VITAL fpark of heav'nly flame

Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the blifs of dying!
Ceafe, fond Nature, cease thy ftrife,
And let me languish into life.

II.

Hark! they whifper; Angels fay,
Sifter Spirit, come away.
What is this abforbs me quite ?
Steals my fenfes, fhuts my fight,
Drowns my fpirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my Soul, can this be Death?

III. The

* This ode was written in imitation of the famous fonnet of Hadrian to his departing foul; but as much fuperior in fenfe and fublimity to his original, as the Chriftian Religion is to the Pagan.

III.

The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav'h opens on my eyes! my ears

With founds feraphic ring:

Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?

G 2

A N

ESSAY

Ο Ν

CRITICISM.

Written in the Year MDCC IX.