The Last Words Of Distinguished Men And Women Part 7

CARY (Alice, American poetess and magazine writer), 1820-1871. "_I want to go away._"

CAVOUR (Camillo Benso, Count de, Italian statesman), 1810-1861. "_No, your Majesty, to-morrow you will not see me here_," to Victor Emmanuel, who, as he turned away in tears, said to Cavour, "I shall come to see you again to-morrow."

He secured liberty of the press, and favored religious toleration and free trade. Among the important measures of his administration were his rebellion against papal domination, and his alliance with France and England in the war against Russia in 1855. After the close of the war he devoted his efforts to the liberation and unity of Italy, undismayed by the angry fulminations of the Vatican.

_Lippincott._

CAZOTTE (Jacques, French poet and royalist, executed by the revolutionists September 25th, 1792), 1720-1792. "_My dear wife, my dear children, do not weep: do not forget me, but above all, remember never to offend G.o.d._"

CHANNING (William Ellery, distinguished Unitarian clergyman and writer of rare grace and beauty. He has been called the "Father of American Unitarianism"), 1780-1842. "_You need not be anxious concerning to-night. It will be very peaceful and quiet with me._"

He turned his face toward that sinking orb, and he and the sun went away together. Each, as the other, left the smile of his departure spread on all around,--the sun on the clouds; he on the heart.

_Theodore Parker._

His remains were brought to Boston, and committed to the grave amidst the regrets of all cla.s.ses and parties; and, as the procession moved from the church, the bell of the Catholic Cathedral tolled his knell,--a fact never perhaps paralleled in the history of Romanism. And so departed one of the great men of the Republic,--one who, amidst its servility to mammon and slavery, ceased not to recall it to the sense of its honor and duty,--a man whose memory his countrymen will not willingly let die. As the visitor wanders among the shaded aisles of the western part of Mount Auburn, he sees a ma.s.sive monument of marble, designed by Allston, the poet-painter. Generous and brave men, from whatever clime, resort to it, and go from it more generous and brave; for there reposes the great and good man whom we have commemorated. The early beams, intercepted by neighboring heights, fall not upon the spot; but the light of high noon and the later and benigner rays of the day play through the foliage in dazzling gleams upon the marble,--a fitting emblem of his fame; for, when the later and better light which is yet to bless our desolate race shall come, it will fall with bright ill.u.s.tration on the character of this rare man, and on the great aims of his life.

_Methodist Quarterly Review_, January, 1849.

CHARLES I. (Charles Stuart, King of England), 1600-1649. "_Remember!_"

to William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury, who declared to the Commissioners of the Commons that the king's last words were meant as a message to his son, and were intended to enjoin forgiveness of his enemies by his son in the future. Some say his last words were, "I fear not death; death is not terrible to me." He was executed January 30, 1649.[11]

[11] I mention the discovery of the body of Charles I. when George IV. was Prince Regent. It has been a.s.serted, and is, I believe, true, that the nation wished the body of him whom they always called "the saint and martyr" to be removed from Windsor and buried in Westminster Abbey: and that a sum of no less than 70,000 was entrusted by Parliament to Charles II. to erect a tomb over the remains of his father. If the story be true, the entire sum disappeared and was not put to the intended purpose. It was, however, supposed that the "White King's" _coffin_, at any rate, had been transferred to the Abbey. It was in order to settle a doubt on this point that George IV., then Prince Regent, went down into the vaults of Windsor with the famous physician, Sir Henry Halford.

There they found the coffins of Henry VIII. and of his wife, Lady Jane Seymour; and between them lay a coffin on which were rudely scratched the letters "C. I." In order to be sure that this was indeed the coffin of the executed king, they opened it--and there lay before them the handsome face, just as Vand.y.k.e depicted it; though (as always happens in such cases) the nose fell in immediately that the corpse was exposed to the open air. Then--I simply tell the tale as it was told to me; for, though there must be some printed account of the event, I have never seen it--Sir Henry Halford took up by the hair the decapitated head, and placed it on the palm of his hand, which was covered by his silk handkerchief.

When he replaced the head in the coffin the vertebra of the neck, which had been smoothly severed by the axe of the executioner, was lying on his handkerchief; and the Prince Regent remarked to Sir Henry that this would be an interesting relic for him. He took it; and had it set in gold with the inscription, "Os Caroli Primi, heu intercisum." I believe that, by the wish and right-feeling of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales, this relic of the hapless king has been replaced in the coffin. Everyone will recall the sanguinary epigram of Lord Byron upon the incident which I have narrated.--_Farrar._

CHARLES II. (of England, "The Merry Monarch"), 1630-1685. "_Don't let poor Nelly starve!_" The king referred to Margaret Symcott, known as Eleanor Gwynne or Nell Gwynn. She commenced life as an orange-girl in the streets of London. Later she sang in taverns, and after a time became a popular actress in the Theatre Royal. She is remembered as the mistress of Charles II. She seems to have been a very kind and good-hearted woman. She was faithful to her royal lover, and upon his death retired from the world and lived in seclusion.[12]

[12] In his _History of the Stage_, Curll states that Nell first captivated the king by her manner of delivering the epilogue to Dryden's _Tyrannic Love: or, The Royal Martyr_. The tragedy was founded upon the story of the martyrdom of St. Catherine, by way of compliment to Catherine of Braganza. She personated _Valeria_, the daughter of Maximin, tyrant of Rome.

CHARLES V. (of France, called "The Wise." He was the son of John II. who was made prisoner by the Black Prince at Poitiers), 1337-1380. "_Ah, Jesus!_"

CHARLES IX. (of France, second son of Henry II. and Catharine de'

Medici), 1550-1574. "_Nurse, nurse, what murder! what blood! Oh! I have done wrong. G.o.d pardon me!_" The king referred, no doubt, to the ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew, which he occasioned. Voltaire tells us his dying remorse was so great that "blood oozed from his pores."[13] There are recorded other examples of b.l.o.o.d.y sweat. It is said of a man at Lyons that when sentenced to death a b.l.o.o.d.y sweat covered his body. In the Medical Gazette, December, 1848, is an account by Dr. Schneider of some Norwegian sailors who, in a tremendous storm, sweated blood from extreme terror. See also the British Critic, 1831, p. 1. When our Saviour bore the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane, "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

(Luke xxii., 44.)

[13] The ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew lasted seven days, during which more than 5,000 persons were slain in Paris, and about 50,000 in the country. During all this season of murder, the king betrayed neither pity nor remorse, but fired with his long gun at the poor fugitives across the river; and on viewing the body of Coligni on a gibbet, he exulted with a fiendish malignity. In early life this monster had been noted for his cruelty: nothing gave him greater pleasure than cutting off the heads of a.s.ses or pigs with a single blow from his couteau de cha.s.se. After the ma.s.sacre, he is said to have contracted a singularly wild expression of feature, and to have slept little and waked in agonies. He attributed his thirst for human blood to the circ.u.mstance of his mother having at an early period of his life familiarized his mind with the brutal sport of hunting bullocks, and with all kinds of cruelty.--_Winslow's Anatomy of Suicide, p. 52, note._

CHARLES V. (Don Carlos I. of Spain, afterwards Emperor of Germany), 1500-1558. "_Now, Lord, I go!_" a moment later, with eyes fixed upon the crucifix, he added, "_Ay, Jesus!_" and expired.

CHARLEMAGNE (Charles I., King of France and Emperor of the West), 742-814. "_Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit._"

CHARLOTTE (Augusta, commonly called the Princess, daughter of George IV.

and Queen Caroline), 1796-1817. "_You make me drink. Pray leave me quiet. I find it affects my head._" She died in child-bed.

CHASTELARD, DE (Pierre de Boscosel, a young French poet and musician who became enamoured of Mary Queen of Scots, and concealing himself in her bedchamber, attempted her honor. Mary pardoned his offence, but upon his repeating it, he was executed at Edinburgh), 1540-1563. He died chanting a love-song, having on the way to the scaffold prepared his mind for the work of the executioner by reading Ronsard's hymn on death.

CHAUCER (Geoffrey, "Father of English Poetry"), 1328-1400. Chaucer died repeating the "Balade made by Geoffrey Chaucyer, when upon his dethe-bedde, lying in his grete anguysse."

CHeNIER (Andre), 1762-1794. He was waiting for his turn to be dragged to the guillotine, when he commenced this poem:

"_Comme un dernier rayon, comme un dernier zephyre Anime la fin d'un beau jour; Au pied de l'echafaud j'essaie encore ma lyre, Peut-etre est ce bientot mon tour;_

"_Peut-etre avant que l'heure en cercle promenee Ait pose sur l'email brillant, Dans les soixante pas ou sa route est bornee, Son pied sonore et vigilant,_

"_Le sommeil du tombeau pressera me paupiere--_"

Here, at this pathetic line, was Andre Chenier summoned to the guillotine! Never was a more beautiful effusion of grief interrupted by a more affecting incident.--_Curiosities of Literature._

CHESTERFIELD (Philip Dormer Stanhope), 1694-1773. "_Give Day Rolles a chair._"

CHOPIN (Frederick, distinguished Polish pianist and composer), 1810-1849. "_Who is near me?_" he was told Gutman--his favorite pupil.

He bent his head to kiss the hand of his dear friend and pupil, and in that act of love and devotion died.

CHRYSOSTOM (John, called "Saint"), 350-407. He died at the close of church-service, with the words, "_Glory to G.o.d for all things, Amen._"

Splendor of intellect, mellowness of heart, and gorgeousness of fancy were the characteristics of this greatest of preachers.

CHUDLEIGH (Elizabeth, d.u.c.h.ess of Kingston. She was an adventuress famous throughout England for her wonderful beauty and for her wild and wayward life), 1720-1788. "_I will lie down on the couch; I can sleep, and after that I shall be entirely recovered._"

CLEOPATRA (Queen of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy Auletes), B. C. 69-30.

"_Here thou art, then!_" These words, which are traditional, she is said to have addressed to the asp with which she committed suicide.

When she heard that it was Caesar's intention to send her into Syria, she asked permission to visit Antony's tomb, over which she poured forth most bitter lamentations. "Hide me, hide me," she exclaimed, "with thee in the grave; for life, since _thou_ hast left it, has been misery to _me_." After crowning the tomb with flowers, she kissed it, and ordered a bath to be prepared. She then sat down to a magnificent supper, after which a peasant came to the gate with a small basket of figs covered with leaves, which was admitted into the monument. Amongst the figs and under the leaves was concealed the asp which Cleopatra applied to her bosom. She was found dead, attired in one of her most gorgeous dresses, decorated with brilliants, and lying on her golden bed.--_Winslow: "Anatomy of Suicide."_

c.o.kE (Sir Edward, Lord Chief Justice of England, and author of the celebrated work, "c.o.ke upon Littleton"), 1552-1633. "_Thy kingdom come, thy will be done._"

COLLINGBORN (William), "_Lord Jesus! Yet more trouble?_" These words he is reported to have spoken after the executioner had opened his body to extract his heart.

William Collingborn was condemned for making this rhyme on King Richard III.,

The cat, the rat, and Lovel, our dog, Rule all England, under the hog.