Mr Moore was informed by a magiftrate of Ge- graced by fuch offices, put themselves to death fleva, that in that city, which contains about in great numbers. The king ordered the bodies 25,000 inhabitants, the average number of fu cides of all the felf-murderers to be exposed on croffes, is about eight. The average number of fuicides, and this put a stop to the practice. There was for the laft 28 years, has been 32 each year for no law against fuicide during the republic; but London, Southwark, and Weftminster. In Edin- under the emperors it was thought proper to lay burgh, which contains above 80,000 inhabitants, it under certain regulations. When the Chriftian the average number of fuicides does not exceed church had extended its jurifdiction in the Roman four. Mr Moore was informed by the coroners of empire, it was decreed in the 6th century, that Kent, that for the last 18 years the number has no commemoration fhould be made in the euchabeen upwards of 32 each year. Kent contains a- rift for fuch as deftroyed themfelves; neither bout 200,000 inhabitants, and London 800,000. fhould their bodies be carried out to burial with In the metropolis, therefore, many inftances of fui- palms, nor have the ufual fervice faid over them. cide occur which are never known to the world. This ecclefiaftical law continued till the reformaWhereas in the country towns and villages of tion, when it was admitted into the ftatute code Kent, it is fcarcely poffible to conceal fuch an ac- of England by the authority of parliament. As tion as felf-murder from the knowledge of the an additional punishment, however, confifcation whole neighbourhood. The calculation therefore of land and goods feems to have been adopted refpecting Kent we may receive as true, while we from the Danes, as we learn from Bracton. At muft increase the average number in London very present the punishment confifts in confifcating all confiderably. Mercier fays, that at Paris the lower the personal property of a felo de je for the use of ranks were most commonly guilty of it; that it the crown, and in excluding his body from interwas moitly committed in gairets or hired lodgings; ment in confecrated ground. The warrant of the and that it proceeded from poverty and oppref- coroner requires that the body fhould be buried fion. Many, he fays, wrote letters to the magif. in fome public highway, and a fake driven through trates before their death. Mr Moore's correfpon- it to increase the ignominy. Suicide is a common dent from Geneva informed him, that from 1777 evil; but it is difficult to find an effectuai remedy; to 1787 more than 100 fuicides were committed for what motives can be held out fufficient to i... in Geneva; that two 3ds of these unfortunate fluence that man's mind who is deat to the voice perfons were men; that few of the clerical order of nature, and nature's God? His reputation and have been known to commit it; and that it is not property are indeed within the reach of the laws, fo much the end of an immoral, religions, diffi- his body may be treated with igominy, and his pated life, as the effect of melancholy and pover. property confiscated; but this punishment will not ty. By the information obtained from the coro- be a preventive, even if it could be always inflichers of Kent, it appears that of the 32, three 4ths ted; and that it is feldom inflicted, is well known. have destroyed themfelves by hanging; that the Humanity difpofes us to fympathife with the rela proportion of males to females has been about tions of the deceased, inflead of demanding that two 3ds of the former; that no one feason of the the fentence of the law should be executed. year is more diftingulfned for this crime than another; and that fuicide is upon the increafe. Our accounts refpe&ting London are very imperfect; but we think that fuicide is more common among the great and wealthy than among the lower ranks, and that it is ufually the effect of gaming and diffigation. As fuicide was deemed a crime by the most thârious of the Greck and Roman chilofophers, it was confidered as a cime by the laws, and treated with pnominy. By the law of Thebes fuicides were to have no honours paid to their memory. The Athenian law ordained the band which committed the deed to be cut off, and burned apart from the reft of the body. The body was not buried with the ufual folemnities, but was ignominiouly thrown into fome pit. In' Cea and Madila (the ancient Marseilles,) it was emfidered as a crime against the ftate. Pintorch relates, that an unaccommiable pation for fuicide fized the Mideñan virgins; from which they could not be prevented by the tears and entreaties of friends: but a decree being iflued, "that the body of every young woman who hanged herf-if fhould be dragged naked through the streets by the fame rope with which fire had committed the deed," a complete ftop was put to the extraordinary frenzy. In the early part of the Roman hiftory the only initin e recolle Loccurs in the reign of Tarquin I. The foldiers who were appointed to make common fowers, thanking themfelves difVOL. XXI. PART II.

(3.) SUICIDE, PROBABLE MEANS OF PROVENT1NG. In countries fuch as fome of thote abovementioned, where fuicide is recommended by falfe views of honour or of religion, there can be no preventive, till a general change takes place in fuch customs and habits of thinking. But in the civilized countries of Europe, where no fuch falfe opinions prevail, much might be done, with proper care and attention, to prevent many of the accidents of this kind, that daily happen. We call them accidents, and not crimes, becaufe among the clafs we speak of, the deel is often involvi tary, and therefore not criminal. For although there have doubtlefs heen many who very urfortunately have been led to commit this er me fom pride, habis of diffipation, and a total wart of rengious principle, yet of the great numbers whom we annually read of, in the public new -papers, we may charitably hope, that the majo rity are really in a flare of infanity when they cane mit this rath action. Perfons of either fex, who have met with great misfortunes, either by lofs of property, or still more readily by the lofs of near and dem relations, are apt if allowed to indulge their grief, to grow low-fpirited and melancholy, and gradually to fall into fuch a weak state of the nerves, as at last to affect the brain. They either do not fieen, or their flee is not found or refrchrg. Young women, by ditapp sintments in love, and married women, by the death of bufbar ds. r

A324

favour te

SUI

SUICIDE..

SUI

fome, flourished in the eleventh century, under SUIDAS, a Greek writer who according to Alexius Comnenus; according to others, in the Loth century. He wrote in Greek an Hiftorical and Geographical Dictionary or Lexicon, a work, which, though not always ftrictly accurate, is nevertheless of great importance, as it contains many things taken from the ancients nowhere else to be found. The best edition of Suidas is that of Kuiter, in Greek and Latin, with notes, in 3 vols fol. which has been much improved by Toup.

of fiith. Obfolete.--Some Italians dig wells and * SUILLAGE. n. f. [ fouillage, French.] Drain cifterns, and other conveyances for the fillage of the houfe. Wotton.

SUILLUS LAPIS. See SWINE-STONE.

the coaft of S. Wales, Pembrokeshire. Lon. 3. 11. SUILLY, an ifland in the Briftol Channel, near W. Lat. 51. 23. N.

from fer, to sweat, French; it is perhaps peculi* SUING. n. /. [This word feems to come ar to Bacon.] The act of foaking through any thing.-Note the percolation or fuing of the very juice through the wood. Bacon.

SUIONES, an ancient people of Germany, mentioned by Tacitus, fupposed to have inhabited SWEDEN.

favourite children, often fali into fuch a degree of from his keepers, paid the debt of nature. This 554 > hyfteria, as to be nothing thort of abfolute lunacy. was a parricide more criminal than the worst of And it is acknowledged by phyficians, that the moft amiable of the fex, and thofe of the best dif pofitions, are, from their excefs oflibility, moft apt to fall into that habit of body and mind, in confequence of the lofs of near and dear relations. In fuch cafes, fuch perfons fhould never be left a moment alone. while under the influence of fuch a malady. And though medicine can do littie to recover patients in the melancholy cafes, yet the most fatal effects may be prevented by a conftant attention to them, on the part of friends, and by their endeavours to confole and folace them, by amufement, air, and exercife, and every species of kind ufage. But in fuch a flate of mind, all inftruments of death, even fo low as pen-knives, fciffars, &c. fhould be carefully kept out of the patient's reach. Nor is it even fafe to truft patients in this ftate of mind in a room with moveable window-fathes, efpecially if the house be high. The writer of this article knew an inftance of a lady in Edinburgh, who had lingered long in a defperate state of hyfteria, who one night rofe out of bed, and run to a window four ftories high, which the opened, but was prevented from throwing herself over, by her husband awaking and catching her in his arms, jaift when he had nearly accomplished it. She thought he was in a prifon, and that was the eafieft way out. was afterwards, by proper care, completely reftoShe red to her fenfes; but it is highly probable that, among the numerous fuicides we daily hear of, there are many fimilar inftances, where no deliberate intention of felf-murder is entertained. In the whole train of nervous, hysterical, and hypochondriac affections, there is no fymptom fo decifive of the approach of an incipient lunacy, as the want of fleep, or what phyficians call an altered ftate of fleep. It is often induced by a continued melancholy, and brooding over paft miffortunes; but it is alfo fometimes occafioned by exceffive joy upon fome fudden circumftance of great profperity. The writer of this article knew a melancholy inftance of this laft effect. A gentleman poffeffed of a small fortune near Edinburgh, by the death of a relation abroad, fel! heir to a large eftate. The 4th day after the news had arrived, the writer called and congratulated him on his good fortune; when amidst much hofpitality, and many promifes of making all his friends the better of it, he mentioned that he had got no fleep fince he received the letter. To this the writer replied, that this was a dangerous ftate of health, and fleep must be procured by opium or other foporifics, as quickly as poffible, elfe the confequences might be fatal. which was only within a week, his unfortunate Next time he called, friend was in confinement, under keepers; and within two months, fo rapidly did his fon feize the opportunity his father's misfortune afforded him, the oid gentleman was cognofced as a lunatic, and the fon legally put in poffeffion of the whole fortune; thus fulfilling Ovid's remark,

FILIUS ante diem PATRIOS inquirit in annos ! Within 4 years after this event, the old gentle. man, who, however, did not exceed go, between evalnemment, hard fare, and not the beft of ulage

Marne, on the river, (N° 2.) 12 miles N. of Cha(1.) SUIPPE, a town of France, in the dep. of lons, and 15 W. of St Menehould.

through the dep. of Marne, and falls into the (2.) SUIPPE, a river of France, which runs Aifne, 6 miles NE. of Roucy, in the dep. of Aisne. SUIR. See Sour.

SUISJU. See SURUNGA.

SUISOPOUR, a town of Indoftan, in Rantampour: 94 miles SSW. of Agra.

number of things correfpondent one to the other. (1.) * SUIT. n. f. [fuite, French.] 1. A fet; a Sundry fits of rhimes. Drayton.

We, ere the day, two fuits of armour fought.

Dryden.

2. Cloaths made one part to answer another.fuit of the camp, will do among foaming bottles, What a beard of the general's cut, and a horrid and ale-washed wits, is wonderful. Shak.Him all repute

Donne.

For his device in handfoming a fuit.
Three or four fuitsone winter there does wafte,
One fuit does there three or four winters aft.

Cowley

His majefty was fupplied with 3000 fuits of cloaths. Clarendon. 3. Confecution; feries; refame kind and fuite of weather comes about again gular order.-Every five and thirty years the call it the prime. Bacon. Having no correfpondence. A metaphor, I fuppofe, from cards.4. Out of SUITS.

Wear this for me; one out of juits with for

tune.

Shak Obfs

5. [Suite, French.] Retinue; company.
nour, should have tumbled together to deftruc-
lete.-Plexirtus's ill-led life, and worfe gotten ho-
ten, had there not come in Tydeus and Telenor,
with fifty in their fuite to his defence. Sidney. 6.

From

Mine cars against your fits are ftronger than
Your gates against my force.
Shak.

She gallops o'er a courtier's nofe;
And then dieans he of fmelling out a fait. Shak.
-Had I a fait to Mr Shallow, I would humour
his men. Shak. Many fhall make fuit unto thee.
Job. xi. 19.-

I had no fuit there, nor new fuit to fhew.

Donne. It will be unreafonable to expect that God should attend and grant those suits of ours. Duty of Man. 7. Courtship.

2. Real

[From To fue] A petition; an addrefs of en- ture are all actions upon debt or promises; of the treaty.latter are all actions of treipaffes, nuifances, affaults, defamatory words, and the like. actions (or feodal actions,) which concern rea! property only, are fuch whereby the plaintifi, bere called the demandant, claims titie to have any lands or tenements, rents, commons, or other hereditaments, in fee-fimpie, fee-tail, or for term of hte. By thefe actions formerly at difputes concerning real estates were decided; but they are now pretty generally laid alide; a much more expeditious method of trying titles being introduced, by actions personal and mixed. 3. Mix d actions are fuits partaking of the mixture of the other two wherein fome real property is demanded, and alfo perfonal damages for a wrong sustained. As for inftance, an action of wafte: which is brought by him who hath the inheritance, in remancer or reverfion, against the tenant for life, who hath committed waste therein, to recover not only the land wafted, which would make it a real action; but also treble damages, in pursuance of the ftatute of Glacefter, which is a perfonal recompenfe; and fo both, being joined together, denominate it a mixed action. The orderly parts of a fuit are thefe: 1. The original WR1T. 2. The PROCESS. 3. The PLEADINGS. 4. The ISSUE or DEMURRER. 5. The TRIAL. 6. The JUDGMENT, and its incidents. 7. The proceedings in nature of APPEALS. 8. The EXECUTION. See these articles.

He that hath the fteerage of my course, Direct my fuit. Shak. Romeo and Juliet. -Their determinations are to return to their home and to trouble you with no more fuit. Shak. 2. In Spenfer it feems to fignify purfuit; profecu

tion.

Thenceforth the suit of earthly conqueft fhoone. Spenter. 9. [In law.] Suit is fometimes put for the inftance of a caufe, and sometimes for the cause itself de duced in judgment. Ayliffe.-All that had any fuits in law came unto them. Sufanna.-Wars are fuits of appeal to the tribunal of God's justice. Bacon. -Involve not thyfelf in the suits and parties of great perfonages. Taylor

To Alibech alone refer your fuit. Dryden. -A fuit of law is not a thing unlawful in itself. Kettlewell.-John Bull was flattered by the lawyers that his fuit would not laft above a year. Arbuthnot.

(2.) Sur is used in different senses; as, 1. Suit cuftom, which is where one and his ancestors have owed fuit time out of mind. 2. It is ufed for a petition to the king or any person of dignity, where a lord diftrains his tenant for fuit, and none is due. In this cafe, the party may have an attachment against him to appear in the king's

court.

(4.)* SUIT COVENANT... [In law.] Is where the ancestor of one man covenanted with the anceftor of another to fue at his court. Bailey.

(5.) * Suit COURT. n. S. {In law.] Is the court in which tenants owe attendance of their lord. Bailey.

(6.) * SUIT SERVICE. n. f. [In law.] Attendance which tenants owe to the court of their lord. Bailey.

Dryden.
Her purple babit fits with fuch a grace
On her smooth fhoulders, and fo suits her face.
Dryden.

If different fe&ts should give us a lift of thofe innate practical principies, they would fet down only fuch as suited their diftinct hypothefes. Locke.

(1.) * To SUIT. v. a. [from the noun.] 1. To fit; to adapt to fomething elfe-Suit the action (3.) Sur, in law, is the fame action. The to the word, the word to the action. Shak.-The Romans introduced pretty early fet forms for ac matter and manner of their tales, and of their teltions and fuits into their law, after the example ling, are suited to their different educations and of the Greeks; and made it a rule, that each in- humours. Dryden. 2. To be fitted; to become. jury fhould be redreffed by its proper remedy on. Il suits his cloth the praise of railing well. ly. (See ACTIO, and ACTION.) The forms of thefe actions were originally preserved in the books of the pontifical college as choice and ineftimable fecrets, till one Cneius Flavius, the fecretary of Appius Claudius, ftole a copy and pub. lifhed them to the people. The concealment was ridiculous. Bracton, fpeaking of the original writs upon which ail our actions are founded, declares them to be fixed and immutable, unless by authority of parliament. And all the modern legiflators of Europe have found it expedient to fall into the fame or a fimilar method. In England, the feveral fuits of juftice, are, from the fubjects of them, diftinguished into 3 kinds; actions perfonal, real, and mixed. 1. Perfonal actions are fuch whereby a man claims a debt, or perfonal duty, or damages in lieu thereof; and likewife whereby a man claims a fatisfaction in damages for fome injury done to his perfon or property. The former are faid to be founded upon contracts, the fatter upon toris or wrongs. Of the former na

Raife her notes to that fublime degree,
Which suits a fong of piety and thee.
3. To drefs; to ciothe.-

So went he suited to his watry tomb.
Be better suited.

I'd difrobe me

Of these Italian weeds, and suit myself
As does a Briton peasant.

*

Prior.

Shak.

Shak.

Shak:

(2.) To SUIT. v. n. To agree; to accord. Dryden ufes it both with to and with.

Milton.

The one intenfe, the other ftill remifs,
Cannot well suit with either.
The place itself was suiting to his care. Dryd ̧
Pity does quith a noble nature fuit. Dryden
Aaaaa
Confiraint