THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ALEXANDER POPE, of TWICKENHAM,
Esq
TO WHICH IS ADDED, An INSCRIPTION wrote by HIMSELF.
LONDON:
Printed for A. DODD, at the
Peacock,
without
Temple-Bar.
M.DCC.XLIV.
THE LAST WILL,
&c.
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. I
Alexander Pope,
of
Twickenham,
in the County of
Middlesex,
make this my last Will and Testament. I resign my Soul to it's Creator in all humble Hope of it's future 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.
Aetatis
—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 course 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 Honourable
William Murray,
his Majesty's Solicitor General; and
George Arbuthnott,
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 abovesaid Earl of
Marchmont.
These, 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 of 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:
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
Furnese,
the
Venus
of
Medicis,
and the
Apollo
in
Chiaro oscuro,
done by
Kneller:
That Mr.
Murray
will accept of the Marble Head 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
Peterborow,
and he to me on his Death-Bed; together with one of the Pictures of Lord
Bolingbroke.
Item,
I desire Mr.
Lyttelton
to accept of the Busts of
Spencer, Shakespear, 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 Reverend 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; abovesaid, shall survive me, I order my Executors to pay him the Sum of One hundred and fifty Pounds; being, to the best of my Calculation, the Account 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 Racket,
the Sum of Three hundred Pounds; and to her Sons,
Henry,
and
Robert Racket,
One hundred Pounds each. I also release, and give to her all my Right and Interest in and upon a Bond of Five hundred Pounds due to me from her Son
Michael.
I also give her the Family Pictures of my Father, Mother and Aunts, and the Diamond Ring my Mother wore, and her Golden Watch. I give to
Erasmus Lewis, Gilbert West,
Sir
Clement Cotterell, William Rollinson, Nathaniel Hook,
Esqs; and to Mrs.
Anne Arbuthnot,
to each the Sum of Five Pounds, 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 One hundred Pounds over and above a Year's Wages to himself, and his Wife; and to the Poor of the Parish of
Twickenham,
Twenty Pounds to be divided among them by the said
John Searl;
and it is my Will, if the said
John Searl,
die before me, that the said Sum of One hundred Pounds go to his Wife or Children.
Item,
I give, and devise to Mrs.
Martha Blount,
younger Daughter of Mrs.
Martha Blount,
late of
Welbeck-Street Cavendish-Square,
the Sum of One thousand Pounds 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 this 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 abovesaid 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 One thousand Pounds to Mrs.
Magdalen Racket,
and her Sons
Robert, Henry
and
John,
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 Two hundred Pounds to the abovesaid
Gilbert West;
two hundred to Mr.
George Arbuthnot;
two hundred to his Sister, Mrs.
Anne Arbuthnot;
and One hundred to my Servant,
John Searl,
to which soever of these shall be then living: And all the Residue and Remainder to be considered as undisposed of, and go to my next of Kin. This is my last Will and Testament, written with my own Hand, and sealed with my Seal, this Twelfth Day of
December,
in the Year of our Lord, One thousand, seven hundred and forty-three.
ALEX. POPE.
Signed, Sealed and Declared 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.
To God the Creator and best of Beings,
To
Alexander Pope,
a Gentlamen of Honesty, Probity and Piety, who liv'd LXXV. Years, died M.DCC.XVII.
And to
Editha,
his Excellent and truely Pious Wife, who lived XCIII. Years, died M.DCC.XXXIII.
To his well-deserving Parents the Son erected this, and to himself.