POPE AND FLATMAN.
I possess a small volume entitled Manchester al Mondo; Contemplations of Death and Immortality, by the Earl of Manchester: the 15th edit., 1688. At the end are appended several short but quaint poems on the subject of mortality. One of them is stated to be taken from the "incomparable Poems by the ingenious Mr. Thomas Flatman," and is entitled "A Thought of Death." I have transcribed it side by side with Pope's celebrated ode, "The Dying Christian to his Soul," in which some lines run remarkably parallel. Is it probable Pope borrowed his idea of the fine couplet,
"Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!"
from Flatman? If not, the coincidence is remarkable: has it been noticed before? Perhaps some of your readers may be better able to enter into the subject than he who communicates this.
WILLIAM BARTON.
19. Winchester Place, Southwark Bridge Road.
"THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL.
"Vital spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame!
*Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying;
Oh the pain the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!
"† Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite,
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
"The world recedes; it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?"
ALEXANDER POPE.
"A THOUGHT OF DEATH.
"When on my sick Bed I languish,
Full of sorrow, fully of anguish,
*Fainting, gasping, trembling, crying,
Panting, groaning, speechless, dying,
My Soul just now about to take her flight
Into the Regions of eternal night;
O tell me, you
That have been long below,
What shall I do?
What shall I think when cruel death appears,
That may extenuate my fears?
† Methinks I hear some Gentle Spirit say
Be not fearful, come away!
Think with thyself that now thou shalt be free,
And find thy long-expected liberty,
Better thou mayest, but worse thou canst not be,
Than in this vale of Tears and Misery.
Like Cæsar, with assurance then come on,
And unamaz'd attempt the Laurel crown
That lyes on th' other side Death's Rubicon."
THOMAS FLATMAN.