 | Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition |  |
But, haply, good may come of mining yet:
'T will help to pay the nation's foreign debt;
'T will further liberal arts; plate rings and pins,
Gild books and coaches, mirrors, signs, and sins;
'T will cheapen pens and pencils, and perchance
May give us honest dealing for Finance,
(That magic art, unknown to darker times
When fraud and falsehood were reputed crimes.
Whose curious laws with nice precision teach
How whole estates are made from parts of speech
How lying rags for honest coin shall pass,
And foreign gold be paid in native brass!)
'T will save, perhaps, each deep-indebted State
From all temptation to ‘repudiate,’
Till Time restore our precious credit lost,
And hush the wail of Peter Plymley's ghost!
'T will help to pay the nation's foreign debt;
'T will further liberal arts; plate rings and pins,
Gild books and coaches, mirrors, signs, and sins;
'T will cheapen pens and pencils, and perchance
May give us honest dealing for Finance,
(That magic art, unknown to darker times
When fraud and falsehood were reputed crimes.
116
How whole estates are made from parts of speech
How lying rags for honest coin shall pass,
And foreign gold be paid in native brass!)
'T will save, perhaps, each deep-indebted State
From all temptation to ‘repudiate,’
Till Time restore our precious credit lost,
And hush the wail of Peter Plymley's ghost!
| Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition | |