The Court of Cacus; Or, The Story of Burke and HareLeighton, Alexander
History
The Court of Cacus; Or, The Story of Burke and Hare
Leighton, Alexander
Body snatching; Burke, William, 1792-1829; Hare, William, 1792?-1870?
Nor, as the short days passed to usher in the last morning, for which he
said "he would not greatly weary," was there any other more signal
appearance of a radical change. No doubt he received the visits of
clergymen, not caring much whether of one denomination or another, and
none of them were gratified with more than very ordinary manifestations of
regret. There always haunted him a desire to have Hare brought to trial,
yet he had art enough to place this, not to the account of revenge, but
that of _humanity_. Even Burke became a philanthropist, or, what is often
the same thing, could use the hackneyed words which are the fashionable
tribute paid by vice to virtue. If he was not thus unable to forget the
enormous debt due by his fearful associate, he was, and continued to the
end to be, not less mindful of his paramour. He sent his watch and what
money he possessed to her--"Poor thing, it is all I have to give to her;
it will be of some use to her, and I will not need it." Yet no moisture of
the eyes--the pity was only the bastard offspring of animal love.
Withal, we are frank to admit that even the breaking down of the adamant,
to the extent of confession and regret, in a man like Burke, was a triumph
to religion. There is no natural way of accounting for that phenomenon of
which every man is doomed to feel the experience, that while death asserts
his power over the body, he extorts a contribution from the soul. Turn the
question in any way you please, your final cause is nowhere, unless it be
that the experience of agonised death-beds is the opportunity of virtue--a
poor back-handed way of making people better, and certainly bought at a
terrible expense. But even taking the advantage in this limited form, it
does not exhaust the conditions of the question; for while the dying
sinner is altogether unconscious that his agonies will go forth to the
world and be an example, his mind is in another direction. He looks
forward, and the more keenly, that he cannot look backwards. Where is the
final cause now? Try again, and we suspect you will find it only in
heaven.
Vejove.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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