The boy was lying, fast asleep, on a rude bed upon the floor; so pale with anxiety, and sadness, and the closeness of his prison, that he looked like death; not death as it shews in shroud and coffin, but in the guise it wears when life has just departed; when a young and gentle spirit has, but an instant, fled to Heaven: and the gross air of the world has not had time to breathe upon the changing dust it hallowed.

Summary

This quote describes a scene where a young boy is seen sleeping on a simple bed on the floor. The boy's physical appearance is pale and reflects the anxiety, sadness, and confinement he feels in his current situation. The comparison is made that he looks like death, not in the typical image of a wrapped body in a coffin, but in the immediate aftermath of a gentle spirit leaving for heaven. The description also emphasizes how the boy's soul has just departed, leaving behind a pure and untouched body that has not yet been affected by the harshness of the world.

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