PARR

PARR, Thomas, or Old Parr, a remarkable Englishman, who lived in the reigns of ten kings and queens; married a second wife when he was 120, and had a child by her. He was the son of John Parr, a husbandman of Winnington, in the parish of Alderbury, in the county of Salop, where he was born in the year 1483. Though he lived to the vast age of upwards of 152 years, yet the tenor of his life admitted but of little variety; nor can the detail of it be considered of importance, further than what will arise from the gratification of that curiosity which naturally inquires after the mode of living which could lengthen life to such

extreme old age. Following the profession of his father, he laboured hard, and lived on coarse fare. Taylor the water poet says of him:

Good wholesome labour was his exercise,
Down with the lamb, and with the lark would rise;
In mire and toiling sweat he spent the day,
And to his team he whiffled time away:
The cock his night-clock, and till day was done,
His watch and chief sun-dial was the sun.
He was of old Pythagoras' opinion,
That green cheese was most wholesome with an onion;
Coarse meelin bread, and for his daily swig,
Milk, butter-milk, and water, whey, and whig:
Sometimes metheglin, and by fortune happy,
He sometimes sipp'd a cup of ale most nappy,
Cyder or perry, when he did repair
T' a Whitfun ale, wake, wedding, or a fair,
Or when in Christmas time he was a guest
At his good landlord's house among the rest:
Else he had little leisure time to waste,
Or at the alehouse huff-cap ale to taste.
Nor did he ever hunt a tavern fox;
Ne'er knew a coach, tobacco, or the ———.
His physic was good butter, which the foil
Of Salop yields, more sweet than Candy oil;
And garlic he esteem'd above the rate
Of Venice treacle or best mithridate.
He entertain'd no gout, no ache he felt,
The air was good and temperate where he dwelt;
While mavisles and sweet-tongued nightingales
Did chant him roundlays and madrigals.
Thus living within bounds of Nature's laws,
Of his long lasting life may be some cause.

And the same writer describes him in the following two lines:

From head to heel, his body had all over
A quick fet, thick fet, natural hairy cover.

The manner of his being conducted to London is also noticed in the following terms: "The right honourable Thomas earl of Arundel and Surrey, earl marshal of England, on being lately in Shropshire to visit some lands and manors which his lordship holds in that county, or for some other occasions of importance which caused his lordship to be there, the report of this aged man was signified to his honour, who hearing of so remarkable a piece of antiquity, his lordship was pleased to see him; and in his innate, noble, and Christian piety, he took him into his charitable tuition and protection, commanding that a litter and two horses (for the more easy carriage of a man so feeble and worn with age) to be provided for him; also, that a daughter of his, named Lucy, should likewise attend him, and have a horse for her own riding with him; and to cheer up the old man, and make him merry, there was an antique-faced fellow, with a high and mighty no-beard, that had also a horse for his carriage. These were all to be brought out of the

country to London by easy journeys, the charge being allowed by his lordship; likewise one of his lordship's own servants, named Bryan Kelly, to ride on horseback with them, and to attend and defray all manner of reckonings and expences. All which was done accordingly as follows:—

"Winnington is a parish of Alderbury, near a place called the Welch Pool, eight miles from Shrewsbury; from whence he was carried to Wem, a town of the earl's aforesaid; and the next day to Shifnal, a manor-house of his lordship's, where they likewise stayed one night: from Shifnal they came to Wolverhampton, and the next day to Birmingham, and from thence to Coventry. Although Master Kelly had much to do to keep the people off, that pressed upon him in all places where he came, yet at Coventry he was most oppressed, for they came in such multitudes to see the old man, that those that defended him were almost quite tired and spent, and the aged man in danger of being flitted; and, in a word, the rabble were so unruly, that Bryan was in doubt he should bring his charge no farther; so greedy are the vulgar to hearken to or gaze after novelties. The trouble being over, the next day they passed to Daintree, to Stony Stratford, to Radburne, and so to London; where he was well entertained and accommodated with all things, having all the aforesaid attendance at the sole charge and cost of his lordship." When brought before the king, his majesty, with more acuteness than good manners, said to him, "You have lived longer than other men, what have you done more than other men?" He answered, "I did penance when I was a hundred years old." This journey, however, proved fatal to him; owing to the alteration in his diet, to the change of the air, and his general mode of life, he lived but a very short time, dying the 5th of November 1635 (A); and was buried in Westminster Abbey. After his death, his body was opened; and an account was drawn up by the celebrated Dr Harvey, part of which we shall lay before our readers.

"Thomas Parr was a poor country man of Shropshire, whence he was brought up to London by the right honourable Thomas earl of Arundel and Surrey; and died after he had outlived nine princes, in the tenth year of the tenth of them, at the age of 152 years and nine months.

"He had a large breast, lungs not fungous, but sticking to his ribs, and distended with blood; a lividness in his face, as he had a difficulty of breathing a little before his death, and a long lasting warmth in his armpits and breast after it; which sign, together with others, were so evident in his body, as they use to be on those that die by suffocation. His heart was great, thick, fibrous, and fat. The blood in the heart blackish and diluted. The cartilages of the sternum not more bony than in others, but flexible and soft. His viscera were found and strong, especially the stomach; and it was observed of him, that he used to eat often by night and day, though contented with old

old cheese, milk, coarse bread, small beer, and whey; and, which is more remarkable, that he ate at midnight a little before he died. His kidneys were covered with fat, and pretty found; only on the interior surface of them were found some aqueous or serous abscesses, whereof one was near the bigness of a hen egg, with a yellowish water in it, having made a roundish cavity, impressed on that kidney; whence some thought it came that a little before his death a suppression of urine had befallen him; though others were of opinion, that his urine was suppressed upon the regurgitation of all the serosity into his lungs. Not the least appearance there was of any stony matter either in the kidneys or bladder. His bowels were also found, a little whitish without. His spleen very little, hardly equalling the bigness of one kidney. In short, all his inward parts appeared so healthy, that if he had not changed his diet and air, he might perhaps have lived a good while longer. The cause of his death was imputed chiefly to the change of food and air; forasmuch as coming out of a clear, thin, and free air, he came into the thick air of London; and after a constant plain and homely country diet, he was taken into a splendid family, where he fed high and drank plentifully of the best wines, whereupon the natural functions of the parts of his body were overcharged, his lungs obstructed, and the habit of the whole body quite disordered; upon which there could not but ensue a dissolution. His brain was found, entire, and firm; and though he had not the use of his eyes, nor much of his memory, several years before he died, yet he had his hearing and apprehension very well; and was able, even to the 130th year of his age, to do any husbandman's work, even thrashing of corn."

The following summary of his life is copied from Oldys's MS. notes on Fuller's Worthies: Old Parr was born 1483; lived at home until 1500, æt. 17, when he went out to service. 1518, æt. 35, returned home from his master. 1522, æt. 39, spent four years on the remainder of his father's lease. 1543, æt. 60, ended the first lease he renewed of Mr Lewis Porter. 1563, æt. 80, married Jane, daughter of John Taylor, a maiden; by whom he had a son and a daughter, who both died very young. 1564, æt. 81, ended the second lease which he renewed of Mr John Porter. 1585, æt. 102, ended the third lease he had renewed of Mr Hugh Porter. 1588, æt. 105, did penance in Alderbury church, for lying with Katharine Milton, and getting her with child. 1595, æt. 112, he buried his wife Jane, after they had lived 32 years together. 1605, æt. 122, having lived 10 years a widower, he married Jane, widow of Anthony Adda, daughter of John Lloyd of Gilsell, in Montgomeryshire, who survived him. 1635, æt. 152, he died; after they had lived together 30 years, and after 50 years possession of his last lease. See LONGEVITY.