THE LAST LAUGH..

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 297, 14 December 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE LAST LAUGH..

THE poor man finds it much easier to write his will than the rich man. He need never worry as to whether his hard-earned money is to be squandered stupidly by the inheritors, need never stay awake at night fearing how the young will satisfy their ambitions when dad has gone. Sonic strange wills have been made in 1 lie past: John Gordon Vanoni, of London. England, expressed the wish to be buried with hi« regimental tie on, and with the photographs of his wife, father, mother, brother and old nurse in the coffin with him. He «lso staled th;it he was leaving 25 dollars to be paid to his barber for shaving and manicuring him after death. Left Swearing Equipment "My cast off habit of swearing oaths I give to Sir Leopold D ... .in consideration that no oaths have ever been able to tind him yet," was one of the clauses in the will of Edward Worthey Montague. "I give nothing to Lord Save and I do make him this legacy willingly because I know that lie will fcjthfully distribute it to the poor. Secfwg that I do menace a certain Henry Mild way but did not thrash him I leave tlie sum of fifty pounds sterling to the lackey that shall pay unto him my debt. I give to Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell one of my ewords the which he must want, teeing that he hath never kept any of his own." This appeared in the will of Phillip, Earl of Pembroke.

The will most in demand i« Shakespeare's, which has had to be shown several times a week at Somerset House in London, where any of the millions and millions of wills can be seen by paying 1/, and a certified copy obtained of them by the further payment of another fee. Shakespeare's Will This document is in the bard's own square handwriting, the ink of which has become, yellow with age: "I give unto my wife my second best bed with furniture and nothing else.'' The longest will known to have been written and admitted to probate in J-mgland is the one of Mrs. Fredcrica Ntilwell Cook, who died in 1 She was the widow of a prosperous wholesale dealer who had his business close to St. Paul'ts Cathedral. It consisted of four large volumes, each heavily bound in blue leather with edges. Two of these bulky tonics contained 702 pages measuring nine inches square, and the oilier two had 406. The total number of words contained in the will is :i-10. The shortest important will is one made in the seventeenth century, when Lord Chief Justice Mansfield distributed his fortune of more than £50,000 in a few words scribbled on half a sheet of notepaper. The smallest will known was made by a sailor killed in the Battle of Jutland. It. was written on the back of his brass identity disc. A microscopic examination revealed the following inscription: "Feb. 1, 1916. Everything I possess and all moneys, property due to me by wills, wages, bank or any other source T bequeath to my darling wife, Alice Maud Skinner.' it is duly signed and « itnc-c.I by two comrades.