Sir John Soane's Whim

The Practical Joke a Celebrated Man Played on Posterity.

One of the most famous of postmortem jokes was that perpetrated by the donor of the celebrated Soane museum of pictures and other valuable objets d'art to England, the late Sir John Soane, who died in 1837. In his will Sir John made provision for the opening of three sealed cupboards on certain specified dates in the presence of the trustees. In 1866, that is to say almost thirty years after the death of the testator, the first of the mysterious receptacles was with much ceremony and breaking of seals opened in the presence of a committee of men, with the then president of the Royal academy, Sir F. Grant, at their head. Instead of a priceless treasure or some evidence that would throw an entirely new light upon some doubtful incident in political history the contents of the cupboard proved to be worthless accounts, letters and stationery.

Twenty years passed by, and the interest that had smoldered after the disappointment of 1866 was again fanned into flame at the prospect of breaking the seals of the second cupboard, at which rite there were present among others Dr. Alfred Waterhouse, R. A., and Sir (then Dr.) B. W. Richardson. Like the cupboard mentioned in the well known nursery rhyme, Sir John's second cabinet proved "bare" of any sensation, the contents being chiefly composed of letters relating to certain long forgotten family quarrels that had not even the merit of being interesting. If some of those authorized to be present at the opening of the third and last receptacle of mystery were dubious about the profit that would accrue by letting the light of day fall upon the contents thereof after sixty years' darkness one at least, Sir B. W. Richardson, looked forward with unabated interest to that day in 1896 when the last seal would be broken and the mystery solved, but he, alas, died just two days before the ceremony was performed, and the fact that Sir John had played a practical joke upon posterity was duly confirmed by the presence of a collection of perfectly worthless letters and papers.