

1827.] On the Pleasures of Body- Snatching. 357 



ran through ray frame at that moment, was caused neither by bodily nor 

 superstitious fear. A minute of suspense ensued ; all was silent, and the 

 night, as it seemed, darker than ever. But my own heart was not silent; 

 my soul was tossed about, as it were, in a sea of thoughts dark, incom- 

 prehensible, overwhelming *, till at length the harsh but deadened sound 

 of a spade, as it was struck into the earth, threw a ray of light upon the 

 confusion terrible, but beautiful as the flash that gilds the tempest ! I 

 stretched my head beyond the monument, but could see nothing; I moved 

 forward to the next and the next. I was now in such a state of excita- 

 tion, that I scarcely cared for concealment, but hurried forward, though 

 with suppressed breathing, and step as silken as the cat's, boldly and 

 swiftly, till I had gained almost the verge of the new-made, and now 

 unmaking grave; where, leaning on a tomb-stone, which was at once my 

 screen and support, I beheld the first, but not the last, scene of resurrection 

 it has been my lot to witness. Three dark figures, whose very outline I 

 was unable to discern, were busily engaged before me two in shovelling 

 the earth out of the grave and one, apparently, in directing the others, 

 and keeping a look-out. In as short a space, I thought, as even profes- 

 sional grave-diggers could have accomplished it, their spades struck against 

 a hard and hollow-sounding substance, which I conjectured rightly to be 

 the coffin ; and then the master of the work threw a sudden glare of light 

 from a dark lantern, till then hid in his great coat, into the pit ; and I dis- 

 covered, to my no small surprise, the veritable faces of the sexton and his 



assistant of . The earth was now nearly all thrown out ; and one 



of the party attaching a rope to the handle at one end of the coffin, they 

 began to draw the newly-entered tenant from the abode so fondly termed, 

 by surviving friends, the long and last home of mortality. I cannot help 

 smiling at the figure I cut at this moment. The struggle between the 

 prejudices of education, the attempted perversion of my genius, and the 

 natural bent of my soul, was absolutely ludicrous. Every damp and 

 heavy shovelfull of earth that was thrown out of the grave seemed to fall 

 as damp and heavy on my heart; while, at the same time, it was with 

 the most intense longing and impatience that I waited for the end of the 

 xvork. The coffin at length was fairly again on the surface of the earth ; 

 and the adventurers began to break open, with something that sounded like 

 a chisel, this strong box of science. I cannot say that I saw clearly what 

 it was that they drew out after forcing the lid ;* for the labour had taken 

 more effect on me than on the actual workmen, and the perspiration ran 

 down my forehead and blinded my eyes : but it was something long, and 

 white, and stiff, and heavy, and indefinite. " Quiescat in pace !" said 

 the chief of the party, as he kicked the broken coffin back into the grave. 

 The voice startled me, and I bent my eyes with a painful earnestness on 

 the tall and shadowy figure of the speaker, whom a sudden flash of the 



lamp now enabled me to identify: it was Mr. L , my worthy and 



learned master! The two grave-diggers now set themselves to fill up the 

 pit again, which they accomplished, like clever workmen as they were, in 

 a very short time; and having carefully stowed whatever they had taken 

 out of the coffin into a large sack, the party made for the wall followed 

 closely, almost to touching, by me. The contents of the sack was the 

 body of a large, heavy, corpulent man thin people do not kill themselves 

 falling down their stairs and they had, therefore, some difficulty in getting 

 it over the wall. One man went over first, to be ready to receive it and 

 the otheif stood on the top -while my master was left on the inner side, 



