The judge having in a most eloquent manner reviewed the case, as elucidated by the pleadings of the very learned counsel engaged on the trial, most admirably concluded his summing-up with the following remarks:
“Now let me call attention to a passage in one of Lord St. Leonards’ own works which has a bearing upon this subject, and it shows how the wisest of men may be mistaken, as I think, in the advice which they give to others. And I may say this case illustrates the false security in which Lord St. Leonards lived, and in which I dare say we all of us live. With the other members of his family, he lived in the belief that his Will was secure from the hands and eyes of either the curious or the dishonest. It was thought that the only means of access to it was by the only key which Lord St. Leonards carried about him; and that there was no means of access to the duplicate key, which would open the Will-box, and yet it turned out that there were no less than four keys in the house by which anybody might have opened the escritoire in which the duplicate key was kept, and so have obtained possession of it. Believing as I do that this Will has been lost, and not destroyed by the testator, and that the loss has arisen from its insecure custody, though that custody seemed to all concerned to be perfectly safe, it is well that it should be known and I particularly desire that it should be known to the public, that the law has provided a means of obtaining as nearly a certainty as can be obtained in human affairs that a Will will be forthcoming at the death of the testator....
“The result is that I find as a fact, that the Will of 1870 was duly executed and attested; that the several codicils also were duly executed and attested; that the Will was not revoked by the testator; and I further find that the contents of the Will were, with the exception I have mentioned, as set out in the declaration.”
Will of William Shakespere
“Vicesimo quinto die Martii, Anno Regni Domini nostri Jacobi nunc Regis Angliæ, &c., decimo quarto, et Scotiæ quadragesimo nono. Anno Domini 1616.
“In the name of God, Amen. I, William Shakespere, of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warwick, gent., in perfect health and memory, (God be praised!) do make and ordain this my last Will and testament in manner and form following; that is to say:
“First, I commend my soul into the hands of God my creator, hoping, and assuredly believing through the only merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting; and my body to the earth whereof it is made.
“Item: I give and bequeath unto my daughter Judith one hundred and fifty pounds of lawful English money, to be paid unto her in manner and form following; that is to say, one hundred pounds in discharge of her marriage portion within one year after my decease, with consideration after the rate of two shillings in the pound for so long time as the same shall be unpaid unto her after my decease; and the fifty pounds residue thereof, upon her surrendering of, or giving of such sufficient security as the overseers of this my Will shall like of, to surrender or grant, all her estate and right that shall descend or come unto her after my decease, or that she now hath, of, in, or to, one copyhold tenement, with the appurtenances, lying and being in Stratford-upon-Avon aforesaid, in the said county of Warwick, being parcel or holden of the manor of Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall, and her heirs for ever.
“Item: I give and bequeath unto my said daughter Judith one hundred and fifty pounds more, if she, or any issue of her body, be living at the end of three years next ensuing the day of the date of this my Will, during which time my executors to pay her consideration from my decease according to the rate aforesaid: and if she die within the said term without issue of her body, then my Will is, and I do give and bequeath one hundred pounds thereof to my niece Elizabeth Hall, and the fifty pounds to be set forth by my executors during the life of my sister Joan Hart, and the use and profit thereof coming, shall be paid to my said sister Joan, and after her decease the said fifty pounds shall remain amongst the children of my said sister, equally to be divided amongst them; but if my said daughter Judith be living at the end of the said three years, or any issue of her body, then my Will is, and so I devise and bequeath, the said hundred and fifty pounds to be set out by my executors and overseers for the best benefit of her and her issue, and the stock not to be paid unto her so long as she shall be married and covert baron; but my Will is, that she shall have the consideration yearly paid unto her during her life, and after her decease the said stock and consideration to be paid to her children, if she have any, and if not, to her executors or assigns, she living the said term after my decease: provided that if such husband as she shall at the end of the said three years be married unto, or at any (time) after, do sufficiently assure unto her, and the issue of her body, lands answerable to the portion by this my will given unto her, and to be adjudged so by my executors and overseers, then my Will is, that the said hundred and fifty pounds shall be paid to such husband as shall make such assurance, to his own use.
“Item: I give and bequeath unto my said sister Joan twenty pounds, and all my wearing apparel, to be paid and delivered within one year after my decease; and I do Will and devise unto her the house, with the appurtenances, in Stratford, wherein she dwelleth, for her natural life, under the yearly rent of twelve-pence.