The title of this essay has been taken from a passage in R. C. Trevelyan’s operatic fable “Sisyphus.” The king Sisyphus is dying, but there is still a fear that he may revive sufficiently to tamper with his testamentary writings. Even now his last will may be annulled. _Chorus._ “Hush! Beware! Beware! But now his thin lips stirred. Have a care! He liveth still. Speak no rash word, Lest ye be overheard, And your expectations crossed, When he alters a tenth time to your cost, With a last bitter codicil, His nine-times-altered will. _Sisyphus._ ‘My wife, my sons, draw near my bed, for I Once more would speak with you before I die, Where is my lawyer? Let him fetch my will. I wish to add another codicil.’ _Chorus._ Another codicil! Another still To his polycodicillic will! Ah! what may this portend? ’Tis the tenth he hath penned. Soon may death seal an end.” To discover the real wishes and intentions of a testator is often a difficult matter, when, in addition to an already voluminous will, codicil after codicil is added, clause after clause revoked. At a first reading wrong impressions may easily be taken and bitter disappointment caused. Only those who have handled such documents can realise the confusion which may arise by the indiscreet addition of codicils. It often happens, too, that while the will is legally and carefully drawn and attested, the codicils are carelessly and inadequately framed. Among the Romans there was an informal will called _codicillus_, but the English codicil requires as strict formality as the will. It is wiser to start afresh. Anne Judith Bristow, in 1784, at the age of 76, saw the necessity of adjusting her will to events. It is translated from the French. “This is the sixth will which I have made since the year 1776, some changes having happened which made me strike out and obliterate, without, however, writing it wholly again: this I hope will be the last, for I have completed the age of 76 years. I every day expect death. I dread dotage still more. Therefore, without losing time, here is that which I wish to be carried into execution at my decease.” She lived four more years, and the changes and chances of her mortal life were such that she had, after all, to make two codicils, in the first of which, dated 19th of July, 1788, we learn that a daughter mentioned in the will was now dead. The second codicil was dated September 7, 1788. Soon after that she must have died, for on January 26, 1789, the will and codicils were proved.