328 
that the children “ require parental 
guidance for more-than twenty years), 
thus/we: arrive at: seventy befone our, 
obligations»to. our offspring cease.’’> 6 [ic 
~, BNow,'Sir, as far;as the mother,is con-, 
cernedy the Jimit prescribed as the basis 
of the-doctor’s argument will-be admit- 
. tedtosbé sufficiently accurate; but in 
whatirelates:to fathers, upon whom, by 
the!\way, the’ obligations towards the 
male «children, at least, some time be- 
fore'they have approached their twen- 
tiéth» year, seém -principally to rest, 
theistatement appears to me, in its ne- 
gative inference, to be liable to too 
many-exceptions for the foundation of 
any thing like an argument that should 
presume: to scrutinize, or ascertain, the 
motives orthe laws of Providence : for 
certainly many men become fathers at 
amnuch=more advanced age. The High- 
lander of Nestorian renown, whom seve- 
ralyears ago I remember to have seen in 
the:streets of London, then in his 113th 
year, is recorded as having had a child, 
at that'time, only six or seven years old. 
A-far-famed wealthy and patriotic com- 
moter; who delayed entering into the 
holy: state of matrimony till he must 
have been, by his own account, full 
seyenty,* has: nevertheless, it is well 
known, been blessed with an heir to 
his»very amples estates.” But, not to 
dwell upon facts of mere rumour and 
ecordy1 may mention two instances 
within the small circle of my own per- 
sonal acquaintance, of men who have 
become) fathers when they had nearly, 
or :fully, attained ‘the age of eighty. 
One of them was Mr. Mortimer, author 
of the Commercial Dictionary, &c., who 
died not many years ago; the other, 
still more. extensively known in the 
political world, and for the persecu- 
tions his politics brought upon him, 
and whose death is still more recent, 
was Captain Samson Perry. And cer- 
tainly, Sir, that I may defend the ladies 
ofthese. prolific patriarchs from the 
sneers-of rakish scepticism, I must say 
(as I most truly may) that, if resem- 
blance’ be any evidence in such cases, 
nobody could look in the faces of the 
children, and doubt who were their 
fathers. It seems, indeed, to be a part 
ofthe ordinary process of nature, that 
fathers of advanced age should stamp 
their resemblance even more strongly 
poss Si3 seetad he 2 
Nestorian Progenitorship. 
_ Seyen or eight years old, the you 
[Nov. I, 
on their children’s forms and features, 
than in their youth, or prime of man- 
hood, .I remember, to. haveys n, the 
first-mentioned. of these esbeahte a- 
rents with. three “very fine. chi 
around him, the eldest then’ but” 
a little girl of only sg heya 
him sportively observe, that eyhada 
sister come to play with them. oe OTe 
day, who was only fifty-four.” ‘What a 
populous world we might have, if such 
examples were duly encouraged!” But 
what will Mr, Malthus say to all 
this ? ! ee eee 
_ That I may proye myself not tobe 
romancing, howeyer, and coining facts 
for the sake of an argument, let me ob- 
serve, that one of the three children of 
the patriarch I am thus celebrating, is 
at this time the ‘ingenious dentist, Mr. 
Mortimer, of Frith-street, Soho (men- 
tioned in an article of Review, in your 
last Supplement (p. 336) ;—the partner, 
or successor of the celebrated Mons. 
De Chemant, who married, T believe, 
one of the sisters of this intérestin 
group. Can you, Sir, give me as ood, 
or any account of the family of the 
other patriarch, Captain Perry; for 
methinks gentlemen of your kidney 
ought to know something, and'to have 
some solicitude about the offspring of 
those who have been the objects of 
political persecution. The ‘old stems, 
who have borne the peltings of the mer- 
ciless storm, are laid low ; but the friends 
of human liberty, if their beneyolence 
be equal to their professions, “should 
have some thought of the young scions, 
whose fences are not like to be im better 
repair, or the soil around them* better 
cleared, or enriched with needful ma- 
nure and aliment, in’ consequence of 
the tempests against which the’ parent 
trees have borne’ so ‘stoutly.*’Cap- 
tain Perry had several ‘childyven* who 
must be yet of tender years;and if I 
recollect rightly, had, at the time Of"his 
death, one scarcely out of arms,“and*his 
lady, I believe, was near the time of her 
confinement ; while the ‘cire:imstances 
he left ther in‘ must have’béeivery far 
from affluent. <I SE By, 
: tame ES. 
*.* We admit the reasonableness -of 
N.B.’s inquiry; and-though itds.noet in.our 
power to afford any, ,information,on the 
subject, we shall be happy if, .by. in- 
sertion to his queries, we should prom 
some. investigation into the subj 
those whose curiosity might be hk 
of any advantage “to ‘the orphan’ 
question “Esrr 9 98S 28 
