CHAPTER XI

Summary

We desire to know everything about a great man. We wish to have him living before us. It is this which causes the universal and magical interest excited by memoirs, and it is for the purpose of gratifying this appetite that I subjoin Handel's Will, from an authentic copy made at Doctors’ Commons, where the will is deposited.

Extract from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

“In the name of God, Amen. I, George Erideric Handel, considering the uncertainty of human life, do make this my Will in manner following, viz.: I give and bequeath unto my servant, Peter le Blond, my clothes and linen and three hundred pounds sterling; and to my other servants a year's wages. I give and bequeath to Mr. Christopher Smith my large harpsicord, my little house-organ, my music-books, and five hundred pounds sterling. Item. I give and bequeath to Mr. James Hunter five hundred pounds sterling. I give and bequeath to my cousin, Christian Gottlieb Handel, of Coppenhagen, one hundred pounds sterling. Item. I give and bequeath to my cousin, Magister Christian August Roth, of Halle, in Saxony, one hundred pounds sterling. Item. I give and bequeath to my cousin, the widow of George Taust, pastor of Giebichenstein, near Halle, in Saxony, three hundred pounds sterling, and to her six children each two hundred pounds sterling, all the next and residue of my estate in Bank Annuities, 1746, sft. sub. or whatsoever kind or nature. I give and bequeath unto my dear niece, Johanna Frederica Floerchen, of Gotha, in Saxony, born Michaelsen, in Halle, in whom I make my sole executor of this my last will.