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The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Volume 2

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Item. That in the said church of Saint
Denis similar services shall be performed, as
above.

Item. That the same shall be done in
the church of the said friars and lesser
brethren.

Item. The aforesaid Testator gives and
bequeaths to Messer Francesco da Melzo,
nobleman, of Milan, in remuneration for services
and favours done to him in the past, each

[Footnote: See page 420.]
and all of the books the Testator is at present
possessed of, and the instruments and
portraits appertaining to his art and calling
as a painter.

Item. The same Testator gives and bequeaths
henceforth for ever to Battista de Vilanis
his servant one half, that is the moity, of his
garden which is outside the walls of Milan,
and the other half of the same garden to
Salai his servant; in which garden aforesaid
Salai has built and constructed a house which
shall be and remain henceforth in all perpetuity
the property of the said Salai, his
heirs and successors; and this is in remuneration
for the good and kind services which
the said de Vilanis and Salai, his servants
have done him in past times until now.

Item. The said Testator gives to Maturina
his waiting woman a cloak of good
black cloth lined with fur, a..... of cloth
and two ducats paid once only; and this
likewise is in remuneration for good service
rendered to him in past times by the said
Maturina.

Item. He desires that at his funeral
sixty tapers shall be carried which shall be
borne by sixty poor men, to whom shall be given
money for carrying them; at the discretion
of the said Melzo, and these tapers shall be
distributed among the four above mentioned
churches.

Item. The said Testator gives to each
of the said churches ten lbs. of wax in thick
tapers, which shall be placed in the said
churches to be used on the day when those
said services are celebrated.

Item. That alms shall be given to the
poor of the Hotel-Dieu, to the poor of Saint
Lazare d'Amboise and, to that end, there
shall be given and paid to the treasurers of
that same fraternity the sum and amount of
seventy soldi of Tours.

Item. The said Testator gives and bequeaths
to the said Messer Francesco Melzo,
being present and agreeing, the remainder of
his pension and the sums of money which
are owing to him from the past time till
the day of his death by the receiver or
treasurer-general M. Johan Sapin, and
each and every sum of money that he has
already received from the aforesaid Sapin
of his said pension, and in case he should
die before the said Melzo and not otherwise;
which moneys are at present in the possession
of the said Testator in the said place
called Cloux, as he says. And he likewise
gives and bequeaths to the said Melzo all and
each of his clothes which he at present possesses
at the said place of Cloux, and all in
remuneration for the good and kind services
done by him in past times till now, as well as
in payment for the trouble and annoyance he
may incur with regard to the execution of this
present testament, which however, shall all
be at the expense of the said Testator.

And he orders and desires that the sum
of four hundred scudi del Sole, which he
has deposited in the hands of the treasurer
of Santa Maria Nuova in the city of Florence,
may be given to his brothers now living in Florence
with all the interest and usufruct that
may have accrued up to the present time, and
be due from the aforesaid treasurer to the aforesaid
Testator on account of the said four hundred
crowns, since they were given and consigned
by the Testator to the said treasurers.

Item. He desires and orders that the
said Messer Francesco de Melzo shall be
and remain the sole and only executor of
the said will of the said Testator; and that the
said testament shall be executed in its full and
complete meaning and according to that which
is here narrated and said, to have, hold, keep
and observe, the said Messer Leonardo da Vinci,
constituted Testator, has obliged and obliges by
these presents the said his heirs and successors
with all his goods moveable and immoveable
present and to come, and has renounced and
expressly renounces by these presents all and
each of the things which to that are contrary.
Given at the said place of Cloux in the
presence of Magister Spirito Fieri vicar, of
the church of Saint Denis at Amboise, of
M. Guglielmo Croysant priest and chaplain,
of Magister Cipriane Fulchin, Brother Francesco
de Corion, and of Francesco da Milano,
a brother of the Convent of the Minorites
at Amboise, witnesses summoned and required
to that end by the indictment of the
said court in the presence of the aforesaid
M. Francesco de Melze who accepting and
agreeing to the same has promised by his
faith and his oath which he has administered
to us personally and has sworn to us never
to do nor say nor act in any way to the contrary.
And it is sealed by his request with
the royal seal apposed to legal contracts at
Amboise, and in token of good faith.

Given on the XXIIIrd day of April
MDXVIII, before Easter.

And on the XXIIIrd day of this month of
April MDXVIII, in the presence of M. Guglielmo
Borian, Royal notary in the court
of the bailiwick of Amboise, the aforesaid
M. Leonardo de Vinci gave and bequeathed,
by his last will and testament, as aforesaid,
to the said M. Baptista de Vilanis, being
present and agreeing, the right of water which
the King Louis XII, of pious memory lately
deceased gave to this same de Vinci, the
stream of the canal of Santo Cristoforo in
the duchy of Milan, to belong to the said
Vilanis for ever in such wise and manner
that the said gentleman made him this gift
in the presence of M. Francesco da Melzo,
gentleman, of Milan and in mine.

And on the aforesaid day in the said
month of April in the said year MDXVIII
the same M. Leonardo de Vinci by his last
will and testament gave to the aforesaid
M. Baptista de Vilanis, being present and
agreeing, each and all of the articles of
furniture and utensils of his house at present
at the said place of Cloux, in the event
of the said de Vilanis surviving the aforesaid
M. Leonardo de Vinci, in the presence of
the said M. Francesco Melzo and of me
Notary &c. Borean.

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