In these days cremation is recognized as a good and lawful way of disposing of our remains; but so late as 1855 it was not so, for we find Mr. William Kinsett, of London, in his will proved in October of that year, stating that, “believing in the impolicy of interring the dead amidst the living, and as an example to others, I give my body, four days after death, to the directors of the Imperial Gas Company, London, to be placed in one of their retorts and consumed to ashes, and that they be paid ten pounds by my executors for the trouble this act will impose upon them for so doing. Should a defence of fanaticism and superstition prevent their granting this my request, then my executors must submit to have my remains buried, in the plainest manner possible, in my family grave in St. John’s Wood Cemetery, _to assist in poisoning the living in that neighbourhood_.” Some time after this the matter was frequently discussed in the papers, and public opinion grew slowly in favor of the practice. But it seemed to have been generally doubted whether such a method was in accordance with law and the words in the Church Service, “Earth to earth,” as in 1867 we find a testator directing his nephews to cause his body to be burned “if that can be legally done.” This testamentary wish to be cremated is not confined to recent times, and there seems in the 18th century to have been no difficulty in executors carrying out the directions in this respect in the wills under which they acted. In Dodsley’s “Annual Register” for 1769, under date of Sept. 26, there appears the following statement: “Last night the will of Mrs. Pratt, a widow lady, who lately died at her house in George Street, Hanover Square, was punctually fulfilled by the burning of her body to ashes in her grave in the new burying-ground adjoining to Tyburn turnpike.” COFFIN COVERED WITH CALICO Judge E. Y. Terral, of Cameron, Texas, died in August, 1910. His estate was valued at eight thousand dollars. By his will, he directed that no funeral services be had over his body, that no printed notices of his death be issued, that he be buried in a coffin made from rough pine plank covered with black calico and carried in a wagon or hack to the cemetery, and that no marble slab be erected at his grave. CARDS AND WINE AT HIS FUNERAL A Frenchman, who was an enthusiastic card player, left to certain of his card-playing friends a legacy of considerable size on condition that, after placing a deck of cards inside his coffin with his body, they should carry him to the grave and should stop on the way to drink a glass of wine at a small saloon, where he had passed “so many agreeable evenings at piquet.” WILL OF THE SIEUR BOBY An attempt to invalidate this will was made by the heirs of the testator seven years after his death, but the court pronounced in its favor. It is dated 1845.