Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour

He wrote distinguished works such as L'État des finances de la France ("The state of French finances", 1758), the Lettres sur les peintures, sculptures et gravures exposées au salon du Louvre ("Letters discussing the paintings, sculptures and engravings exhibited at the Louvre", Paris, 1763–1767, 3 vol.

duodecimo), L'Opéra d'Orphée et d'Eurydice ("The opera Orphée et Eurydice", 1765) as well as Dissertations and Discours such as Discours sur les meilleurs moyens de faire naître et d'encourager la patriotisme dans une monarchie ("Essay on the best methods of kindling and fostering patriotism in a monarchy", Paris: Cuchet et Gatty, 1788, octavo), etc.

Mathon de la Cour's generosity and distinction could not protect him during the Revolution; after the siege of Lyon he was guillotined.

In 1785 he caught the attention of Benjamin Franklin, whom he greatly admired, with his friendly parody of Poor Richard, Testament de M. Fortuné Ricard ("Last Will and Testament of Fortunate Richard"), in which the main character leaves five lots of 100 livres in his will on the condition that each be allowed to compound for 100, 200, 300, 400 or 500 years, the resulting billions and trillions of livres then to be spent on impossibly elaborate utopian projects.

[1] Nevertheless, despite an attempt by several of Franklin's heirs to obtain the money in 1890,[2] the funds still exist and continue to increase, and the story is often cited as an example of the power of compound interest.