The Last Words Of Distinguished Men And Women Part 28

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 a.s.sembled.

_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 G.o.d! 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."_

SAVONAROLA (Girolamo, celebrated preacher and political, as well as religious, reformer of Florence), 1452-1498. "_O Florence, what hast thou done to-day?_" He was strangled and burnt by the commissioners of the Pope, May 23, 1498. His last words are sometimes given thus: "The Lord has suffered as much for me."

While he and his companions, all three barely covered by their tunics, with naked feet and arms bound, were being slowly led from the ringhiera to the gibbet, the dregs of the populace were allowed to a.s.sail them with vile words and viler acts. Savonarola endured this bitter martyrdom with unshaken serenity. One bystander, stirred with compa.s.sion, approached him and said a few comforting words, to which he benignantly replied: "At the last hour, G.o.d alone can give mortals comfort." A certain priest, named Nerotto, asked him, "in what spirit dost thou bear martyrdom?" He said: "The Lord hath suffered as much for me." He then kissed the crucifix, and his voice was heard no more.

_Villari: "Life and Times of Savonarola."_

SAX (Hermann Maurice, Marshal of France), 1696-1750. "_The dream has been short, but it has been beautiful._"

SCARRON (Paul, the creator of French burlesque), 1610-1660. "_Ah! mes enfants, you cannot cry as much for me as I have made you laugh in my time!_" Some say that a few moments later he added, "I never thought that it was so easy a matter to laugh at the approach of death."

The life of Scarron was one of extreme wretchedness. He was, like Heine, a miserable paralytic; his form, to use his own words, "had become bent like a Z." "My legs," he says, "first made an obtuse angle with my thighs, then a right and at last an acute angle; my thighs made another with my body. My head is bent upon my chest; my arms are contracted as well as my legs, and my fingers as well as my arms. I am, in truth, a pretty complete abridgment of human misery." At the time of his marriage (to the beautiful and gifted Mademoiselle d'Aubigne, afterward Madame de Maintenon, the wife for thirty years of Louis XIV.) he could only move with freedom his hand, tongue and eyes. His days were pa.s.sed in a chair with a hood, and so completely was he the abridgment of man he describes himself that his wife had to kneel to look in his face. He could not be moved without screaming from pain, nor sleep without opium. The epitaph which he wrote on himself is touching from its truth:

Tread softly--make no noise To break his slumbers deep; Poor Scarron here enjoys His first calm night of sleep.

--_Russell: Library Notes._

SCHILLER (Friedrich, "the only German poet who can contest the supremacy of Goethe"), 1759-1805. "_Many things are growing plain and clear to my understanding._"

Of his friends and family he took a touching but tranquil farewell; he ordered that his funeral should be private, without pomp or parade. Some one inquiring how he felt, he said, "Calmer and calmer;" simple but memorable words, expressive of the mild heroism of the man. About six he sank into a deep sleep; once for a moment he looked up with a lively air and said, "Many things are growing plain and clear to my understanding." Again he closed his eyes, and his sleep deepened and deepened till it changed into the sleep from which there is no awakening, and all that remained of Schiller was a lifeless form soon to be mingled with the sods of the valley.--_Carlyle's "Life of Schiller."_

Dunzer says, in his "Life of Schiller": "During Schiller's delirium, from May 5th to May 9th, 1805, he repeated pa.s.sages from his 'Demetrius,' and before falling asleep he called out, 'Is that your h.e.l.l? Is that your heaven?' and then looked upward with a calm smile: '_Liebe, gute_' (Dear, good one), addressed to his wife, were the last words he uttered."

Schiller's last words are sometimes given thus: "_Einen Blick in die Sonne._"

SCHIMMELPENNINCK (Mary Anne, author of "Memoirs of Port-Royal"), 1778-1856. "_O, I hear such beautiful voices, and the children's are the loudest._"

SCHLEGEL (Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, von, German philosopher and author), 1772-1829. "_But the consummate and perfect knowledge--_"

SCHLEIERMACHER (Friedrich Ernst Daniel, distinguished German pulpit orator and theologian), 1768-1834. "_Now I can hold out here no longer.

Lay me in a different posture._"

On the last morning, Wednesday, February 12, his sufferings evidently became greater. He complained of a burning inward heat, and the first and last tone of impatience broke from his lips: "Ah, Lord, I suffer much!" The features of death came fully on, the eye was glazed, the death-struggle was over! At this moment, he laid the two fore-fingers upon his left eye, as he often did when in deep thought, and began to speak: "We have the atoning death of Jesus Christ, his body and his blood." During this he had raised himself up, his features began to be reanimated, his voice became clear and strong; he inquired with priestly solemnity: "Are ye one with me in this faith?" to which we, Lommatzsch and a female friend who were present, and myself, answered with a loud _yea_. "Then let us receive the Lord's Supper! but the s.e.xton is not to be thought of; quick, quick! let no one stumble at the form; I have never held to the dead letter!"

As soon as the necessary things were brought in by my son-in-law, during which time we had waited with him in solemn stillness, he began--with features more and more animated, and with an eye to which a strange and indescribable l.u.s.tre, yea, a higher glow of love with which he looked upon us, had returned,--to p.r.o.nounce some words of prayer introductory to the solemn rite. Then he gave the bread first to me, then to the female friend, then to Lommatzsch, and lastly to himself, p.r.o.nouncing aloud to each, the words of inst.i.tution (Matt. xxvi, etc.; I Cor. xi.

23-29),--so loud indeed, that the children and Muhlenfels (late Professor in the London University), who kneeled listening at the door of the next room, heard them plainly. So also with the wine, to us three first, and then to himself, with the full words of inst.i.tution to each.

Then, with his eyes directed to Lommatzsch, he said: "Upon these words of Scripture I stand fast, as I have always taught; they are the foundation of my faith." After he had p.r.o.nounced the blessing, he turned his eye once more full of love on me, and then on each of the others, with the words: "In this love and communion, we are and remain ONE."

He laid himself back upon his pillow; the animation still rested on his features. After a few minutes he said: "Now I can hold out here no longer," and then, "Lay me in a different posture." We laid him on his side,--he breathed a few times,--and life stood still! Meanwhile the children had all come in, and were kneeling around the bed as his eyes closed gradually.

_Account of Schleiermacher's Death prepared by his wife._

SCHWERIN VON (Kurt Christoph, Count and Field-marshal), 1684-1757. "_Let all brave Prussians follow me_," said just before he fell dead, having been struck by a cannon ball.

SCOTT (James, Duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II., of England), 1649-1685. "_There are six guineas for you, and do not hack me as you did my Lord Russell. I have heard that you struck him three or four times. My servant will give you more gold if you do your work well_,"

said to the headsman, who, notwithstanding these words, being unnerved, inflicted several blows before the neck was severed.

SCOTT (Thomas, Privy Councillor of James V. of Scotland). "_Begone, you and your trumpery; until this moment I believed there was neither a G.o.d nor a h.e.l.l. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty_," said to a priest who wished to point out to him the way of salvation.

SCOTT (Sir Walter), 1771-1832. "_G.o.d bless you all!_" to his family.

Some give his last words thus: "I feel as if I were to be myself again."

Still others say his last words were these, addressed to Lockhart, "My dear, be a good man,--be virtuous,--be religious,--be a good man.

Nothing else can give you any comfort, when you come to lie here."

It is also said by some authorities that his last words were, "There is but one book; bring me the Bible." These words it is represented were addressed to Lockhart who had asked him what book it was he wished to have read to him.

SCOTT (Winfield, distinguished American general), 1786-1866. "_James, take good care of the horse._"

As Frederick the Great's last completely conscious utterance was in reference to his favorite English greyhound, Scott's was in regard to his magnificent horse, the same n.o.ble animal that followed in his funeral procession a few days later. Turning to his servant, the old veteran's last words were: "James, take good care of the horse." In accordance with his expressed wish, he was buried at West Point on the first of June 1866, and his remains were accompanied to the grave by many of the most ill.u.s.trious men of the land, including Gen. Grant and Admiral Farragut.

_Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography._

SERMENT (Mlle. de, called "The Philosopher," because of her rare attainments in literature and of her wide acquaintance with ethics). She died of cancer of the breast, and expired in finishing these lines which she addressed to Death:

"_Nectare clausa suo, Dignum tantorum pretium tulit illa laborum._"