The Memoirs of Psalmanazar

The Last Will and Testament

Of me a poor sinful and worthless creature commonly known by the assumed name of George Psalmanazar.

hy ever blessed and unerring Will, Oh most gracious, though offended God! be done by me and all the world, whether for life or death.

Into thy all-merciful hands I commit my soul, as unto a most gracious Father, who, though justly provoked by my past vain, and wicked life, but more especially so during the youthful sallies of a rash and unthinking part of it, has yet been graciously pleased, by thy undeserved grace and mercy, to preserve me from the reigning errors and heresies, and the more deplorable apostasy and infidelity of the present age, and enabled me to take a constant and steadfast hold on the only author of our salvation, thy ever adorable and divine Son Jesus Christ, our powerful and meritorious Redeemer, from whom alone, and all-powerful intercession and merits (and not from any the least inherent righteousness of my own, which I heartily abhor as filthy rags in thine all purer eyes) I hope and beg for pardon and reconciliation, and for a happy resurrection unto that blessed immortality to which we are redeemed by his most precious and inestimable blood. I likewise bless and adore thy infinite goodness for preserving me from innumerable dangers of body and soul, to which this wretched life, but more particularly by my own youthful rashness and inconsideration, might have exposed me, had not thy Divine Providence interposed in such a wonderful manner, as justly challenges my deepest admiration and acknowledgment: particularly I am bound to bless thee for so timely nipping that ambition and vainglory, which had hurried me through such scenes of impiety and hypocrisy, and as the most effectual antidote against it, next to thy divine grace, hast brought me not only to prefer, but to delight in a state of obscurity and lowness of circumstances, as the surest harbour of peace and safety; by which, though the little I have left in my possession be dwindled to so little value as to be but a poor acknowledgment for the services which I have received from my friend hereafter named, to whom I can do no less than bequeath it all, yet I hope the will may be accepted for the deed, and that the Divine Providence will supply to her what is wanting in me. And now, O Father of Mercies, I beseech thee for thy dear Son's sake, so to direct me by thy grace through all the future concerns of this life, that when, where, or in what manner soever it shall please thee to call me out of it, I may be found ready and willing to return my soul, worthless as it is of itself, to thee who gavest it; and my death, as well as my latter end, may be such as may tend all possible ways to thy glory, the edification of thy church, and my own eternal comfort. And in hopes there is nothing in this my last will that is not agreeable to thine, I leave it to be executed after my death by my worthy and pious friend Sarah Rewalling, of this parish of St. Luke, in Middlesex, in the manner hereafter mentioned, viz.

I desire that my body, when or wherever I die, may be kept so long above ground, as decency or conveniency will permit, and afterwards conveyed to the common burying-ground, and there interred in some obscure corner of it, without any further ceremony or formality than is used to the bodies of the deceased pensioners where I happen to die, and about the same time of the day, and that the whole may be performed in the lowest and cheapest manner. And it is my earnest request, that my body be not enclosed in any kind of coffin, but only decently laid in what is called a shell of the lowest value, and without lid or other covering which may hinder the natural earth from covering it all around.

The books relating to the Universal History, and belonging to the proprietors, are to be returned to them according to the true list of them, which will be found in a blue paper in my account book. All the rest being my own property, together with all my household goods, wearing apparel, and whatever money shall be found due to me after my decease, I give and bequeath to my friend Sarah Rewalling above named, together with such manuscripts as I had written at different times, and designed to be made public, if they shall be deemed worthy of it, they consisting of sundry essays on some difficult parts of the Old Testament, and chiefly written for the use of a young clergyman in the country, and so unhappily acquainted with that kind of learning, that he was likely to become the butt of his sceptical parishioners, but being, by this means, furnished with proper materials, was enabled to turn the tables upon them.

But the principal manuscript I thought myself in duty bound to leave behind, is a faithful narrative of my education, and the sallies of my wretched youthful years, and the various ways by which I was in some measure unavoidably led into the base and shameful imposture of passing upon the world for a native of Formosa, and a convert to Christianity, and backing it with a fictitious account of that island, and of my own travels, conversion, &c. all or most of it hatched in my own brain, without regard to truth and honesty. It is true, I have long since disclaimed even publicly all but the shame and guilt of that vile imposition, yet as long as I knew there were still two editions of that scandalous romance remaining in England, besides the several versions it had abroad, I thought it incumbent upon me to undeceive the world, by unravelling that whole mystery of iniquity in a posthumous work, which would be less liable to suspicion, as the author would be far out of the influence of any sinister motives that might induce him to deviate from the truth. All that I shall add concerning it is, that it was began above twenty-five years ago with that view, and no other, during a long recess in the country, accompanied with a threatening disease, and since then continued in my most serious hours, as anything new presented itself; so that it hath little else to recommend itself but its plainness and sincerity, except here and there some useful observations and innuendoes on those branches of learning in which I had been concerned, and particularly with such excellent improvements as might be made in the method of learning of Hebrew, and in the producing a more perfect body of Universal History, and more answerable to its title than that which hath already passed a second edition. And these, I thought, might be more deserving a place in that narrative, as the usefulness of them would in a great measure make amends for the small charge of the whole. If it therefore shall be judged worth printing, I desire it may be sold to the highest bidder, in order to pay my arrears for my lodgings, and to defray my funeral; and I further request that it be printed in the plain and undisguised manner in which I have written it, and without alteration or embellishment. I hope the whole is written in the true, sincere spirit of a person awakened by a miracle of mercy, unto a deep sense of his folly, guilt, and danger, and is desirous, above all things, to give God the whole glory of so gracious a change, and to show the various steps by which his Divine Providence brought it about. The whole of the account contains fourteen pages of Preface, and about ninety-three more of the said relation, written in my own hand with a proper title, and will be found in the deep drawer on the right hand of my white cabinet. However, if the obscurity I have lived in, during such a series of years, should make it needless to revive a thing in all likelihood so long since forgot, I cannot but wish, that so much of it was published in some weekly paper, as might inform the world, especially those who have still by them the above-mentioned fabulous account of the Island of Formosa, &c. that I have long since owned both in conversation and in print, that it was no other than a mere forgery of my own devising, a scandalous imposition on the public, and such, as I think myself bound to beg God and the world pardon for writing, and have been long since, as I am to this day, and shall be as long as I live, heartily sorry for, and ashamed of.

These I do hereby solemnly declare and testify to be my last Will and Testament; and in witness thereof have thereto set my name, on the 23d day of April, in the year of our Lord 1752, O. S. and in the 73d year of my age.

G. Psalmanazar.

The last Will and Testament of G. Psalmanazar, of Ironmonger Row, in the Parish of St. Luke, Middlesex, whenever it shall please God to take him out of this world unto himself.

January 1, 1762, being the day of the Circumcision of our divine Lord, then, blessed be God, quite sound in my mind, though weak in my body, I do ratify and confirm the above particulars of my last Will made.