I'll laugh, and whilft gay wine inflames,
I'll court the laughter-loving dames ;
And study to resign my breath
In extasy, and smile in death.
RING me, O bring th' enlivening draught,
B Lenient of grief, and anxious thought.
Then Care retires, afham'd to show
His downcaft eye, and faded brow.
I banish business to the great,
To all that curse, yet covet state.
Death haftes amain: then who would run
To meet what most he ftrives to fhun?
Or antedate the dreadful day
By cares, and aid the fiend to flay?
If tears could bribe his dreadful powers,
I'd weep, and bless the precious showers;
But let our lot be joy or woe,
Alike he speeds to ftrike the blow.
Then crown the bowl !---ye forrows, fly To kill fome wretch who wants to die.
O DE XXXI. The pleafing FRENZY.
NOW bring, by all the powers divine,
Bring me a bowl of rofy wine;
A mighty bowl of wine I crave:
When wine infpires, 'tis fweet to rave.
In frantic rage Alcinæon drew
Oreftes in a furious mood
Raving fhed his † mother's blood.
Dreadful, fober madmen, they !---
None, harmless drunkard, none I flay:
The blood of grapes I only crave:
I quaff it, and 'tis fweet to rave.
Alcides frantic grafp'd his bow,
His quiver rattled, ftor'd with woe;
Stern Ajax fhook his glittering blade,
And broad his fevenfold shield display'd:
Dangerous madman! how he drew
His fword, and hofts in fancy flew!
I, peaceful I, no faulchion wield,
I bend no bow, I poife no fhield.
The flowery garland crowns my hairs,
My hand the powerful goblet bears,
The powerful goblet, nobly brave,
I drain, and then 'tis fweet to rave.
TALK not to me of pedant rules,
I leave debates to learned fools,
Who folemnly in form advise:
At beft, impertinently wife!
To me more pleafing precepts give, And teach the fcience how to live:
To bury in the friendly draught
Sorrows that spring from too much thought;
To learn foft leffons from the fair,
How life may glide exempt from care.
Alas! I'm old! I fee my head
With hoary locks by time o'erfpread :
Then inftant be the goblet brought
To make me young---at least in thought.
Alas! inceffant speeds the day
When I must mix with common clay.
When I must tread the dismal shore,
And dream of love and wine no more.
EE Winter's paft! the feasons bring
Soft breezes with returning Spring;
At whofe approach the Graces wear
Fresh honours in their flowing hair :
The raging feas forget to roar,
And, smiling, gently kiss the shore:
The sportive duck, in wanton play,
Now dives, now rifes into day;
The cranes from freezing skies repair,
And failing float to warmer air;
Th' enlivening funs in glory rife,
And gaily dance along the skies.
The clouds difperfe; or if in fhowers
They fall, it is to wake the flowers :
M 4.
See verdure cloaths the teeming earth!
The olive ftruggles into birth:
The fwelling grapes adorn the vine,
And kindly promise future wine :
Bleft juice! already I in thought
Quaff an imaginary draught.
GIVE me Homer's tuneful lyre,
Let the found my breast inspire!
But with no troublesome delight
Of arms, and heroes slain in fight:
Let it play no conquefts here,
Or conquefts only o'er the fair!
Boy, reach that volume-book divine:
The ftatutes of the God of Wine!
He, legislator, ftatutes draws,
And I, his judge, inforce his laws :
And, faithful to the weighty truft,
Compel his votaries to be just:
Thus, round the bowl impartial flies,
Till to the fpirightly dance we rife;
We frisk it with a lively bound,
Charm'd with the lyre's harmonious found:
Then pour forth, with an heat divine,
Rapturous fongs that breathe of wine.
O DE L. The happy Effects of W IN E.
EE! fee the jolly god appears,
His hand a mighty goblet bears:
With sparkling Wine full-charg'd it flows,
The fovereign cure of human woes.
Wine gives a kind release from care,
And courage to fubdue the fair;
Inftructs the chearful to advance
Harmonious in the fprightly dance :
Hail, goblet! rich with generous wines !
See! round the verge a vine-branch twines.
See how the mimic clusters roll,
As ready to re-fill the bowl!
Wine keeps its happy patients free
From every painful malady;
Our best physician all the year,
Thus guarded, no difeafe we fear,
No troublesome difeafe of mind,
Until another year grows kind,
And loads again the fruitful vine,
And brings again our health-
O DE LII. GRAPES, or the VINTAGE.
O! the vintage now is done!
And black'ned with th' autumnal fun
The grapes gay youths and virgins bear,
The fweetest product of the year!
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