The reader will be amused with the following Curious Extracts from the Will of an Earl of Pembroke.
“Imprimis.—For my soul; I confess I have heard very much of souls, but what they are, or whom they are, or what they are for, God knows, I know not: they tell me now of another world, where I never was, nor do I know one foot of the way thither. While the king stood, I was of his religion, made my son wear a cassock, and thought to make him a bishop, but then came the Scots, and made me a Presbyterian; and since Cromwell entered, I have been an Independent. These, I believe, are the kingdom’s three estates; and if any of these can save a soul, I may claim one; therefore if my executors do find I have a soul, I give it to him who gave it me.
“Item.—I give my body, for I cannot keep it, to be buried. Do not lay me in the church-porch, for I was a Lord, and would not be buried where Colonel Pride was born.
“Item.—My will is, that I have no monument, for then I must have epitaphs and verses, and all my life long I have had too much of them.
“Item.—I give all my deer to the Earl of Salisbury, who I know will preserve them, because he denied the king a buck out of one of his own parks.
“Item.—I give nothing to the Lord Say; which legacy I give him, because I know he will bestow it on the poor.
“Item.-To Tom May I give five shillings: I intended him more: but whoever has seen his history of the parliament, thinks five shillings too much.
“Item.—I give Lieutenant General Cromwell one word of mine, because hitherto he never kept his own.
“Item.—I give up the ghost, concordat cum originati.”
Curious Letter from Pomare, King of Otaheite, to the Missionary Society.