daily practice, and retained his sight, hearing, and memory to the last. He was five times married, and had forty-nine children born to him. When about one hundred years old his white hair fell off, and was succeeded by a crop of its original color, and at one hundred and twelve years of age he cut two teeth. As a marked contrast to this healthy old patriarch, witness the following instance which is certified to by the parish register. Margaret Krasiowna, a Polish woman, died in 1763, aged 108. When 94, she married for her third husband Gaspard Raykolt, who was then 105. His father had previously died, aged 119. During the fourteen years they lived together, she brought him two boys and a girl; and these three children, from their very birth, bore evident marks of the old age of their parents, their hair being gray, and a vacuity appearing in their gums like that which is occasioned by the loss of teeth, though they never had any. They had not strength enough, even as they grew up, to chew solid food, but lived on bread and vegetables. They were of proper size for their age, but their backs were bent, their complexion sallow, and they had all the other external symptoms of decrepitude.

We have already noticed the astonishing tenacity with which these worthies hold on to life. Often the silver cord is loosened and the golden bowl broken by the interposition of some accident. An old woman in a tree gathering apples falls to her death; others on horseback, or engaged in some other active exertion, quite unseemly in persons of great age, suddenly die. One of the most remarkable instances of the stubborn fight between Old Age and Death is found in John Tice, who died 1774, aged 125. While he was felling a tree, at the age of 80, his legs were broken, but he speedily recovered, and at the age of 100, fell in a fainting fit upon some live coals and was shockingly burned. He survived this scorching and retained the free use of all his faculties till his death, which took place on his hearing of the loss of a friend and patron.

We shall now advert to one of the most difficult features of this curious study, viz.: the lack of reliable evidence in the cases of abnormal longevity. Perhaps this paragraph should have preceded what has already been said, for, if we cannot believe what has been written, any story of the romancer might prove far more interesting. But, though a very large degree of faith must be exercised

in these matters, we cannot agree with Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, that no person ever lived one hundred years. Nor do we sympathize with a late writer, Mr. William J. Thoms, who will credit no centenarian, unless his story is supported by the evidence of statistics. Mr. Thoms, in reviewing the subject of longevity, claims that there have existed in latter days but four cases which have been satisfactorily proved: MRS. WilLIAMS, of Bridehead, died 1841, aged 102; age proved by parish statistics and family records; WILLIAM PLANK, of Harrow, died 1867, aged 100; age proved by being in school with late Lord Lyndhurst, in 1780; bound apprentice in 1782, and received indentures of freedom in the Salters Company in 1789; JACOB WILLIAM LUNING, died 1870, aged 103; age proved by statistics of birth, baptism, and testimony of disinterested friends, while his identity (the most difficult of all things to prove) has been established by statistics from the Equitable Assurance Society in London, where, at the age of 36, in 1803, he was insured for £200. This is the only case on record of an insured life extending to 100 years. The fourth was CATHerine Duncombe SHAFTO, who died in 1872, agedio1; age proved by parish statistics, and identity established by the fact that, in 1790, she (being then 19 years of age) was selected as one of the Government nominees in the tontine of that year. Her husband and many of her sons were representatives in Parliament. Thus, the greatest skeptic with whom we meet, in the discussion of our subject, admits the fact of centenarianism. Some cases are proved. Records are not always kept of birth, or baptism, or marriage, nor do all men insure their lives. The early companions of the extremely aged are all dead, and their testimony cannot be procured. Shall we therefore say, that none pass the hundredth nor the hundred and tenth birthday, but the select four referred to by Mr. Thoms?

Indeed there is a remarkable concurrence of all testimony in assigning 130 to 150 years to the most aged of various races and times. Dr. Van Oven, an authority of great ability, has given seventeen examples of age exceeding 150 years. So have written and believed Hufeland and Haller, the latter asserting that the vital forces of man are capable of reaching, in some cases, 200 years. Therefore, those kindly disposed toward history, and not anxious to examine the records too minutely, may, by an extraordinary effort of faith, believe the assertion that Thomas Parr

lived to be 152, and that Henry Jenkins died at the age of 169. But it will take a good many grains of salt to confirm the world in the belief that Peter Zartan, the Hungarian peasant, lived to be 185, or that Thomas Cam (notwithstanding the parish register of

HENRY JENKINS, AGED 169 YEARS.

St. Leonard's, Shoreditch) died January 28, 1588, aged 207 years. Indeed the great age of the latter resulted from the trick of some wag, who, with venerable intent, fashioned the figure "I" on his tombstone into a "2," thus jumping a century in a few minutes. The friends of Thomas Damme, who died 1648, aged 154, provided against similar trickery, and had his age cut on the tombstone in words at length. It might be supposed that statistics would furnish very valuable evidence on this subject. But, in the first place, it is only within certain European areas and a part of America that tables relating to age are prepared, and the qualifications to which these are subject from the shifting of population are of a very complex character. These records show that extreme age is almost uniformly found among the poor and the degraded. And although one might suppose that the possession of wealth, education and intelligence, would contribute to long life, the evidence seems to point the other way. The cases that are

handed down to us from the earlier centuries of the Christian era are often but tradition. In later days more positive evidence exists; and yet the dusty parish registers are not above question, and the family records and familiar obituary notices frequently come to us unverified. It is also a strange feature that miraculous length of days occurs in obscure villages, where no evidence exists but the mere ipse dixit of Old. Mortality, and that as soon as we draw near the cities, where science can handle the case, the wonderful story flies the light. The fact is, aged people have their full share of the marvelous appetite; they have too frequently lost their memories, and so, from ignorance or deceit, do not tell the truth. And then a vanity which never grows old affects equally the statements of old and young. The register, to which we are often referred, is a record, not of birth or baptism, but of death, and merely contains a statement of the age as derived from the friends of the deceased, and which will soon be found carved and unquestioned on the tombstone. This is valueless in proof of longevity. Then in villages, where many of the same name are found, a confusion in identity has often taken place, and, where nobody will rise up to prove the contrary, some octogenarian has doubtless felt himself called upon to assume the years of both his father and his grandfather. If we bear these things in mind, it will not appear very marvelous that negroes live long. negroes live long. Louisa Truxo, at the age of 175, was living in Cordova in South America in 1780, and another negress, aged 120, was called in evidence to prove the case. Of course to ignorant folk and innocent statisticians this was satisfactory. Let us mention a few cases where the evidence has been considered satisfactory. Sir Henry Holland, a few years ago, when in Canada, met an officer whose commission proved him to be 104 years old. Henry Jenkins, who died 1670, aged 169, remembered the great battle of Flodden Field, fought between the English and the Scotch in 1513. When 157 years old he was produced as witness to prove the right of way over another man's ground. Being cautioned by the Judge to speak truthfully in regard to his great age, he referred the magistrate to two other witnesses in court, each over 80 years, who testified that when they were small boys Jenkins was a very old, gray-haired man. James Sands, of Staffordshire, is mentioned in Fuller's

"Book of Worthies as having lived 140 years, and his wife, 120 years. As a very convincing proof of the above, it was stated in court that he outlived five leases of twenty-one years each, made to him after his marriage. Thomas Gangheen died 1814, aged 112. He was called at the age of 108 to prove the validity of a survey made in the year 1725, and his testimony contributed chiefly to the termination of an important lawsuit. Jane Forrester died 1766, aged 138. When she was 132 years of age, her intellect was so clear that she made oath in a Chancery suit to have known an estate, the title to which was then in dispute, to have been enjoyed by the ancestors of the present heir one hundred and one years. "Peter Garden died near Edinburgh in 1775, aged 131 years. He lived during eight reigns. He was of gigantic stature, and retained his health and entire faculties to the last hour."

It is worthy of remark, that the most of those who have become very old were married more than once, and often at a very late period of life. There is rarely an instance of a bachelor or spinster having attained great age. Once left alone, the centenarian seeks a new spouse. His loneliness becomes oppressive. All familiar faces are gone; the playmates of youth, the companions of early manhood, the friends of middle life, the associates of declining years long ago passed away to sure and rapid death. But let him marry again, and then he and his consort will walk down the hill of life to the grave in joy and peace, and probably die within a few hours of each other.

Some of our venerable friends married four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and thirteen times; but James Gay, of Bordeaux, in France, eclipsed them all in connubial pertinacity. He died in 1772, aged only one hundred and one; but he found it convenient and agreeable to marry sixteen wives, yet died childless. Margaret McDowal, a Scotchwoman, who died in 1768, aged one hundred and six years, has found a unique place in history because she married and survived thirteen husbands. It seems to us that a meeting of these wives or these husbands beyond the "Shining Shore" would have suggested itself to these marriageable old folk, and have caused them to hesitate somewhere among the last half dozen. How much more beautiful the example of Mrs. Agnes Skuner, an Englishwoman, who died 1499, aged one hundred and nineteen. She chose to rever

ence the memory of her husband through a widowhood of ninety-two years. We receive a new and touching view of the solemn vow taken at marriage, "I promise to love, cherish, protect, etc., until death us do part," in the case of John Rovin and his wife, who died at Temeswar, Hungary, in 1741, he aged one hundred and seventytwo, and she, one hundred and sixty-four. They lived as husband and wife during the long period of one hundred and forty-eight years, and their youngest son at the time of their decease was aged one hundred and sixteen. If the fiftieth anniversary of a wedding day is worthy of a golden celebration, what shall be the fitting entertainment for that happy pair who, during nearly one hundred and fifty years, have borne each other's joys and sorrows? Terentia, the wife of Cicero, lived to see one hundred and seventeen years.

Cicero secured a divorce from her because he wanted to marry a rich young woman. After the divorce Terentia married Sallust, the historian. He dying, she was married the third time to Messala Corvinus, and yet again a fourth time to Vibius Rufus. As an exception to this matrimonial rule may be mentioned the case of Marie Mallet, a Frenchwoman and a spinster, who died aged one hundred and fifteen. She con

thirty-three. She left three daughters-the| eldest aged one hundred and eleven, the second one hundred and ten, and the youngest one hundred and nine. Perhaps the most striking instance of hereditary longevity may be found in the case of the often quoted Thomas Parr, who died in London 1635, aged one hundred and fifty-two, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Shropshire, in England, whence he came, is distinguished for its longlived people. Old Parr, as he has been familiarly called for nearly three centuries, was a farmer, worked at the age of one hundred and thirty, and married his second wife when one hundred and twenty-two. Robert Parr died in Shropshire, 1757, aged one

hundred and twenty-four. He has been called the great-grandson of Old Parr. Robert's father died aged one hundred and nine, and his grandfather aged one hundred and thirteen. The total years of these four persons, in regular descent, extend to four hundred and ninety-eight, more than onequarter of the whole period since the commencement of the Christian era. John Newell, who died 1761, aged one hundred and twenty-seven, and John Michaelstone, who died 1763, aged one hundred and twenty-seven, were both grandsons of Old Parr.

The personal appearance of those greatly advanced in years is generally far from winning. Some, with a complexion of mahogany, seem only to dry up and wither, yet are withal so wiry and tough that they hang on to life decade after decade, and make a very successful fight with the Great Destroyer. Then there are others-women more often than menwho in the advanced years become pursy and corpulent, pale and flabby, or perhaps quite fat; their skin hangs not in wrinkles, but in rolls; and their voice, instead of rising, becomes gruff and husky We have noticed that centenarians are apt to be small of stature. Large men and women are more liable to the accidents of life, and their organizations are less likely to be compactly knit. Dwarfs have frequently passed the five score years, and among others may be mentioned one Elspeth Watson, who died aged one hundred and fifteen. She was two feet nine inches high and rather bulky, if one of that stature can be called bulky. Two remarkable exceptions to the foregoing rule are recorded. James McDonald, a giant seven feet six inches in height, died 1760, aged one hundred and seventeen. Charles Blizard, a farmer, and the most corpulent man in his county, died 1785, aged one hundred and seven. While referring to these monstrosities, whose acquaintance is generally made in public, we are reminded of two actors who are entitled to mention. Charles Macklin, a celebrated comedian of Covent Garden Theater, died 1797, aged one hundred and seven. And history has recorded that eighteen hundred years ago Galeria Capiola, a player and dancer, ninety-nine years after her first appearance as a novice, assisted at the dedication of a theater by Pompey the Great. Later still, when long past the century, she was

ΙΟΙ.

Our old folks become greatly attached to home and its memories. One John Burnet died 1734, aged 109. He married six wives, three of them after he became 100 years old, and died in the same house in which he was born. Mr. Wrench died 1783, aged His two wives bore him thirtytwo children, and he died in the same room in which he was born. Rev. Mr. Braithwaite, of Carlisle, England, died 1754, aged 110. He had been employed in the Cathedral one hundred and two years, having commenced in 1652 as a chorister eight years of age. Among the short and simple annals of the poor our venerable friends frequently find honorable mention, and in the matter of faithful service their lives might be profitably studied at the present day. Among a host of such appears the name of Mr. Robertson of Edinburgh, who died 1793, aged 137. He served a noble family in the capacity of inspector of lead works for one hundred and twenty years. Margaret Woods died 1797, aged 100. She and her ancestors had lived in the service of one family in Essex during the long period of four hundred years.

It has been mentioned in previous pages that temperance, industry, exercise, and a due regulation of the passions, are the principal promoters of longevity. Yet there are exceptions to these rules, and in such cases one may well believe, with some authors of vital statistics, that they are predisposed to great age; they inherit length of days in spite of themselves. If a man 120 years of age is considered a repulsive and curious monstrosity, living out of his proper time, how much more remarkable does the case become when he hangs on to life in defiance of the usually accepted laws of health? John Weeks, aged 114, married his tenth wife, a girl of 16, when at the age of 106. He had a voracious appetite, eating indiscriminately, and only a few hours before death he ate three pounds of pork, two pounds of bread, and drank a pint of wine. This case reminds us of the opinion entertained by some, that longevity may be cultivated by living when young with older persons, and when old by cultivating the society of the young. It will be remembered that it was recommended to King David, three thousand years ago, when well stricken in years,

virgin. So John Weeks, with his lass of sixteen. Another singular case is found in Rev. Mr. Davies, the Vicar of Staunton-onWye, who died aged 105. During the last thirty years of his life he never took any exercise but that of slipping his feet one before the other from room to room.

JOHN ROVIN IN THE 172ND YEAR OF HIS AGE, AND SARAH HIS WIFE, IN THE 164TH YEAR OF HER AGE.

Yet

he ate of hot rolls, well buttered, and drank plenty of tea and coffee for breakfast; at dinner he consumed a variety of dishes; at supper, wine and hot roast meat were spread before him.

But this subject has a fascination not readily shaken off when one reads the strange coincidences, marvelous experiences, and quaint idiosyncrasies which seem to spring up on every hand. At the risk perhaps of being tedious let reference be made to some few cases. Mrs. Mills died in the West Indies in 1805, aged 118. She was followed to her grave by two hundred and ninety-five of her descendants, sixty of whom named Ebanks belonged to a regiment of local militia. Agnes Milbourne died in the poorhouse, aged 106. One husband brought her twenty-nine sons and one daughter, all of whom she survived. Twenty of these