The defendant insisted that the contract was merely personal, and that it could not descend to the representatives of her lover, after his death.

The plaintiffs contended that if any thing had been due from their ancestor to the defendant, they would have been answerable to her.

To this the defendant replied, that there was a great distinction between debts or goods and chattels, and the personal property of Love; and she insisted that if judgement were given for the plaintiffs, she should be burthened with making two courtesies instead of one.

Judgement was given for the defendant*.

An action was brought by a young married lady against her husband, for not allowing her to wear a gown and a bonnet made in the newest fashion. The pleadings ran to a considerable length, and the Court declared that the matter should be referred to two milliners, who should report thereon, and if any thing objectionable were found in the fashion of the gown and bonnet, the Court directed that the referees should call in the assistance of two ladies, on the part of the plaintiff, and two on the part of the defendant, to assist them in their judgementt.

An action was brought by the plaintiff against the defendant, for having pricked him with a pin whilst she was giving him a kiss. The defendant denied ever having given the plaintiff a kiss, but, on the contrary, said that the plaintiff had taken it; and she said that the wound, if any, had happened only by mischance and accident.

* This decision is exactly conformable to our law, the rule of which is, that actio personalis moritur cum persona. Thus, if A. commits an assault and battery on B., and B. dies, his representatives will have no right of action against A. Or, to put a stronger case, if A. by negligence drives his gig against the wife of B., whereby both her arms are broken, B. may maintain an action against A. for that damage; but if A. runs over the wife of B. and kills her on the spot, B. has then no remedy against A.

It is not without cause that our law is said to be the perfection of human reason.

The Benchers of our inns of court formerly exercised a jurisdiction similar to that of the Court of Love, in the principal case. Thus, we find they made an order, prohibiting the students at law in the Temple from employing too great an extravagance and splendour in their dress, and commanding them to array themselves in garments of a sad colour. The reader will immediately perceive the resemblance between the case cited, and the petticoat case reported by the Tatler, we believe No. 416.

Certificates from several surgeons were produced of the nature and extent of the wound, and the Court sentenced the defendant to kiss the wound at all reasonable times, until it was healed, and to find linen for plaisters.

We shall conclude our extracts with two cases; the one, from André the Chaplain, the other from a Tenson, or poetical report given by Mr. Raynouard.

A lady imposed on her lover an express condition never to praise her in public. The knight in a large company heard some observations made in disparagement of his lady. Unable to contain himself, he repelled the accusations, and launched forth in her praise. The lady contended that he had broken the condition, and therefore forfeited all claims to her favour. The Countess of Champagne, however, before whom the cause was tried, decreed that the condition was illegal*, and that the knight was justified in defending the character of his lady.

Nor will the English law lend its aid to enforce a condition, which is either impossible or illegal. An instance of the first is given in Co. Litt. 206: "If a man be bound in an obligation, &c. with condition that if the obligor do go from the church of St. Peter, in Westminster, to the church of St. Peter in Rome, within three hours, that then the obligation shall be voyde-the condition is voyde and impossible, and the obligation standeth good." With regard to conditions, &c. which are illegal, the law will never suffer them to be carried into effect by any contrivance. The following case is a strong proof of this doctrine. It was a bill in the Exchequer, brought by an highwayman of the name of Everett, against his companion Williams, to compel him to account for a moiety of the partnership effects. It did not state the unlawful employment in direct terms, but notwithstanding that, the court would not entertain the application. The bill stated that the plaintiff was skilled in dealing in several commodities, such as plate, rings, watches, &c.-that the defendant applied to him to become a partner; that they entered into partnership, and it was agreed that they should equally provide all sorts of necessaries, such as horses, saddles, bridles, and equally bear all expenses on the roads, and at inns, taverns, or ale-houses, or at markets or fairs. "And your orator and the said Joseph Williams, proceeded jointly with good success in the said business, on Hounslow Heath, where they dealt with a gentleman for a gold watch, and afterwards the said Joseph Williams told your orator, that Finchley, in the county of Middlesex, was a good and convenient place to deal in, and that commodities were very plenty at Finchley aforesaid, and it would be almost all clear gain to them; that they went accordingly and dealt with several gentlemen for divers watches, rings, swords, canes, hats, cloaks, horses, bridles, saddles, and other things; that about a month afterwards the said Joseph Williams informed your orator, that there was a gentle

We have already said that it is probable the Courts of Love had their origin in the Tensons, or poetical disputes of rival Troubadours. These were frequently referred to the judgement of some of their most celebrated companions, or of some neighbouring beauty, to whose decision the candidates for fame were gallantly willing to submit. In process of time, these references became more frequent, till they were at length matured into that perfect system of Erotic jurisprudence which is so well calculated to attract the admiration and respect of all who value the grace and polish of highly cultivated society. Of these Tensons, we have several specimens remaining, in the works of those Troubadours who have survived to the present day. Amongst these compositions there is, perhaps, no one which excels in lively beauty the Tenson of Savari de Mauleon. We do not, however, in this place, quote the composition for its poetical excellencies, but merely as a sort of judicial document, illustrating the subject of which we are treating*.

Savari de Mauleon and two other lords were attached to a

man at Blackheath who had a good horse, saddle, bridle, watch, sword, cane, and other things, to dispose of, which he believed might be had for little or no money; that they accordingly went, and met with the said gentleman, and after some small discourse, they dealt for the said horse, &c. That your orator, and the said Joseph Williams, continued their joint dealings together in several places; viz. at Bagshot, in Surrey; Salisbury, in Wiltshire; Hampstead, in Middlesex; and elsewhere, to the amount of £2000 and upwards." The rest of the bill was in the ordinary form for a partnership account. The parties concerned did not however gain much by this proceeding. The bill was referred for scandal and impertinence. The solicitors were attached and fined, and the counsel who signed the bill was directed to pay the costs. The plaintiff was afterwards executed, and one of the solicitors convicted of a robbery and transported. This case is referred to by Lord Kenyon, in Ridley and Morse. Append. Cliff. Rep. of Southw. Elec. See European Magazine, vol. ii. p. 360, 1787; and Roy's Maxims, 9th edit. 205.

There is another instance mentioned by the very learned annotator of Saunders's Reports, in which the courts refused to countenance a defence, which strongly resembled the above case in its illegal nature. It was a prescription for a right of robbery on Gads-hill.

*The original provençal is given by Raynouard II. 199, accompanied by a literal French translation. A paraphrase of it in prose may be found in Millot's Histoire Litteraire des Troubadours II. 107, of which Mrs. Dobson has given an English translation in her History of the Troubadours, 122. Strictly speaking, this poem is a Torneyamen, a Tenson admitting only two interlocutors.

lady who was called Guillemette de Baraques. During an interview when all the three were present, each received a mark of her regard; on one she bestowed a kind glance, she pressed the hand of another, and touched the foot of the third, at the same time looking benignantly on him.

To settle the precedency of these favours, Savari requested his friends Gaucelin de Faidit and Huges de Bacalaria to pronounce their judgement upon the question, and at the same time he delivered his own opinion. From the report in Raynouard it seems, however, that the ultimate decision was referred to the Lady Guillemette herself.

Martial de Paris is not the only author who has availed himself of these ancient and interesting institutions, tɔ afford at once amusement and instruction to his readers. Many years before his work was written, Chaucer had composed his Court of Love, which is an imitation of The Romaunt of the Rose, and is merely an allegorical poem, displaying the empire of love, the machinery of which the poet has borrowed from the real Courts of Love. Mars and Venus are the presiding deities. The Statutes of Love contained in this poem are simply imaginary, and scarcely bear the slightest resemblance to the genuine ordinances as given by André the Chaplain. Fontaine also has, in more than one of his poems, taken his idea from the proceedings of these tribunals. Such is his Different de Beaux Yeur et de Belle Bouche, who argue their respective pretensions with great ingenuity and cleverness. Amongst our own authors, the Court of Judicature in which the famous Isaac Bickerstaff presided evidently owes its origin to the Cours d'Amour, of which the resemblance we have noticed above seems a pretty strong proof.

We very much regret that our limits do not permit us to give a few specimens of the fine old French in which the Arrets d'Amours are written.

The Discoverie of Witchcraft, wherein the lewde dealings of Witches and Witchmongers is notablie detected; the knaverie of Conjurors, the impietie of Inchanters, the follie of Soothsayers, the impudent falshood of Couseners, the infidelitie of Atheists, the pestilent practices of Pythinists, the curiositie of Figurecasters, the vanitie of Dreamers, the beggarlie art of Alcumystrie, &c. are deciphered: by Reginald Scott, Esq. 1584.

A discovery of the fraudulent practices of John Darrel, Bachelor of Artes, in his proceedings concerning the pretended possession

and dispossession of William Somers, at Nottingham, &c.; by Dr. Harsnett.

1599.

Demonologie; in form of a Dialogue, divided into Three Books; written by the High and Mighty Prince James, by the Grace of God, King of England, &c. Works. 1616.

Select Cases of Conscience, touching Witches and Witchcraft; by John Gaule, Preacher of the Word at Great Staughten, in the county of Huntington. 1616.

The Discovery of Witches, in Answer to severall Queries lately delivered to the Judges of Assize for the county of Norfolk; and now published by Matthew Hopkins, witch-finder, for the benefit of the whole kingdom. 1647.

An Advertisement to the Jurymen of England, touching Witches; together with a difference between an English and Hebrew Witch; by Sir R. Filmer. 1653.

A Candle in the Dark: shewing the Divine Cause of the Distractions of the whole nation of England and of the Christian World; by Thomas Ady, M.A. 1655.

The Question of Witchcraft debated; 2d. ed. By John Wagstaffe. 1671.

The Doctrine of Devils proved to be the grand Apostacy of these later Times.

1676.

The Displaying of supposed Witchcraft, &c; by John Webster, Practitioner in Physick. 1677.

Melampronvea; or, a Discourse of the Polity and Kingdom of Darkness; together with a Solution of the chiefest Objections brought against the being of Witches; by Henry Hallywell, M.A. 1681.

A Tryal of Witches at the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmond's, for the County of Suffolk, on the 10th of March, 1664, before Sir M. Hale, Knt. 1682.

The Certainty of the World of Spirits, &c., fully evinced, by the unquestionable Histories of Apparitions, Operations, Witchcrafts, Voices, &c.; by Richard Baxter. 1691.

An Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft; by Francis Hutchinson, D.D. 1720.

Sadducismus Triumphatus; or, a full and plain Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions; by Joseph Glanvil, Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles II. and F.R.S. 1726.

The titles placed at the head of this article may seem to the curious reader a promise of much amusement from the books themselves; but if our own experience may be relied