Nov. 19. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



489 



deprecated tlie notion that she was one of the old 

 inhabitants, led me to inquire more particularly 

 into the duration of life in that township. The 

 minister, the llev. W. Close, who has been the in- 

 cumbent since the year 1813, and who has had the 

 duties to perform, and the registers to keep, there- 

 fore, from about the period of the act which re- 

 quired the age to be stated, now forty years ago, 

 was most willing to give me aid and extracts from 

 thd burial register, from the commencement of 

 1813 to August, 1852, during which period 799 

 persons were buried. The extracts show these 

 extraordinary facts. 



Out of the 799 persons buried in that period, no 

 less than 263, or nearly one-third, attained the 

 age of 70. Of these two, viz. Mary Postgate, who 

 died in 1816, and Ann Stoneliouse, who died in 

 1823, attained respectively the ages of 101. Nine- 

 teen others were 90 years of age and upwards, 

 viz. one was 97, one was 96, one was 95, four 

 were 94, one was 93, five were 92, three were 91, 

 and three were 90. Between the ages of 80 and 

 90 there died 109, of whom thirty-nine were 85 

 and upwards, and seventy were under 85 ; and be- 

 tween the ages of 70 and 80 there died 133, of 

 whom sixty-five were 75 years and upwards, and 

 sixty-eight were between 70 and 75. In one page 

 of the register containing eight names, six were 

 above 80, and in another five were above 70. 



In this parish of Skelton there is now living a 

 man named Moon, 104 years old, who is blind 

 now, but managed a small farm till nearly or quite 

 100 ; and a blacksmith named Robinson Cook, 

 aged 98, who worked at his trade till May last. 



In the chapelry of Brotton, which adjoins 

 Skelton township, and has been also under the 

 spiritual charge of Mr. Close, the longevity is even 

 more remarkable. Out of 346 persons buried 

 since the new register came into force in 1813, 

 down to 1st October, 1853, no less than 121, or 

 more than one-third, attained the age of 70. One 

 Betty Thompson, who died in 1834, was 101 ; 

 nineteen were more than 90, of whom one was 

 98, two were 97, three were 95, one was 93, four 

 were 92, five were 91, and three were 90; there 

 were forty- four who died between 80 and 90 years 

 old, of whom nineteen were 85 and upwards, and 

 twenty-five were between 80 and 85 ; and there 

 were fifty- seven Avho died between the ages of 70 

 and 80, of whom no less than thirty-one were 75 

 and upwards. The average of the chapelry is in- 

 creased from the circumstance that sixteen bodies 

 of persons drowned in the sea in wrecks, and 

 whose ages were not of course very great, are in- 

 cluded in the whole number of 346 burials. That 

 celibacy did not lessen the chance of life, was 

 proved by a bachelor named Simpson, who died at 

 92, and his maiden sister at 91. 



I am told that the neighbouring parish of Up- 

 leatham has also a high character for longevity. 



but I had not the same opportunity of examining 

 the register as was afforded me by Mr. Close. 



And now for a Query. What other, if any 

 district in the north or south, will show like or 

 greater longevity ? William Dubkast Cooper. 



REV. JOSIAH PUIJ:.EN. 



Every Oxford man regards with some degree 

 of interest that goal of so many of his walks, 

 Joe Pullen's tree, on Headington Hill. So at 

 least it was in my time, now some thirty years 

 since. Perhaps the following notices of him, who 

 I suppose planted it, or at all events gave name 

 to it, may be acceptable to your Oxford readers. 

 They are taken from that most curious collection 

 (alas! too little known) the Pocket-books of Tom 

 Hearne, vol. liii. pp. 25-35., now in the Bodleian : 



"Jan. 1, 1714-15. Last night died Mr. Josiah Pul- 

 len, A.M., minister of St. Peter's in the East, and 

 Vice- Principal of Magdalen Hall. He had also a par- 

 sonage in the countrj'. He was formerly domestick chap- 

 lain to Bishop Sanderson, to whom he administered the 

 sacrament at his death. He lived to a very great age, 

 being about fourscore and three, and was always very 

 healthy and vigorous. He was regular in Jiis way of 

 living, but too close, considering that he was a single 

 man, and was wealthy. He seldom used spectacles, 

 which made him guilty of great blunders at divine 

 service, for he would officiate to the last. He admini- 

 stered the Sacrament last Christmas Day to a great 

 congregation at St. Peter's, which brought his illness 

 upon him. He took his B. A. degree May 2(J, 1654» 

 He became minister of St. Peter's in the East anno 

 1668, which was the year before Dr. Charlett was en- 

 tered at Oxford."— P. 25. 



" Jan. 7, Friday. This day, at four in the afternoon, 

 Mr. PuUen was buried in St. Peter's Church, in the 

 chapel at the north side of the chancell. All the 

 parishioners were invited, and the pall was held up by 

 six Heads of Houses, though it should have been by 

 six Masters of Arts, as Dr. Radcliffe's pall should have 

 been held up by Doctors in Physic, and not by Doctors 

 of Divinity and Doctors of Law." — P. 32. 



Dr. Radclifle's funeral had taken place in the 

 preceding month. 



In Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 181., 

 is the following epitaph of PuUen, drawn up by 

 Mr. Thomas W^agstaffe : 



" Hie jacet reverendus vir Josia Pullen, A. M., 

 Aul» Magd. 57 annos vice principalis, necnon hujusce 

 ecclesia; Pastor 39 annos. Obiit 31" Decembris, anno 

 Domini 1714, aetatis 84." 



From the notice of Thomas Yalden, in John- 

 son's Lives of the Poets, it appears that Yalden 

 was a pupil of Pullen. (See also Walton's Life 

 of Sanderson, towards the end.) I hope this may 

 elicit some farther account of a man whose name 

 has survived so long in Oxford memory. 



