The following extracts from the will of Peter Le Neve, as contained in
the principal register at Doctors’ Commons, are curious in other
respects besides their bearing on the history of the Paston MSS.
Item, I give and bequeath unto the Reverend Doctor Tanner,
Chancellor of Norwich, and Mr. Thomas Martin of Palgrave, all my
abstracts out of records, old deeds, books, petigrees, seals,
papers, and other collections which shall only relate to the
antiquityes and history of Norfolk and Suffolk, or one of them, upon
condicion that they, or the survivor of them, or the executors or
administrators of such survivor, do and shall, within twelve months
next after my decease, procure a good and safe repository in the
Cathedral Church of Norwich, or in some other good and publick
building in the said city, for the preservation of the same
collections, for the use and benefitt of such curious persons as
shall be desirous to inspect, transcribe, or consult the same. And I
doe hereby give full power to the said Doctor Tanner and Thomas
Martin, and to the survivor of them, and to the executors or
administrators of such survivor, to fix and prescribe such rules and
orders for the custody and preservation of the said collecions as
they shall think proper. . . .
Item, my will and mind is, that if my said wife Frances shall at any
time hereafter intermarry with Thomas Allen, my late clerk, then I
will that she shall have and enjoy but the annuity or summe of forty
pounds per annum from the time of such her intermarryage, and noe
more shall be paid unto her by my aforesaid trustees; and I strickly
charge and forbid her, the said Frances, to permitt the said Thomas
Allen to come into any of my studys, or to lend or give him any of
my books or papers, or to suffer him in any respect to intermeddle
with my affairs. Item, I give unto my said wife Frances such goods
and things att Bow and Wychingham as I shall mencion and sett down
in a certain paper to be signed and left by me for that purpose.
Item, I give unto my said wife Frances my crown, silver gilt, my
collar, silver party, my jewell, my herald’s coat and chain. Item,
I give unto Henrietta Beeston the summe of twelve pence per week, to
be paid to her from the first day of August last for so long time as
she shall continue with me at Wychingham. Item, I will that all my
shelves, presses, drawers, and boxes now in my study att Wychingham
shall goe along with my Norfolk and Suffolk collections to Norwich.
. . .
Item, the residue of my printed or manuscript books, arms, and
things relating to antiquity, I give them unto such person and
persons, and bodyes, politic or corporate, as I shall direct and
appoint, in a paper to be signed and left by me for that purpose.
_The above will was proved 7th November 1729._
[[I. WILL OF PETER LE NEVE.--See p. 3.
_final . missing_]]
[[p. 3 = under sidenote “the MSS.”]]