SIR PROVO WILLIAM PARRY WALLIS, R.N., G.C.B., Senior Admiral of the Fleet, was a hundred years of age on the 12th of last month. Sir Provo, now the oldest naval officer alive, was born at Halifax, in Nova Scotia. At thirteen he fought his first engagement, at seventeen was made lieutenant, and went through several fierce encounters with the French. At twenty-two, the age at which our first portrait shows him, he was second lieutenant of the _Shannon_ on the famous day when that gallant vessel was challenged by the American frigate _Chesapeake_. The ships met; a desperate fight ensued; the captain of the _Shannon_ was disabled, and Lieutenant Wallis was called upon to take command, both of his own ship and of the captured enemy. For his gallantry on this occasion he was made commander. Subsequently he rose to be vice-admiral, admiral, and admiral of the fleet. It is the rule for admirals to retire from active service at the age of seventy; but Sir Provo enjoys the unique honour, which he owes entirely to his reputation as a gallant warrior, of having been retained, by a special Order in Council, on the active list for life. Sir Provo now resides at the village of Funtington, near Chichester, where his striking face and figure, as represented in our second portrait, are familiar to every inhabitant of the place. For the first of the above portraits we are indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Brock, of Sydenham. [Illustration: _From a_| AGE 100. |_Photograph._] GEORGE R. SIMS. BORN 1847. Our first two portraits represent Mr. George R. Sims before he had become famous, though at sixteen he was already a keen observer of life and character. At twenty-four he was writing for several magazines and papers, and six years later he became a member of the staff of _The Referee_, under the now celebrated _nom de plume_ of "Dagonet." His first play, "Crutch and Toothpick," was produced in 1879 with great success. Then came, in 1881, "The Lights o' London"--a play which has now been running for ten years. [Illustration: _From a_| AGE 7. |_Photograph._] [Illustration: _From a_| AGE 16. |_Photograph._] [Illustration: _From a Photo. by_| AGE 24. |_G. & R. Lavis._] [Illustration: _From a Photo. by_| AGE 42. |_Bassano._] [Illustration: _From a_| AGE 17. |_Daguerreotype._] [Illustration: _From a Photo. by_| AGE 38. |_Lock & Whitfield_] MR. B. L. FARJEON.