Literature, Principally Belletristic - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

· INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN THE COLONIAL SOUTH '
the appearance of some Education; but as he had a little Smattering of
the Law, he made use of that Talent, in being a great Adviser among divers
of our late Malcontents (Tailfer et aL] ; most of whom had forsaken
him, seeing their Error. He was far from making any Improvements, that
he discouraged others from it; and in most Matters of Controversy, took
Part against the Civil Magistrates: He lived and died at a Publick (though
unlicensed) House, where he dictated to a few that frequented it, and
was a stirrer up of ill Blood: And he was a great Devotee to Rum, it is
said, that using it to Excess brought a flux upon, which after all Endeavors
to the contrary, at length carried him off; wherein the Colony (I conceive)
sustained no Loss. During his Sickness, Mr. Whitfield was divers Time to
attend him, offering to do his Duty in Prayer, & c. but he refused any
such assistance; and upon several Questions put to him properly at such
a Season, he denied any Mediator, and died a confirmed Deist.187
The preambles, or testaments, of last wills as in the seventeenth century
continued to be moving and sometimes graceful expressions of personal
conviction and philosophy of life. Robert "King" Carter's will (he died in
1732 ) is in its enormous detailed itemization an excellent picture of the
planter aristocrat's way of living, and his comment upon the education of
his sons in England and Virginia is a significant expression of his ideas on
the subject.ls8 Perhaps the most gracefully expressed and intrinsically in­
teresting of all southern colonial preambles is that of Sir John Randolph,
who defends himself eloquently against the charges of atheism and his
deistic belief "in its first expression, before it had turned away from the
Christian religion." It has already been quoted at some length.189
Two other Virginia wills of historic and some slight artistic value are
those of Alexander Spotswood (April 19, 1740) and John Custis (No­
vember 14, 1749). In Spotswood's case the variety of his possessions and
the books, maps, and mathematical instruments he left to William and
Mary College are perhaps of more interest than preamble and style. The
same may be said of the Custis will, which bequeaths such intriguing items
as the portrait of "my said negro boy John." Both men expressed themselves
well, but our interest in their last wills is primarily in the items
listed.190
North Carolina wills of some interest include that of Dividing Line com­
missioner Edward Moseley, written on June 9, 1748. Besides the books
he itemizes, one notes the one-time Christ's Hospital student's recommen­
dation to his wife "that one of my sons, as shall be thought best Qualified
for it, be bred to the Law, it being highly necessary in so large a Family"
and to this son he left all his own law books, more than two hundred
volumes. Most stately are the opening words of Governor Arthur Dobbs'
will, written August 31, 1763 :
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