Calm let me slumber in that dark repose,

Till the last morn its orient beam disclose:

Then, when the great archangel’s potent sound

Shall echo thro’ creation’s ample round,

Wak’d from the sleep of death, with joy survey

The op’ning splendors of eternal day!

Original: “Thoughts on Midnight” (1739) by Elizabeth Carter 1717-1806.

Possible source: “A Night Piece” by “Miss Carter”, #97 in Elegant Extracts, or, useful and entertaining pieces of poetry, selected for the Improvement of Young Persons, 1796 and earlier, ed. Vicesimus Knox.


ON MRS. MONTAGU.