 | Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition |  |
And when I hear, as oft the listener may
In song and sermon on a festal day,
Their virtues lauded to the wondering skies,
As none were e'er so great, or good, or wise,
I straight bethink me of the Irish wit,
(A people famed for many a ready hit,)
Who, sitting once, and rather ill at ease,
To hear, in prose, such huge hyperboles,
Gave for a toast, to chide the fulsome tone,
Old Plymouth Rock,—the Yankee Blarney-stone!
In song and sermon on a festal day,
Their virtues lauded to the wondering skies,
As none were e'er so great, or good, or wise,
I straight bethink me of the Irish wit,
(A people famed for many a ready hit,)
Who, sitting once, and rather ill at ease,
To hear, in prose, such huge hyperboles,
Gave for a toast, to chide the fulsome tone,
Old Plymouth Rock,—the Yankee Blarney-stone!
| Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition | |