Some Wills

New Zealand Tablet, 26 July 1906, Page 9

Some Wills

To the late Michael Davitt, faith was evidently some•thing more th-ani the mere intellectual acceptance of speculative truth. It was apparently a leaven that fermented the mass, and searched -into the very substance of his life. Here is an extract from his last will and testament that came right out from the restless heart that is now still. 'My diaries are not to be published as such, and in no instance without my wife's permission', but on no account must anything harsh or censorious written in said diaries by me about any person, dead or alive, who has ever worked for Ireland be printed, published, or used so as to give pain to any friend or relative To all my friends I leave kjad thoughts ; to all my enemies tne fullest possible forgiveness ; and to Ireland the undying prayer for the absolute freedom and independence which it was my life's ambition to try and obtain for iicr. *■* The parting thoughts for friends and enemies remind one of the touching piety of the English pre-Eeforma-tion wills, such as are to be found in the fourth volume of the interesting collection (• Testamenta Eboracensia' ) published by the Surtees Society. Here is an extract from the « preface ' of the will of John Dal ton, of Hull, made in 1437 :— +1. 'I? i the ~ £ ame of the Fa *er and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. I, John Dalton, of the Kingstown upon Hull— considering and remembering, thinlc i n my heart that the days of man in this mortal life are aiL^?* * 2*^ th ! h ? ur of death is s in the hand of the Almighty God, and that He hath ordained the terms that no man may pass. I remember also that God

; hath ordainad men to -.die, and that there is nothing -more uncertain than the hour of death. I seeing prince? and Xmen of). g reat estates die daily; and men of all c^>^ - eir ? a ? s ' and that death g iv es no certain respit? to an 7 living .creature, but takes them suddenly. For these considerations I, being in my right wit and mind (.loved be God !) whole not sick, beseeSh Almighty God that I may die the true son of Holy .Church and of heart truly confessed, with contrition and' repentance, of all my sins that I ever did- sin -c the first hour I was of "in deTth™ int ° thiS Sinful WorW ' to the hour The testator then beseeches pardon of his- sins, bequeaths his soul to God and his body *to the earth whereof it came '. And s 0 on. Judging by the wills of the period, religion must h a ve been a, very real thing indeed to Catholics in pie-Reformation England, and the Christian brotherhood in man a 'principle that r however variously expressed, was deeply felt and practically understood. The completion of the great revolution of the sixteenth century produced a marked difference in the - wording, tone, and purpose of wills. These documents throw a curious side-light upon the diminishing grip that religion had upon the he a rts and intelligences of the English people in post-Reformation days.