Produced by ellinora, Paul Marshall, MWS and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber's Notes: Underscores "_" before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ in the original text. Caret symbol "^" designates a superscript. Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. Old or antiquated spellings have been preserved. Typographical errors have been silently corrected but other variations in spelling and punctuation remain unaltered. THE ROMANCE OF WILLS AND TESTAMENTS BY THE SAME AUTHOR SONGS AND LYRICAL POEMS (1908) _In Preparation_ SPIRITUAL TESTAMENTS OR PRAYERS AND PREFACES FROM WILLS, &c. THE ROMANCE OF WILLS AND TESTAMENTS BY EDGAR VINE HALL T. FISHER UNWIN LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE LEIPSIC: INSELSTRASSE 20 1912 (_All rights reserved._) “My Life’s my dying day, wherein I still Am making, alter and correct my Will.” FRANCIS QUARLES. “Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land.” CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. “Of Carthage wall I was a stone O’h Mortals Read with Pity Time consumes all it spareth none Man, Mountain, Town nor City. Therefore O’h Mortals now bethink You where unto you must, Since now such Stately Buildings Lie Buried in the dust. THOMAS HUGHES, 1663.” _The Carthage Stone, S. Dunstan’s Church, Stepney._ PREFACE By way of preface it is necessary to explain the sources from which the material for the following pages is taken. The chief feature of these essays consists, I think, in the large amount of original matter rescued from the multitudinous MS. volumes of wills, &c., which are preserved at Somerset House and elsewhere.