ROMANCE IN ARCHIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19328, 15 May 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROMANCE IN ARCHIVES.

FAMOUS SOMERSET HOUSE. WILLS OF 'GENERATIONS. SHAKESPEARE AND NELSON. When the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England, founded the palace on the site of which Somerset House now stands he could have had no idea that his name would at this far distant date be associated with one of the most famous of all British Government buildings. Neither, for that matter, could the Queens of James 1., Charles 1., and Charles 11., or Queen Elizabeth herself, each ol whom lived there at different periods, have foreseen that their great riverside .residence would become, instead of a home of Royalty, the repository of the nation's archives and a veritable Aladdin's Cave of romance.

Built in 1776-86 by Sir William Chambers, a famous architect, Somerset House, which it is proposed to reconstruct to meet modern requirements, is the head-

quarters of a number of Government Departments, including the offices of the Registrar General, the Accountant General, the Wills and Probate authorities, the Chief Inspector of Taxes, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and the Controller of Stamps and Stores. The Chief Inspector rules-the army of local inspectors operating all over the Kingdom; the Registrar General busies himself over problems of population, including births, marriages, and deaths, as well as the taking of the census; the Accountant General's activities are concerned with checking the nation's expenditure and receipts; the Commissioners of Inland Revenue set in motion the complicated machinery that results in your receipt of an Income Tax form; while the Wilis and Probate officials record one's death and any last -wishes he may express in the form of a will. The wills and probate department occupies a part of the quadrangle backing on the Thames. Here in capacious vaults the wills of many generations of citizens are stored, some of them dating back five hundred years. The existence in this department of various curious wills, including the only will ever made in shorthand, has otten been commented upon, but few people are aware that by special permission the wills of many great personages of past ages may be seen.

Recently a party of visitors from lino Dominions was conducted through tins section, one of the wills that, the members were privileged to examine being that of Shakespeare. Written in what is now faded yellow ink, the will contains a curious clause bequeathing " my second best bed to my wife." Another will of historic interest is that of Lord Nelson, who in a small notebook left a codicil made on the eve of the battle of Trafalgar. By this codicil the great Admiral left " Emma, Lady Hamilton, as a legacy to my King and to my country," explaining in a footnoto that Lady Hamilton had played a leading part in certain diplomatic negotiations of great delicacy. Gladstone's will, written in a greencovered memorandum book, stipulates that "on no account shall any laudatory inscription be placed on me; " while that of the Duke of Wellington, set down in thin, spidery handwriting, makes dispositions affeftting half a million of pounds, and explains that it was written following "an attempt made last night to assassinate me." Among out-of-way wills one that is seldom referred to is that made in the year of the Great Plague, and preserved in spirit as a precautionary measure against spreading the dread disease.