APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



245 



deceased produced a paper from 

 his desk, informing him it was ii 

 draft he had prepared of his will. 

 It was all in his own hand-writ- 

 ing, and he then read the contents 

 to him to the effect before stated, 

 and requested his suggestions as 

 to its propriety in point of form. 

 Mr. J. Slack observed, that it did 

 not dispose of his freehold proper- 

 ty ; but the deceased replied that 

 he was aware of that, but it would 

 descend, as he wished, in course of 

 law, to his eldest son. Mr. J. 

 Slack then suggested some shght 

 verbal alterations, which the de- 

 ceased immediately made, and 

 then again read the will aloud, 

 and asked him if he thought it 

 would do, to which he replied in 

 the affirmative ; and the deceased 

 then added, that he would make a 

 fair copy of it, and put his name 

 to it. Mrs. Slack, in her answers, 

 admitted the truth of these cir- 

 cumstances, from the information 

 that had been given to her; and 

 further stated, that one day in the 

 month of June 1815, the deceas- 

 ed being employed in wTiting at a 

 secretary or desk (in the drawing 

 room of his house at Kentish- 

 town) in which he usually kept 

 his papers of importance, and she 

 being alone there with him, he 

 took a paper, having the appear- 

 ance of a letter sealed up, out of 

 ft drawer in the desk, and holding 

 it up to her, told her it was his 

 will, and all the will he should 

 ever make. Mrs. Slack also 

 stated, that upon a subsequent 

 occasion, only two or three days 

 before the deceased's death, as 

 they were sitting together in the 

 evening, and talking seriously on 

 the subject of mutual contidence, 

 the deceased told her, that be had 



reposed the greatest confidence in 

 her, as he had left his property all 

 at her disposal ; upon which she 

 expressed a wish that he would 

 alter his testamentary disposition 

 in that respect ; but he replied, 

 " No, it is done, and I shall never 

 alter it," alluding, as she believed, 

 to his will contained in the sealed- 

 up pajier he had before shown to 

 her. The fire at the deceased's 

 house was admitted by all parties, 

 and it was proved that the desk 

 or secretary in which the will was 

 deposited was consumed with the 

 other contents of the house, no 

 traces of it being discovered 

 amongst the ruins, nor could any 

 copy of the will, or memorandum 

 of its contents made by the de- 

 ceased, be found amongst his pa- 

 pers at his house in Gravel-lane. 



The King's Advocate and Dr. 

 Swabey, for the children, argued 

 upon the authority of Lord Coke, 

 and the doctrines laid down in 

 Comyns's Digest, that under the 

 calamitous circumstances which 

 had, in the present case, deprived 

 the parties of the usual evidence 

 to be obtained from the will itself, 

 parole evidence was admissible to 

 show its contents, and that those 

 contents really were the final in- 

 tention of the deceased. These 

 points, they contended, the pre- 

 sent evidence fully estabh'shed ; 

 and they therefore submitted that 

 the contents, as proved, must be 

 pronoimced for as the last will of 

 the deceased. 



Dr. Adams and Dr. Creswell, 

 for Mrs. Slack, admitted the prin- 

 ciple of law contended for on the 

 other side, but remaiked upon 

 some few points as to which the 

 evidence might be deemed insuf- 

 ficient. With those observations 



they 



