said to have been 140 years old, and his wife lived to be 120. Joseph
Stanley, of Aston, died in May, 1761, in his 106th year. Wesley, under
date of March 19, 1768, wrote of having seen George Bridgens, then in
his 107th year; Hutton, in noticing the long life of Bridgens, also
mentions one John Pitt who lived to be 100, a Mrs. Moore who reached
104, and an old market man who completed his 107th year. A Mr. Clarkson
died here, in February, 1733, aged 112. William Jennens, _the_ Jennens
of untold, but much coveted, wealth, died in June, 1798, aged 103. John
Roberts, of Digbeth, had a family of twenty-eight children, six by his
third wife, whom he married when nearly eighty, and lived to see his
103rd year, in 1792, dying July 6. Thomas Taylor, a cobbler, stuck to
his last until a week of his death, July 8, 1796, at 103. T. Blakemore
died November 12, 1837, aged 105. Mrs. E. Bailey, founder of the Female
Charity School, was also 105 at her death, December 2, 1854. Another old
lady was Elizabeth Taylor, who died at Sparkbrook, March 5, 1864, aged
104 years. Mary Hemming, of Moseley Wake Green, died December 5, 1881,
in her 104th year.

~Centenary Celebrations~, more or less worthy of note, are continuously
recurring, and the date of some few are here preserved. Our loyal
grandfathers honoured the hundredth, anniversary of the Revolution of
1688, by a public dinner, November 4, 1788. Old Bluecoat boys in like
manner kept the centenary of their school, August 24, 1824. Admirers of
the Philosopher Priestley chose All Fools' Day, 1831, as the fitting day
to celebrate the anniversary of his birth. The Centenary of the
Protestant Dissenting Charity Schools was worthily celebrated by the
raising of a special sum amounting to £1,305, as an addition to the
funds. In January, 1859, Robert Burns' anniversary was remembered by the
holding a supper in Aston Hall, at which only half-a-dozen Scotchmen
were present out of half-a-hundred guests. The Dissenting Ministers of