Volume 104 — THE NEW COINAGE.
Reading edition
Art will now adorn our purses, Hitherto an artless place; More than pictures, songs, or verses, This should elevate the race. Is it safe to be prophetic? Will the miser, once abused, Be considered quite aesthetic, With the connoisseur confused? Will the banker, grown artistic, Talk a jargon new and strange? Will this feeling, subtle, mystic, Even reach the Stock Exchange? Will it from the City banish Dress that artists should eschew? Will the hallowed "topper" vanish, And the frock-coat fade from view? Will the cabman now be willing, After driving half a mile, To accept a high-art shilling, Not with oaths, but with a smile? Will the porter at the station While his thanks pause on his lip, Gaze in silent admiration At the beauty of his tip? "Music hath," so Congreve stated, "Charms to soothe the savage breast"; Numismatic art is fated May be to be likewise blest.