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.