cially
during his later years. The hymns of his _Swan-Song_ are eloquent
testimonies of his desire to depart and be at home with God.

With the passing years his health became progressively poorer and his
weakening body less able to support the strain of his exacting office. He
would listen to no plea for relaxation, however, until his decreasing
strength clearly made it impossible for him to continue. Even then he
refused to rest and planned to publish a series of weekly sermons that he
might thus continue to speak to his people. But his strength waned so
quickly that he was able to complete only one of the sermons.

On May 29, 1764, he begged a government official to complete a case
before him at his earliest convenience "for I am now seventy years old,
feeble, bedridden and praying for release from this unhappy world." Only
a day later, his illness took a grave turn for the worse. He sank into a
stupor that lasted until dusk when he awoke and said clearly, "My Jesus
is praying for me in heaven. I see it by faith and am anxious to go. Come
quickly, my Lord, and take me home!" He lingered until the morning of
June 3, when he passed away peacefully just as the great bells of the
cathedral announced the morning service.

Several fine memorials have been raised to his memory, among them an
excellent statue at the entrance to the cathedral at Ribe, and a tablet
on the inside wall of the building right beside a similar remembrance of
Hans Tausen, the leader of the Danish reformation and a former bishop of
the diocese. But the finest memorial was raised to him by his son through
the publication of _Hans Adolph Brorson's Swan-Song_, a collection of
hymns and songs selected from his unpublished writings.

The songs of the _Swan-Song_ were evidently written for the poet's own
consolation and diversion. They are of very different types and merit,
and a number of them might without loss have been left out of the
collection. A few of them stand unexcelled, however, for beauty,
sentiment and poetic excellence. There are songs of patience such as the
inimitable:

Her vil ties, her vil bies,
Her vil bies, o svage Sind.
Vist skal du hente, kun ved at vente,
Kun ved at vente, vor Sommer ind.
Her vil ties, her vil bies,
Her vil bies, o svage Sind.

which one can hardly transfer to another language without marring its
tender beauty. And there are songs of yearning such as the greatly
favored,