Chapter IV: Part 4

GEORGE IV. (of England, eldest son of George III. and Queen Charlotte), 1762-1830. "_Wally, what is this? It is death, my boy: they have deceived me_," said to his page, Sir Walthen Waller.

GERSON (Charlier de, surnamed "The Most Christian Doctor," chancellor of the University of Paris and canon of Notre-Dame. He is supposed to have been the author of the "Imitation of Christ," attributed to Thomas a Kempis), 1363-1429. "_Now, O God, thou dost let thy servant depart in peace! The soul that is accompanied to eternity by the prayers of three hundred children, may advance with humble hope into the presence of their Father and their God._"

The pious Gerson, the canon of the church and chancellor of the University of Paris, had the terror of his last moments assuaged by the prayers of three hundred children supported and educated by his charity, and who were congregated in his house from the threshold to his bedchamber.

GIBBON (Edward, author of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"), 1737-1794. "_Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!_"

Some authorities give his last words thus: "Pourquoi est ce que vous me quittez," to his _valet-de-chambre_.

The _valet-de-chambre_ observed that Mr. Gibbon did not at any time, show the least sign of alarm, or apprehension of death; and it does not appear that he ever thought himself in danger, unless his desire to speak to Mr. Darrell may be considered in that light. _Lord Sheffield's Memoirs._

GOAR (Saint, "Patron Saint of the Rhine"), "_My children, these fearful forests and these barren rocks shall be adorned with cities and temples, where the name of Jesus shall be openly adored. Ye shall abandon your precarious and hard chase, and assemble together under temples lofty as those pines, and graceful as the crown of the palm._

"_Here shall my Saviour be known in all the simplicity of his doctrines. Ah! would that I might witness it; but I have seen those things in a vision. But I faint! I am weary! My earthly journey is finished! Receive my blessing. Go! and be kind one to another._" _Robert Blakey: "Christian Hermits."_

GOETHE or GOeTHE (Johann Wolfgang von, greatest of German poets), 1749-1831. "_More light! more light!_" He mistook the shadow of death for evening twilight.

He continued to express himself by signs, drawing letters with his fore-finger in the air, while he had strength, and finally, as life ebbed, drawing figures slowly on the shawl which covered his legs. At half past twelve he composed himself in the corner of the chair. The watcher placed a finger on her lip to intimate that he was asleep. If sleep it was it was a sleep in which a great life glided from this world. _Lewes's Story of Goethe's Life._

Coudray, who was present when the poet died, left a manuscript on "The Last Days and the Death of Goethe," which has been published. Goethe was seated in the bed-room, in an arm-chair standing beside the bed. Thinking that he saw paper lying on the floor, he said: "Why is Schiller's correspondence permitted to lie here?" Immediately, thereupon, he uttered his last audible words: "Do open the shutter in the bed-room, in order that more light may enter." (_Macht doch den Fensterladen im Schlafgemach auf, damit mehr Licht herein komme._)

GOLDSMITH (Oliver), 1728-1774. "_No, it is not_," to a physician who asked if his mind was at ease.

GOUGH (John Bartholomew, distinguished American temperance advocate), 1817-1886. "_Young man, keep your record_--" the last word was inaudible, but was probably "clean."[25]

[25] A paragraph from one of Mr. Gough's public addresses, carved
upon his monument in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, shows the strength of
his conviction and illustrates the directness and force of his
style:

"I can desire nothing better for this great country than that a
barrier high as heaven be raised between the unpolluted lips of the
children and the intoxicating cup; that everywhere men and women
should raise strong and determined hands against whatever will
defile the body, pollute the mind, or harden the heart against God
and His truth."

GRANT (Ulysses Simpson, eighteenth President of the United States, and one of the most distinguished of American generals), 1822-1885. "_Water_," said to an attendant who inquired if he wished for anything.

GRATTAN (Henry, Irish statesman and orator), 1750-1820. "_I am perfectly resigned. I am surrounded by my family. I have served my country. I have reliance upon God, and am not afraid of the Devil._"

GRAY (Thomas, author of "Elegy written in a country churchyard"), 1716-1771. "_Molly, I shall die!_"

GREELEY (Horace, famous editor of "The Log Cabin," and later founder, and, for thirty years editor of "The New York Daily Tribune"), 1811-1872. "_It is done!_" During the closing days of his life his mind was deranged.

GREEN (Joseph Henry, distinguished English surgeon, thinker, philosopher, and instructor), 1791-1863. "_Stopped!_"

Among all the brilliant young men who gathered at the feet of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, eager to learn from this "rapt one of the god-like brow," none surpassed him in admiration, and possibly in ability. It was not strange that Coleridge selected him to complete the development of that "Spiritual Philosophy" which was the great unaccomplished work of his life. Upon Coleridge's death, Mr. Green abandoned all his London work, threw aside the distinctions and emoluments of professional life, rewards that would surely increase from year to year, and devoted his whole time to philosophy and incidental studies to qualify himself for carrying out the commission of Coleridge. The story of his death has been told by one of his colleagues at St. Thomas's Hospital, one whose fame is familiar to the profession, Mr. Simon. "Not even the last agony of death," said Mr. Simon, "ruffled his serenity of mind, or rendered him unthoughtful of others. No terrors, no selfish regrets, no reproachful memories were there. The few tender parting words which he had yet to speak he spoke. And to the servants who were gathered grieving round him, he said, 'While I have breath, let me thank you for all your kindness and attention to me.' Next, to his doctor who quickly entered,--his neighbor and old pupil, Mr. Carter,--he significantly, and pointing to the region of his heart, said, 'Congestion,' after which he in silence set his finger to his wrist, and visibly noted to himself the successive feeble pulses which were just between him and death. Presently he said 'Stopped,' and this was the very end. It was as if even to die were an act of his own self-government; for at once, with the warning word still scarce beyond his lips, suddenly the stately head drooped aside, passive and defunct, forever." _Dr. Theophilus Parvin._

GREGORY VII. ("the Great," Pope Hildebrand), about 1020-1085. "_I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore, I die an exile._" He died at Salerno, May 25, 1085.

His dying words are deeply affecting, but yet a stern and unbending profession of the faith of his whole life, and of the profound convictions under which even his enemies acknowledge him to have acted. _Chambers' Encyclopaedia._

GREY (Lady Jane), 1537-1554. "_Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit._"

Then the hangman kneeled down and asked her forgiveness, whom she forgave most willingly. Then he willed her to stand upon the straw; which doing, she saw the block. Then she said, "I pray you despatch me quickly." Then she kneeled down, saying, "Will you take it off before I lay me down?" And the hangman said, "No, Madam." Then she tied the handkerchief about her eyes, and, feeling for the block, she said, "What shall I do? Where is it? Where is it?" One of the standers-by guided her thereunto; she laid her head down upon the block and then stretched forth her body, and said "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," and so finished her life in the year of our Lord 1554. _Fox's "Book of Martyrs."_

Lady Jane was only in her seventeenth year, and was remarkable for her skill in the classical, oriental, and modern languages, and for the sweetness of her disposition.

GROTIUS or DE GROOT (Hugo, jurist, divine, historian, and scholar), 1583-1645. "_I heard your voice; but did not understand what you said_," to Quistorpius, a clergyman who repeated in German a prayer suitable for a dying person. Some say his last words were, "Be serious."

GUITEAU (Charles Julius, hanged June 30, 1882, in the United States jail, Washington, D. C, for the assassination of President Garfield), 1841-1882. "_Glory hallelujah! I am going to the Lordy! I come! Ready! Go!_"

Guiteau published, while in jail, his autobiography, through the medium of a metropolitan newspaper. It is full of repetitions and minute details, and its reading is a severe tax upon patience. It establishes the fact that, in spite of his assertions to the contrary, his motive was not political, but was the gratification of an inordinate vanity. In one place Guiteau says: "During the week preceding the President's removal, I read the papers carefully. I thought it all over in detail. I thought just what people would talk, and thought what a tremendous excitement it would create, and I kept thinking about it all the week. I then prepared myself. I sent to Boston for a copy of my book, 'The Truth,' and I spent a week in preparing that, and I greatly improved it. I knew that it would probably have a large sale on account of the notoriety that the act of removing the President would give me, and I wished the book to go out to the public in proper shape." It is now generally believed that Guiteau was insane.

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS (Gustavus II., King of Sweden, one of the greatest of soldiers and one of the best of men), 1594-1632. "_I have enough, brother; try to save your own life_," to the Duke of Lauenburg.

Some authorities say that when he was fallen to the ground, he was asked, who he was, and replied: "I am the King of Sweden, and seal with my blood the Protestant religion and the liberties of Germany. Alas! my poor Queen! My God! My God!"

A subaltern of the imperial army, observing the respect with which the unknown officer was treated by his few followers, naturally concluded that he was a person of importance, and called out to a musketeer: "Shoot that man, for I am sure he is an officer of high rank." The soldier immediately fired, and the King's left arm fell powerless by his side. At this moment a wild cry was raised, "The King bleeds! the King is wounded!" "It is nothing!" shouted Gustavus; "follow me." But the pain soon brought on faintness, and he desired the Duke of Lauenburg in French to lead him out of the throng. Whilst the duke was endeavoring to withdraw him without being noticed by the troops, a second shot struck Gustavus and deprived him of his little remaining strength. "I have enough, brother," he said in a feeble voice to the duke; "try to save your own life." At the same moment he fell from his horse, and in a short time breathed his last.--_Markham's Germany._

HALE (Nathan, captain in Continental Army, executed by the British as a spy), 1755-1776. "_I only regret that I have but one life to give to my country!_"

He was confined in the green-house of the garden during the night of September 21, and the next morning, without even the form of a regular trial, was delivered to Cunningham, the brutal provost marshal, to be executed as a spy. He was treated with great inhumanity by that monster. The services of a clergyman and the use of a Bible were denied him, and even the letters which he had been permitted by Howe to write to his mother and sisters during the night were destroyed. He was hanged upon an apple-tree in Rutger's orchard, near the present intersection of East Broadway and Market street. _Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution._

HALLER (Dr. Albert, eminent Swiss anatomist and physiologist. He is chiefly known by his "Disputationes Anatomicae Selectae." George II. obtained for him a brevet as a noble of England, and he is sometimes spoken of as Baron Haller), 1708-1777. Feeling his own pulse, he exclaimed, "_The artery ceases to beat_," and instantly expired.

HALYBURTON (Thomas, professor of divinity in the new college at St. Andrews), 1674-1712. "_Pray! pray!_"

He cried out several times, "Free grace, free grace; not unto me." He spoke little the last six hours before his death, only some broken sentences, which with difficulty were understood. Now and then he would lift up his hands and clap them as a sign that he was encouraging himself in the Lord. At last he cried, "Pray! pray!" which was done by five or six ministers, and so he fell asleep in our Lord.

HAMLIN (Cyrus, distinguished American missionary and first President of Robert College, Constantinople), 1811-1900. "_Put me there_," pointing to a chair which belonged to his mother and in which he used to sit as a boy, eighty years ago, in his old home at Waterford. He passed away peacefully, and his body was buried, a few days later, in the cemetery at Lexington, Massachusetts.

HAMMOND (Henry, English divine and author), 1605-1660. "_Lord, make haste!_"

HAMPDEN (John, English patriot and statesman), 1594-1643. "_O Lord, save my country! O Lord, be merciful to----._"

HANWAY (Jonas, English merchant famous for his benevolence, author of "Journal of Travels Through Russia and Persia," and "Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea"), 1712-1786. "_If you think it will be of service in your practice or to any one who may come after me, I beg you will have my body opened: I am willing to do as much good as possible._"

HARRISON (Benjamin, twenty-third President of the United States), 1833-1901. "_Are the doctors here?_" to his wife who had just asked him if he wanted anything.

As Tuesday marked the turning point in his disease, so it was the time from which evidences of consciousness began to disappear. Since that time there were few lucid intervals, and it is doubtful, with the single exception of Tuesday afternoon, when his little girl was taken to his bedside, and he recognized her for a moment, if he had been conscious at all of his surroundings. The last words he spoke were to Mrs. Harrison in answer to a question, but his voice was then almost inaudible and his manner indicated that it required a concentration of effort to grasp the import of the wife's question and frame a reply.

In his delirium, Mr. Harrison's mind wandered frequently to the stirring scenes through which he had passed, and he spoke of events connected with the history of his country and in which he played a conspicuous part, as the Chief Magistrate of the nation. But his mind seemed more to be occupied with thoughts of the Boer war than with any other one thing to which he alluded, and it was manifest that the struggle of the South African people for liberty had made a deep impression, and had awakened his strongest sympathies, for he frequently talked, disconnectedly, of course, of the sufferings of the Boer people, and the attempt to crush them out of existence.--_New York Sun, March 14, 1901._

HARRISON (William Henry, ninth President of the United States), 1773-1841. "_I wish you to understand the true principles of government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more._"

HAUSER (Kaspar, the "Nuremberg Foundling"), --1833. "_Tired--very tired--a long journey--to take_," after these words he turned his face to the wall and never spoke again.

He was becoming more feeble every moment, and repeated several times, "Tired--very tired--all my limbs--too heavy--for me."

The good Pastor Fuhrmann comforted and encouraged him with the words of Scripture, ending with, "Father, not my will," and Kaspar responded, "but thine be done." To test his consciousness, the Pastor asked, "Who prayed thus?" and again he was ready with his answer, "Our Saviour."--"And when?"--"Before he died." A few minutes after this followed his last words, "Tired--very tired--a long journey--to take."--_The Duchess of Cleveland: "The True Story of Kaspar Hauser."_

The strange and mysterious history and sad death of Kaspar Hauser called forth the deepest interest and sympathy throughout Europe. He was discovered in the streets of Nuremberg in 1828, a lad about sixteen, knowing almost nothing of the world, and able to speak but two or three words of any language, and of the meaning of these he had but a dim understanding. He had with him a letter purporting to be written by a Bavarian peasant, declaring that Hauser had been left at his door, and had been cared for by him. It was gradually ascertained that the youth had been confined from infancy in a dark vault, so small that one could not stand, and could move only slightly in its enclosure. He had never tasted any food but bread and water, which had been brought to him by an unknown man while he was sleeping. Hauser was cared for by a number of generous and sympathetic patrons, among whom was Lord Stanhope; and his mental and physical condition was studied by the scientific men of the time. In 1833 he was invited to a meeting with a stranger who promised to reveal to him the secret of his strange condition, and to tell him who he was, but when Hauser was reading a document given him, this stranger suddenly wounded him with a dagger, causing his death within three days. See interesting history of the "Nuremberg Foundling" in Merker's "_Kasper Hauser_," and Feuerbach's "_Account of an Individual Kept in a Dungeon_."

HAVERGAL (Frances Ridley), 1836-1879. "_He._" It is thought she wished to say, "He died for me."

HAVELOCK (Sir Henry), 1795-1857. "_Come, my son, and see how a Christian can die._"

HAYDN (Francis Joseph), 1732-1809. "_God preserve the Emperor._" He referred to the Emperor Francis.

In 1809 Vienna was bombarded by the French. A round-shot fell into his garden. He seemed to be in no alarm, but on May 25 he requested to be led to his piano, and three times over he played the "Hymn to the Emperor," with an emotion that fairly overcame both himself and those who heard him. He was to play no more; and, being helped back to his couch, he lay down in extreme exhaustion to wait for the end. Six days afterward, May 31, 1809, died Francis Joseph Haydn, aged seventy-seven. _Haweis's "Music and Morals."_

HAYDON (Benjamin Robert, English artist), 1786-1846. His last recorded words were, "_God forgive me.--Amen!_" Haydon took his own life in a moment of great mental depression.

At dinner he got up from his chair and turned a glazed picture to the wall; his brain could not bear the reflected light. He looked flushed and haggard, and passed a silent and abstracted evening. That night he was heard walking about his room nearly the whole night, apparently in great agitation. It was in those wakeful hours he settled his resolve. He was dressed and out of his room early the next morning (22d June), and walked down, before breakfast, to Riviere, a gunmaker in Oxford Street, near Regent Street. Here he bought one of a pair of pistols. He came home about 9 A. M., breakfasted alone, then went to his painting-room, and probably wrote the letters to his children, his will, and his "last thoughts." As his mother and sister passed the painting-room door on their way to their rooms, about 10:30 A. M., they tried the door--it was locked--and he called out very fiercely, "Who's there?" A few minutes after, as if regretting the tone in which he had spoken, he came up to his mother's room, kissed her affectionately, and lingered about the room as if he had something to say. But he said little, except to ask her to call that day on an old friend (one of the executors he had just named in his will) and, returned to his painting-room, deliberately wrote in his journal:--

"God forgive me.--Amen!"

In a few moments he had destroyed himself.
_Stoddard: "Haydon's Life, Letters and Table Talk."_

HAZLITT (William, essayist and critic), 1778-1830. "_I have led a happy life._"

HEINE (Heinrich, German poet and author), 1800-1856. "_Set your mind at rest, Dieu me pardonnera, c'est son metrer._"

Some hours before he died a friend came into his room to see him once more. Soon after his entry he asked Heine if he was on good terms with God. "Set your mind at rest," said Heine, "Dieu me pardonnera, c'est son metrer." _Stigand: "Life, Work and Opinions of Heine."_

Catherine Bourlois, Heine's nurse, says in a letter to Mrs. Charlotte Embden, that Heine's last words often repeated were, "I am done for." She endeavored to comfort him with such kind and religious words as came to her mind, but all that she said had little effect.

HELOISE or ELOISE (a beautiful and accomplished French woman; the niece of Fulbert, canon of Notre-Dame. She became successively the pupil, mistress and wife of Abelard. After her marriage she became prioress of Argenteuil, and acquired a high reputation for piety. Her letters, written in elegant Latin, and printed with those of Abelard, are the expressions of a noble and fervent spirit), about 1100-1164. "_In death at last let me rest with Abelard._"

Heloise, when she felt the approach of death, directed the sisterhood to place her body by the side of that of Abelard, in the same coffin. It was commonly reported and believed, such was the credulity of the age, that at the moment when the coffin of Abelard was opened to lay her within it, the arm of the skeleton stretched itself out, opened, and appeared to be reanimated to receive the beloved one. They reposed for five hundred years in one of the aisles of the Paraclete, and after various changes, came to rest at last in the beautiful cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise at Paris.

HEMANS (Felicia Dorothea), 1794-1835. "_I feel as if I were sitting with Mary at the feet of my Redeemer, hearing the music of his voice, and learning of Him to be meek and lovely._"

HENDRICKS (Thomas A., Vice-President of the United States), 1819-1885. "_At rest at last. Now I am free from pain._"

HENRY IV. (of France), 1553-1610. "_I am wounded_," said when struck by the assassin Ravaillac.

While the coach stopped, the attendants with the exception of two, went on before; one of these two advanced to clear the way, the other stopped to fasten his garter. At that instant a wild-faced, red-haired man in a cloak, who had followed the coach from the Louvre, approached the side where the king sat, as if endeavoring to push his way, like other passengers, between the coach and the shops. Suddenly putting one foot on a spoke of the wheel, he drew a knife, and struck the king, who was reading a letter, between the second and third rib, a little above the heart. "I am wounded," cried the king, as the assassin, perceiving that the stroke had not been effectual, repeated it. The second blow went directly to the heart; the blood gushed from the wound and from his mouth, and death was almost instantaneous. A third blow which the assassin aimed at his victim was received by the Duke of Eperon in the sleeve.

The assassin's name was Francis Ravaillac, a native of Angoumois, who had been a solicitor in the courts of law. Whether the crime was prompted solely by his own imagination, or whether he was the instrument of any deep-laid conspiracy, was never clearly ascertained, though the latter was the general supposition.--_Chambers' Miscellany._

HENRY VIII. (second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York. The death of his elder brother Arthur, in 1502, made him heir apparent to the throne. He married his brother's widow, Catharine of Aragon, and, upon his father's death in 1509, was crowned king of England. The great event in his reign was his divorcement of Catharine and his marriage with Anne Boleyn, which led to the repudiation of Romanism in England, and the organization of the English or Episcopal Church), 1491-1547. "_Monks! Monks! Monks!_" He was in all probability thinking of the time when he abolished the monasteries and turned the monks out of doors.

HENRY (Patrick, American statesman and orator), 1736-1799. "_I trust in the mercy of God, it is not now too late._"

HENRY (Philip, English dissenting clergyman. He was the father of Matthew Henry, the eminent English divine and commentator), 1631-1696. "_O death, where is thy--_" Here his speech failed, and in a few moments he breathed his last.

HENRY (Matthew, commentator on the Bible), 1662-1714. "_A life spent in the service of God, and communion with Him, is the most comfortable and pleasant life that any one can live in this present world._"

He was twenty-five years pastor of a church at Chester, and during that time went through the Bible three times in the course of expository lectures. "At the commencement of his ministry he began with the first chapter of Genesis in the forenoon, and the first chapter of Matthew in the afternoon. Thus gradually and steadily grew his 'Exposition' of the Bible. A large portion of it consists of his public lectures, while many of the quaint sayings and pithy remarks with which it abounds, and which give so great a charm of raciness to its pages, were the familiar extempore observations of his father at family worship, and noted down by Matthew in his boyhood."

HERBERT (George, author of some of the finest sacred lyrics in the English language), 1593-1632. "_I am now ready to die. Lord, forsake me not, now my strength faileth me; but grant me mercy for the merits of my Jesus. And now Lord--Lord, now receive my soul._"

With these words he breathed forth his divine soul, without any apparent disturbance, Mr. Woodnot and Mr. Bostock attending his last breath, and closing his eyes.

Thus he lived, and thus he died like a saint, unspotted of the world, full of alms-deeds, full of humility, and all the examples of a virtuous life; which I cannot conclude better, than with this borrowed observation:

All must to their cold graves;
But the religious actions of the just
Smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust.
_Izaak Walton._

HERDER (Johann Gottfried von, court-preacher at Weimar, and one of the most brilliant and delightful of German authors), 1744-1803. He died writing an "Ode to the Deity;" his pen had just reached the last line. His last spoken words were "_Refresh me with a great thought._"

HERVEY (James, English divine, author of the once popular book, "Meditations Among the Tombs"), 1713-1758. "_Precious salvation!_"

Leaning his head against the side of the easy-chair, without a sigh, or groan, or struggle, he shut his eyes and died.

HEYLIN (Peter, author of "Life of Bishop Laud" and "Defence of the Church of England"), 1600-1662. "_I go to my God and Saviour._"

HILL (Rev. Rowland, a popular, pious, but eccentric preacher), 1745-1833. "_Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God._"

HOBBES (Thomas, philosopher and translator), 1588-1679. "_Now am I about to take my last voyage--a great leap in the dark._"

Some say Hobbes's last words were: "I shall be glad to find a hole to creep out of the world at."

He clung warmly to his friends, had a horror of being left alone in his illness, bequeathed all his property to the faithful servant and friend who had been his amanuensis. He was not afraid of death but said he should willingly "find some hole to creep out of the world at," and was wont to amuse himself with choosing for the epitaph to be graven on his tombstone, "This is the true philosopher's stone." _Alger's "Genius of Solitude."_

HODGE (Charles, American theologian, for fifty-six years President of Princeton Theological Seminary. His "Systematic Theology" in three volumes, is one of the ablest compends of divinity in the English language. His "Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans" has been greatly prized by Bible-students), 1797-1878. "_My work is done, the pins of the tabernacle are taken out._"

A moment later he was heard to whisper:

"_A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On Thy kind arms I fall._"

HOFER (Andreas, Tyrolese patriot), 1767-1810. "_I stand in the presence of my Creator, and standing I will render back my spirit to God who gave it. Fire!_" to the officer who directed him to place himself on his knees.

The first six shots wounded him but slightly. Dropping on his knees he received the remaining six, and was still struggling convulsively when a corporal, discharging a pistol close to his head, put an end to his sufferings.--_Markham._

HOGG (James, "the Ettrick Shepherd"), 1772-1835. "_It is likely you may never need to do it again_," to his wife, whom he had asked to watch by his bedside during the night.

HOOD (Thomas), 1798-1845. "_Dying, Dying._" Like poor Yorick, he was "a fellow of infinite jest; of most excellent fancy." In his genius were united the intensely pathetic and the exquisitely humorous. His life was one of toil and suffering, and yet he was always joking and making those around him laugh. His wit did not forsake him on his death-bed; it is recorded that when a mustard plaster was applied to his attenuated feet, he was heard feebly to remark that there was "very little meat for the mustard."

He died on the 3d of May, 1845, and on a July day nine years later Monckton Milnes unveiled the monument which stands above his grave in Kensal Green Cemetery. Beneath the bust there runs the legend, "He sang the Song of the Shirt," and on either side of the pedestal are bas-relief medallions of "Eugene Aram's Dream" and "The Bridge of Sighs"--all pertinent reminders of the fact that there was a serious as well as a humorous side to the genius of Hood. He himself, there can be no doubt, would have elected to live by his serious verse.

HOOKER (Richard, eminent English clergyman), 1553-1600. "_Good Doctor, God has heard my daily petitions, for I am at peace with all men, and he is at peace with me; and from which blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor take away._"

Some say his last words were, "My days are past as a shadow that returns not."

HOOPER (John, Bishop of Gloucester and later Bishop of Worcester _in commendam_), about 1495-1555. "_If you love my soul, away with it!_"

In January, 1555, he was condemned on three charges: for maintaining the lawfulness of clerical marriage, for defending divorce and for denying transubstantiation. He called the mass "the iniquity of the devil." He was sentenced to die at the stake in Gloucester, whither he was conveyed. He met his death firmly and cheerfully. To a friend bewailing his lot, the martyr replied in the oft-quoted words, "Death is bitter, and life is sweet, but alas! consider that death to come is more bitter, and life to come is more sweet." In another conversation he said, "I am well, thank God; and death to me for Christ's sake is welcome." His martyrdom was witnessed by a large throng of people. The martyr was forbidden to address the crowd. A real or pretended pardon being promised if he would recant, he spurned it away, saying, "If you love my soul, away with it." His agony was greatly prolonged and increased by the slow progress of the fire on account of the green faggots, which had to be rekindled three times before they did their work. _Rev. D. S. Schaff in the Religious Encyclopaedia._

Some authorities say Bishop Hooper's last words were. "Good people, give me more fire." Other authorities have it, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

HOPKINS (Rev. Samuel, D. D., distinguished theologian and controversialist: founder of the so-called "Hopkinsian Theology"), 1721-1803. "_My anchor is well cast, and my ship, though weather-beaten, will outride the storm._"

HOTMAN (William, Revolutionary soldier and patriot, the record of whose noble and courageous spirit is preserved upon a grave-stone at Groton, Connecticut), --1781. "_We will endeavor to crawl to this line; we will completely wet the powder with our blood; thus will we, with the life that remains in us, save the fort and the magazine, and perhaps a few of our comrades who are only wounded!_"

The entire inscription upon the stone reads thus:

"On the 20th of October, 1781, four thousand English fell upon this town with fire and sword--seven hundred Americans defended the fort for a whole day, but in the evening about four o'clock, it was taken. The commander declined delivering up his sword to an Englishman, who immediately stabbed him! All his comrades were put to the sword. A line of powder was laid from the magazine of the fort to be lighted to blow the fort up into the air. William Hotman, who lay not far distant, wounded by three stabs of a bayonet in his body, beheld it, and said to one of his wounded friends, who was still alive, 'We will endeavor to crawl to this line; we will completely wet the powder with our blood; thus will we, with the life that remains in us, save the fort and the magazine, and perhaps a few of our comrades who are only wounded!' He alone had strength to accomplish this noble design. In his thirtieth year he died on the powder which he overflowed with his blood. His friend, and seven of his wounded companions, by that means had their lives preserved. Here rests William Hotman."

HOUGH (John, Bishop of Oxford, afterward Bishop of Worcester), 1651-1743. "_We part to meet again, I hope, in endless joys_," to some friends who were with him at the time of his death.

HOUSTON (Samuel, known as "Sam," commander-in-chief of the Texan army and "Hero of San Jacinto," President of Texas, and, after annexation, United States Senator), 1793-1862. "_Texas! Texas!_"--after a pause, he faintly breathed the name of his wife, "_Margaret_," and passed away.

HOWARD (William, Viscount Stafford. Having been accused by Titus Oates of complicity in the Popish Plot, he was convicted of treason and executed December 29th, 1680. It is believed that he was innocent), 1612-1680. "_I do forgive you._"

Having embraced and taken leave of his friends, he knelt down and placed his head on the block: the executioner raised the axe high in the air, but then checking himself suddenly lowered it. Stafford raised his head and asked the reason for the delay. The executioner said he waited the signal. "I shall make no sign," he answered; "take your own time." The executioner asked his forgiveness. "I do forgive you," replied Stafford, and placing his head again in position, at one blow it was severed from his body.--_Bell's "Chapel and Tower."_

HOWARD (John, distinguished philanthropist), 1726-1790. "_Suffer no pomp at my funeral, nor monumental inscription where I am laid. Lay me quietly in the earth and put a sun-dial over my grave, and let me be forgotten._"[26]

A rude obelisk is erected over his grave, bearing the brief Latin inscription, "Vixet propter alios"--he lived for the good of others.

He may have lived for others but it is recorded of him that he was a tyrant in his own house; that his cruel treatment caused the death of his wife; and that he was in the habit of punishing his only son with the greatest severity. Dr. Forbes Winslow thinks Howard was insane, and there is much to justify that opinion.

[26] Tacitus said, "At my funeral let no tokens of sorrow be seen,
no pompous mockery of woe. Crown me with chaplets, strew flowers on
my grave, and let my friends erect no vain memorial to tell where my
remains are lodged."

Ludovious Cortesius, a rich lawyer at Padua, commanded by his last
will, that no man should lament; but, as at a wedding, music and
minstrels to be a delight to the people, should be provided; and
instead of black mourners, he ordered that twelve virgins clad in
green should carry him to the church.

The Hon. T. G. Shearman wrote in his diary (read at his funeral in
Plymouth church, Brooklyn, N. Y.) under date of May 21, 1894: "Give
me an unostentatious, cheery funeral, in no darkened room, and with
no dreariness of any kind."

HULL (Isaac, commodore), 1775-1843. "_I strike my flag._"

HUMBERT I. (King of Italy), 1844-1900. "_It is nothing._" These words were spoken as he sank into the arms of his aide, upon receiving the third bullet from the revolver of the assassin Bressi, at Monza, where he attended a gymnastic fete and distributed prizes.

"The King at once took his place on the platform amid the tumultuous cheering of the people. He wore civilian attire, and appeared to be in excellent health and spirits. In distributing the prizes, his Majesty made a speech which he concluded by saying:

"'It gives me great pleasure to be among my own people after so long an absence from Monza.'

"These, as it proved, were the last words King Humbert uttered publicly. The distribution of the prizes ended at 10:30 o'clock, and on leaving the platform the King entered the first of the two four-wheeled court carriages that were waiting. He sat on the right of Lieut.-Gen. Ponziovaglia, his chief aide.

"As the carriage began to move the members of the various gymnastic societies gathered round and cheered the King enthusiastically. His Majesty, smiling and acknowledging the demonstration, brought the carriage to a temporary halt.

"It was beginning to start again when three revolver shots rang out, startling every one. The horses were frightened and began to rear, and almost simultaneously the people saw that the King had fallen into the arms of his aides, bleeding from his neck and breast.

"The murderer was instantly recognized and the enraged people fell upon him with the evident intention of killing him. He was kicked, cuffed and beaten with canes. He would not have escaped alive if carbiniers and members of the fire brigade had not rushed through the crowd and seized the culprit. They formed a cordon round him and conveyed him to jail amid the execrations of the crowd.

"Meantime the King was taken with all speed to the royal castle, while the second carriage was sent to the local hospital for surgeons. Before these could reach the castle the King had died.

"Upon receiving the terrible news the Archbishop of Milan hastened to Monza and solemnly blessed the corpse.

"Each of the three bullets had hit the King. One struck him on the left collarbone, another between the fifth and sixth ribs on the right side, while the one that inflicted the fatal wound entered the heart.

"As he fell the King said to his aide: 'It is nothing.' These were the last words he uttered, and he was dead when the carriage arrived at the palace.

"The body was borne tenderly up a long flight of steps and carried into a chamber and placed on a bed. The King's eyes were open, but he gave no sign of life. The Queen threw herself on the body of her husband, alternately calling to him in tones, filled with anguish, and praying the doctors to tell her the truth. When they were convinced that the King was dead the Queen submitted to be led gently away. The surgeons then removed the King's clothing and examined his wounds. The Queen afterward returned and kept her vigil beside the body, praying until a late hour.

"Bystanders say the assassin rushed through the crowd and raised the revolver. Several attempted to seize the weapon, but Bressi fired before they could do so. He was captured with the smoking revolver still in his hand, and exultingly admitted his guilt." _Carriere Della Sera._

HUMBOLDT (Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron von, author of the "Cosmos"), 1769-1859. "_How grand the sunlight! It seems to beckon earth to heaven._"

HUNT (James Henry Leigh, English poet and _litterateur_), 1784-1859. "_Deep dream of peace._"

HUNTER (William, a young man of nineteen, burned at the stake for his faith, in the time of Mary I., of England), 1536-1555. "_Lord, Lord, Lord, receive my spirit!_"

"William said to his mother:--'For my little pain which I shall suffer, which is but a short braid, Christ hath promised me, mother (said he), a crown of joy; may you not be glad of that, mother?' With that his mother kneeled down on her knees, saying, 'I pray God strengthen thee, my son, to the end; yea, I think thee as well-bestowed as any child that ever I bare.'

"Then William Hunter plucked up his gown and stepped over the parlor groundsel and went forward cheerfully; the sheriff's servants taking him by one arm and his brother by another. And thus going in the way, he met with his father according to his dream, and he spake to his son saying, 'God be with thee, son William;' and William said, 'God be with you, good father, and be of good comfort; for I hope we shall meet again when we shall be merry.' His father said, 'I hope so, William,' and so departed. So William went to the place where the stake stood, even according to his dream, where all things were very unready. Then William took a wet broom faggot, and kneeled down thereon, and read the fifty-first Psalm till he came to these words, 'The sacrifice of God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and a broken heart, O God, thou wilt not despise!'

"Then said the sheriff, 'There is a letter from the Queen. If thou wilt recant thou shalt live; if not, thou shalt be burned.' 'No,' quoth William, 'I will not recant, God willing.' Then William rose and went to the stake, and stood upright to it. Then came one Richard Ponde, a bailiff, and made fast the chain about William.

"Then said master Brown, 'There is not wood enough to burn a leg of him.' Then said William, 'Good people! pray for me, and make speed and despatch quickly; and pray for me while you see me alive, good people! and I will pray for you likewise.' 'Now?' quoth master Brown, 'pray for thee! I will pray no more for thee than I will pray for a dog.'

"Then was there a gentleman which said, 'I pray God have mercy upon his soul!' The people said, 'Amen, amen.'

"Immediately fire was made. Then William cast his psalter right into his brother's hand, who said, 'William! think of the holy passion of Christ, and be not afraid of death.' And William answered, 'I am not afraid.' Then lifted he up his hands to heaven and said, 'Lord, Lord, Lord, receive my spirit,' and, casting down his head again into the smothering smoke, he yielded up his life for the truth, sealing it with his blood to the praise of God." _Fox's "Book of Martyrs."_

HUNTER (Dr. William, distinguished anatomist and physiologist. He is chiefly remembered by his "Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus," consisting of thirty-four plates engraved by the most eminent artists of the day, with explanations in English and Latin), 1717-1783. "_If I had strength to hold a pen I would write down how easy and pleasant a thing it is to die._"

HUNTINGTON (Selina, Countess of, an English lady, eminent for her piety and munificence), 1707-1791. "_My work is done; I have nothing to do but to go to my Father._"

HUSS (John, burnt at the stake July 6, 1415), 1370-1415. When the chain was placed around the neck of John Huss he exclaimed with a smile, "Welcome this chain, for Christ's sake!" The faggots having been piled up to his neck, the Duke of Bavaria, in a brutal manner, called on him to recant. "_No_," cried the martyr, "_I take God to witness I preached none but his own pure doctrines, and what I taught I am ready to seal with my blood._"

IGNATIUS (surnamed Theophorus, early Christian Father, and one of the immediate successors of the apostles),--107. "_I am the wheat of Christ; I am going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found pure bread._" These words he is said to have uttered when he heard the roaring of the lions that were to devour him.

He had a burning desire for the martyr's crown, and went to his death with a shout of triumph. Of the same spirit was Germanicus, who actually provoked the wild beasts to rush upon him, that he might at once be delivered from this wretched life and receive a martyr's reward.

ILITCHEWSKI (Alexander Demainowitch, the Russian poet). "_I have found at last the object of my love_," a line written by the poet just before his death, and found on a table near his bed. The poet was haunted all his life by an ideal of womanly beauty which he sought in vain among the living, and the above line would seem to indicate that he had at last found the object of his dreams. It is supposed that he died from excess of joy at the discovery.

ILLEPPY (Solyman, the Turkish peasant who assassinated General Kleber),--1800. "_Tay hip!_" (That is good).

The assassin suffered death by having the flesh burned off his right hand, and by being impaled, in which situation he lived one hour and forty minutes; dying without showing any fear, and declaring to the last, "that the act which he had done was meritorious, and one for which he should be made happy in the other world." He continued exclaiming, from the moment of his hand being burnt, to that of his death, "_Tay hip!_"--_The Percy Anecdotes._

INGERSOLL (Robert Green, an American lawyer and orator, distinguished as an opponent of Christianity), 1833-1899. "_O, better_," in response to his wife's question, "How do you feel now?"

After the war he became an ardent Republican, and gained fame as a lawyer, serving as attorney-general of Illinois for several years. He was a delegate to the National Republican convention of 1876, when he became famous as an orator by proposing the name of James G. Blaine for President in his celebrated "Plumed Knight" speech. He was offered the post of minister to Germany, but refused it. About the year 1877 he removed to New York, and was soon in great demand as a lecturer and orator. Among his most celebrated cases was his defense of the "Star route conspirators" in 1883.

Some of the most beautiful of Col. Ingersoll's orations were those that he delivered over the bodies of his friends. Among his best known books are "The Gods," 1878, "Ghosts," 1879, "Some Mistakes of Moses," 1879, and several volumes of lectures.

IRVING (Rev. Edward, an able and eccentric preacher, and the founder of the "Catholic Apostolic Church"), 1792-1834. "_If I die, I die unto the Lord. Amen._" Some say his last words were: "In life and in death, I am the Lord's."

IRVING (Washington, distinguished American author), 1783-1859. "_I must arrange my pillows for another weary night_," said on retiring. A moment later he tried to say something more but could pronounce only the word "end," after which he uttered a slight cry as of pain, and fell to the floor. When the physician arrived life was extinct.

It was on November 28th, 1859, when Irving was seventy-six years old, that his death came. He had been in poor health for some months, suffering much from sleeplessness and a shortness of breath, but at the last a weakness of the heart brought the sudden end. Lacking to-day a man of letters who holds such a place in the affections of his countrymen as Irving held, it is difficult for us to realise the impression made by his death. It was as if a President or a great soldier had died in these later years. Flags on shipping and buildings in New York flew at half-mast, and the Mayor and Council recognised the event as a public grief. A multitude of people bore witness to their own sense of loss at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The day of the funeral, December 1st, had the fullest beauty and suggestion of Indian summer--"one of his own days," the people said. It is to Longfellow,

"No singer vast of voice; yet one who leaves
His native air the sweeter for his song,"

that we instinctively turn for the words:

IN THE CHURCHYARD AT TARRYTOWN.

Here lies the gentle humorist, who died
In the bright Indian summer of his fame!
A simple stone, with but a date and name,
Marks his secluded resting-place beside
The river that he loved and glorified.
Here in the autumn of his days he came,
But the dry leaves of life were all aflame
With tints that brightened and were multiplied.
How sweet a life was his; how sweet a death!
Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours,
Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer;
Dying, to leave a memory like the breath
Of summers full of sunshine and of showers,
A grief and gladness in the atmosphere.

ISAIAH (spelled in the New Testament Esaias which means "salvation of Jehovah." He is the greatest of the Hebrew Prophets, and his poetical genius is ranked with that of Homer), B. C. 765-660. "_Go ye to the country of Tyre and Sidon, for the Lord hath mixed the cup for me alone._"

There is a tradition that the prophet Isaiah suffered martyrdom by a saw. The ancient book entitled, "The Ascension of Isaiah the Prophet," accords with the tradition. It says: "Then they seized Isaiah the son of Amos and sawed him with a wooden saw. And Manasseh, Melakira, the false prophets, the princes and the people, all stood looking on. But he said to the prophets who were with him before he was sawn, 'Go ye to the country of Tyre and Sidon, for the Lord hath mixed the cup for me alone.' Neither while they were sawing him did he cry out nor weep, but he continued addressing himself to the Holy Spirit until he was sawn asunder."

JACKSON (Thomas Jonathan, "Stonewall Jackson," distinguished Confederate general), 1824-1863. "_Let us go over the river, and sit under the refreshing shadow of the trees._"

He was accidentally shot and mortally wounded by his own soldiers, in the darkness of night. His last words were spoken in delirium.

JAMES II. (of England), 1633-1701. "_Grateful--in peace!_" Louis XIV. visited James II. when the latter was upon his death-bed, and moved, no doubt, by pity, said to him in the presence of courtiers who ill concealed their surprise: "I come to tell Your Majesty, that whenever it shall please God to take you from us, I will be to your son what I have been to you, and will acknowledge him as King of England, Scotland and Ireland." James was so near death that he was hardly sensible of what was said to him, but it was thought he murmured with much that was irrelevant the words, "Grateful--in peace!"

The final disposition of the remains of James II. is involved in some uncertainty. Stanley in Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey says: "The body had been placed in the Chapel of the English Benedictines at Paris, and deposited there in the vain hope that, at some future time, they would be laid with kingly pomp at Westminster among the graves of the Plantagenets and Tudors." Clarke, in his Life of James II. says that at his burial the rites of the Church of England were not used, but this is contradicted by the account preserved in Herald's College. The King's brains, it is said, were deposited in an urn of bronze-gilt standing upon the monument raised to him in the Chapel of the Scotch College in the Rue des Fosses Saint Victor. This, according to a correspondent of the Notes and Queries, Vol. ii, p. 281, was "smashed, and the contents scattered about during the French Revolution." Pettigrew, in his Chronicles of the Tombs, says: "It is conjectured that portions of the King's body were collected together, and entombed at St. Germain en Laye, soon after the termination of the war in 1814; but it being necessary to rebuild the church, the remains were exhumed and re-interred in 1824."

The following curious account was given in 1840 by Mr. Fitzsimmons, an Irish gentleman upward of eighty years of age, who taught French and English at Toulouse and claimed to be a runaway monk: