Four days
before his death he made and signed his will, in which he bestowed gifts
and legacies with the liberality that was so marked a characteristic of
his life. That crowds of poor would attend his obsequies he was probably
aware, for to each poor person seeking a bounty he bequeathed fourpence,
"for the love of God and his soul's health". To the Cathedral, on
which he had expended so much of his genius, he left money for its
completion; and bequeathed to it many precious things, including a cross
of gold in which was a piece of the "Tree of the Lord". Henry IV was
forgiven a debt of five hundred pounds, and was to have a pair of
silver-gilt basins, ornamented with double roses, which were probably
given to Wykeham by Edward III, as a special mark of his favour. So we
take leave of this master builder and munificent bishop, whose motto
"Manners makyth man" is known the world over. The inscription on his
tomb tells us of his works, but Wykeham needs no inscription so long as
the stones of the Cathedral hold together, and his two fair colleges
raise their buttressed walls beside the waters of the Isis and the
Itchen.
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