Allen comes not till the 16th, and you will probably chufe to be in town chiefly while he is there. I received yours juft now, and I writ to hinder- -from printing the Comment on the Use of Riches too hastily, fince what you write me, intending to have forwarded it otherwife, that you might revife it during your stay. Indeed, my present weakness will make me lefs and lefs capable of any thing. I hope, at least, now at first, to see you for a day or two here at Twitenham, and concert measures how to enjoy for the future what I can of your friendship.

He died May 30, following,

LAST WILL

AND

TESTAMENT

OF

ALEXANDER POPE,

I'

of TWICKENHAM, Efq;

N THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. I ALEXANDER POPE, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex, make this my last Will and Teltament. I refign my Soul to its Creator, in all humble hope of its future happiness, as in the difpofal of a Being infinitely good. As to my Body, my will is, that it be burried near the monument of my dear Parents at Twickenham, with the addition, after the words filius fecit of these only, et fibi: Qui obiit anno 17-atatis-and that it be carried to the grave by fix of the pooreft men of the parish, to each of whom I order a fuit of grey coarse cloth, as mourning. If I happen to die at any inconvenient diftance, let the fame be done in any other parish, and the Infcriptiou be added on the monument at Twickenham. I here. by make and appoint my particular friends, Allen Lord Bathurst, Hugh Earl of Marchmont, the Honourable William Murray his Majefty's Solicitor-general, and

George Arbuthnot, of the court of Exchequer, Efq; the furvivors or furvivor of them, Executors of this my laft Will and Teftament.

But all the manuscript and unprinted papers which I shall leave at my decease, I defire may be delivered to my noble Friend, Henry St John Lord Bolingbroke, to whofe fole care and judgment I commit them, either to be preserved or destroyed; or, in cafe he shall not furvive me, to the above faid Earl of Marchmont. Thefe, who in the courfe of my life have done me all other good offices, will not refufe me this last after my Death: I leave them therefore this trouble, as a mark of my trust and friendship; only defiring them each to accept of fome fmall memorial of me: That my Lord Bolingbroke will add to his library all the volumes of my Works and Tranflations of Homer, bound in red morocco, and the eleven volumes of those of Erafmus: That my Lord Marchmont will take the large paper edition of Thuanus, by Buckly, and that portrait of Lord Bolingbroke, by Richardfon, which he hall prefer: That my Lord Bathurst will find a place for the three ftatues of the Hercules of Furnese, the Venus of Medicis, and the Apollo in chiaro ofcuro, done by Kneller: That Mr Murray will accept of the marble head of Homer, by Bernini; and of Sir Ifaac 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 defire Mr Lyttleton to accept of the bufts of Spencer, Shakespear, Milton, and Dryden, in marble,

which his royal mafter the Prince was pleased to give me. I give and devife my library of printed books to Ralph Allen, of Widcombe, Efq; and to the Reverend Mr William Warburton, or to the furvivor of them (when those belonging to Lord Bolingbroke are taken out, and when Mrs Martha Blount has chofen Threefcore out of the number.) I alfo give and bequeath to the faid Mr Warburton the property of all such of my Works already printed, as he hath written, or fhall write Commentaries or Notes upon, and which I have not other wife difpofed of, or alienated; and all the profits which shall arife after my death from fuch editions as he fhall publifh without future alterations.

Item, In cafe Ralph Allen, Efq; abovefaid fhall furAvive me, I order my Executors to pay him the fum 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 ufes. If he refufe to take this himself, I defire him to employ it in a way, I am perfuaded, he will not diflike, to the benefit of the Bath-hospital.

I give and devife to my fifter-in-law, Mrs Magdalen Racket, the fun of Three hundred pounds; and to her fons, Henry, and Robert Racket, One hundred pounds each. I also release, and give to her all my right and intereft in and upon a bond of Five hundred pounds due to me from her fon Michael. I alfo 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 Erafmus Lewis, Gilbert Weft, Sir

Clement Cotterell, William Rollinfon, Nathaniel Hook, Efqrs. and to Mrs Anne Arbuthnot, to each the fum of Five pounds, to be laid out in a ring, or any memorial of me; and to my fervant, John Searl, who has faithfully and ably ferved me many years, I give and devife the fum 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 faid John Searl And it is my Will, if the said John Searl die before me, that the faid fum of One hundred pounds go to his wife or children.

Item, I give, and devife 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, houfhold-goods, chattels, plate, or whatever is not otherwife difpofed of in this my Will, I give and devise to the faid Mrs Martha Blount, out of a fincere regard, and long friendship for her. And it is my will, that

my

abovefaid Executors, the furvivors or furvivor of them, fhall take an account of all my eftate, money, or bonds, &c. and, after paying my debts and legacies, fhall place out all the refidue upon government, or other fecurities, according to their best judgment; and pay the produce thereof, half-yearly, to the faid Mrs Martha Blount, during her natural life: And after her deceafe, I give the fun of One thousand pounds to Mrs Magdalen Racket, and her fons Robert, Henry,