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. Lyttelton to accept of the Bufts of Spencer, Shakespear, Milton, and Dryden, in Marble, which his Royal Mafter the Prince was pleas'd 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 Survivor 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 fuch of my Works already printed, as. he hath written, or fhall write Commentaries or Notes upon, and which I have not otherwife difpofed of, or alienated; and all the Profits which fhall arife after my Death from fuch Additions, as he fhall publifh without future Alterations.

Item, In cafe Ralph Allen, Efq; abovefaid, fhall furvive me, I order my Executors to pay him the Sum of One hundred and fifty Pounds; being to the beft 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 himfelf, I defire him to employ it in a Way I am perfwaded he will not diflike, to the Benefit of the Bath-Hofpital.

Igive and devife to my Sifter-in-law, Mrs. Magdalen Racket, the Sum of Three hundred Pounds; and to her Sons, Henry and Robert Racket, One hundred Pounds each. I alfo releafe, and give to her all my Right and Interest in and upon a Bond of Five hun'dred Pounds due to me from her Son Michael. I alfo give her the Family Fictures of my Father, VOL. II. Mother

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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, each the Sum of Five Pounds, to be laid out in a Ring, or any Memorial of me'; and to my Sérvant John Searle, who has faithfully and ably ferv'd me many Years, I give, and devife 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 amongst them by the faid John Searle; and it is my Will, if the faid John Searle, die before me, that the fame Sum 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 thoufand Pounds immediately on my Deceafe; and all the Furniture of my Grotto, Urns in my Garden, Household Goods, Chattels, Plate, or whatever is not otherwife difpofed of in this my Will, I give and devife to the faid Mrs. Martha Blount, out of a fincere Regard, and long Friendship for her: And it is my Will, that my abovesaid Executors, the Survivors or Survivor of them, fhall take an Account of all my Eftates, Money, or Bonds, &c. and after paying my Debts and Legacies, fhall place out all my Refidue upon Government, or other Securities, according to their beft Judgments, and pay the Produce thereof, half-yearly, to the faid Mrs. Martha Blount, during her natural Life: And after her Deceafe, I give the Sum of One thoufand 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 Deceafe of the faid Mrs. Martha Blount, I give the Sum of Two hundred Pounds to the abovefaid Gilbert Weft; two hundred to Mr. George Arbuthnot two hundred to his Sifter, Mrs. Anne Arbuthnot; and One hundred to my Servant, John Searle, to which foever of these shall be then living: And all the Refidue and Remainder to be confidered as undifpofed of, and go to my next of Kin. This is my last Will and Teftament, written with my own Hand, and fealed with my Seal, this Twelfth Day of December, in the Year of our Lord, One thoufand, seven hundred and forty-three.

ALEX. POPE.

The Affairs of his Eftate being thus fettled, he never gave himself further Thoughts about them, but with a fingular Calmness of Mind, bore the increafing Pains of his Diftemper, and follow'd the, Advice he himself had before given, in all States and under all Doubts or Difficulties whatever to fubmit, not that it is to be wonder'd at so much in him, whose whole Life was one continued Suffering, and whose particular Study had been to make himfelf as eafy as poffible under all the Difpenfations of Providence.

Thus he continued for fome Time; at length the Symptoms of his Disorder began to change, tho' his Senfes remain'd with him to the laft, and on the 30th of May, in the Year of our Lord, 1744, he died at Twickenham, and is buried in the Parish Church there, with his Father and Mother, according to the Direction of his Will.

It is obfervable, that the Legacies are very inconfiderable which Mr. Pope has left from Mrs. Blount, which he acknowledges to be her's in Right, out of a fincere Regard and long Friendship for her, and not till after her Death thinks he has a Right to dif Cc 2

pofe

pofe of his Eftate; but then after fome Legacies, to the Amount of 1700 l. he makes it return to his own Relations, confiders it as undifpos'd of, and it goes to the next of Kin.

He never mentions Mrs. Blount in any of his Writings but with great Tenderness, and Sentimentswarm from the Heart, attends her always with good Wishes; her Profperity and Joy are the great Scope of his Defires, and he feems to value himfelf upon the Truth of his own Friendship, only as it ferves to add to her Happiness.

How extenfive he defires that to be, appears from a small Poem written by him, and prefented to her on her Birth-Day, where he wishes, that her Death may be without the common Terrors, and that the may be carried away in Pleasure and Extacy.

H! be thou bleft with all that Heav'n can fend,
Long Health, long Youth, long Pleasure, and
a Friend:

Not with thofe Toys the female World admire,
Riches that vex, and Vanities that tire.

With added Years if Life bring nothing new,
But like a Sieve let ev'ry Bleffing thro',
Some Joy ftill loft, as each vain Year runs o'er,
And all we gain, fome fad Reflection more ;
Is that a Birth-Day? 'tis alas! too clear,
'Tis but the Fun'ral of the former Year.

Let Joy or Eafe, let Affluence or Content,
And the gay Conscience of a Life well spent,
Calm ev'ry Thought, infpirit ev'ry Grace,
Glow in thy Heart, and smile upon thy Face.
Let Day improve on Day, and Year on Year,
Without a Pain, a Trouble, or a Fear;
Till Death unfelt that tender Frame destroy,
In some soft Dream, or Extacy of Joy;

Peaceful

Peaceful sleep out the Sabbath of the Tomb,
And wake to Raptures in a Life to come.

Thefe gentle Thoughts, thefe warm Wishes, these friendly Reflections, were always uppermoft, when she was the Subject; Distemper and Disorder of Body, that fometimes might make him appear morose to others, loft their Influenee over him in her Regard, and all his Pride (if, as it fometimes would feem) he had Pride, fweeten'd into Friendship at her Sight; nay, for fome Years before his Death, fince that of fome of his best Friends, and the Absence of others, he had (except in his Studies) no other Pleafure but in her Company and Converse.

Thus we have gone (marking his Actions by the Way) with this great Genius, from the Cradle to the Tomb, and as no Objection can be rais'd against Mr. Pope as a Man, a Scholar, or a Critick, above all must be rever'd and venerated for his Mufe, for it must be confefs'd, that not only of this Age, but speaking of all former Ages, in our Language, he was THE GREATEST POET.

FINI S.