* * * * * O Britain, infamous for suicide!” DR. JOHNSON, in 1773, was asked: “Suppose that a man is sure that, if he lives a few days longer, he shall be detected in a fraud, the consequence of which will be utter disgrace and expulsion from society, should he make away with himself?” and he answered, “Then, let him go abroad to a distant country, let him go to some place where he is _not_ known. Don’t let him go to the Devil, where he _is_ known.” HUME, DAVID, d. 1776, the historian, was unable to condemn the practice, and indeed wrote an “Essay on Suicide,” showing that it was consistent with our duty. BLACKSTONE, d. 1780, “Commentaries,” Book IV., cap. 14: “The suicide is guilty of a double offence: one spiritual in evading the prerogative of the Almighty; the other temporal, against the king, who hath an interest in the preservation of his subjects.” DRYDEN, d. 1700, writes: “Brutus and Cato might discharge their souls, And give them furloughs for another world; But we like sentries, are obliged to stand In starless nights, and wait th’appointed hour.” And in his Fables speaks of Suicide in terms of abhorrence: “The slayer of himself too, saw I there: The gore, congealed, was clotted in his hair. With eyes half closed, and mouth wide ope, he lay, And grim as when he breathed his sullen soul away.” GIBBON, EDW., the historian, d. 1794, was in favour of its permissibility under certain circumstances. MASON, WILLIAM, d. 1797, writes: “Unlicensed to eternity! Think! think! And let the thought restrain thy impious hand.” PALEY, REV. WM., d. 1805, the great Biblical scholar, discusses the question of Suicide. He concludes that its commission argues against our reverence for the Deity, exhibits a want of religious fortitude, and a deficiency of regard for our future state. TOM PAINE, d. 1809, in his “Age of Reason,” approves of Suicide, and more than one case has been traced directly to the mental and moral effect of reading this work. LORD BYRON, d. 1824, in his “Don Juan,” c. xiv., v. 4, writes: “A sleep without dreams after a rough day Of toil, is what we covet most; and yet How clay shrinks back from mere quiescent clay! The very Suicide that pays his debt At once without instalments (an old way Of paying debts, which creditors regret), Lets out impatiently his rushing breath, Less from disgust of life, than dread of death.” SIR CHAS. MORGAN writes: “What poetical suicides and sublime despair might have been prevented by a timely dose of blue pill, or the offer of a Loge aux Italiens!” COLTON, d. 1832, in his “Lacon,” writes: “Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it: since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live.”