of metropolitan adventurers; while Dashall amused
himself with the breakfast-table concomitant, the newspaper. A few
minutes only elapsed, when he laid it aside, approached the window,
and seeing a funeral pass, in procession, along the street, he turned
towards his Cousin, and interrupted his reverie with the following
extemporaneous address:--

"Dost thou observe," he said, "yon sable tribe
Of death anticipates?--These are they
Who, when men die, rejoice! all others else
Of human kind, shed o'er departed friends
The tear of reminiscence; these prowlers
Hunt after Death, and fatten on his prey!
Mark now their measur'd steps, solemn and slow,
And visage of each doleful form, that wears
The semblance of distress; they mourn for hire,
And tend the funeral rites with hearts of stone!
Their souls of apathy would never feel
A moment's pang were Death at one fell sweep,
Even all their relatives to hurl from earth!--
Knaves there exist among them who defraud
The grave for sordid lucre; who will take
The contract price for hurrying to the tomb
The culprit corse the victim of the law,
But lay it where? Think'st thou in sacred ground!
No! in the human butcher's charnel-house!
Who pleas'd, reserves the felon for the knife,
And bribes the greater villain with a fee!"

Cousin Bob was very much surprised by this sudden effusion, and
inquiring the source of inspiration, Dashall put into his hands the
newspaper, pointing to the following extraordinary communication,
extracted verbatim.{1}

1 The King v. Cundick.--This was an indictment against the
defendant, undertaker to the Horsemonger-lane gaol, for a
mis-demeanour, in corruptly selling for dissection the body
of a capital convict, after he had been executed, contrary
to his duty, in viola-tion of public decency, and the
scandal of religion. There were various counts in the
indictment, charging the offence in different ways. The
defendant pleaded Not Guilty.

The case excited considerable interest, as well for its
unprecedented novelty as the singularity of its
circumstances. It was a public prosecution at the instance
of the Magistracy of the County.

Mr. Nolan and Mr. Bolland conducted the ca