"A personal action dies with the person."—This maxim is clear enough; and means that an action brought against a man, when he dies in the middle of it, can not be continued. Thus, though the law sometimes, and very often, pursues a man to the grave, his rest there is not likely to be disturbed by the lawyers. If a soldier dies in action, the action does not necessarily cease, but is often continued with considerable vigor afterward.
"Things of a higher nature determine things of a lower nature."—Thus a written agreement determines one in words; although if the words are of a very high nature, they put an end to all kinds of agreement between the parties.
"The greater contains the less."—Thus, if a man tenders more money than he ought to pay, he tenders what he owes: for the greater contains the less; but a quart wine-bottle, which is greater than a pint and a half, does not always contain a pint and a half; so that, in this instance, the less is not contained in the greater.
"Deceit and fraud shall be remedied on all occasions."—It may be very true, that deceit and fraud ought to be remedied, but whether they are, is quite another question. It is much to be feared, that in law, as well as in other matters, ought sometimes stands for nothing.
"The law compels no one to impossibilities."—This is extremely considerate on the part of the law; but if it does not compel a man to impossibilities, it sometimes drives him to attempt them. The law, however, occasionally acts upon the principle of two negatives making an affirmative; thus treating two impossibilities as if they amounted to a possibility. As, when a man can not pay a debt, law-expenses are added, which he can not pay either; but the latter being added to the former, it is presumed, perhaps, that the two negatives, or impossibilities may constitute one affirmative or possibility, and the debtor is accordingly thrown into prison, if he fails to accomplish it.
Some country readers of the "Drawer," unacquainted with the dance called the "Mazurka," may like to know how to accomplish that elaborate and fashionable species of saltation. Here follows a practical explanation of the figures:
Get a pair of dress-boats, high heels are the best,
And a partner; then stand with six more in a ring;
Skip thrice to the right, take two stamps and a rest,
Hop thrice to the left, give a kick and a fling;
Be careful in stamping some neighbor don't rue it,
Though people with corns had better not do it.
Your partner you next circumnavigate; that
Is, dance all the way round her, unless she's too fat;
Make a very long stride, then two hops for poussette;
Lastly, back to your place, if you can, you must get.
A general mêlée here always ensues,
Begun by the loss of a few ladies' shoes;
A faint and a scream—"Oh, dear, I shall fall!"
"How stupid you are!"—"We are all wrong!" and that's all.
Truly to appreciate such a dancing scene as this, one should see it through a closed window, at a fashionable watering-place, without being able to hear a note of the music, the "moving cause" of all the frisking.