Jack Vance (1916–2013) American mystery and speculative fiction writer
Sail 25 (p. 75)
Short fiction, Future Tense (1964)
Speech http://downloads.it.ox.ac.uk/ota-public/tcp/Texts-HTML/free/A43/A43512.html on the scaffold at Tower Hill before his execution (10 January 1645)
Jack Vance (1916–2013) American mystery and speculative fiction writer
Sail 25 (p. 75)
Short fiction, Future Tense (1964)
“I pray to God that I may not have to live through what I see coming.”
Alfred von Waldersee (1832–1904) Prussian Field Marshal
The last entry in Waldersee's diary, dated 5 March 1904, the day of his death.
Francisco De Goya (1746–1828) Spanish painter and printmaker (1746–1828)
letter to his friend Don Martín Zapater, signed and dated Madrid, 1 August 1786, location: Pierpont Morgan Library Dept. of Literary and Historical Manuscripts http://www.themorgan.org/collection/102401 <br class="br">in June 1786 Goya was appointed painter to the Spanish king Charles III, the most prestigious position for an artist in Spain; the title, as Goya emphasized in this letter, came with a steady income and the charge to produce designs for the royal tapestry factory <br class="br">1780s
Saint Patrick (385–461) 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland
Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (c.450?)
Context: I am Patrick, yes a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop. I am certain in my heart that "all that I am," I have received from God. So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile for the love of God. He himself testifies that this is so. I never would have wanted these harsh words to spill from my mouth; I am not in the habit of speaking so sharply. Yet now I am driven by the zeal of God, Christ's truth has aroused me. I speak out too for love of my neighbors who are my only sons; for them I gave up my home country, my parents and even pushing my own life to the brink of death. If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me.
William Laud (1573–1645) Archbishop of Canterbury
Source: Letter to Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (8 October 1638), quoted in The Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, William Laud, sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Volume VII—Letters (1860), p. 489
Charles I of England (1600–1649) monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland
On the scaffold before his execution. ( 30 January, 1649 http://anglicanhistory.org/charles/charles1.html).