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 Familiarly, as one among his peers, With grocers, dry-good merchants, auctioneers,

Brokers of all grades—stock and pawn—and Jews Of all religions, who at noonday form, On 'Change, that brotherhood the moral muse Delights in, where the heart is pure and warm, And each exerts his intellectual force To cheat his neighbor—legally, of course.

And there he shone a planetary star, Circled around by lesser orbs, whose beams From his were borrowed. The simile is not far From truth—for many bosom friends, it seems, Did borrow of him, and sometimes forget To pay—indeed, they have not paid him yet.

But these he deemed as trifles, when each mouth Was open in his praise, and plaudits rose Upon his willing ear, "like the sweet south Upon a bank of violets," from those Who knew his talents, virtues, and so forth; That is—knew how much money he was worth.