This memorial was erected by the Lady Elizabeth Howard, whom Hawkins, and others, have supposed to have been the wife of Dryden, and a pupil of Purcell. Hawkins also inferred that it was Dryden who wrote the inscription for the memorial, and further, that the dedication of the Orpheus Britannicus to Lady Elizabeth Howard was intended for Dryden's wife.
All these surmises are wrong. Dryden married Lady Elizabeth Howard, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Berkshire, in 1665, when Purcell was seven years old. Of course, after the marriage the wife ceased to be Lady Elizabeth Howard: moreover, her husband's (Dryden) means would scarcely have permitted the serious cost of Purcell's memorial tablet. This was in reality erected by the wife of Sir Robert Howard, the dramatist, who had been associated with Purcell in theatrical composition, and the lady had been a pupil of Purcell; the probability is, therefore, that Sir Robert wrote the inscription.
Purcell made his will on the day of his death; it is important, and reads as follows:—
"In the name of God, Amen. I, Henry Purcell, of the Citty of Westminster, gent., being dangerously ill as to the constitution of my body, but in good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to God), doe by these presents publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. And I doe hereby give and bequeath unto my loveing Wife, Frances Purcell, all my Estate both reall and personall of what nature and kind soever, to her and to her assigns for ever. And I doe hereby constitute and appoint my said loveing Wife my sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament, revokeing all former Will or Wills. Witnesse my hand and seale this twentieth first day of November, Annoq. Dni., One thousand six hundred ninety-five, and in the seventh yeare of the Raigne of King William the Third, &c. "H. Purcell.
"Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Henry Purcell in the presence of Wm. Ecles, John Capelin. "B. Peters."
Purcell's widow was thus left sole executrix, and she with her children—Frances, aged 7, Edward, aged 6, and Mary Peters, aged 2 years—continued to reside for a time at the house in Great Dean's Yard, from whence, in 1696, Mrs. Purcell issued A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, composed by the late Mr. Henry Purcell, Organist of his Majesties Chappel Royal, and of St. Peter's, Westminster. Of this popular little work three editions were speedily exhausted. In 1697 Mrs. Purcell published a collection of Ten Sonatas in four parts, composed by the late Mr. Henry Purcell, and also A Collection of Ayres, compos'd for the Theatre, and upon other occasions, by the late Mr. Henry Purcell; and in 1698 a further publication of the first volume of Orpheus Britannicus: A Collection of all the Choicest Songs for one, two, and three voices, compos'd by Mr. Henry Purcell; together with such Symphonies for Violins or Flutes as were by him design'd for any of them: and a thorough-bass to each song; figur'd for the Organ, Harpsichord, or Theorbolute. All which are placed in their several Keys according to the order of the Gamut.
To each of the above-mentioned works Mrs. Purcell prefixed dedicatory epistles, and in all of them she speaks in most affectionate terms of her deceased husband; nevertheless, the breath of slander in later years attributed to her some measure of responsibility for her husband's untimely death. Mrs. Purcell eventually removed from the house in Westminster to Richmond, in Surrey, where she died in February, 1706, and was buried on the 14th of that month with her deceased husband in Westminster Abbey, having survived him eleven years. On the 7th of February, 1706, she made a nuncupative will as she sat in the parlour of her dwelling house, by which she appointed Mr. Thomas Tovey her executor until her daughter, Frances Purcell, should reach the age of eighteen, when she was to be her executrix. Mrs. Purcell goes on to say that, "According to her husband's desire, she had given her deare son (Edward) a good education, and she alsoe did give him all the Bookes of Musicke in generall, the Organ, the double spinett, the single spinett, a silver tankard, a silver watch, two pair of gold buttons, a hair ring, a mourning ring of Dr. Busby's, a Larum clock, Mr. Edward Purcell's picture, handsome furniture for a room, and he was to be maintained until provided for. All the residue of her property she gave to her said daughter Frances."[51]
Sir John Hawkins, in his History of Music, would seem to suggest that Purcell left his family in distressed circumstances, but the will of the widow, of which he evidently knew nothing, gives a satisfactory refutation of such a surmise. Hawkins also charges Purcell with associating with tavern company; his words are:—
"Mirth and good humour seemed to have been habitual to him; and this is perhaps the best excuse that can be made for those connections and intimacies with Brown and others, which show him not to have been very nice in the choice of his company. Brown spent his life in taverns and ale-houses; the Hole in the Wall in Baldwin's Gardens was the citadel in which he baffled the assaults of creditors and bailiffs, at the same time that he attracted thither such as thought his wit atoned for his profligacy. Purcell seems to have been of that number, and to merit censure for having prostituted his invention, by adapting music to some of the most wretched ribaldry that was ever obtruded on the world for humour."