Perroiv—The Last Will and Testament in Literature. 749 
very pretty testament under the title, The Dying Boy (,4857). 1 
Mr. G. W. Robinson, registrar of the Graduate School of Har¬ 
vard University, informs me that when he was in school in ISTew 
Hampton Institute, about 1890, it had then for- a long time 
been customary for the literary societies there to have presented 
at its meetings a comic newspaper, and that usually as often as 
three times a year one article would be a Last Will and Testa¬ 
ment of some one of the students introducing jokes at th© stu¬ 
dent’s expense. Mr. Robinson was kind enough to secure for 
me a copy of one of these testaments, The Last Will and Testa¬ 
ment of Waterman Spalding Chapman Alphabet Andsoforth 
Scot Russell, Esquire , Junior (1890). 2 I also understand 
from Mr. J. K. Ronnell, a former student at Leland Stanford, 
Jr. University, that a humorous will is presented there every 
year as a part of the class day exercises 1 . The burial testament, 
both serious and satirical in character, I have found present in 
several songs of popular origin that are yet in the .mouths of 
the mountaineers of East Tennessee. 3 
From time to time there still appear in the newspapers and 
magazines testaments that are ascribed to some interesting 
character. One of the prettiest testaments ever written was 
printed in a number of newspapers in the spring of 1907. 
Whatever may be the facts with regard to its authenticity, it 
serves to illustrate the fact that this form as .literature is not 
dead even yet. In conclusion I am glad of the opportunity to 
quote in entirety the Testament of Charles Ijounsbury as re¬ 
ported in The Boston Transcript of June 5, 1907. 4 
Remarkable Document. 
Charles Lounsbury, Poor and Insane, Leaves a Beautiful Will. 
“I Charles Lounsbury, being of sound mind and disposing memory, do 
hereby make and publish this, my last will and testament, in order as 
justly as may be to distribute my interest in the world among succeeding 
men. 
“That part of my interest which is known in law and recognized in the 
1 McGuffey’s Fifth Reader, Cincinnati, 1857. 
2 The Hautilus, 1890. 
3 See a MSS. collection in Harvard College Library. 
4 This testament was said to have been written by an insane man 
who died in the Cook County Asylum at Dunning, Illinois. 
