Litchfield enquirer., 1863-10-08
LITCHFIELD. CONN.,, THURSDAY, OCT. 8, 1863.
"Eccentricities of an Octogenari-

Under this title, the Winsted sheet discourses as follows, in a strain of elegant Latin and Classic English, of the will of worthy citi- zen of this town, recently deceased :-
 "N1de no,ti6us nisi 6o,auns"i. e. "Don', tell the truth about the dead" But alas we are sometimes compelled to disregard the old maxim. A gentleman recently died in Litch. held. at the age of eighty-two years On open ing his Wll,It was found we are told that he had made sundry general legacies out of his large cs- tate ; one. Of but $500. to one of his two or phan grandchildren, and one of Sl ,O0O to the other and one of $2,500 to St. Michaels Church. (Episcopalian) of Litchfeld. The residue of his estate was found divided inte three equal parts one to his surviving wife for life, to revert at her decease to said St. Michael's Church Another to his only daughter for life to go at last on conditions certain to the qfosemaned "St. Mjchael's Church y and the other to his only living son, to revert in case the son dies leaving no children, to the hereinbefore mentioned "St. Michaeis Church !! P "St Michael" him. self may smile, though We reckon he's too old to be caught with such chaf but the poor orphans will doubtless be solemnly moved to erect monument to their grandfather's mu- nAuS0oSS-ouu WC COulu luIulSu IUe lUScFlD- ton. The fact is. there should be law rem dering void all wills made after the testator arrives, say. at a hundred years of age. Judges are considered incompetent in some States af- ter seventy years of age. As 8 general rule this is wise. Who ever heard of a |" Church" or 8 " Missionary Society" honorable enough to pass over legacy, bequeathed to them in the imbecility of testators old age, or the like, to indigent orphans or to children thus worse than defrauded?
 The propriety of such an effusion of un- called,for malignity in public print-this nseddilng with the most sacred affairs of private family, so recently bereaved of friend and parent, we will not discuss It is suffi- cient to say that it is characteristic of the sheet in which it is printed, and of the pen that wrote it, and the old adage is an all-suf- hcient reply to it :-that it is easy for live 1ack-ass to kick dead lion."
 "De nortibus nI nisi 6onum," l. e. Y" Don't tell the truth about the dead," says this schol- arly scribbler. Whatever fault may be found with his Latin, (which he undoubtedly pro- duced from memory,) the objection of falsity does not apply to his translation. He com plies with it in every particular. He doesn't tell the truth about the dead-which is not surprising-since he has never yet learned to tell the truth about the living.
 The delectable diatribe goes on to discuss the testator's large estate" and his orphan ~k;ldro, matthew of ,rb;o oh bo bo,non.l +o leave. The "estate" disappoints every one by it's very moderate estimate, (about O,0OO,) and overthrows more than one misapprehen- sion of the testator's circumstances during life. The "orphan children" are children of lady at present residing in Hartford, whom unhappy differences of disposition caused separation from son of the testator, some years since, and the children of whom have, since, for the most part, resided with her. To the eldest of these, the testator bequeathed the sum of $l ,O0O, and the whole of his Law Library, and an Eighth of his Miscellaneous Library; to the youngest $500, and another eighth ofhis Library. Had they been either under their Grandfather's control, or even his supervision,is is possible that the legacy be- queathed them might have been equal atleast to those given the surviving children. As it is,the legacy would seem abundantly adequate to their immediate wants, and it is more than probable that the "Episcopalian" Society of Litch- field, will never suffer them to want for what ever means they may be in need of hereafter, for their education and support, until they be- come of age, notwithstanding the affecting dis belief of this sympathizing scribbler.
 It is unnecessary to follow further the scul- rility with which the writer attempts to be- daub the Church, which, in life, was the ob- iect of the tenderest care, and to which, after giving his family the income of his entire prop erty during their life-times, the deceased has always designed it finally to revert. The at- tempt to reprovs in advance what the chari. table sycophant suppeses the Church may do' reminds us of Satan rebuking St. Michael. What the terrible satirist finally discusses, the probable imbecility of the revered deceased, SXCttSS Vuty tuo uef1Slt0 Sulli6S Ol all WHO knew the lamented testator down to the last days of his long and useful life. It is more than probable. indeed. that at tho ripe age of eighty.two, the honored old man daily did more work. and performed more tasks, and executed higher and profounder deeds, than all the works and tasks and deeds ever done by his posthumous reviler in all the days of his petty existence.
 Finally, the whole of the article, to which VIC have devoted much more of our space than the subject demanded, but which we regret to have seen copied and hence more widely cir. culated in Hartford paper, without rebuke, calls to ous xind vividly and forcibly, that apostrophe of Byron, in bis English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" to onather Clark, bu. which, by its exact application, seems to have been written precisely for this libeller of the living and deed s-
 "There Clarke, still striving piteouslv to
 please: