4797-) 
and thofe regions which lie within the 
temperate zones, are beft adapted to pro- 
mote long life; yet it is by no means con- 
fined*to any particular nation or climate. 
Crowded cities, and fwampy fituations, 
are, however, well known to be unfa- 
vourable to longevity in any country. 
Of the 107 inftances of great longe 
vity, only thirty are females, which 1s 
quite contrary to what might have been 
expecied from the general opinion of 
males being more fhort-lived than fe- 
males. In 1763, there were found in 
Sweden 988 females above 90 years of 
age, and only 527 males; and in almoft 
every place where accounts have bee 
taken, the number of females in the ad- 
vanced ftages of life has been found confi- 
derably greater than that of males: this 
difference in the duration of life between 
males and females has appeared great 
enough to induce the moft-able writer on 
the fubject of Life Annuities, to calculate 
feparate tables of the value of male and 
female lives, in which the latter uniformly 
"ar: found to exceed the former ; this wri- 
ter alfo ftates his opinion that the cir- 
cumftance of males being more fhort- 
lived than females, thouxzh arifing partly 
from the peculiar hazards to which men 
are fubject, ‘‘is owing principally to 
-fome particular delicacy in the ‘male con- 
ftitution, which renders it lefs durable.” 
fam not inclined to doubt the truth of an 
opinion which appears warranted by nu- 
merous and unexceptionable facts ; but it 
is dificult to account for more inftances 
of great longevity being found among 
males, when it appears that in the latter 
ftages of the ufual term of life, the expec- 
tation of males is lefs than that of fe- 
males.—At fome future opportunity I 
may probably trouble you with farther 
remarks on this fuvject. 
O. 13, 1797: Pelo@? 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
WHEN any colleétion of objeéts or of 
ideas becomes very numerous, it 
feems the common practice of mankind 
to divide them by fome {pecics of clafiifi- 
Cation, in order toaffitt the memory, and 
to prevent confufion. By degrees, the 
"arranzement into claffes, genera, and {pe- 
cies, has been adopted with great advan- 
tagein many different branches of {cience. 
But it fometimes ‘happens, that this 
claffification is delayéd, til the prejudices 
in favour-of the old denominations have 
Obtained fuch power over the public 
mind, that either from indolence or long 
Ys Montury Mac, XXIV. 
nq 
Longevity... Titles of Novels. 
i —- 
347 
habit, all appear averfe tothe introduc 
tion of new. terms in their vocabulary. 
Even thote whofe nicer habits of difcri- 
mination would make them wifh to exe 
prefs, by appropriate terms, the dif- 
tinétions which they feel to be juft, are 
often, from the dread of being accufed of 
pedantry and affectation, induced to re- 
linguifh their claim to accuracy of lan- 
guage, and are content to think with the 
wife and talk with the vulgar. In per- 
fons cf fuperior abilities, who mix much 
with the world, this compromife in trivial 
matters 1s often prudent, fometimes good- 
natured, and always polite. A man may 
{peak of an acquaintance under the gene-~ 
ra] denomination of a gentleman, without 
clailing him under the order of pedants, 
or genus of coxcombs, to whom he may 
belong.—But what in trivial inftances, is 
prudence, or politenefs, in other circum- 
ftances becomes indolence and weaknefs ; 
anid perfons of real good fenfe, who wifh 
well to the happinefs of mankind, will 
never, even in common converfation, 
willingly fuffer falfe ideas to be circus 
lated by inaccurate language. A word, or 
a name, frequently operates moft power= 
fully upon the ignorant; and whatever 
ideas they were originally taught to con- 
neét with that zame continue to govern 
them through life. It is to them a fuffi. 
cient intelleciual exertion to divide their 
moral ideas grofsly into good and bad ; 
and it is in vain to expect that they may 
be excited to alter an arrangement which 
has fo long appeared to them perfe&. 
No explanations can make them com- 
prehend, that circumftances modify our 
‘notions of bad and good, and that time 
may change the affociations of our ideas, » 
and may vary the original meaning of 
words. ‘Thefe people, who adhere fo 
pertinacioufly to their.own vocabulary, 
are equally obftinate in fuppart of the 
prudential maxims, which they frame out 
of terms thus erroneoufly defined, 
For inftance, in education, it was fome 
years ago an eftablifhed inaxim, that 
‘* Novels were bad things for young peo- 
ple.’ Lhe name novel was at this time 
given to produétions very different from 
thofe which it at prefent compreliends, 
The objections to ftories of intrigues, 
improbable adventures, and all the trath 
of a circulating library, are undoubtedly 
jut; but furely it is not wife to extend 
the fame cenfure to a clafs of books, 
which, though they bear the name 
of novels, have nothing in common 
with thofe pernicious productions. . Is it 
not an inaccuracy in language. to clafs the 
Zi merak 

is! s< Ht eee Sa re 
