85

COME, hang up your care, and cast away sorrow, Drink on, he's a sot that e'er thinks of to

morrow:

Good store of terse-claret supplies everything, For a man that is drunk is as great as a king.

Let no one with crosses or losses repine,
But take a full dose of the juice of the wine.
Diseases and troubles are ne'er to be found,
But in the damn'd place where the glass goes
not round!

THOMAS SHADWELL (1642?-1692).

86

THE WHET

WINE in the morning

Makes us frolic and gay,
That like eagles we soar
In the pride of the day.
Gouty sots of the night
Only find a decay.

'Tis the sun ripes the grape,
And to drinking gives light;
We imitate him

When by noon we're at height;

They steal wine who take it,

When he's out of sight.

Boy, fill all the glasses,

Fill them up now he shines;
The higher he rises,

The more he refines:

For wine and wit fall

As their maker declines.

TOM BROWN (1663-1704).

87

THE TOPER

SHE tells me with claret she cannot agree,
And she thinks of a hogshead whene'er she

sees me;

For I smell like a beast, and therefore must I Resolve to forsake her or claret deny :

Must I leave my dear bottle that was always my friend,

And I hope will continue so to my life's end? Must I leave it for her? 'tis a very hard task,Let her go to the Devil, bring the other whole flask!

Had she tax'd me with gaming and bade me forbear,

'Tis a thousand to one I had lent her an ear; Had she found out my Chloris up three pair of stairs,

I had baulk'd her and gone to St. James's to

pray'rs ;

SONGS OF THE VINE

109

Had she bid me read homilies three times a day,
She perhaps had been humour'd with little to
say;

But at night to deny me my flask of dear red,—
Let her go to the Devil, there's no more to be

said!

TOM D'URFEY (1653-1723).

88

THE BOTTLE PREFERR'D

PROUD Woman, I scorn you,
Brisk wine's my delight,

I'll drink all the day,

And I'll revel all night.

As great as a monarch

The moments I pass,

The bottle's the globe

And my sceptre's the glass.

The table's my throne,

And the tavern's my court,
The drawer's my subject,

And drinking's my sport.

Here's the chief of all joy,
Here's a mistress ne'er coy;

Dear cure of all sorrows,
And life of all bliss:
I'm a king when I hug you,
But more when I kiss.

89

AN EXCUSE FOR DRINKING

UPBRAID me not, capricious fair,
With drinking to excess;

I should not want to drown despair,
Were your indifference less.

Love me, my dear, and you shall find,
When this excuse is gone,

That all my bliss, when Chloe's kind,
Is fix'd on her alone.

The god of wine the victory

To beauty yields with joy;
For Bacchus only drinks like me,

When Ariadne's coy.

90

REASONS FOR DRINKING

Si bene commemini causæ sunt quinque bibendi— Hospitis adventus, præsens sitis, atque futura, Aut vini bonitas, aut quæ libet altera causa.

If all be true that I do think,

There are five reasons we should drink :
Good wine-a friend-or being dry-

Or lest we should be by-and-by

Or any other reason why.

DR. HENRY ALDRICH (1647-1710).

91

PRITHEE fill me the glass,

Till it laugh in my face,
With ale that is potent and mellow;
He that whines for a lass

Is an ignorant ass,

For a bumper has not its fellow.

We'll drink, and we'll never ha' done, boys, Put the glass then around with the sun, boys, Let Apollo's example invite us;

For he's drunk every night,

And that makes him so bright,
That he's able next morning to light us.

To drink is a Christian diversion
Unknown to the Turk or the Persian:

Let Mahometan fools

Live by heathenish rules,

And be damn'd over tea-cups and coffee;

But let British lads sing,

Crown a health to the King,

And a fig for your Sultan and Sophy!

WILLIAM CONGreve (1670-1729).