Though wills are for good reason public documents, their contents
are generally regarded by people of good taste as private affairs. Lord Curzon's will, however, contains such generous devises and bequests to the nation that gratitude, not curiosity, forbids us to disregard it. The two wholly different but both admirable examples of mediaeval castles, Bodiam and Tattershall, which he saved by purchase and put into lasting repair, he has left to the National Trust, holding such ancient buildings to be "part of the spiritual and aesthetic heritage of a Nation, imbuing it with reverence and educating its taste." His oriental collections, including the well- known loans to the Bethnal Green Museum, be left to the nation "through the Victoria and Albert Museum." His collection of Napoleonic books, prints and relics go also to the Bodleian or the British Museum for the nation, and his confidential Indian correspondence to the British Museum. The parish of Kedleston also benefits by his patriarchal care.
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