Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 8.djvu/93

77 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ORIGIN OF CY PR^S. 77 mynde xii of the porest menys childern of said parisshe, the said childern to be ordered aboute my grave, and there knelying to say for my soule and all Cristen soules De Profundis &c ; to the which xii children I will be given xiii d, that is to meane, to the childe that begynneth the De Pro- fundis ii d, and to everyche of the other i d." Space forbids our giving much more of this microscopic will ; but no general description would convey an idea of the minute and formal care with which every detail is set forth to ensure the prompt, punctual, and exact performance of this necessary custody of his departed " soule," so justly as his own words. To " make 'assurance doubly sure," there follow the most precise directions for the food to be provided for the mourners at the burial and " monethes mind," viz. : — " competent brede ale and chese," " pieces of beffe and of moton," " xxiv treen [wooden] platers and xxiv treen sponys, with xxiv d of silver to be given unto xxiv poor persons of the saide parisshe of Theydon Garnon ; " " and if my said monethes mynde fall in Lent or on a fysshe day, then I will that said xxiv peces of fleshe be altered [substitution, and not miraculous conversion being intended] unto saltfyche or stokfysh, unwatered and unsodeyn. [Also] to be ordeyned in spice bred vi d, and in white bennys [beans] xii d, and a kylderkyn of goode ale with viii d of chese to refresshe all comers to that obite. If it happen the said obite to fall in Lent, than I will, that for the peces of beeff aforesaid and for the chese be ordeyned pyes of elys or som other goode fyshe mete to the value of the said ii s viii d." And so he proceeds for a dozen more pages, near the conclusion " dropping into poetry," which to the extent of nine formal verses was to " be graven at the feete of the figurys," carved on his " Htell tumbe of freestone," — the "figurys" being — "ii. of a man and a woman, with x men children and vi women children [presumably his family], and over and above the said figurys I will be made a figure of the Fader in Heven inclosed in a sonne ; and from the man figure I will be made on rolle toward the said figure of the Fader, and in hit to be graven O. Pater in cells ; and from the figure of the woman another lyke rolle whereyn to be graven, Nos tecum pascere velis." Not less illustrative of the times is the will of Thomas Wyn- desor, dated August 13, 1479,^ providing carefully for his funeral and " months mind ; " enjoining on his executors to have — 1 Nicolas, Test. Vet. i. 352. II