OfOXFO^V^SHI^E. i 9l 



begotten children at fixty or eighty years old : for which he in- 

 ftances in Volufius Satur ninths, who on Dame Cornelia, of the 

 lineage of the Scipio's, begat Volufiu* Saturninm (who afterward 

 was Conful) at fixty two years old and upwards, Cato Cenforius, 

 fays the fame Pliny (anceftor to Cato who flew hinifelf ztVtica') 

 begat a fon on the daughter of Saloniws his Vaffal, after he was 

 part: 80 years of age ; and King Ma ffini/fi, another, whom he cal- 

 led Methymathnws, when he was eighty fix. But as to wome n, he 

 is pofitive that they are paft child- bearing at fifty, and that for the 

 moft part their cufiomary purgations ftop at forty. 



8. But I met with an inftance.at Sbetford near Banbury, that 

 proves him plainly miftaken, where I faw and fpoke with one 

 Catharine Tayler, that had a fon then living and lufty, inthefixti- 

 eth year of her age, which was teftified alfo to me by many there 

 about.And I have fince heard of one Good wife Harvey ofSmitben- 

 green, in the PariUiof Leigh, within three miles of Worcefier? 

 that is now with child in her fixty third year, which are inftances 

 wonderful rare, and fcarce heard of in other Countrys ; though 

 we are informed indeed by Dr. Boat\ that amongft the women 

 in Ireland, there are feveral found who do not only retain their 

 Catamenia, but even their fruitfulnefs, above the age of fifty, and 

 fome till that of fixty years whereof he tells us, his brother knew 

 fome, who being above three/core years old, did not only con- 

 ceive and bring forth children, but nurfed them, and brought 

 them up with their own milk : which alfo as we are acquainted by 

 Qui. Fi/o *, is very common in Brafil. 



9. As in the child-bearingof women, and the accidents attend- 

 ing it,l have met with alfo fomwhat extraordinary in their growth, 

 which muft be ranked among the accidents that have befallen the 



fix during their courfe of life ; and fuch is the growth of one 

 Philippa French, born at Milcomb in this County, now fix or feven 

 and thirty years of age, and a marryed woman, having all her 

 parts proportionable, and of good fymmetry, yet wanting half an 

 inch of a yard in height ' which is fomwhat lower than Manius 

 Maximum, or M. Tullius, who as Varro reports, were each but two 

 -cubitsh'igh, and yet they were Gentlemen and Knights of Rome : 

 but higher then Conopas the Dwarf of Julia, Neece to Auguftus, 



' Natural Hiftory of Irelandychap. 2? > fiB. 1. * Gul.Pifo } de India utriufque re Nat , & Med.lib.i \ 

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B b 2 who 



