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Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889

"No Name"

Into some of those Skins I have been compelled to Jump, in
the exercise of my profession, at former periods of my career. Others
are still in the condition of new dresses and remain to be tried on. The
Skin which will exactly fit us originally clothed the bodies of a family
named Bygrave. I am in Mr. Bygrave's skin at this moment-and it fits
without a wrinkle. If you will oblige me by slipping into Miss
Bygrave (Christian name, Susan); and if you will afterward push Mrs.
Wragge--anyhow; head foremost if you like--into Mrs. Bygrave (Christian
name, Julia), the transformation will be complete. Permit me to inform
you that I am your paternal uncle. My worthy brother was established
twenty years ago in the mahogany and logwood trade at Belize, Honduras.
He died in that place; and is buried on the south-west side of the local
cemetery, with a neat monument of native wood carved by a self-taught
negro artist. Nineteen months afterward his widow died of apoplexy at a
boarding-house in Cheltenham. She was supposed to be the most corpulent
woman in England, and was accommodated on the ground-floor of the house
in consequence of the difficulty of getting her up and down stairs.


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