APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 331 



Avhich testator had so frequently 

 ■expressed his intention of making 

 — that is, in her favour; but 

 neither then, nor throughout the 

 long antecedent period, which 

 had elapsed since the making of 

 the first will in 1804 did Mrs. 

 Sutcliffe appear overforward or 

 importunate as to new ones 

 being made ; she always declared 

 her conviction that her husband 

 would properly provide for her. 

 On Chapman's objecting that he 

 could not take instructions 

 through that channel, she ad- 

 dressed her husband in this 



manner: " Are you willing to 

 make your will ?" to which de- 

 -ceased replied, after a pause, 

 " Yes ;" " Have you made your 

 peace with God ?" to which he 

 also replied " Yes." " Are you 

 willing that the will shall be made 

 as I like it?" to which, after a con- 

 siderable pause, he also assented. 

 These instructions were taken, 

 re-written, and read over to the 

 deceased ; approved of, but not 

 signed by him, being taken away 

 by Chapman to be more fairly 

 transcribed ; and a few hours 

 after, on the 5th of November, 

 before his return, testator died. 

 The principal dispositions of the 

 will were these : — The whole of 

 his personal andfreehold property 

 to his wife, for her life ; and, 

 after her death, 1,000/., with an 

 additional interlineation of 500/., 

 to the children of her brother 

 Thomas; and 1,000/., with a 

 similar interlineal addition of 

 .500/., to the children of his sister, 

 Mrs. Musto. The learned Coun- 

 sel for the widow adverted to the 

 open and ingenuous manner in 

 which the whole proceedings had 

 taken place — the respectability 



of the witnesses — the declared 

 intentions, prior to the instruc- 

 tions of the deceased — his solemn 

 and deliberate assent to the will 

 — the fact of its having been read 

 over to him — his undoubted com- 

 petency and sound mind at the 

 time — and to the long habits of 

 reciprocal affection which had 

 succeeded the transient irritation 

 under which the first will was made; 

 and prayed that, in consideration 

 of these circumstances, probate 

 might be decreed to the testa- 

 mentary paper, dated 5th of 

 November, 1817; whose execu- 

 tion was prevented by the inter- 

 vention of death. The Counsel 

 on the other side contended, that 

 that paper contained rather the 

 dictations of another party than 

 the testamentary intentions of 

 the deceased ; that he was in fact 

 " in articulo mortis" at the time, 

 and that this being an unexe- 

 cuted, and the former will a 

 formal and valid paper, this sub- 

 sequent one should be pronounced 

 against. 



Sir John Nicholl, after recapi" 

 tulating the principal features of 

 the evidence, observed, that 

 though it behoved the Court to 

 look with extreme caution on 

 such cases as these, and to guard 

 dying persons from having their 

 mere acquiescence taken for an 

 act of volition and final will ; yet 

 here the former intentions of the 

 testator, the fact that the first 

 will was made under an impres- 

 sion of jealousy, which he after- 

 wards acknowledged to be ground- 

 less ; the harmony which had so 

 long subsisted between him and 

 his wife down to his death ; his 

 declared and repeated wishes to 

 make such a provision as that 



contained 



