God bless you. EDMUND BURKE (1729-97)—Last words. God bless you all. SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832) -Last words. Other versions are : "I feel as if I were to be myself again;" My dear, be a good man; be virtuous; be religiousbe a good man. Nothing else can give you any comfort when you come to lie here" (to Lockhart); "There is but one book; bring me the Bible" (to Lockhart). God bless you, my dear! DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON (170984)-Last words, to Miss Morris, who asked his blessing. God has put into every white man's hand a whip to flog the black. THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881) -to Ralph Waldo Emerson (180382). God help me, my very children have forsaken me. JAMES II (1633-1701)—when told that his daughter Anne, as well as Mary, was on the side of William of Orange. Hume substitutes 'own' for 'very'. God may forgive you, but I never can. QUEEN ELIZABETH (1533-1603is credited with having used these words to the dying Countess of Nottingham (in 1603), who confessed that she had kept a ring given her by the Earl of Essex to be returned to the Queen. Elizabeth is said to have even shaken the dying woman in her bed (Hume, Hist. of Engl. ch. 44). God reigns, and the government at Washington still lives. GENERAL GARFIELD (1831-81) -concluding words of a brief speech at New York, April 15, 1865, the day of President Lincoln's death. Garfield became President in 1881, but was assassinated Sep. 19 of the same year. Cf. God's in his heaven- (R. Browning, Pippa Passes.) God's will be done. BISHOP THOMAS KEN, author of the Doxology and Praise God from whom all blessings flow (1637-1711) -Last words. God's wounds! the villain hath killed me. GEORGE VILLIERS, Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), assassinated by John Felton-Last words. Hume's version is simply: "The villain has killed me." God who placed me here, will do what he pleases with me hereafter, and he knows best what to do. May he bless you. VISCOUNT HENRY ST. JOHN BOLINGBROKE (1678-1725)—just before his death, to Lord Chesterfield. Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris. THOMAS GOLD APPLETON (181284), American wit and author. (Cf. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. 66). Good-bye, General; I'm done. I'm too old. COL. HENRY CLAY EGBERT (1840-99)--Last words. He was killed near Manila in the war between the U. S. and the Phillipines (Cf. N. Y. Daily Sun, Mar. 27, 1899). Said to General Wheaton, who, bending over him, exclaimed, Nobly done, Egbert!" 66 Government is founded on property. DANIEL WEBSTER (1782-1852)— in his Plymouth oration, Dec. 22, 1820, said: "It would seem, then, to be part of political wisdom to found government on property," &c. (Works, Boston, 1851, vol i, p. 39). Government of the people, by the people, for the people. ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-65)— in a speech at the dedication of the National Soldiers' Cemetery at Gettysberg, Nov. 19, 1863. "We here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. The phrase was, perhaps unconsciously, adapted from Theodore Parker, in whose address to the Anti-Slavery Society on May 13, 1854 (Additional Speeches, vol. ii, p. 25) occur the words a government of all the 66 A grateful sense of favours past, (authorship unknown). See Toutes les fois que je donne une place etc.; L'ingratitude est l'indépendance du cœur. Great and burning questions. BENJAMIN DISRAELI [Earl of Beaconsfield] (1804-81)-in a speech March 20, 1873, explaining his reasons for refusing to take office. The phrase "brennende Fragen " (burning questions), however, occurs in the preface of Hagenbach's Grundlinien der Liturgik und Homiletik, 1803. Great God! what a genius I had when I wrote that book! DEAN JONATHAN SWIFT (16671745)-alluding to The Tale of a Tub. Great objects can only be seen at a distance. JAMES NORTHCOTE (1746-1831). See You must stand afar off, &c. Great revolutions, whatever may be their causes, are not lightly made, and are not concluded with precipitation. BENJAMIN DISRAFLI [Earl of Beaconsfield] (1804-81)—in a speech in the House of Commons, Feb. 5, 1863. Had I served (my) God as dili gently as I have (served) the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs. CARDINAL WOLSEY (1471-1530) -to Sir William Kingston, who arrested him. See Si j'avois fait pour Dieu, &c.; Cf. "O Cromwell, Cromwell, Had I but served my God with half the zeal I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies." (Shakspere, King Henry VIII, act 3. sc. 2, II. 455-8.) Hailing with horrid melody the moon. BENJAMIN DISRAELI [Earl of Beaconsfield] (1804-81)—Phrase applied to the oratory of Robert Lowe [Lord Sherbrooke]. Cf. "I had rather be a dog and bay the moon, Than such a Roman." (Shakspere, Julius Cæsar, act 4, sc. 3, Il. 27-8.) Happiness is not the end of life: character is. Rev. HENRY WARD BEECHER (1813-87). Happy! SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH (17651832) Last word. Happy is the king who has a magistrate possessed of courage to execute the laws; and still more happy in having a son who will submit to the punishment inflicted for offending them. HENRY IV. (1366-1413)—to Sir William Gascoigne, who had imprisoned Prince Henry (afterwards Henry V). Cf. "Happy am I, that have a man so bold, That dares do justice on my proper son; And not less happy, having such a son, That would deliver up his greatness Into the hands of justice" (Shakspere, King Henry II, 2nd Part, act 5, sc. 2, 11. 103-12 King Henry V, quoting his father's words). Happy is the man who has been twice thanked by his country! BENJAMIN DISRAELI [Earl of Beaconsfield] (1804-81)-in a speech in the House of Commons, July 2, 1868, referring to Sir Robert Napier and the Abyssinian expedition. Hard pounding this, gentlemen! let's see who will pound longest. DUKE OF WELLINGTON (17691852) at the Battle of Waterloo (June, 1815). See It is warm work &c. hare-brained chatter of irresponsible frivolity. BENJAMIN DISRAELI [Earl of Beaconsfield] (1804-81)--in a speech at the Mansion House, Nov. 9, 1878. "The government of the world is carried on by sovereigns and statesmen, and not by anonymous paragraph writers or by the," &c. Heaven! WILLIAM WILBERFORCE (17591833)-Last words. Another version is: "I now feel so weaned from earth, my affections so much in Heaven, that I can leave you all without regret; yet I do not love you less, but God more." He has more wit than to be here. LADY FAIRFAX Reply when Lord Fairfax's name was called by the crier in forming the Court in Westminster Hall, Jan. 20, 1649, to try Charles I for treason. When the charge against the king "In the name of the people of England was read, she exclaimed tenth part of them." Not a He has set his heart on being a martyr, and I have set mine on disappointing him. WILLIAM III (1650-1702)—of Professor Dodwell (of Oxford), a bitter Jacobite. He serves his party best who serves the country best. PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES (1822-81)-in his Inaugural Address, delivered March 5, 1877. He smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. DANIEL WEBSTER (1782-1852)— in a speech on Alexander Hamilton, March 10, 1831, in allusion to Moses smiting the rock (Exodus xvii, 6). Followed by: "He touched the dead corpse of public credit, and it sprang upon its feet." See Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute! He was a bold man who first swallowed an oyster. JAMES I (1566-1625). Cf. "He was a bold man that first ate an oyster (Swift, Polite Conversation, Dialogue II). He who would make a pun, would pick a pocket. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-84). Also attributed to Dr. John Donne (1573-1631); but see A man who could make so vile a pun &c. He will be left alone like a whale upon the strand. EDMUND WALLER (1605-87)— of James II (1633-1701). See A whale stranded &c. .. hog is not bacon, until it be well hanged. SIR NICHOLAS BACON (1510-79) -to a criminal named Heg, who asked for mercy, claiming kindred. Preceded by: “But you and I cannot be kindred except you be hanged, for" &c. Hold the Fort! I am coming. to GENERAL WILLIAM TECUMSEH CHARLES KINGSLEY (1819-75). Death-bed utterance. His last words were from the Burial Service (Letters and Memoirs, by his wife). How beautiful to be with God. FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD (1839-98)-Last words. How men undervalue the power of simplicity, but it is the real key to the heart. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (17701850). How sweet it is to rest. JOHN TAYLOR, "the Water OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1728-74)— HENRY DORNEY (1613-83)— Last words, to his wife. I am already married to my country. WILLIAM PITT (1759-1806)— Reply to Horace Walpole, who was trying to arrange a marriage between him and Necker's daughter, afterwards Mme. de Staël: Cf. Brougham, Life of Pitt, also Quarterly Review, no. 97, p. 568, and J. W. Croker, Memoirs, vol. GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-70), founder of the Calvinistic Methodist Church-Last words. I am for equality. I think that men are entitled to equal rights, but to equal rights to unequal things. CHARLES JAMES FOX (17491806). I am glad I am not the eldest son. I want to speak in the House of Commons, like рара. WILLIAM PITT (1759-1806)—then only seven years old, when told that his father had been made Earl of Chatham, Aug. 1776. See Oh, Pitt never was a boy! I am going on my journey: they have greased my boots already. SIR SAMUEL GARTH (1660-1719) -Death-bed utterance, after receiving the extreme unction. See Very well, then, I shall not take off my boots. I am going where all tears will be wiped from my eyes. REV. COTTON MATHER (16331728) Last words, to his wife, who had wiped his eyes with her handkerchief. I am ill-very ill, I shall not recover. JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY (181477) Last words (Cf. Sir William W. Gull's account of his death). I am not in the least afraid to die. CHARLES DARWIN (1809-82)— Last words. See Remember! I do not fear death; My Lord, why do you not go on? &c. I am on the side of the angels. BENJAMIN DISRAELI [Earl of Beaconsfield] (1804-81)-at a meeting of the Oxford Diocesan Society, Nov. 25, 1864, referring to the subject of Darwinism. "The question is this: Is man an ape or an angel? My lord, I am on the side of the angels. I repudiate with indignation and abhorrence the contrary view, which is, I believe, foreign to the conscience of humanity." See I have no patience whatever with" &c. 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. HENRY GRATTAN (1750-1820)-Last words. I am ready. CHARLES MATHEWS (1776-1836) -Last words. I am ready at any time-do not keep me waiting. JOHN BROWN (1800-59)-Last words before he was hanged for taking part in the Harper's Ferry insurrection. |