vie in that refped with any part of England of the feme dimenfions»
where there is no great town or city. |
s e c t . i. The inhabitants are ufually of middle ftature, healthy, ftrong,
Health. and a&ive, mining and fifhing enabling them.- to bear watching,
cold, and wet, much better than wherg there are no fuch occupations
: the miners particularly, who efeape accidents, and live temperately,
generally live to a great age; the alternate daily, ufe of
cold and heat, wet and dry, hardening thieir bodies equally againft
the diffèrent extremes of weather.
s e c t . n. Oür air, it muff be allowed, is very felt, and ^influences upon
A&- tender, fqualid, and negleded habits, proportionably fretting and
acrimonious; but to the natives in general i t .cannot be feid to be
unhealthy, as many inftances of long-life occurring ini Cornwall perhaps,
as in any part of Britain. Mr. Carew: (jyho .lived in the reign
of Eliz.) obfcrves *, that eighty and ninety years of age was ordinary
in every place ; and among other inftances of longevity, names onè
Polzew, who died a little while before; his writing, - aged one' hundred
and thirty years. Mr. Scawen, a gentleman of no lefs veracity,
in his M S ” tells us, that in the year 1^76, died a woman in the
parifh o f Gwythien (the narroweft, and therefore, as -to the air,
to be reckoned among the felteft parts of this county)-one hundred
and fixty-fbur years old, o f good memory, and 'healthful a t. that
age ; and at the Lizherd, where (expofed as this promontory is to
more lea on the eaft, weft, and fouth, than any part of Britain)
the air muft be as fait as any where, there are three late inftances
of people living to a great age : The firft is Mr. Cole, late minifter
of Landawidnek, (in which parilh the Lizherd is) who by the parifh
regifter, À. D. 16$ 3,' tfppèars to have been above one hundred
and twenty years oldp when he died \ Michael George, late fexton
o f the feme parilh, buried the twentieth of March, ibid, was more
than a hundred years old ; and being at the Lizherd with the Rev1,
and worthy Dr. Lyttelton, Dean of Exeter, in the year 1752, we
went to fee a venerable old man called Collins ; he-was then one
hundred and five years old, o f a florid countenance, flood near his
door leaning on Ids ftaff, talked fenfibly, was weary of life he feid,
and advilèd us never to wifh for old-age. He died in the year 17 54.
* Page 6r.
0 Pen. Car. Lyttelton, L L. D. Dean of
Exon.
t “ Was aged above one hundred and twenty
year» by far.” Regift. ibid.
1 Of this Mr. Thomas Cole, I find the follow-
lowing memorandum written in my Hakewclls
Apology, page 166, figned J. M.. (vfz. James
Millet, late Vicar of St. Juft): c| Thomas Cole,.
Minifter of and at the Lizard, went one morn on
foot from Lizard to Penryn, which is at leaft
thirteen miles, and returned again the fame day
on foote to Liz4, at which time he was at leaft
one hundred and .twenty years, and was met going
and coming by Mr. Richard Erifcy of Erifey, as
credible authors report.”
Some
Some inftances of the ftrength, and adivityof body among the s e c t , in.
C.or#ifli, Mr. Carew has given us (page 63), to which I refer; b u t Strength,
one inftance of the ftrength of the human thorax I have met with,
too remarkable to be paffed by in filence : Tuefday, March .22'
I 7S.7r between twelve at noon and one o’clock', John Chilew of
the parilh of Ludgvan, carrier, aged forty-one years, walking by
in d e n t fcjll. on ; his back'in . the’ way of
^ejcj^heel, anc&^gfore hjejeriuld extricate himfejf, the wheel took
Upon .hj^leftjftfeuld^, >bi;^ke his coffar-bone, 'and'wént off juft
^slPFrhis rightT^m-hote:;,the.iwheels were about: three inches and
withrirpui pfe|tes* and hails proportionably. -’ The
iW^ f^^figP'® th e waa^ipg^ be moderately confuted at fix hun-
14i.f Puufe-^f jgh t: 1% thti^aib were, ibur h1rx&sr*of tin of three
fe^dfed^ancy^n• pounds calk ©f brandy. two hundred and
;P.P^nds,: ifpme bafkets, with trifling weights ;reckon twenty
pounds: whichi.he lay Vras fevel; ,fo; that
had^tlK -fun preffHftejQf one half: ^Lleaftiof two ihnnfenri
iPhP IfU^dred ;aöd tem pouhds during the rpaflage^ofsthe, wheel. On
f ^ a y * April ij' .hei was Well enough; tobeoiqë ?oh foot to church
from; Ms own houfej (complained.only óf hri breaft b e in g
yghieh her;attributed to. the, buttons o f hifi coat being préffed
in ^ rd by;the;iun:of die wheel: he has followed his Calling.cycr fincc
in jdie fame manpe?, as fie before,.without any Snqonvemency.
^^Nlrtute ifi'fttong,- and moré perfèöly compacted ih fome fubjeössECT.iv.
tht®' ' o ^ ë # f it is rare that ftfe5 is alf; ■ (feféèfiveJ in * ftpy] DefcOv*
föfnié lriftaneres however there are, in which the human frame fe butbirth'
half?^fofrhed,- ahd: that diftorfetl. “ OMihe firft of June, A. D.
(>ï%4, tM w ife 'g fon e Rich^d Lower, dwelling at Huht’s-barrie
wfthlé' the parifbqf-St. Cferitiaif s, 'thé mgïft" dèhivéreci o f a
dSÜble1 birth ; the" one a perièö male child, the other feemed to
bélóP thé feme form and fex, vranting a head, but the heck thereof
advance Stfelf fcffièwhat abóv^tbe fhouldérs,/ on the left
jfidé'Whereof there grew a lock of hair of fomewhat lefs than an
inch in length; the upper part of the neck feemed raw and Moody,
but.overgrown with a perfèd fkin : it likewife wanted the left arm
(without any break of the fkin), and the thumb and little finger o f
the tight hand; the navel flood in the midft o f the breaft, where
all thd|j|ówels lay; $ yet the belly* thereof perfed; the feet had the
heels turning forwards, and the toes backward, and the legs lying
acrofs, of which the right had three, the left but two, and thofe
conjoined together with a third; nails likewife thereon that grew
out of the flefh V’
k From a MS of the late learned John Anftis, Efq; Garter King at Arms, communicated by the
Rev11. Dr. Milles, Pracentor of Exeter, j
4 F The