1797:) 
“ Thiserime did my father commit againft 
ame ; but 1 have not committed the fame ag ainft 
any!” . 
The poetefs Sappho imagines, that “ to 
die, is an evil; the gods have fo deter- 
mined it; or elfe they would die them- 
felves.” 
Cicero, in his treatife on Old Age, de-_ 
clares, that if the gods offered to replace 
him once more in the cradle, he would 
reject the offer; for that life has nothing 
to recommend it. 
Sir William Temple fays, with eafy ele- 
gance, that ‘“ human life is at the greareft 
and the beft but like a froward child, that 
muft be played with, and humoured a 
- jittle, to keep it quiet till it falls afleep, 
and then the care is over.” 
La Mothe.le Vayer is an eminent in- 
ftance of the fall portion of happinefs we 
ratte in this life. “Lo the eye of the world 
this learned man appeared encircled by 
felicity ; bur, he fays, * life alone feems 
to me a thing fo indifferent, to fay nothing 
more to its difadvantage, that I am fo far 
from ever defiring to run the race again, 
that I would not exchange the few un- 
happy days which remain to me in fo ad- 
vanced an age as mine, for the many 
years which-a great number of young 
‘people, whofe pleafures I know, prornife 
themfelves. L-could {wear to the-truth of 
this, as well as Cardan, whofe words I 
quote, rather for their good fenfe than 
their elegance—They were to this pur- 
port—By God! I would not exchange 
my little fortune, even in my old age, 
with the richeit young man who has no 
. experience. — 
Bayle has reafoned on this declaration 
of La Morhbe le Vayer, with his accuftom-_ 
ed fagacity. He enumerates the nume- 
rous enjoyments of this fcholar, who even 
in an advanced period of life retained all 
the vigour of his mental and corporeal fa- 
culties. He married at above feventy, the 
daughter of an ambaffador, and ‘his wife 
was no fhrew. He publifhed feveral works 
after his marriage, and they gave no 
marks of dotage. He was honoured by 
3P2 
Port-Folio.— Death...Suicides 
Aos 
the French nation, and een 
by the court. He had titles and employ- 
‘ments. His multifarious works fold well. 
“What therefore could be wantiag in this 
rich amount of human felicity to complete 
the happinefs of Le Vayer? 
It is a curious conjeéture of Bayle, that 
as he indulged fome warrn pafiions in his 
youth, and became only a_ philofopher 
through a mere: effort of fortitude, he felt 
within himfelf a painful ftroggle between 
appetite and abftinence. - Is it not indeed 
more difficult to return to wifdom, thay 
never to have deviated from it ? 

Suicide is not allowable to a moral 
agent. No apology can poffibly be fram- 
ed for this crime; but the caufes of fui- 
cide are apparently the following ones: 
Diderot has ingenioufly deduced them 
in his Life of Seneca—“‘ If the operationg 
of government precipitate into fudden mi- 
fery a great number of its fubjects, be 
affured we fhall have numerous fuicides. 
Men will often feek a voluntary death, 
whenever the abufe of enjoyment leads to 
a liftlefs and ‘languid ftate of the body ; 
whenever luxury and relaxed morals ren- 
der labour more terrible than death; 
whenever a lupubrious fuperftition and a 
gloomy climate concur te produce melan- 
choly habits and opinions, half theological 
and half philofophical, infpiring an equal 
contempt of life and death.” 
If ever fuicide can be allowed, it can 
only be by firft obtaining the confent of the 
fociety of which we are members. Vas 
lerius Maximus tells us, that at Mar- 
feilles, the Magiftrates preferved a pow- 
erful poifon, which only. they were  per- 
mitted to ufe, who in their memorials of- 
fered good reafons‘for withing to get rid 
of their lives—It therefore appears, that 
none could kill themfelves unlefs they had 
the permiffion of the government; and if 
the citizens of Marfeilles who wifhed to 
become fuicides, really obeyed this fingu- 
lar injun€tion, they certainly were men 
who moft merited life, and the confolations 
of life. 
A CORRECT: 
