THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL.*

ODE.

1. VITAL spark of heav'nly flame !

Quit, oh quit this mortal frame !
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, Aying ;

Oh the pain, the bliss of dying !
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!

5

II.
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?

IO

III.

The world recedes; it disappears !
Heav'n 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?

AN

ESSAY

ON

CR I TICIS M.

Written in the Year MDCCIX. * when the Author

was only twenty years old.

* First advertised in the Spectator, No. 65. May 15, 1711.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

INTRODUCTION. That it is as great a fault to judge ill as

to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, ver. 1. That
a true T'aste is as rare to be found as a true Genius, ver. 9. to
18. That most men are born with some Taste, but spoiled by false
Education, ver. 19 to 25. The Multitude of Critics, and causes
of them, ver. 26 to 45. That we are to study our own Taste,
und know the Limits of it, ver. 46 to 67. Nature the best guide
of Judgment, ver. 68 to 87. Improved by Art and Rules, which
are but methodis’d Nature, ver. 88. Rules derived from the
practice of the Ancient Poets, ver. 88 to 110. That therefore
ibe Ancients are necessary to be studied by Gritic, particularly
Homer and Virgil, ver. 120 to 138. Of Licenses, and the
use of them by the Ancients, ver. 140 to 180. Reverence due to
the Ancients, and praise of them, ver. 181, &c.

PART II.

Ver. 203, &c. Causes hindering a true Judgment:
1. Pride, ver. 208. 2. Imperfect Learning, ver. 215. 3. Judging