Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Morality

    This poem marks the death of the 'Railway King', George Hudson, by describing the mania for buying shares in his railway schemes: even 'Archbishops put their croziers down, / To write to him for shares, / Great ladies by his smile or frown / Were changed to bulls or bears' (272). Describes how the 'fairy treasures' of 'our Great King' turned to 'dust' 'When all the bubbles we had blown / Burst with a swift collapse', and that people heaped blame on Hudson for their financial misfortunes. However, notes that some who 'said it is a sorry thing / A Beggard King to see' bought the penurious Hudson an annuity, a gift which Hudson clutched gratefully. Concludes by claiming that Hudson now 'rests, where Kings and churls are one'.