BOOK I, Chap. VI. THE FOUNDERS OF THE SLOANE MUSEUM. THE WILL AND CODI CILS OF 1749-51. THE TESTA MENTARY OF THE COURTEN MUSEUM. Plans, more or less definite, of perpetuating those collections for public use had occasionally engaged their owner's thoughts almost from the date of his acquisition of the Museum of William COURTEN, in 1702. In 1707, he had watched with interest a scheme that had been set on foot for the formation of a Public Library in London by combining the old Roya! Collection with the collections of Sir Robert COTTON and of the Royal Society.* But that scheme failed of execution, until, almost half a century later, it was, in the main, revived and carried out as the indirect but very natural consequence of his own testamentary dispositions. His Will, in its first form, was made at Chelsea in 1748, but was replaced on the 10th July, 1749, by the following codicil: 'Whereas I have in and by my said Will given some directions about the sale and disposition of my Museum, or collection of rarities herein more particularly mentioned, AND SLOANE now I do hereby revoke my said Will, as far as relates thereto, and I do direct and appoint concerning the same in the following manner: Having had from my youth a strong inclination to the study of plants and all other productions of nature, and having through the course of many years, with great labour and expense, gathered together whatever could be procured either in our own or foreign countries that was rare and curious; and being fully convinced that nothing tends more to raise our ideas of the power, wisdom, goodness, providence, and other perfections of the Deity, or more to the comfort and well being of his creatures, *Here are great designs on foot for uniting the Queen's Library, the Cotton, and the Royal Society's, together. How soon they may be put in practice time must discover.' — Sloane to Dr. Charlett, Master of University College, April, 1707 . Chap. VI. FOUNDERS OF THE MUSEUM, than the enlargement of our knowledge of the works of Book I, nature, I do will and desire that for the promoting of these THE noble ends, the glory of God, and the good of man, my collection in all its branches may be, if possible, kept and SLOANE preserved together whole and entire, in my Manor House in the Parish of Chelsea, situate near the Physic Garden given by me to the Company of Apothecaries for the same purposes; and having great reliance that the right honourable, honourable, and other persons hereafter named, will be influenced by the same principles and [will] faithfully and conscientiously discharge the trust hereby reposed in them, I do give, devise, and bequeath, unto the Rt. Hon. Charles Sloane CADOGAN [and to forty-nine other persons whose names follow,] all that my Collection or Museum at, in, or about, my Manor House at Chelsea aforesaid, which consists of too great a variety to be particularly described, but . . . . which are more particularly described, mentioned, and numbered, with short histories. or accounts of them, with proper references, in certain catalogues by me made, containing thirty-eight volumes in folio, and eight volumes in quarto,—except such framed pictures as are not marked with the word " Collection"-to have and to hold to them and their successors and assigns for ever, upon the trusts, and for the uses and purposes, hereafter particularly specified concerning the same. ... And for rendering this my intention more effectual that the said Collection may be preserved and continued entire in its utmost perfection and regularity, and being assured that nothing will conduce more to this than placing the same under the direction and care of learned, experienced, and judicious persons who are above all low and mean views, I do earnestly desire that the King, H.R.H. the Prince of WALES, H.R.H. William, Duke of CUMBERLAND, 'And my will is and I do hereby request and desire that the said Trustees, or any seven or more of them, do make their humble application to His Majesty, or to Parliament at the next session after my decease, as shall be thought most proper, in order to pay the full and clear sum of twenty thousand pounds unto my executors or to the survivors of them, in consideration of the said Collection or Museum; it not being, as I apprehend or believe, a fourth of their real and intrinsic value; and also to obtain such effectual powers and authorities for vesting in the said Trustees all and every part of my said Collection, . . . . and also my said capital Manor-House, with such gardens and outhouses as shall thereunto belong and be used by me at the time of my decease, in which it is my desire that the same shall be kept and preserved; and also the water of or belonging to my Manor of Chelsea coming from Ken Chap. VI. OF THE MUSEUM. sington, and also that the advowson, presentation, Book I, or right of patronage of the Church of Chelsea; to the end the same premises may be absolutely vested in the said FOUNDERS Trustees for the preserving and continuing my said Museum SLOANE in such manner as they shall think most likely to answer the public benefit by me intended, and also obtain, as aforesaid, a sufficient fund and provision for maintaining and supporting my said Manor House, . . . . to be vested in the said Trustees for ever. And it is also my will and desire that all such other powers. . may be added or vested as well in the said intended Trustees as in the Visitors hereby appointed, as shall by the Legislature be thought Authentic most proper and convenient for the better management, Copies, &c. order, and care, of my said Collection and premises.' · ... Provision is then made, in subsequent clauses of this codicil, for the replacement, by the Trustees surviving, from time to time, of vacancies occasioned by death in the ranks of the Trustees first appointed; and by surviving Visitors of vacancies so occasioned in those of the original Visitors. 17, p. 12. CODICILS. In September, 1750, another codicil added to the list of LATER Visitors in order to supply vacancies which death had already wrought-the Earls of MACCLESFIELD and SHELBURNE, and the then Master of the Rolls, Sir John STRANGE, with proviso of succession for the Master of the Rolls of the time being. Sir John BERNARD, Sir William CALVERT, and Mr. Slingsby BETHEL were, in like manner, added to the roll of Trustees. The same codicil excepted the advowson of the Rectory of Chelsea from the bequest of 1749, and annexed it to the lordship of the Manor. By his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Mr. LANGLEY, an Alderman of London, Sir Hans SLOANE had issue two daughters, but no son. The elder of the BOOK I, Chap. VI. THE FOUNDERS OF THE SLOANE MUSEUM. THE CLOSING YEARS. daughters, Sarah SLOANE, married George STANLEY, of Poultons, in Hampshire; the younger, Elizabeth, married Lord CADOGAN. By the representatives of those co-heiresses the large inheritance was eventually enjoyed. A subsequent codicil of 1751, added nine other Trustees, five of whom were distinguished foreigners. Among the four English names are those of John HAMPDEN ('twentyfourth hereditary lord of Great Hampden,' and last lineal male descendant of that famous stock) and William SOTHEBY. The declining years of a man to whom had been given, not only unusual length of days, but an unusual span both of bodily and of mental vigour, so that he remained in the rank of busy men until he had passed his eightieth year, were necessarily days of seclusion. He had enjoyed not only the honours* and the comforts, but the troop of friends which should accompany old age. Yet a man who reaches the age of ninety-two must needs lose the friends. of his maturity, as well as the friends of his youth. Sir Hans SLOANE, in the old Manor House of Chelsea, had something of the experience which made a famous statesman of our own day, who was loth to leave the stir of London life, say—with a sigh--' I see all the world passing my windows, but few come in.' His chief recreations, in those latest years, lay in the continued examination of the stores of nature and of art which never palled upon his capacity of enjoyment, and in the regular weekly visit of a much younger man, who was *Besides those distinctions which I have noted already, he had been requested, in 1730, by the University of Oxford, to allow his portrait to be placed in the University Gallery. In 1733 his statue, by Rysbracck, was placed in the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. |
