I certify that the above is a true extract from the Register

Book of Baptisms belonging to the Parish of St. James,
Westminster. 

                                  J.G.  GIFFORD, Preacher and Assistant.

Hence it appears that Oglethorpe was born on the first of
June, 1669, and baptized on the second.  I was assured by
Mr. Gifford that this is the true meaning of the record; and
I observed in the Register Book that other names were recorded
in like manner.  There were several other baptisms the
same day, with different days of birth. 
Most truly your friend and obedient servant,
JARED SPARKS.

This will be deemed decisive; though to me not entirely satisfactory.  I think I see cause for questioning the “b.1.” not their import, but their correctness:  occasioned either for family reasons, or that the date given at the font either was not distinctly heard by the officiating clergyman, or misremembered at the time when the entry was made in the Book.  Besides, there would seem no occasion for the presentation so immediately after the birth; for, according to custom, it is very unusual before the eighth day.  On the other hand, from the statement of Nichols, Vol.  II. p. 19, that of the children of Sir Theophilus, “the five eldest were born at St. James London,” we may infer that JAMES, who was the sixth in the order of births in the family, was born at Godalming.  This is proved, also, by Shaftoe’s narrative, which mentions the going down of the mother to London, in consequence of the sickness and death of one of the nurslings.  Now, though the main statement of that document may not be true, such an incidental circumstance as this, which has no direct bearing on “the vexed question,” may be admitted.  If, therefore, born at Godalming, he could not be taken to London, for baptism, on the day after his birth.  And, admitting that his nativity was on the 21st of December, the season of the year alone would be sufficient reason for deferring the public ceremony till after the inclement weather, and the opportunity favored for having it in the Parish Church, where all the other children had been baptized.

After all, the fact that on the ninth of July, seventeen hundred and four, he was sixteen years old, as is testified on the Record of his admission into College, is incompatible with the date of June 1st, 1689, for the day of his birth, but consistent with that of December 21st, 1688.

To adjust all these discrepancies respecting the time of his birth, and others of the time of his death, one needs the ingenuity of the Benedictins of St. Maur, who published a 4to volume with this title:  “L’art de verifier les dates des faits historiques.”

III.

CHARLES MORDAUNT, Earl of Peterborough.  This great man died on his passage to Lisbon, 25th of October, 1735, aged 77.  To bravery and heroism, he added a penetrating genius and a mind highly polished and well instructed in ancient and modern literature, as his Familiar Epistles, preserved among those of his friend Pope, fully evince.