Eujo fflrrtg fl&ltUs of t\)t XFfi. Century 



By H. E. Currey, M.A. 



HE following wills are transcribed from Probate copies 

 preserved in a bundle endorsed, " The Title Deeds 

 to the House in the Markett Place Derby w ch Mr. 

 John Bingham now lives in — 1758." 



The bequest in each case by way of " principal " or heirloom 

 seems to be made in confirmation of some local custom 

 vesting the best chattel in the heir. Or the words may have 

 been accidentally introduced from some precedent having its 

 origin where a custom of the kind prevailed. 



With regard to the house in the Market Place, it is satis- 

 factory to know from a deed of gift made in 1583 that Emmott 

 Holme lived to acquire a vested interest under her father's will. 

 Otherwise the gift over to St. Michael's Church might have 

 involved the property in the worst of the struggle between the 

 claims of mortmain and escheat. The bequests, moreover, for 

 the observance of anniversaries and the like, would only a little 

 later have been entangled in the same trouble as " superstitious " 

 gifts. 



The Overseers mentioned in both wills were functionaries 

 charged with the supervision of the executors. But their ordi- 

 nary powers of counsel and persuasion must have been very 

 inadequate to any effective control, and the office has long 

 since fallen into disuse. 



On taylett gowns and other mysteries, ultra crepidam meam, 

 I venture no comment. 

 6 



