Page:Halleck.djvu/331

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ODE TO IMPUDENCE.
299

Where ne’er was heard the name of tick,
And bankrupt laws are quite unknown;
Or to some shop, by bucks abhorred,
Where to the longing pauper’s sorrow,
The cursed inscription decks the board
Of “Pay to-day and trust to-morrow.”

Or plunge me in the dungeon-tower;
With bolts and turnkeys dim mine eyes;
While, called from death by Marshall’s power,
The ghosts of murdered debts arise!
The easy dupes I’ll wheedle still,
With looks of brass and words of honey;
And having scored a decent bill,
Pay off my impudence for money.

D.