I do therefore enjoin,
And do strictly command,
Of which witness my hand,
That naught I have got
Be brought into hotchpot:
But I give and devise,
As much as in me lies,
To the son of my mother,
My own dear brother.
And to have and to hold
All my silver and gold,
As th' affectionate pledges
Of his brother, JOHN HEDGES."
In the next, the items are more curious and particular:
"What I am going to bequeath
When this frail part submits to death--
But still I hope the spark divine,
With its congenial stars shall shine,
My good executors fulfill,
And pay ye fairly my last will,
With first and second codicil.
And first I give to dear Lord Hinton,
At Twyford school now, not at Winton,
One hundred guineas and a ring,
Or some such memorandum thing,
And truly much I should have blunder'd,
Had I not given another hundred
To dear Earl Paulett's second son,
Who dearly loves a little fun.
Unto my nephew, Stephen Langdon,
Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done,
The civil laws he loves to hash,
I give two hundred pounds in cash.
One hundred pounds to my niece, Tudor,
(With luring eyes one Clark did view her,)
And to her children just among 'em,
A hundred more--and not to wrong 'em,
In equal shares I freely give it,
Not doubting but they will receive it.
To Betsy Mudford and Mary Lee,
If they with Mrs. Mudford be,
Because they round the year did dwell
In Davies-street, and serv'd full well.
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