Bishop Sanderson has been quoted for a loving tribute to his wife; his will gives as good an instance of the shrinking from pompous funerals as could be found in the seventeenth century. “As for my corruptible body, I bequeath it to the earth whence it was taken, to be decently buried in the Parish Church of Buckden, towards the upper end of the Chancel, upon the second, or at the furthest the third day after my decease; and that with as little noise, pomp and charge as may be, without the invitation of any person how near soever related unto me, other than the inhabitants of Buckden; without the unnecessary expense of escutcheon, gloves, ribbon, etc., and without any blacks to be hung anywhere in or about the house or Church, other than a pulpit cloth, a hearse-cloth, and a mourning gown for the preacher; whereof the former, after my body shall be interred, to be given to the preacher of the funeral sermon, and the latter to the Curate of the Parish for the time being. And my will further is that the funeral sermon be preached by my own household Chaplain, containing some wholesome discourse concerning mortality, the resurrection of the dead, and the last judgment; and that he shall have for his pains £5, upon condition that he speak nothing at all concerning my person, either good or ill, other than I myself shall direct; only signifying to the auditory that it was my express will to have it so. And it is my will that no costly monument be erected for my memory, but only a fair flat marble stone to be laid over me.... This manner of burial, although I cannot but foresee it will prove unsatisfactory to sundry my nearest friends and relations, and be apt to be censured by others, as an evidence of my too much parsimony and narrowness of mind, as being altogether unusual, and not according to the mode of these times: yet it is agreeable to the sense of my heart, and I do very much desire my Will may be carefully observed herein, hoping it may become exemplary to some or other: at least, however, testifying at my death—what I have so often and earnestly professed in my lifetime—my utter dislike of the flatteries commonly used in funeral sermons, and of the vast expenses otherwise laid out in funeral solemnities and entertainments, with very little benefit to any; which if bestowed in pious and charitable works, might redound to the public or private benefit of many persons.”