The Black range., 1896-08-14
THEIR LAST WORDS.
Death-Bed Ctteranees of SONS Of the
Worlds Famous Men.

might be made Up Of The dying words
and speeches OF men whom the world
calls famous, says Once Week They
have all had to Fass in .heir chips like
the most insignificant of us, and their
final exits from the great stage have
been generally edifyirg and always
characteristic.
God be praised" exclaimed Wolfe,
the hero of Quebec, on learning that the
French were giving away in every di-
ERECTION. II die happy" His antagonist.
/ Montcalm, also received mortal
wound while endeavoring to rally his
men, and when told that his end was ap-
/ preaching made answer: $50 much the
better; ] shall not live to see the sur
render of Quebec"
81 pray thee, see pe up safe, but for
my coming down l can SHIFT for n.y.
self" remarked Sir Thomas More, OBJ
serving the weakness of the scaffold.
81 heard say the executioner was very
good and have little neck" said
Anne Boleyn, putting her hands about
it and laughing heartily. "a
The unhappy Charles l. expired VITA
the word Remember" on his lips, and
the last words attributed ''Buc&shot"
Forster were mo homo rule" while
Rabelais calmly remarked: drop the
curtain, the farce is played out"
With some a presentiment that they
are about to die is the first symptom of
approaching death. Mozart wrote his
requiem under the conviction that the
monument he was erecting to his geuius
would prove monument to his own re-
mains, When life was ebbing fast he
called for the score, and as he unused
over it he said: "Did l not tell you
| truly that it was for myself that COM
| posed this death chant?" Bewick, the
famous wood engraver, was last en-
| ployed upon a representation Of ''the old
horse waiting for DEATH" and Hogarth
delineated the death of all things, and
having given it last touch, seized his
palette and broke it in pieces, remark
ing: 81 have finished 9r
Many remarkable instances may also
be cited in which the dying lips muir
mur out the names Of friends and the
occupations and recolleotions Of past
life. Goethe's dying lips murmured
something about a beautiful woman's
face, and Napoleon's last thoughts wers
for the head of his army, while Disraegi,
some quarter of an hour before his
death, raised himself little in his bed
and stretched himself out in the old IA
miliar way that he was won't when ris-
ing to reply. in debate, while his Lips
moved in silence.
De Lagny, the great mathematician,
was asked the square of twelve when
he was no longer able to recognize his
friends about his bed, and mechanically
answered: zone hundred and forty
four" No less striking were the last
words of Lord Tenterden, the famous
English Judge. Some time before his
death he had been delirious and talked
incoherently, but presently recovering
his composure and raising himself from
his pillow he was heard to say in slow
and solemn tones, as when he used to
conclude his summing up in cases of
great Importance: "And now, gentle
men Of the jury, you will consider your
verdict"
Sometimes the strained thread breaks
with a sudden snap. 1t was in this way
thai Boileau expired from the effects OF
dropsy. A friend entered the room where
he was sitting, and the poet, in one
and the same breath, bid him hail and
farewell. "Good-day and adieu," said
he, sit will be very long adieu." and
instantly expired.
"Come and lie down." entreated Dick
ems sister-in-law, when it became evil
dent that q fit was upon him. Eyes, on
the ground" he said, very distinctly, as
ne slid from her arm and fell to the
floor. g.
Edmund Kean made his final exit in
the middle of the greatest scene of his
greatest play. sect me off, Charles"
he gasped, "I'm dying" His son led
him off, and all was over. And Phelps,
who had superstitious horror of the
word farewell" while acting Wolsey,
and actually uttering the ominous
words:
Farewell a long farewell to all my greatnessI
broke down, and the curtain slowly
dropped upon him for the last time.
Many instances are on record where
persons have continued to jest though
conscious that the end was at hand.
"We shall soon meet again" were the
last words of Louis XIV. to Nine. de
Maintenon, and the murmured rejoinder:
"a pleasant rendezvous he is giving me;
that man never loved any one but him
self"
''Is there nothing on earth can do
for you?' said Taylor to Wilcot, as he
lay on his death-bed. 'FGive me back
my youth" were the last words OF the
lively, if scurrilous, poet, who, under
the title of Peter Pindar, amused the
latter end Of the eighteenth century.