the first stroke." The mischief of the thing is, that no effective answer can be made to the injurious opinions expressed in this posthumous book, which, as it waited her own decease for its publication, should have been delayed till the death of the parties named, and even that of their immediate descendants.
It is well to mention that a Government pension was on three occasions offered to the subject of these notes. One by Lord Grey, or Lord Brougham,—I forget which,—in 1832; again, in 1839, by Lord Melbourne; and lastly, by Mr. Gladstone. Unlike Dr. Johnson, who vilified pensioners, and then himself accepted a pension, Miss Martineau firmly declined the proposed honour, although naturally gratified by such an admission of her claims, on the ground that acceptance was inconsistent with her expressed opinions on the subject of taxation. This noble and disinterested sacrifice to principle was, it must be remembered, made at a time when failing health rendered literary exertion impossible, and pecuniary anxieties were impending which a certain income, however small, would have removed; and must gain the respect even of those who consider erroneous her notions on the metaphysical nature of the Deity.
It was at Ambleside, on June 27th, 1876, that this existence, which may be said to have been entirely and unselfishly devoted to the promotion of the happiness and well-being of mankind, came to a close. Her Will, by which her personalty, sworn under £10,000, is suitably divided among her brothers and sisters, an old servant, and a few friends, contains one peculiar provision which indicates the desire of the testatrix, even when dead, to benefit the living. "It is my desire," she says, "from an interest in the progress of scientific investigation, that my Skull should be given to Henry George Atkinson, of Upper Gloucester Place, London, and also my Brain, if my death should take place within such distance of his then present abode, as to enable him to have it for the purposes of scientific observation." By the second codicil, dated October 5th, 1872, this direction is revoked; "but," the codicil proceeds, "I wish to leave it on record that this alteration in my testamentary directions is not caused by any change of opinion as to the importance of scientific observation on such subjects, but is made in consequence merely of a change of circumstances in my individual case." The "circumstances" alluded to were doubtless these. When the removal of Miss Martineau to London took place, the "Burke and Hare" murders, and "body-snatching" generally, were the special horrors of the day. The only authorized supply of "subjects" for dissection was from the gallows; and philanthropic persons sought by selling the reversion of their bodies (a transaction which, legally, does not hold good), or like Jeremy Bentham, leaving them to some institution, or medical expert, by a special bequest (also nugatory), to dissolve the association of disgrace with the necessary procedure of dissection. The difficulty was, in great measure, relieved by the passing of Mr. Warburton's Bill; and hence the necessity for such an arrangement as that made by Miss Martineau ceased to exist. The singular provision had, however, become known; and shortly after the execution of the document, the testatrix received a letter from the celebrated aurist, Mr. Toynbee, asking her point-blank to bequeath him a "legacy of her ears." She had suffered from deafness all her life; a large amount of mischief and misery was caused by the
