“Item: I give and bequeath to my said daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bowl. All the rest of my goods, chattels, leases, plate, jewels, and household-stuff whatsoever, after my debts and legacies paid, and my funeral expenses discharged, I give, devise and bequeath to my son-in-law, John Hall, gent., and my daughter Susanna his wife, whom I ordain and make executors of this my last Will and testament. And I do entreat and appoint the said Thomas Russel, esq., and Francis Collins, gent., to be overseers hereof. And do revoke all former Wills, and publish this to be my last Will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand, the day and year first above written. “By me, “William Shakespere. “Witness to the publishing hereof, Fra. Collyns, Julius Shaw, John Robinson, Hamnet Sadler, Robert Whattcoat.” WILL OF M. SILHOUETTE M. Silhouette died in 1767 in Paris. His will is as dry as the political and financial details of a period of history insipid in itself could make it; but the history of the man who wrote it is singular and suggestive, and shows how greatly the success of a public functionary depends on the circumstances in which he is placed, and far less than we are apt to suppose on his genius or skill. Etienne Silhouette, Contrôleur-général and Minister of State, only held office during nine months, but at a time when the Treasury was already in an exhausted state in consequence of ruinous wars and the lavish expenditure of his predecessors. He had no choice but to replenish the coffers of the State by the imposition of new taxes, as economy alone would not have sufficed, though it might have aided to fill the alarming void. So far, however, from commending this needful, if not indispensable measure, his policy was turned into ridicule; and the people whom he did his best to serve and to save, heaped upon him every kind of obloquy. Among other insults they changed the name of a street issuing from the Place des Victoires, which had been styled after him La Rue Silhouette, into La Rue Vide Gousset, which it retains to this day; and as among other articles, he had imposed a tax upon likenesses taken in black paper, cut out, and pasted on a white card, which were then extremely popular, not only these portraits, but thence all black outlines received the name of _silhouettes_, which has adhered to them ever since. WILL OF DEAN SWIFT Dean Swift died October 19, 1745. The “Last Will of Jonathan Swift, D.D., taken out of the Prerogative Court of Dublin” in book form, neatly rebound and covering twenty-seven pages of written matter can yet be found in the bookstores of London. The instrument is dated the third day of May, 1740, and the document itself was printed a few years later. In turning its pages, a feeling of awe and reverence is experienced by the reader as he reviews the last words of the noted Irish clergyman, satirist and author of “Gulliver’s Travels.” Several important items of the Will follow: