In this model republic, this land of the free-- So our orators call it, and why should not we?-- 'Tis refreshing to know that without pedigree A man may still climb to the top of the tree; That questions of family, rank, and high birth, All bow to the query, How much is he worth? That John Smith, plebeian, who forty years since Walked Broadway barefooted, now rides as a prince; Having managed, though not overburdened with wit, But rather by chance and a fortunate hit, To take a high place on Society's rounds; His claims being based on pence, shillings, and pounds. I admit there's a certain republican merit In making the fortune which others inherit; But why should John Smith so completely ignore The bridge which has brought him triumphantly o'er, And turn with disgust from the opposite shore? And why, when Miranda, whose heart is not proof Against Cupid's sharp arrows, some day leaves his roof, And, sundering her family-ties at a jerk, Returns in the evening--the wife of his clerk! Thus at Love's trumpet-call bidding Duty defiance, Should he strive to break up the clandestine alliance? For, though men have made money, and will do again, There was never a case known where money made men; And if Jones be a man in what constitutes manhood, He's a far better match than young Frederic Stanwood, Though the one be a clerk, and the other the heir Of the house next M'Flimsey's, on Madison-square. If the one is deficient in wealth, we may find The other quite bankrupt in morals and mind. Excuse this digression, which yet is germain To the subject in hand, as will be very plain When I say that Fitz-Herbert's respected progenitor Did business years since, as I'm told, in a den eight or Ten feet each way, where he daily had calls From all sorts of people with all sorts of things, From coats and umbrellas to bracelets and rings, To be left, until claimed, at the Three Golden Balls. But now, long emerged from his chrysalis state, Should his former acquaintances call at his gate, They would doubtless receive speedy notice to leave-- Not the articles brought, but the dwelling instanter, With their pace perhaps changed to a very quick canter.