Barkis's will

Barkis's will is the document that reveals how much Mr. Barkis had secretly saved and directs that wealth to the people closest to him. Found in his long-guarded box after his death, it converts years of private hoarding into practical provision for Clara Peggotty, Daniel Peggotty, Emily Peggotty, and David Copperfield. Its reading also gives David an early, personal occasion to exercise the legal knowledge he has begun to acquire.

Discovery and the hidden box

After Mr. Barkis's death, David stays with Clara Peggotty while the carrier's remains are taken to Blunderstone village for burial. He helps her as best he can, but recognizes that taking charge of the will gives him particular professional satisfaction. David says that he first suggested looking for it in the box. The search succeeds: at the bottom of a horse's nose-bag, they find the will among an old gold watch with its chain and seals, a silver tobacco-stopper shaped like a leg, an imitation lemon filled with tiny cups and saucers, money, financial receipts, and assorted odds and ends.

The box's contents make Mr. Barkis's concealment tangible. He had carried it on his journeys for years and invented a story that it belonged to a Mr. Blackboy and was merely being kept until its owner called for it. Even shortly before his death, he asked David and Clara Peggotty to leave him alone so he could find a little money, then endured the effort of retrieving a guinea from the box. Clara Peggotty knew this was his familiar routine and allowed him the satisfaction of presenting the money as if newly discovered. The will's recovery thus resolves a recurring secret: the apparently miserly, carefully guarded box held a substantial estate.

Bequests and beneficiaries

Mr. Barkis's property in money amounted to nearly three thousand pounds. Under the will, the interest on one thousand pounds was left to Daniel Peggotty for his lifetime. After his death, that principal was to be divided equally among Clara Peggotty, Emily Peggotty, and David Copperfield, or whichever of them survived. The rest of Mr. Barkis's estate went to Clara Peggotty, whom he named residuary legatee and sole executrix.

The provisions extend beyond a simple division of cash. By assigning Clara Peggotty the residue of the estate and responsibility for executing the will, Mr. Barkis leaves her both the benefit of his remaining property and the formal task of managing it. The lifetime interest for Daniel Peggotty, followed by the later division of principal, likewise makes the bequest operate across time: it provides for him first while preserving a future share for the other named beneficiaries.

David as reader and adviser

David reads the will aloud with ceremony, explains its provisions repeatedly to those concerned, and examines it closely. He declares it perfectly formal, marks its margin, and reflects that he knows more about the process than he once supposed. The episode follows his entry into the world of Doctors' Commons, where wills and other matters of ecclesiastical law are handled, and makes that professional setting relevant to a family loss rather than merely a career choice.

In the week before the funeral, David also draws up an account of the property Clara Peggotty has inherited, helps arrange her affairs, and serves as her adviser. His legal role grows out of companionship and gratitude: he remains with her in mourning, while the work of interpreting the estate gives them a shared practical task. He later recalls that he found personal and professional satisfaction in handling the will, a candid qualification that sits beside his account of caring for her.

Narrative significance

The will links affection to financial obligation. Mr. Barkis's guarded savings ultimately benefit his wife and the people named in his bequests; after his death, the box that had concealed his wealth becomes the means by which Clara Peggotty's household can be settled and the inheritance explained. David's involvement shows how legal documents can shape intimate relations through specified shares, lifetime provision, and the appointment of an executor.

The episode also marks a small change in David's position. Earlier, while working at Murdstone and Grinby's, he had to provide his own modest meals from a few shillings and lacked advice or support. In the aftermath of Mr. Barkis's death, he is able to interpret a substantial estate and help another person manage its consequences. The will does not erase grief, but it gives David a concrete responsibility through which his developing professional identity and his ties to the Peggotty family meet.