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
His last written lines (nine days before his death) were:
"Out of the shadows of night,
The world rolls into light;
It is daybreak everywhere."
--_The Bells of San Blas._
LOUIS I. (Louis le Debonnaire), 778-840. "_Huz! huz!_"
He turned his face to the wall and twice cried, "Huz! huz!" ("Out!
out!") and then died.
_Bouquet._
LOUIS IX. ("Saint Louis," canonized by Pope Boniface VIII. in 1297),
1215-1270. "_I will enter now into the house of the Lord._"
Some authorities say his last words were "We will go to Jerusalem."
LOUIS XIII. (son of Henry IV. and Marie de Medicis), 1601-1643. "_Well,
my God, I consent with all my heart_," to his physician who told him he
had but two hours to live.
LOUIS XIV. (surnamed LE GRAND, often called LOUIS QUATORZE, the most
magnificent of the Bourbon Kings), 1638-1715. "Why weep ye? Did you
think I should live forever?" then after a pause, "_I thought dying had
been harder._" Some say his last words were: "O God, come to mine aid! O
Lord, make haste to help me!"
On Sunday, August 31, towards eleven o'clock in the evening, the prayers
for the dying were said for Louis XIV. He recited them himself in a
louder voice than any of the spectators; and seemed still more majestic
on his death-bed than on his throne. When the prayers were ended he
recognized Cardinal de Rohan and said to him, "These are the graces of
the Church." Several times he repeated: "_Nunc et in hora mortis._" Then
he said, "O God, come unto mine aid; O Lord, make haste to help me."
These were his last words. The agony was beginning. It lasted all night,
and on Sunday, September 1, 1715, at a quarter past eight in the
morning, Louis XIV., aged seventy-seven years lacking three days, during
sixty-two of which he had been a king, yielded his great soul to God.
_Imbert de Saint-Amand._
LOUIS XV. (of France), 1710-1774. "_Repeat those words Monsieur the
almoner, repeat them_," to Cardinal de La Roche-Aymon, who read aloud
the public apology made by the sovereign to his people.
Some authorities give his last words thus: "I have been a great sinner,
doubtless, but I have ever observed Lent with a most scrupulous
exactness; I have caused more than a hundred thousand masses to be said
for the repose of unhappy souls, so that I flatter myself I have not
been a very bad Christian."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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