribands and banners which floated from them, the busy crowds which
passed continually in and out--the incessant hum of voices, the noise,
the music, and the strange mixture of business and pleasure on the
countenances of the throng, all combined to give the place an air of
enchantment that quite enraptured the Parisians. The Prince de
Carignan made enormous profits while the delusion lasted. Each tent
was let at the rate of five hundred livres a month; and, as there were
at least five hundred of them, his monthly revenue from this source
alone must have amounted to 250,000 livres, or upwards of 10,000
pounds sterling.

The honest old soldier, Marshal Villars, was so vexed to see the
folly which had smitten his countrymen, that he never could speak with
temper on the subject. Passing one day through the Place Vendome in
his carriage, the choleric gentleman was so annoyed at the infatuation
of the people, that he abruptly ordered his coachman to stop, and,
putting his head out of the carriage window, harangued them for full
half an hour on their "disgusting avarice." This was not a very wise
proceeding on his part. Hisses and shouts of laughter resounded from
every side, and jokes without number were aimed at him. There being at