The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-09-18

And mingled into one"-
Or more tenderly in Lord Byron's
lines to Lady Byron, (what dear
ducE of husband he must have been, J
in nine stanzaS, beginning
" There is mystic thread ii lifc
So dearly wreathed with mine alone
That dcstiny's relentless knife
At once must sever both or none
There are two souls whose equal flaw
In gentle streams so calmly run,
That when they part-thcy part ah no
They cannot part, those souls are one"
That's what we call the doctrine of
"entiretiesn translated into poetry.
The moment the matrimonial bcncdic-
ton is concluded, after pronOuncing
the solemn sentence "Whom God hath
joined together, let no man put asun-
der,' two principles sprung into life,
so to speak, and follow the twain,
like shadows, until one or the other
drops into the grave; and then to the
bodied into Il rcdlHy-or if you prefer
it, "realty." The shadow of the hus-
band is the cloak of Curtcsy given by
the wife. The shadow of the wife is
the cloak Of Dover given by the lord.
The venerable Curtesy emigrated to
this land with our ancestors, and has
continued to these presents. But as
men are presumed to be able to take
care of themselves, / omit any extend |
ed notice of the old doctrine, and pro-
coed to the consideration of the family
of the "Dos'es.
You will rccollect, dear Bill, that
this ancient family originally was
Of five sisters, (more or less
There was the first, Mrs. Dos, by Gus
ON; second Dos, "ud OstiiUl ccclc-
'i0;" third, Dos "cr dSSeHSU .frUtyiS;o
ourth Dos, "dc la Plus Belle because,
suppose, she was more of Il beauty
han the balance; and fifth, last but :
not least, "Dos at the Common Law {
" what might be called Dover in
,Omcsp,m for it outwore all the bal i
lnce. '
The first may yet linger here and j,
here in spots in the mother coun- ~
~. The second, third and fourth d
ave passed away and been entombed p
1 statutes without statues. But the II
fth seems to have been cRC}OWcd with -
sort of immortality. She crossed Il
he ocean with her 'tdthcr-H1-id,0,n
nd was one of his three pets. Il
'"Threc things are favored in law
nth my Lord Coke-"lifc, liberty and if
'Oacer" The trio in which she was "
laced shows the estimation in which V,'I
he was held. She was the glory of =,
d England, and young America. d,
he great rock upon which rested the {
idow's ark, though the waves Of
8OlgcHcy might fret ut its base
Iarded by the quarantine" it was
lpregnablc-thc citadel of woman's
,hts-nothing but her own hand n.
uld level it TO the sea. hi
Would you believe it, the two great hi
adows, that, like the wings of the IN
erubim over the Ark, hovcrcd over nj
e nuptial altar for ages past, have of
en- demolished by coup dcfdt III
One brief line and half does the III
siness: Dover and Curtcsy as \,
retof0re known are abolished. en-
The very meaning of the first is 10
anged, and by sort of Procrustcan- Wi Wi
4 is cat of to suit the bed of the fin
de. he
lave you never seen in clearing i''
III, when some venerable dcnizen of he
, forest is struck by the woodman's
as chip 10y chip falls out, how at
t it wavers and then slowly topples, ny
I then with tremendous sweep how sts
brushes the other trees in its way, sp
| then tumbles with a laundering
I'd. and makes the very earth to I
ike, while leaves flutter around and a
lbs wave TO and fro, as if startled tn,
m their repose? yo
his furnishes but a faint similc of
legal earthquake here when the sht
} venerable oaks of our primeval
nmon Law forest fell Verify it an an
ok this, our little Mississippi plan as
ion, from the Tennessee line to the m,
f II has opeued 4 mighty gan. as
| when we come to cut up the laps, ~ ~
TO speak, what trouble there will WI
who can tell? ha
What hurts the old Fogy is, that all
learning, ancient and modern, on ~, ~,
venerable doctrines, will have TO 80,
folded up and laid away. As II Fr