The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-01-25
ECCENTRIC WILLS.


The readers of English novels (and it
is from novels that most of us now-a-
days derive our knowledge of other
countries) are aware that the London
Repository of wills has been called for
ages Doctors Commons. 1t has ceased
to exist. Some time ago, the huge col
lection of wills which it contained was
transported to a newer and larger re-
ceptacle at Somerset House, where ann
pie room had been provided for them.
Doctors' Commons had been outgrown,
and its precious contents were trans
ferred) with rs little ceremony as the
carmen of Wall street convey cart loads
of gold.
This collection of wills, probably the
largest In the world, occupies a range
OF rooms two hundred feet In length,
containing several miles of shelves filed
with folio volumes of wills which have
been proved and executed. Wills un-
proved are kept in fire-proof vaults
The business has grown to wonderful
proportions. During the reign of Eliz-
abeth, one very small volume sufficed
for the wills of five or six years; but at
present wills accumulate at the rate of
nine thousand year for London alone;
and, for the whole kingdom, about
twenty-six thousand. -sI I
In this repository are preserved and
shown to visitors the wills of DIR. John
son. Nelson, Pitt, Burke, Wellington,
Milton and Shakespeare. That of
Shakespeare, which consists of three
folio pages, is placed under an ir-tight
frame OF oak and plate glass. l have
had the pleasure of looking upon this
interesting relic. The writing looked
small, dim and Grabbed in the not bril-
hantly-lighted room where it was for
merly kept. 1t was drawn, however,
with the greatest care, as if by a testa-
tor who knew the value of property,
and had maturely considered its distri-
button. 81
1t Is strange thing that some of the
wills which have given rise to the great
est amount of litigation are those which
distinguished lawye ers and judges have
drawn for themselves. This may have
been from carelessness, but. more prob
ably, from excessive caution. It has be-
come so common of late years for i'm
portant wills to be disputed, and to
benefit no one so much as the lawyers,
that men of large possessions seem dis
posed to avoid making a will, and to let
their property 60 as the law directs in
such cases. --
An English author has published a
rare collection lately of testamentary
curiosities, most OF which he discovered
in the Search Room of Doctors Com
mons. We lind from his work that it is
rs difficult to be original in folly as in
wisdom, for there can scarcely be found
sn eccentric or ridiculous will which is
unique of its kind. A few years ago,
the gas man of the Walnut street
Theaier in Philadelphia, which he had
/ served for forty-four years, bequeathed
his head to the theater to be converted
into skull, and to be used to represent
the skull of Yorick in the fifth act of
Hamlet. Many other persons have dis
posed of their heads in similar profess
sional way. A noted phrenologist of
Cincinnati left his head to one of his
lady pupils as an illustration of the
science to which they were both de-
voted. Several professors of anatomy
have left their heads or their whole
skeletons to museums. The illustrious
Jeremy Bentham bequeathed his body
to be dissected. and the skeleton may
now be seen in the Museum of Uni
versity College, London. -ii
A Quaker physician of London tried
to distribute his body by his will, leav-
ing his heart to one, his lungs to an
other, and his brains to a third, all of
which were to be preserved from de-
composition. And he added: sef
IF these gentlemen shall fail faithfully to
execute these last wishes in this request,
will come, If 1t should be by any means pos
sible. and torment them until they shall conn
ply"
The three gentlemen had the courage
to decline their legacies. This bequest
was not so eccentric as that of Sanborn,
the halter of Medford, Mass, who be-
queathed his body to Harvard Universi-
ty for dissection by DIR. o. w. Holmes
and Prof. Agassiz, and ordered that his
skin should be tanned into leather, and
made into two drum heads. This Pc
culiar drum he left to one of his towns
men, a drummer of note, on condition
that, on every anniversary of the battle
of Bunker Hill, he should ascend that
height at sunrise and beat the tune of
Yankee Doodle. On one of the heads
of the drum was to. be written Pope 9
Universal Prayer and on the other the
Declaration of Independence. A great
number of these bodily wills have been
made, but not So many have been exc
cuted. -.
Some gentlemen appear TO have taken
pride in leaving extremely short wills.
The English millionaire, Colts, wrote
his will on half a sheet of paper: and,
among other curiosities of this kind in
the london Win Office, there is a will
drawn by a merchant who left two mill
ions of dollars to his wife and children
by q few lines written on the inside of a
common envelope. Tue shortest will,
perhaps, in the whole collection, was
proved as late as November, 1873. 1t
consisted of eight words:
"Mrs. Smith to have all when die"
This will was found sufficient. An
other testator, upon being informed
that it was no matter whether he wrote
his will on paper, parchment, canvas or
wood, chose to write it upon his door;
and after his death his executors were
obliged TO have the door taken off its
hinges. and brought into court. 1t is a
thing of frequent occurrence for zealots,
whether political or sectarian, to seize
the opportunity which writing their
will presents to give emphatic utterance
to their most cherished opinions. A
Baptist clergyman of England, whose
viii was proved in 1879, after disposine
OF his property, which was considerable,
lndulged in most energetic declara-
4 A L = u.