Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

146

POPE'S LAST WILL.

[ocr errors]

happiness, as in the disposal of a BEING infinitely good! As to my Body, my will is, that it be buried -near the monument of my dear Parents, at Twickenham, with the addition, after the words Filius fecit, of these only-et sibi, qui obiit anno 17 ætatis and that it be carried to the grave by six of the poorest men of the parish, to each of whom I order a suit of grey coarse cloth, as mourning. If I happen to die at any inconvenient distance, let the same be done in any other parish, and the inscription be added on the monument at Twickenham. I hereby make and appoint my particular friends, Allen, Lord Bathurst Hugh, Earl of Marchmont-the Hon. William Murray, his Majesty's Solicitor General-and George Arbuthnot, of the Court of Exchequer, Esq.the survivors or survivor of them, Executors of this my last Will and Testament :

"But all the manuscript and unprinted papers which I shall leave at my decease, I desire may be delivered to my noble friend, Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke; to whose sole care and judgment I commit them, either to be preserved or destroyed; or, in case he shall not survive me, to the above-said Earl of Marchmont. Those who, in the course of my life, have done me all other good offices, will not refuse me this last after my death. I leave them, therefore, this trouble as a mark of my trust and friendship; only desiring them each to accept of some small memorial from me:-That my Lord Bolingbroke will add to his library all the volumes of my Works and Translations of Homer bound in red morocco, and the eleven volumes of those of Erasmus ;

POPE'S LAST WILL.

147

that my Lord Marchmont will take the large-paper edition of Thuanus, by Buckley, and that portrait of Lord Bolingbroke, by Richardson, which he shall prefer; that my Lord Bathurst will find a place for the three statues of the Hercules of Farnese, the Venus of Medicis, and the Apollo, in Chiaro Obscuro, by Kneller; that Mr. Murray will accept of the marble heads of Homer, by Bernini, and of Sir Isaac Newton, by Guelfi; and that Mr. Arbuthnot will take the watch I commonly wore, which the King of Sardinia gave to the late Earl of Peterborough, and he to me on his death-bed, together with one of the pictures of Lord Bolingbroke.

66

Item, I desire Mr. Lyttelton to accept of the busts of Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden, in marble, which his Royal Master the Prince was pleased to give me. I give and devise my Library of printed Books to Ralph Allen, of Widcombe, Esq., and to the Rev. Mr. William Warburton, or to the survivor of them, when those belonging to Lord Bolingbroke are taken out, and when Mrs. Martha Blount has chosen threescore out of the number. I also give and bequeath to the said Mr. Warburton the property of all such of my Works, already printed, as he hath written, or shall write, commentaries or notes upon, and which I have not otherwise disposed of or alienated; and all the profits which shall arise after my death from such editions as he shall publish without future alterations.

"Item, In case Ralph Allen, Esq. above-said, shall survive me, I order my Executors to pay him the sum

148

POPE'S LAST WILL.

of £150, being, to the best of my calculation, the amount of what I have received from him, partly for my own and partly for charitable uses. If he refuse to take this himself, I desire him to employ it-in a way, I am persuaded, he will not dislike-to the benefit of the Bath Hospital.

"I give and devise to my sister-in-law, Mrs. Magdalen Rackett, the sum of £200, and to her sons £100 each. I also release and give to her all my right and interest in and upon a bond of £500, due to me from her son Michael. I also give her the family pictures of my Father, Mother and Aunt, and the diamond ring my mother wore, and her golden watch. I give to Erasmus Lewis, Gilbert West, Sir Clement Cotterell, William Rollison, Nathaniel Hook, Esq., and to Mrs. Anne Arbuthnot, to each the sum of £5, to be laid out in a ring, or any memorial of me; and to my servant, John Searl, who has faithfully and ably served me many years, I give and devise the sum of £100, over and above a year's wages to himself and his wife; and to the poor of the parish of Twickenham £20, to be divided among them by the said John Searl; and it is my will, that if the said John Searl die before me, that the said sum of £100 go to his wife and children.

66 Item, I give and devise to Mrs. Martha Blount, younger daughter of Mrs. Martha Blount, late of Welbeck-street, Cavendish-square, the sum of £1000, immediately on my decease. And all the furniture of my Grotto, urns in my garden, household goods, chattels, plate, or whatever is not otherwise disposed of in

POPE'S LAST WILL.

149

my will, I give and devise to the said Mrs. Martha Blount, out of a sincere regard and long friendship for her. And it is my will, that my above-said Executors, the survivors or survivor of them, shall take an account of all my estate, money, or bonds, &c., and, after paying my debts and legacies, shall place out all the residue upon Government or other securities, according to their best judgment, and pay the produce thereof, half-yearly, to the said Mrs. Martha Blount, during her natural life: and, after her decease, I give the sum of £1000 to Mrs. Magdalen Rackett and her sons, to be divided equally among them, or to the survivors or survivor of them; and, after the decease of the said Mrs. Martha Blount, I give the sum of £200 to the above-said Gilbert West, £200 to Mr George Arbuthnot, £200 to his sister Mrs. Anne Arbuthnot, and £100 to my servant John Searl, to whichsoever of these shall be then living; and all the residue and remainder to be considered as undisposed of, and to go to my next kin.

"This is my last Will and Testament, written with my own hand, and sealed with my seal, this 12th day of December, 1743.

"ALEXANDER POPE.

"Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the Testator, as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us,

"RADNOR,

"STEPHEN HALES, Minister of Teddington;

"JOSEPH SPENCE, Professor of History

in the University of Oxford."

150

CLASSIFICATION OF POETS.

In 1797, Dr. Joseph Warton published an edition of Pope's Works, in nine volumes, with his Life prefixed; and the Rev. Lisle Bowles, in 1806, published an edition in ten volumes. These regular impressions, in conjunction with the original edition of Warburton, are of themselves sufficient to convey the name of the bard of Twickenham down to latest posterity.

Dr. Joseph Warton has thus thrown the British Poets into classes, which informs the judgment, whilst it assists and invigorates the memory

"Our English Poets may, I think, be disposed in FOUR different classes and degrees. In the first class, I would place our only three sublime and pathetic poets, SPENSER, SHAKESPEARE, MILTON. In the second class should be ranked such as possessed the true poetical genius in a more moderate degree, but who had noble talents for moral, ethical and panegyrical poesy. At the head of these are DRYDEN, PRIOR, ADDISON, COWLEY, WALLER, GArth, FENTON, GAY, DENHAM, PARNELL. In the third class may be placed men of wit, of elegant taste, and lively fancy in describing familiar life, though not the higher scenes of poetry. Here may be numbered BUTLER, SWIFT, ROCHESTER, DONNE, DORSET, OLDHAM. In the fourth class, the mere versifiers, however smooth and mellifluous some of them may be thought, should be disposed, such as PITT, SANDYS, FAIRFAX, BROOME, BUCKINGHAM, LANSDOWN. This enumeration is not intended as a complete cata

« НазадПродовжити »