The Romance of Wills and Testaments

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vine Hall, Edgar, -1938

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"The Romance of Wills and Testaments" by Edgar Vine Hall is a collection of essays written in the early 20th century. The work explores the fascinating and varied nature of wills and testaments, delving into the personalities, histories, and societal nuances they reveal. The author emphasizes how these documents serve as profound reflections of human nature, showcasing emotions from humor to tragedy as they recount the final wishes of individuals from different walks of life. At the start of the collection, Hall introduces the concept of wills as more than mere legal documents; he describes them as revealing intimate aspects of their authors, both in terms of personality and the context of their times. He reflects on the social and historical significance of wills, recounting anecdotes about notable figures like John Milton and Bishop Corbet, whose testamentary dispositions offer insights into their lives and relationships. The opening establishes a tone that combines literary analysis with a passion for history, encouraging readers to appreciate the depth found in a seemingly mundane legal artifact. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Contents:

Preface

The romance of wills

Wills not fulfilled

Dr. Johnson's will

Death-bed dispositions

Wills by word of mouth

The polycodicillic will

Eighteenth-century piety

The dead hand

Wills of fancy and of fantasy

Strife

Love and gratitude

The servant problem

Animals and pets

The way of all flesh

Burials and funerals

Wills and ghosts.

Credits:

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)

Notes:

Reading ease score: 60.8 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.

Release date is 2018-09-16