(Vol. iv., p. 132.)
In the edition of Pope's _Works_ published by Knapton, Lintot, and
others, 1753, 9 vols., I find the following note to the Ode entitled
"The Dying Christian to his Soul:"--
"This Ode was written in imitation of the famous Sonnet of Hadrian
to his departing Soul, but as much superior to his original in
sense and sublimity as the Christian religion is to the pagan."
This is confirmed by the correspondence of Pope with Steele, vol. vii.
pp. 185, 188, 189, 190. Letters 4, 7, 8, and 9.
That Pope also derived some hints at least from Flatman's Ode is, I
think, certain, from the following extract from a bookseller's catalogue
of a few years' date:
"Flatman, Thos., Poems and Songs. Portrait slightly damaged. 8vo.,
new, cf. gt. back, 8s. With autograph of Alex. Pope.
"MS. Note at p. 55.--'This next piece, _A Thought on Death_, is
remarkable as being the verses from which Pope borrowed some of
the thoughts in his Ode of The Dying Christian to his Soul.'"