“And I wish ere I wend, now to write out my will.
In God’s name, amen! lo! I make it myself.
May God have my soul who hath saved and deserved it,
Let the kirk have my carrion and keep well my bones.”
Will of Paul Scarron
The will of Paul Scarron, which he chose to write in verse, is not a particularly attractive production. It consists of about two hundred lines; the following may be taken as a specimen:
“Premièrement je donne et je légue
A ma femme, qui n’est point bégue,
Pouvoir de se remarier,
De crainte d’un plus grand désordre.
Mais pour moi je crois que cet ordre,
De ma dernière volonté
Sera celui le mieux exécuté.”
As is well known, Scarron was a French author and playwright. In 1652 he married the beautiful Francine d’Aubigne, afterward Madame de Maintenon. He died on October 6, 1660.
François Villon
François Villon is an unique character in history, romance and poetry. He died about 1484. “The Poems of Master François Villon of Paris done into English Verse by John Payne,” contain his two chief compositions entitled, “The Lesser Testament,” and “The Greater Testament”: they are satires of considerable merit and length, and a verse from the first and two from the last will suffice to show their character and his style.
From the first:
“Item, my gloves and silken hood
My friend Jacques Cardon, I declare,
Shall have in fair free gift for good;
Also the acorns willows bear
And every day a capon fair
Or goose; likewise a tenfold vat
Of chalk-white wine, besides a pair
Of lawsuits, lest he wax too fat.”
From the last: