The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction | Page 3

exclaim with the Spanish Philip, "The sun never sets upon my
dominions." How difficult to mention the bounds of her empire, or to
calculate the vastness of her resources! and still more difficult task to
enumerate the gradations of society which modern refinement has
produced. Where will this extended sway, this power, these resources,
and these refinements be in 2827?
"Oh! for the glance of prophet's eye, To scan thy depths, futurity."

Judging by the fate of nations, they will have passed away like a
morning cloud. Look at the fame of Nineveh levelled in the dust.
Search for the site of Babylon, with its walls and gates, its hanging
gardens and terraces! Contemplate the ghost of the enlightened Athens,
stalking through the ruins of her Parthenon, her Athenaeum, or
Acropolis. Examine the shadow of power which now remains to the
mighty Rome, the empress of the world. Even so will it be with
England; ere ten centuries have rolled away, her sun-like splendour will
illume a western world. Our stately palaces and venerable cathedrals,
our public edifices and manufactories, our paintings and sculpture, will
be fruitful subjects of conjecture and controversy to the then learned.
And a fragment of a pillar from St. Paul's, or a mutilated statue from
Westminster, will be as valuable to them as a column from the Temple
of Belus, or a broken cornice from the Temple of Theseus, is now to
us!
D.A.H.
* * * * *
THE ROBIN.
(For the Mirror.)
Hark to the robin--whistling clear-- The requiem of the dying year--
Amidst the garden bower. He quits his native forest shade, Ere ruin
stern hath there display'd Its desolating power.
He sings--but not the song of love-- No,--that is for the quick'ning
grove-- The brightly budding tree. And tho' we listen and rejoice; In
melody that sweet-ton'd voice Implores our charity.
The birds of passage take their flight To other lands--of warmth and
light-- Where orient breezes blow. While here the little red-breast stays,
And sweetly warbles out his lays, Amidst the chilling snow.
When the keen North congeals the stream That sparkled in the
summer-beam-- Chink--chink--the Robin comes. His near approach
proclaims a dearth Of food upon the ice-bound earth;-- He whistles for
our crumbs.
But, like the child of want, he hails Too oft where avarice prevails--
Devoid of charity;-- Where hearts 'neath rich-clad bosoms glow, Yet
never feel the inspiring throe Of tender sympathy.
Tho' pleas'd with wildly-warbled song, The minstrel's life will they
prolong With food and shelter warm? No,--see, to shun the cruel snare,

Again he wings the frozen air, And dies amidst the storm.
How sweeter far it were to see The bird familiar, fond, and free, With
confidence intrude;-- To see him to the table come, And hear him sing
o'er ev'ry crumb A song of gratitude.
C. COLE.
* * * * *
BUYING AND SELLING THE DEVIL.
(_For the Mirror._[3])
"Every thing may be had for money," is an old remark, and perhaps no
less true.
There have been also proverbial sayings of buying and selling the devil;
but that such a traffic was actually ever negociated will appear
incredible. Blount's "Law Dictionary," under Conventio, gives an
instance of a sale; it is extracted from the court rolls of the manor of
Hatfield, near the isle of Axholme, county of York, where a curious
gentleman searched for it and found it regularly entered. There then
followeth an English translation for the benefit of those who do not
understand the original language.
"Curia tenta apud Hatfield die Mercurii Prov post Festum. Anno II Edw.
III."
Robert de Roderham appeared against John de Ithon, for that he had not
kept the agreement made between them, and therefore complains, that
on a certain day and year, at Thorne, there was an agreement between
the aforesaid Robert and John, whereby the said John sold to the said
Robert the devil, bound in a certain bond, for threepence farthing; and
thereupon the said Robert delivered to the said John one farthing as
earnest-money, by which the property of the said devil rested in the
person of the said Robert, to have livery of the said devil on the fourth
day next following, at which day the said Robert came to the
aforementioned John, and asked livery of the said devil, according to
the agreement between them made. But the said John refused to deliver
the said devil, nor has he yet done it, &c. to the grievous damage of the
said Robert to the amount of sixty shillings; and he has therefore
brought his suit, &c.
The said John came, &c., and did not deny the said agreement; and
because it appeared to the court that such a suit ought not to subsist
among Christians, the aforesaid parties are