THE DEGENERACY OF WILLS.
READERS of the " Wills and Bequests" given in Wednesday's papers will have noticed the striking passage quoted from the conclusion of the late Sir Henry Acland's will. The last words are as follows :—" And now with a deep sense of the mercy and goodness of God to me and mine through parents, children, and friends, and by the saintly life of my dear wife gone before, I commit my soul to my heavenly Father in the faith and love of Christ, and hope for forgive- ness of my shortcomings in my holy profession, and I pray that the faithful study of all nature may, in Oxford and eLse- where, lead men to the knowledge and love of God, to faith
and to charity, and to the further prevention and relief of the bodily and mental sufferings of all races of mankind." The impressiveness of such perorations is enhanced by their rarity nowadays. There was a distinct element of picturesqueness in the old-fashioned will. A legal document perhaps is scarcely the place where we should expect to find such a thing ; and it must be confessed that the modern will shows a lamentable falling-off in this respect. Legal documents are not, as a rule, greatly subject to change : it is one of their essential charms to be some hundred years or so behind their age ; they use, gravely enough,, words and phrases which, though mightily impressive in sound, have long since ceased to be burdened with a meaning. Yet even these are not absolutely unaffected by the influence of the outside world. The public has withal a practical tendency, and is not always ready to appreciate a mountain of parchment, more especi- ally when it has to pay for the same, as a work of art. And so the present-day will has come to be on the whole a prosaic and businesslike performance ; it has been pruned of much of that pleasing and useless verbosity with which its forerunner was adorned; its language is now what the esoteric body which holds the key to such mysteries is pleased to describe as " simple " ; and although the bewildered testator may not always recognise his " instructions " when put into their scientific dress, he will confess at any rate that it has but little charm in the way of literary graces.
But the will of former times was a very different produc- tion. There was a pious solemnity in its commencement, " In the name of God, Amen." Such magnificent exordiums are unknown now, and the engrosser has to employ his finest flourishes over the far inferior beginning: "This is the last will and testament" ; a good enough phrase in its way, and more fitting perhaps for a document that is no longer proved by ecclesiastical authority, but yet. in point of style a distinct falling-off. Then, too, we have lost the fine introspectiveness of the preliminary recitals. "I, being sick and weak of body, but strong in mind and memory, thanks be to God therefor"; such were the conditions under which the testator of bygone times, being minded, as he generally used to tell us, of the uncertainty of this life, made his will. This glimpse of his sensations and ideas he would give by way of preface; but he did not sink into the commonplace all at once. Imprimis, he would bequeath his " soul to God who gave it," and would add, as a rule, something of a profession of his faith. His body he then bequeathed to the earth to be decently buried, with such directions for the manner of his funeral as he might see fit ; in a sailor's will we sometimes find to the earth or sea," that all contingencies may be provided for. We have dispensed with introductories now, just as the modern Act of Parliament plunges straight into its enactments and no longer excuses its existence by a preamble; but it must be admitted that there is noticeable in them a curious sameness. The prudent person who made ills will in the full rigour of his youth was yet made to describe himself as being "sick and weak in body "; for the lawyers were paid by length, and every little helps : and perhaps the dispositions of soul and body (it is a shock to our sentimental imaginings) were but "common forms," like the "deaf wife" which has not yet altogether dropped out of the precedent-books.
But however that may be, expectant relatives at that solemn ceremonial of reading the will," now itself almost obsolete, had to possess their souls in patience during these prefaces, and speculate on the more interesting bequests to come. " And as touching those worldly goods wherewith it bath pleased God to bless me,"—this was the usual form in which the will-maker half apologetically came down from his sublimities. It is indeed an admirable phrase, containing subtle suggestions that the disposition of mere terrestrial riches is thrown in as an afterthought; that the real business of the late lamented was to inform his executors of his bodily and spiritual condition, or at most to arrange the details of his obsequies ; but suddenly remembering that he ha erredto possess some lands and houses, he took the opportunity of saying something about them.
These graceful personal touches are not to be found in the wills of the present day: their use has vanished like the art of writing epitaphs and epistles dedicatory, with many other pomposities unsuited to this less spacious age. Nor does the modern will-maker seem to regard his will, as our
forefathers did; in the light of a final message to the world, wherein in conscious security of being unanswerable he may take occasion to express his opinions upon persons and things in general with nob inconsiderable freedom. He seldom ex- presses such sentiments as we find, for instance, in the will of a worthy citizen who, something over a hundred years ago, left a legacy of £50 to her " whom through my foolish fond- ness I made my wife without regard to family, fame, or fortune; and who in return has not spared, most unjustly, to accuse me of every crime regarding human nature save high- way robbery " ; under which circumstances the legacy of £50 seems fairly handsome. Another ill-used husband was less generous, and left his wife but five shillings, " which is suf- ficient to enable her to get drunk for the last time at my expense."
But it is in the charitable bequests that the decline of picturesqueness is most conspicuous. We no longer pro- vide, with elaborate directions as to details, for doles of bread or money; nor reward the parish clergyman for his trouble in distribution (and a commemorative sermon to be thrown in) with the sum of five shillings, with a proportionate guerdon for the clerk; but such bequests were common enough once. Then, too, there were provisions for gifts of clothing, such as that of a certain Henry Greene, who perpetuated his memory by directing a gift of four green waistcoats to four poor women, such four green waistcoats to be lined with green galloon lace, in time for wearing upon every Christmas Day. One wonders what form these bequests have now taken, green waistcoats with galloon lace having ceased to be the desire of poor women of modern times ; and whether the spirit of the departed Greene is satisfied with the modification of his gift. A lump sum to a hospital is a simpler means of benefiting humanity; less likely also to need adaptation to altered manners than galloon-trimmed waistcoats ; so perhaps we must temper our regret at the departed quaintnesses of wills. A cynical person, with more faith in the law than in lawyers, has observed that the surest way of having one's wishes carried out is to die intestate ; and certainly minute directions as to details may but defeat their own object, and only force the charity into channels whereof the giver did not so much as dream. - -
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