Morden Park, Sunday, Nov. 23, 1813.
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:
1. Sarah Duchess of Marlborough.
2. Lady Sunderland.
3. Jack Spencer.
4. The first Lord Spencer.
5. The present Lord Spencer.
6. The Duchess of Devonshire.
7. Lady Morpeth.
8. Her children (the present Lord Carlisle and Duchess of
Sutherland).
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.
---------------------
Footnote 137:
Only seven; the name of the second Lord Spencer ought to be omitted.
Footnote 138:
Mr. Hatsell died 1820.
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_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.
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_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
5_l._ 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 4000_l._ per annum, and 10,000_l._
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.
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_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, solitâ benevolentiâ 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.
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