Curiosities Of The Search Room.*

A PROVOKING LEGACY . ( 1620 . ) Jasper Mayne , a punster , AA'ho died in 1620 , and seems to have carried his sense of the ridiculous to the confines of this world , bequeathed to his valet a worn-out portmanteau , not so much for its own value as for that he would attach to its contents , there being within it something which AA ' OUM enable him to drink . The man , who it appears was somewhat given to the bottle , lost no time on his return from his master ' s burial in examining the mysterious legacy . On turning the key , hoAvever , his disgust may be imagined at finding nothing in the box but a red herring !

The following is a veiy considerate will , and the medical profession equally with ourselves will protest against its being termed eccentric : —• A MAGNANIMOUS CLAUSE . ( 1720 . ) A Polish princess , Avhile travelling in France , requiring the services of a surgeon , for an accident to her hand , called in one of high reputation and standing , who , notwithstanding

his experience ancl skill , had the misfortune to Avonnd her severely . Mortification rapidly set in , and the arm Avas of necessity amputated . The operation , unhappily , proved fatal ; two days , hoAvever , before her death , the lady , feeling convinced she should not recover , sent for a notary , and Avith singular generosity added this clause to her Avill : " Persuaded as I am of the prejudice which Avill arise against the unfortunate surgeon who has been the cause of my death , I bequeath to him an annuity of two hundred ducats , ancl I forgive him Avith all my heart for the mistake he has made . I sincerely hope that this slight compensation may contribute to indemnify him for any evil consequences that may result from this fatal catastrophe . "

The following has some slig ht interest for the " heads " as well as the feelings of the theatrical profession : — WILL OF JOHN REED . John Reed Avas gas-lighter of the Walnut Street Theatre , at Philadelphia , and filled this post for forty-seven years , with a punctuality and fidelity rarely equalled ; there is not on record a single representation at which he was not present . John Eeed was someAA'hat of a

character , and appears to have had his mute ambitions . As he never aspired , hoAvever , to appear on the stage in his lifetime , he imagined an ingenious device for assuming- a rfile in one of Shakespeare ' s plays after his decease ; it Avas not the ghost of Polouius , nor yet the handkerchief of Desdemona—no ; it was the skull in Hamlet , and to this end he AA'rote a clause in his Avill thus : " My head to be separated from my body immediately after my death ; the latter to be buried in' a grave ; the former , duly macerated and prepared , to be brought to the theatre , -where I have served all my life , and to be employed to represent the skull of Voriok—and to this end I bequeath my head to the properties . "

As the writer trul y says , the following is the will of an impartial , if eccentric testator : — AN IMPARTIAL TESTATOR . ( 1818 ) In 1814 a man named Wright , Avho died in a humble lodging in Pimlico , distributed in a singular Avay a considerable amount of property of which no one suspected him of being the owner .

On his deathbed he sent for Archdeacon Potts , then rector of his parish , ancl communicated to him his intentions . ' I have left , " he said , " to the Countess of Eosslyn , £ 4 , 000 ; to the Lady Francis Wilson , Countess of Aylesbury , all the landed estates I possess in the county of Hants ; to the Speaker of the House of Commons , £ 4 , 000 ; to the Chancellor of the Exchequer , £ 1 , 000 . " The Archdeacon opened his eyes Avider and vrider as he elicited that the legatees mentioned had no claim whatever on the testator , and no personal acquaintance Avith him ; indeed , his onlknowled

y ge of Lady Aylsbury was his having seen her at the opera , Avhen he scarcely removed his eyes from her night after night . The rector on this made up his mind the man Avas mad , and began to foresee a possible iaAvsuit de lunatico inqnirendo looming in the distance ; but the -will was not yet finished . "Moreover , " continued the dying man , "I have bequeathed the sum of £ 1 , 000 as a mark of my approval of a sermon I once heard you preach , to your Eeverenee . " The Archdeacon ' s apprehensions Avere at once removed by the last bequest , and as he no longer entertained any doubt of the man's sanity , the will was administered accordingly K-2