Litchfield enquirer., 1830-09-16

tioD of their property by will. In some il appears to be the influence of an idle su-
 perstition as the harbinger of their own death. An idea certainly likely to be re- alized, if deferred until affected by violent illness. In these circumstances, the mere 1 agitation arising from . sense of neglected duty, in the exertion of repairing it, may very naturally involve dangerous results. But he must be of a very weak mind, who supposes that the disposition of property in one instrument is more likely to anticipate his hour, than sale of in another.
 To make will is in the cases of most men matter of positive duty. And as such Wesley frequHntly enforced it upon his hearers. tis said that en one occa- sion he so wrought upon the conscience of one ofhis congregation, that he went home with resolution instantly to repair his neglect. And the excitement of his feel- ings operated so sopowerfully upon him, then being in weak state of health, that death overlook him before he had accomplished his purposes.
 That the making of a last will is reli- g.ous duty, no one of course, can uphold, but that it may becon;e a duty,- and that its neglect may be in the highest degree criminal. are considerations which Geeply affect every man. Indeed we can conceive ot very few cases in which mans duty in life can be regarded as fulfilled, if this be neglected. The case of a father, a widow CT, with only one child, and a moderate fortune, may seem to be that in which a testamentary disposition, or limitation of the property, is useless, and yet it may be question whethcr the habits, sex, dispo- sition, and qualities ofthe offspring, do not render an omission of such disposal as may secure him from probable evils, an obliga- tion incumbent on the parent.
 Few men can make their own wills, and perhaps none ought to attempt it without reference to counsel, even in cases where there are no complicated bequests, and where the testator understands his own in- tentions, a matter by no means of univer- sal occurrence. There are many peculiar ities relating to execution which can be known only to professional man. Sir w. Blackstone, we believe, recommends to medical and clerical persans. the instruc- ton of themselves in tho draughting of wills, so that, when in e1tremis, the dying person may not really be inops cOncilii.
 ltjs "a great mistake to suppose that it is any a4vantage to professional men that they should be employed to make wills.- As matter of compensation, it is of small consideration. As matter of labor and concoction, frequently of great difficulty. Few disputes grow out of wills drawn up by lawyers. Few quarrels indeed ever occur after application to a lawyer of any responsibility in the first instance for ad- vice; but in general, men work them- selves into dispute, and when interest, self love, and the pride of opinion are fully excited on both sides, lawyers are sought rather as means of gratifying malevelence, than of allaying irritation.-Jour. of LGW.
 Common Svear;ng. .-I will barely touch on the profligate habit of common swear ing. now resorted to-I might almost say exclusively, in the very lowest plebian speech. The mal oh of intellect, if it has done nothing else during the last thirty years, has at least unmanacled the better bred from the pernicious habit, which is now confined to the dregs of the people, as an appropriate, distinctive, character istic mark of vulgarity. Low as is this vice, however, it is endemic. Scarcely will you find, I will not say a county. but hamlet, in which there is not class with whom this disgusting abuse of language is rife and popular. The habit is eradicated i; and it is known to dem0ralize and degrade the people wherever, and to whatever ex- tent, it prevails. Nor is dhis contempti- ble habit confined to the earth on which
 we tread. It has long ago launched forth upon the ocean, and fiourishes with the most offensive luxuriance on that element
 where storms and tempests rage, where death with sudden terrors Feigns, and where habitual seriousness would be much more appropriate, even there, however, of late years, it has somewhat abated it has lost ground aft, and is seldom found be- yond the foremast. Yet it will not be out of place, if here call to mind the anec- dote of the captain and his chaplGin to de- monstrate the force, as we'll as the ocea- sionaz corrigibility of fhabit. The ship had scarcely left it's anchor, when the chaplain began to observe and lament the incessant "d-n my eyes," which Jew from the captains lips. This continued day after day. without abatement increasing as the wind increased, but never entirely subsi- n ek,~