120 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[Aug. 18. 1855. 



dye before they come to and accomplishe theire foresaid 

 S6verull ages of xxi yeres, that then I will that his or 

 theire parts or portions shal be distributed and equallye 

 divided to and amongst the rest of my other children then 

 snrvyveinge. Item. I give and bequeathe unto the afore 

 named Thomas Tusser, my sonne, and his heires, all 

 those seven acres and a roode of copy-holde which I now 

 have lyinge in the parish or feilds at Chesterton ; to have 

 and to holde the same, after the deathe of Amye, my 

 Tvyef, to him, his heires, and assignes for ever. Item. I 

 give also to the said Thomas Tusser, my sonne, all suche 

 estate and tearme of yeares as I have yet to come in a 

 certain close called Lawyer's Close, Ij-einge and beinge in 

 the parish of Chesterton, which said close I have de- 

 mised unto one William Mosse, for the tearme of one 

 ■whole yere, begininge at the Feast of St. Gregorye last 

 past, yeldinge and pa3'inge for the same xxxvs. rente, 

 •which said rente I doe alsoe gyve to my said sonne 

 Thomas, towards his bringinge up in learninge. Item. I 

 give also to the said Thomas my bookes of musicke and 

 virginalls. Item. The residew of all my bonds, goods, 

 and chattells, moveable and immovable, in Chesterton 

 aforesaid, or ells where, beinge in this my last will and 

 testament unbequathed, 1 give to Amye, my wyef, dis- 

 dhardging all my debtes and funerall expenses, not 

 amountinge unto above the summe of twentye marckes. 

 And of this my last will and testament I constitute my 

 said Sonne, Thomas Tusser, my full and whole executor ; 

 and yf he happen to dye before he accomplishe his full 

 age of twentye and one yeres, then I doe constitute and 

 make John Tusser, my second sonne, my executor ; and 

 yf yt fortune the said John to dj'e before he accomplishe 

 the age of xxi yeares, I constitute and make Edmond 

 Tusser, my sonne, my whole executor ; and yf yt happen 

 the said Edmond to dye before he dothe accomplish and 

 come to the age of xxi j'eres, I do then make and con- 

 stitute Amye Tusser, my wyef, my full and whole exe- 

 cutor of this my last will and testament. Item. I doe 

 constitute, ordaine, and make one Edmond Moon, gent., 

 father to the said Amye, my wyef, and grandfather to my 

 fbrenamed children, my said trustie frend before men- 

 tioned in this my said last will, guardian and tutor unto 

 my forenamed children, and supervisor and overseer of 

 this my last will and testament, unto whome I doe, next 

 nnder God, comitte both my wyef and my forenamed 

 children, trustinge assuredlye that he will take a fatherlye 

 care over them, as fleshe of his fleshe, and bone of his 

 bones. 



• " These whose names be hereunder written beinge -wit- 

 nesses to this present last will and testament. 



John Plommer, 

 of Barnard's Inne, in the countye of Middlesex, gentleman. 



Richard Clue. 



Thomas J eve. 



James Blower. 



William Hygeart. 



" Mem. — That William Hygeart dwellethe in South- 

 werke, with Mr. Towlye, copper smithe ; Richard Clue in 

 St. Nicholas Lane, free of the Merchant Tayler's; 

 Thomas Jeve, ironmonger ; James Blower, servant, free 

 of Clotheworkers. 



" Sealed and delivered in the presence of the parties 

 above named. 



John Bootes. 

 Francis Shackleton, 

 the Parson of St. Myldrfed's, in the Poultrie. 



John Plomer. 



*' Proved in the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of 

 Canterburj-, the 8th day of August, 1580, by his son, 

 Thomas Tusser." 



No. 303.] 



This will in all its provisions is very charac- 

 teristic of the testator. I may add in conclusion 

 that Mr. Clark, who has for many years past been 

 a collector of rare old literature, of which he 

 possesses a valuable collection, printed verbatim, 

 at his private press in 1834, a few copies, of the 

 original edition of 1557, of Tusser s Huvdreth 

 good Poyntes of Husbandrie, in the preface to 

 which he observes : 



" I am located within four or five miles of the natal 

 place of its author, and engaged in the very same pur- 

 suit that forms the subject of this work ; and I must ob- 

 serve, that should my humble but accurate reprint of 

 Tusser attract but little notice, I shall ever feel a plea-, 

 sure and a pride in having been the means of again 

 giving the curious, and the public in general, an oppor- 

 tunity of justly appreciating the genius and worth of such 

 a man as our old ' right trusty ' friend Thomas Tusser." 



Mr. Robert Baker, of Writtle, well known as a 

 writer and lecturer on agricultural subjects, has 

 observed that nearly all the proverbial philosophy 

 published by Dr. Franklin in Poor Richard's Al- 

 manac, and for which he has obtained so much 

 credit, was in fact derived from Tusser. There 

 is a mural tablet in Manningtree Church in re- 

 membrance of this good old worthy, on which is 

 inscribed the following inscription : 



" Sacred to the memory of Thomas Tusser, Gent., bom 

 at Rivenhall*, in Essex, and occupier of Braham Hall 

 near this town, in the reign of King Edward the Sixth, 

 where he wrote his celebrated poetical treatise, entitled, 

 Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, §-c. His 

 writings show that he possessed a truly Christian spirit, 

 and his excellent maxims and observations on rural 

 affairs evince that he was far in advance of the age in 

 which he lived. He died in London in 1580, at the age 

 of 65, and was interred in the parish church of St. Mil- 

 dred in the Poultry, where the following epitaph, said to 

 have been written "by himself, recorded his memory : 

 • Here Thomas Tusser, clad in earth, doth lie, 

 Who sometime made the " Points of Husbandry." 

 From him then learn thou may'st, here learn we must, 

 When all is done, we sleep and turn to dust. 

 And yet, through Christ, to heaven we hope to go ; 

 Who reads his books, shall find his faith was so.' " 



G. Blencowb* 

 Manningtree. 



* It has been ascertained that the name of Tusser does 

 not occur in the parochial register at Rivenhall, which 

 extends no farther back than 1634. Dr. Mavor, the 

 talented editor of his works, observes in his judicious 

 notes thereon, that the family has long been extinct. 

 Braham Hall, in 1460 the residence of Sir John Braham, 

 is about a mile and a half from Manningtree, and in the 

 parish of Brantham, where Tusser first introduced the- 

 culture of barley, as we find him saying, — 

 " At Brantham where rye but no barley did grow. 

 Good barley I had as many do know ; ' ' 



Five quarters an acre I truly was paid. 

 For thirty loads' muck on each acre so laid." 

 It is remarkable that tradition still points out the field 

 where it grew. 



