ABSTRACT
Du Tot and John Law are in some ways the economists’ counterparts to that great British literary pairing, Boswell and Samuel Johnson. Boswell is Boswell and few would know his first name. Until now, Du Tot’s first name has eluded generations of writers. In contemporary writings he was just referred to as Dutot. Later on the incorrect name of Charles Ferare Dutot was used by some commentators. Just as Boswell acquired the virus of excessive admiration for his subject which Macaulay in his Essays neologised into “lues Boswelliana”, so too Du Tot appears to have acquired this virus – call it “lues Du Totiana” – in excessive praise for Law.
