The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe :: :: University of Virginia Library

Novus, whose silly claim to “high position”
Is genuine, if wealth can make it true;
A youth whose stock—petrolean, not patrician—
Shines none the less for being fresh and new,—
Standing before a flaming placard sees,
Announcing thus the lecture of the night,
By Everett,—“The Age of Pericles!”
Novus, half doubting if he reads aright,
Repeats the words (soliloquizing loud)
“The Age of Pericles!—I wonder now
Why such a theme should gather all this crowd
That throngs the door with such a mighty row;
There is n't one among 'em, I'll engage,
Who cares a fig about the fellow's age!”