de provision, and so largely,
as, having then six children living, might to some appear more than
proportionable to his estate. I forbear to mention any more, lest the
reader may think I trespass upon his patience: but I will beg his
favour, to present him with the beginning and end of his Will.

"In the name of the blessed and glorious Trinity. Amen. I John
Donne, by the mercy of Christ Jesus, and by the calling of the
Church of England, Priest, being at this time in good health and
perfect understanding--praised be God therefore--do hereby make my
last Will and Testament in manner and form following:--

"First, I give my gracious God an entire sacrifice of body and
soul, with my most humble thanks for that assurance which His
Blessed Spirit imprints in me now of the Salvation of the one, and
the Resurrection of the other; and for that constant and cheerful
resolution, which the same Spirit hath established in me, to live
and die in the religion now professed in the Church of England. In
expectation of that Resurrection, I desire my body may be
buried--in the most private manner that may be--in that place of
St. Paul's Church, London, that the now Residentiaries have at my
request designed for that purpose, &c.--And this my last Will and
Testament, made in the fear of God,--whose mercy I humbly beg, and
constantly rely upon in Jesus Christ--and in perfect love and
charity with all the world--whose pardon I ask, from the lowest of
my servants, to the highest of my superiors--written all with my
own hand, and my name subscribed to every page, of which there are
five in number.

"Sealed December 13, 1630."

Nor was this blessed sacrifice of charity expressed only at his death,
but in his life also, by a cheerful and frequent visitation of any
friend whose mind was dejected, or his fortune necessitous; he was
inquisitive after the wants of prisoners, and redeemed many from prison,
that lay for their fees or small debts: he was a continual giver to poor
scholars, both of this and foreign nations. Besides what he gave with
his own hand, he usually sent a servant, or a discreet and trusty
friend, to distribute his charity to all the prisons in London, at all
the festival times of the year, especially at the Birth and Resurrection
of our Saviour. He gave an hundred pounds at one time to an old friend,
whom he had k