VIDOCQ (Eugene Francois, famous French detective), 1775-1857. "_How great is the forgiveness for such a life!_"
He was successively a thief, soldier, deserter, and gambler before he entered the public service, and was often imprisoned for his offences.
About 1810 he enlisted in the police at Paris. His success as a detective has scarcely been paralleled in history.
_Lippincott: "Biographical History."_
He retired to Paris and there lived quietly in lodgings until 1857, when, at the great age of eighty-two, he was struck down with paralysis.
On finding his end near, he sent for a confessor, and--so whimsical a thing is human nature--he greatly edified the holy man by dying like a saint. One trifling peccadillo he perhaps forgot to mention. The breath had scarcely left his body, when ten lovely damsels, each provided with a copy of his will, which left her all his property arrived. Alas for all the ten! Vidocq had always loved the smiles of beauty, and had obtained them by a gift which cost him nothing. He had left his whole possessions to his landlady.
_Smith: "Romance of History."_
VILLARS DE (Claude Louis Hector, famous French general), 1653-1734. "_I always deemed him more fortunate than myself._" Said to his confessor, who told him that the Duke of Berwick had perished by a cannon ball.
VILLIERS (George, First Duke of Buckingham. He was a.s.sa.s.sinated by John Felton in 1628), 1592-1628. "_G.o.d"s wounds! the villain hath killed me._"
John Felton, gentleman, having watched his opportunity, thrust a long knife, with a white heft, he had secretly about him, with great strength and violence, into his breast, under his left pap, cutting the diaphragma and lungs, and piercing the very heart itself. The Duke having received the stroke, and instantly clapping his right hand on his sword-hilt, cried out, "G.o.d"s wounds! the villain hath killed me."--_Book of Death._
VIRGIL (Publius Virgilius Maro, most ill.u.s.trious of Latin poets), B. C.
70-19.
Upon a visit to Megara, a town in the neighborhood of Athens, he was seized with a languor, which increased during the ensuing voyage; and he expired a few days after landing at Brundisium, on the 22d of September in the fifty-second year of his age. He desired that his body might be carried to Naples, where he had pa.s.sed many happy years; and that the following distich, written in his last sickness, should be inscribed upon his tomb:
Mantua me genuit: Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope, Cecerie pascua, rura, duces.
VITELLIUS (Aulus, Emperor of Rome), 15-69. "_Yet I was once your emperor_," to the soldiers of Vespasian who were putting him to death by a lingering torture whilst they were dragging him by a horse into the Tiber.
VOLTAIRE (a name capriciously a.s.sumed by Francois Marie Arouet, and made by him more celebrated than any other of which we read in the literary history of the eighteenth century), 1694-1778. "_Adieu my dear Marand; I am dying_," said to his valet.
According to a doc.u.ment discovered by Mr. Schuyler, American Consul at Moscow, bearing on the death of Voltaire, and which was forwarded to M.
Taine, and published in the _Journal des Debats_, the last words of Voltaire were, "Take care of Maria," meaning his niece, Madame Denys.
These words were addressed to one of his servants.
It has also been said that his last words were: "For the love of G.o.d, don"t mention that Man--allow me to die in peace!" to one who called his attention to our Saviour.
There are several widely divergent accounts of the last hours of Voltaire, and perhaps it is not possible to know just what measure of truth is to be found in any one of them. It is said that on his death-bed he cursed D"Alembert and denounced his infidel a.s.sociates; that he made in the presence of Abbe Gaultier, the Abbe Mignot, and the Marquis de Villeveille a declaration of his wish to be reconciled to "the church;" that he spent much time in alternately praying and blaspheming. These facts, if facts they really are, rest upon the statements of Mons. Tronchin, the Protestant physician from Geneva, who attended him almost to the last, and who was so horrified at what he witnessed that he said, "_Pour voir toutes les furies d"Oreste, il n"y avait qu"a se trouver a la mort de Voltaire._" The Marechal de Richelieu, also, was terrified at what he saw and heard, and left the bed-side of Voltaire declaring that his nerves were not strong enough to endure the strain. Tronchin"s statements are denied by Vilette and Monke, who represent the last hours of the great Frenchman as calm and peaceful. The exact truth will, it is most likely, never be known beyond all question, and yet, to the compiler of this book, the weight of evidence seems to be with Tronchin rather than with those who have impeached his testimony.
WAGNER (Richard Wilhelm, German composer, among whose works are "Rheingold," "Valkyria," "Siegfried" and "The Twilight of the G.o.ds"), 1813-1883. "_Mir ist sehr schlecht._"
At three o"clock he went to dinner with the family, but just as they were a.s.sembled at table and the soup was being served he suddenly sprang up, cried out, "Mir ist sehr schlecht (I feel very bad)," and fell back dead from an attack of heart disease.
WALLER (Edmund, English poet), 1605-1687. He died repeating lines from Virgil.
WARHAM (William, Archbishop of Canterbury), 1450-1532. "_That is enough to last till I get to Heaven._" Said to his servant who told him he had still left thirty pounds.
WARNER (Charles Dudley, author and lecturer), 1829-1900. "_I am not well, and should like to lie down--will you call me in ten minutes?
Thank you. You are very kind--in ten minutes--remember!_"
Among Mr. Warner"s acquaintances was a colored man, to whom he gave books to encourage his desire to read, particularly books connected with the history of the colored race, upon which Mr. Warner was an authority.
Mr. Warner probably intended to call on this man, as he was in the neighborhood of his house when he was stricken. Feeling ill, he asked permission at a house to sit down, then to lie down, requesting to be called in ten minutes. When the woman of the house went to call him he was dead.
WASHINGTON (George, "the Father of His Country,"[51] and the first President of the United States), 1732-1799. "_It is well._" Some say his last words were, "I am about to die, and I am not afraid to die."
Washington said to Mr. Lear, his secretary. "I am just going; have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault until three days after I am dead--do you understand me?" On his secretary"s replying that he did, the dying man added, "It is well." About an hour later he quietly withdrew his hand from Mr. Lear"s, and felt his own pulse, and immediately expired without a struggle.
A coffin of mahogany, lined with lead and covered within and without with black velvet, was made on the following day at Alexandria. On a plate at the head of the coffin was inscribed "_Surge ad Judicium_;" on another, in the middle, "_Gloria Deo_," while on a small silver plate in the form of an American shield appeared the inscription:
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
BORN FEB. 22, 1732.
DIED DEC. 14, 1799.
His body was first placed in the family vault on the Mount Vernon estate. In his will, Washington left directions and plans for a new vault, which was built afterward, and to which his remains were transferred in 1832. The front of his tomb has an ante-chamber, built of red brick, about twelve feet in height, with a large iron gateway. It was erected for the accommodation of two marble coffins, or sarcophagi, one for Washington, the other for Mrs. Washington; they stand in full view of the visitor. Over the gateway, upon a marble slab, are the words:
"Within this enclosure rest the remains of General GEORGE WASHINGTON."
Over the vault door inside, are the words:
"HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN."
Napoleon, who was then First Consul of the French, issued the following order under date of February 18, 1800: "Washington is no more! That great man fought against tyranny. He firmly established the liberty of his country. His memory will be ever dear to the French people, as it must be to every friend of freedom in the two worlds, and especially to the French soldiers, who, like him and the Americans, bravely fight for liberty and equality. The First Consul in consequence orders that, for ten days, black crepes shall be suspended to all the standards and flags of the Republic."
[51] "And Meonothai begat Ophrah: and Seraiah begat Joab, _the father of the Valley of Charashim_; for they were craftsmen."--_1 Chronicles iv: 14_; Julius Caesar was called the Father of his country; Cosmo de Medici is so described on his tombstone; Andrea Doria has upon his statue at Genoa, _Pater Patriae_; and Louis XVIII.
of France was commonly called the Father of the Country.
WATTS (Isaac, English divine and sacred poet. He is the author of many beautiful and popular hymns), 1674-1748. "_It is a great mercy to me that I have no manner of fear or dread of death. I could, if G.o.d please, lay my head back and die without terror this afternoon._"
WEBSTER (Daniel), 1782-1852. "_I still live!_" This was his last coherent utterance. Later he muttered something about poetry, and his son repeated to him one of the stanzas of "Gray"s Elegy." He heard it and smiled.[52]
He inquired whether it were likely that he should again eject blood from his stomach before death, and being told that it was improbable, he asked, "Then what shall you do?" Being answered that he would be supported by stimulants, and rendered as easy as possible by the opiates that had suited him so well, he inquired, at once, if the stimulant should not be given immediately; anxious again to know if the hand of death were not already upon him. And on being told that it would not be then given, he replied, "_When_ you give it to me, I shall know that I may drop off at once."
Being satisfied on this point, and that he should, therefore, have a final warning, he said a moment afterwards, "I will, then, put myself in a position to obtain a little repose." In this he was successful. He had intervals of rest to the last; but on rousing from them he showed that he was still intensely anxious to preserve his consciousness, and to watch for the moment and act of his departure, so as to comprehend it.
Awaking from one of these slumbers, late in the night, he asked distinctly if he were alive, and on being a.s.sured that he was, and that his family was collected around his bed, he said in a perfectly natural tone, as if a.s.senting to what had been told him, because he himself perceived that it was true, "I still live." These were his last coherent and intelligible words. At twenty-three minutes before three o"clock, without a struggle or a moan, all signs of life ceased to be visible.
--_Louis g.a.y.l.o.r.d Clark._
[52] The United States has produced no greater orator than Daniel Webster; nevertheless, in the minds of many, he fell from his most exalted station as the interpreter of the public conscience, when he delivered, March 7, 1850, his famous speech, a.s.senting to the Fugitive Slave Law. It was this speech that called forth Whittier"s poem "Ichabod," which has been often compared with Browning"s "Lost Leader."
WEBSTER (Thomas, Professor of Geology in the London University, and author of "Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy"), 1773-1844. "_Examine it for yourself._"