by an authentic tale, and a moral grounded upon it; or even by a repartee, when a philosophical lecture would disgust them, or a sermon frighten them from the perusal. The present work, therefore, is, from the most philanthrophic motives, addressed to the troubled and afflicted in mind, body, and estate-to those who are agitated by the delusions of fancy-depressed by personal calamities, loss, and disappointment-enraged by insult, stung with shame, petrified by the cares of penury and a prison-to the sighing schoolboy* and desponding scholar, t the plucked collegian, the pining lover, the impetuous youth, the pillaged gambler, the disappointed heir, the ruined spendthrift, the resentful neighbour, the penurious * A youth, who, upon being reproved by his father, went and hanged himself in a fit of anger, pride, or despondence, was personally known to the author. + Not many months since a youth at one of our public schools was sent for by his tutor to bring before him a task which he had not completed; but such were his sorrow and despondence that he threw himself out of the window, and was killed on the spot. author, the neglected sons of genius and merit, the disappointed courtier, the unpatronised patriot, the unpromoted hero, the undermined politician, the discarded officer, the defeated general, the unsuccessful physician, and to all those who are miserable through luxury, idleness, and ennui; who are tormented by disease, wasted with anxiety, vexed by the scorn of the proud and contempt of the vulgar, pining under paternal censure or upbraided by relentless tyranny; misrepresented by cowardice, sneered at by ignorance, maligned by envy, and trodden under foot by wealth and worthlessness; with the sincere desire to endeavour, by the remarkable example of a youth surviving the attempted crime of suicide, and reclaimed from the paths which led to it, and by tracing the causes of suicide, and suggesting moral and prudential modes of prevention, to deter all these characters, and a thousand others, from sinking in despondence or fleeing to the weapons of vengeance and violence-to inspire hope under the most discouraging exigencies-to fortify the aching agitated heart with Christian principle-and to lead 'the weary and heavy-laden' to HIM 'who alone can give rest to their souls.' Northampton Square, London, Νου. 1, 1824. CONTENTS. OBJECTS of the Work stated-Reasons-Suicide of a Youth of fourteen Years of age-Attempted Suicide by Suicide a Subject on which all need to be cautioned- Sir Samuel Romilly-Number of Suicides-November the Month for them-Influence of the Weather-Excitement of the Passions to be avoided-Predisposing Causes-In- Causes of Suicide-The mysterious Movements of the human Mind-The gradual Advances to this Crime, and its exciting Causes exhibited in the History of Mr. George b THE CONTRAST ; OR, THE HISTORY OF THOMAS ROYle, A RECLAIMED PROFLIGATE; AND OF MR. S. AND A LADY, BOTH AT PRESENT LIVING. Royle's abandoned Youth-Voyages-Sickness-Temp- tation to Self-Murder-Preventions-Reformation-Happy Death-Moore's Penitent. Mr. S. his Profligacy-Dis- tress-Attempt at Self-Destruction-The Bible his Preser- PREDISPOSIng causes oF SUICIDE, AND ANTIDOTES Sin a Poison to the Soul, like the Upas Tree-Guilt paves the Way to the Crime-Suicide Cowardice, illustrated in the Case of an Officer preserved from Suicide by a poor Man in Hyde Park-Reason and Philosophy Antidotes, ex- emplified in Epictetus-Tobacco an Antidote-Dr. John- son's Opinion-Vicious Indulgence a moral Suicide- Mental Maladies-Lunacy-Lunatic Asylums considered -Wise and tender 'Modes of Treatment recommended from the Experience and Advice of Dr. Reid-Imprison- ments under the Plea of Lunacy-Two late touching and |