r, which, notwithstanding his extreme youth,
appeared to be rapidly becoming grey. He had very long limbs, and was
apparently tall of stature, in which he differed from his elderly
companion, who must have been somewhat below the usual height.

'No, I can't smoke,' said the youth, in reply to the observation of the
other; 'I have often tried, but could never succeed to my satisfaction.'

'Is it possible to become a good German without smoking?' said the
senior, half speaking to himself.

'I daresay not,' said the youth; 'but I shan't break my heart on that
account.'

'As for breaking your heart, of course you would never think of such a
thing; he is a fool who breaks his heart on any account; but it is good
to be a German, the Germans are the most philosophic people in the world,
and the greatest smokers: now I trace their philosophy to their smoking.'

'I have heard say their philosophy is all smoke--is that your opinion?'

'Why, no; but smoking has a sedative effect upon the nerves, and enables
a man to bear the sorrows of this life (of which every one has his share)
not only decently, but dignifiedly. Suicide is not a national habit in
Germany as it is in England.'

'But that poor creature, Werther, who committed suicide, was a German.'

'Werther is a fictitious character, and by no means a felicitous one; I
am no admirer either of Werther or his author. But I should say that, if
there ever was a Werther in Germany, he did not smoke. Werther, as you
very justly observe, was a poor creature.'

'And a very sinful one; I have heard my parents say that suicide is a
great crime.'

'Broadly, and without qualification, to say that suicide is a crime, is
speaking somewhat unphilosophically. No doubt suicide, under many
circumstances, is a crime, a very heinous one. When the father of a
family, for example, to escape from certain difficulties, commits
suicide, he commits a crime; there are those around him who look to him
for support, by the law of nature, and he has no right to withdraw
himself from those who have a claim upon his exertions; he is a person
who decamps with other people's goods as well as his own. Indeed, there
can be no crime which is not founded upon the depriving others of
something which belongs to them. A man is hanged for setting fire to his
house in a crowded city, for he burns at the same time or damages those
of other people; but if a man who has a house on a heath sets fire to it,