100 Orosius notices (_Hist._ v. 14) that of all the Gauls conquered by Q. Marcius, there were none who did not prefer death to slavery. The Spaniards were famous for their suicides, to avoid old age as well as slavery. Odin, who, under different names, was the supreme divinity of most of the Northern tribes, is said to have ended his earthly life by suicide. Boadicea, the grandest figure of early British history, and Cordeilla, or Cordelia, the most pathetic figure of early British romance, were both suicides. (See on the first, Tacitus, _Ann._ xiv. 35-37, and on the second Geoffrey of Monmouth, ii. 15—a version from which Shakspeare has considerably diverged, but which is faithfully followed by Spenser. (_Faëry Queen_, book ii. canto 10.)) 101 “In our age, when the Spaniards extended that law which was made only against the cannibals, that they who would not accept the Christian religion should incur bondage, the Indians in infinite numbers escaped this by killing themselves, and never ceased till the Spaniards, by some counterfeitings, made them think that they also would kill themselves, and follow them with the same severity into the next life.”—Donne’s _Biathanatos_, p. 56 (ed. 1644). On the evidence of the early travellers on this point, see the essay on “England’s Forgotten Worthies,” in Mr. Froude’s _Short Studies_. 102 Lisle, pp. 427-434. Sprenger has noticed the same tendency among the witches he tried. See Calmeil, _De la Folie_ (Paris, 1845), tome i. pp. 161, 303-305. 103 On modern suicides the reader may consult Winslow’s _Anatomy of Suicide_; as well as the work of M. Lisle, and also Esquirol, _Maladies mentales_ (Paris, 1838), tome i. pp. 526-676. 104 Hecker’s _Epidemics of the Middle Ages_ (London, 1844), p. 121. Hecker in his very curious essay on this mania, has preserved a verse of their song:— “Allu mari mi portati Se voleti che mi sanati, Allu mari, alla via, Così m’ama la donna mia, Allu mari, allu mari, Mentre campo, t’aggio amari.” 105 Cromaziano, _Ist. del Suicidio_ caps. viii, ix. 106 Cromaziano, pp. 92-93. 107 Montesquieu, and many Continental writers, have noticed this, and most English writers of the eighteenth century seem to admit the charge. There do not appear, however, to have been any accurate statistics, and the general statements are very untrustworthy. Suicides were supposed to be especially numerous under the depressing influence of English winter fogs. The statistics made in the present century prove beyond question that they are most numerous in summer. _ 108 Utopia_, book ii. ch. vi.