SCRAPS FROM OUR NOTEBOOK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume 1, Issue 43, 5 December 1868, Page 6

SCRAPS FROM OUR NOTEBOOK.

NO. XII— ON GETTING- DRUNK.

It is with a sigh of pity I gaze upon the unhappy wretches who have not studied tho mysteries of tho great science of " getting drunk" To such the joys of a symposium are confounded with the horrors of a swill. Their worship of the jolly god is copied from the brutal debauchery of Silenus and the Satyrs, not' from the solemn mysteries of the Athenian Bacchanalia. Pill' higjh the bowl, then, gentle Ganymede, while I recall with blended pain and pleasure those feasts where wo "Such worthy bouts of drinking had As made us nobly wild, not mad ;" where, drinking not from the weak springs pf Castalia, but from the fount which inspired Anacreon, the wit grows brighter, the poet more sublime ; when the very philosopher forgets the dry technicalities of the schools, and again peoples the air with sylphs, the forests with dryads, and the earth with gnomes. Some such recollections must have inspired tho gloomy Milton when he penned " L' Allegro ; " and in spite of Ncal Dow and all his host, I would fain exclaim in his words — " Mirth, admit me of thy crew." Turn we to Shakspere, a:nd his vast insight into human nature leads to the conclusion, "the best drinkers are the best men ; " and we know from Bishop Puller, Ben Jonson, and a host of others, that the great bard practised what he preached. " The Dog," " The G-rapes," " The Triple Tun " are celebrated by Herrick as scenes of brilliant wit encounters, and divine drunkenness. Nor as we descend the list of those " worthy on time's eternal beadroll to be filed " do we'find the glorious grape neglected. Whether it be worthy Dick Steel rolling home, unsteady on the legs, but pouring out witticism after witticism., or stately Addison, just finishing his sixth bottle, down to Robbie Burns, whiskey's own, bard, we find the shrine of Bacchus equally honoured, the worship of the god carefully observed by all. We catch a glimpse of Schiller gaining immortality by means of copious potations of champagne, — champagne, methinks, of no earthly brand, not even%Heidsick, Moet, or the illustrious Widow's Vintage, but veritable nectar of the gods, for to it we owe the " Robbers " and " Wallenstein ; " nay, almost in our own day have we not the "Noctes Ambrosianse," most potent of arguments against teetotalism? Who, then, will shirk his nobbier ? " Wha first shall rise to gang awa, A coward, rascal, knave is he ; "Wha last beside his chair shall fa*, He is the king amang us three." Evoe ! evoe ! no king could be greater than the hero of such an encounter, unless it be indeed the illustrious King Cole, famous in infantile song. But ray pen begins to flag, my eyes grow dim, my whole frame is thrilled by the exquisite sensation of scientifieally-arrived-at intoxication; the wreath falls off my nodding brows as I murmur a translation of Anacreon's favourite ode : — "Wine-warmed let me when dying, With perfumes rich and rare, And music softly breathing, Be wafted through the air. # * # # * Wa-a-er (hie), an-o-er bo-t-le (hie) num-er two (hie).