“42. My intention is that there shall be always at least three Trustees of my Will so far as it relates to the Scholarship Trusts and therefore I direct that whenever there shall be less than three Trustees, a new Trustee or new Trustees shall be forthwith appointed.”
“In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand the day and year first above written.
“C. J. Rhodes.”
(Subscribed by three witnesses.)
CODICIL
There is a long codicil to the will wherein the testator devises in tail his palatial home, known as “The Delham Hall Estate” and makes disposition of his great treasures in heirlooms, in and about Delham Hall.
Will of Cardinal Richelieu
This very interesting and remarkable will is extremely rare to find, although the copy from which we take it was in print, having been preserved, among many other curious papers, by M. Bourée, of Châtillon; docketed along with it was a collection of isolated papers, all more or less piquants, relating to the famous and formidable cardinal, and consisting of satirical verses, epitaphs, lampoons, parasitical flatteries, apologies, etc. There is also a rough copy of a billet d’enterrement, apparently drawn up with the intention of being distributed to the court to invite them to the funeral.
Our readers will no doubt peruse with curiosity the last wishes of this pompous and magnificent minister, who contrived to rehabilitate himself after an early disgrace, to maintain his proud supremacy to the last, and to die bequeathing gifts to his sovereign and master.
Of his luxury and extravagance, his nepotism so costly to the country, his assumption of power, and the art with which he knew how to make himself obeyed and feared by all classes and conditions of men, history amply informs us in details scarcely credible at the present day; and that it was he who by his despotism and tyranny laid the foundations of that terrible revolution, which blasted the face of the country and cast its fatal blight, more or less fatally, over the whole civilized world, none are likely to forget.