Wills— Quaint, Curious and Otherwise. fifthly, to France, my wallet, because she may shortly have occasion for one to collect alms." John Swain, who died in Southwark, in the year 1851, gave "to John Abbot, and Mary, his '.vife, 6d. each, to buy for each of them a halter, for fear the sheriffs should not be provided." Edward Wortly Montague, son of the English Ambassador to Turkey, by Lady Mary Wortly Montague, the supposed "Sappho of Pope, signed and executed a will which is more than singular. After some bequest "to my noble and worthy rela tion, the Earl of ," he adds, "I do not give his lordship any further part of my property because the best part of that he has contrived to take already. Item, to Sir Francis I give one vord of mine, be cause he has never had the good fortune to keep his own. Item, to Lord I give nothing, because I know he'll bestow it on the poor. Item, to , the author, for put ting me in his travels, I give five shillings for his wit, undeterred by the charge of ex travagance, since friends who have read his book consider five shillings too much. Item, to Sir Robert Walpole I leave my political opinions, never doubting he can well turn them into cash, who has always found such an excellent market in which to change his own. Item, my cast-off habit of swearing oaths I give to Sir Leopold D , in con sideration that no oaths have ever been able to find him yet." The maker of this peculiar will was one of the most brilliant men of the day, though utterly worthless and depraved. His mother, the witty, talented Lady Mary Wortly Montague, disinherited him, cuttinj him off "with a shilling." Henry Budd, whose will was probated in London, 1862, had a very great objection to mustaches. In his will were the following provisions: "In case my son Edward shall wear mustaches, then the devise hereinbefore
571
contained in favour of him, his appointees, heirs and assigns of my said estate, called Pepper Park, shall be void; and I devise the same estate to my son William, his ap pointees, heirs and assigns. And in case my said son William shall wear mustaches, then the devise hereinbefore contained in favour of him, his appointees, heirs, assigns of my said estate called Twickenham Park, shall be void; and I devise the said estate to my son Edward, his appointees, heirs and assigns." Division of property by means of wills is of very ancient origin, perhaps the first of which we have any written account is that contained in Genesis xlviii, 22, where it is stated that Jacob gave Joseph a portion above his brethren. Solon is said to have introduced wills into Greece В. С. 594, and testamentary bequests were first regulated at Rome by the laws of the Twelve Tables, В. С. 450. In ancient Rome wills were sealed by scab applied after the deeds had been pierced and the linen envelope passed three times through the holes—a method, says an early writer, established in the time of Nero against forgers, and adopted in Germany and Gaul, where it remained in vogue till the Middle Ages. Outside the will were written the names of those who had affixed their seals. Upon the first page, or left-hand tablet, were written the names of the prin cipal heirs; and upon the second, or righthand tablet, the names of the legatees. To guard against accidents, Anglo-Saxon wills were written on three copies, carefully compared and afterwards read over in the presence of various witnesses, and were then consigned to three separate persons for safe custody, one being placed in the great oaken chest in the parish church. From the Norman conquest to the time of Edward III, wills were written in Latin, but after that time the "common language" be came the language of the testament.
