ANIMALS. 



his seeming want of passion, lengthened out 

 his life to above a hundred. It was re- 

 markable of him, that nothing could vex or 

 make him uneasy ; every occurrence seemed 

 equally pleasing ; and no event, however un- 

 fortunate, seemed to come unexpected." How- 

 ever, the term of life can be prolonged but for 

 a very little time by any art we can use. We 

 are told of men who have lived beyond the 

 ordinary duration of human existence; such as 

 Parr, who lived to a hundred and forty-four ; 

 and Jenkins, to a hundred and sixty-five ; yet 

 these men used no peculiar arts to prolong life ; 

 on the contrary, it appears that these, as well 

 as others, remarkable for their longevity, were 

 peasants accustomed to the greatest fatigues, 

 who had no settled rules of diet, but who often 

 indulged in accidental excesses. Indeed, if we 

 consider that the European, the Negro, the 

 Chinese, and the American, the civilized man 

 and the savage, the rich and the poor, the in- 

 habitant of the city and of the country, though 

 all so different in other respects, are yet entirely 

 similar in the period allotted them for living ; 

 if we consider that neither the difference of 

 race, of climate, of nourishment, of conveni- 

 ence, or of soil, makes any difference in the 

 term of life ; if we consider that those men 

 who live upon raw flesh, or dried fishes, upon 

 sago, or rice, upon cassava, or upon roots, 

 nevertheless live as long as those who are fed 

 upon bread and meat ; we shall readily be 

 brought to acknowledge, that the duration of 

 life depends neither upon habit, customs, or the 

 quantity of food ; we shall confess, that no- 

 thing can change the laws of that mechanism 

 which regulates the number of our years, and 

 \vhich can chiefly be affected only by long fast- 

 ing, or great excess. 



If there be any difference in the different 

 periods of man's existence, it ought principally 

 to be ascribed to the quality of the air. It has 

 been observed, that in elevated situations there 

 have been found more old people than in those 

 that were low. The mountains of Scotland, 

 Wales, Auvergne, and Switzerland, have fur- 

 nished more instances of extreme old age, than 

 the plains of Holland, Flanders, Germany, or 

 Poland. But, in general, the duration of life 

 is nearly the same in most countries. Man, if 

 not cut off by accidental diseases, is often found 

 to live to ninety or a hundred years. Our 

 ancestors did not live beyond that date : and, 



since the times of David, this term has under- 

 gone little alteration. 



If we be asked, how in the beginning men 

 lived so much longer than at present, and by 

 what means their lives were extended to nine 

 hundred and thirty, or even nine hundred and 

 sixty years ; it may be answered, that the pro- 

 ductions of the earth, upon which they fed, 

 might be of a different nature at that time 

 from what they are at present. " It may be 

 answered, that the term was abridged by Di- 

 vine command, in order to keep the earth 

 from being overstocked with human inhabi- 

 tants; since, if every person were now to live 

 and generate for nine hundred years, mankind 

 would be increased to such a degree, that 

 there would be no room for subsistence : so 

 that the plan of Providence would be altered ; 

 which is seen not to produce life without pro- 

 viding a proper supply." 



But to whatever extent life may be prolong- 

 ed, or however some may have delayed the 

 effects of age, death is the certain goal to 

 Avhich all are hastening. All the causes of de- 

 cay which have been mentioned contribute 

 to bring on this dreaded dissolution. How- 

 ever, nature approaches to this awful period 

 by slow and imperceptible degrees; life is 

 consumed day after day; and some one of 

 our faculties, or vital principles, is every hour 

 dying before the rest ; so that death is only 

 the last shade in the picture ; and it is proba- 

 ble that man suffers a greater change in going 

 from youth to age, than from age into the 

 grave. When we first begin to live, our lives 

 may scarcely be said to be our own ; as the 

 child grows, life increases in the same propor- 

 tion ; and is at its height in the prime of man- 

 hood. But as soon as the body begins to de- 

 crease, life decreases also ; for as the human 

 frame diminishes, and its juices circulate in 

 smaller quantity, life diminishesand circulates 

 with less vigour ; so that as we begin to live 

 by degrees, we begin to die in the same man- 

 ner. 



Why then should we fear death, if our lives 

 have been such as not to make eternity dread- 

 ful ? Why should we fear that moment, which 

 is prepared by a thousand other moments of 

 the same kind ? the first pangs of sickness be- 

 ing probably greater than the last struggles 

 of departure. Death, in most persons, is as 



