The herald., 1898-08-16
! LAST WORDS OF GREAT MEN

The setting sun and music at the close,
AS the last taste Of sweets Is sweetest last.
SAYS "old John OF uaunt" in the play. and
| there is no doubt that the last words OF
great and honored men have melancholy
fascination about them. 1t may be that In
the weakness and loneliness Of the last
hours the character already sundered from
earthly things is really more itself, or 1t
may be that we who listen attach an ex-
travagant value to words that would
scarcely be noted at a less critical moment.
However it be, men are ready to hear and
preserve the words which were last spok-
en-, however insignificant they may be.
The ruling passion of life Is often very
strong as the shades close in. and that
which has exercised the faculties the Whole
day through comes to stand a troublous
specter by the death bed
Sir Lepel Griffin tells us that when the
Emperor Jehanghir was dying, he was
|'asked by his sorrowing attendants II he
wanted anything, and that he replied,
weakly enough: "Only Kashmir." The
Asiatic conqueror was in spirit IN the
province he had longed to annex to his do
minions. We have but to change the
scene. and the name. and the object Of
the life's endeavor, and we may see the
great student or author still at the last
busy among the unfinished books and the
speculations that he will never work out
upon earth. Buckle worked hard for some
twenty years, and was at last able to bring
! out the first draught of the great work to
which he had devoted hts life. He had
poured into that book too much Of himself,
| II that be possible, and when the work was
published the author was on his way to
| the east In search of health that his labors
| had cost him. He died at Damascus, and
his last words were about the book that
would never be completed: my book.
my book! shall never finish my book!"
Sir John Moore died as soldier and q
courtly lover should. II hope the people
of England will be satisfied; hope my
! country will do me Justice" he gasped
forth as he lay wounded at Corunna-that
was the note on honor and duty; and later
OF when Captain Etanhope entered the
room, he said the last words Of ALA mes
sage to Lady Hester. who had, enchained
his heart, "Stanhope! remember me to
your sisterl'-that was the note Of love and
old-world chivalry.
| William Pitt died Of chagrfn at the czar's
defeat at Austerlitz. The fncapacity of the
czar afflicted the great statesman griev-
ously; the breakup Of the coalition was hts
| death blow. 1.-THE coalition was a vain
| thing" soys Kinglake in "Eothen," land
the heart of Its great author was crushed
with grief when the terrible tfd1ngs came
to his ears" Roll up the map Of Eu-
rope" was his bitter cry to hts niece when
he heard the news, and after that he hardly
spoke again.
Among the grandest farewell speeches of
soldiers and patriots must ever be en-
rolled the famous words Of Sir Richard
Grenville. which Tennyson has beautifully
versified. They ran thus in the prose Of
the original: Here die I, Richard Gren-
vile, with joyful and quiet mind, for
| that 1 have ended my life as a true SOL
dier ought to do, that has fought for his
country, queen, religion and honor.
Whereby my soul most joyful departeth
out of this body, and shall always leave be-
hind 1t an everlasting fame Of a valiant and
true soldier, that has done his duty as he
was bound to do" The noble. words are
full of the soldiers ideal-to die fighting:
there is a story of the death of a great
| earl of Northumberland In the eleventh
century, which shows how deep set is this
| instinct What a shame" he saws. "for