SOME CURIOUS WILLS.

Western Star, 14 February 1922, Page 4

SOME CURIOUS WILLS.

LINKS WITH THE PAST

BRITAIN'S VARIED COLLECTION

Wills of Kings and Queens of England are never open to- public inspection, although lodged at Somerset House in London. Though kept in the records, they are always sealed!. All other wills for, which probate is granted in England are open to the general public, on payment of a small tee. , Nearly every day the principal Probate 11 eg is try. Office deals with wills of curious character and unusual construction.

One of the most recent was the portrait of a pretty girl upon which the testator had simply written, "I leave all to her." The legator, a soldier, had' duly signed it, and affidavits of identity being forthcoming, the will was admitted to probate and filed in the archives of Somerset House.

One in this collection, interesting from a medical'point of view, was mar-ie by an unfortunate who died of the bla'ek plague that raged at one time in-London. This will was placed in a bottle filjed with spirits and then corked, a precaution no doubt to preserve His Majesty's law officers, who would have subsequently to handile it in the course of their duties, from infection by the deadly bacilli.

Another will is in shorthand. Considering its date, somewhere round the year 1700, this is not a little remarkable; for the- well-known cipher invented by the famous Mr Pitman saw the light of day oyer a hundred years later'. Luckily the testator had left a key, else the authorities would have been put to no little trouble to decipher it, for shorthand was almost unknown in those days.

A will salvaged from the bottom of the isea. supplies the nautical interest. This was # recovered after a long period of immersion,' and the only damage it received was in the way of shrinkage. It was made'on parchment, and this when fished; up was found to- have shrunk to about a tenth ot its normal size. Hut bo beautifully had it been inscribed that the writing remains as clear as print to this day, and though very minute it can he read easily with the naked eye- ! '

Another quaint though cumbersome record, is the leg of a fourposter bed. The will cA a certain earl was hidden in a recess at, the top of the leg, and as there wasi a dispute over the grant . of probate, the leg -,\v.A its large wooden castor hr.d to be hied, and kept as evidence. Shakespeare's will, with its remarkable signature; Nelson's'will, written in a. common or garden exercise book on the eve of Trafalgar, and which toward the conclusion contains these words: "The enemy are now in sight —; ; ' a soldier's will ' :\dc in a black covered notebook thr igh which a bullet had .passed withosr making it illegible—these and many more go to "take a collection that -ninny a curio hunter would give his; soul to possess.