104 Account of a Cente 



walks perfectly ii|)riglit. There is no 

 Contraclioii of her limbs. Her pulse is 

 regular, of f;o<xl strength, and beats 

 about ninety in a minute. Her rc.sj)ira- 

 tiou is easy and uniforrn. Slio slefps 

 miJcli, has a good appetite, and t^ene- 

 rally has an aiviiic evacuation twice or 

 three times a-wcek ; but sometimes only 

 once. 



She has led an active and industrious 

 life; and in general has enjoyed gooil 

 health. She never had any blooil drawn, 

 nor took any medicines, excepting once 

 an opium \\\\\, for a cough, which made 

 her so sick and ill, that her life was 

 almost dcs[)airfcd of. Her husband 

 rented a corn-mill at Melmerby, and 

 she was then in the habit of rising at 

 three o'clock in the morning, and going 

 with carts to Alston, a distance of 

 eleven miles, over one of the wildest, 

 coldest, and most dreary, parts of Cum- 

 berland. When she was seventy-two or 

 seventy-three years of age her husband 

 died, and she was afterwards employed 

 as housekeeper to a farmer at Old 

 Town. She then regularly drove ponies 

 laden with corn, to Carlisle and Penrith 

 markets ; each place being about nine 

 miles distance from her residence. 

 When ninety years of age, she used to 

 reap during the harvest ; tiie person 

 with whouj she is now living tells me, 

 she would walk a mile to the field, carry 

 her ridge with the other reapers, and 

 walk home at night, I'rom her youth 

 licr chief employment has been spinning 

 and Working in husbandry ; and she has 

 been very active and laborious. 



Her diet has been of the plainest 

 kind ; she generally lived abstemiously, 

 but did not object to drink a little ale or 

 spirits occasionally. For some years 

 past she has lived chiefly upon tea, 

 which she likes strong, and takes with 

 cream, but without sugar. Sometimes 

 she has a little milk or broth, but tea is 

 her favourite food ; and she has often 

 taken it three times a-day. She began 

 to drink tea about sixty-live years ago, 

 wlien she had a present of some made to 

 her by Mr. Pattinson, of Melmerby. 

 She used, at tiiat time, to boil it in the 

 kettle. She has always been accus- 

 tomed to a warm dress, and generally 

 wore flannel next her shift. Within the 

 last three years she rose early in the 

 morning, cleaned the fire-irons, put on 

 the fire, and wrought all kinds of house- 

 work. Until three months ago, she 

 spun linen-yarn with a spinning-wheel, 

 whicli is a common occupation among 

 the peasantry of Cumberland. The 

 yarn she span was line, and of a good 



tiarian at Penrith, [March I, 



quality. I lately saw a very handsome 

 table-cloth that had been made of it; 

 and it is worthy of remark, that Ibis 

 table-cloth was spun by her when 106 

 years of.age, and woven by a blind man. 



Notwillistanding the many circum- 

 stances tliat abridge life, it is not at pre- 

 sent a very rare thing to meet with per- 

 sons upwards of 100 years of age ; and if 

 is a mistaken notion to suppose, that 

 men do not live so long now as for- 

 merly. When the population of Great 

 Britain was taken in 1821, there were in 

 England fifty-seven men and 111 wo- 

 men, of 100 years of age and upwards; 

 in Wales, there were three men and 

 eighteen women ; and in Scotland, forty 

 men and sixty-two women ; making a 

 total of 291 persons. But the ages of 

 one-ninth part of the population were 

 not obtained, nor is the exact age of any 

 individual mentioned ; so that we cannot 

 ascertain, from the returns, how much 

 some of them might exceed a century. 

 It is stated, that many of them were up- 

 wards of 100; but as no question was 

 proposed by the returning officers, re- 

 specting the age of any person above 

 100, so no answer has been made to 

 that effect. The counties of England, 

 in which the most cases of longevity 

 were met with, in jiroportiou to the num- 

 ber of inhabitants, were Durham, Nor- 

 thimiberland, Cumberland, Monmouth, 

 Hereford, and the North Riding of 

 York. In Scotland, the shires of Ross 

 and Cromarty, and Inverness, furnished 

 the greatest number of instances ; and in 

 Wales, the counties of Brecon and 

 Pembroke. The results of the popula- 

 tion-acts afford satisfactory evidence, 

 that our ancestors did not enjoy the 

 same degree of health and longevity 

 that we do at jjresent. The annual 

 mortality has decreased nearly one-third 

 in forty years. In 1780, the rate of 

 mortality was taken at one in forty ; in 

 1795, at one in forty-five ; in 1801, at one 

 in forty- seven ; in 1811, at one in fifty- 

 two ; and in 1821, the results of the cen- 

 sus show a mortality of one in fifty- 

 eight. The limits of human life arc the 

 same now as formerly, and will probably 

 always continue the same ; but more 

 pel sons live now to an advanced age 

 than in former times. 



This country has become more fa- 

 vourable to health and longevity, since 

 more attention has been paid to the 

 cleanliness and ventilation of our houses 

 and large towns ; and since m armer 

 clothing, and a more nourishing and 

 more easily digestible diet, have been 

 employed. 



For 



