The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-31
ODenIt Tomorrow
Caskct in British Museum
Closed Sixty Years.

On the first Gay OF JethUe4'' S' 80 -
teresting ceremony win be performed at
+bA British Museum in London. 1t will
r.. the onening of a chest Of papers that
has been sealed up for sixty-six years
an accordance with the terms of the viii
op Francis Douce, the celebrated English
bfbl,ophile. antiquarian, and Shakespear-
can scholar. who died in 1894 The par
ticuIar clause Of the will in question runs
as follows:
IT desire my executor to collect to-
gether all my letters and correspond
ence, all my private manuscripts, and
unfinished or even finished essays, or in
tended work or works, memorandum
books. especially such as are marked in
the inside Of their covers with a red
cross, with the exception only Of such
articles as he may think proper to de-
stroy, as my diaries or articles of a
merely private nature, and to put them
into a strong box, to be sealed up, with
out lock or key, and with brass plate
inscribed: Mr.. Douce's papers, to be
opened on the first Of January, 1907 and
then to deposit this box in the British
Museum, or, If the trustees should de-
cline to receive it, 1 then wish it to re-
main with the other things bequeathed to
the Bodleian Library"
The trustees of the museum accepted
the singular trust thus imposed upon
them, and the box has remained intact
ever since.
That the occasion viii be one Of re-
markable interest to scholars and anti
quarians and TO all students of the past
literature Of the English-speaking peo-
pie is evident, and becomes all the more
so when one recalls the manner of man
Mr.. DoUce was That he was a person
or peculiar eccentricity may readily be
inferred from the above provision in his
viii, as well as from another in the same
document, which is as follows:
Il give to Sir Anthony Carlisle 600,
requesting him either to sever my head
or extract the heart from my body, so
as to prevent any possibility Of the re-
turn of vitality"
Whether this interesting surgical oper-
alton took place or not the chroniclers
Of that day do not inform US, but as Sir
Anthony was an eminent surgeon it is
not unlikely that it did
Francis Douce was born in London in
1857, and was descended from a most re-
spectacle family. One of his ancestors,
DR.. Deuce, was an eccentric but exceed
ingly popular physician. and his father
Thomas Douce, held official station IN
der the government and left considerable
estate
Francis never spoke Of his father with
affection, and often said: my grand
father was a domestic despot and ty-
rannized over my father, who thought
proper 10 rStaliate upon me-" When the
father died he left the larger part Of the
estate to his eldest son, cutting off
Francis and the other children with
small portions
This disposition was made, probably,
with the desire of founding family,
though Francis did not think so, but at
tributed it to the Misrepresentation of
his elder brother, who used to say that
1t was Of no use to leave me money, for
1 should waste It in books"
This treatment did not tend to make a
naturally eccentric character any less so.
and he remained almost totally estranged
from his family for the remainder of his
life.
At an early age Francis developed a
love for books and antiquities and a pas
sion for music, which his mother en-
couraged but his father repressed. He
attended private schools, but was not
sent to college. He studied for the bar,
and for a time held a position in his
fathers office, but the routine disguised
him and he left it,
From his boyhood he was a collector of /
books prints and coins, and INDUCED his !
tastes often at the sacrifice of other
Kings. For a time he was employed in /
The British Museum as keeper of the !
manuscripts. and while holding this po-
sition catalogued the Lansdowne MSS. !
and revised the catalogue of the Har-I
ileian MSS, labors of considerable mag
Initude
/ He married in 1929, the year in which |
bis father and mother died. and II is /
Faid that the event did not increase his |
happiness, though on his part it was a |
marriage of affection. The couple lived |
together, however. for more than thirty |
tears. Mrs. Douce dying in 1891 They |
lad no children.
George Stevens, the Shakespearian
scholar and commentator. lived on terms
OF intimacy with Mr.. Douce as long as
he remained a bachelor. but ceased to
visit him after his marriage, it being a
rule with Stevens TO cut off all ac-
pIaintances who became Benedicts. Mr..
Douce contributed some notes to Steev-
ems edition of Shakespeare, which was
brought out in 1898.
With Malone. Isaac DisraeH Or. Dbl
din, Payne Collier. Richard Hebor, Wal
Ter Scott. and many other well known
scholars and antiquarians. Mr.. Douce /
cultivated the most friendly relations,
for they were all congenial spirits.
DIT. Dibdin in his "reminiscences" re-
lates a number OF anecdotes OF Deuce.
They were neighbors in Kensington for
many years. and became intimate friends
and correspondents. Dibdin says:
"He Doucel would neither bend nor
bow to any man breathing. Freedom Of
thought and action was his hirthright
and he was determined % show It upon
all occasions. He succeeded the
late Rev Robert Mares as principal IL
brarian az the manuscript department. or
the British Museum: but the situation
soon became unsupportable TO him. He
entered upon it at too advanced a per
iod OF his life. when his habits were
fixed, and when even the semblance of a
superior was obnoxious to him. He told
me just before his departure from it that
he could work as we'll as any man. but
Z - L., r.-,,,-a o-la-.-s NJ. :.