Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1900-06-20
SOME OLD REQUESTS.
QUEER LEGAClES IN WILLS OF
LONG AGO.
snee's' Blankets Pillows and Other
Articles of Household Use Mentioned
In Old Legal Documents-SuuiL Left
10 Pay for SAYING of Masses.

Sheets, blankets, pillows and eoAer-
lets OF counterpanes We're freouent
subjects OF bequests in the uliddtS
ages; and one lady OF quality, Ka;h-
erine, Lady Hastings, having borrowed
money OF another. Cecilia, Warehouses
of Dorset, wills daD3l that ,he ..sa'd
Cecilia, in full contention of such sums
of money that | owe unto her. have my
bed of arras. litter tester and counter
pane, which she late borrowed OF me-"
The costliness OF the materials may be
estimated from the tradition that the
bed. with the furniture, prepared for
james |. AT Knowle. cost tLOoo, the
curtains being cloth of gold. Requests
for masses and plerimages abound,
and ii is curious 10 observe to what
extent the belief in the efficacy of vi
carious performances prevailed. Thus,
in Sir Roger Beauchamp's will Q3I9,
we lind: Whereas am bound To doe
service on the iniidels, by devise of
my grandsire, Sir Walter Beauehamp,
to the expense of 200 marks, l will that
Roger. son TO Roger MY son, shall per-
form the same when he come OF age"
The Earl of Hereford U36D directs:
"A chaplain of good condi. .ion he sent
To Jerusalcm principally for my lady
my mother my lord my father. and for
us; and that the chaplain be charged 10
say masses, by the way, at all times
that he can conveniently for the souls;
and that good and loyal man be sent
10 Canterbury ana to offer there xl =.
silver for us, and another such man
TO Pomfret To offer at the tomb Of
Thomas. late Earl of Lancaster, xl s."
When lie Balafre, Quentin Durward y
uncle. hears of the mishap that has be
fallen his family, he bites Off few
inches of his gold chain. and sends
them to monk with this message:
Tell my gossip that my brother and
sister, and some others of my house,
are all dead and gone; and | pray him
to have masses for their souls as far
rs the value of these links will carry
HIN. and to do on lIusI NHat
else may be necessary 10 free them
from pufgatory. And, bark ye! as they
were just-liylng people, and free from
all heresy it may be that they are we'll
nigh out of limbo already, SO that a
little matter may have them free OF the
fetlocks; and in that case, look ye, ye
will say | desire to take out the bal
ance of the gold in curses upon a gen
,eration called the 0gilvies of Angus
shire i'm what way soever the church
may best come at them
This is the spirit in which masses
were commonly ordered. The tesla
I TORS main object was to get what he
Thought moneys worth for his money
| Thus Sir Thomas Littleton (the author
of the Treatise on Tenures," rem
dered famous by Coke's commentary
leaves a sum of money for masses "for
| the souls of my feder and mOder, and
| for the soul of William Burley, my
| father-in-.aw; and for the soul of SiI
| Philip Chaturn, and for all souls that
am most burden to pray for The av
| erage cost of masses may be collected
from clause in the will of Joan, Lady
| Gotham, in 1869:
Il will that vii thousand masses bt
said for my soul by the canons Of Tun
brugge and Tanfugge. and the four or
ders of friars in London, viz, the frial
preachers. minors, Augustines and Car
melites, who for so doing shall havt
| Exxxix iii s. iv d." This is rather les:
than three half-pence per mass.
/ The Earl of Salisbury, the son Of
| Henry IL. by the fair Rosamond, be
queaths for the building or a monastery
| dnter aia) IA thousand sheep, thre,
! hundred muttons. weight oxen ant
fifteen bulls The Earl of Warwick
in 1869, leaves: TO every church with
IN each of my lnanors the best beas
| which should there be found. in salts
faction of my tithes forgotten and no
paid; and | desire that my executors
make full satisfaction to every mai
that have in any sort wronged." Th'
object of 'bequests to the church. or TO
plous uses. was not exclusively super
stitous. for wills were seldom Sc
aside or evaded when the priesthoo,
had direct interest IN upholdmg them
Bequests for the erection of statue
and monuments are of frequent occur
renee. and the directions are sometime
both curious, and minute, as in the vii
of Isabel. .Countess', ,of Warwick, Il
1439: Also | will that my statue b
m,lele:1lIl naked, with my. hair ras
backward, ,acTotdng to the-design an
model which. Thsplas Porchabon ha
|, for.ttElt purpose with Mary Magdalel
layingsher hand across. and ST. Joh
the Evangelist on the''right sitS' an
! St anthony on the left. at my feet
scut..heon, impaIing my arms wit
those of the esirL my husband support
el Try two grfafas. but on the side
|. thereof the statues of poor men an
women in their poor array with thei
n beads in their hands.
: Guichard, Earl of Huntingdon, will
that his heart be taken out of his bod
and preserved with spices, to be d.
posted IN the Church OF Engle. Th