"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 Caesar, with assurance then come on,
And unamaz'd attempt the Laurel crown
That lyes on th' other side Death's Rubicon."
[THOMAS FLATMAN.]
Minor Queries.
80. _Southampton Brasses._--French Church, otherwise God's House,
Southampton. About eight or nine years ago, two monumental brasses were
discovered, in making some alterations in this church. I should feel
greatly obliged to any correspondent who could give me a description of
them, and inform me if they are still to be found there.