The collecting of interesting and unusual wills is by no means an easy undertaking: the information as to their location and contents, even those of famous men, is surprisingly limited; digesting and arranging them has been a tedious but interesting task. It will be seen by the collection submitted, that all avenues of information have been sought and critically examined. If some minor errors have crept in, the indulgence of the reader is asked for a work largely on original lines, and one which covers a wide field of investigation, research, and comparison. ANCIENT, CURIOUS, AND FAMOUS WILLS CHAPTER I THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT “To put off making your Will until the hand of death is upon you evinces either cowardice or a shameful neglect of your temporal concerns.” It has been thought appropriate, within a brief space, to introduce into this work some general observations on the importance and preparation of wills. For that purpose, the following address, under the title given this chapter, recently delivered before the Missouri Bankers’ Association, has been selected. It will be seen that the subject-matter is general in character, and this monograph has been favorably received by the legal profession and the legal and financial journals of the United States. “No doubt most of my audience will regard my subject a lifeless, if not a commonplace one. Yet it is of daily and vital importance to bankers and business men generally, and it is to be regretted that there exist so many inaccurate impressions regarding wills. “The _North American Review_ in a recent editorial said, ‘The writing of a will is a serious and formal matter, and into one a man puts his deliberate and well-reflected intentions. This makes a will stupendously revealing, and to read one over is to come very close to the spirit of the man who wrote: to know his treasures, to understand his feeling toward men, and to measure his fitness for adventures among seraphic and angelic beings. The words a man desires to have read when he lies dumb, the gifts he leaves, the grace with which he gives, all these lay bare the spirit, the heart of disposition, as few other things can. For a will is that which is to live after one, and it is written knowing that no wound inflicted can be remedied, no neglect repaired. How egotism, or miserliness, or conceit, or self-satisfaction can shine out in a will! How little exalting it is in most cases to read wills, and how often they turn us back to the authoritative statement, that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.’