AN EMINENT GUERNSEYMAN. 



297 



noe more unto her is because (of having given) her a liberal 

 and honourable portion in her marriage." The remainder 

 of his estate, both in money and land, and " my plate, lynnen, 

 hangings, etc., and what else is in my house " was left to 

 his son and sole executor Sir Charles de Vic, and he desired 

 to be buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. 



About three years after making this will Sir Henry died, 

 and in the British Museum* is a letter written from London 

 by his nephew James de Havilland to Lord Hatton, Governor 

 of Guernsey, then living in Castle Cornet ; it is dated 

 December 5th, 1672, and gives an account of his death, as 

 follows : — 



" It hath pleased God to call to Him Sir "Henry de Vic, 

 my uncle, who, as he was talking with Mr. d'Anneville 

 [Charles Andros, was then the Seigneur d'Anneville] and 

 I in his chamber, where he had invited us to dine with him, 

 that day being the tuesday, 21st of November, his birthday, 

 was taken upon a sudden with a dimness of his eyes, and after 

 he had onely said in French " La Volonte du Seigneur soit 

 faitc " he grew afterwards speechless, being taken of an 

 apoplex, and so continued till the houre of his death, which 

 hap'ned the same night about halfe an houre past three in the 

 morning. His death hath been much regretted by the King 

 and also by severall noblemen here at Court." 



Contrary to his expressed wish he was buried, not at 

 St. George's Chapel, Windsor, but in Westminster Abbey, 

 under a grave stone in the North Cross. His funeral was 

 on November 24th, 1672. 



His son, Sir Charles de Vic, did not long survive him, and 

 died unmarried in Ireland, so that that branch of the family 

 became extinct. Their property in Guernsey must by that 

 time have passed into other hands, for in a letter from Francis 

 Greene to Lord Hatton (Add. MSS. 29,552, f. 461), written 

 from St. Peter-Port on November 27th, 1674, he says: — ■ 

 " Here is Sir Charles de Wick, very busy in disposing of his 

 inheritance, wherein he hath made a progress to two thirds or 

 more, having sold all that belonged to him in the contrie to 

 Mr. John Andros, who is thereby become Monsieur de 

 Normandville." 



Thus we see that Sir Henry de Vic's last hours were 

 spent with two of his own people, and his last words w T ere 

 said in his native language. All through his career we find 

 that his interest in and affection for his native island never 

 faltered ; contrary to the ideas of modern socialists and 

 popular agitators, he did not believe that local patriotism 



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