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
A candle burning in the King's chamber, which was to be extinguished at
the same moment as the life of the King, was the signal agreed on for
the measures to be taken and the orders to be given as soon as he should
have breathed his last. The candle was put out at two o'clock in the
afternoon of May 10, 1774. Instantly a great tumult, comparable to a
clap of thunder, shook the arches of Versailles. It was the crowd of
courtiers leaving the antechambers of the dead man and noisily hastening
to meet the new monarch.
_Imbert de Saint-Amand: "The Last Years of Louis XV."_
LOUIS XVI. (guillotined by a wild and bloodthirsty mob, called the
French Republic, the 21st of January, 1793), 1754-1793. "_Frenchmen, I
die innocent of all the crimes which have been imputed to me. I forgive
my enemies; I implore God, from the bottom of my heart, to pardon them,
and not to take vengeance on the French nation for the blood about to be
shed._"
He was proceeding, when Santerre, who was on horseback near the
scaffold, made a signal for the drums to beat, when the assistants
seized the victim, and the horrid murder was completed.
When the king's head was severed from the body, one of the executioners
held it up by the hair, dancing at the same time around the scaffold,
with the most savage exultation.
_Contemporary History of the French Revolution._
LOUIS XVII. (second son of Louis XVI. He became dauphin at the death of
an elder brother in 1789, and was recognized as king in January, 1793,
by the French royalists and several foreign courts, but he was closely
confined by the Jacobins. The cruel treatment which he received in
prison hastened his death), 1785-1795. "_I have something to tell you._"
LOUIS XVIII. (Louis Stanislas Xavier), 1755-1824. "_A King should die
standing._"
LOUISE (Auguste Wilhelmine Amelie, Queen of Prussia), 1776-1810. "_I am
a Queen, but have no power to move my arms._"
LOVAT (Lord Fraser of Lovat, Scottish Jacobite conspirator. In the
rebellion of 1745 he was detected in treasonable acts against King
George, for which he was executed), about 1666-1747.
He was beheaded on Tower Hill. On reaching the scaffold, he asked for
the executioner, and presented him with a purse containing ten guineas.
He then asked to see the axe, felt its edge, and said he thought it
would do. Next he looked at his coffin, on which was inscribed:
SIMON, DOMINUS FRASER DE LOVAT.
Decollat April 9, 1747
AEtat suae 80.
After repeating some lines from Horace, and next from Ovid, he prayed,
then bade adieu to his solicitor and agent in Scotland; finally the
executioner completed his work, the head falling from the body. Lord
Lovat was the last person beheaded in England.
_Andrews: "Bygone Punishments."_
LUCAN or LUCANUS (Marcus Annaeus, Roman epic poet, nephew of the
philosopher Seneca), 38-65.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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