The Last Words Of Distinguished Men And Women Part 8

Collingborn was hanged and cut down alive, his bowels ripped out and cast into the fire; when the executioner put his hand into the bulk of his body, to pull out his heart, he said, "Lord Jesus! Yet more trouble?" and so died, to the great sorrow of many people.--_Fab.

Chron._, p. 519.

COLLINS (Anthony, essayist and deist), 1676-1729. "_I have always endeavored, to the best of my ability, to serve G.o.d, my king and my country. I go to the place G.o.d has designed for those who love him._"

Some say his last words were, "The Catholic faith is, to love G.o.d and to love man. This is the best faith, and to its entertainment I exhort you all."

COLUMBUS (Christopher, discovered America October 12th, 1492), 1435-1506. "_In ma.n.u.s tuos, Domine, commendo spiritum meum._"

Columbus died at Valladolid, a disappointed, broken-hearted old man; little comprehending what he had done for mankind, and still less the glory and homage that through all future generations awaited his name.--_Ticknor._

CONFUCIUS (His name was Kong, but his disciples called him Kong-Fu-tse, which is "Kong the Master," and this the Jesuit missionaries Latinized into Confucius), B. C., 551-479. "_I have taught men how to live._"

Early one morning, it is said, he rose, and with his hands behind his back dragging his staff, moved about by his door, crooning, "The great mountain must crumble, the strong heart must break, and the wise man wither away like a plant. In all the provinces of the empire there arises not one intelligent monarch who will make me his master. My time has come to die." He went to his couch and never left it again.... His mind was magnanimous and his heart was serene. He was a lonely old man--parents, wife, child, friends, all gone--but this made the fatal message so much the more welcome. Without any expectation of a future life, uttering no prayer, betraying no fear, he approached the dark valley with the strength and peace of a well-ordered will resigned to Heaven, beyond a doubt treasuring in his heart the a.s.surance of having served his fellow-men in the highest spirit he knew, and with the purest light he had.

For twenty-five centuries he has been as unreasonably venerated as he was unjustly neglected in his life. His name is on every lip throughout China, his person in every imagination. The thousands of his descendants are a t.i.tled and privileged cla.s.s by themselves. The diffusion and intensity of the popular admiration and honor for him are wonderful.

Countless temples are reared to him, millions of tablets inscribed to him. His authority is supreme. He is wors.h.i.+ped by the pupils of the schools, the magistrates, the emperor himself in full pomp. Would that a small share of this superfluity had solaced some of the lonesome hours he knew while yet alive!--_Alger's "Genius of Solitude."_

CONRADIN (Konradin of Swabia, the last descendant of the imperial House of Hohenstaufen, son of Konrad IV.), 1252-1268. "_O my mother! how deep will be thy sorrow at the news of this day!_"

A few minutes before his execution, Conradin, on the scaffold, took off his glove and threw it into the midst of the crowd as a gage of vengeance, requesting that it might be carried to his heir, Peter of Arragon. This duty was undertaken by the Chevalier de Walburg, who, after many hairbreadth escapes, succeeded in fulfilling his prince's last command.

_Chambers' Encyclopaedia._

COOKMAN (Alfred, American clergyman connected with the Presbyterian church), 1828-1871. "_I am sweeping through the gates, washed in the blood of the Lamb._"

CORDAY D'ARMANS, DE (Marie Anne Charlotte, usually called Charlotte Corday, a young woman of n.o.ble family and of a courageous and lofty spirit. She stabbed Marat, one of the most bloodthirsty of all the vile monsters of the French Revolution), 1768-1793. "_This is the toilette of death, arranged by somewhat rude hands, but it leads to immortality._"

She must have spoken later, perhaps many times, but the words recorded are the last of which we can be certain.

One description of Charlotte Corday says that she was of medium height, with an oval face, fine features, blue eyes, a good nose, beautiful mouth, chestnut hair, lovely hands and arms; another says that she was a virago, awkward, dirty, insolent, rubicund, and fat; and that if she had been pretty she would have been more anxious to live.

_La Demagogie._

We read in the _Moniteur_, "Charlotte Corday has been executed, the 17th, about seven P. M., in the Place de la Revolution, in the (red) garb of a.s.sa.s.sins, and her goods confiscated to the Republic." The executioner ... struck the bleeding head, when he showed it, according to custom, to those present; the cheeks were still crimson, and it was said that they were so in consequence of the insult thus offered to them.[14]--_La Demagogie._

[14] It is a tradition in Corsica that when St. Pantaleon was beheaded, the _caput mortuum_, as it might have been thought, rose from the block and sang.

A reliable gentleman who witnessed an execution, wrote as follows: "It appears to be the best of all modes of inflicting the punishment of death, combining the greatest impression on the spectator with the least possible suffering to the victim. It is so rapid that I should doubt whether there was any suffering; but from the expression of the countenance, when the executioner held up the head, I am inclined to believe that sense and consciousness may remain for a few seconds after the head is off. The eyes seemed to retain speculation for a moment or two, and there was a look in the ghastly stare with which they stared upon the crowd, which implied that the head was aware of its ignominious situation."

COSIN or COZEN (Dr. John, English divine), 1594-1672. "_Lord!_"

He raised his hand and cried, "Lord!" After this he expired without pain. It is thought that he wished to repeat his frequent prayer, "Lord Jesus, come quickly!" He desired above all things to die suddenly and without distress of body or mind.

COWPER (William, distinguished English poet), 1731-1800. "_What can it signify?_" Said to Miss Perowne, one of his attendants, who offered him some refreshments. He died in the gloom of a deep melancholy from which he had suffered during a considerable portion of his life.

CRATES (of Thebes, Cynic philosopher), about B. C. 330--he was living in B. C. 307. "_Ah! poor humpback! thy many long years are at last conveying thee to the tomb: thou shalt soon visit the palace of Pluto._"

Crates was deformed and ugly in shape and features, and to render himself still more hideous he sewed sheepskins on his coat, so that it was difficult at first sight to say to what species of animal he belonged. He was, however, noted for self-control, abstinence, and simplicity of life.

CRANMER (Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury), 1489-1556. "_This unworthy right hand._"

When the f.a.gots were lighted he stretched out his right hand, which had signed the recantation, into the flames, and there held it firmly till it was a mere cinder. This took place before his body was reached by the fire.[15]

[15] Upon the 14th of February, in the 30th year of Queen Mary, was Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, brought to the stake, where he first thrust his right hand into the fire (with which he had before subscribed a recantation) till it first, and then his whole body was consumed; but what was most remarkable, his heart remained whole, and was not once touched by the fire.--_Baker's Chron. p. 463._

We have the same story about the heart of Zuinglius. Three days after it had been cast into the fire to be burned to ashes some friends found it untouched by the flames.--_Melch. Adam. Vit. p.

37._

"MR. J. C. JEAFFRESON in his book 'The Real Sh.e.l.ley' writes: 'All the world knows how Sh.e.l.ley's torn and disfigured corpse was reduced to ashes and a few fragments of bone (with the exception of the heart that would _not_ be burnt) on the pyre;' and probably, since Trelawny, shortly after the poet's death, reported that 'his heart remained entire,' his statement has been unhesitatingly accepted. I have, however, reason for thinking that the story does not rest on trustworthy evidence.

"When a body is burnt the part which longest resists the action of the fire after the base of the skull and one or two of the most solid portions of bone, is the liver. The heart, being hollow and smaller, is easily destroyed: but the liver, a moist and solid ma.s.s, repels intense heat, and ultimately deposits an ash of pure carbon, which no continued burning or increase of temperature can further change. In the cemetery of Milan where I have seen human cremations completely carried out in seventy minutes by Signor Venini's reverberatory furnace, the best method known, I also learned that the liver, perhaps from its containing this element of carbon, can endure for a considerable time even that concentrated whirlwind of fire, and remain almost intact after the heart has totally disappeared. Moreover, in Sh.e.l.ley's case the liver would have been saturated with sea-water, and thereby rendered still more incombustible. It is extremely improbable that Byron, Leigh Hunt, or Trelawny knew enough anatomy to identify accurately the charred substance they took to be the heart, and it is more likely, owing to the thin edge of the liver being consumed, and its size consequently being much reduced, that they mistook the shrunken remains of the one organ for the whole of the other.

"From observing the Milanese cremations alluded to I think it barely possible that the human heart is ever capable of withstanding fire for more than a brief period; but since Mr. J. A. Symonds a.s.serts, to my surprise, that Sh.e.l.ley's heart was given by Leigh Hunt to Mrs.

Sh.e.l.ley, and is now at Bos...o...b.., the seat of the present baronet, it would be easy for some competent anatomist to determine the question I have raised.

"In any case, the hero-wors.h.i.+pping and sentimental tourists who go in crowds to that lovely spot beneath the pyramid of Caius Cestius to mourn over Sh.e.l.ley's untimely fate have been strangely deceived for more than sixty years in believing that beneath the marble graven with the touching words 'Cor Cordium' lies the flame proof heart of their favorite poet."--_Bicknell._

CROMWELL (Oliver), 1599-1658. "_My desire is to make what haste I may to be gone._" Cromwell died of grief at the loss of his favorite daughter.

Some say his last words were, "Then I am safe," in response to his chaplain who a.s.sured him that, "once in grace is always in grace."

CROME (John, English landscape painter), 1766-1821. "_O Hobbima, Hobbima, how I do love thee!_"

CROSBY (Howard, Presbyterian clergyman, Chancellor of the University of New York, and a man of great cla.s.sical learning), 1826-1891. "_My heart is resting sweetly with Jesus, and my hand is in his._"

CULLEN (William, distinguished physician), 1712-1790. "_I wish I had the power of writing, for then I would describe to you how pleasant a thing it is to die._"

c.u.mMINGS (George David, first Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church), 1822-1876. "_Jesus! precious Saviour!_"

His last message to his church was: "_Tell them to go forward and do a good work_."

CUSHMAN (Charlotte Saunders, distinguished American actress), 1816-1876.

Her last words are not recorded, but on the night before her death she asked to have Lowell's poem "Columbus" read to her, and from time to time she prompted the reader when a word or line was missing.

CUVIER (George Chretien Leopold Frederic Dagobert, Baron, one of the greatest naturalists of modern times, and founder of the science of comparative anatomy), 1769-1832. "_It is delightful to see those whom I love still able to swallow_," to his daughter-in-law, to whom he handed a gla.s.s of lemonade he found himself unable to swallow.