[*] TASSO. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!
THURLOW (Lord). I'll be shot if I don't believe I'm dying.
[**] VESPASIAN. A king should die standing.
WEBSTER. I still live!
WILLIAM III. (of England). Can this last long? (To his physician).
WILLIAM OF NASSAU. O God, have mercy upon me, and upon this poor nation! (This was said as he was shot by Balthasar Gerard, 1584).
WOLFE (General). What! do they run already? Then I die happy.
WYATT (Thomas) That which I then said I unsay. That which I now say is true. (This to the priest who reminded him that he had accused the Princess Elizabeth of treason to the council, and that he now alleged her to be innocent.)
Those names preceded by similar pilcrows indicate that the "dying words" ascribed to them are identical or nearly so. Thus the [*] before Charlemagne, Columbus, Lady Jane Grey, and Tasso, show that their words were alike. So with the before Augustus, Demonax, and Rabelais; the [**] before Louis XVIII. and Vespasian; the [§] before Cæsar and Masaniello; the [||] before Arria, Hunter, and Louis XIV.; and the [¶] before Goethe and Talma.