Brookes, Thomas, of Fulford, a woodman, died 1820, aged 105. He possessed the use of all his natural faculties, except hearing, to the close of his life.

Bennett, Mary, of Longford, near Gloucester, died 1820, aged 105.

Binns, Mrs., of Ripon, York, died 1796, aged 96. To the very last days of her life she could see to read small print without the aid of glasses.

Brignell, Thomas, of Whitby, Yorkshire, died 1797, aged 96. This person is another evidence of the little damage which arises to the constitution of man from continued and sedulous devotion to the pursuit of scientific objects, a course of life of which some persons entertain a peculiar dread, lest it should drive them insane, or utterly destroy the stamina of their constitutions. Mr. Brignell was for many years an eminent whitesmith and mechanician. His name was long and extensively known in most of the ports of England, and particularly in those trading to the Baltic and Greenland Seas, for the peculiar excellence of his screws and harpoons. Mr. Brignell, along with Mr. Wilson, another mechanic of Whitby, appears to be entitled to the honour of having constructed the first locomotive carriage, but upon what principle is not now generally known. The invention however came to nothing, whatever excellence it might possess; the chief reason for such neglect on the part of the public, no doubt, being, that it was too far in advance of the general scientific attainments of the age in which the inventors lived.

Bearley, Mr., of Birmingham, died 1796, aged 103.

Brookes, William, of Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, died 1796, aged 106.

Died this year (1799), in a court, Rosemary Lane, London, aged 96, a female mendicant. On instituting a close search into the chinks and crannies of her miserable apartment, cash and notes were found to the amount of £230, with a

will, by which she had bequeathed whatever she possessed at the time of her decease to her landlord, a poor but industrious old man.

Bloek, John, of Norwich, died 1799, aged 100.

There were living, on the 1st of January, 1797, in the parish of Tibshelf, county of Derby, twenty-two persons who had passed their 70th year; thirteen who had passed their 80th year; and four who were 95 and upwards; though the whole parish did not contain more than about five hundred inhabitants of all ages. Most of these persons were in very humble circumstances, accustomed to the most homely fare-principally sour oat-cake-and dependent, in a really sterile region-as the Peak of Derbyshire is well known to be upon hard and incessant toil for their daily bread.

Branby, Mrs., of Pontesford Hill, Salop, died 1799, aged 107.

Ball, Mary, died 1797, aged 105 years. This person was a very poor woman, and, through many years, had been an inmate of the work house, Liverpool.

Burgess, Thomas, farmer, of Norwich, died 1799, aged 101. Brown, Mary, widow, of Queensworth, died 1800, aged 100.

A man died in Moravia this year, name unknown, aged 125 years.

Bennett, Ambrose, of Tetbury, Gloucestershire, died 1800, aged 106 years. He served as a common soldier in different regiments during the long space of nearly 60 years, and was engaged in many severe battles during the reigns of Anne and the three Georges.

Beckett, Thomas, of Woodton, Norfolk, died 1800, aged 93. Though the occupier of only a very small farm, he contrived, by a course of the most untiring labour and abstemious manner of living, to accumulate a property valued at £6000, which, by the conditions of his will, was

distributed among a number of poor relations, to many of whom he was, in all but name, an entire stranger.

In the month of November this year (1800) there was residing at a village near to Shaftesbury a venerable widow, aged 90 years, who was mother, grandmother, great and great-great-grandmother, to upwards of 300 descendants, most of whom resided upon one estate within four miles of the house where the old lady dwelt. They were all engaged in agricultural pursuits, and distinguished for their industry, skill, and enterprise as farmers. It was a rule with this ancient matron to have all her family to dine with her in parties during the Christmas holidays.

Booty, Thomas, of Birmingham, died 1800, aged 101. He was a tailor, and followed his employment regularly to within a few days of his decease.

Bons, Francis, a native of France, died 1769, aged 121. Brookey, John, of a village in Devonshire, died 1769, aged 134.

Bowles, James, of Kenilworth, Warwickshire, is stated to have died in 1656, at the age of 152 years.

(These three extraordinary instances of longevity are given on the authority of Mr. Whitehurst.)

Lord Bacon, in his "History on Life and Death," has the following passage, quoted by Mr. Whitehurst, in his "Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth:"-"The year of our Lord seventy-six is memorable; for in that year there was a taxing of the people by Vespasian; from which it appeared that, in the part of Italy lying between the Apennines and the river Po, there were found 124 persons of the age of 100 years and upwards: namely, fifty-four, 100 years each; fifty-seven, 110; two, 125; four, 130; four, 135; three, 140.

Besides the above, Parma contained five persons, whereof three were 120 years each, and two, 130. One in Brugeneia, 125; one in Placentia, 131; one in Taurentia, 132. A

town near Placentia contained ten persons, of whom six were 110 years each; four, 120. One in Rimini, named Marcus Apenius, aged 150 years.

Brewer, William, of Chichester, died 1822, aged 102.

Black, George, of Greenfield, parish of Deskford, N.B., died 1826, aged 104 years. He was in early life brought up as a gardener, and which occupation he continued to follow through a number of years; but for the last seventy of his life he was what is termed in the language of the country "a pounde" to the Lord Finlay ter's family.

Bambles, Mrs., of Whitby, Yorkshire, died 1802, aged 94 years. She lived in the same house with two sisters, one older and the other younger than herself; both of whom were alive at the time of her decease. The elder was an unmarried lady, who had great vivacity of spirits, and frequently distinguished herself from her sisters, both of whom were widows, by the epithet of the "Young Maid." Bateman, Mrs., widow, of Aldbrough, York, died 1802, aged 100.

Bowden, Joanna, an inmate of the parish workhouse, Wedcombe, Dorset, died 1802, aged 103. She retained the entire possession of all her faculties to the last.

Two females in humble station in life, but distinguished for their industrious and orderly habits, lived together for many years in a cottage at Westhide, Herefordshire, and expired within twelve hours of each other, each aged 90, in the year 1800.

Bird, Mary, an inmate of St. Pancras workhouse, London, died 1800, aged 104. She enjoyed the most perfect health up to within a very brief period of her decease, and ate her dinner as usual the very day on the evening of which she died.

Belgrave, Rev. J., Rector of Preston, Rutlandshire, and North Kibworth, Leicestershire, held the former living

G

through the long period of sixty-eight years, and died 1802, aged 93.

94.

Banton, Mrs., of Ticknal, Derbyshire, died 1804, aged She was mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother to 192 descendants.

Baker, Mrs., widow, of Hereford, died 1804, aged 100. She had always led an abstemious and industrious life: her memory to the last was very clear and retentive, and her sight so perfect that she could see to read any ordinary print without the use of glasses.

Barnard, Grace, a maiden lady, died 1804, aged 101. This is another instance in addition to several previous ones, and which will be followed by numerous similar cases, in contravention of a popular error, that unmarried women never attain to great longevity.

Bullard, Elizabeth, widow, of Gainsborough, died 1804, aged 107. She well remembered the arrival of George I. in England. She retained the complete use of all her natural faculties, and particularly her sight, to the end of her days; and at last died composedly, without either sickness or pain-the wheels of life coming gently to a stand still without either shock or apparent impediment of any kind.

Burgess, John, of Newtown, Cheshire, died 1804, aged 104. During the whole course of his long life he never had any illness till within a few days of his decease, but continued up to that time to follow the employments by which he ordinarily earned his bread-churning butter at several farm-houses, and filling up the residue of his time in cutting pegs for the use of shoemakers; thus presenting a remarkable instance of persevering industry in so old a man.

Booth, Prudence, widow, of Liverpool, died 1805, aged 109.

Barry, Rev. Martin, died 1805, aged 100. He was vicar