690 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
a confession of his Protestant faith. It frankly professes to be 
following the example of ancient worthies who wrote for their 
children and successors a confession of their faith. 1 P. Pithou 
in a will dated 1617 confesses his sins and his faith. 2 An¬ 
toine Arnauld in 1694, makes an addition to his will concern¬ 
ing temporal affairs, a separate confession testament. He calls 
it a “Testament spirituel, on declaration en forme de testament 
des veritables dispositions de mon ame dans toutes les reeontres 
de ma vie.” 3 The testament of Jean Meslier (died 1753) is an 
example of a confession of disbelief in the church. 4 
If we turn now to the literary form w^e shall find there, too, 
examples enough of the confession element. We have already 
seen that the confession v r as a prominent feature of the Testa¬ 
ment of the Twelve Patriarchs. Indeed it is.found in ten of 
the twelve testaments. Space is also found for it in the Testa¬ 
ment of Joh. 
In the Vision of Piers Plowman, Text A, dated 1362, there 
is a testament which Piers is supposed to make as a real will. 5 
In this the confession of faith is a fairly prominent feature. 
The testator bequeaths his soul to “Him who defende hit fro the 
feende.” The church is to have his body. He has paid his 
tithes regularly and deserves the offices of the church. His 
wife and children shall have his goods. His ideas of what a 
righteous life should he are distinctly set forth, and the whole 
testament is replete with expressions of his steadfast religious 
faith. 6 
Hoccleve’s Le Mai Regie, a poem written in 1406, is really 
1 Melancthon regarded the Testament as a Confession of Faith a 
well established form: “Apparent, initio praecipue condita testimenta, 
prppter hanc causam, ut patres relinquerent liberis certum testimon 
ium suae sententiae derreligione, quam volebant gravi auctoritate 
quasi obsignatam propagari ad posteros.” 
2 Peignot, I, 301. 
s Ibid., II, 447. 
^ Larousse, s. v. Meslier. 
sW. W. Skeat, The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plow¬ 
man , Oxford, 1886, I, 201; II, 109. 
6 The fact that Piers makes his will before setting out on his journey 
calls to mind a practice rather common in the Middle ages. Travel 
was then so perilous that it was often worth almost a man’s life to 
take a journey of any considerable length. If one were embarking on 
a Crusade the duty of making one’s will was especially incumbent. 
