“‘G. Card. Antonelli.
Then follow the attestation of the notary and the signatures of Cardinal Antonelli’s lawyer, of the Prætor, and of the witnesses, and the note of expenses of registration.
Will of Matthew Arnold
The estate of Matthew Arnold amounted to £1041. His will is in his own handwriting, and is one of the shortest that ever came under probate: “I leave everything of which I die possessed to my wife, Frances.”
Will of Jean Baptiste Robert Auger
Jean Baptiste Robert Auger, Baron de Montyon, was born in 1733 and died in 1820; he was a French economist and philanthropist, and a friend of Franklin. The Baron was a member of the King’s Government just before the Revolution. Although by birth and social position an aristocrat, all his heart was with the poor and suffering of the land.
In 1783 he founded several prizes, the chief one being a prize for the most remarkably virtuous act on the part of any poor French citizen. By his will he left a large sum of money for the purpose of “aiding virtue,” as he said. “The doers of the actions honored,” the will stipulated, “shall not be of a station above the middle classes of humanity.” The annual award of these prizes is made by the French Academy.
As years have passed, other rich philanthropists have added to the original sum, until to-day the income is sufficient to award every year a large number of prizes that are really of substantial aid to those who receive them.
For a number of years after the Government had received the bequest, it did not make any awards. During the Revolution the convention voted that it did not approve of awarding any such prizes; so the principal was allowed to accumulate. But during the reign of Napoleon it was turned over to the newly restored Academy as the most capable and impartial tribunal in the land, and the Academy, which is composed of forty foremost men of letters in France, has had charge of the constantly increasing fund ever since.