Lets us from heaven to hell,—one chop, we're loose!

"And not much pain i' the process," quoth a sage:

Who told him? Not Felice's ghost, I think!

Such "losing" is scarce Mother Nature's mode.

She fain would have cord ease itself away,

Worn to a thread by threescore years and ten,

Snap while we slumber: that seems bearable.

I'm told one clot of blood extravasate

Ends one as certainly as Roland's sword,—

One drop of lymph suffused proves Oliver's mace,—