SONG.

FROM METASTATIO.

(_For The Mirror._)


How in the depth of winter rude
A lovely flower is prized,
Which in the month of April view'd,
Perhaps has been despised.
How fair amid the shades of night
Appears the stars' pale ray;
Behold the sun's more dazzling light,
It quickly fades away.

E.L.I.

* * * * *


THE ORIGIN OF PETER'S PENCE.

(_For The Mirror._)


The custom of paying "Peter's pence" is of Saxon origin; and they
continued to be paid by the inhabitants of England, till the abolition
of the Papal power. The event by which their payment was enacted is as
follows:--Ethelbert, king of the east angles, having reigned single some