The Last Words Of Distinguished Men And Women Part 22

MAZARIN (Hortense Mancini, sister of the celebrated cardinal), 1647-1699. "_Debt!_"

She was so heavily in debt at the time of her death that her body was seized by her creditors.

MAXIMILIAN I. (Emperor of Germany), 1459-1519. His last words are not recorded, but just before his death he left directions that as soon as he was dead all his hair should be plucked out of his body, all his teeth should be drawn, and that both his teeth and his hair should be burned. His body was to be scourged, and then wrapped in quicklime, after which, clad in silk and damask, it was to be buried under the high altar in such position that the priest who said ma.s.s should always rest his feet above the emperor's breast. His body is entombed in Wienerisch Neustadt under the altar as he directed.

MAXIMILIAN (Ferdinand Joseph, Emperor of Mexico and Archduke of Austria), 1832-1867. "_Lotte._" His last word would seem to indicate that he was thinking of his wife, the unfortunate Carlotta, daughter of Leopold, King of Belgium.

In 1865 Maximilian was tempted by Napoleon III. to act the part of Emperor of Mexico, then partly governed by the republican President Juarez and partly conquered by the French. He arrived at the Mexican capital in June 1864. He issued a decree that all who adhered to the republic or resisted his authority should be shot. Many prisoners, including General Orteaga, accordingly suffered death by his order.

According to the "New York Evening Post" of July 1st, 1867, he ordered the enslavement of the whole laboring population of Mexico. The United States refused to recognize him as Emperor, and required Napoleon to withdraw his army. Maximilian was embarra.s.sed by want of money, and offended the clerical party (which had favored him) by refusing to restore the property of the Church, which had been confiscated by the Liberals. The French troops departed about the end of 1866, after which the republicans gained several victories and the empire quickly collapsed. Maximilian was captured at Queretaro, and shot on the 19th of June 1867.--_Lippincott._

MELANCHTHON (Philip. His original German name was Schwarzerdt, which he Grecized into Melanchthon, or, as he sometimes spelled it Melanthon.

Both names denote "black earth"), 1497-1568. "_Nothing else but heaven_," in answer to a friend who enquired if he wanted anything further.

MERICOURT (Anne Joseph Theroigne de, the famous "G.o.ddess of Reason"[32]), 1760-1817. This woman's last words were partly reminiscent and partly the incoherent ravings of a disordered brain. The old scenes rose before her with startling vividness.

"Died, within these few days, in the hospital of pauper lunatics of Saltpetriere, where she had lived unpitied and unknown for many years, the famous Theroigne de Mericourt (the G.o.ddess of Reason), the most remarkable of the heroines of the revolution."--_A Paris paper of August 1, 1817._

[32] Mlle. Maillard, the actress, is mentioned by Lamartine as one of the G.o.ddesses, who was compelled to play the part much against her will. "Chaumette, a.s.sisted by Las, an actor of the Opera, had arranged the fete of December 20, 1793. Mademoiselle Maillard, an actress, brilliant with youth and talents, played the part of the G.o.ddess. She was borne in a palanquin, the canopy of which was formed of oak branches. Women in white, with tri-colored sashes, preceded her. Attired with theatrical buskins, a Phrygian cap and a blue chlamys over a transparent tunic, she was taken to the foot of the altar and seated there. Behind her burnt an immense torch, symbolizing 'the flame of philosophy,' the true light of the world.

Chaumette, taking a censer in his hands, fell on his knees to the G.o.ddess, and offered incense, and the whole concluded with dancing and song."--_Lamartine._

There was also a G.o.ddess of Liberty. The wife of Momoro went attended by the munic.i.p.al officers, national guards and troops of ballet girls to the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. Gobet (the archbishop of Paris), and nearly all the bishops, vicars, canons, priests, and cures of Paris stripped themselves of their canonicals, donned the red nightcap, and joined in this blasphemous mockery.

METASTASIO (Pietro Bonaventura, originally named Trapa.s.si, but changed to Metastasio, "a changing," in allusion to his adoption by the celebrated jurist Gravina, from whom he received a large property), 1698-1782. After he had received the sacrament, and a few minutes before his death, the poet uttered with unusual enthusiasm the following beautiful stanzas:

"_T'offro il tuo proprio Figlio, Che gia d'amore in pegno, Racchiuso in picciol segno Si volle a noi donar.

A lui rivolgi il ciglio.

Guardo chi t'offro, e poi Lasci, Signor, se vuoi, Lascia di perdonar._"

I offer to Thee, O Lord, Thy own Son, who already has given the pledge of love, inclosed in this thin emblem; turn on Him thine eyes; oh! behold whom I offer to Thee and then desist, O Lord! if Thou canst desist from mercy.

MIRABEAU (Honore Gabriel Riquetti, Comte de), 1749-1791. "_When nature has abandoned an unhappy victim, when a miracle only can save his life, how can you have the barbarity to let him expire on the wheel?_" spoken in support of a request for laudanum.

At daybreak he said to Cabanis:--"My friend I shall die to-day. When one is in this situation, there remains but one thing more to do, and that is to perfume me, to crown me with flowers, to environ me with music, so that I may enter sweetly into that slumber wherefrom there is no awaking."[33]

Later in the day he uttered these memorable words:--"I carry in my heart the dirge of the monarchy, the ruins whereof will now be the prey of the factions."

His death, although that of a sceptic, had something in it sublime. He was no stranger to his approaching dissolution; but, far from being intimidated by the prospect, he gloried in the name he was to leave.

Hearing the cannon discharge upon some public event, he exclaimed, "I already hear the funeral obsequies of Achilles--after my death, the factions will tear to shreds the remnants of the monarchy." His sufferings were severe at the close of his illness: at one period, when the power of speech was gone, he wrote on a slip of paper the words of Hamlet, "To die is to sleep." "When a sick man is given over, and he suffers frightful pains, can a friendly physician refuse to give him opium?" "My pains are insupportable; I have an age of strength, but not an instant of courage." A few hours before his death, the commencement of mortification relieved his sufferings. "Remove from the bed," said he, "all that sad apparatus. Instead of these useless precautions, surround me with perfumes and the flowers of spring; dress my hair with care; let me fall asleep amidst the sound of harmonious music." He then spoke for ten minutes with such vivid and touching eloquence, that every one in the room was melted into tears. "When I am no more," said he, "my worth will become known. The misfortunes which I have held back will then pour on all sides upon France; the criminal faction which now trembles before me will be unbridled. I have before my eyes unbounded presentiments of disaster. We now see how much we erred in not preventing the commons from a.s.suming the name of the National a.s.sembly; since they gained that victory, they have never ceased to show themselves unworthy of it. They have chosen to govern the King, instead of governing by him; but soon neither he nor they will rule the country, but a vile faction, which will overspread it with horrors." A spasm, attended with violent convulsions, having returned, he again asked for laudanum. "When nature," said he, "has abandoned an unhappy victim, when a miracle only can save his life, how can you have the barbarity to let him expire on the wheel?" His feet were already cold, but his countenance still retained its animation, his eye its wonted fire, as if death spared to the last the abode of so much genius. Feigning to comply, they gave him a cup, containing what they a.s.sured him was laudanum. He calmly drank it off, fell back on his pillow, and expired.

_Alison's "History of Europe."_

[33] Jeremy Bentham, when he firmly believed that he was near his last hour, said to one of his disciples, who was watching over him:--"I now feel that I am dying. Our care must be to minimize the pain. Do not let any of the servants come into the room, and keep away the youths. It will be distressing to them, and they can be of no service. Yet I must not be alone, and you will remain with me, and you only, and then we shall have reduced the pain to the least possible amount."

Bentham dreaded the silence and darkness of the grave, and wished to remain even after his death in a world of living men. He left his body to Dr. Southwood Smith who was to perform certain experiments to ascertain that no life remained. After these experiments the following disposition was to be made of his remains: "The skeleton Dr. Smith shall cause to be put together in such manner that the whole figure may be seated in a chair usually occupied by me when living, in the att.i.tude in which I am sitting when engaged in thought in the course of the time employed in writing. I direct that the body, thus prepared, shall be transferred to my executor, and that he shall cause the skeleton to be clothed in one of the suits of black usually worn by me. The body so clothed, together with the chair and the staff in my later years borne by me, he shall take charge of, and for containing the whole apparatus he shall cause to be prepared an appropriate box or case, and shall cause to be engraved in conspicuous characters on a plate to be affixed thereon, and also in the gla.s.s case in which the preparations of the soft parts of my body shall be contained, as, for example, in the manner used in the case of wine decanters; my name at length with the letters _ob_: followed by the day of my decease. If it should so happen that my personal friends and other disciples should be disposed to meet together on some day, or days of the year for the purpose of commemorating the founder of the Greatest Happiness System of Morals and Legislation, my executor shall cause to be conveyed into the room in which they meet the case with its contents."

Humphry Repton, author of a delightful book on "Landscape Gardening and Landscape Architecture," requested that his remains might be deposited in a "garden of roses." He selected a small enclosure by the church of Aylsham, in Norfolk, one of the most lovely spots in all England, where were a number of roses and vines, as his last resting place. On the monument over his grave, after his name and age, are these lines written by himself:--

"Not like the Egyptian tyrants--consecrate, Unmixt with others shall my dust remain; But mouldering, blended, melting into earth, Mine shall give form and colour to the rose; And while its vivid blossoms cheer mankind, Its perfum'd odour shall ascend to heaven."

MOHAMMED (The name signified "the praised," and was a.s.sumed by the founder of Islam. He was originally called Halabi), about 570-632. "_O Allah, be it so! Henceforth among the glorious host of paradise._" Some give his last words thus, "O Allah, pardon my sins. Yes, I come, among my fellow labourers on high."

In his last wanderings he only spoke of angels and heaven. He died in the lap of Ayeshah, about noon of Monday, the twelfth (eleventh) of the third month, in the year 11 of the Hedyrah (June 8, 632). His death caused an immense excitement and distress among the faithful, and Omar, who himself would not believe in it, tried to persuade the people of his still being alive. But Abu Bekr said to the a.s.sembled mult.i.tude:--"Whoever among you has served Mohammed, let him know that Mohammed is dead; but he who has served the G.o.d of Mohammed, let him continue in his service, for he is still alive and never dies."

_Chambers' Encyclopaedia._

MONTCALM (Saint-Veran de Marquis), 1712-1759. "_So much the better! I shall not then live to see the surrender of Quebec_," on being told that he was dying.

MONTEFIORE (Sir Moses, wealthy and distinguished Jewish philanthropist), 1785-1885. "_Thank G.o.d! Thank Heaven!_"

MONTEZUMA II (Montec.u.matin, "the sad or severe man"--the last of the Aztec emperors), about 1470-1520. "_I confide to your care my beloved children, the most precious jewels I can leave you. The great monarch beyond the ocean will interest himself to see that they come into their inheritance, if you present before him their just claims. I know your master will do this, if for no other reason, then for the kindness I have shown the Spaniards, though it has occasioned my ruin. For all my misfortunes, Malinche,[34] I bear you no ill will._" Some give his last words thus: "And do you think I, then, am taking pleasure in my bath?"

[34] _Malinche_, Montezuma's name for Cortes, was borrowed from the original name of the conqueror's mistress and interpreter, known in the Spanish records as Marina. See "_Death of Montezuma_," in Prescott's "_Conquest of Mexico_."

MONTFORT DE (Simon, Earl of Leicester), 1208-1265. "_Commend your souls to G.o.d, for our bodies are the foes'!_" To his followers, when he saw the advance of the enemy at the battle of Evesham.

MOODY (Dwight Lyman, distinguished American evangelist), 1837-1899. "_I see earth receding; Heaven is opening; G.o.d is calling me._"[35]

As the noonday hour drew near, the watchers at the bedside noticed the approach of death. Several times Mr. Moody's lips moved as if in prayer, but the articulation was so faint that the words could not be heard.

Just as death came Mr. Moody awoke as if from slumber, and said, with much joyousness. "I see earth receding; Heaven is opening; G.o.d is calling me," and a moment later he had entered upon what one of his sons described as "a triumphal march into heaven."--_New York Times, Dec. 23, 1899._

[35] The world recedes. It disappears.

Heaven opens to my eyes. My ears With sounds seraphic ring.

Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!

O grave, where is thy victory!

O death, where is thy sting!

--_Pope: "The Dying Christian to his Soul."_

MOORE (Sir John, British general, whose death is beautifully commemorated in an ode by Rev. Charles Wolfe. Byron p.r.o.nounced this ode the best in the English language),[36] 1761-1809.

He said to Colonel Anderson, who for one and twenty years had been his friend and companion in arms: "Anderson, you know that I always wished to die in this way." He frequently asked, "Are the French beaten?" And at length, when he was told they were defeated in every point, he said: "It is a great satisfaction to me to know we have beaten the French. I hope the people of England will be satisfied. I hope my country will do me justice." Having mentioned the name of his venerable mother, and the names of some other friends, for whose welfare he seemed anxious to offer his last prayers, the power of utterance was lost, and he died in a few minutes without a struggle.--_The Book of Death._

The last words that pa.s.sed his dying lips were a message to Lady Hester Stanhope, the niece of Pitt, afterwards so famous for her eccentricity, as her father had been before her. To her, to whom he is said to have been deeply attached, if not engaged, he sent his dying remembrances by her brother, one of his aides-de-camp, and then pa.s.sed peacefully into the presence of his G.o.d.--_Cornhill Magazine._

[36] It has been generally supposed that the burial of Sir John Moore, who fell at the battle of Corunna, in 1809, took place during the night, an error which doubtless arose from the statement to that effect in Wolfe's celebrated lines. Rev. Mr. Symons, who was the clergyman on the occasion, states, however, in "Notes and Queries,"