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MEAN AGE ATTAINED BY MALES OF VARIOUS CLASSES WHO HAD SURVIVED THEIR
30TH YEAR, from 1758 to 1843. Deaths by accident or violence are excluded
Number
Average
Eminent Men*
Members of Royal Houses
97
64.04
—
Clergy
945
69.49
66.42
Lawyers
294
68.14
66.51
Medical profession
244
67.31
67.07
English aristocracy
1,179
67.31
—
Gentry
1,632
70.22
—
Trade and commerce
513
68.74
—
Officers in the Royal Navy
366
68.40
—
English literature and science
395
67.55
65.22
Officers of the Army
569
67.07
—
Fine Arts
239
65.96
64.74
* The eminent men are those whose lives are recorded in Chalmer's Biography, with some additions
from the Annual Register.
The sovereigns are literally the shortest lived of all who have the
advantage of affluence. The prayer has therefore no efficacy, unless the
very questionable hypothesis be raised, that the conditions of royal life
may naturally be yet more fatal, and that their influence is partly, though
incompletely, neutralized by the effects of public prayers.
It will be seen that the same table collates the longevity of clergy,
lawyers, and medical men. We are justified in considering the clergy to be
a far more prayerful class than either of the other two. It is their profession
to pray, and they have the practice of offering morning and evening
family prayers in addition to their private devotions, A reference to any of
the numerous published collections of family prayers will show that they
are full of petitions for temporal benefits. We do not, however, find that
the clergy are in any way more tong lived in consequence. It is true that
the clergy, as a whole show a life-value of 69.49, as against 68.14 for the
lawyers, and 67.31 for the medical men; but the easy country life and
family repose of so many of the clergy are obvious sanatory conditions in
their favour This difference is reversed when the comparison is made
between distinguished members of the three classes - that is to say,
between persons of sufficient note to have had their lives recorded in a
biographical dictionary. When we examine this category, the value of life
among the clergy, lawyers, and medical men is as 66.42, 66.51, and 67.07
respectively, the clergy being the shortest lived of the three. Hence the
prayers of the clergy for protection against the perils and dangers of the
