Nicholas Mercator (sometimes known as Kauffmann) was born in Holstein about 1620, but resided most of his life in England. He went to France in 1683, where he designed and constructed the fountains at Versailles, but the payment agreed on was refused unless he would turn Catholic; he died of vexation and poverty in Paris in 1687. He wrote a treatise on logarithms entitled Logarithmo-technica, published in 1668.