We examined it
together, and then going into the Abbey carefully returned it to the
earth.' In 1859, when John Hunter's coffin was removed to the
Abbey, the same spot had to be dug up, and Mr. Frank Buckland again
secured the skull of Jonson, placing it at the last moment on the
coffin of the great surgeon. So far, so good; but not long
afterwards, a statement appeared in the 'Times' that the skull of
Ben Jonson was in the possession of a blind gentleman at Stratford-
upon-Avon. Hereupon Mr. Buckland made further inquiries, and calmly
tells us that he has convinced himself that the skull which he had
taken such care of on two occasions, [such care as not so much as to
measure or sketch it!] was not Jonson's skull at all; that a Mr.
Ryde had anticipated him both times in removing and replacing the
genuine article, [!] and that the Warwickshire claimant [!] was a
third skull which Mr. Ryde observed had been purloined from the
grave on the second opening. Mr. Buckland is a scientific
naturalist, and an ardent worshipper of the closest of all
observers, John Hunter. Now mark what satisfies such a man on such
an occasion as this. He was wrong and Mr. Ryde was right, because
Mr. Ryde described HIS skull as having RED HAIR; and in Aubrey's
Lives of Eminent Men, 'I find evidence quite sufficient for any
medical man to come to the conclusion that Ben Jonson's hair was in
all probability of a red colour, though the fact IS NOT STATED IN SO
MANY WORDS.
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