490 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2««iS. V. 129., June 19. '58. 



" two thousand one hundred pounds, that his great 

 talents might serve his country." 



That such a bequest, made to the prejudice 

 of Dr. Tindal's nephew, whom he was known 

 to regard and design for his heir, should excite 

 attention and controversy, may well be imagined. 

 Accordingly, besides the articles in various con- 

 temporary journals, there appeared numerous 

 pamphlets on the subject : four of these are now 

 before us. 



It is not easy to determine the order in Avhich 

 they were given to the world. We will therefore 

 copy their Titles, marking them respectively A , 

 B., C, and D., for the sake of more ready refer- 

 ence to them hereafter. 



A. " A True Copy of the Last Will and Testament of 

 that Famous Free-Thinker Matthew Tindall, LL.D., 

 Author of The Rights of the Church, Christianity as Old as 

 the Creation, &c. ; with a Calculation of his Nativity in 

 the Year 1711, by Mr. Parker; and a particular Account 

 of his Death. 



In Providence, alone, he plac'd his stedfast Trust, 

 And died, in hoary Age. like Socrates the Just. 

 By Appointment. Printed for E. Curll in the Strand. 



MDCCXXXIII." 



B. " Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Matthew 

 Tindal, LL.D. ; with a History of the Controversies 

 wherein he was engaged. (Long Quotation from Bp. 

 Burnet.) London. Printed for E. Curll, in Burghley 

 Street in the Strand, mdccxxxiii." 



C. " A Copy of the Will of Dr. Matthew Tindal, with 

 an Account of what passed concerning the same between 

 Mrs. Lucy Price, Eustace Budgell, Esq., and Mr. Nicolas 

 Tindal. London. Printed for T. Cooper, at the Globe in 

 Ivy Lane, mdccxxxiii. (Price 4d)" 



n. " AVindication of Eustace Budgell, Esq., from some 

 Aspersions thrown upon him in a late Pamphlet entitled 

 ' A Copy of the Will of Dr. Matthew Tindal, with an 

 Account of what passed concerning the same between 

 Mrs. Lucy Price, Eustace Budgell, Esq., and Mr. Nicolas 

 Tindal.' London. Printed for T. Cooper at the Globe in 

 Ivy Lane, mdccxxxiii. Price Fourpence." 



How Curll became possessed of the Copy of the 

 Will is shown by a statement in C. (p. 21.), Avhere 

 we are told : — 



" Mrs. Price, as she herself told Mr. Tindal, penned 

 with her own hand a Sketch of the Doctor's Life, with a 

 favorable account of his pretended Will, and sent them 

 by a third person to Mr. Orator Henl}% who made them 

 the subject of his Sunday Evening Lecture. By the 

 same hand was also sent to Mr. Curll a copy of the will, 

 with the remark at the end that the Doctor always fol- 

 lowed Alexander's maxims, who, when asked about his 

 Succession, said Detur Dignitissimo, Let it be given to the 

 most worthy. How well the Doctor followed this maxim 

 in his pretended Will, the world is left to judge." 



And we think the reader who peruses the fol- 

 lowing Dedication of The Memoirs (B.) to Mrs, 

 Lucy Price will agree with us that these Me- 

 moirs were probably also communicated by her to 

 Curll: — 



" To the Hon. Mrs. Price, Relict of Mr. Justice Price. 

 " Madam : As the lives of heroes are drawn from the 



atchievements of the sword, so are those of writers from 

 the productions of the pen : and as I have received from 

 you, and by your means, the materials for compiling 

 these Memoirs (especially the Doctor's own Minutes), it 

 would have been the heighth of ingratitude in me to 

 have addressed them elsewhere. I am certain that the 

 offering I bring will be acceptable, for the real esteem 

 you had for Dr. Tindall and his Writings ; and as to my 

 own part. Madam, all the point I have in view is a grate- 

 ful acknowledgment of the many favours I have received 

 from you, during the course of above thirty yearis' friend- 

 ship: and as Mr. Philips (Address to Mr. Mostyn in 

 Cyder, book i.) has said upon a like occasion, 



" ' That when this body frail 

 Is moulder'd into dust, and I become 

 As I had never been, late times may know 

 I once was blest in such a matchless Friend.' 



And during life. Madam, I will be your most humble 

 Servant. E. C. 



" Sept. 10, 1733." 



We will now lay before our readers a copy of 

 the Will itself, as it is not very long, and then give 

 some notices of the circumstances attending its 

 execution, and of the squabbles to which it gave 

 rise : — 



" I Matthew Tindall do make this my last Will 

 and Testament in Manner following ; 



" I give and bequeath unto my Servant Hannah An- 

 thony, i{ she lives with me at the Time of ni}' Decease, 

 the Sum of fifty two Pounds ten Shillings ; and also 



« I give and bequeath unto Eustace Budgell, Esq., the 

 Sum of two thousand one hundred Pounds, that his 

 Great Talents may serve his Country. 



" I give and bequeath unto the Widow Lucy Price, 

 The Translation of Rapin's History of England, in fifteen 

 Volumes, by my Nephew Tindall. 



" I give and' bequeath unto Eustace Budgell, Esq., my 

 Strong Box, my Diamond Ring, and all my Manuscript- 

 Books, Papers, and Writings; and I do hereby desire the 

 said Eustace Budgell to print the second Fart of Chris- 

 tianity as old as the Creation ; and also, my other Works 

 collected in a Volume, of which I will give him a List if 

 I should not live to print them myself; and I do hereby 

 make the said Eustace Budgell my Executor, to the End 

 that no other Person whatsoever, may have any Power 

 over, or any to do * with my said Books, Papers, and 

 Writings; and I do make my Nephew Nicholas Tindall 

 my Residuary Legatee and my Executor ; and I do re- 

 voke all former Wills by me made, in witness whereof I 

 do hereunto put my Hand and Seal this seventh Day of 

 August, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hun- 

 dred and thirty three. 



" MAT. TINDALL. . 



" Signed, Sealed, and Published in 

 the Presence of 

 " Margaret Leigh, 

 Samuel Tuckey." 



It would seem from The Copy of the Will 

 (0 ), p. 5, that Mr. Tindal received a letter from 

 Mrs. Lucy Price on August 16, informing him, 

 " as one of the executors," of his uncle's death — 

 an announcement which caused him some little 

 astonishment, as his uncle had told him about 

 five weeks before he had left nothing from him 

 but his MSS. His surprise, too, at not having 



* Sic Orig., it should be or any thing to do. 



