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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.

[5]

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 [6] 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, [7] 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 [8] 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 [9] 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 [10] 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 [11] 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 [12] 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 [13] 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 [14] 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 [15] 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 [16] 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.

Appendix A

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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.

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Citation Suggestion for this Object
TextGrid Repository (2020). TEI. 3467 The last will and testament of Alexander Pope of Twickenham Esq to which is added an inscription wrote by himself. University of Oxford Text Archive. . https://hdl.handle.net/21.T11991/0000-001A-5F1D-B