126 
Dr Barnes’ Notice of 
stone. Old age is strongly marked in her countenance and ge- 
neral appearance. Her forehead and face are much wrinkled ; 
her eyes are clear, but her eyelids are partially everted and af- 
fected with lippitude ; she has had no teeth these twenty years, 
but her gums are so firm, that she can masticate a piece of hard 
bread with comparative ease ; her hearing began to fail about 
three years ago, and has since gradually declined ; for the last 
three months she has been very deaf, and at present can scarcely 
hear any thing ; her sight is still good three years ago it was so 
good, that she had no occasion for glasses, and could thread a 
small needle ; her hair, which is flaxen, of a leaden cast, is thick 
and long, and has undergone very little change ; it has been a 
source of profit to her, as she has frequently sold a crop of it for 
10s., 15s., and even 20s. She had always a retentive memory ; 
when 106 years old, it was perfect, and she used to relate an 
account of the second Rebellion ; she said she remembered it 
well ; at that time she resided at Stockbridge as a servant, and 
saw some of the rebels hung on Penrith Fell, Mary Noble is a 
poor scholar, but can read a little ; and occasionally reads her 
Bible. For the last four or five years she has used a stick in 
walking ; but walks perfectly upright. There is no contraction 
of her limbs. Her pulse is regular, of good strength, and beats 
about 90 in a minute. Her respiration is easy and uniform. 
She sleeps much, has a good appetite, and generally has an al- 
vine evacuation twice or three times a-week ; but sometimes only 
once. She has led an active and industrious life ; and in gene- 
ral has enjoyed good health. She never had any blood drawn, 
nor took any medicines, excepting once an opium pill, for a 
cough, which made her so sick and ill, that her life was almost 
despaired of. Her Ijusband rented a corn-mill at Melmerby, 
and she was then in the habit of rising at three o’clock in the 
morning, and going with carts to Alston, a distance of eleven 
miles over one of the wildest, coldest, and most dreary parts of 
Cumberland. When she was seventy-two or seventy-three years 
of age her husband died, and she was afterwards employed as 
housekeeper to a farmer at Old Town. She then regularly drove 
ponies laden with corn, to Carlisle and Penrith markets ; each 
place being about nine miles distant from her residence. When 
ninety years of age, she used to reap during the harvest ; the 
