Melanchthon (Philip. His original German name was Schwarzerdt, which he Grecized into Melanchthon, or, as he sometimes spelled it Melanthon. Both names denote "black earth"), 1497-1568. "Nothing else but heaven," in answer to a friend who enquired if he wanted anything further.
Mericourt (Anne Joseph Théroigne de, the famous "Goddess of Reason"[32]), 1760-1817. This woman's last words were partly reminiscent and partly the incoherent ravings of a disordered brain. The old scenes rose before her with startling vividness.
"Died, within these few days, in the hospital of pauper lunatics of Saltpêtrière, where she had lived unpitied and unknown for many years, the famous Théroigne de Mericourt (the Goddess of Reason), the most remarkable of the heroines of the revolution."—A Paris paper of August 1, 1817.
Metastasio (Pietro Bonaventura, originally named Trapassi, but changed to Metastasio, "a changing," in allusion to his adoption by the celebrated jurist Gravina, from whom he received a large property), 1698-1782. After he had received the sacrament, and a few minutes before his death, the poet uttered with unusual enthusiasm the following beautiful stanzas:
"T'offro il tuo proprio Figlio,
Che già d'amore in pegno,
Racchiuso in picciol segno
Si volle a noi donar.
A lui rivolgi il ciglio.
Guardo chi t'offro, e poi
Lasci, Signor, se vuoi,
Lascia di perdonar."
I offer to Thee, O Lord, Thy own Son, who already has given the pledge of love, inclosed in this thin emblem; turn on Him thine eyes; oh! behold whom I offer to Thee and then desist, O Lord! if Thou canst desist from mercy.
Mirabeau (Honoré Gabriel Riquetti, Comte de), 1749-1791. "When nature has abandoned an unhappy victim, when a miracle only can save his life, how can you have the barbarity to let him expire on the wheel?" spoken in support of a request for laudanum.
At daybreak he said to Cabanis:—"My friend I shall die to-day. When one is in this situation, there remains but one thing more to do, and that is to perfume me, to crown me with flowers, to environ me with music, so that I may enter sweetly into that slumber wherefrom there is no awaking."[33]
Later in the day he uttered these memorable words:—"I carry in my heart the dirge of the monarchy, the ruins whereof will now be the prey of the factions."