The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1898-11-16
TEARS OF THE GREAT
NOTED MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE
WEPT IN PUBLIC.

sini's Life When lie "PInyed the
Woman"
Many Of the great people who have
written their names large in the history
of their time have been known to shed
tears The majority, however, wept fer
others woes, but smiled upor their
own.
Queen Victoria wept when informed
that it was her destiny to wear crown
and rule a vast empire. The incident
was seized upon by Mrs. Browning for
one of her most beautiful poems, "She
Wept to Wear q Crown,' and her
majesty has ever since been warm ad-
mirer of the writings Of this poet. Six
ty years later, at her = llee the queen
sobbed before thousands Of her subjects.
Another notable occasion was at the
funeral of Prince Henry of Battenberg.
As the burial service was being recited
Britain's monarch was seen to be cry
ing piteously.
One Will never forget the universal
lamentation aroused by the death of the
Duke of Clarence. When the end came,
the Princess of Wales, who had
throughout her sons illness watched
him with the greatest devotion, utterly
collapsed and cried for some time as
though her heart would break. a few
days later, as the funeral procession left
Sandringham for the railway station,
followed on foot by the Prince of Wales,
it was impossible to hide his grief, and
the heir apparent was forced to find re-
lief in copious tears. The Duke of Sake
Coburg- -Gotha has also been seen to cry
in public. In April, 1896, while the
marriage ceremony of his daughter was
in progress his royal highncss was OBJ
served to be weeping.
Mr.. Gladstone during the delivery of
one Of bis great orations concerning the
Bulgarian atrocities was so carried
away by his feelings that tears coursed
down his cheeks, and the flow of his
eloquence was arrested for few min
utes so that he might recover his COM
pcsure. The Grand Old Mans great
rival, Lord Salisbury, too, has been
known to "play the woman. The
tragic death of the Earl of Iddesleigh
will not easily fade from ones memory.
When Lord Salisbury knew that his old
friend the carl had expired after ascend
ing the stairs at the foreign office, he
was so overcome that for time he
sobbed bitterly.
Thirty years ago the Earl of Halls
bury, then plain Mr.. Hardinge Giffard,
was defending Ex-Governor Eyre con-
cerning the massacres that had occurred
in Jamaica. Having depicted Eyre pro-
tecting the people from outrages, Mr..
Giffard asked passionately whether for
so doing his client was to be done to
death by persecution. "Good God,' he
exclaimed, "is this justice::" and wound
up his apostropne by bursting into
tears. Then the court adjourned for
luncheon
When the lord chief justice was
known to fame as Sir Charles Russell,
he on many occasions by the stirring
force of his eloquence made judges weep
and bathed juries in salt tears. He has
himself, too, more than once been so en-
thusiastic in his clients behalf that the
foodgates of his eyes have been opened.
At the historic trial known as the Par
nell commission so moved was he dur
ing the delivery of his great speech in
defense Of Mr.. Parnell that he wept tor
some moments, while many of the on
lockers had damp eyelids.
Professor Herkomer, R. A., tells in
one of his lectures that his well known
picture, "Chelsea Pensioners In
Church." was painted against the adj
vice of all his friends, but he completed
it and sent it to the Royal academy.
What expectation, what anxieties and
fears, were in that act! How he waited
Two letters, respectively by Leighton
and Richmond, r. A., brought news
that the judges on seeing the work
clapped their hands. Herkomer at the
time was at sickbed, and as he read he
fell on his knees and wept.
When that brave man, Dr. Jameson,
realized at the battle which put the
climax to his famous raid that he had
failed in his mission and was compelled
to surrender, he burst into tears and
cried for some time like child. But 1t
was not through fear for his own safety,
but owing to the thought that his t2lE
ure migthI-pslaseea might plsee his copHntsr-JJmen in
Jeopardy.
Rossini, on being asked how he liked
Paganini's playing, said he had only
wept three times in his life-first, on
the failure of his earliest opera; second
ly, when in boat with some friends a
turkey stuffed with truffles, which had
been provided for their dinner, fell
overheard and was lost; thirdly, on
hearing for the first time Paganini's
divine performance on his beloved vio-
lin.
Lord Eldon when attorney general
was in the habit of closing his speeches
with some remarks justifying his own
character. At the trial of Horne Tooke,
speaking of his own reputation, he said,
cit is the little inheritance l have to
leave my children, and by Gods help l
will leave it unimpaired. " Here he
shed tears, and, to the astOnishment of
those present, Milford, the solicitor
general, began to weep. "Just look at
Mitfordr' said a bystander to Horne
Tooke. What on earth is he crying
for:'' Tooke replied, "He is crying to
think what a small inheritance Eldon's
children are likely to get"
From the examples given it may be
concluded that it is not always unmanly
to weep. Indeed, as Henry Ward Beech
er said, tears are often the telescope by
which we see tar into heaven.-London