Sir John, a celebrated traveller, was born at Paris in 1643. His father, who was a jeweller, educated him for his own profession; and partly on business and partly to gratify his own inclination he set out on his travels to Persia and India. He visited these countries twice; and settling at last in London as jeweller to the court, he died there in 1713. He wrote an account of his travels in these regions which furnished to Montesquieu, Rousseau, Gibbon, and Helvetius, an accurate knowledge of the political system of Persia. His monument in Westminster Abbey bears the following inscription—Nomen sibi fecit eundo.