Notwithstanding the plain initials T. A. Mr Halliwell erroneously attributes this letter to Torporley, who had been in his grave three months. The handwriting is not Torporley’s but Warner’s. The Earl died on the 5th of November following. T. A. unquestionably stands for Sir Thomas Aylesbury, who, as executor and good friend, had the matter in hand. Indeed Warner’s endorsement settles the question of authorship.
Six shillings and eight pence were paid for Hariot’s knell, and £4 were paid as his legacy to the parish for the poor, according to memoranda supplied by Mr Edwin Freshfleld from the Records of St Christopher’s. See Will, page 200.
Hariot had a lease from Raleigh of ‘Pinford grounds,’ at Sherburne, for fifty-eight years, but the King wanted it for Carr, so of course the title was found defective.
In conclusion, before laying down the pen with which has been exhumed and set up on a new pedestal one of England’s worthiest of her many forgotten Worthies, let the holder crave the indulgence of the reader for the illogical, wordy and mixed style of this essay. He is perfectly aware of these shortcomings, but puts in the plea that while groping in the past as if blindfolded he has been decoyed on step by step by the unexpected recovery of new materials after the others were in type, so that as often as he had finished his labor of love new facts have turned up which he had not the heart to reject. So he has incorporated them one after another as best he could. The results are more inartistic and crude than he could have wished, but he hesitates not on that account to invite lovers of and believers in the Truth of History to the banquet he has prepared.
A well-dined Reader is not likely, the writer thinks, to quarrel with his dessert because he has to pick out, with some little patience, the dainty meats of the nuts he has to arrange and crack for himself. Repetition, and perhaps some contradiction, are acknowledged. But meandering thoughts and ill-digested narratives, though tedious, are not criminal. When these new materials have dried in the noon-day sun for a year and a day, the writer then, or at the expiration of the Horatian period, may bring them back to his anvil to be re-hammered. May they then prove as true as they now seem new, is the wish of the admirer of Thomas Hariot, the first historian of Virginia, the friend of Sir Walter Raleigh, the companion of Henry Percy, and the Benefactor of Mankind.
THE WILL of THOMAS HARIOT
Recorded in the Archdeaconry Court of London
IN THE NAME OF
GOD Amen ye nine and twentieth daie of june, in the yeare of or Lord God 1621 And in ye yeares of the reigne of or Soueraigne Lord James by the Grace of God of England Scotland Fraunce & Ireland Kinge Defender of the Faythe & (that is to saie) of England Fraunce & Ireland the nineteenth And of Scotland the fower & fiftieth I THOMAS HARRIOT of Syon in the County of Midd Gentleman being troubled in my bodie wth infirmities. But of pfecte minde & memorie Laude & prayse be giuen to Almightie God for the same doe make & ordayne this my last will and testamt. In manner and forme following (viz) First & principally I Comitte my Soule in to the hands of Almighty God my maker and of his sonne Jesus Christe my Redeemer of whose merritts by his grace wrought in mee by the holy Ghoste I doubte not but that I am made ptaker, to thend that I may enioye the Kingdome of heaven ppared for the electe. Item my will is that if I die in Londn that my bodie bee interred in the same pishe Churche of the house where I lye the we" I comitte to the discrecon of my Executors hereafter named, Excepte taking the advise and direccon of the right honorable my very good Lord the EARLE OF NORTHUMBERLAND if it bee his pleasure to haue me buryed at Ilseworth in ye County of Midd And if it be the pleasure of God that I die at Syon I doe ordayne that my buriall bee at ye said Churche of Ilseworth w’out question Item I will & bequeath vnto the aforesaid Earle One wooden Boxe full or neere full of drawne Mappes standing nowe at the Northeast windowe of that Roome wchis Called the plor at my house in Syon, And if it pleaseth his Lorpp to haue anie other Mappes or Chartes drawne by hand or printed Or anie Bookes or other thinges that I haue I desire my Extors that hee may haue them according to his pleasure at reasonable rates excepte my Mathematicall papers in anie other sorte then is here after menconed Excepting alsoe some other thinges giuen away in Legacies hereafter alsoe specified Item I bequeath vnto the right honorable Sr ROBERT SYDNEY KNIGHT VICOUNT LISLE, One Boxe of papers being nowe vppon the table in my Library at Syon, conteyning fiue quires of paper, more or lesse wchwere written by the last Lord Harrington, and Coppyed out of some of my Mathematicall papers for his instrucon Alsoe I doe acknowledge that I haue two newe greate globes wchhaue Cous of Leather the wchI borrowed of the said LORD LISLE And my will is that they bee restored vnto him againe Item I giue vnto JOHN PROTHEROE of Hawkesbrooke in the Countie of Carmarthen Esquier One furnace wth his apputnnce out of the North Clossett of my Library at Syon. Item I giue vnto NATHANIELL THORPERLEYof Salwarpe in the Countie of Worcester Clarke One other furnace wth his apputnnce out of the same Clossett. Item I glue vnto my servaunte CHRISTOPHER TOOKE one other furnace wth his apputennce out of the same Clossett Alsoe I glue to him an other furnace out of the South Clossett of my said Lybrarie Item I give and bequeath vnto Mris BUCKNER wife vnto THOMAS BUCKNER Mercer at whose house being in St Christophers pishe I nowe lye, and hereafter nominated one of my Executors the some of fiffteene poundes towards the repacons of some damages that I haue made, or for other vses as shee shall thincke Convenient’ Item I giue vnto Mr JOHN BUCKNER theire eldest sonne the some of fiue poundes Item I giue & bequeath vnto my Cozen THOMAS YATES my sisters sonne fifty poundes towardes the paiemt. of his debte and not otherwise, But if his debt doe fall out to be lesse then fifty poundes then the residue to remayne to himselfe Item to JOHN HARRIOTT Late servaunte to Mr Doleman of Shawe neere Newbury ín Barkeshire and being the sonne of my vnckle John Harriotte but nowe married and dwelling in Churche peene about a Myle westward from the said Shawe, I doe giue and bequeath fifty poundes Item I giue and bequeath vnto CHRISTOPHER TOOKE my foresaid servaunte one hundred poundes. Item I giue & bequeath vnto myservaunte JOHN SHELLER fiue poundes more then the forty shillinges wchI haue of his in Custodie,being money given vnto him at sevall tymes by my frends wchin all is seauen poundes to bee imployed for his vse according to the discrecon of my Executors for ye placing of him wth an other Master Item I giue and bequeath to JOANE my servaunte fiue poundes more then her wages. Item I giue and bequeath vnto my svaunte JANE wchserveth vnder the said JONE fortie shillinges more then her wages wchwages is twenty shillinges by yeare Item I giue and bequeath to my auncient svaunte CHRISTOPHER KELLETT a Lymning paynter dwelling neare PettyFraunce in Westminster fiue poundes Item to my aincient servaunte JOANE wife to Paule Chapman dwelling in Brayneford end I bequeath fortie shillinges. Item I giue vnto the aforesaid EARLE OF NORTHUMBERLAND my two pspectiue trunckes wherewth I vse espetially to see Venus horned like the Moone and the Spout in the Sonne The glasses of wchtrunckes I desire to haue remooved into two other of the fayrest trunckes by my said servaunte CHRISTOPHER TOOKE Item I bequeath vnto euyone of my Executors hereafterwards to be named, One pspectiue truncke a peece of the best glasses, and ye fayrest trunckes, as my said servaunte Can best fitt to theire liking Item I giue vnto my said servaunte CHRISTOPHER TOOKE the residue of my Cases of pspectiue trunckes wth the other glasses of his owne making fitted for pspectiue trunckes (excepting two great longe trunckes Consisting of many ptes wchI giue vnto the said EARLE OF NORTHUMBERLAND to remayne in his Library for such vses as they may be put vnto, Alsoe I bequeath the dishes of iron Called by the spectacle makers tooles to grinde spectacles, and other pspectiue glasses for trunckes vnto my foresaid servaunte CHRISTOPHER TOOKE, Item Concerninge my debts, I doe acknowledg that at this psente I doe owe moneyes to Monseir Mayornes a Potycarie More to Mr Wheately a Potticary dwelling neare the Stockes at the East end of Cheapeside Item to my Brewer dwelling at Braynford end Item to Mr John Bill Staconer for Bookes The some of the debte to all fower before meneoned I thincke and Judge not to bee much more or lesse then forty poundes. Item I doe acknowledge to owe vnto Mr Christopher Ingram keeper of the house of Syon for the aforesaid EARLE OF NORTHUMBERLAND Three thousand sixe hundred of Billett wchI desire to be repayed vnto him Item I doe acknowledge that I haue some written Coppies to the number of twelue or fowerteene (more or lesse) lent vnto me by Thomas Allen of Gloster Hall in Oxford M` of Artes vnto whome I desire my Executors hereafter named to restore them safely according to the noate that hee shall deliu of them (I doubting whether I haue anie true noate of them my selfe) Item I make Constitute and ordayne theise fowre following my Executors Namely the aforesaid Sr ROBERT SIDNEY KNIGHT VISCOUNT LYSLE (if his Lopp may take soe many paynes in my behalfe) Also JOHN PROTHEROE of Hawkesbrooke in the County of Carmarthen Esquio` Alsoe THOMAS ALESBURY of Westminster Esquior Lastly THOMAS BUCKNER Mercer dwelling in St Xpofers pishe in Lond not farre from ye Royall Exchainge vnto wchExecutors I giue full power & aucty to vse theire owne discrecons in paying theire Charges in my behalfe out of the rest of my good And if my Bookes wth other goods doe in value Come to more then I haue afore supposed First I desire them to bestowe soe much vppon ye poore not exceeding twenty poundes as they shall thincke Convenient somee pte whereof I giue vnto the poore of the hospitall in Christes Churche in Lond, Some pte vnto the said pishe of St Xpofors where I nowe lye, and some pte wchI would haue the greater) vnto the poore of the píshe of Isleworth neere Syon in the Countie of Midd Secondly out of the said residue of my good, my will is, That the said Executors take some pte thereof for theire owne vses according to theire discretions Lastly my will and desire is that they bestowe the value of the rest vppon Sr Thomas Bodleyes Library in Oxford, or imploy it to such Charitable & pious vses as they shall thincke best Item my will and desire is that Robert Hughes gentleman and nowe attendant vppon th’afore said EARLE OF NORTHUMBERLAND for matters of Learning bee an ouseer at the prizing of my Bookes, and some other thinges as my Executors and hee shall agree vnto Item I ordayne and Constitute the aforesaid NATHANIELL THORPERLEY first to be Ouseer of my Mathematicall Writinges to be receiued of my Executors to pvse and order and to sepate the Cheife of them from my waste papers, to the end that after hee doth vnderstand them hee may make vse in penninge such doctrine that belonges vnto them for publique vses as it shall be thought Convenient by my Executors and him selfe And if it happen that some manner of Notacons or writinges of the said papers shall not be vnderstood by him then my desire is that it will please him to Conferre wth Mr Warner or Mr Hughes Attendants on the aforesaid Earle Concerning the aforesaid doubte. And if hee be not resolued by either of them That then hee Conferre wth the aforesaid JOHN PROTHEROE Esquior or the aforesaid THOMAS ALESBURY Esquior. (I hoping that some or other of the aforesaid fower last nominated can resolue him) And when hee hath had the vse of the said papers see longe as my Executors and hee have agreed for the vse afore said That then he deliu them againe vnto my Executors to be putt into a Convenient Truncke with a locke & key and to be placed in my Lord of Northumberlandes Library and the key thereof to be delifted into his Lordpps hands And if at anie tyme after my Executors or the afore said NATHANIELL THORPERLEY shall agayne desire the vse of some or all of the said Mathematicall paps That then it will please the said Earle to lett anie of the aforesaid to haue them for theire vse soe long as shall be thought Convenient, and afterwards to be restored agayne vnto the Truncke in the afore said Earle’s Library Secondly my will & desire is that the said NATHANIELL THORPERLEY be alsoe Ouseere of other written bookes & papers as my Executors and hee shall thincke Convenient. Item Whereas I haue diuers waste papers (of wchsome are in a Canvas bagge) of my Accompte to Sr Walter Rawley for all wchI haue discharges or acquitances lying in some boxes or other my desire is that they may bee all burnte. Alsoe there is an other Canvas bagge of papers concerning Irishe Accompt (the psons whome they Concerne are dead many yeares since in the raigne of queene Elizabeth wchI desire alsoe may be burnte as likewise many Idle paps and Cancelled Deedes wchare good for noe vse Item I revoake all former wills by mee heretofore made saue onely this my pnte last will and Testament wchI will shalbe in all thinges effectually and truely pformed according to the tenor and true meaning of the same In witnes whereof I the afore said THOMAS HARRIOTT haue to this my psent last will & Testament put my hand & scale yeouen the daie and yeare first aboue written THO : HARRIOTTS.
Sealed a published and deliued by ye wthin named THOMAS HARRIOTT for and as his last will & Testamt the daie & yeares wthin written in the pfice of vs IMMANUELL BOWRNE WILL: FUTTER, Scr: & THO : ALFORD Svte to the said scr
Probatum fuit hfnoi Testum sexto die mensis Julij Anno Dni 1621. Coram venli viro RICHARDO CLARKE legum Dcore Surto Dni Offitis &c . jurio THOME AILESBURIE et THOME BUCKNER duorum Extorum &c quibus &c de bene &c saluo jure &c Resrvata tamen ptate similem Comissionem faciendi Dno ROBERTO SIDNEY militi et JOHANNI PROTHERO armigero alteris Extoribus &c Cum venerint eandem in debita Juris forma petituri. Pro Inveno ANDREE prox &c. Concordat cum Originali fca exaicoe pnos HEN: DURHAM Norium Pubcm RA: BYRDE
[From the certified copy filed in the Probate Registry in Somerset House, which has been collated with the copy registered, Arch. Lond. 1618-1626/7, Folio 71. The differences in spelling, punctuation etc. are numerous but unimportant.]
END