‘The narrative will appear, I believe, either to-morrow or on Friday; whenever it does, your withers are unwrung, and Mr. _Cole_ has shown himself an upright churchwarden.
‘I cannot conclude without returning you many thanks for your great civilities, and am, &c.’
The corpse was found entirely mutilated by those who disinterred it on the 17th; almost all the ribs, the lower jaw, and one of the hands gone. Of all those who saw the body on Wednesday, the 4th, and on Thursday, the 5th, there is not one person who discovered a single hair of any other colour than light brown, although both Mr. _Laming_ and Mr. _Ellis_ lifted up the head, and although the considerable quantity of hair which Mr. _Taylor_ took was from the top of the head, and that which _Ellis_ took was from behind it; yet, from the accounts of those who saw it on the 17th, it appears that the hair on the back of the head was found of dark brown, nearly approaching to black, although all the front hair remaining was of the same light brown as that taken on the 4th. It does not belong to me either to account for or to prove the fact.
On Wednesday, September the 1st, I waited on Mr. _Dyson_, who was the gentleman sent for on the 17th, to examine the corpse. I asked him simply, whether, from what had then appeared before him, he judged it to be male or female? His answer was that, having examined the pelvis and the skull, he judged the corpse to be that of a man. I asked what was the shape of the head? He said that the forehead was high and erect, though the top of the head was flat; and added that the skull was of that shape and flatness at the top which, differing from those of blacks, is observed to be common and almost peculiar to persons of very comprehensive intellects. I am a stranger to this sort of knowledge, but the opinion is a strong confirmation that, from all the premises before him, he judged the head to be that of _Milton_. On a paper, which he showed me, enclosing a bit of the hair, he had written ‘_Milton’s hair_.’
Mr. _Dyson_ is a surgeon, who received his professional education under the late Dr. _Hunter_, is in partnership with Mr. _Price_, in Fore Street, where the church stands, is of easy access, and his affability can be exceeded only by his skill in an extensive line of practice.
