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Will of Thomas Cavendish, Efq; Ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire.

THE piety of this gentleman, as well as the manner of the times, may be seen in his laft will, which is as follows:

"In the name of the Fader, the Sonne, and Holy Gooft, Three Perfones and one God; J Thomas Cavendishe, of the King's Efcheker, being hole of mynde, and in good memory, the x11ith day of Apr. in the xvth yere of the reigne of king Henry VIII. make my teftament and laft wille, in manner and fourme as enfueth. First, I bequeth and geve my foul to Almighty God, my maker and redemp tor, to whom I crye for help and grace, during my natural lyfe in this worlde, and to his bleffed moder. our Lady St. Mary, and to all the companye of heven, to pray for me as the departyng of my foule out of my wretched body, for marcy and pitie; and that my foule may be faved by the merits of the most precious paffion of my fovrayn Lord God Jefu Crifte. Alfo I will, that all other teftaments and willes made and bering date before this day, be void, annulled, and of noon effecte; and my body to be buried in holy fepulture, that is to witt, with Godd's fufferaunce, in the church of Saint Thomas of Acres, within London, in the north ifle of the quere, next unto my grandfader William Cavendishe, yf it may conveniently be. And if it may not, then fumewhere ells in the fame churche, by Aicense of the mafter of the fame place for the tyme being, yf it furtune me to depart this prefent lyfe in London, or nygh aboute; or ells in criften fepulture, in fuch place, as it fhall please to God provide and or deyne for *me. Alfo I will, require, befeke, and pray, on Godd's behalf, myn executors, that they pay and content myn owner debts, which 1 owe of right or confcience, that may be provid dew before myn executors, and the maifter of the faid church of Saint Thomas of Acres, for the time being, in the discharging of my foul, and their confciences. Also I bequeth to the church-works, of the church of Saint Botulphe without Aldriche Gate of London, VIS. VIIId. and to the reparacions and bilding of the chauntrye of the Trinitye in the fame parish xx S. Alfo I bequeth to the faid maifter of Saint Thomas x111 s. iiii d. for my fepulture there, and x11d. for being at the

dirige and maffe; and to every priest of the fame place id. and to every clerk id. Item, I bequeth to the awter of the parishe churche of Saint Alban, Wood-freet, where I am a parishioner, for my offerings and tythes forgotten, or negligentlye paid, in discharging of my foule, vis. VIIId. Alfo I bequeth to the iiii orders of freers in London, that is to fay, White, Black, Greye, and Auguftine, to every one of them vis. viii d. bringing my corps to the faid churche, and there fay de profundis for my foule, and all criften foules, Alfo I will, that myn executors shall fynde, and geve twenty pounds at my burying, and for other my funeral expences, and all other the circumftances belonging thereto; and over that xl s. for a ftone to lye upon my grave. Also I will, that Agnes my wife, fhall have my landes and tenements in the countie of Kent to fell, and the money thereof, coming of the faid fale, to take and retayn to her own ufe, one hundred and twenty pounds; and of the refidue of the faid money, that the fame Agnes content and paye, or caufe to be contented and paid to my dough, ter Mary, fourty pounds, at the tyme of her marriage. And yf the faid Mary deceffe before the be married, then I will, that the faid fourty pounds be equally divided between Thomas Cavendishe, and William Cavendifhe, my sonnes, and yf any of my said two fones happen to deceffe ar they come to lawful age of xxi yetes, then I will, that the parte of him fo departing, fhall remayn to the other brother fo overlyving. And of this my laft will and teftament, I ordeyn and make. myn executors, Agnes my wife, Sir Richard Broke, knyght, one of the justices of the comen plafe, and Henry Walter, gentleman. And to every of the faid Richard Broke, and Henry Walter, I geve and bequeth a black gowne and xx s. for their labours, defiring them to take the labour for to fe the execution of this my laft will and teftament. And George Cavendishe, my fonne, to be, my overfeer of the fame, after my decefle in manner and fourme aforefaid. These witness. Sir John Webbe, John Newyngton, Henry Walter, and others.”.

Defcription of the Plate, entitled, Counsellor Double-Fee.

Counsellor Double-Fee is reprefented as receiving a fee from Plaintiff and Defendant, a method which is fometimes practifed by the gentlemen of the Long Robe. Part of his library, which is exhibited on the table and the ground, fhew the particular branches of his study; and Viner's Short Abridgement of the Law, in twenty-four volumes in folio, fufficiently points out how copious the laws of England must be when not abridged. The portraits of the three chief juftices hanging in his room, are very proper furniture ́ for his apartment.

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1

JEANNOT

( 189 )

AND COLIN.

TRANSLATED FROM VOLTAIR E.

MANY perfons worthy of credit have seen Jeannot and Colin at school, in the town of Ifloire, in Auvergne, a town famous all over the world for its college and its caldrons. Jeannot was the fon of a dealer in mules, of great reputation; and Colin owed his birth to a good fubftantial farmer in the neighbourhood, who cultivated the land with four mules; and who, after he had paid all taxes and duties, at the rate of a fol per pound, was not very rich at the year's end.

Jeannot and Colin were very handsome, con→ fidering they were natives of Auvergne: they highly loved each other; and they had little fecret connexions, certain little familiarities, of fuch a nature, as men always recollect with pleasure, when they afterwards meet in the world.

Their ftudies were very nigh finished, when a taylor brought Jeannot a velvet fuit of three colours, with a waistcoat of Lyons, which was extremely well fancied: with thefe came a let ter addreffed to Monf. de la Jeannotiere. Colin admired the coat, and was not at all jealous; but Jeannot affumed an air of fuperiority, which gave Colin fome uneafinefs. From that moment Jeannot abandonned his ftudies; he contemplated himself in a glass, and defpifed all mankind. Soon after, a valet-de-chambre arrives post-hafte, and brings a second letter to the marquis de la Jeannotiere; it was an order from his father, by which he was defired to repair directly to him at Paris. Jeannot got into his chaife, giving his hand to Colin with a fmile, which denoted the fuperiority of a patron. Colin felt his littleness, and wept. Jeannot departed in all the pomp of his glory.

Such readers as take a pleasure in being inftructed, fhould be informed, that Monf. Jeannot the father, had, with great rapidity, acquired an immenfe fortune by bufinefs. You will afk how fuch great fortunes are made? My answer is, by luck. Monf. Jeannot had a good perfon, fo had his wife; and fhe had ftill fome freshness remaining. They went to Paris . on account of a law-fuit, which ruined them; when fortune, which raifes and depreffes men at her pleasure, prefented them to the wife of an undertaker belonging to one of the hofpitals for the army, a man of great talents, who might make it his boaft, that he had killed more foldiers in a year than cannons deftroy in ten. Jeannot pleased the wife; the wife of Jeannot pleased the undertaker. Jeannot was foon employed in the undertaker's bufi nefs; this introduced him to other bufinefs. When our boat runs with wind and ftream, we have nothing to do but let it fail on; we VOL. I.

then make an immenfe fortune with eafe! The poor creatures, who from the fhore fee you purfue your voyage with full fail, ftare with aftonishment; they cannot conceive to what you owe your fuccefs; they envy you at random, and write pamphlets against you which you never read. This is juft what happened to Jeannot the father, who foon became Moni de la Jeannotiere; and who, having purchased a marquifate in fix months time, took the young marquis his fon from school, in order to in troduce him to the polite world at Paris.

Colin, whofe heart was replete with tendernefs, wrote a letter of compliments to his old companion, and congratulated him on his good fortune. The little marquis wrote him no answer. Colin was fo much afflicted at this, that he was taken ill.

The father and mother immediately con figned the young marquis to the care of a governor this governor, who was a man of fashion, and who knew nothing, was not able to teach his pupil any thing. The marquis would have had his fon learn Latin; this his lady was against. They hereupon referred the matter to the judgment of an author, who had at that time acquired great reputation by his entertaining performances. He was invited to dinner. The mafter of the house immediately addreffed him thus: "Sir, as you understand Latin, and are a man acquainted with the court."-"I understand Latin! I don't know a word of it, answered the wit; and I think myself the better for being unacquainted with it: it is very evident that a man fpeaks his own language in greater perfection when he does not divide his application between it and foreign languages. Only confider our ladies; they have a much more agreeable turn of wit than the men; their letters are written with a hundred times the grace of ours: this fuperiority they owe to nothing else but their not understanding Latin."

"Well, was I not in the right? faid the lady: I would have my fon prove a notable man, I would have him fucceed in the world; and you fee that if he was to understand Latin he would be' ruined. Pray, are plays and operas performed in Latin? do lawyers plead in Latin? do men court a miftrefs in Latin ??? The marquis, dazzled by these reafons, gave up the point; and it was refolved, that the young marquis fhould not mifpend his time in endeavouring to become acquainted with Cicere, Horace, and Virgil, "Then what fhsil he learn? for muft know fomething; might not one teach him a little geography B b

faid

faid the father. "Of what ufe will that be? anfwered the governor when the marquis goes to his eftate, won't the poftillion know the roads? they certainly will not carry him out of his way: there is no occafion for a quadrant to travel thither; and one can go very commodiously from Paris to Auvergne without knowing what latitude one is in."

"You are in the right, replied the father: but I have heard of a fine fcience called aftronomy, if I am not mistaken." "Blefs me! faid the governor, do people regulate their conduct by the influence of the flars, in this world? and muft the young gentleman perplex nimfelf with the calculation of an eclipfe, when he finds it ready calculated to his hand in an almanac, which, at the fame time, teaches him the moveable feafts, the age of the moon, and that of all the princesses in Europe?"

The lady agreed perfectly with the governor; the little marquis was transported with joy; the father remained undetermined. What then is my fon to learn?" faid he. To become amiable, anfwered the friend who was confulted; and if he knows how to pleafe, he will know all that need be known; this art he wil learn in the company of his mother, without either he or she being at any trouble."

The lady, upon hearing this, embraced the ignorant flatterer, and faid, "It is easy to fec, Sir, that you are the most knowing man in the world; my fon will be intirely indebted to you for his education: I think, however, it would not be amifs if he was to know fomething of history.” "Alas, madam, what is that good for? answered he; there certainly is no useful or entertaining history but the hif'tory of the day: all antient hiftories, as one of our wits has observed, are only fables that men have agreed to admit as true: with regard to modern hiftory, it is a meer chaos, a confufion which it is impoffible to make any thing of. Of what confequence is it to the young marquis your fon, to know that Charlemagne inftituted the twelve peers of France, and that his fucceffor ftammered?"

"Admirably faid, cried the governor; the genius of young perfons is fmothered under an heap of ufelefs knowledge: but of all fciences, the most abfurd, and that which, in my opinion, is moft calculated to ftifle genius of every kind, is geometry. The objects about which this ridiculous fcience is converfant, are furfaces, lines, and points, that have no exiftence in nature: by the force of imagination, the geometrician makes a hundred thousand curve lines país between a circle and a right line that touches it, when, in reality, there is not room for a fraw to pafs there. Geometry, if we confider it in its true light, is a meer jett, and nothing more."

The marquis and his lady did not well underftand the governor's meaning, yet they were entirely of his opinion.

"A man of quality, like the young marquis, continued he, fhould not rack his brains with ufelefs fciences. If he one day should have occafion for a fublime geometrician to take a plan of the lands of his eftate, he may get them furveyed for money: if he has a mind to trace the antiquity of his noble family, which leads the inquirer back to the moft remote ages, he will fend for a Benedictine: it will be the fame thing with regard to all other arts. A young man of quality, endowed with a happy genius, is neither a painter, a mufician, an architect, nor a graver; but he makes all thefe arts flourish, by generously encouraging them: it is, doubtless, better to patronize than to practise them: it is enough for the young marquis to have a tafte; it is the bufinefs of artifs to exert themselves for him; and it is in this fenfe that it is faid, very juffly, of people of quality (I mean those that are very rich) that they know all things, with, out having learnt any thing; for they, in fact, come at laft to know how to form a judgment concerning whatever they order or pay for.'

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The ignorant man of fashion then spoke to this purpose: "You have very juftly observed, madam, that the grand end which a man fhould have in view is to fucceed in the world can it poffibly be faid, that this fuccefs is to be obtained by cultivating the fciences? did any body ever fo much as think of talking of geometry in good company? does any one ever inquire of a man of the world, what star rifes with the fun? who enquires at fupper, whether the long-haired Clodio paffed the Rhine ?" "No, doubtless, cried the marchioness, whom her charms had, in fome measure, initiated in the polite world; and my fon fhould not extinguish his genius by the ftudy of all this ftuff. But what is he, after all, to learn? for it is proper that a young perfon of quality fhould know how to fhine upon an occafion, as my husband obferves.-I remember to have heard an abbé fay, that the most delightful of all fciences, fomething that begins with a B." "With a B, madam? is it not botany you mean?" No, it was not botany he spoke of; the name of the science he mentioned began with B, and ended with on.” "Oh, I take you, madam, faid the man of fafhion; it is Biafon you mean; it is indeed a profound fcience; but it is no longer in fashion, fince the people of quality have ceased to cause their arms to be painted upon the doors of their coaches; it was once the most useful thing in the world, in a well-regulated state. Befides, this ftudy would be endless; now-a-days there's hardly a barber that has not his coat of arms; and you know that whatever becomes commun is but little efteemed." In fine, after they

had

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