wrote to Mrs. Clemm, under date of November 15th, 1849, an account of
Poe's last hours, in which he represents him as having been wildly
delirious, sometimes "resisting the efforts of two nurses to keep him in
bed, until Saturday, when he commenced calling for one 'Reynolds,' which
he did through the night until three on Sunday morning. At this time a
very decided change began to affect him. Having become enfeebled from
exertion, he became quiet and seemed to rest for a short time; then
gently moving his head he said, 'Lord help my soul!' and expired."
POLYCARP ("Saint," Christian Father and martyr and the reputed disciple
of the Apostle John), burned at the stake, 169. "_O Father of Thy
beloved and blessed Son, Jesus Christ! O God of all principalities and
of all creation! I bless Thee that Thou hast counted me worthy of this
day, and of this hour, to receive my portion in the number of the
martyrs, in the cup of Christ. I praise Thee for all these things; I
bless Thee, I glorify Thee, by the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ,
Thy well-beloved Son, through whom, and with whom, in the Holy Spirit,
be glory to Thee, both now and forever. Amen._"
POPE (Alexander), 1688-1744. "_I am dying, sir, of a hundred good
symptoms_," said to a friend who called to inquire concerning his
health. Some give his last words thus: "Friendship itself is but a part
of virtue."[41]
[41] On some occasion of alteration in the church at Twickenham,
England, or burial of some one in the same spot, the coffin of Pope
was disinterred, and opened to see the state of the remains. By a
bribe to the sexton of the time, possession of the skull was
obtained for the night, and another skull was returned in place of
it. Fifty pounds were paid for the successful management of this
transaction. Whether this account is correct or not, the fact is
that the skull of Pope figures in a private museum.--_William
Howitt._
The head of the celebrated Duc de Richelieu, like that of Pope, the
Mahdi, and Swendenborg, is above ground. At the time of the
revolution in France the body of the Duke was exhumed from its grave
in the Church of the Sorbonne. This having been subjected to
numerous indignities, the head was cut off, and the latter
eventually came into the possession of a grocer, who afterward sold
it to M. Armez, the elder. M. Armez, after the Restoration, offered
the head to the then Duc de Richelieu, the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, who took no notice whatever of the offer. The son of M.
Armez inherited the skull. In 1846 the illustrious Montalembert,
when President of the Historical Committee of Arts and Monuments, at
the instance of his colleagues, did his best to recover the head of
the Duke, but without success. M. F. Feuillet de Conches, in his
"Causeries d'un Curieux," makes this comment: "We accuse no one,
still the fact is undeniable that this terrible head, the
personification of the absolute monarchy killing the aristocratic
monarchy, is wandering upon the earth like a spectre that has
straggled out of the domain of the dead."
POPE (William, the notorious leader of a company of men who attracted
considerable attention by their open and continued abuse of sacred
things. The utterances of these men shocked community and filled the
minds of even open unbelievers with horror. It was reported, but of that
the compiler of this book has no positive knowledge, that Pope and his
associates diverted themselves by kicking the Bible about the floor of
the room in which they held their infamous meetings. In his death
chamber was a scene of terror),--1797. "_I have done the damnable
deed--the horrible damnable deed! I cannot pray. God will have nothing
to do with me. I will not have salvation at His hands. I long to be in
the bottomless pit--the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone! I
tell you I am damned! I will not have salvation! Nothing for me but
hell. Come, eternal torments. O God, do not hear my prayers, for I will
not be saved. I hate everything that God has made._"
PORTEUS (Beilby, Bishop of London. Among his works are a "Life of
Archbishop Seeker," "Sermons," and a Seatonian prize poem on "Death." It
is said that he assisted Hannah More in the composition of "Coelebs in
Search of a Wife"), 1731-1808. "_O, that glorious sun!_"
PRESTON (John, author of "Treatise on the Covenant"), 1587-1628.
"_Blessed be God, though I change my place, I shall not change my
company; for I have walked with God while living, and now I go to rest
with God._"
PRIESTLY (Joseph, philosopher and writer), 1733-1804. "_I am going to
sleep like you, but we shall all awake together, and I trust to
everlasting happiness_," spoken to his grandchildren and attendants.
To Priestly we owe our knowledge of oxygen, binoxide of nitrogen,
sulphurous acid, fluosilicic acid, muriatic acid, ammonia, carburetted
hydrogen, and carbonic oxide.
PUSEY (Edward Bouverie, Regius professor of Hebrew at Oxford, author
with John Henry Newman, of "Tracts for the Times." He favored auricular
confession and many of the distinctive doctrines and practices of the
Roman Catholic church), 1800-1882. "_My God!_"
He repeated again and again during his last hours the words, "The body
of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee, preserve thy body and
soul unto everlasting life." When a common cup containing food was
brought to him, he clutched it with reverent eagerness, thinking in the
bewilderment of his mind, that it was the chalice. When he saw the
friends about his bed kneeling in prayer, he raised his hand, with the
words, "By His authority committed unto me, I absolve thee from all thy
sins." At last, gazing about him as though he saw what the dear ones by
his bedside could not see, he cried out, "My God!" and ceased to
breathe. His Hebrew Bible lay open on a little table near his bed just
as he had left it a few days before, at 1 Chron. xvi, where is described
David's triumphant restoration of the ark of God to its place in the
reverent worship of Israel.
QUARLES (Francis, quaint English poet, author of "Emblems"), 1592-1644.
"_What I cannot utter with my mouth, accept, Lord, from my heart and
soul._"
QUIN (James, actor), 1693-1766. "_I could wish this tragic scene were
over, but I hope to go through it with becoming dignity._"
QUICK (John, actor), 1748-1831. "_Is this death?_"
RABELAIS (Francois), about 1483-1553. "_Let down the curtain, the farce
is over._" Some say his last words were, "I am going to the great
perhaps."
RALEIGH or RAWLEIGH (Sir Walter), 1552-1618. "_This is a sharp medicine,
but a sure remedy for all evils!_" These words he said upon the
scaffold, when permitted to feel of the edge of the axe. Some say that
later he was asked which way he chose to place himself on the block, and
that he replied, "So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the
head lies." Others say that his last words were these addressed to the
hesitating headsman, "Why dost thou not strike? Strike!"
The lovers of tobacco will remember that it was Sir Walter Raleigh who
introduced their "delightful weed" into Europe. So fond was he of the
weed that he used it upon the scaffold. The snuff-box out of which he
took a pinch just before his head rested upon the block was in constant
use by the Duke of Sussex, and was disposed of at his sale for L6.
Mr. Van Klaes whose will is celebrated all over Holland was not to be
behind Sir Walter Raleigh in his devotion to tobacco. After his bequests
to relatives and charities, he has this paragraph in his will:
"I wish every smoker in the kingdom to be invited to my funeral in every
way possible, by letter, circular and advertisement. Every smoker who
takes advantage of the invitation shall receive as a present ten pounds
of tobacco, and two pipes on which shall be engraved my name, my crest,
and the date of my death. The poor of the neighborhood who accompany my
bier shall receive every year on the anniversary of my death a large
package of tobacco. I make the condition that all those who assist at my
funeral, if they wish to partake of the benefits of my will, must smoke
without interruption during the entire ceremony. My body shall be placed
in a coffin lined throughout with the wood of my old Havana cigar-boxes.
At the foot of the coffin shall be placed a box of French tobacco called
_Caporal_ and a package of our old Dutch tobacco. At my side place my
favorite pipe and a box of matches, ... for one never knows what may
happen. When the bier rests in the vault, all the persons in the funeral
procession are requested to cast upon it the ashes of their pipes, as
they pass it on their departure from the grounds."
The wishes of the testator were fulfilled to the letter. The funeral
went off gloriously in dense clouds of smoke. Mr. Van Klaes' cook,
Gertrude, to whom was left in a codicil to the will a large sum of money
on condition she should overcome her aversion to tobacco, walked in the
funeral procession with a cigarette in her mouth.
RANDOLPH (John, an able but eccentric American statesman), 1773-1833.
"_Write that word 'Remorse;' show it to me._" These words rest upon
doubtful authority.
RAPHAEL (Sanzio, most illustrious of painters. "The Transfiguration" at
Rome, and the "Madonna di San Sisto" at Dresden are accounted his
master-pieces), 1483-1520. "_Happy--._'
"Once again Raphael revived, and, supported by two friends, arose and
looked around with wide-open eyes. 'Whence comes the sunshine?' murmured
he.
"'Raphael,' cried I, and extended both hands toward him, 'do you
recognize me?'
"For a moment it seemed as if he had not heard me, then he spoke again,
and the holy calm of his expression, in spite of the death-struggle,
bore testimony to his words, 'Happy--.' He tried to finish the sentence,
but could not. He never uttered another word, but it was full night when
a voice broke through the long stillness: 'Raphael is dead!'"
_Cardinal Bibbiena in a letter to his niece Maria di Bibbiena._
RAVAILLAC (Francois, the assassin of Henry IV. of France), 1578-1610.
"_I receive absolution upon this condition._" Ravaillac asked absolution
of Dr. Filesac, who answered, "We are forbidden to give it in the case
of a crime of high treason, unless the guilty one reveals his abettors
and accomplices." Ravaillac replied, "I have none. It is I alone that
did it. Give me a conditional absolution. You cannot refuse this."
"Well, then," said Dr. Filesac, "I give it to you, but if the contrary
be true, instead of absolution I pronounce your eternal damnation. Look
to it." Ravaillac answered, "I receive absolution upon this condition."
On May 27, 1610, Ravaillac was declared by the Parliament guilty of
divine and human high treason; condemned to have his flesh torn with hot
pincers and the wounds filled with melted lead, boiling oil, etc.; to
have his right hand, holding the regicidal knife, burned in a fire of
sulphur; to be afterward torn to pieces alive by four horses, to have
his members reduced to ashes and the ashes thrown to the winds. The same
decree ordered that the house in which he was born be demolished; that
his father and his mother leave the kingdom in fifteen days, with orders
not to return, under penalty of being hung and strangled; and finally
that his brothers, sisters, uncles, etc., give up the name of Ravaillac
and take another, under pain of the same penalties.
Ravaillac, most fearless of fanatics and devotees, said, when
interrogated before Parliament as to his estate and calling, "I teach
children to read, write, and pray to God." At his third examination, he
wrote beneath the signature which he had affixed to his testimony the
following distich:
"Que toujours, dans mon coeur,
Jesus soit le vainqueur!"
and a member of Parliament exclaimed on reading it, "Where the devil
will religion lodge next!"[42]
[42] John Chastel was torn to pieces sixteen years before, for
attempting the life of the same monarch. Salcede, the Spaniard,
endeavored to assassinate Henri III., and was accordingly
dismembered. Nicholas de Salvado and Balthazar de Gerrard suffered
in the same way for attacking William, Prince of Orange. Livy
records that Mettius Suffetius was dismembered by chariots for
deserting the Roman cause.
RAYMOND (John Howard, President of Vassar College), 1814--. "_How
easy--how easy--how easy to glide from work here to the work----_"
_there_, he evidently wished to add, but his voice failed him.
READE (Charles, author of "Peg Woffington," "The Cloister and the
Hearth," "Very Hard Cash," "Griffith Gaunt" and "Put Yourself in His
Place"), 1814-1884. "_Amazing, amazing glory! I am having Paul's
understanding._" He referred to 2 Cor. xii. 1-4, which had previously
been a subject of conversation with a relative. In the epitaph which he
wrote for his own tombstone, he shows his complete reliance for future
happiness on the merits and mediation of Christ:
HERE LIE,
BY THE SIDE OF HIS BELOVED FRIEND,
THE MORTAL REMAINS OF
CHARLES READE,
DRAMATIST, NOVELIST AND JOURNALIST.
HIS LAST WORDS TO MANKIND ARE
ON THIS STONE.
"I hope for a resurrection, not from any power in nature, but from the
will of the Lord God Omnipotent, who made nature and me. He created me
out of nothing, which nature could not do. He can restore man from the
dust, which nature cannot.
"And I hope for holiness and happiness in a future life, not for any
thing I have said or done in this body, but from the merits and
mediation of Jesus Christ.
"He has promised his intercession to all who seek him, and he will not
break his word; that intercession, once granted, cannot be rejected: for
he is God, and his merits infinite; a man's sins are but human and
finite.
"'Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' 'If any man sin,
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and he
is the propitiation for our sins.'"
RENAN (Ernest, Orientalist and critic), 1823-1892. "_I have done my
work. It is the most natural thing in the world to die; let us accept
the Laws of the Universe--the heavens and the earth remain._"
Some authorities give his last words thus: "Let us submit to the Laws of
Nature of which we are one of the manifestations. The heavens and the
earth abide."
He began to study for the priesthood, but renounced that profession
because he doubted the truth of the orthodox creed. He displayed much
learning in his "General History of the Semitic Languages," was admitted
into the Academy of Inscriptions in 1856, and was sent to Syria in 1860
to search for relics of ancient learning and civilization. Soon after
his return he was appointed professor of Hebrew in the College of
France, but was suspended in 1862, in deference to the will of those who
considered him unsound in faith. He admits the excellence of the
Christian religion, but discredits its supernatural origin and rejects
the miracles.--_Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary._
REYNOLDS (Sir Joshua, celebrated portrait painter), 1723-1792. "_I have
been fortunate in long good health and constant success, and I ought not
to complain. I know that all things on earth must have an end, and now I
am come to mine._"
RICHELIEU (Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal and French statesman),
1585-1642. "_Absolutely, and I pray God to condemn me, if I have had any
other aim than the welfare of God and the state_," in reply to the
question whether he pardoned his enemies.
His last words are sometimes incorrectly given thus: "I have no enemies
except those of the State."
RICHMOND (Leigh, a clergyman of the English Church, and author of
"Annals of the Poor" and "The Fathers of the English Church"),
1772-1827. "_Brother, brother, strong evidences, nothing but strong
evidences will do in such an hour as this. I have looked here and looked
there for them, and all have failed me, and so I cast myself on the
sovereign, free and full grace of God in the covenant by Jesus Christ;
and there, brother, there I have found peace._"
RICHTER (Jean Paul Frederich, German author), 1763-1825. "_My beautiful
flowers, my lovely flowers!_"
His wife brought him a wreath of flowers that a lady had sent him, for
every one wished to add some charm to his last days. As he touched them
carefully, for he could neither see nor smell them, he seemed to rejoice
in the images of the flowers in his mind, for he said repeatedly, "My
beautiful flowers, my lovely flowers!"
Although his friends sat around the bed, as he imagined it was night,
they conversed no longer; he arranged his arms as if preparing for
repose, which was to be to him the repose of death, and soon sank into a
tranquil sleep.... At length his respiration became less regular, but
his features always calmer, more heavenly. A slight convulsion passed
over the face; the physician cried out, "That is death!" and all was
quiet. The spirit had departed.
ROBERTSON (Frederick William, an English clergyman of singular purity
and depth of religious feeling, and of great ability), 1816-1853. "_I
cannot bear it; let me rest. I must die. Let God do his work._"
A member of his congregation, a chemist, asked him to look at his
galvanic apparatus. He took the ends of the wire, completed the circuit,
experiencing the tingling. He then held the end of the wire to the back
of the head and neck, without a single sensation being elicited. Then he
touched his forehead for a second. "Instantly a crashing pain shot
through, as if my skull was stove in, and a bolt of fire were burning
through and through." In the same letter he writes, "My work is done."
Some hope might have been entertained if he could have had a curate to
help him with his work. But the then Vicar of Brighton, rather an
unsympathetic man, refused to let him have the curate on whom his heart
was set. So he sank, unrelieved, into death. The dark secrets of the
hospital of torture hardly reveal greater suffering than Robertson
endured in those last hours. When they sought to change his position, he
said, "I cannot bear it; let me rest. I must die. Let God do his work."
These were his last words.
He was only thirty-seven years old when he died; an age when he had not
reached the climax of his powers, or the complete development of his
character and views. It is an interesting circumstance that after his
death an inhabitant of Brighton who had stood aloof from his teaching
during his lifetime, read his sermons and was so struck with the beauty
of his teaching that in gratitude he placed a marble bust of the great
preacher in the Pavilion.
_London Society._
For six years he continued to preach sermons, the like of which, for
blending of delicacy and strength of thought, poetic beauty and homely
lucidity of speech, had perhaps never been heard before in England.
Robertson was unhappily (for his comfort) not very "orthodox;"
consequently he was long misunderstood, and vilified by the "professedly
religious portion of society;" but so true, so beautiful was his daily
life and conversation that he almost outlived those pious calumnies, and
his death (from consumption) threw the whole town in mourning.--_Chambers'
Encyclopaedia._
ROB ROY (whose original name was Macgregor, was a friend and follower of
the "Pretender" in the Rebellion of 1715. He is the hero of one of
Scott's novels), about 1660-1743.
Tradition relates that Rob Roy was visited on his death-bed by a person
with whom he was at enmity, and that as soon as the visitor, whom he
treated with a cold, haughty civility during their short conference, had
departed, the dying man said, "Now all is over--let the piper play '_Ha
til mi tulidh_' (we return no more)"--and he is said to have expired
before the dirge was finished.--_Francis Jacox._
ROYER-COLLARD (Pierre Paul, French philosopher and statesman),
1763-1845. "_There is nothing solid and substantial in the world but
religious ideas._"
ROGERS (John, Vicar of St. Pulchers, and reader of St. Paul's in London.
He was burnt at the stake),--1555. "_Lord, receive my spirit._"
ROLAND (Marie Jeanne Philipon, Madame. "The Spirit of the Girondin
Party"), 1754-1793. "_Go first; I can at least spare you the pain of
seeing my blood flow._"
When she arrived in front of the Statue of Liberty, she bent her head to
it, exclaiming, "Oh Liberty, how many crimes are committed in thy name!"
At the foot of the scaffold she said to her companion, an old and timid
man, whom she had been encouraging on the way, "Go first; I can at least
spare you the pain of seeing my blood flow."
ROMAINE (William, English theologian, for thirty years rector of
Blackfriars), 1714-1795. "_Holy, holy, holy, blessed Lord Jesus! to Thee
be endless praise!_"
ROSA (Salvator, Italian painter), 1615-1673. "_To judge by what I now
endure, the hand of death grasps me sharply._" Last recorded words.
ROSSETTI (Dante Gabriel, English painter and poet, leader in the
Pre-Raphaelite movement), 1828-1882. "_I think I shall die to-night._"
These are his last recorded words.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti is buried near the waves of his beloved German
Ocean in the churchyard of Birchington, a small village on the Isle of
Thanet. He died in 1882 at his bungalow, on a cliff near by, and his
grave is marked by a tall Celtic cross of stone, carved with designs by
Ford Madox Brown. The head and arms of the cross are decorated with a
spray ending in leaves, and two leafy branches right and left. The shaft
has four panels, with reliefs. The upper compartment has a figure of
Christ, fronting, and two figures right and left in profile. The panel
below has a kneeling bull, with wings, to represent the Evangelist.
Below that is a kneeling painter, with canvas and easel before him and
his palette on his arm. The lowest panel is filled with a decorative
scroll. There is a stained-glass window to his memory in the little
church.
ROUSSEAU (Jean Jacques, the famous author of "La Nouvelle Heloise,"
"Emile," "Du Contrat Social" and "Confessions"), 1712-1778. "_Throw up
the window that I may see once more the magnificent scene of nature._"
RUTHERFORD (Rev. Samuel), 1695-1779. "_If he should slay me ten thousand
times, ten thousand times I'll trust him. I feel, I feel, I believe in
joy, and rejoice; I feed on manna. O for arms to embrace him! O for a
well-tuned harp!_"
RUTHERFORD (Rev. Thomas), 1712-1771. "_He has indeed been a precious
Christ to me; and now I feel him to be my rock, my strength, my rest, my
hope, my joy, my all in all._"
SABATIER (Raphael Bienvenu, French surgeon), 1732-1811. "_Contemplate
the state in which I am fallen, and learn to die_," said to his son.
He was ashamed of his bodily infirmities and of his approaching
mortality.
SAMSON (one of the judges of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, and the son of
Manoah), about B. C. 1155. "_Let me die with the Philistines._" After
performing several wonderful deeds of strength, he was made prisoner,
and deprived of sight by the Philistines, a great number of whom he
subsequently destroyed, along with himself, by pulling down the temple
in which they were assembled.
_See Judges, xvi._
SAND ("George," pseudonym of Madame Dudevant), 1804-1876. "_Laissez la
verdure_"--meaning, "Leave the tomb green, do not cover it over with
bricks or stone."
SANDERSON (Robert, English prelate, chaplain to Charles I., and later
Bishop of London), 1587-1663. "_My heart is fixed, O God! my heart is
fixed where true joy is to be found._"
SARPI (Fra Paolo, author of "History of the Council of Trent," and
opponent of the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope), 1552-1623.
"_Be thou everlasting._" These words were spoken in reference to his
country, Venice.
SAUNDERS (Lawrence, suffered martyrdom during the reign of Queen Mary).
"_Welcome the cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life._"
Away went Mr. Saunders, with a merry courage, toward the fire. He fell
to the ground and prayed; he rose up again and took the stake to which
he should be chained in his arms and kissed it, saying: "Welcome the
cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life." Being fastened to the stake
he fell full sweetly asleep in the Lord.
_Fox's "Book of Martyrs."_