Peter III. (Feodorovitch, of Russia, grandson of "Peter the Great." He drew down upon himself, by his innovations, the enmity of the nobles and clergy, and was in consequence dethroned and strangled by conspirators, of whom his wife, the profligate, cruel and infamous Catherine II. was an accomplice), 1728-1762. "It was not enough to deprive me of the Crown of Russia, but I must be put to death."
Peters (Hugh, distinguished clergyman and politician, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Salem, Mass., succeeding Roger Williams, "whose doctrines he disclaimed and whose adherents he excommunicated." In 1637 he was appointed overseer of Harvard. In 1641 he returned to England, where he joined the Parliamentary party, and became a chaplain in the army. After the restoration of Charles II. Peters was committed to the Tower, and indicted for high treason. He was executed in London, Oct. 16, 1660), 1599-1660. "Friend, you do not well to trample on a dying man."
When Hugh Peters was carried on a sledge to the scaffold, he was made to sit within the rails, and see the execution of Mr. Cook. When the latter was cut down to be quartered, Colonel Turner ordered the sheriff's men to bring Mr. Peters near, that he might see it; and when soon after the hangman rubbed his blood-stained hands together, he tauntingly asked, "Come, how do you like this work, Mr. Peters?" He calmly replied, "Friend, you do not well to trample on a dying man."
The Percy Anecdotes.
It was alleged that Peters was one of those that stood masked on the scaffold when the king was beheaded, and to render him more odious, it was reported that he was the executioner. During his imprisonment he wrote several letters of advice to his daughter, which were published under the title of "A Dying Father's Legacy to an Only Child," of which his great-nephew, Samuel, said: "It was printed and published in Old and New England, and myriads of experienced Christians have read his legacy with ecstasy and health to their souls." After execution his head was stuck on a pole and placed on London bridge.... His private character has been the subject of much discussion. He was charged by his enemies with gross immorality, and the most bitter epithets have been applied to him. Of late years he has been estimated more favorably.
Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography.
Philip II. (of Spain), 1527-1598. "I die like a good Catholic, in faith and obedience to the Holy Roman church."
Soon after these last words had been spoken, a paroxysm, followed by faintness, came over him, and he lay entirely still. They had covered his face with a cloth, thinking that he had already expired, when he suddenly started with great energy, opened his eyes, seized the crucifix again from the hand of Don Fernando de Toledo, kissed it, and fell back again in agony.... He did not speak again, but lay unconsciously dying for some hours, and breathed his last at five in the morning of Sunday, the 13th of September.
Motley: "History of the United Netherlands."
Philip III. (of Spain), 1578-1621: "Oh would to God I had never reigned! Oh, that those years I have spent in my kingdom I had lived a solitary life in the wilderness! Oh, that I had lived alone with God! How much more secure should I now have died! With how much more confidence should I have gone to the throne of God! What doth all my glory profit, but that I have so much the more torment in my death?"