The Democratic advocate., 1879-03-29
Our @lio.
PERSONAL PEoUL1AR1TIEs.

taetfea - Mr. DlackDurn, OF hcnLucky, |
is tall and wiry. His is genuine Ken
lucky frame. He is as gaunt almost as
was Henry Clay and nearly as tall. He
is IN the prime Of life, just turned to 40."
MIR. Blackburn is about five feet ten inches |
lie is not as tall as Henry Clay was. Clay,
Webster, jackson and Calhoun were all
tall men, averaging six feet. Jackson and
Clay were the tallest, and jackson aud
Calhoun were the leanest Jackson, Cal
houn and Webster were fond of, and ad-
dlcted to outdoor sports and recreations.
jackson loved horse racing, Calhoun shoot
ing, and Webster fishing. Clay was
sportsman too, but he pursued his line Of
game mostly in the modest light of farth-
ing candle, "keeping company" as Johu
Randolph said, "with Kings, Queens and
knaves." Clay was born in Virginia,
jackson and Calhoun in South Carolina,
and Webster in New Hampshire.
Apropos of Blackburn and his Ken
lucky frame, it may be remarked that the
Kentuckians wero the tallest soldiers in
the U. S. army, during the late war, from
any State, averaging over feet inches.
The tallest people in Europe are the Prus-
slams and the Scotch, but they do not
average as much as the Kentuckians
Some tribes of the North Western Indians
are undoubtedly tall men, fully up to the
Kentucky standard and probably over.
A few days ago statement went the
rounds Of the newspapers that Mr.. Bayard
and Mr.. Salisbury, the Delaware Senators,
stood six feet two and six feet three re-
spectivcly. Mr.. Bayard is in fact about
six feet. The great men Of American
history have generally been tall, but not
all. Cass, Webster, Douglass, and many
others, were less than six feet. Washing
ton, for instance, was six feet one, Jeffer-
son six feet two, and Franklin large aud
portly man. Clark Mills, when modelling
his equestrian statue of Washington, said
he intended it to represent man weighing
about 175 pounds. Washington 10 fact
weighed, at the close of the Revolutionary
war, 2l0 pounds. Jackson, he (Mills)
had ascertained, was Of the same height as
Washington and weighed 131 pounds.
General Winfield Scott, the eonqueror Of
Mexico and the Wing candidate for the
Presidency, was six feet four inches in
stature, and so was Albert Sidney Johnston,
by many persons regarded as the ablest
military commander on the side Of the
South in the rebellion. Abraham Lincoln
was also six feet four. Genrael Robert 4.
Lee was about five feet nine inches, Stone.
wall Jackson was taller. Goethe and
Schiller were tall men, approximating six
feet each ofthem. Wordsworth and Thack.
eway were, and Tennyson is tall Sir
Walter Scott was a six feoter. Burns was
five feet nine and very powerful physical.
ly. Byron was feet 81 inches, and il
was his ambition to weigh IL stone or 15i
pounds; but he had tendency to get fat
which caused him great modification and
endless suffering, for he starved himself
inhumanly. Napoleon is generally repre-
sented as having been a small man, bul
Scott says he was feet inches in height,
which is two inches above the average Of
the Italian race, and his legs were short,
which left him plenty of body Julius
Caesar and the Duke Of Wellington, ac-
eording to their biographers, were both
above the middle stature. The Royal
family Of England is short, but it was not
SO in the days Of the Pla,agenets or their
nearest descendants Edward ". was 6
feet inches, and Henry VIII, the Blue
Beard of monarchs, was feet 4 inches,
and in his later life monstrously heavy.
Edward l. was very tall, and so was his
contemporary, Robert the Bruce. Ceur
de Lion was tall and powerful, and so was
his ancestor, William the Conqueror.
Francis |. was very tall and strong, and
threw Henry VIII. in wrestling match.
Michelet says that Ceur de Lion was oncs
put on his back by French knight known
as De Montfort. Old stories represented
Charlemagne as giant, but his skeleton,
when exhumed in modern times, indicated
a man of only about feet 10 inches.
The royal families of Europe, except the
English, are generally tall. The Emperor
Nicholas was 6 feet 4 inches; Alexander,
his son, the present Emperor, is about 6
feet. The Emperor of Prussia is about 6
feet ? inches, and Bismarck, the greatest
man in Europe, is about as tall as his mas
ter. Lord Harrington, who, next TO
ID Israeli, is the most influential statesman
in England, is over 6 feet and big in pro-
PORTION.
The English Parliament and the Amer
lean Congress have been stated, upon data
obtained from insurance agents, to have
averaged about feet 10 inches in height
aud 10 lbs in weight. According to the
tables found in the once so celebrated
Banting book, this is just what they should
have weighed for their height, to be healthy
aud long lived. Curiously enough, their
average height and weight is almost ex-
actly the same as that of the prize fighting
champions Of England, from Brorghton
and Figg down to Tom Sayers and Jem
Mace The best runners aud Jumpers.
aceeraing to the statistics of those matters
preserved in sporting records, have been
tall men, but the best walkers have been
short ones generally. But Captain Bar.
clay, the great Apollo 10 that line Of ath.
letics, was feet L inches in height and
an ii stone man.
The personal peculiarities of remarkable
individuals Of the gentler sex ought not to
be omitted in summary of those of dis
tinguished people. OF those Of ancient
days, whose fame has come down to these,
none made 50 much noise in the world as
Cleopatra, the enslaver Of Cnsar and An.
tony, and who nevcr failed to subdue to
her empire any who came within the direct
influence Of her charms. Tradition, we
know not how authenticated, says she had
a short nose and gray eyes She must, If
she had gray eyes, have been a fair beauty
rather than dark one, which, considering
her Greek origin, is not improbable.
Beatrice Ccnci and Mary, Queen Of Scots
were both tall and graceful. with chestnut
eolored hair aud eyes, and clear, but not
fair cotaplexion.
Anne Boleyn was tall and slender. Her
complexion and hair were dark. She was
the most graceful aud accomplished lady
at the French and English courts, and the
most universally beloved and admired.
She was thirty three years old when she
married Henry VIII, and Jane Seymour,
who supplanted her, was thirty-fye.
Elizabeth, the daughter Of Anne Boleyu