LIFE AND DEATH. 407 



in that state : and the like happened in our days in the 

 person of a player, buried at Cambridge. I remember to 

 have heard of a certain gentleman that would needs make 

 trial, in curiosity, what men did /eel that were hanged ; so 

 he fastened the cord about his neck, raising himself upon 

 a stool, and then letting himself fall, thinking it should 

 be in his power to recover the stool at his pleasure, which 

 he failed in, but was helped by a friend then present. He 

 was asked afterward what he felt ; he said he felt no pain, 

 but first he thought he saw before his eyes a great fire, and 

 burning ; then he thought he saw all black, and dark ; 

 lastly, it turned to a pale blue, or seawater green ; which 

 colour is also often seen by them which fall into swoonings. 

 I have heard also of a physician, yet living, who recovered 

 a man to life which had hanged himself, and had hanged 

 half an hour, by frications and hot baths ; and the same 

 physician did profess, that he made no doubt to recover 

 any man that had hanged so long, so his neck were not 

 broken with the first swing. 



The Differences of Youth and Old Age. 



To the sixteenth article. 



1. The ladder of man s body is this, to be conceived, to 

 be quickened in the womb, to be born, to suck, to be weaned, 

 to feed upon pap, to put forth teeth the first time, about 

 the second year of age,*to begin to go, to begin to speak, to 

 put forth teeth the second time, about seven years of age, 

 to come to puberty about twelve or fourteen years of age, 

 to be able for generation, and the flowing of the menstrua, 

 to have hairs about the legs and arm holes, to put forth a 

 beard; and thus long, and sometimes later, to grow in 

 stature, or to come to full years of strength and agility, to 

 grow gray and bald ; the menstrua ceasing, and ability to 

 generation, to grow decrepit, and a monster with three 

 legs, to die. Meanwhile the mind also hath certain periods, 

 but they cannot be described by years, as to decay in the 

 memory, and the like, of which hereafter. 



2. The differences of youth and old age are these : a 

 young man s skin is smooth and plain, an old man s dry 

 and wrinkled, especially about the forehead and eyes ; a 

 young man s flesh is tender and soft, an old man s hard ; a 

 young man hath strength and agility, an old man feels de 

 cay in his strength, and is slow of motion ; a young man 

 hath good digestion, an old man bad ; a young man s 

 bowels are soft and succulent, an old man s salt and 



