SIN.

There is a legend of an old Hartz tower

That tells of one, a noble, who had sold

His soul unto the Fiend; who grew not old

On this condition: That the demon's power

Cease every midnight for a single hour,

And in that hour his body should be cold,

His limbs grow shriveled, and his face, behold!

Become a death's-head in the taper's glower.—

So unto Sin Life gives his best. Her arts

Make all his outward seeming beautiful

Before the world; but in his heart of hearts

Abides an hour when her strength is null;

When he shall feel the death through all his parts

Strike, and his countenance become a skull.