"We must resign; Heaven his great soul doth claim In storms as loud as his immortal fame. His dying groans, his last breath shakes our isle, And trees uncut fall for his funeral pile; About his palace their broad roots were tost Into the air--so Romulus was lost. New Rome in such a tempest mist their King, And from obeying fell to worshipping. * * * * * "Nature herself took notice of his death, And sighing swell'd the sea with such a breath, That to remotest shores her billows rould, The approaching fate of their great Ruler told." [Footnote 6: Vide _Three Poems upon the Death of his late Highnesse Oliver, Lord Protector_, written by Waller, Dryden, and Sprat. 4to. London, 1659.] The ensuing night, Carrington adds, was serene and peaceful. (See his _Life of Cromwell_, 1659, p. 223.) Ludlow, in his Memoirs, also notices the storm. On the afternoon of Monday, August 30, he set out for London. He says: "On the Monday afternoon I set forward on my journey (from Essex); the morning proving so tempestuous that the horses were not able to draw against it; so that I could reach no further than Epping that night. By this means I arrived not at Westminster till Tuesday about noon." A. GRAYAN. AUTHENTICATED INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY. (Vol. v., pp. 178. 296.) O. C. D. has avowed himself incredulous as to the reality of the reported remarkable ages of the old Countess of Desmond, Jenkins, Parr, &c., and he suggests that there should be unquestionable evidence of such extraordinary deviations from the usual course of human life before we credit them. I confess myself of the same way of thinking; and perhaps my doubts have been strengthened from the circumstance, that, although the longevity of members of the Society of Friends is well known at the insurance offices, I do not recollect an instance of any one attaining one hundred years in the United Kingdom. Upwards of ninety is not uncommon, from eighty to ninety common; and more than one-third of the whole deaths are from seventy upwards. There was a well-authenticated instance of a "Friend" in Virginia, named William Porter, who attained one hundred and seven years, who could hoe Indian corn a year previous to his death; but it was considered a rare occurrence in America. As some of the readers of "N. & Q." may be curious in such matters, the following is an accurate statement of the ages at the time of death of members of the Society of Friends in the past two years. The extra number of females arises from the greater number of males who leave the society, or are excommunicated or emigrate. The average duration of life in these two years appears about 52 years 6 months 4 days. The number of members in the society in the United Kingdom is computed at 19,000 or 20,000. In America they are far more numerous.