My dear Lord,—I must correct the conclusion of your last letter, "and so the world goes on," to "and so the world goes off." In the same Marlborough family I have lived to see eight^[137] generations:

I saw Sarah in Lincoln’s-inn consulting Mr. Fazakerly, who stood close to her Grace’s chair; so, you see, I beat history out and out.^[138]...—From the Auckland Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 401.

Memory (page 75).

Professor Faraday, at the close of a Lecture on Gas Glass-house Furnaces, delivered at the Royal Institution in 1862, alluded, in an affecting manner, to his increasing loss of memory. There was a time, he observed, when he inclined to think that Memory was a faculty of secondary order; but he now feels its great importance; and the deficiency of that power, he said, would prevent him from again bringing before them any thing that was new; for he was often unable to recollect even his own precious researches, and he could no longer trust himself to lecture without notes.

Great Ages (page 114).

An old woman who died in 1858 in St. Patrick-street, Dublin, at the age of 110 years, distinctly remembered and described the appearance of Dean Swift, and added, that he never went outside the Deanery-house that he was not attended through the streets by a vast crowd of washed and unwashed admirers.

Mrs. Keith, of Newnham, Gloucestershire, who died in 1772, aged 133, left three daughters, aged 111, 110, and 100.

In 1862, a lady residing at Cheltenham received a second donation of 5l. from her Majesty the Queen, for an old man of 107 years of age, named William Purser, a native of Redmarley, but living in Cheltenham.—Worcestershire Chronicle.

In 1862, a curious fact occurred at Downton, showing how few individuals are required to connect distant periods of history with the present time. A man was buried in this parish whose father was born in the reign of William III., and that father lived in three centuries, having been born in 1698 and died in 1801.—Salisbury Journal.

In 1853, the Irish newspapers announced the death of Mrs. Mary Power, aunt of the celebrated Mr. Shiel, at the Ursuline Convent, Cork, at the age of 116 years; but this statement lacks legal evidence to prove it.

The obituary of the Times of January 21, 1863, records the decease of persons who had attained the following advanced ages, viz.: 92, 90, 82, 82, 82, 80, 78, 78, 76, 74, 72, 72, 72, and 70 years respectively.

Dr. Mead, grandfather of the celebrated physician and antiquary, died at Ware, in Hertfordshire, 1652, aged 148.

In Scawen’s Dissertation on the Cornish Tongue, written in the reign of Charles II., is mentioned a woman recently deceased, who was "164 years old, of good memory, and healthful at her age; living in the parish of Gwithian. She married a second husband after she was 80, and buried him after he was 80 years of age."

A Philadelphia Correspondent of Notes and Queries, No. 213, 1853, records the death of "Aunt Polly" (Mary Simondson), near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, at the age of 126 years.

Among the legacies bequeathed to the Middlesex Hospital in 1863, was one which is deserving of special notice, inasmuch as the donor, Mr. Cropper, exhibited a singular instance of rigid economy in his personal expenditure, combined with a bountiful and almost princely benevolence towards the poor. Mr. Cropper, who was 90 years old when he died, had, it appears, survived all his relations. He was a barrister-at-law, and lived in the most frugal manner in his chambers at Gray’s-inn. The amount of his property at the time of his decease is estimated at about 4000l. per annum, and 10,000l. in money, the whole of which he has bestowed on London charities, selecting Middlesex Hospital as his residuary legatee.

In the Express of February 11, 1863, it is recorded: Two octogenarians, named Joseph and John Fitzwalter, brothers, lived together with their sister in a house in Parliament street for a great number of years. The brothers had been brought up to the business of lace-designing, and the sister had acted in the capacity of housekeeper. Joseph, the elder one, was a short time ago attacked with bronchitis, under which he lingered for some time in much pain. On Wednesday last (February 4), however, he died, at the ripe old age of 84 years. The brother and sister of the deceased were much affected by his death, the brother showing excessive signs of grief. His grieving, however, was not long, for he expired in one hour after his brother. The death of two brothers, to whom she was devoutly attached, was a shock which the sister was unable to withstand; and on the morning fixed for their interment she also expired, at the age of 88 years.

Baron Maseres (page 149).

Baron Maseres long resided at Reigate, in a fine old brick mansion, about midway between the church and town. His remains rest in a vault in the churchyard towards the north-east; upon the tomb over which Dr. Fellowes has inscribed an epitaph in elegant Latinity, terminating thus: "Vale, vir optime! amice, vale, carissime; et siqua rerum humanarum tibi sit adhuc conscientia, monimentum, quod in tui memoriam, tui etiam in mortuis observantissimus Robertus Fellowes ponendum curavit, solit benevolenti tuearis."

On Sundays the Baron, bent with age, might be seen advancing up the nave of Reigate church; for he was a sound churchman, and testified his sincerity by making an Endowment for an Afternoon Sermon to be preached on Sundays, with this proviso, that, in case of non-observance of the bequest, the endowment should be given in bread to the poor. The chancels, with their faded pomp of effigied monuments, hatchments, and armorial glass, have little attraction compared with this interesting memorial of practical piety.