Pope was an excellent satirist; he writes:
“Let Budgell charge lone Grub Street on my quill,
And write whate’er he please,—except my will.”
Eustace Budgell was born at St. Thomas near Exeter, England, in 1685, and died in 1737. He was an essayist and miscellaneous writer, and a friend and kinsman of Joseph Addison, who was for a time Secretary of State for Ireland: he accompanied Addison to Ireland as Clerk, and later became under Secretary of State: he was, however, forced to resign his post, and returned to England.
Budgell is said to have lost a fortune in the notorious scheme known to history as the “South Sea Bubble.” He published the Bee, a periodical which brought him into considerable notoriety. He studied law and was called to the bar, but attained little success. By the will of Dr. Matthew Tindal, who died in 1733, he was left a legacy of 2000 Guineas: it was claimed that Budgell himself inserted this legacy in the will, which was successfully disputed by the heirs to the Tindal Estate: his prospects and future being ruined, he fell into disgrace and debt, and determined upon self-destruction. Accordingly, 1737, he took a boat at Summerset Stairs, after filling his pockets with stones, and drowned himself in the Thames. On his desk was found a slip of paper on which were written these words:
“What Cato did and Addison approved cannot be wrong.”
Will of a Child
In “Little Women,” by Louisa M. Alcott, we find Amy’s will, and it is a pretty reflection of the sweet and ingenuous spirit of a child. And humanity would be the happier for it if we could take with us into maturer years, the open hand and the self-forgetfulness of childhood.
Amy decided to follow the example of her Aunt March in will-making, though it cost her many a pang to part with her little treasures. Here is the paper Laurie was asked to read:
“MY LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
“I, Amy Curtis March, being in my sane mind, do give and bequeethe all my earthly property—viz. to wit:—namely