mies, who, he said, had charged him with those offences to deprive him of his place. He urged the favorable representation of the surgeon, who had sworn that the child had not been materially injured; and insisted that, at the time the fact was charged to have been committed, he was so ill as to keep his chamber. By endeavoring to prove this he proved too much; for the witness swore that he kept his chamber two months successively, contrary to the tenor of all the other wit nesses; so that the jury were in duced to think that he had not kept his chamber even one month. The counsel for the prisoner la bored hard to adduce some proofs of his innocence; but the jury brought in a verdict that the prisoner was guilty; in consequence of which he received sentence of death. After conviction the behaviour of Mr. Russen was exceedingly proper for a man in his unhappy situation. No very extraordinary exertions were made to obtain a pardon for him, because it was presumed it would not have been granted. On the morning of execution Mr. Russen was taken from Newgate to Tyburn in a mourning-coach. Just before he left the prison, seeing a number of people about him, he made use of this emphatical expression, Stand clear! look to your selves! I am the first hypocrite in Sion! The parting scene between himself and his son was extremely affecting. He was attended in the coach by the Ordinary of Newgate (the Reverend Mr. Hughes), a sheriff's of ficer, and an undertaker, who had engaged to conduct the funeral. At the place of execution Russen eemed to have a proper sense of his Jast wicked life; but, in regard to the crime for which he suffered, he thought himself ill treated, as he always asserted that he had never been guilty of a rape, though he acknowledged, a day or two before his death, that he had taken liberties with the child which were highly unbecoming. Previous to the prayers commonly used at the place of execution he made a long extempore prayer, and earnestly exhorted the surrounding multitude to take warning by his fate. He likewise censured the indecency of the people, who stood near the gailows with their hats on, and with apparent unconcern, during the time of prayer; and observed that the place where unhappy victims are to suffer the sentence of the law should be held as sacred as a church. He therefore requested the spectators to be uncovered, and to join in their supplications for him to Almighty God, which accordingly several of them complied with; and, after having prayed for his wife and helpless children, he once more recommended his soul to the mercy of God, and was then launched into eternity. On the way to execution the mob insulted Russen: but the propriety of his behaviour at the fatal tree had an evident effect on the spectators; and, when his body was cut down, it was put into a hearse, and delivered to his friends for interment. Benjamin Russen was executed at Tyburn on the 12th of December, 1777. It is with pain that the pen of delicacy touches a subject of this nature; and this pain is increased when we consider that the object of our remarks was in a line of life that ought to have induced him to set the best example to others. A clergyman who is a schoolinaster is bound by a double tie to exhibit every mark of his attention to the duties of religion and morality; aud, when he fails of this duty, his ex ample is presumed to have a worse influence than that of a man differ. ently situated. Mr. Russen had a wife and six children, which was no slight aggravation of his crime. JOHN HOLMES AND PETER WILLIAMS, WHIPPED FOR STEALING DEAD BODIES. THESE impious robbers are vulgarly termed, in London, resurrection men, but should rather be called sacrilegious robbers of our holy Church, not even confining the unnatural crime to men alone, for the gentler sex are connected in this horrid traffic, whose business it is to strip off the shroud, or whatever garments in which the body may have been wrapped, and to sell them, while the men, through the darkness of night, drag the naked bodies to be anatomized. Though it matters little where we return to our original dust, yet there is something offensive to the living to hear of graves being violated for this base purpose; and to know that the remains of a parent, a wife, or a child, have been thus removed, is shocking to our nature. When Hunter, the famous anatomist, was in full practice, he had a surgical theatre behind his house in Windmill Street, where he gave lectures to a very numerous class of pupils. To this place such numbers of dead bodies were brought, during the winter season, that the mob rose several times, and were upon the point of pulling down his house. He had a well dug in the back part of his premises, in which was thrown the putrid flesh, and with it alkalis, in order to hasten its consumption. Numberless are the instances of dead bodies being seized on their way to the surgeons. Hackney coachmen, for an extra fare, and porters with hampers, are often employed by these resurrection men for this purpose. A monthly publication, in March, 1776, says, The remains of more than twenty dead bodies were discovered in a shed in Tottenham Court Road, supposed to have been deposited there by traders to the surgeons; of whom there is one, it is said, in the Borough, who makes an open profession of dealing in dead bodies, and is well known by the name of the Resurrectionist." Still more shocking is it to be told that men who are paid for protecting the sacred deposit of the mortal remains of their fellow-parishioners are often confederates, as the present case will demonstrate. Holmes, the principal villain in this case, was grave-digger of St. George's, Bloomsbury. Williams was his assistant; and a woman, named Esther Donaldson, an accomplice. They were all indicted for stealing the body of Mrs. Jane Sainsbury, who departed this life on the 9th of October then last past, and the corpse was interred in the buryingground of St. George's, above mentioned, on the Monday following. They were detected before they could secure their booty; and the widower, however unpleasant, determined to prosecute them. order to their conviction, he had to undergo the mental pain of viewing and identifying the remains of his wife! In The grave-digger and his deputy were convicted at the Middlesex court of quarter-sessions for December, 1777, on the fullest evidence; and the acquittal of the woman was much regretted, as no doubt remained of her equal guilt. She therefore was released, but Holmes and Williams were sentenced to six months' imprisonment, and to be whipped twice, on their bare backs, from the end of Kingsgate Street, Holborn, to Dyot Street, St. Giles's, being half a mile, and which was inflicted, with the severity due to so detestable an offence, through crowds of approving spectators. Dr. Dodd composing his Thoughts in Prison." THIS unfortunate man was the eldest son of a clergyman, who held the vicarage of Bourne, in the county of Lincoln, where he died in the year 1756, at the age of fifty-four. His son was born at Bourne on the 29th day of May, 1729, and, after finishing his school education was admitted a Sizer of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1745, under the tuition of Mr. John Courtail, afterwards Archdeacon of Lewes. At the university he acquired the notice of his superiors by a close applicafing to his studies, and in the year 1749-50 took his first degree of VOL. III. Bachelor of Arts with considerable reputation, his name being in the list of Wranglers on that occasion. It was not, however, only in his academical pursuits that he was emulous of distinction. Having pleasing form, a genteel address and a lively imagination, he was equally celebrated for accomplishments which seldom accompany a life of learned retirement. In particular, he was fond of the elegancies of dress, and became, as he ludicrously expressed it, a zealous votary of the God of Dancing, to whose service he dedicated much of 63 that time and attention which he could borrow from his more important avocations. The talent which he possessed he very early displayed to the public; and, by the time he had attained the age of eighteen years, prompted by the desire of fame, and perhaps also to increase his income, he commenced author, in which character he began to obtain some degree of reputation. At this period of his life, young, thoughtless, volatile, and inexperienced, he precipitately quitted the university, and, relying entirely on his pen, removed to the metropolis, where he entered largely into the gaieties of the town, was a constant frequenter of all places of public diversion, and followed every species of amusement with the most dangerous avidity. In this course, however, he did not continue long. To the surprise of his friends, who least suspected him of taking such a step, without fortune, and destitute of all means of supporting a family, he hastily united himself, on the 15th of April, 1751, in marriage with Miss Mary Perkins, daughter of one of the domestics of Sir John Dolben, a young lady then residing in Frith Street, Soho, who, though endowed with personal attractions, was deficient in those of birth and fortune. To a person circumstanced as Mr. Dodd then was, no measure could be more imprudent, or apparently more ruinous and destructive of his future prospects in life. He did not, how. ever, seem to view it in that light, but, with a degree of thoughtlessness natural to him, immediately took and furnished a house in Wardour Street. Thus dancing on the brink of a precipice, and careless of to-morrow, his friends began to be alarmed at his situation. His father came to town in great distress upon the occasion, and by parental in junction he quitted his house before winter. By the same advice he probably was induced to adopt a new plan for his future subsistence. On the 19th of October, in that year, he was ordained a deacon, by the Bishop of Ely, at Caius College, Cambridge; and, with more prudence than he had ever shown before, devoted himself with great assiduity to the study and duties of his profession. In these pursuits he appeared so sincere, that he even renounced all attention to his favorite objects-Polite Letters. At the end of his preface to the Beauties of Shakspeare,' published in this year, he says: For my own part, better and more important things henceforth demand my attention; and I here with no small pleasure take leave of Shakspeare and the critics. As this work was begun and finished before I entered upon the sacred function in which I am now happily employed, let me trust this juvenile performance will prove no objection, since graver, and some very eminent, members of the Church, have thought it no improper employ to comment, explain, and publish, the works of their own country poets.' The first service in which he was engaged as a clergyman was to assist the Reverend Mr. Wyatt, vicar of West Ham, as his curate: thither he removed, and there he spent the happiest and more honorable moments of his life. His behaviour was proper, decent, and exemplary. It acquired him the respect and secured him the favour of his parishioners so far, that, on the death of their lecturer, in 1752, he was chosen to succeed him. His abilities had at this time every opportunity of being shown to advan tage; and his exertions were su properly directed, that he soon became a favorite and popular preacher. Those who knew him at this period bear testimony to the indefatigable zeal which he exerted in his ministry, and the success which crowned his efforts. The follies of his youth seemed entirely extinguished, his friends viewed his conduct with the utmost satisfaction, and the world promised itself an example to hold out for the imitation of his brethren. At this early season of his life he entertained favorable sentiments of the doctrine of Mr. Hutchinson, and was suspected to incline towards Methodism. In 1752 he was appointed lecturer of St. James, Garlick Hill, which, two years afterwards, he exchanged for the same post at St. Olave, Hart Street. About the same time he was appointed to preach Lady Moyer's lectures at St. Paul's; where from the visit of the three angels to Abraham, and other similar passages from the Old Testament, he endeavored to prove the commonly received doctrine of the Trinity. On the establishment of the Magdalen House, in 1758, he was amongst the first and most active promoters of that charitable institution; which received great advantage from his zeal for its prosperity, and, even to the conclusion of his life, continued to be materially benefitted by his labours. He was also the promoter of many other charitable institutions, and founder of the Society for the Relief of Poor Debtors; and of the Humane Society, for the recovery of persons apparently drowned. From the time Mr. Dodd entered into the service of the Church he resided at West Ham, and made up the deficiencies of his income by Auperintending the education of some young gentlemen who were placed under his care. In 1759 he took his degree of Master of Arts. In the year 1763 he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the king, and about the same time became known to Dr. Squire, Bishop of St. David's, who received him into his patronage, presented him to the prebend of Brecon, and recommended him to the Earl of Chesterfield, as a proper person to be intrusted with the tuition of his successor in the title. The next year saw him chaplain to his majesty. In 1766 he took the degree of Doctor of Laws at Cambridge. He had some expectations of succeeding to the rectory of West Ham; but, having been twice disappointed, he resigned his lectureship both there and in the city, and quitted the place; a place,' says he to Lord Chesterfield, ever dear and ever regretted by me, the loss of which, truly affecting to my mind, (for there I was useful, and there I trust I was loved,) nothing but your lordship's friendship and connexion could have counterbalanced.'* From a passage in his Thoughts in Prison' it may be inferred that he was compelled to quit this his favorite residence; a circumstance which he pathetically laments, and probably with great reason, as the first step to that change in his situation which led him insensibly to his last fatal catastrophe. 6 He On his leaving West Ham he removed to a house in Southampton Row, and at the same time launched out into scenes of expense, which his income, by this time not a small one, was unequal to support. provided himself, with a country house at Ealing, and exchanged his chariot for a coach, in order to accommodate his pupils, who, besides his noble charge, were in general persons of family and fortune.About the same time it was his misfortune to obtain a prize of one thousand pounds in the state lot See dedication to a Sermon, entitled Popery inconsistent with the natural Rights of Men in general, and Englishmen in particular.' 8vo. 1768. |