The Sun. — 1828-02-11 (London, England)

SUICIDE OF MR. NEELE.  On Saturday an inquest was held at the Greyhound, Henrietta-street, Brunswick-square, on the body of Mr. Henry Neele, a solicitor, and a gentle, man who, has distinguished himself in the literary world, by several productions familiar to the public; the one, however, by which he is best known, is a work called the ‘! Romance of History," equally distinguished by its accuracy, its liveliness, and its good taste. The first witness examined was Mr. Harding, a surgeon, of Henrietta,street„who ststed, that on Thursday morning, at an early hour, he'was called upon to attend the deceased, and found him at his resilience, No. 6, Hunter-street; he was lying on the bed' in his bed-room quite dead, ,and with his throat cut from ear to ear. The witness added, that tthe deceased lived with his mother, three sisters, and a brother, in Hunter-street. II: was a solicitor, and a man of great literary attainments. On Wednesday last witness was in his company, and lie then appear6d singular in his conduct, and altered in his Manner..  Mr. Richard Enoch Chapman, a barrister, arid uncle of the deceased, who resides in Took's-court, Chancery-lane, said' he was in Hertfordshire on Wednesday morning last, attending a funeral, when the deceased sent for him, and taking him apart in a private room, said that he was a ruined man. He then produced some documents relating to a commission of bankruptcy, and said, that having been called upon to pay a certain sum due to the bankrupt's estate, he found that he should be ruined, in consequence of being unable to meet the demand. The deceased's father was one of the assignees to the bankrupt's estate, and he died about four years ago. Upon receiving the information from the deceased to the effect above stated, witness waited upon the surviving assignee, and found that the deceased's statement was untrue, that he laboured under a delusion, and that the whole of the accounts of the bankrupt's estate had been settled to the satisfaction of the. creditors,_ and that there was a balance of 5301. left. On Thursday morning he. was sent.for to the deceased's residence, and found him lying on his bed with his throat cut from car to ear-, On Wednesday Witness first discovered an aberration of the deceased's intellect, and considering he was insane, begged his friends not to leave him alone.  The Jury asked Mr. Chapman if he knew wha had caused the deceased's insanity  Mr. Chapman said, that the deceased was a mai of great attainments, and he believed that his lite• vary pursuits had disordered his intellect. Jury--4-lad the assignees any claim upon the de ceased under the commission of bankruptcy  Mr. Chapman said that the assignees hatl no claim upon him. Miss Neele, one of the deceased's sisters, said, that on .Thursday morning she went up to call her brother, and found him lying on the bed in the state described. Deceased was in the habit of reading prayers to the family every night; but on Wednesday night he was in such a state of agitation, that hecould not perform that duty. He was quite sober. Mr. STIRLING, the Coroner, in summing up the case to the Jury, observed, that the deceaSed had evidently affected his nerves by a too' intent exercise of his imaginative powers, and thereby produced temporary aberration of mind,ending in a lamentable catastrophe, upon which they were now called to express their opinion. The verdict, from any evidence he had heard, could not be a matter of either difficulty trr doubt. The Jury, after a brief consultation, returned a' verdict of—" Insanity." Mr. Neele was of middle age, short in stature, and amiable and inoffensive in manner. No man apparently, enjoyed life with greater zest : when happy in the company of his friends and acquaintance, he seemed, too, one of those formed to glide', through the world unaffected by any of those circumstances which agitate the mind, or unsettle the pursuits of men who boast of a more Eery temperament. That he was embarrassed in his cireum;stances did not appear upon the inquest, nor do we. believe from the recent success of some of the efforts of his imagination, that he could have laboured under any depression of mind on that account. We can only, therefore, suppose that he laboured, on this melancholy occasion, under the effect of that influence of the brain which is frequently produced by a too intense reflection, and which, in much greater and more distinguished men, has led to the same melancholy termination.