[Sidenote: THE TESTAMENTARY DISPOSAL OF THE COURTEN AND SLOANE MUSEUM.] ‘Whereas I have in and by my said Will given some directions about the sale and disposition of my Museum, or collection of rarities herein more particularly mentioned, now I do hereby revoke my said Will, as far as relates thereto, and I do direct and appoint concerning the same in the following manner: Having had from my youth a strong inclination to the study of plants and all other productions of nature, and having through the course of many years, with great labour and expense, gathered together whatever could be procured either in our own or foreign countries that was rare and curious; and being fully convinced that nothing tends more to raise our ideas of the power, wisdom, goodness, providence, and other perfections of the Deity, or more to the comfort and well being of his creatures, than the enlargement of our knowledge of the works of nature, I do will and desire that for the promoting of these noble ends, the glory of God, and the good of man, my collection in all its branches may be, if possible, kept and preserved together whole and entire, in my Manor House in the Parish of Chelsea, situate near the Physic Garden given by me to the Company of Apothecaries for the same purposes; and having great reliance that the right honourable, honourable, and other persons hereafter named, will be influenced by the same principles and [will] faithfully and conscientiously discharge the trust hereby reposed in them, I do give, devise, and bequeath, unto the Rt. Hon. Charles Sloane CADOGAN ... [_and to forty-nine other persons whose names follow_,] all that my Collection or Museum at, in, or about, my Manor House at Chelsea aforesaid, which consists of too great a variety to be particularly described, but ... which are more particularly described, mentioned, and numbered, with short histories or accounts of them, with proper references, in certain catalogues by me made, containing thirty-eight volumes in folio, and eight volumes in quarto,—except such framed pictures as are not marked with the word “_Collection_”—to have and to hold to them and their successors and assigns for ever, ... upon the trusts, and for the uses and purposes, ... hereafter particularly specified concerning the same.