VOLTAIRE, in his “Commentaire sur L’esprit des Lois,” approves of suicide, and does make use of this term; but in others of his works he condemns it; in short, he appears to have been undecided in the matter. It is narrated of him, that he and a friend contemplated and decided one evening on committing the act, but Voltaire had altered his mind in the morning. MADAME DE STAEL, in her youth, wrote an Essay approving of Suicide; but, later in her life, wrote “Reflexions sur le Suicide,” 1813, in which she recanted many of her opinions. She remarks that some suicides are a matter of duty; such are the deaths in a forlorn hope on the battle field; others were honourable as those of Cato, Decius, Codrus, and Regulus. Again, she says, “to prefer death to guilt is a suicide of duty, and such were all martyrdoms.” She discards the doctrine that the suicide is a coward; he is a man who has conquered even “the fear of death.” ROUSSEAU, J. J., wished that it were permissible; He called it, however, “un vol fait au genre humain.” See Nouvelle Heloise. He is said by some authorities to have caused his own death by taking arsenic. LAMARTINE condemns the practice (see his remarks on the death of Cato) in the “Cours de Litterature.” ELIAS REGNAULT says, “It is for man the highest expression of his liberty.” FALRET, J. P., “C’est un acte de délire.” RIVAROL, ANTOINE, “L’orgueil est toujours plus près du suicide que du repentir.” CHATEAUBRIAND, FRANÇOIS A., “Les suicides sont toujours communs chez les peuples corrompus.” LA LUZERNE, C. GUILLAUME, “La religion enleve au suicide l’excuse, le prétexte, la sécurité, que lui donne l’incredulité.” TAINE, H. “Quand la douleur est extrême l’homme se réfugie, dans tous les asiles, jusque dans le suicide, jusque dans la folie.” SAINTE BEUVE, the poet, wrote, under the pseudonym of Joseph Delorme, an apology for suicide, in verse. PRUDHOMME, “La communauté aboutit par toutes ses voies au Suicide;” and again, “Le suicide est une banqueroute frauduleuse.” L’ABBE BAUTAIN, “Le suicide est à la fois une grande absurdité, et un grand crime.” GIRARDIN, E. DE, “Bonaparte a declaré que tout soldat qui se tue, est un soldat qui déserte.” I venture to add here three other French references to the word: PRUDHOMME, “La proprieté est le _Suicide_ de la Société.” BALZAC, “Qu’un homme batte sa maîtresse c’est une blessure mais sa femme c’est un _Suicide_.” MARTIN, A., “Le celibat est en même temps le véhicule de la débauche, le scandale du monde, et le _suicide_ du genre humain.” ST. MARC GIRARDIN. “Le suicide n’est pas la maladie des simples de cœur et d’esprit, c’est la maladie des raffinés et des philosophes.”