Cut Note all ye rest of my goods Stuff and lumber is here- fiftly I doe hereby give to Hester Harrison Niece to Cousen John Strype who is a poore indigent Widow twenty pounds to be paid to her Selfe within 30 dayes after my Death. Sixtly I doe hereby give and bequeath to ye 4 children of Susanna Bartlett Sen, viz. to Elizabeth Bartlett two hundred pounds, To Susanna Bartlett Jun, two hundred pounds, To Frances Bartlett two hundred pounds, To Beniamen Bartlett one hundred pound to be paid to themselves in lawfull mony of England within 30 dayes after my Death. Beniamen being beyound the Seas, his one hundred pound to be paid to his order when he shall either come or send to demand ye same. Seventhly I doe hereby give and bequeath to Susanna Bartlett Senr two hundred pounds to be paid to her Selfe within 30 dayes after my Death in lawfull mony of England and I doe also give to her Susanna Bartlett Sen. all the remainder of my goods or household stuff, as mentioned in ye 4 article of this my Will (and not before given) for her owne use without further or other account for ye same, By goods I meane all my Cloath, boath lining and Woolling, Silke and 1 The arms mentioned by Knox are: Gu. an eagle displayed or, with an orle engrayled counter-engrayled argent. Crest-an eagle head couped between the wings or. Beding-China Ware and ye remainder of my plate etc. lumber of any sort whatsoever and I charge you Ed: Lascelles my Sole Executor before God to be punctuall in performing all this that I have given, lest ye cryes of the Widdow and fatherlesse come up to heaven against you, and your lott be a curse instead of a blessing and Remember (Luke 4 & 26) that thought there were many Widows in Israell yet to none of them was Elias sent but to Zarephath, a City of Sidon to a woman yt was a Widow. Eightly I doe appoint one hundred pounds for my finerall Charges Rings etc. Strictly forbidding all vaine gaudy Cerimonies, and if any be left give it to ye Poore without delay: I find it natural to desire to be buried by parents by my father it cannot be; who was Buried by my hands on the Iland of Ceylone in ye East Indies-but my Mother was buried at Wimbleton, in ye County of Surry in ye Chancell of ye Church in Anno 1655 or 1656. If it Could be my desire is to be buried there by her, it being ye towne where I was brought up when a Boy and where God often Spoake to my Conscience in my Mineority, and I doe hereby order my Executor Edward Lascelles to give to ye poore where my Corps are buried fifty pounds without delay and to be disposed of with his Advice and Concent. Note this my Will all wrote with my owne hand and it is my full intent yt it should stand and remaine in full force and vertue for my last Will and testament and that all ye remainder of my Estate (After discharged) are and shall be for the use of Edward Lascelles my Sole Executor and Sisters Son. Written in London this thirtieth day of November Anno 1711 in witneth whereof I signe with my owne hand and have fixed hereunto my owne Seale 30 Nov. 1711. ROBT KNOX. Perhaps the only note that is necessary with regard to this document is that the Ceylon Knife which he leaves to his nephew Knox Ward, Clarencieux Herald, was not the knife which is alluded to in the narrative of his escape, but is one which was given to him by his Dutch fellow captive, whom he met at Cochin in after years, he also having escaped. It was then that Knox wrote the letter to his surviving fellow captives which is given in his autobiography. Knox's literary friends were numerous and influential. Sir Christopher Wren, who gave his imprimatur, was President of the Royal Society at the time of his publication. Robert Hooke was his life-long friend, and wrote the 'verses' which adorn Knox's portrait. Hooke was linguist and inventor; he died, as Knox quaintly says, a 'mizer,' with £30,000 in his strong-box in cash. Daniel Defoe knew Knox. He quotes from him in extenso in Captain Singleton, and the immortal Quaker who contrived to serve both God and Mammon in that work, smacks somewhat strongly of Knox himself. It is worth noting that Robinson Crusoe was published but a few months before Knox's death, and its introspective and religious passages strongly resemble Knox's account of his own religious difficulties in captivity. 'An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon in the East Indies,' on which Knox's literary fame has rested until now, was written on his passage home from Ceylon after his escape and was printed by Richard Chiswell, Printer to the Royal Society, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1681.' It was published with the approval of the Royal Society and of the East India Company, and Knox tells us that it hath found such |