A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.

SHAKSPEARE.

What I am going to bequeath,

When this frail part submits to death;

But still I hope the spark divine,

With its congenial stars shall shine.

My good executors, fulfil }

I pray ye, fairly my goodwill }

With first and second codicil, }

And first, I give to dear Lord Hinton,

At Twyford School, now not at Winton,

One hundred guineas for a ring,

Or some such memorandum thing,

And truly much I should have blundered,

Had I not given another hundred

To Vere, Earl Powlett's second son,

Who dearly loves a little fun.

Unto my nephew, Robert Langdon,

Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done,

Though civil law he loves to hash,

I give two hundred pounds in cash.

One hundred pounds to my niece, Tuder,

(With loving eyes one Brandon view'd her,)

And to her children just among 'em,

In equal shares I freely give them.

To Charlotte Watson and Mary Lee,

If they with Lady Poulett be,

Because they round the year did dwell

In Twickenham house, and served full well,

When Lord and Lady both did stray

Over the hills and far away,

The first ten pounds, the other twenty,

And girls, I hope, that will content ye.

In seventeen hundred and sixty-nine,

This with my hand I write and sign,

The sixteenth day of fair October,

In merry mood, but sound and sober,

Past my three-score and fifteenth year,

With spirits gay, and conscience clear,

Joyous and frolicsome, though old,

And like this day, serene but cold,

To friends well wishing, and to friends most kind,

In perfect charity with all mankind.