THE SKULL OF BURNS, AND THE SKULLS OF TEN DUMFRIES-MEN.
THE interment of Bunars's widow, in the poet's tomb at Dumfries, afforded some phrenological Paul Prys a tempting opportunity, SARDANAPALUS AT DRURY LANE. not to be resisted, of taking a cast of BURNS'S skull. A narrative of this proceeding, which f " N dY be can reverse the perceptions of Sir 1KSPEARE'S Lover, and see habit of casting a cranium as an astrologer of former days might and Harlots." We have begun cast a nativity—had got up an imaginary model of BURNS'S skull ; " Helens and Heros" in " ildings to. doubt the hebdomadal gossipings put forth under the alluring by which it appeared that the warm-hearted, single-minded poet, was a great statesman in embryo. This circumstance seems to have title of" DRAMATIC INTELLIGENCE,'' Since we read that LAPORTE acted as a stimulus to the curiosity of a coterie in Dumfries ; who, had engaged the late lamented llsatomi to compose an opera to at the time when every body else was thinking only of showing be produced at the King's Theatre. But let us not be sceptical :
Orpheus Invaded the domains of Pluto for Eurydice ; perhaps respect to the poet's widow, were occupied in planning the, n- Orpheus when we thought he was crossing the Channel for nooval of his bones, under the guise of doing honour to his me-
GR1SI, crossed the Styx fbr an Orpheus; and finding Mama: inory. With fulgetty impatience they waited the arrival from Lon- flattered by the posthumous honours be has received, persuaded don of a relative of Mrs. BURNS, to get his sanction. At first, so ashamed were they of their ghastly project, they had not courage httit " once more to revisit the glimpses of the lamp, and make to propose it ; but they did at last open the matter to him, and, night musical." We will stake the amount that King Laornto after much palaver, "drew from him his slow leave." Having has saved out of his English annuity, against all be has received of his rench wife's dot (no small odds), that Mr. BUNN will not smuggled the keys of the mausoleum into their possession, the gang
be outdone by his adventurous rival : we are sure he would go to of grave-disturbers stole one by one to the churchyard, to show
their reverential regard for the remains of BURNS : but the coast not being clear, and their furtive looks and sneaking. movements to see a Among announcement in the bills of last night to post- causing the honest townsfolk to cast a suspicious eye upon them, pone the revival of Don Juan, " that the scene of the infernal _ +-regions might be painted by STANFIELD fl*0111 views taken on the they were compelled to retire. At night, they renewed their at spot, by the gracious permission of his Satanic Majesty." Befbre tempt, and clambered over the churchyard-wall, with the agility which is characteristic of body-snatchers ; and setting one of the our faith in the above-meotioned oracles was shaken, we be- party to watch, proceeded with ladder and dark-lantern burglari- hover!, on their inithority, t hat Miss Pit [tr.' es was to be the repre- ously to enter the tomb. How like criminals taken in the act sentative 4M/who :we were afterwards told, that the perfirmanee of the tragedy was to be ilek,rred in order that Miss TREE might they must have looked, as they stood over the grave, ashamed act the lair Ionian, and that Miss Porrooao would undertake the to meet each other's eye, and thinking of SHAKSPEARE'S curse on the disturber of' his bones ! The skull was dug up ; and Mr. BOGIE, character of 7").1.11(t. The inhospilab!e treatment the English actors received from the Gerivall ant !leritie; restored the fair wh w o was an old hand at the trade,—having been present hen the remains were removed from their humble grave to the monu- ment erected by a country that allowed the living man to suffer distress which they might have relieved,—" proclaimed its identity the moment he saw it." Astonishing, that the very skull depo- sited in this spot in 1815, and kept fast under lock and key, should have been there still ! Did they expect to find the skull of WALLACE, or of JOHN KNOX? And then it is added, " its size and appearance were quite sufficient to avouch the fact." Why all this evidence of its indentity ? If there were any doubt, this is too vague to decide it; and the gratuitous way in which it is offered, leads one to conjecture whether any other scientific admirer of the poet had been doing honour to his rcmains in a similar way before. They carried off their prize, however ; and in trying to cover it with a hat, they found additional evidence of its identity in its size; for not one of the hats of the ten small-headed admirers was large enough to admit it. Let the reader fancy half a score of respectable persons tumbling about the head of BURNS, handing it from one to the other, and trying to Stuff it into their bats! What a pretty figure they make ! How- ever, the skull is carried home, and the scalping-knife set to work to remove all the remaining flesh and hair; and a cast is taken of it, by a modeller, whose "style of handling" is eulogized. The skull is then put in a leaden box, "carefully lined with the softest material,"—lest the shock of an earthquake should shake it against the side, we suppose,—and restored to its sepulchre ; where we hope, now that the curiosity of science is gratified, it will be al- lowed to rest in peace. We wonder it never struck the party to get it enclosed in a glass case and exhibited as a show: that would have been an attraction to the good town ! In reading this sad twaddle, we were reminded of the disgusting exhumation of MILTON'S remains. It seems to be the penalty of greatness, not only to be persecuted and poverty-stricken during life, but to be dug up after death.
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