Jill Coulthard quotes: " to congratulate him on the prudent choice he had made, loudly applauding that philosophic disposition which would prefer the ripened charms of three-score, which cannot possibly suffer by change, to the blooming beauties of youth, which are known to be as fading as any flowers. " Wonderful. If only journalists could write like that now. and writes: >a childless widower for 15 years and was then aged 69. >Margaret was aged 26 ... In this case Margaret was able >to bear John a son and a daughter who inherited >considerable property I'm guessing that this sort of marriage was quite frequent. I seem to remember, for instance, that the MIREHOUSE family did this frequently (is that right, Dorothy?) and lived to very old ages. Very confusing when trying to construct a family tree. Chris chris@dickinson.uk.net