The Last Words (Real and Traditional) of Distinguished Men and WomenMarvin, Frederic Rowland
History
The Last Words (Real and Traditional) of Distinguished Men and Women
Marvin, Frederic Rowland
Last words
JEWELL or JEWEL (John, Bishop of Salisbury), 1522-1571. "_This day let
me see the Lord Jesus._"
JOAN OF ARC (Jeanne d'Arc, surnamed "the Maid of Orleans," burned at the
stake May 31, 1431, in the twenty-first year of her age. "The
Virgin-Martyr of French Liberty"), 1410-1431. "_Jesus! Jesus!_"
She died declaring that her "voices" had not deceived her, and with the
name of Jesus on her lips.
JOHNSON (Dr. Samuel, "Colossus of English literature"), 1709-1784. "_God
bless you, my dear!_" to Miss Morris.
JOSEPH II. (of Germany), 1741-1790. "_Let my epitaph be, Here lies
Joseph, who was unsuccessful in all his undertakings._"
JOSEPHINE (Marie Joseph Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, wife of Napoleon I.
of France), 1763-1814. "_Napoleon! Elba! Marie Louise!_"
JUDSON (Adoniram, missionary to Burmah and translator of the Bible into
the language of that country), 1788-1850. "_Brother Ranney, will you
bury me? bury me?--quick! quick!_" These words were prompted perhaps by
the thought of burial at sea. A moment later he said to his servant,
"_Take care of poor mistress_," meaning Mrs. Judson.
JUDSON (Mrs. Ann Hasseltine, wife of Adoniram Judson, and with him a
missionary in Burmah), 1789-1826. "_I feel quite well, only very weak._"
JUGURTHA (an African prince carried in chains to Rome where he was cast
into the Mamertine prison and starved to death). "_Heracles, how cold
your bath is!_" Jugurtha referred to the cold and dark prison into which
he was plunged as into an icy bath. "Heracles" is the ordinary Greek
interjection, and is not here an address to a god. Longfellow in his
little poem "Jugurtha," has substituted, it is hard to say by what
authority, the name of Apollo for that of Heracles:
How cold are thy baths, Apollo!
Cried the African monarch, the splendid,
As down to his death in the hollow
Dark dungeons of Rome he descended,
Uncrowned, unthroned, unattended;
How cold are thy baths, Apollo!
How cold are thy baths, Apollo!
Cried the Poet, unknown, unbefriended,
As the vision, that lured him to follow,
With the mist and the darkness blended,
And the dream of his life was ended;
How cold are thy baths, Apollo!--_Longfellow._
The Jugurthine war, which was terminated B. C. 106, is the subject of
one of the histories of Sallust.
JULIAN (Julianus Flavius Claudius, surnamed "The Apostate," on account
of his renunciation of Christianity. He was Roman emperor from 361 to
363), 331-363. "_Thou hast conquered, O Galilean! thou hast conquered!_"
Some authorities give his last words thus: "Sun, thou hast betrayed me!"
Julian was a worshipper of the sun.
And Julian being carried to his tent, he took a handful of the blood
which flowed from his wound, and flung it into the air, exclaiming with
his last breath, "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean! thou hast conquered!"
Then the demons received his parting spirit.--_Mrs. Jameson._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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