Lex! " In short, the lord of the manor, who was a tenant in capite, had ransacked the reports to find the most barbarous maxims for his signs. The manor house itself presented rather an agreeable appearance. A number of ancient lights opened in the gable. The power of alienation was suspended from the peak of the roof, while over the door hung a formid able attachment ready to clap down on any enemy of the realm who escaped the sum monses and subpoenas at the gate of the close. A series of exquisite torts embel lished the lintel. Tracings of intricate special pleading were frescoed on the walls. On either side of the portico stood a granite rebutter surmounted by a vase of feathery testimony. You could not wish to see a more beautiful hereditament. From the chimneys,, smoke — prescriptively entitled to be there — curled and curvetted through the air with the graceful indirectness of per jury. The genial host had affixed a jurybox at the side of the stoop for the con venience of the people; and a bunch of pepper-corns, to be used upon entry, hung within easy reach. When I knocked, the door was opened by a tenant by the courtesy, who instantly did fealty according to the most approved etiquette. In reply, I paid my best homage, and politely made an ofLr of contract, which was as courteously accepted. I then wiped my feet on the twilled breach in limine which lay at the threshold, and was conducted into the presence of a very cross-examiner who sat on a bench behind a bar dictating briefs. Six masters in chancery were engaged close by in penning beasts ferae naturae into a dock. Little yellow equities of redemption in golden cages trilled out the most charm ing melodies above my head. A profit-aprendre sat at the feet of the cross-examiner foretelling recent decisions. The remainder of the company consisted in the main of common counts, though a goodly sprinkling of femes-covert circulated among them fan
ning themselves with inchoate rights of dower. A group of noisy infants were seeking to partition a long term of years which they held jointly and per stirpes. At the further end of the hall a trustee on a ladder was tacking mortgages. There were some unpleasant features. For instance, on one of the window-sills I saw a warranty deed, thirty years old, scratching an eruption of covenants which had broken out all over him. A mournful last will and testament was wandering about in search of a deceased subscribing witness, and two feoffment deeds were consoling each other in a corner because both had lost their seals. Unable to endure so motley a crowd, I adopted an insurance policy and put in a plea in abatement. That gave me a right to enter the dining hall. Imagine a great table — a board of directors — upon which were spread the most savory viands. A huge jointure smoked at one end. At the other some coparceners were serving a splendid hotch-potch. Here and there convivial an cestors were carving up particular estates and remainders. There were heaps of firstfruits and emblements, and in the center of the table steamed a noble pot of riparian rights! I enfeoffed myself in a comfortable arm chair, determined to partake of this sump tuous feast even at the cost of a seisin of indigestion. But hardly was I seated before a great hue and cry arose, because a spring ing use had leaped upon the table and was damage feasant among the dishes. "Execute it! " yelled somebody. "You can't," shouted a second voice; " it's only an executory devise after all!" "Where's its particular estate?" shrieked a third. In the midst of this hubbub I arose to es cape, only to run into the arms of a hideous, decrepit fee-taiUafter-possibility-of-issue-extinct! "You horrible thing!" I cried. "You ought to be barred by the rule against
