RECOLLECTIONS OP A FREE TRADER. 



44 It's very odd these kind of men, won't let a body be." Hood 's Whims. 



IT is too often the fate of meritorious, active public servants, to be 

 neglected by those, from whom they had every reason to expect 

 encouragement ; and therefore are they constrained to throw them- 

 selves on the public for that support which should have been drawn 

 from private channels. Such, unhappily has been my lot; my 

 exertions in the cause of science have been unrewarded ; and those 

 labours, which have been undertaken for the benefit of my fellow- 

 creatures, have involved me in trouble and punishment instead of 

 having produced those effective and valuable remunerations, to which 

 they were entitled ? I am therefore compelled, in self-defence, to 

 bring certain facts before the public tribunal, and thus to address 

 myself to the more considerate and benevolent portion of mankind, 

 who will view my case, as one richly deserving sympathy, and me, 

 as an individual, unjustly sacrificed to the petty, narrow-minded 

 prejudices of an ignorant and overbearing faction. 



My father was a great naturalist and horse-dealer he was for many 

 years the first knacker in Kent-street, and from him I received the 

 rudiments of my professional education ; but I will not detain the 

 reader reciting any of the exploits of my boyhood while in my father's 

 service, but enter at once into that portion of my busier career which 

 bears upon the subject I propose confound the word, I cannot leave 

 it off for the body of me. 



My father's pursuits were odious to me, for I abhor cruelty to 

 animals I would not hurt a fly. I resolved to turn my talents to 

 some account, and to start in the resurrectioning line. Abjuring the 

 Sadducean doctrine, which denies the resurrection of the body, and 

 determined to prove the falsehood of, at least this one portion of their 

 creed, I united myself to a most extensive firm of bady-snatch- 

 ers, and soon became an active and efficient employe. 



My first professional engagements ied me to attend all the funerals 

 in a certain number of churchyards near the metropolis, where I was 

 posted till the notice of any particulars connected with the inter- 

 ments ; and the proceedings for the night were generally regulated 

 by my daily reports. But, before entering into the details of my 

 experience, I may be allowed to premise, that I disclaim, with indig- 

 nation, any connexion with the Burking party, and that one object I 

 have in view in bringing forward these my confessions, is, to prove 

 that, neither directly nor indirectly, did we adopt their style of 

 practice. 



Having been employed as scout without witnessing any incidents 

 of peculiar interest, seldom any thing worse than a slight ducking in 

 a horsepond, I was now promoted, and became the principal agent 

 with the undertakers. The scientific and better-disposed class of 

 them made but little difficulty in adopting our views, and so, being a 



