fioned by their being exempted, by the certainty of their fubfiftence, from thofe fears of want which fo frequently diftract the minds, and thereby weaken the bodies of all people.

Life-rents have been fuppofed to have the fame influence in prolonging life. Perhaps the defire of life, in order to enjoy, for as long as poffible, that property which cannot be enjoyed a fecond time by a child or relation, may be another caufe of the longevity of perfons who live upon certain incomes.

It is a fact, that the defire of life is a very powerful stimulus in prolonging it, efpecially when that defire is fupported by hope. This is obvious to phyficians every day. Defpair of recovery is the beginning of death in all diseases.

But obvious and reasonable as the effects of equanimity of temper are upon human life, there are fome exceptions in favour of paffionate men and women having attained to a great age. The morbid, stimulus of anger, in thefe cafes, was probably obviated by lefs degrees, or lefs active exercises of the understanding, or by the defect or weakness of fome of the other ftimuli which kept up the motions of life.

5. Matrimony.

In the courfe of my inquiries, Imet with only one perfon, beyond eighty years of age, who had never been married. I met with feveral women, who had born from ten to twenty children, and fuckled them all: I met with one woman, a native of Herefordshire in England, who is now in the hundredth year of her age, who bore a child at fixty, and frequently fuckled two of her children (though born in fucceffion to each other) at the fame time. She had paffed the greatest part of her life over a washing tub.

ftance of a weaver, a fecond of a silverfmith, and a third of a fhoemaker, among the number of old people, whofe hiftories have fuggefted thefe obfervations.

6. I have not found fedentary employments to prevent long life, where they are not accompanied by intemperance in eating or drinking. This obfervation is not confined to literary men, nor to women only, in whom longevity, without much exercife of body, has been frequently obferved. I met with one in

7. I have not found that acute, nor that all chronic diseases fhorten life. Dr Franklin had two fucceffive vomicas on his lungs before he was forty years of age. I met with one man beyond eighty who had furvived a moft violent attack of the yellow fever; a fecond who had feveral of his bones fractured by falls, and in frays; and many who had frequently been affected by intermittents. I met with one man of eighty-fix, who had all his life been fubject to fyncope; another who had been for fifty years occafionally affected by cough; and two inftances of men who had been affected for forty years with obftinate head-aches. I met with only one perfon beyond eighty who had ever been affected by a diförder in the ftomach; and in him it arofe from occafional rupture. Mr John Strangeways Hutton, of Philadelphia, who died in the hundredth year of his age, informed me, that he had never puked in his life. This, circumftance is the more remarkable, as he paffed feveral years at fea when a young man. Thefe facts may ferve to extend our ideas of the importance of a healthful state of the ftomach if the animal economy, and thereby to add to our knowledge in the prognofis of difeafes, and in the chances of human life.

8. I have not found the lofs of teeth to affect the duration of human life, fo much as might be expected. Edward Drinker, who lived to be 103 years old, loit his teeth thirty years before he died, from drawing the hot fmoke of tobacco into his mouth through a short pipe.

9. I have not obferved baldnefs, or grey hairs, occurring in early or middle life, to prevent old age. In one of the hiftories furnished me by Le Syre, I find an account of a man of eighty, whofe hair began to aflume a filver colour when he was only eleven years of age.

By Dr Rufb, Philadelphia.
L. 2

A FAIRY TALE. THERE was a country woman, who, upon her intimacy with a Fairy, defired her to come and affift at her labour. The good woman was delivered of a daughter; when the Fairy (taking the infant in her arms) faid to the mother, "Make your choice, the child, if you have a mind, fhall be exquifitely handfome; excel in wit, even more in beauty, and be queen of a mighty empire; but, withal, unhappy: Or, if you had rather, she shall be an ordinary, ugly, country creature, like yourfelf; but contented with her condition," The mother immediately chofe wit and beauty for her daughter, at the hazard of any misfortunes.

As the child grew, new beauties opened daily in her face; till, in a few years, the furpaffed all the rural laffes that the oldeft people had ever feen. Her turn of wit was gentle, polite, and infinuating: fhe was of a ready apprehenfion, and foon learned every thing fo as to excel her teachers. Every holiday fhe danced upon the green, with a fuperior grace to any of her companions. Her voice was fweeter than any fhepherd's pipe: and he made the fongs the ufed to fing.

For fome time, fhe was not apprized of her own charms: when, diverting herfelf with her play-fellows upon the green flowery border of a fountain, the was furprifed with the reflection of her face; fhe obferved how different her features and her complexion feened from the reft of her company, and admired herself. The country flocking from day to day to obtain a fight of her, made her yet more fenfible of her beauty. Her mother, who relied on the predictions of the Fairy, began already to treat her as a queen; and fpoiled her by flatteries. The young damfel would neither fow, nor fpin, nor look after the sheep; her whole amufement was to gather flowers, to drefs her hair with them; to fing, and to dance in the fhade.

The king of the country was a very powerful king; and he had but one fon, whofe name was Florio; for which reafon his father was impatient to have him married. The young prince could never bear the mentioning any of the princeffes

Our thepherdefs was inftantly defired to caft off her country weeds, and to accept a habit richly embroidered with gold. In a few minutes fhe faw herfelf covered with pearls and diamonds; and a troop of ladies was appointed to serve her. Every one was attentive to prevent her defires, before the spoke; and she was lodged within the palace, in a magnificent apartment; where, inftead of tapestry, there were large pannels of looking-glafs, from the floor to the ceiling, that she might have the pleasure of feeing her beauty multiplied on all fides, and that the prince might admire her wherever he caft his eyes. Florio, in a few days quitted the chace, and all the manly exercifes, in which before he delighted, that he might be perpetually with his miftrefs. The nuptials were concluded; and, foon after, the old king died. Thereupon Almira becoming queen, all the counfels and the affairs of ftate were directed by her wif dom.

The queen-n mother, whofe name was Invidcffa, grew jealous of her daughter-in law. She was an artful, perverfe, crue woman; and age had fo much aggravate

her natural deformity, that fhe feemed a fury. The youth and beauty of Almira made her appear yet more frightful; fhe could not bear the fight of fo fine a crea ture: the likewife dreaded her wit and understanding, and gave herfelf up to all the rage of envy. "You want the foul of a prince," would fhe often fay to her fon," or you could not have married this mean cottager. How can you be fo abject, as to make an idol of her? Then The is as haughty, as if she had been born in the palace where the lives. You fhould have followed the example of the king your father: when he thought of taking a wife, he preferred me, because I was the daughter of a monarch equal to himself. Send away this infignificant Shepherdefs to her hamlet, and take to your bed and throne fome young princefs, whofe birth is anfwerable to your

own."

Florio continued deaf to the inftances of his mother; but one morning, Invideffà got a billet into her hands, which Almira had written to the king; this fhe gave to a young courtier, who, by her inftructions, fhewed it to the king, pretending to have received a letter from his queen, with fuch marks of affection as were due only to his majesty. Florio, blinded by his jealoufy, and the malignant infinuations of his mother, immediately ordered Almira to be imprifoned for life, in a high tower built upon the point of a rock that flood in the fea. There fhe wept night and day; not knowing for what fuppofed crime fhe was fo feverely treated by the king, who had fo paffionately loved her. She was permitted to fee no perfon but an old woman, to whom Invideffa had intrufted her, whose bufinefs,it was to infult her upon all occafions.

Now Almira called to mind the village, the cottage, the fweet privacy, and the rural pleafures fhe had quitted. One day as fhe fat in a penfive pofture, overwhelmed with grief, and to herself accufed the folly of her mother, who chofe rather to have her a beautiful unfortunate queen, than an ugly contented fhepherdefs, the old woman, who was her tormentor, came to acquaint her, that the

king had fent an executioner to take off her head, and that the must prepare to die. Almira replied, that she was ready to receive the stroke. Accordingly, the executioner, (fent by the king's order, at the perfuafion of Invideffa) appeared with a drawn fabre in his hand, ready to perform his commiffion; when a woman. ftept in, who faid fhe came from the queen-mother, to fpeak a word or two in private to Almira, before the was put to death. The old woman, imagining her to be one of the ladies of the court, fuffered her to deliver her meffage: but it was the Fairy, who had foretold the misfortunes of Almira at her birth; and had now affumed the likeness of one of Invideffa's attendants,

She defired the company to retire a while; and then spoke thus to Almira in fecret: "Are you willing to renounce that beauty which has proved fo fatal to you? Are you willing to quit the title of queen, to put on your former habit, and to return to your village?" Almira was tranfported at the offer. Thereupon the Fairy applied an enchanted vizor to her face. Her features inftantly became deformed; all the fymmetry vanifhed; and fhe was now as difagreeable as fhe had been handsome. Under this change, it was not poflible to know her; and the paffed, without difficulty, through the company who came to fee her execution. In vain did they fearch the tower; Almira was not to be found. The news of this escape was foon brought to the king, and to Invideffa, who commanded diligent fearch to be made after her, throughout the kingdom; but to no purpofe.

The Fairy, by this time, had reftored Almira to her mother; who would never have been able to recollect her altered looks, had the not been let into the cir cumftances of her ftory. Our thepherdefs was now contented to live an ugly, poor, unknown creature, in the village, where fhe tended fheep. She frequently heard people relate and lament over her adventures: fongs were made upon them, which drew tears from all eyes. often took a pleasure in finging thofe fongs with her companions, and would often

She

weep

James was early trained up in an opinion that he was born to govern, and, in confequence of this, he firft affumed the title of Sacred Majefly; with a view no doubt of impreffing his fubjects with an idea of the inviolability of his perfon, as well as the abfolutenefs of his power. Though poffeffed of these prejudices in a violent degree, yet his reign was far from oppreffive. In confequence of his erudition, he acquired a fpirit of toleration; and his attachment to epifcopacy, was more the effect of his political prejudices, than from a conviction of its fuperiority over other forms of religion.

his frequent harangues in favour of arbitrary power, and his giving himself up to the dominion of favourites. By the first he was in effect provoking a highfpirited people, at all times jealous of their liberties, to enter into a discussion of their rights, and which they afterwards did fo completely in the fucceeding reign: By the laft he alienated the affections of a powerful nobility, the only order of the state which could have any bias towards his notions of arbitrary power. His favourites, too, were generally chofen for their external accomplishments rather than their abilities, and thus he derived no advantage to counterbalance the odium which his partiality for them produced. To fuch a length did his blind attachment in this refpect proceed, that though he poffeffed fufficient difcernment to fee his errors in the choice of his favourites, he wanted refolution to discard them.

The two great errors of his reign were

CHARLES I.

THE character of Charles I. is fuch as every hiftorian must trace with equal admiration and regret; but, in drawing it, he muft feparate the man entirely from the prince.

Even by his greateft enemies, Charles is allowed to have been, by far the most accomplished gentleman of his timepolite, generous, affable, and honourable; his reception at the court of Spain in his youth, and the confent of that monarch to his marriage, was one of the strongest proofs of his uncommon merit. No one

ever gained more the esteem of those who were about his perfon; and his courtiers, fach was their attachment to the man, generously facrificed their own fortunes to his fupport. In the duties of private life, he was, perhaps, unfortunately too examplary.

When, however, we reverfe this flattering picture, and examine his conduct as a prince, these very qualities which exalted him as a man, feem to have been the cause of his ruin. The nice principles which directed, him in private life, rendered him too obftinate in his conduct as a king; and inftead of yielding, by a well-timed policy, to the juft demands of his fubjects, and the critical temper of the times, he confidered his honour and duty equally pledged to break none of his attachments, nor alienate any of his prerogatives. He was unlucky, too, in forming attachments to fuch as poffeffed the fame notions of arbitrary power with himfelf; a proof that he was not directed, like his father, by caprice in his choice, but by real principle: both Stafford and Laud were men, who, in point of a bilities and integrity, did honour to his judgment. His adherence alfo to epifcopacy, a point not to be omitted in delineating the character of Charles, evidently proceeded from his thorough conviction of its divine inftitution; and which he did not countenance as his father did, from its being connected with his own political ideas of government. Hence, in all his misfortunes, this was a point he obftinately perfevered in, and on no occount would facrifice it to the exigencies of his fituation.

The peculiar caft of Charles's features, we are told, ftrongly indicated this ferious temper of his mind. All the pictures of him are alike, owing to this melancholy turn of afpect, which is often the attendant of genius and the finer feelings, and which the ftatuary Bernini termed unfortunate. It was, indeed, in the period of his misfortunes, that the luftre of Charles' character truely fhone. No prince ever appeared to more advantage under adverfity; and even his enemies must allow, that if he did not act at all times as a prince, he, at least, died with the dignity of one. The calm

nefs of his demeanour during his trial, when compared with his conduct through life, cannot be afcribed to mere conftitutional fortitude; it must therefore be derived from a nobler fource, the influ ence of religion, joined with that natural elevation of mind with which he seems to have been born; but which, by taking a wrong bias, was, perhaps, the cause of many of the errors that ftained his government. Even his warmest friends must admit the criminality of his conduct on one hand, while his greatest enemies must equally allow the feverity of his treatment on the other; and his own faying, on feeing the foldier caned by his officer, for commiferating his prince, may be applied to himself: "his punishment exceeded his offence."

It was the great misfortune of Charles the First to fall early into bad hands. The afcendency of Buckingham over him in his youth, rivetted those hereditary notions of monarchy which proved fo fatal to him in the end, and the influence of his queen ferved to confirm them; while the feditious behaviour of parliament naturally ftrengthened the diflike of a mind, firm and haughty, againft innovation. Had Charles been left to himself, his reign might have had a fortunate termination; but, with all his faults, he must still be regarded as the greatest prince of the Stuart family.

[To be Continued.]

N.

ACCOUNT OF MR E. GIBBON,

AUTHOR OF THE DECLINE AND FALL

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, &c. MR GIBBON was born at Putney, in 1737. At an early age he was fent to the grammar-fchool at Kingfton, from which he was removed to Westminster

school. On his leaving that feminary, he went to Lausanne, where he studied under the father of the prefent Mrs Neckar, with whom he lived till his death on the moft friendly terms. bout 1768, he returned to England, and took poffeffion of his paternal eftates.

A

Under the adminiftration of his friend Lord North, he was chofen a member of parliament, and appointed a lord of

trade: