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92

DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN

HERE'S a health to the King and a lasting peace,
To faction an end, to wealth increase;
Come, let's drink it while we have breath,
For there's no drinking after death.
And he that will this health deny,
Down among the dead men let him lie.

Let charming beauty's health go round,
In whom celestial joys are found,
And may confusion still pursue
The senseless women-hating crew;
And they that women's health deny,
Down among the dead men let them lie.

In smiling Bacchus' joys I'll roll,
Deny no pleasure to my soul;

Let Bacchus' health round briskly move,
For Bacchus is a friend to love.

And he that will this health deny,

Down among the dead men let him lie.

May love and wine their rites maintain,
And their united pleasures reign;

While Bacchus' treasure crowns the board,
We'll sing the joys that both afford;
And they that won't with us comply,

Down among the dead men let them lie.

93

HERE'S TO THE KING

WEEL may ye a' be,
Ill may ye never see;
God save the King
And the gude company:
Fill, fill a bumper high,
Drain, drain your barrels dry;
Out upon him, fie, fie,

That winna do't again.

Here's to the King—
Ye ken wha I mean-
And to ilka honest boy
That will do't again.

Here's to the chieftains

Of the gallant Scotch clans;

They have done twice and ance,

And they'll do't again.

When the pipes begin to play

Tutti taiti, to the drum,

Out claymore and down the gun,

And to the rogues again:

Fill, fill a bumper high,

Drain, drain your barrels dry;

Out upon him, fie, fie,

That winna do't again.

94

THE TOPER'S PETITION

O GRANT me, kind Bacchus,
The god of the vine,

Not a pipe nor a tun,

But an ocean of wine;

With a ship that's well mann'd With such rare-hearted fellows, Who ne'er left the tavern

For a porterly ale-house.

Let the ship spring a leak,
To let in the tipple,
Without pump or long-boat
To save ship or people:
So that each jolly lad

May always be bound

Or to drink, or to drink,

Or to drink, or be drown'd.

When death does prevail,

It is my design
To be nobly entomb'd

In a wave of good wine;
So that, living or dead,
Both body and spirit

May float round the world
In an ocean of claret.

95

GIVE me but a friend and a glass, boys,
I'll show ye what 'tis to be gay;
I'll not care a fig for a lass, boys,
Nor love my brisk youth away:
Give me but an honest fellow,
That's pleasantest when he's mellow,
We'll live twenty-four hours a day.

'Tis woman in chains does bind, boys,
But 'tis wine that makes us free;
'Tis women that make us blind, boys,
But wine makes us doubly see,
The female is true to no man,
Deceit is inherent to woman,
But none in a brimmer can be.

96

WINE, MIGHTY WINE

THE Women all tell me I'm false to my lass,
Deserted my Chloe and stuck to the glass,
But though I have left her, the truth I'll
declare:

I believe she was good, and I'm sure she was fair.

Yes, Chloe has dimples and smiles, I must own, But although she can smile, yet in truth she can frown;

But tell me, ye lovers of liquor divine,

Did you e'er see a frown in a bumper of wine?
In wine, mighty wine, in wine, mighty wine,
In wine, mighty wine many comforts I spy:
If you doubt what I say, take a bumper and try!

Her lilies and roses were just in their prime,
Yet lilies and roses are conquer'd by time;
But in wine from its age such a benefit flows,
That we like it the better, the older it grows.
Let murders, and battles, and history prove
The mischiefs that wait upon rivals in love;
In drinking, thank heaven, no rival contends,
For the more we love liquor, the more we are
friends.

In wine, mighty wine, etc.

She too might have poison'd the joy of my life With nurses and babies, with squalling and

strife;

But wine neither nurses nor babies can bring,
And a jolly big bottle's a mighty good thing!
Perhaps, like her sex, ever false to their word,
She'd left me to get an estate or a lord;
But my bumper, regardless of title and pelf,
By me will it stand when I can't stand myself.
In wine, mighty wine, in wine, mighty wine,
In wine, mighty wine many comforts I spy:
If you doubt what I say, take a bumper and try!

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