my country! O Lord, be merciful to----._"
HANWAY (Jonas, English merchant famous for his benevolence, author of
"Journal of Travels Through Russia and Persia," and "Historical Account
of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea"), 1712-1786. "_If you think
it will be of service in your practice or to any one who may come after
me, I beg you will have my body opened: I am willing to do as much good
as possible._"
HARRISON (Benjamin, twenty-third President of the United States),
1833-1901. "_Are the doctors here?_" to his wife who had just asked him
if he wanted anything.
As Tuesday marked the turning point in his disease, so it was the time
from which evidences of consciousness began to disappear. Since that
time there were few lucid intervals, and it is doubtful, with the single
exception of Tuesday afternoon, when his little girl was taken to his
bedside, and he recognized her for a moment, if he had been conscious at
all of his surroundings. The last words he spoke were to Mrs. Harrison
in answer to a question, but his voice was then almost inaudible and his
manner indicated that it required a concentration of effort to grasp the
import of the wife's question and frame a reply.
In his delirium, Mr. Harrison's mind wandered frequently to the stirring
scenes through which he had passed, and he spoke of events connected
with the history of his country and in which he played a conspicuous
part, as the Chief Magistrate of the nation. But his mind seemed more to
be occupied with thoughts of the Boer war than with any other one thing
to which he alluded, and it was manifest that the struggle of the South
African people for liberty had made a deep impression, and had awakened
his strongest sympathies, for he frequently talked, disconnectedly, of
course, of the sufferings of the Boer people, and the attempt to crush
them out of existence.--_New York Sun, March 14, 1901._
HARRISON (William Henry, ninth President of the United States),
1773-1841. "_I wish you to understand the true principles of government.
I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more._"
HAUSER (Kaspar, the "Nuremberg Foundling"), --1833. "_Tired--very
tired--a long journey--to take_," after these words he turned his face
to the wall and never spoke again.
He was becoming more feeble every moment, and repeated several times,
"Tired--very tired--all my limbs--too heavy--for me."
The good Pastor Fuhrmann comforted and encouraged him with the words of
Scripture, ending with, "Father, not my will," and Kaspar responded,
"but thine be done." To test his consciousness, the Pastor asked, "Who
prayed thus?" and again he was ready with his answer, "Our
Saviour."--"And when?"--"Before he died." A few minutes after this
followed his last words, "Tired--very tired--a long journey--to
take."--_The Duchess of Cleveland: "The True Story of Kaspar Hauser."_
The strange and mysterious history and sad death of Kaspar Hauser called
forth the deepest interest and sympathy throughout Europe. He was
discovered in the streets of Nuremberg in 1828, a lad about sixteen,
knowing almost nothing of the world, and able to speak but two or three
words of any language, and of the meaning of these he had but a dim
understanding. He had with him a letter purporting to be written by a
Bavarian peasant, declaring that Hauser had been left at his door, and
had been cared for by him. It was gradually ascertained that the youth
had been confined from infancy in a dark vault, so small that one could
not stand, and could move only slightly in its enclosure. He had never
tasted any food but bread and water, which had been brought to him by an
unknown man while he was sleeping. Hauser was cared for by a number of
generous and sympathetic patrons, among whom was Lord Stanhope; and his
mental and physical condition was studied by the scientific men of the
time. In 1833 he was invited to a meeting with a stranger who promised
to reveal to him the secret of his strange condition, and to tell him
who he was, but when Hauser was reading a document given him, this
stranger suddenly wounded him with a dagger, causing his death within
three days. See interesting history of the "Nuremberg Foundling" in
Merker's "_Kasper Hauser_," and Feuerbach's "_Account of an Individual
Kept in a Dungeon_."
HAVERGAL (Frances Ridley), 1836-1879. "_He._" It is thought she wished
to say, "He died for me."
HAVELOCK (Sir Henry), 1795-1857. "_Come, my son, and see how a Christian
can die._"
HAYDN (Francis Joseph), 1732-1809. "_God preserve the Emperor._" He
referred to the Emperor Francis.
In 1809 Vienna was bombarded by the French. A round-shot fell into his
garden. He seemed to be in no alarm, but on May 25 he requested to be
led to his piano, and three times over he played the "Hymn to the
Emperor," with an emotion that fairly overcame both himself and those
who heard him. He was to play no more; and, being helped back to his
couch, he lay down in extreme exhaustion to wait for the end. Six days
afterward, May 31, 1809, died Francis Joseph Haydn, aged seventy-seven.
_Haweis's "Music and Morals."_
HAYDON (Benjamin Robert, English artist), 1786-1846. His last recorded
words were, "_God forgive me.--Amen!_" Haydon took his own life in a
moment of great mental depression.
At dinner he got up from his chair and turned a glazed picture to the
wall; his brain could not bear the reflected light. He looked flushed
and haggard, and passed a silent and abstracted evening. That night he
was heard walking about his room nearly the whole night, apparently in
great agitation. It was in those wakeful hours he settled his resolve.
He was dressed and out of his room early the next morning (22d June),
and walked down, before breakfast, to Riviere, a gunmaker in Oxford
Street, near Regent Street. Here he bought one of a pair of pistols. He
came home about 9 A. M., breakfasted alone, then went to his
painting-room, and probably wrote the letters to his children, his will,
and his "last thoughts." As his mother and sister passed the
painting-room door on their way to their rooms, about 10:30 A. M., they
tried the door--it was locked--and he called out very fiercely, "Who's
there?" A few minutes after, as if regretting the tone in which he had
spoken, he came up to his mother's room, kissed her affectionately, and
lingered about the room as if he had something to say. But he said
little, except to ask her to call that day on an old friend (one of the
executors he had just named in his will) and, returned to his
painting-room, deliberately wrote in his journal:--
"God forgive me.--Amen!"
In a few moments he had destroyed himself.
_Stoddard: "Haydon's Life, Letters and Table Talk."_
HAZLITT (William, essayist and critic), 1778-1830. "_I have led a happy
life._"
HEINE (Heinrich, German poet and author), 1800-1856. "_Set your mind at
rest, Dieu me pardonnera, c'est son metrer._"
Some hours before he died a friend came into his room to see him once
more. Soon after his entry he asked Heine if he was on good terms with
God. "Set your mind at rest," said Heine, "Dieu me pardonnera, c'est son
metrer."
_Stigand: "Life, Work and Opinions of Heine."_
Catherine Bourlois, Heine's nurse, says in a letter to Mrs. Charlotte
Embden, that Heine's last words often repeated were, "I am done for."
She endeavored to comfort him with such kind and religious words as came
to her mind, but all that she said had little effect.
HELOISE or ELOISE (a beautiful and accomplished French woman; the niece
of Fulbert, canon of Notre-Dame. She became successively the pupil,
mistress and wife of Abelard. After her marriage she became prioress of
Argenteuil, and acquired a high reputation for piety. Her letters,
written in elegant Latin, and printed with those of Abelard, are the
expressions of a noble and fervent spirit), about 1100-1164. "_In death
at last let me rest with Abelard._"
Heloise, when she felt the approach of death, directed the sisterhood to
place her body by the side of that of Abelard, in the same coffin. It
was commonly reported and believed, such was the credulity of the age,
that at the moment when the coffin of Abelard was opened to lay her
within it, the arm of the skeleton stretched itself out, opened, and
appeared to be reanimated to receive the beloved one. They reposed for
five hundred years in one of the aisles of the Paraclete, and after
various changes, came to rest at last in the beautiful cemetery of
Pere-la-Chaise at Paris.
HEMANS (Felicia Dorothea), 1794-1835. "_I feel as if I were sitting with
Mary at the feet of my Redeemer, hearing the music of his voice, and
learning of Him to be meek and lovely._"
HENDRICKS (Thomas A., Vice-President of the United States), 1819-1885.
"_At rest at last. Now I am free from pain._"
HENRY IV. (of France), 1553-1610. "_I am wounded_," said when struck by
the assassin Ravaillac.
While the coach stopped, the attendants with the exception of two, went
on before; one of these two advanced to clear the way, the other stopped
to fasten his garter. At that instant a wild-faced, red-haired man in a
cloak, who had followed the coach from the Louvre, approached the side
where the king sat, as if endeavoring to push his way, like other
passengers, between the coach and the shops. Suddenly putting one foot
on a spoke of the wheel, he drew a knife, and struck the king, who was
reading a letter, between the second and third rib, a little above the
heart. "I am wounded," cried the king, as the assassin, perceiving that
the stroke had not been effectual, repeated it. The second blow went
directly to the heart; the blood gushed from the wound and from his
mouth, and death was almost instantaneous. A third blow which the
assassin aimed at his victim was received by the Duke of Eperon in the
sleeve.
The assassin's name was Francis Ravaillac, a native of Angoumois, who
had been a solicitor in the courts of law. Whether the crime was
prompted solely by his own imagination, or whether he was the instrument
of any deep-laid conspiracy, was never clearly ascertained, though the
latter was the general supposition.--_Chambers' Miscellany._
HENRY VIII. (second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York. The death
of his elder brother Arthur, in 1502, made him heir apparent to the
throne. He married his brother's widow, Catharine of Aragon, and, upon
his father's death in 1509, was crowned king of England. The great event
in his reign was his divorcement of Catharine and his marriage with Anne
Boleyn, which led to the repudiation of Romanism in England, and the
organization of the English or Episcopal Church), 1491-1547. "_Monks!
Monks! Monks!_" He was in all probability thinking of the time when he
abolished the monasteries and turned the monks out of doors.
HENRY (Patrick, American statesman and orator), 1736-1799. "_I trust in
the mercy of God, it is not now too late._"
HENRY (Philip, English dissenting clergyman. He was the father of
Matthew Henry, the eminent English divine and commentator), 1631-1696.
"_O death, where is thy--_" Here his speech failed, and in a few moments
he breathed his last.
HENRY (Matthew, commentator on the Bible), 1662-1714. "_A life spent in
the service of God, and communion with Him, is the most comfortable and
pleasant life that any one can live in this present world._"
He was twenty-five years pastor of a church at Chester, and during that
time went through the Bible three times in the course of expository
lectures. "At the commencement of his ministry he began with the first
chapter of Genesis in the forenoon, and the first chapter of Matthew in
the afternoon. Thus gradually and steadily grew his 'Exposition' of the
Bible. A large portion of it consists of his public lectures, while many
of the quaint sayings and pithy remarks with which it abounds, and which
give so great a charm of raciness to its pages, were the familiar
extempore observations of his father at family worship, and noted down
by Matthew in his boyhood."
HERBERT (George, author of some of the finest sacred lyrics in the
English language), 1593-1632. "_I am now ready to die. Lord, forsake me
not, now my strength faileth me; but grant me mercy for the merits of
my Jesus. And now Lord--Lord, now receive my soul._"
With these words he breathed forth his divine soul, without any apparent
disturbance, Mr. Woodnot and Mr. Bostock attending his last breath, and
closing his eyes.
Thus he lived, and thus he died like a saint, unspotted of the world,
full of alms-deeds, full of humility, and all the examples of a virtuous
life; which I cannot conclude better, than with this borrowed
observation:
All must to their cold graves;
But the religious actions of the just
Smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust.
_Izaak Walton._
HERDER (Johann Gottfried von, court-preacher at Weimar, and one of the
most brilliant and delightful of German authors), 1744-1803. He died
writing an "Ode to the Deity;" his pen had just reached the last line.
His last spoken words were "_Refresh me with a great thought._"
HERVEY (James, English divine, author of the once popular book,
"Meditations Among the Tombs"), 1713-1758. "_Precious salvation!_"
Leaning his head against the side of the easy-chair, without a sigh, or
groan, or struggle, he shut his eyes and died.
HEYLIN (Peter, author of "Life of Bishop Laud" and "Defence of the
Church of England"), 1600-1662. "_I go to my God and Saviour._"
HILL (Rev. Rowland, a popular, pious, but eccentric preacher),
1745-1833. "_Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us unto God._"
HOBBES (Thomas, philosopher and translator), 1588-1679. "_Now am I about
to take my last voyage--a great leap in the dark._"
Some say Hobbes's last words were: "I shall be glad to find a hole to
creep out of the world at."
He clung warmly to his friends, had a horror of being left alone in his
illness, bequeathed all his property to the faithful servant and friend
who had been his amanuensis. He was not afraid of death but said he
should willingly "find some hole to creep out of the world at," and was
wont to amuse himself with choosing for the epitaph to be graven on his
tombstone, "This is the true philosopher's stone."
_Alger's "Genius of Solitude."_
HODGE (Charles, American theologian, for fifty-six years President of
Princeton Theological Seminary. His "Systematic Theology" in three
volumes, is one of the ablest compends of divinity in the English
language. His "Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans" has been greatly
prized by Bible-students), 1797-1878. "_My work is done, the pins of the
tabernacle are taken out._"
A moment later he was heard to whisper:
"_A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On Thy kind arms I fall._"
HOFER (Andreas, Tyrolese patriot), 1767-1810. "_I stand in the presence
of my Creator, and standing I will render back my spirit to God who gave
it. Fire!_" to the officer who directed him to place himself on his
knees.
The first six shots wounded him but slightly. Dropping on his knees he
received the remaining six, and was still struggling convulsively when a
corporal, discharging a pistol close to his head, put an end to his
sufferings.--_Markham._
HOGG (James, "the Ettrick Shepherd"), 1772-1835. "_It is likely you may
never need to do it again_," to his wife, whom he had asked to watch by
his bedside during the night.
HOOD (Thomas), 1798-1845. "_Dying, Dying._" Like poor Yorick, he was "a
fellow of infinite jest; of most excellent fancy." In his genius were
united the intensely pathetic and the exquisitely humorous. His life was
one of toil and suffering, and yet he was always joking and making those
around him laugh. His wit did not forsake him on his death-bed; it is
recorded that when a mustard plaster was applied to his attenuated feet,
he was heard feebly to remark that there was "very little meat for the
mustard."
He died on the 3d of May, 1845, and on a July day nine years later
Monckton Milnes unveiled the monument which stands above his grave in
Kensal Green Cemetery. Beneath the bust there runs the legend, "He sang
the Song of the Shirt," and on either side of the pedestal are
bas-relief medallions of "Eugene Aram's Dream" and "The Bridge of
Sighs"--all pertinent reminders of the fact that there was a serious as
well as a humorous side to the genius of Hood. He himself, there can be
no doubt, would have elected to live by his serious verse.
HOOKER (Richard, eminent English clergyman), 1553-1600. "_Good Doctor,
God has heard my daily petitions, for I am at peace with all men, and he
is at peace with me; and from which blessed assurance I feel that inward
joy which this world can neither give nor take away._"
Some say his last words were, "My days are past as a shadow that returns
not."
HOOPER (John, Bishop of Gloucester and later Bishop of Worcester _in
commendam_), about 1495-1555. "_If you love my soul, away with it!_"
In January, 1555, he was condemned on three charges: for maintaining the
lawfulness of clerical marriage, for defending divorce and for denying
transubstantiation. He called the mass "the iniquity of the devil." He
was sentenced to die at the stake in Gloucester, whither he was
conveyed. He met his death firmly and cheerfully. To a friend bewailing
his lot, the martyr replied in the oft-quoted words, "Death is bitter,
and life is sweet, but alas! consider that death to come is more bitter,
and life to come is more sweet." In another conversation he said, "I am
well, thank God; and death to me for Christ's sake is welcome." His
martyrdom was witnessed by a large throng of people. The martyr was
forbidden to address the crowd. A real or pretended pardon being
promised if he would recant, he spurned it away, saying, "If you love my
soul, away with it." His agony was greatly prolonged and increased by
the slow progress of the fire on account of the green faggots, which had
to be rekindled three times before they did their work.
_Rev. D. S. Schaff in the Religious Encyclopaedia._
Some authorities say Bishop Hooper's last words were. "Good people, give
me more fire." Other authorities have it, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit."
HOPKINS (Rev. Samuel, D. D., distinguished theologian and
controversialist: founder of the so-called "Hopkinsian Theology"),
1721-1803. "_My anchor is well cast, and my ship, though weather-beaten,
will outride the storm._"
HOTMAN (William, Revolutionary soldier and patriot, the record of whose
noble and courageous spirit is preserved upon a grave-stone at Groton,
Connecticut), --1781. "_We will endeavor to crawl to this line; we will
completely wet the powder with our blood; thus will we, with the life
that remains in us, save the fort and the magazine, and perhaps a few of
our comrades who are only wounded!_"
The entire inscription upon the stone reads thus:
"On the 20th of October, 1781, four thousand English fell upon this town
with fire and sword--seven hundred Americans defended the fort for a
whole day, but in the evening about four o'clock, it was taken. The
commander declined delivering up his sword to an Englishman, who
immediately stabbed him! All his comrades were put to the sword. A line
of powder was laid from the magazine of the fort to be lighted to blow
the fort up into the air. William Hotman, who lay not far distant,
wounded by three stabs of a bayonet in his body, beheld it, and said to
one of his wounded friends, who was still alive, 'We will endeavor to
crawl to this line; we will completely wet the powder with our blood;
thus will we, with the life that remains in us, save the fort and the
magazine, and perhaps a few of our comrades who are only wounded!' He
alone had strength to accomplish this noble design. In his thirtieth
year he died on the powder which he overflowed with his blood. His
friend, and seven of his wounded companions, by that means had their
lives preserved. Here rests William Hotman."
HOUGH (John, Bishop of Oxford, afterward Bishop of Worcester),
1651-1743. "_We part to meet again, I hope, in endless joys_," to some
friends who were with him at the time of his death.
HOUSTON (Samuel, known as "Sam," commander-in-chief of the Texan army
and "Hero of San Jacinto," President of Texas, and, after annexation,
United States Senator), 1793-1862. "_Texas! Texas!_"--after a pause, he
faintly breathed the name of his wife, "_Margaret_," and passed away.
HOWARD (William, Viscount Stafford. Having been accused by Titus Oates
of complicity in the Popish Plot, he was convicted of treason and
executed December 29th, 1680. It is believed that he was innocent),
1612-1680. "_I do forgive you._"
Having embraced and taken leave of his friends, he knelt down and placed
his head on the block: the executioner raised the axe high in the air,
but then checking himself suddenly lowered it. Stafford raised his head
and asked the reason for the delay. The executioner said he waited the
signal. "I shall make no sign," he answered; "take your own time." The
executioner asked his forgiveness. "I do forgive you," replied Stafford,
and placing his head again in position, at one blow it was severed from
his body.--_Bell's "Chapel and Tower."_
HOWARD (John, distinguished philanthropist), 1726-1790. "_Suffer no pomp
at my funeral, nor monumental inscription where I am laid. Lay me
quietly in the earth and put a sun-dial over my grave, and let me be
forgotten._"[26]
A rude obelisk is erected over his grave, bearing the brief Latin
inscription, "Vixet propter alios"--he lived for the good of others.
He may have lived for others but it is recorded of him that he was a
tyrant in his own house; that his cruel treatment caused the death of
his wife; and that he was in the habit of punishing his only son with
the greatest severity. Dr. Forbes Winslow thinks Howard was insane, and
there is much to justify that opinion.
[26] Tacitus said, "At my funeral let no tokens of sorrow be seen,
no pompous mockery of woe. Crown me with chaplets, strew flowers on
my grave, and let my friends erect no vain memorial to tell where my
remains are lodged."
Ludovious Cortesius, a rich lawyer at Padua, commanded by his last
will, that no man should lament; but, as at a wedding, music and
minstrels to be a delight to the people, should be provided; and
instead of black mourners, he ordered that twelve virgins clad in
green should carry him to the church.
The Hon. T. G. Shearman wrote in his diary (read at his funeral in
Plymouth church, Brooklyn, N. Y.) under date of May 21, 1894: "Give
me an unostentatious, cheery funeral, in no darkened room, and with
no dreariness of any kind."
HULL (Isaac, commodore), 1775-1843. "_I strike my flag._"
HUMBERT I. (King of Italy), 1844-1900. "_It is nothing._" These words
were spoken as he sank into the arms of his aide, upon receiving the
third bullet from the revolver of the assassin Bressi, at Monza, where
he attended a gymnastic fete and distributed prizes.
"The King at once took his place on the platform amid the tumultuous
cheering of the people. He wore civilian attire, and appeared to be in
excellent health and spirits. In distributing the prizes, his Majesty
made a speech which he concluded by saying:
"'It gives me great pleasure to be among my own people after so long an
absence from Monza.'
"These, as it proved, were the last words King Humbert uttered publicly.
The distribution of the prizes ended at 10:30 o'clock, and on leaving
the platform the King entered the first of the two four-wheeled court
carriages that were waiting. He sat on the right of Lieut.-Gen.
Ponziovaglia, his chief aide.
"As the carriage began to move the members of the various gymnastic
societies gathered round and cheered the King enthusiastically. His
Majesty, smiling and acknowledging the demonstration, brought the
carriage to a temporary halt.
"It was beginning to start again when three revolver shots rang out,
startling every one. The horses were frightened and began to rear, and
almost simultaneously the people saw that the King had fallen into the
arms of his aides, bleeding from his neck and breast.