VI CENTENARIANISM 235 



only, if that be the limit of our " matter of life," we 

 must consult the statistics which are available, and 

 not try to draw any conclusions from these extreme 

 cases. What will lengthen and what shorten life, 

 however, becomes a question of general longevity, and 

 this we did not propose to ourselves to discuss on the 

 present occasion. We may, nevertheless, notice that 

 everything seems to show that the appliances of 

 civilised life, and quiet and regular habits, are the 

 chief conditions of long life. Europeans are, it seems, 

 longer lived than other men ; and Englishmen than 

 French, Germans, Swedes, or Belgians, as far as sta- 

 tistics tell us. In Lord Bacon's time there was a pre- 

 judice in favour of the wild Irishmen " Hiberni 

 sylvestres," as he calls them, who were in the habit 

 of smelling the fresh earth and drinking infusions of 

 saffron. Statistics and Saxon domination have 

 deprived Ireland of this pre-eminence in longevity. 

 We also find from statistics, comparing the expecta- 

 tion of life at the age of sixty, given by various 

 authorities, that in England agricultural labourers of 

 that age, belonging to friendly societies, and hence 

 sober, well-to-do men, stand first, and may expect to 

 live nearly eighteen years longer, whilst confirmed 

 drunkards stand last, with only half that chance of 

 life. The females of the aristocracy come next to the 

 labourers, with sixteen years and a half; the male 

 members of the aristocracy next, with only fourteen 

 and a half; clerks follow, with twelve and a half; 

 men in Liverpool, with twelve ; miners, with eleven 

 and three-quarters ; whilst sovereigns of all countries 



