In a recent will two curious bequests were made, one of a cask of whiskey, the other of a copper wash bowl from Newgate Prison, to be used as a rose bowl. From time to time there have been curious bequests in wills. A Cornwall tax collector left directions that, on the anniversary of his death, there should be a dance round his grave; this was duly performed by ten girls, two widows, and a fiddler. A man once left £10 per annum for his monkey, and £3 each for his dog and his cat. In 1925 there was a will of over a hundred thousand words; it was contained in four bound volumes.
Will suits are notorious, and a French advocate once made an ironic bequest of 100,000 francs to a lunatic asylum, adding: "I got this out of those who pass their lives in litigation; in leaving it to the use of lunatics, I am only making restitution."
The Irish Times, May 5th, 1930.