Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CONVIVIAL. si ? ? i-r r i i. Oie 19. THAT IT IS NATURAL TO DRINK. M. The black Earth drinks the falling rain, Trees drink the moisten'd Earth again ; Ocean drinks the mountain gales ; Ocean's self the Sun inhales ; And the Sun's bright rays as soon Are swallow'd by the thirsty Moon. All Nature drinks—if I would sip, Why dash the nectar from my lip ? 4nacreon. Ode 17. THE GOBLET. M. I Do not want the rolling car, Helm, or shield with silver bound- What have I to do with war ? But a goblet deep and round. Carve not on its polish'd side, Star, nor planet's varied form, Those that rule the angry tide, Or direct the rising storm. Let a vine the cup surround, Clasping with its tendrils fine ; And amid the golden ground, Raise a vat of new-made wine. Then the festal chorus leading, Carve the Theban God above ; And the mellow vintage treading, Cupid, with (lie maid I love. Anaereon, ?-l. i. 119. GOOD FELLOWSHIP. B. Ne'er shall that man a comrade be, Or drink a generous glass with me, Who o'er his bumpers brags of scars, Of noisy broils, and mournful wars ; But welcome thou congenial soul, And share my purse and drain my bowl, Who canst in social knot combine The Muse, Good Humour, Love, and Wine. Palladai, 4. ii. 407. ANACREONTIC. M. The laughing women call me old, And bid me in the glass behold The ruins of my former state ; But let the locks my temples bear Be gray or black, I little care, And leave it to the will of Fate. Yet this I know—tho' Nature's call Subjects me to the lot of all, Still, as my ebbing days decline, I'll make the most of my short hours, Be bathed in odours, crown'd with flowers, And drown old care in floods of wine. Scol. 18. i. 91. ANACREONTIC. Quaff with me the purple wine, An...