"In his "Political Suicides in France, from 1789 to the Present Time," M. A. des Etangs gives a surprising number of examples of statesmen who explained their reasons for choosing a voluntary death, many of them with wonderful lucid Her sister was the only relative that she had in Brünn. Marie left her native town, telling her sister that she had got service in the Kaiserstadt, in Vienna. But this was only a pretence. A few days after her departure, her sister got a letter from Marie through the post. "Iity and charm of style. Of these instances can no longer endure it," wrote the poor girl. "Wherever I go, whatever I do, I am always laughed at on account of my corpulence (Fettigkeit). Nobody thinks of me except as an object of ridicule. I cannot endure it any longer, dear Gretchen. My body will be found in the Danube." And so it was, near Klosternenburg. There is something pathetic in the fate of poor Marie Speiz, and yet, if one were to write seriously about it, the reader would probably only laugh, as an unmannerly world in Brünn laughed poor Marie out of existence. "Suicides increase annually in France, in number, according to certain fixed laws," says M. Brierre de Boismont, who particularly investigated four thousand five hundred and ninety-five cases, as set forth in the records of the police, supplemented by painstaking inquiries of his own. Amongst them were six hundred and ninety-seven persons of ample and independent fortune, two thousand who earned sufficient livelihoods by trades or professions, and two hundred and fifty-six persons in pecuniary difficulties. It is a vulgar error to suppose that there are more cases of suicide in England than in France; on the contrary, there are one hundred and ten cases in France to every sixty-nine which happen in England, although it is quite true that there are more in proportion in London than in Paris. Spain is the country in Europe in which fewest suicides occur, and it will hardly be argued that this results from the superior enlightenment of the Spanish. M. Littré, a member of the Academy, a calm and thoughtful scholar, author of the best dictionary of the French language, deliberately states his opinion that suicide is justifiable, on the ground that "every man has a right to his moral liberty." M. Louis Blanc, too, a clear thinker, expresses the cold logical astonishment of a stoic at the fact that "there are people who at the same time forbid suicide and yet approve of capital punishments." But other Frenchmen, of equal celebrity and power of expression, repudiate such opinions, and Chateaubriand takes care to point out that "suicides are always most common in times of national corruption." perhaps the most melancholy was that of M. Prévost-Paradol, who, after stultifying his most brilliant writings by accepting a post under the Second Empire, that of minister at Washington, could not apparently reconcile his own political apostasy to his conscience, and died by his own hand on the 19th of July, 1870. He died just as the Liberal cause, with which his name had always been associated, was on the point of triumphing. In all countries, but particularly in France, suicides appear to belong to the class of epidemic diseases. It is enough for a single soldier to put an end to himself in barracks, either by firearms, the bayonet, the sword, or strangulation, and immediately the tragedy is repeated day by day, until the regiment is ordered off to new quarters, and the minds of the men are thus amused by fresh ideas, leading to the forgetfulness of the past. Travel appears to be one of the most certain cures for this species of epidemic. That the tendency to suicide is hereditary is made very clear by the statistics of all countries. Persons of the same family have been known to kill themselves at the same age, in the same way, and in the same or similar places, as their fathers or grandfathers did. It is not easy to find a rational explanation for facts so strange and mysterious as these. But let us return to the 4,595 cases investigated by M. Brierre de Boismont; he classifies them thus: 1,945 of the suicides were persons of good moral character, respected by their neighbors; 1,454 were bad or doubtful; and of the character and conduct of 1,196 he could not obtain reliable information. Self-destruction by cutting the throat, though rare in France comparatively, is more common than stabbing; opening the veins is less common than either. Suffocation by the fumes of charcoal, and destruction by throwing one's self from a height, such as the Napoleon Column in the Place Vendôme, or the column on the Place de la Bastille, in Paris, are much more frequent. It is difficult to arrive at the causes of suicide, either in France or elsewhere. French doctors have observed that a malady known as tedium vitæ, “a myste 66 rious melancholy," is apt to seize upon the black dead-cart. Snow-white linen some of the lightest-hearted amongst cerements are wrapped round the bodies, them, about the age of thirty. Thus both and printed forms give particulars as to men and women have been known to fix physical marks, sex, and apparent age and upon a certain date on which they mean cause of death. The wardrobes of the to commit suicide, unless some special deceased are displayed in the corner. event happens. Meantime, the affair is The walls are clean with whitewash, the dismissed from their thoughts. Sweet- sloping counters are of a reddish brown, hearts have been known to put an end to and a certain air of solemnity, if not of themselves together, after spending their awe, pervades the room. last francs in a champagne supper, and parties of suicides have even been known to meet together, in order to die in each other's company. A tendency to look at the dark side of things, encouragement of pessimism, has always a tendency to lead men to suicide, whilst an exaggerated optimism, in speculation, has a similar tendency. Extremes meet and such extremes of thought prevail at one time in one country, at another time in another. History supplies us with many examples of ages when men appeared naturally to take refuge in selfdestruction. Satiety, and consequent weariness of life, all the pleasures of which had been drained to the dregs, appear to have been the causes of the frequency of suicide amongst the luxurious nobles of Rome under the empire. "The door is always open," said Epictetus: indeed, it was only on condition of this door remaining always open that optimism was possible. The melancholy and pessimism of the beginning of the present century were fertile in suicides - the students of "Werther," of "René," and of "Obermann," often availed themselves of the open door, whilst the authors of these treatises, Goethe, Chateaubriand, and Senancour lived to a good old age. There can be little doubt that the majority of the inhabitants of this chamber have died by their own hands. Over three hundred people - men, women, and children — annually put an end to themselves in the capital of Germany. Throughout the kingdom of Prussia the practice of self-murder has increased so rapidly during the last ten years that the annual average has increased from thirteen in the hundred thousand, to seventeen. The population of Prussia is about twenty-six millions; forty-three hundred and thirty died by their own hands last year, of whom seven hundred and seventyone were females. An increase of thirty per cent. in the number of suicides in ten years is a serious matter for the reflection of the German authorities, and that, too, during a period of what ought to have been unexampled prosperity. The compulsory military service system certainly has something to do with it, for many men prefer to seek safety in a sudden and violent death rather than comply with its rigor ous provisions. Nor is this all. In the service itself two hundred and twenty-five soldiers perished by their own hands. Of the seven hundred and three suicides entered in the official tables as "having been committed by reason of unknown motives," and one hundred and sixty-six attributed to "weariness of life," there can be little doubt that the great majority sought safety in death from the severity of the military system. A significant fact in connection with these returns is that only six females are entered under the same heading, "weariness of life.” The Morgue, an old-established Parisian institution, well known to all Continental tourists, has been transplanted to the banks of the Spree. Paris has set an example to the other capitals in Europe, by collecting her casual dead in one central depot, accessible to the general public during certain fixed hours of the day. Berlin has been one of the first to follow One-fourth of the suicides in Prussia this example. But, instead of putting it are attributed to insanity, of which a large in a corner, Berlin has placed its Morgue proportion results from the abuse of alcoin a beautiful garden belonging to the hol. To the honor of German women let Veterinary College, where, surrounded by it be recorded that, whilst ninety-eight green trees and flowering shrubs, under men are stated to have put an end to the principal dissecting-room, there are a themselves in consequence of the excesnumber of vaults. "No. 7, the Morgue "sive use of alcohol, only four women are is painted on one of them. Five sloping counters are ranged side by side in this apartment, upon which the bodies of the unknown dead are placed when taken from included in the same category. Family whilst jealousy and ill-fortune in love are | suicidal attempts. The "high and fine credited with the deaths of one hundred nervous organization," if easily depressed, and eight youths and seventy-three young will easily recover and regain its tone. women. Sorrow for the dead induced sev- Excessive elation is as bad as excessive enteen widowers and three widows to put depression. There are many instances, an end to themselves, and yet we call the well-authenticated, of joy causing insanfemale the more emotional and sensitive ity and subsequent self-destruction. sex! ought it not rather to be called the more sensible? Three hundred seventyeight deaths by suicide, of whom onefourth were of females, are attributed to "repentance, shame, and the stings of conscience;" and incurable diseases are said to have caused two hundred and eighty-eight to make away with themselves. Undoubtedly changes of fortune are more common in the States than in Europe. Fortunes are more rapidly accumulated there, and more rapidly lost, by speculation. And, although the stronger natures overcome the feelings induced by these reverses, yet the weaker succumb. The excited forms which religion and "spiritualism" take in America have unAs to the method of suicide, unlike the doubtedly considerable influence on suiFrench, the cord and strangulation were cidal mania. The mind is unhinged, and used in two-thirds of the whole number. mental disease leads to abnormal develOne-fifth perished by drowning, and one-opments, just as in hysteria, although tenth by gunshot wounds, amongst whom were eight females. Seventy-six of both sexes cut their throats, twenty-one opened their veins and bled to death, forty-one threw themselves from great heights and seven strangled themselves with their own hands a method of suicide impossible except to the strong and determined. It is surprising to hear of twenty-five octogenarians laying violent hands on themselves in one year. One would think that, as they had been able to endure life for so long, they might have been able to await the great enemy a few months or years more. The suicidal mania is more prevalent everywhere in summer the best antidotes. than winter; of all of the professions there was but one in which the number of female suicides exceeded the male, and that was literature. That suicides are annually increasing in number, in greater proportion than the population of the United States, appears to be proved by the statistical tables recently published. The population, however, is increasing so fast in the States that it is not easy to form accurate comparisons. One would think it ought not to be so that is, in a country of promise, where food and labor are abundant, the suicidal frenzy ought to be diminishing annually, instead of increasing. It would be interesting to know what part religious monomania plays in these American suicides. But the statistics, unfortunately, are by no means carefully or accurately complied. The Americans themselves attribute the number of suicides to their "high and fine nervous organization," so superior to anything to be found in Europe. This, however, ought to tell as much against, as in favour of, most commonly in women. When the mind has been unhinged and mental disease has set in, want of sleep supervenes. Sudden joy or sudden grief, when immoderate; too great tension or excitement of the nervous system; terror or despair, all these prompt to suicide. Hereditary taint, without any of these predisposing causes, will have the same effect. If the causes be sudden and violent, the effects may be equally so. But if gradual and comparatively slow in their progress, then want of sleep usually plays an important part in the tragedy. Change of scene and foreign travel appear to be amongst WM. KNIGHTON. From The Pall Mall Gazette. GEORGE ELIOT'S EARLY LIFE. [From a Correspondent.] MANY inaccurate statements have been made respecting George Eliot's parentage and early life. Mr. Herbert Spencer has himself contradicted the long-current belief, to which a positive form had been given, that he had much to do with her training, and has testified that when his friendship with her began in 1851 she was "already distinguished by that breadth of culture and universality of power which have since made her known to all the world." In one quarter she has been described as the daughter of a "poor curate," and in another as the daughter of a "Dissenting minister." Her first literary efforts, and in particular her translation of Strauss's "Leben Jesu," have been represented as following her resi dence in London, and as the natural | with intense meaning and humor, and the sequel to the associations and influences low, sweet voice, with its peculiar manwhich from that time shaped her career. All these statements are alike erroneous. Mary Ann Evans was born at Griff, near Nuneaton, on the 22nd of November, 1820. Her father, Robert Evans, was land-agent and surveyor to five estates in Warwickshire-those of Lord Aylesford, Lord Lifford, Mr. C. N. Newdegate, Mr. Bromley-Davenport, and Mrs. Gregory. In this capacity he was highly respected, and his reputation for trustworthiness may be said to have been proverbial. Mary Ann was the youngest of three children by a second marriage, Mr. Evans having also a son and daughter by his first wife. She was a remarkable child in many ways, thoughtful and earnest, and at the age of twelve might have been seen teaching in the Sunday school in a little cottage near her father's house. She received her first education at Miss Franklins' school in Coventry, and retained through life an affectionate remembrance of these teachers of her childhood, often speaking of her obligation to Miss Rebecca Franklin for much careful training. Her family resided at Griff until about her twentieth year, her mother having died when she was fifteen. It cannot be doubted there is every evidence of the fact that her girlish experiences in that prosaic country district were so many hoarded treasures in her retentive memory which, by means of her marvellous wit and insight into character, served to enrich her first three novels and her "Scenes of Clerical Life." Her letters of those days show a penetration, wit, and philosophical observation belonging rather to mature life, and they show also that her mind was deeply imbued with Evangelical sentiments. Her sisters and brothers having married, she lived alone with her father, who in 1841 removed from Griff to Foleshill, near Coventry. In this somewhat more populous neighborhood she soon became known as a person of more than common interest, and, moreover, as a most devoted daughter and the excellent manager of her father's household. There was perhaps little at first sight which betokened genius in that quiet, gentle-mannered girl, with pale, grave face, naturally pensive in expression; and ordinary acquaintances regarded her chiefly for the kindness and sympathy that were never wanting to any. But to those with whom, by some unspoken affinity, her soul could expand, her expressive grey eyes would light up nerism of speaking - which, by-the-way, wore off in after years — would give utterance to thoughts so rich and singular that converse with Miss Evans, even in those days, made speech with other people seem flat and common. Miss Evans was an exemplification of the fact that a great genius is not an exceptional, capricious product of nature, but a thing of slow, laborious growth, the fruit of industry and the general culture of the faculties. At Foleshill, with ample means and leisure, her real education began. She took lessons in Greek and Latin from the Rev. T. Sheepshanks, then head master of the Coventry Grammar School, and she acquired French, German, and Italian from Signor Brezzi. An acquaintance with Hebrew was the result of her own unaided efforts. From Mr. Simms, the veteran organist of St. Michael's, Coventry, she received lessons in music, although it was her own fine musical sense which made her in after years an admirable pianoforte player. Nothing once learned escaped her marvellous memory; and her keen sympathy with all human feelings, in which lay the secret of her power of discriminating character, caused a constant fund of knowledge to flow into her treasure-house from the social world about her. Among the intimate friends whom she made in Coventry were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray — both well known in literary circles. In Mr. Bray's family she found sympathy with her ardent love of knowledge and with the more enlightened views that had begun to supplant those under which (as she described it) her spirit had been grievously burdened. Emerson, Froude, George Combe, Robert Mackay, and many other men of mark, were at various times guests at Mr. Bray's house at Rosehill while Miss Evans was there either as inmate or occasional visitor; and many a time might have been seen, pacing up and down the lawn, or grouped under an old acacia, men of thought and research, discussing all things in heaven and earth, and listening with marked attention when one gentle woman's voice was heard to utter what they were quite sure had been well matured before the lips opened. Few, if any, could feel themselves her superior in general intelligence, and it was amusing one day to see the amazement of a certain doctor, who, venturing on a quotation from Epictetus to an unassuming young lady, was, with modest politeness, corrected in his Greek by his feminine auditor. One rare | Such was the verdict of the Sister Supecharacteristic belonged to her which gave rior of St. Lazare on Louise Michel bea peculiar charm to her conversation. fore she went to New Caledonia; and She had no petty egotism, no spirit of the sister was right. Louise Michel is a contradiction: she never talked for effect. saint who has lost her way. She has all A happy thought well expressed filled her the fervor, the enthusiasm, and the unhesiwith delight; in a moment she would tating self-sacrifice of the greatest of the seize the point and improve upon it so saints of the Church. She is one of the that common people began to feel them- saints of the social revolution - a pétroselves wise in her presence, and perhaps leuse of the pétroleuses. Although she years after she would remind them, to proclaims herself the ally of all those who their pride and surprise, of the good with spade, mine, or fire attack the cursed things they had said. edifice of our old society, she is personally irreproachable: her bitterest enemies have never charged against her any private offences against the social laws. She is one of the remarkable women of Paris - and in some respects she is the most interesting of the trio. Sarah Bernhardt is one, Mme. Adam is the other, and Louise Michel is the third. Sarah Bernhardt is the queen of the stage, Mme. Adam of the salon, and Louise Michel finds her throne among the suffering and discontented poor. So say her votaries. It was during her residence in Foleshill, almost within a stone's throw of the quaint old city of Coventry, that she translated the "Leben Jesu." This work she undertook at the instigation of Mrs. Bray's brother, the late Charles Hennell, a writer now remembered only by the few, but whose "Inquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity" (1838) was recognized in England and Germany as a signal service to the cause of Liberal thought. The labor of rendering Strauss's masterpiece into clear, idiomatic English was by no Louise Michel was born half a century means light, and her intimate friends of since in a humble home in the department that time well remember the strain it en- of the Marne. Her mother was a farmtailed upon her. She completed her task yard maid at the château of a noble fam(1846) in scarcely more than a year, and ily; and Louise, when a child, was the had the satisfaction of being compli- pet and plaything of the ladies of the mented by Strauss upon the success that château. She received a good education, had attended her efforts. Such an under- and being frequently at the château she taking by a young woman of twenty-five acquired a cultivated taste and a few acinay certainly be ranked among the mar-complishments. She excelled in gardenvels of literature; its real significance willing, and became learned in all the simple be best appreciated by those who know lore of country life. Her intelligence so not only English and German but much impressed the son of the owner of the more besides. Miss Evans's father died in 1849, and in the summer of that year she accompanied her friends the Brays on a Continental tour, and by her own choice was left behind at Geneva, where she stayed till the following spring. On her return to England she made her home with the same family until 1851, when she was persuaded by Dr. Chapman to take up her residence in the Strand and assist him in the conduct of the Westminster Review. Thus ended her connection with her native county, to which, however, she afterwards paid many visits. château that during his vacations he amused himself by teaching the little Louise to write rhymes and French composition. Her rhymes, it is said, were excellent, and she has never lost the art of versifying; but of late years the effusions of her lyre have been veritable poems of a pétroleuse — sanguinary invocations of social revolution. Not in that strain did she write when as a simple peasant girl she first essayed to express herself in prose and verse; nor could any one have dreamed that the intelligent little damsel with the well-kept flower-bed and attractive manners would ever develop into the mænad whose passionate diatribes stir the blood of the fierce democracy of Belleville and Montmartre. It is said that she was peculiarly distinguished for her proficiency in religious knowledge, and she took the best position in the catechism class. How or when she became dissatisfied with her tranquil provincial life is not stated; but one fine day an |