8 DECEMBER 1906, Page 16

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")

STE,—John Wolcot, who has enjoyed the sleep of death for upwards of a century, would, if my memory serves, correct your correspondent as follows :—

" Come, gentle Sleep, attend thy votary's prayer; And, tho' Death's image, to my couch repair : How sweet tho' lifeless yet with life to lie, And without dying Oh how sweet to die "—

of which I trust I quote aright the following heudecasyllabie version by Professor Reid :—

" Adstes 0 mihi, somne jam precanti.

Instar mortis habeas; tamen benignus Conting,as tenni cubile penna : 0 quern vivere dulce, more ut axlsit ; O quam dales mon, manente vita."

S. Peter's Vicarage, 2 Grosvenor Gardens, S. W.