The Last Words Of Distinguished Men And Women Part 2

ARNOLD (Thomas, of Rugby, English historian and teacher. In August, 1841, he was appointed regius professor of modern history at Oxford. He is the author of five volumes of sermons, "Introductory Lectures on Modern History," and "The History of Rome"), 1795-1842. "_Ah! Very well_," to his physician who told him of the serious nature of his complaint, and described to him the remedies to be used.

"The benevolent and accomplished Dr. Arnold was taken from us by _angina pectoris_. He awoke in the morning with a sharp pain across his chest, which he had felt slightly on the preceding day, before and after bathing. He composed himself to sleep for a short time; but the pain seemed to increase, and to pa.s.s down the left arm, which called to Mrs.

Arnold's remembrance what she had heard of this fatal disease. Their usual medical attendant, Dr. Bucknill, was sent for, and found Dr.

Arnold lying on his back--his countenance much as usual--his pulse, though regular, was very quick, and there was cold perspiration on the brow and cheeks. He apologized in a cheerful manner for troubling Dr.

Bucknill at so early an hour, and inquired as to the nature and danger of his illness: he was told it was a spasm of the heart. The physician quitted the house to furnish himself with remedies. On his return, Dr.

Arnold said, 'If the pain is again as severe as it was before you left, I do not know how I can bear it.' He again questioned Dr. Bucknill as to the danger of his complaint--he was told of his danger--inquired as to the remedies, and on being told, answered, 'Ah! very well.' The physician, who was dropping the laudanum into a gla.s.s, turned around, and saw him quite calm, but his eyes were shut. In another minute he heard a rattle in his throat, and a convulsive struggle,--flew to the bed, and called to one of the servants to fetch Mrs. Arnold. The family soon arrived; but the sobs and cries of his children were unable to affect him--the eyes were fixed, the countenance was unmoved, there was a heaving of the chest, deep gasps escaped at prolonged intervals, and just as the usual medical attendant arrived, and as the old school-house servant, in an agony of grief, rushed with the others into the room in the hope of seeing his master once more, he breathed his last."

_Stanley's Life of Arnold._

ARRIA (wife of Caecina Paetus, a consul under Claudius), died about the year B. C., 42. When her husband was condemned to die by his own hand, seeing that he hesitated, she seized the dagger, and plunged it into her own breast. Then withdrawing it, she presented it to her husband, saying with a smile: "_It is not painful, Paetus._"

When to her husband Arria gave the steel, Which from her chaste, her bleeding breast she drew; She said--"My Paetus, this I do not feel, But, oh! the wound that must be given by you!"[1]

_Martial._

[1] Casta suo gladium c.u.m traderet Arria Paeto Quem de visceribus traxerat ipsa suis, Si qua fides, vulnus, quod feci, non dolet, inquit; Sed quod tu facies, hoc mihi, Paete, dolet.

AUGUSTINE ("Saint," Latin Father, able controversialist and eloquent preacher, author of "On the City of G.o.d," "Confessions," and many other books of value), 354-430. "_Oh, Lord, shall I die at all? Shall I die at all? Yes! Why, then, oh, Lord, if ever, why not now?_"

His mother, Monica, was a woman of the most devoted piety. His father was a pagan, and from him Augustine inherited a vehement and sensual disposition. While a mere youth he gave way to his unbridled pa.s.sions and sensual propensities. His mother's patient prayerfulness for both husband and son, which was at last crowned with success, has pa.s.sed into a touching type of womanly saintliness for all ages.--_A. H. Gottschall._

AUGUSTUS (Caius Julius Caesar Octavia.n.u.s, first Emperor of Rome), B. C.

63-14. "_Vos plaudite_," after asking how he had acted his part in life.

These reputed last words of Augustus rest upon the authority of Cicero.

Suetonius gives his last words thus: "Live mindful of our wedlock, Livia, and so farewell."

BABINGTON (Anthony, English gentleman devoted to the cause of Mary Stuart. Executed for having conspired against the life of Queen Elizabeth),--1586. "_The murder of the Queen had been represented to me as a deed lawful and meritorious. I die a firm Catholic._" Said on the scaffold.

BACON (Francis, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans), 1561-1626. "_Thy creatures, O Lord, have been my books, but Thy Holy Scriptures much more. I have sought Thee in the fields and gardens, but I have found Thee, O G.o.d, in Thy Sanctuary--Thy Temple._"

"In March, 1626, he came to London, and one day near Highgate was taken with a desire to discover whether snow would act as an antiseptic. He stopped his carriage, got out at a cottage, purchased a fowl, and with his own hands a.s.sisted to stuff it with snow. He was seized with a sudden chill and became so seriously unwell that he had to be conveyed to Lord Arundel's house near by. There his illness increased, and he died of bronchitis after a few days of suffering."--_Encyclopedia Britannica._

For my burial, I desire it may be in St. Michael's Church, St. Albans; there was my mother buried, and it is the parish church of my mansion-house of Gorhambury, and it is the only Christian Church within the walls of Old Verulam. For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, to foreign nations and the next ages.

_From the Will of Lord Bacon._

BAILLI or BAILLIFF (Roche de, known by the name of La Riviere, a distinguished French physician),--1605. "_I must now hasten away since my baggage has been sent off before me._"

When feeling the approaches of death, he sent for all his servants, and distributed his money and property among them, on condition that they immediately left the house, which was so punctually complied with, that when the physicians came on their next visit, they found the doors open, and their patient by himself, with no property left but the bed he lay upon. When the physicians remarked this circ.u.mstance to him, he answered that he must now go likewise, "since his baggage was sent off before him," and immediately expired.

_The Book of Death._

BAILLY (Jean Sylvain, French astronomer and philosopher, first President of the States-General, and later a victim of the Revolution), 1736-1793.

"_My friend, it is only from cold_," to one of the bystanders who, witnessing the refinement of cruelty attending his execution, said, "Bailly, you tremble."

He was led on foot, amidst a drenching fall of snow and sleet, to the banks of the river, where, to parody the scene on Calvary, the heavy beams which support the guillotine were placed on his shoulders. He sank under the weight, but barbarous blows obliged him again to lift it. He fell a second time, and swooned away; yells of laughter arose in the crowd, and the execution was postponed till he revived, and could feel its bitterness. But nothing could subdue his courage. "You tremble, Bailly," said one of the spectators. "My friend," said the old man, "it is only from cold."[2]

[2] Charles I., of England, put on two shirts the morning of his execution, saying, "If I tremble with cold, my enemies will say it was from fear: I will not expose myself to such reproaches."--_Lingard: "History of England."_

BARNEVELDT (Johan van Olden, Dutch statesman of liberal principles greatly in advance of his age. He has been called "the father of Dutch freedom and religious liberty." He was beheaded at the Hague in his seventy-first year, and met his fate without regret or a sign of fear), 1549-1619. "_Oh G.o.d, what then is man!_" Some say his last words were these, addressed to the executioners: "Be quick about it. Be quick."

BARRE, DE LA (Jean Francois le Fevre, Chevalier. He was condemned to death for having mutilated a crucifix, and was executed in 1766, at the age of nineteen), 1747-1766. "_I did not think they would put a young gentleman to death for such a trifle._"[3]

Poor young Barre was tortured, strangled and burned for not taking off his hat to a file of greasy monks. He remained covered while the Capuchins carried some mediaeval trumpery in procession.

_Walter Besant's "French Humorists."_

[3] See Voltaire's "Account of the Death of the Chevalier de la Barre."

BATTIE (William, English physician), 1704-1776. "_Young man, you have heard, no doubt, how great are the terrors of death: this night will probably afford you some experience; but you may learn, and may you profit by the example, that a conscientious endeavor to perform his duties through life, will ever close a Christian's eyes with comfort and tranquillity_," to his servant.

BAXTER (Richard, noted English nonconformist, author of "The Saints'

Everlasting Rest," and "The Call to the Unconverted"), 1615-1691. "_I have pain--there is no arguing against sense--but I have peace, I have peace!_" A little later he said, "_I am almost well._"

BAYARD (Pierre du Terrail, called "_le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche_," the knight without fear and without reproach), 1475-1524.

"_At least, I may die facing the enemy._"

At the defeat of Romaguans, Bonnivet, wounded and not able to serve any longer, gave the command of the army up to Bayard; who, as usual, performed prodigies of valor, until he was wounded by a musket shot, which broke the vertebrae of his back. He then caused himself to be helped off his horse, and to be placed at the foot of a tree. "At least," said he, "I may die facing the enemy;" and in a few moments he was dead.

BEARD (Dr. George Miller, an American physician and scientist of unusual promise, who died upon the threshold of a great career), 1839-1883. He said to the doctors who endeavored to save his life, "You are good fellows, but you can do nothing for me. My time has come." His last words were, "_I should like to record the thoughts of a dying man for the benefit of science, but it is impossible._"

Dr. Beard had wonderful insight. He exposed and ruined the notorious Eddy Brothers, and comprehended, explained, and paralleled the exploits of Brown, the Mind Reader, showing the simple principle on which they were produced. His defects were too rapid generalization, and too positive and comprehensive a.s.sertion of results. Knowing well the uncertainty of average human testimony where the supernatural, or even the mysterious, is involved, he held that experts in the supposed supernatural alone were competent witnesses. Of these he thought that there were but three or four living, nor did he shrink from claiming that he was easily _princeps_ among them. Of course, as there were no experts on earth when the miracles were wrought, he had no evidence of them. He was p.r.o.ne to comprehend as much as possible under one generic term. His work on _Neurasthenia_ did not command general approbation, because it made almost everything a sign of nervous exhaustion. As a writer, he was brilliant and prolific. His fame would be more enduring if he had written five books, instead of fifty.

_Obituary._

BEATON OR BEATOUN OR BETON (David, Cardinal and Archbishop, an implacable enemy of Protestants. He knew neither rest nor mercy in his determination to crush the Reformed Faith, and his execution of George Wishart drew down upon him the execration of all good men), 1449-1546.

"_I am a priest! Fie! Fie! All is gone._"

Cardinal Beaton was a.s.sa.s.sinated in May, 1546, in the chamber of his castle, by a band of men who sympathized with the Reformers, headed by Norman Leslie.

BEAUFORT (Henry, half-brother of Henry IV. He was made cardinal in 1426, and in 1430 he crowned Henry IV. at Notre Dame. He presided over the tribunal that sent the Maid of Orleans to the stake, and is supposed to have partic.i.p.ated in the murder of the Duke of Gloucester), 1370-1447.

"_I pray you all pray for me._" Some authorities give his last words thus: "And must I then die? Will not all my riches save me? I could purchase a kingdom, if that would save my life! What! is there no bribing death? When my nephew, the Duke of Bedford, died, I thought my happiness and my authority greatly increased; but the Duke of Gloucester's death raised me in fancy to a level with kings, and I thought of nothing but acc.u.mulating still greater wealth, to purchase at last the triple crown. Alas! how are my hopes disappointed! Wherefore, O my friends, let me earnestly beseech you to pray for me, and recommend my departing soul to G.o.d!"

_Harpsfield: Hist. Eccles. edit. Duaci, 1622, p. 643._

A few minutes before his death, his mind appeared to be undergoing the tortures of the d.a.m.ned. He held up his two hands, and cried--"Away!

away!--why thus do ye look at me?" He seemed to behold some horrible spectre by his bedside.[4]

[4] _Enter the KING, SALISBURY, WARWICK, to the CARDINAL in bed._