PREFACE.

THE author has been insensibly led to compile this work on Suicide and its Antidotes from having been solicited, in his official capacity as Curate of Clerkenwell, to visit a young man, his parishioner, who was slowly recovering from the dreadful wounds which had been inflicted by a rash attempt at suicide; and from preaching, at his earnest request, a sermon on his providential deliverance, admonishing others to beware of the steps which precipitated him into this dreadful crime. This sermon, as might be expected, drew together an immense congregation, who listened to its de

livery with solemn and almost breathless attention; and the publication of it, under the title of Suicide Providentially Arrested,' excited considerable interest, and brought to the knowledge of the author several other cases among which was that of the mother of a family in the parish of Clerkenwell, who, of her own accord, came to the author, and related to him her providential restoration from drowning, through the means used by the officers belonging to the Humane Society. The whole is narrated in the following work, and its moral effects are described in her heart and life.

The spread of the sermon into the midland counties occasioned the third narrative, that of a young lady, who was preserved from the intended crime of poisoning herself by sitting down to the perusal of the sermon before she took the deadly cup of oxalic acid, which she had prepared for self-destruction. The author has received the most ample confirmation of the truth of

all the circumstances related respecting these three individuals from the testimony of other persons acquainted with them, and from the mouth of two of the persons concerned. They are all now living, and ready to establish these accounts by their own attestations, if required.

The design of the present work, which has increased to an extent far beyond the author's original intention, is to present such striking pictures from real life as may excite the attention of the most phlegmatic, rouse the melancholy to alarm, or cheer the desponding with hope, that, by a full view of the gradual or sudden causes of suicide, the mind may be stirred up to seek for timely tranquillity from the considerations of reason, the suggestions of philosophy, and the heavenly consolations of religion-that, from a full and undisguised exhibition of the horrid nature of self-murder, and all its tremendous consequences, every human being who reads and

contemplates the terrific picture may be deterred from the perpetration of the atrocious deed; and that, by displaying the happy, the blessed consequences of a providential preservation from the crime, the agitated may look to Heaven for support, and seek their refuge there.

So numerous are the causes of mental and bodily distress, so much does the solitary mind brood over its fancied or its real ills, that it is wonderful no work has appeared to show the sufferers that they are not the only persons who have been the subjects of them. Sorrows, when divided, are greatly lessened, as well as joys, when imparted, are highly increased. It is proposed, therefore, by a detail of many cases of distress, to show the evils arising from indulging vexation or grief too long, and to point out the necessity of adopting timely remedies. We propose, in the following work, to reason some out of their melancholy, and, if possible, to laugh others out

of it; and to apply the higher principles of morality and religion to chase away this demon from the human breast. The instances of Sir Samuel Romilly, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Whitbread, and others of high station and dignity, prove to us that no station, rank, or honours, can elevate the possessors above the gloom of melancholy; and that no mental excellence is sufficient to shield poor man from the darts of trouble and calamity. But, perhaps, it may be in the power of sober argument, simple suggestions, and scriptural motives, to allay the tempests of the soul, and guide the shattered vessel into a quiet harbour. The attempt is not hopeless; philanthropy loudly calls for the trial, and with the smile of Heaven

it

may be crowned with success. The rash youth-the unhappy female-the restless politician-the impoverished merchantthe gloomy student-the heartless hypochondriac-the disappointed author-the ruined spendthrift-and the hopeless and romantic lover-may be won over to reason