He has bequeathed a great deal more in
charity, which is not yet come to my knowledge, and it is
peremptorily[197] said in the parish, that he has left money to
build a steeple to the church; for he was heard to say some time
ago, that if he lived two years longer, Coverley church should have
a steeple to it. The chaplain tells everybody that he made a very
good end, and never speaks of him without tears. He was buried
according to his own directions, among the family of the Coverleys,
on the left hand of his father Sir Arthur. The coffin was carried
by six of his tenants, and the pall held by six of the Quorum: the
whole parish followed the corpse with heavy hearts, and in their
mourning suits, the men in frieze, and the women in riding-hoods.
Captain Sentry, my master's nephew, has taken possession of the
hall-house, and the whole estate. When my old master saw him, a
little before his death, he shook him by the hand, and wished him
joy of the estate which was falling to him, desiring him only to
make a good use of it, and to pay the several legacies, and the
gifts of charity which he told him he had left as quit-rents[198]
upon the estate. The captain truly seems a courteous man, though he
says but little. He makes much of those whom my master loved, and
shows great kindnesses to the old house-dog, that you know my poor
master was so fond of. It would have gone to your heart to have
heard the moans the dumb creature made on the day of my master's
death. He has never joyed himself since; no more has any of us. It
was the melancholiest day for the poor people that ever happened in
Worcestershire. This is all from,

Honoured Sir,
Your most sorrowful servant,
EDWARD BISCUIT.

P.S.--My master desired, some weeks before he died, that a book
which comes up to you by the carrier, should be given to Sir Andrew
Freeport, in his name.

This letter, notwithstanding the poor butler's manner of writing it, gave
us such an idea of our good old friend, that upon the reading of it there
was not a dry eye in the club. Sir Andrew opening the book, found it to
be a collection of Acts of Parliament. There was in particular the Act
of Uniformity, with some passages in it marked by Sir Roger's own hand.
Sir Andrew found that they related to two or three points, which he had
disputed