LONG-WINDED WILLS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 3 January 1931, Page 4

LONG-WINDED WILLS

There is in Somerset House, London, a which occupies 1,066 pages. It is mainly contained in four large books heavily bound in blue leather, with additional outer covers, and with the edges heavily gilt! It is estimated that the number of words in tlie extraordinary document runs to 95,940 —30,000 words more than the average length of a modem novel.

The eighth Duke of Devonshire left a very bulky will of 197 folios, and Lord Burton left a will and codicil 0f.,116 probate folios, swollen, to nearly 400 folios by attached • inventories : and other additions to the original will. . ; The use of unnecessary words in willmaking is very common. There are wills in rhyme, anil they must, almost of necessity, be lengthy and wordy. For instance, the will of the Rev. Joseph Stratton, M.A., of Workingham (Berks.), opens as follows: —

’Tis said in holy psalm that men decay When decades seven of years have passed

away, , And age that runs beyond tins wonted

span Brings little of delight to lingering man. As years full sixty-four, alas ! have gone Since , I this earthly scene first looked upon, t The time, I trow, wil soon arove when 1 To this surprising world shall say Good-

bye! , So, while my mind remains quite sound and clear, My will shall be distinctly stated here.