40_s._ for prayers to the master of St. Thomas's Hospital,
and, still for prayers, 6_s._ 8_d._ to each of its priests,
3_s._ 4_d._ to each Sister in the hospital, twenty pence to
each nurse of the infirm there, and to each of the infirm
twelve pence. There were similar bequests to St. Thomas
Elsing Spital, a priory and hospital that stood where now
stands Sion College. St. Thomas Elsing Spital, founded in
1329 by William Elsing, was especially commended to the
sympathies of the blind old poet, as it consisted of a
college for a warden, four priests, and two clerks, who had
care of one hundred old, blind, and poor persons of both
sexes, preference being given to blind, paralytic, and
disabled priests. Like legacies were bequeathed also to
Bedlam-without-Bishopsgate, and to St. Mary's Hospital,
Westminster. Also there were bequests of ten shillings to
each of the leper-nurses. Two robes (one of white silk, the
other of blue baudekin,--a costly stuff with web of gold and
woof of silk), also a new dish and chalice, and a new missal,
were bequeathed to the perpetual service of the altar of the
chapel of St. John the Baptist, in which his body was to be
buried. To the prior and convent he left a great book, a
'Martyrology,' which had been composed and written for them
at his expense. To his wife Agnes he left a hundred pounds,
three cups, one coverlet, two salt-cellars, and a dozen
silver spoons; also all his beds and chests, with the
furnishings of hall, pantry, and kitchen; also a chalice and
robe for the altar of the chapel of their house; and she was
to have for life all rents due to him from his manors of
Southwell (in Nottingham) and Moulton (in Suffolk)."

His wife was one of his executors. The will is still preserved at
Lambeth Palace.

Gower's tomb and monument may also still be seen at St. Saviour's, where
the description Berthelet gave of them in 1532 is, aside from the
deadening of the paintings, true:--"Somewhat after the olde ffashion he
lyeth ryght sumptuously buryed, with a garland on his head, in token
that he in his lyfe dayes flouryshed freshely in literature and
science." The head of his stone effigy lies upon three volumes
representing Gower's three great works; the hair falls in long curls;
the robe is closely buttoned to the feet, which rest upon a lion, an