There is a wicked inclination in most people to suppose anoldmandecayed inhisintellects.Ifayoungor middle- aged man, when leaving a company, does not recollect where he laid his hat, it is nothing; but if the same inattention is discovered inanold man, people will shrug up their shoulders, and say,'His memory isgoing.'

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Quoted in  James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.4.