PREFACE
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
CHAPTER II ANCIENT WILLS
CHAPTER III WILLS IN FICTION AND POETRY
CHAPTER IV CURIOUS WILLS
CHAPTER V TESTAMENTARY AND KINDRED MISCELLANY
CHAPTER VI WILLS OF FAMOUS FOREIGNERS
CHAPTER VII WILLS OF FAMOUS AMERICANS
INDEX
ANCIENT, CURIOUS AND FAMOUS
WILLS
“A truce to jesting; let me have a confessor
to confess me, and a notary to make my will."
ANCIENT
CURIOUS AND FAMOUS
WILLS
BY
VIRGIL M. HARRIS
MEMBER OF THE SAINT LOUIS BAR, LECTURER ON WILLS IN THE
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF LAW, TRUST OFFICER
OF THE MERCANTILE TRUST COMPANY OF SAINT LOUIS,
MISSOURI, AND AUTHOR OF “THE TRUST COMPANY
OF TO-DAY,” ETC.
“The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1911
Copyright, 1911,
By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved.
Printed by C. H. Simonds &. Co.
Boston, U. S. A.
TO THE LATE
HONORABLE JACOB KLEIN
OF
SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI
WHOSE LONG AND USEFUL CAREER AT THE BAR
AND WHOSE STERLING CHARACTER, LEARNING AND WISDOM
ENTITLE HIS NAME TO A PLACE IN THE GALAXY
OF GREAT AMERICAN LAWYERS
THIS BOOK
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED
