* *

"Mr. Griffith Gaunt then replied to me, that Mr. Charlton's will was in
London, and the exact terms of it could not be known until after the
funeral,--that is to say, upon the nineteenth instant.

* * * * *

"Thereupon I explained to Mr. Gaunt that I must see and know what
properties were devised in the will aforesaid, by the said Charlton, to
Gaunt aforesaid, and how devised and described. Without this, I said, I
could not correctly and sufficiently describe the same in the instrument
I was now requested to prepare.

* * * * *

"Mr. Gaunt did not directly reply to this objection. But he pondered a
little while, and then asked me if it were not possible for him, by
means of general terms, to convey to a sole legatee whatever lands,
goods, chattels, etc., Mr. Charlton might hereafter prove to have
devised to him, the said Griffith Gaunt.

* * * * *

"I admitted this was possible, but objected that it was dangerous. I let
him know that in matters of law general terms are a fruitful source of
dispute, and I said I was one of those who hold it a duty to avert
litigation from our clients.

* * * * *

"Thereupon Mr. Gaunt drew out of his bosom a pocket-book.

* * * * *

"The said pocket-book was shown to me by the said Gaunt, and I say it
contained a paragraph from a newspaper, which I believe to have been cut
out of the said newspaper with a knife, or a pair of scissors, or some
trenchant instrument; and the said paragraph purported to contain an
exact copy of a certain will and testament under which (as is, indeed,
matter of public notoriety) one Dame Butcher hath inherited and now
enjoys the lands, goods, and chattels of a certain merry parson late
deceased in these parts, and, _I believe_ little missed.

* * * * *

"Mr. Gaunt would have me read the will and testament aforesaid, and I
read it accordingly: and inasmuch as bad things are best remembered, the
said will and testament did, by its singularity and profaneness, fix
itself forthwith in my memory; so that I can by no means dislodge it
thence, do what I may.

"The said document, to the best of my memory and belief, runneth after
this fashion.

"'I, John Raymond, clerk, at present residing at Whitbeck, in the County
of Cumberland, being a man sound