only 15 guineas in his pocket and very few clothes, he was well pleased with the choice,
laughing at himself in the mirror but nevertheless determined to continue in his defiance
of his father. He wrote to Juste setting before him the two options for his future which he
would find acceptable: marrying a suitable partner, or emigrating to America, taking with
him part of his inheritance from his mother. He then cheerfully boarded the coach for
London. Once there, he conceived the project of making a tour of England and Scotland,
and, in order to carry it through, was not above some deception. He knew the name and
address of his father’s Anglo-Swiss bankers, Messrs Ripley, Rivier & Co. of 6 Laurence
Pountney Lane, off Cannon Street in the City of London, and he paid Philippe Rivier
(1747–1816) a couple of visits there. The following is Rivier’s account of those visits in a
letter to Juste de Constant of Friday 20 July 1787:
Sir
I received on the 17th the two letters with which you honoured
me on the 10th and 14th inst. and I already had the pleasure of
seeing your son before receiving them. His visit and his request for
£50 sterling to go to Scotland took me by surprise as they were not
accompanied by any word from you. But seeing that he was in
financial difficulty, I gave him on the 5th inst. £25 sterling on your
behalf. Then your two above-mentioned letters arrived and
explained the situation. On his second visit he promised to leave
the day after tomorrow for Holland as you had asked him to, and
this persuaded me to give him a further advance of £15 when he
signed the enclosed receipt for £40. I should be grateful if you
would credit my bank Ripley & Rivier for these two sums. With
this money I thought he would have more than enough to pay what
he owed and for a number of small purchases he says he has made,
but now he claims that he only has £7. 13s left and needs another
ten louis in order to be able to rejoin you. Failing that he will have
to await another reply from you. Since I can see that he would like
nothing better, I have decided to give him those ten louis. When I
or one of the employees of our bank see him in the post-chaise on
Sunday morning, the day fixed for his departure (something which
I promise you can count on and about which I shall inform you by
the very next post), rest assured that I will have done everything in
my power to exhort your son to be more aware of your kindness
towards him and of your love. I hope that he will come to
appreciate them and that his behaviour will be more satisfactory in
the future. I am sorry that our being out in the country and the great
amount of work I am involved in at the moment have not allowed
me to receive him in my home as often as I would have wished.^18Escape 97