Note 69 — Chapter XI · Wills, Quaint and Curious.

Harris, Ancient Wills, pp. 49, 62.

This bequest of Francois Villon, may have suggested to Mr. Williston Fish of Chicago, the “Insane Man’s Will,” published in Harper’s Weekly, in 1898, wherein he makes an imaginary will that has become a classic in English literature, among the bequests being “all good little words of praise and encouragement,” to good fathers and mothers, in trust for their children; to children, subject to the rights of lovers, he devises, the flowers, the banks of brooks, the blossoms of the woods, the golden sands and waters of the brooks, the white clouds floating high over the giant trees and the Milky Way, to wonder at, at night; to lovers, he devises the imaginary world, with the stars in the sky, the red roses by the wall, the sweet strains of music and all else by which they may figure to each other the lastingness and beauty of their love. To those no longer children or lovers, he bequeaths the pleasures of sweet memories, the poems of Burns and Shakespeare and other poets, and to those with snowy crowns he leaves the happiness of old age, with the love and gratitude of their children, until they fall asleep.