362 On the Pleasures of Body- Snatching. [APRIL* 



suffered him to get up and walk, it is ten to one he would have been 

 hanged over again. Poor Malony was suspended himself not long after, 

 for trying a similar operation on a living subject ; but that is nothing to the 

 question. Clark was, at that time, one of the most interesting and pro- 

 mising young men I ever knew ; and it was with heartfelt satisfaction I 

 beheld him afterwards ascending, step by step, to the eminence he at 

 present enjoys. It was Clark who volunteered, out of pure philanthropy, 

 when Thistlewood and the other gentlemen were executed for lunacy, to 

 cut off their heads ; and the British public can bear testimony to the work- 

 manlike manner in which the man in the mask did his duty. We next 

 see him forming and executing the magnificent project of supplying the 

 whole body of London anatomists wholesale with subjects from the coun- 

 try ; but this scheme, although it did very well for some time, I am sorry 

 to say has, for the present, received a check, and Clark is now sojourning 

 in Ilchester Jail. It is a pity that the constitutional activity of his mind 

 should have led him into the mistake which it has done in this dreary 

 situation. Having nothing better to do, he amused himself by forming a 

 conspiracy among the prisoners, to knock their turnkeys on the head with 

 stones slung in their stockings ; but, on cool consideration, perceiving how 

 inconsistent this would be with the respectability of his profession, he 



informed against his adherents in time to prevent mischief. R , 



although the president of the club, was of an indolent, voluptuous turn, 

 which prevented him from being of much use in active service ; but his 

 easy, gentleman-like deportment was an admirable cloak for us. The 

 plan was this : M took ready-furnished lodgings near some church- 

 yard, where we all met three nights in the week to consult. On these 

 occasions, as often as necessary, a detachment was sent out on service; 



and, if successful, M 's house was the dep6t for the spoils. 



On arriving there one wet, dark, and stormy night, although it was 

 later than the hour of meeting, I found our president alone, with his legs 

 stuck up on each side of the grate to keep the fire warm, a novel in his 

 hand, and a bottle of gin on the mantel-piece. I saw it was of no use to 

 disturb him ; it would have been easier to move the ladies' man in the 

 Park: so I just took a sniff out of the bottle to warm my fingers, and, 

 with a heavy sigh at the effeminacy of the times, was moving away, 



when P entered the room. P , next to myself, was the most 



efficient member of the club. He was not one of your milk-and-water 

 fellows, who will do a thing for such-and such a reason who will stay 

 at home because it rains, and go abroad when the day is fine. He was an 

 enthusiast in his trade, which he followed, not for the lucre of gain, but 

 for its own sake. His very appearance would have indicated, even to a 

 superficial observer, that it was no common character who stood before 

 him. His nose to begin with the most prominent feature was long and 

 pointed ; his eyes, of a dark and sparkling grey one of them slightly 

 twisted in an opposite direction from the proboscis, and somewhat smaller 

 than the other; his mouth was drawn up a little at the corners, so as to 

 give an expression of humour to the lower part of the face ; and if you 

 add a set of teeth as large and white as a wolf's, and a very thin drapery 

 of grizzled hair about the temples for the rest was bald you have a 



good idea of my dear friend P 's head. The garb of his outward man, 



which was of a grey colour, shewed that he held the opinion of another 

 great character Mr. Howard, the philanthropist that a good soaking 

 shower was the best brush for broadcloth ; and his hat, which hung over 



