Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 07.pdf/144

 A Curious Will.

119

A CURIOUS WILL. AN English paper vouches for the authen ticity of the following extraordinary will. On the 19th of August, 1784, at the Court of -Bailiwick, in the town of D , was read and published the last will and testament of M. Fortune Ricard, a teacher of arithmetic; and this curious and lengthy document contains the most gigantic be quests ever left by mortal man. A brief summary of some of its salient features is here appended. After private bequests, the testator proceeds to deal with a separate fund of 500 livres = £ 22 of English money. "This sum," says he, "proceeded origi nally from a present which was made me by Prosper Ricard, my much-honored grand father, when I entered the eighth year of my age. At that age he had taught me the principles of writing and calculation. After having shown me that a capital, with its ac cumulating interest of five per cent, would at the end of 100 years amount to more than 131 times the original sum, and seeing that I listened to this lecture with the great est attention, he took twenty-four livres (a guinea) out of his pocket, and addressed me with an enthusiasm which is still' present to my mind. "' My child,' he said, ' remember whilst thou livest, that wjth economy and calcula tion nothing is impossible to man! Here are 24 livres which I give thee. Take them to a merchant in our neighborhood, who will place them in trade, out of regard for me. Every year thou shalt add the in terest to the principal. At thy death thou shalt employ the produce in good works for the repose of thy soul and my own.'" In his seventy-first yearM. Fortune found that the 24 livres had grown to 500, and disposed of them as follows : — First, they were to be divided into five equal portions of 100 livres each, and each

several portion put out to interest in the same way as the original 24. These were then to be employed as follows : — 1. In 100 years the first sum of 100 livres would amount to 13,100 livres (.£5,822). From this a sum of £1,500 was to be given for the best theological dis sertation proving the lawfulness of putting money out to interest. Further, three med als were to be given, and the rest of the money spent in printing and circulating the essays. 2. After 200 years the second sum, amounting to 1,700,000 livres (£756,500), was to be employed in establishing a per petual fund for fourscore prizes of 1,000 livres each : 1 5 prizes for the most distin guished virtuous actions, 1 5 for works of science and literature, 10 for arithmetical so lutions, 10 for agricultural science, 10 for masterpieces in fine arts, 10 for athletics, etc. 3. After 300 years the third sum, in creased to 226 millions (£10,057,000), to be used: 196 millions to establish in the most populous places in France 500 patri otic banks for lending money without inter est, the largest with a capital of 10 millions, the smallest of 100 thousand livres. The remaining 30 millions to found museums at Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux. Rouen, Rennes, Lille, Nancy, Tours, Dijon, Toulouse, Aix, and Grenoble. Half a million livres to be spent on each building and grounds, and an income of 100,000 livres to be annexed to each — with a staff of forty literary men and artists of superior merit, "who, at the time of meals, shall be divided into four tables, that their repast may be cheerful without being too noisy "! Free libraries, galleries of natural history, concert halls, theatres, free lectures, are all provided for in this wonderful and comprehensive scheme. 4. At the end of 400 years the foV1rth sum, amounting, with interest, to 30,000