VOL. III.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 321 



1 . That he was a poor countryman of Shropshire, whence he was brought 

 up by the Right Hon. Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry,* and that he 

 died,-}- after he had out-lived nine princes, and during the reign of the tenth, 

 at the age of 152 years and 9 months. 



2. That being opened after his death (Nov. 16) his body was found yet very 

 fleshy, his breast hairy, his genitals unimpaired, serving not a little to confirm 

 the report of his having undergone public censures for his incontinency ; espe- 

 cially seeing that after that time, viz. at the age of 120 years, he married a 

 widow, who owned, Eum cum ipsa rem habuisse ut alii mariti solent, et usque 

 ad 1 2 annos retroactos solitum cum ea congressum frequentasse. Further, that 

 he had a large breast, lungs not fungous, but sticking to his ribs, and distended 

 with much blood; a lividness in his face, as he had a difficulty of breathing a 

 little before his death, and a long-lasting warmth in his arm-pits and breast after 

 it. His heart was great, thick, fibrous, and fat. The blood in the heart 

 blackish and dilute. The cartilages of the sternum not more bony than in 

 others, but flexile and soft. His viscera very sound and strong, especially the 

 stomach ; and it was observed of him that he used to eat often by night and 

 day, though contented with old cheese, milk, coarse bread, small beer, and 

 whey; and, which is more remarkable, that he did eat at midnight a little be- 

 fore he died. His kidneys covered with fat, and pretty sound; only in the ante- 

 rior surface of them there were found some aqueous or serous abscesses, whereof 

 one was nearly as large as a hen's egg, with a yellowish water in it, having made 

 a roundish cavity, impressed in that kidney; whence some attributed a sup- 

 pression of urine, which took place a little before his death; though others 

 were of opinion, that his urine was suppressed upon the regurgitation of all the 

 serosity into the lungs. Not the least appearance was there of any stony mat- 

 ter either in the kidneys or bladder. His bowels were also sound, a little 

 whitish without. His spleen very little, hardly equalling the bigness of one 

 kidney. In short, all his inward parts appeared so healthy, that if he had not 

 changed his diet and air, he might perhaps have lived a good while longer. 



3. The cause of his death was imputed chiefly to the change of food and air; 

 for leaving a clear, thin, and free air, he came into the thick air of London, 

 and after a constant, plain, and homely country diet, was taken into a splendid 

 family, where he fed high, and drank plentifully of the best wines, whereupon 

 the natural functions of the parts of his body were over-charged, his lungs ob- 



* He was brought up to town in order to be showTi to the king (Charles L) 

 t November 14, l635. 



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