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