Many years ago, two young men were engaged in the study of law in the office of Judge James Duane, one of the early celebrities of the New York bar. Their ambitious and thorough bearing gave promise of more than ordinary success, to which they both ultimately attained. One was known as John George Leake, the other as John Watts. Mr. Leake inherited a considerable estate from his father, and a long career as a legal adviser and a prudent business man, brought him at last to the possession of great wealth. He had no children; and, after making a fruitless search through England and Scotland for some remaining kindred, he experienced the unenviable sadness of knowing that he was the last of his race; that, among all the scattered millions of earth, not one existed who was bound to him by ties of consanguinity. His later years were passed in comparative retirement in his own house at No. 32 Park row, visited and known only by several acquaintances of his earlier years, among whom was Mr. John Watts. Mr. Leake desired to perpetuate his family name in New York, and after his death, which occurred June 2d, 1827, his will disclosed the fact that he had selected Robert Watts, the second son of his old friend, to inherit his estate, on condition that he and his descendants should take and forever bear the surname of Leake; but, in case of his refusal to accept it on these conditions, or of his decease during his minority without lawful issue, then the entire estate was to be devoted to an orphan house, of which he furnished the design, and appointed the seven ex-officio trustees. The last will and testament of Mr. Leake was found among his papers in his own handwriting, finely executed, with his full name at its commencement, but, unfortunately, he had neglected to add his signature at its close, and to secure the proper witnesses. He named four executors, only two of whom, however, Hermon LeRoy, and his old friend, John Watts, survived him. The surrogate of the county refused to admit the will to probate, on account of its imperfect execution, and a long and expensive litigation ensued. The authorities of New York claimed that Mr. Leake died intestate, and that his property fell to the city; but after a series of ably contested suits, in which thirty thousand dollars of his savings were squandered, the highest judicatory decreed that the instrument was a valid testamentary document so far as his personal property was concerned, but that the landed estate, valued at seventy or eighty thousand dollars, escheated to the State.