| Heraldry is a protection against such practices; |
| for what the audacious
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| atrocity of the resurrection-man cannot, the venality of the sexton certainly,
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| will accomplish" - Thomas Wakely, The Lancet newspaper 1832
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| «'…a coffin was registered with the expressed purpose of frustrating the
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| resurrectionists… designed to be made in cast or wrought iron,
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| with concealed spring catches on the inner
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| Side of the lid to prevent levering, and joined in such a way as to thwart any
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| attempt to force the sides of the coffin apart… Some parishes had communal
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| mortsafes or 'jankers' - huge coffin-shaped pieces of stone or metal put on new
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| graves.» |
| — Ruth Richardson Death, Dissection, and the Destitute 1987
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| «Resurrection men, your fate deplore
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| Retire with fore vexation
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| Your mystery’s gone, your art’s no more
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| No more your occupation:
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| Surgeons no more shall ye ransack
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| The grave with feelings callous
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| Tho' on the Old Bailey turn’d your back
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| Your only hopes the gallows» — Mr. Diben The Patent Cof in 1818
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| Stalk through hallowed headstones
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| For notes and coin, trade flesh and bone
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| Your eternal rest may, become nocturnal wrest
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| The newly deceased, still bereaved
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| Snatched from their peace, taken without leave
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| Truncated repose, for the decomposed
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| Adamantine clasp of the mortsafe, the muddy bonds of earth
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| Patent coffins do not vouchsafe, calm repose beneath the turf
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| Stone walls do not a prison make, nor six feet of sod a grave
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| Pray the lord your soul to take, you’ll need defenders of the —
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| Graves' occupants, so dearly prized
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| But to butcher, not to eulogize
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| To rest they were laid, now sold under the blade
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| Who turns the key to the mortsafe, when the sexton stuffs his purse?
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| Nightwatchmen cannot vouchsafe, calm repose beneath the turf
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| Stone walls do not a prison make, nor six feet of sod a grave
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| So pray the lord your soul to take, you’ll need defenders of the grave
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| Defenders of the grave, hallmarks of this ghoulish age
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| Defenders of the grave, defenders of the —
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| Solo — Matthew Harvey
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| Solo — Michael Burke
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| Stone walls do not a prison make, nor shovels full of sod a grave
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| So pray the lord your soul to take, you’ll need defenders of the grave
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| Defenders of the grave, hallmarks of this ghoulish age
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| Defenders of the grave, defenders of the — grave |