The Book of Ballads Edited by Bon Gaultier [i.e. W. E. Aytoun and Theodore Martin]. A New Edition, with Several New Ballads. Illustrated by Alfred Crowquill, Richard Doyle and John Leech |
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Iupiter and the Indian Ale.
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 | The Book of Ballads |  |
225
Iupiter and the Indian Ale.
“Take away this clammy nectar!”
Said the king of gods and men;
“Never at Olympus' table
Let that trash be served again.
Ho, Lyæus, thou, the beery!
Quick—invent some other drink;
Or, in a brace of shakes, thou standest
On Cocytus' sulphury brink!”
Said the king of gods and men;
“Never at Olympus' table
Let that trash be served again.
Ho, Lyæus, thou, the beery!
Quick—invent some other drink;
Or, in a brace of shakes, thou standest
On Cocytus' sulphury brink!”
Terror shook the limbs of Bacchus,
Paly grew his pimpled nose,
And already in his rearward
Felt he Jove's tremendous toes;
When a bright idea struck him—
“Dash my thyrsus! I'll be bail—
For you never were in India—
That you know not Hodgson's Ale!”
Paly grew his pimpled nose,
226
Felt he Jove's tremendous toes;
When a bright idea struck him—
“Dash my thyrsus! I'll be bail—
For you never were in India—
That you know not Hodgson's Ale!”
“Bring it!” quoth the Cloud-compeller;
And the wine-god brought the beer—
“Port and Claret are like water
To the noble stuff that's here!”
And Saturnius drank and nodded,
Winking with his lightning eyes;
And amidst the constellations
Did the star of Hodgson rise!
And the wine-god brought the beer—
“Port and Claret are like water
To the noble stuff that's here!”
And Saturnius drank and nodded,
Winking with his lightning eyes;
And amidst the constellations
Did the star of Hodgson rise!
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