SICK IN BODY.

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I, Chr. Digges, of St. Gregory's without the walls of the City of Canterbury, Esqr., son and heir of Will. Digges, late of Barham in the County of Kent, deceased, being sick in body, but of good and perfect remembrance, thanked be Almighty God, revoking and making void all and other my former Wills, ordain and make this my present Testament and last Will. Co. Rep.

Sometimes in the beginning the testator commends or bequeathes his soul to God or his Creator, and his body to the earth. To this practice these passages refer :

This brief abridgement of my will I make :
My soul and body to the skies and ground;
My resolution, husband, do thou take;
Mine honour be the knife's that makes my wound;
My shame be his that did my fame confound;
And all my fame that lives disbursed be
To those that live, and think no shame of me.

Lucrece.

Carlisle. Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought For Jesu Christ in glorious Christian field, Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens; And toil'd with works of war, retired himself To Italy; and there at Venice gave His body to that pleasant country's earth, And his pure soul unto his captain Christ, Under whose colours he had fought so long.

Richard II., Act iv. Sc. 1.

Aum. Where is the duke my father with his power? K. Rich. No matter where; of comfort no man speak :

Let's talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth,
Let's choose executors and talk of wills :
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?
Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.

Richard II., Act iii. Sc. 2.

First, I give and bequeath my soul unto Almighty God my Maker, Redeemer, and Saviour, and my body to be buried where it shall please God, after the discretion of my beloved wife, Alice Gybson, my sole executrix under written. Co. Rep. The Will of Nicholas Gybson.

And Shakespeare's will commences in this

manner:

In the name of God, amen! I, William Shackspeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Countie of Warr., gent., in perfect health and memorie, God be praysed, doe make and ordayne this my last will and testament in manner and forme followeing, that ys to saye, ffirst, I comend my soule into the handes of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merits of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlastinge, and my bodye to the earth whereof yt ys made.

Pericles. I'll make my will then, and, as sick men do Who know the world, see heaven, but, feeling woe,

THE BEQUEST OF SOUL AND BODY.

Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did;
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as every prince should do ;
My riches to the earth from whence they came;
But my unspotted fire of love to you.

Act i. Sc. 1.

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Pericles alludes to this testamentary statement of sickness, and he makes a sort of parody on the bequest of soul and body; in other words, instead of bequeathing his soul he bequeathes a happy peace and his unspotted fire of love, and instead of bequeathing his body he bequeathes his riches to the earth from whence they came: and Arthur, in King John, Act iv., Sc. 3

Arthur. O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones : Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones. King John, Act iv. Sc. 3.

-seems to refer to the bequest of soul and

body.

Diana.

O, behold this ring,

Whose high respect and rich validity
Did lack a parallel; yet for all that
He gave it to a commoner o' the camp,
If I be one.

Count. He blushes, and 'tis it:
Of six preceding ancestors, that gem,
Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue,

Hath it been owed and worn.
That ring's a thousand proofs.

This is his wife;

All's Well that Ends Well, Act v. Sc. 3.

Give me that ring.

Ber. I'll lend it thee, my dear; but have no power

To give it from me.
Dia.

Will you not, my lord?

Ber. It is an honour 'longing to our house, Bequeathed down from many ancestors; Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world

In me to lose.

Dia.

Mine honour's such a ring :

My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors;
Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world
In me to lose.

All's Well that Ends Well, Act iv. Sc. 2.

The gem or ring said in these passages to have been conferred by testament to the sequent issue, and bequeathed down from many ancestors, seems to answer, in some respects at least, the descriptions given in our old law books of an heirloom, which, says Coke, is a word comprehending divers implements of household stuff or furniture, as a marble hearth, the first best bed, and other things which, by the custom of some places, have belonged to a house for certain descents, and are such as are never inventoried after the

death of the owner as chattels, and therefore never go to the executor or administrator, but to the heir along with the house itself by custom, and not by the common law. For a man by the common law cannot be heir to goods and chattels.'-(I. Inst. 18 b.; 185 b.)

Heir-loom (says Cowell) seemeth to be compounded of heir and loom, that is, a frame to weave in; the word by time hath a more general signification than at first it did bear, comprehending all implements of household, as tables, presses, cupboards, bedsteads, wainscot, and such like; which, by the custom of some counties, having belonged to a house certain descents, are never inventoried after the decease of the owner as chattels, but accrue to the heir with the house by custom.

Helena.
A ring the county wears,
That downward hath succeeded in his house
From son to son, some four or five descents
Since the first father wore it: this ring he holds
In most rich choice; yet in his idle fire,
To buy his will, it would not seem too dear,
Howe'er repented after.

All's Well, Act iii. Sc. 7.

The reader will perceive that Coke and Cowell, in their description of heir-looms, speak of things which, by the custom of some places and counties, had belonged to a house certain descents, and that Helena speaks of a ring the county wears,