“I will go a step further, and affirm that we have something to be grateful for even in the weaknesses of men.... We grope blindly along the catacombs of the world, we climb the dark ladder of life, we feel our way to futurity, but we can scarcely see an inch around or before us; we stumble and falter and fall, our hands and knees are bruised and sore, and we look up for light and guidance.... And, at the end, man is reaped--the product, not of good alone, but of evil; not of joy alone, but of sorrow--perhaps mellowed and ripened, perhaps stricken and withered and sour. How, then, shall we judge any one?” Can we not judge a man by his will? Does not such an instrument reflect his character, his nature, and his eccentricities? A writer on the subject of Wills says: “So surely as the berry indicates the soundness of the root, the flower of the bulb, so does man’s last will tell of the goodness or foulness of the heart which conceived it. The cankered root sends up only a sickly germ, which brings forth no fruit in due season; whilst the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, the oil which maketh him a cheerful countenance, and the bread that strengthens his heart, have burst from roots which mildew has never marred, nor worm fretted.” Testamentary dispositions of property in some form are of very ancient origin; even in the Biblical period we find the statement in Genesis to the effect that Jacob gave to Joseph a portion above his brethren. Solon is said to have introduced wills into Greece, and there is good reason to believe that wills were known in Egypt ages before they were used in Europe. Charles Dufresne Du Cange, a most learned philological writer who died at Paris in 1688, mentions wills written on bark or wood in the seventh century. There are historians who gravely and learnedly assert that Adam made a will; that Noah also left one; and that Job likewise made testamentary disposition of his all. Roman wills were sealed, after they had been securely fastened and other precautions taken against forgery: the poet Horace explains how wills were drawn and secured, and Cicero also refers to the same subject. Anglo-Saxon wills were made in triplicate, and consigned to separate custodians. Tacitus records that wills were not recognized by the ancient Germans. In France, at an early date, the clergy were intrusted with the duty of looking after wills and the disposition of property under them. In England, wills were known before the Conquest, though subsequently, for a time, their use was forbidden by law. The works of Barnabé Brisson, published in 1583 at Paris, are excellent sources for information on the subject of ancient wills. In fact, both in England and in France, authors of the highest learning and ability have done much for history and literature in the matter of collecting wills, ancient and modern.