ol. His
usual food was eggs, and he rarely tasted meat. He habitually drank tea
and a well-sweetened cordial of his own recipe. He was married four
times during his life, taking his fourth wife when he was eighty-four.
By her he had seven children and at his death she was pregnant with the
eighth child.

Pliny mentions cases of men begetting sons when past the age of eighty
and Plot speaks of John Best of the parish of Horton, who when one
hundred and four married a woman of fifty-six and begat a son. There
are also records of a man in Stockholm of one hundred who had several
children by a wife of thirty.

On August 7, 1776, Mary, the wife of Joseph Yates, at Lizard Common not
far from London, was buried at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven.
She had walked to London in 1666, and was hearty and strong at one
hundred and twenty, and had married a third husband at ninety-two.

A case without parallel, of long survival of a deaf mute, is found in
Mrs. Gray of Northfleet, Kent, who died in 1770, one hundred and
twenty-one years old. She was noted for her cheerful disposition, and
apparently enjoyed life in spite of her infirmity, which lasted one
hundred and twenty-one years.

Macklin the actor was born in 1697 and died in 1797. Several years
before his death he played "Shylock," displaying great vigor in the
first act, but in the second his memory failed him, and with much grace
and solemnity he advanced to the foot-lights and apologized for his
inability to continue. It is worthy of remark that several instances of
longevity in Roman actresses have been recorded. One Luceja, who came
on the stage very young, performed a whole century, and even made her
public appearance in her one hundred and twelfth year. Copiola was said
to have danced before Augustus when past ninety.

Influence of Stimulants, etc.--There have been men who have attributed
their long lives to their excesses in stimulants. Thomas Wishart of
Annandale, Dumfries, died in 1760 at one hundred and twenty-four. He
had chewed tobacco one hundred and seventeen years, contracting the
habit when a child; his father gave it to him to allay hunger while
shepherding in the mountains. John de la Somet of Virginia died in 1766
aged one hundred and thirty. He was a great smoker, and according to
Eaton the habit agreed with his constitution, and was not improbably
the cause of his long health and longevity. William Riddell, who died
at one hundred and sixteen