The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

LONDON.

The following copy of a very extraordinary letter was received by a gentleman in London, from a respectable correspondent in Cambridge, who asserts that he has seen the original.

SIR,

[Now Mr. Dodd is beyond the reach of] his enemies. you may acquaint them that he is here, in sound health, though in melancholy spirits; depressed in mind, from the idea of quitting for ever his native country, and being necessarily compelled to hide his head from public conversation, which in England was his chief enjoyment. Gifted by nature with the most shining talents of speech, it must be a great mortification to him, that the courtship of popular applause is at an end; and he must sink in obscurity, after raising himself to the pinnacle of admiration. He is at the house of Mr. De Pee, who being my particular friend and relation, I have had an opportunity of seeing the Doctor. The account he gives of his deliverance, which he gathered partly from the information of those to whom he is indebted for his life, and partly from his own knowledge, is this:

He says, he always conceived that those warm advocates, and, as he often calls them, unparalleled proofs of generous friendship, Mr. H. and Dr. C. would attempt to restore him, after the apparent execution of the law. He had no other reason for the supposition, than a surmise that arose naturally, when he considered, in many instances, they had shown to the world the possibility of reviving the function of life: not the most distant intimation was given of their design, though he confesses, that until the night before he went to Tyburn, he relied with implicit security, on the clemency of his Sovereign, and entertained some hopes the next morning, notwithstanding the King was at Kew, and no respite was heard of at the Secretary's office.

He says, he could never summon resolution enough to reflect upon the day that he was to be exhibited a public spectacle, without the utmost horror: which had seized him at intervals in the coach, and caused his imagination to swim into absolute insensibility. When he was turned off, he felt a sudden impulse of pain at first, but by his body whirling round very swiftly, he was soon deprived of all sensation, and afterwards remained totally senseless, until he found himself in bed, surrounded by Dr. C. Mr. H. Mr. D. and Mr. W: whom he perceived to be in tears, which may be considered to be an effusion of joy at his recovering, of which they at one time despaired. From them he learnt that they had with difficulty conveyed him from the gallows to where he then was, and had previously ordered matters for the experiment they had determined to try to bring him to life. Mr. C. and Mr. D. stripped, and exercised friction on his corpse for two hours, without the least sign of success. At length they perceived a motion of his breast, which convinced them of the practicability of their design; and his omen was followed by a warmth, that spread itself over the Doctor's body, and a continual panting and groaning. The return of the blood to its proper situation gave the Doctor so much pain, that he says his life was not worth the purchase.

After the ceremony of congratulation, in one side and on the other, was over, the next affair to be considered (for before, nothing was considered by the Doctor's friends) was, how he should be disposed of. Then it was proposed, that he should set off the next day for France. A subscription for present supply was entered into, and in the evening the Doctor went to his wife's lodgings, which she had quitted the evening before opposite Stationer's-Hall.

The next day he was equipped in women's apparel, by which, and the great alteration in his countenance, it was hardly possible for his most intimate friends to know him, unless he discovered himself by his speech. It was thought proper to conceal all this from Miss Dodd, as it might be too sudden a surprise, but bring her by degrees to the knowledge of her husband's existence. The next day the Doctor, attended by his friend Mr. H. went to Dover, & there met with a fair wind which carried them to Calais, from whence they came here.