28 DECEMBER 1956, Page 10

The Spectator

DECEMBER 31, 1831

A TERRIBLE STORY.—The passengers in Prince's Street [Edinburgh], a few evenings ago, were thrown into a state of alarm and excitement, from a whisper, which quickly collected a crowd around a porter proceeding westward with a heavy-loaded creel, that he was carrying a dead body to the Royal Institution on the Mound, for dissection! One affirmed, that he of the creel must either be a "Burke or a Bishop;" while another, with more prying eyes, declared he saw the legs of the subject distinctly through the spars of the basket. There was no withstanding this last remark; the bearer of burdens was instantly disencumbered of his load; the dead body was hauled forth to public view, when lo! it turned out to be a well-scraped pig !