Oh! ’twould have done you good to see
How keen, how long, how heartily
He pushed the liquor round:
He never left or spilt a drop;
He never let the bottle stop,
Nor uttered a sound.
And, strange to tell, the jovial fay,
Though fond of wine, had nought to say.
A man of words might never learn
To be so wondrous taciturn.
And now the song, with jovial strain,
Awakened midnight’s dull repose;
Though many pleaded colds in vain,
Ayes had the ’vantage still of noes:
And thus may rulers ever be
Supported by majority.[7]
XVI.
Dear unto me, my native land,
Is every field of thy wide realm;
And dearer still the guardian hand
That holds the way-directing helm;
And now I love thee ten times more,
When threatened is thy rocky shore:
When waves on every side assail,
And adverse winds and tides prevail.
But why should I with sorrow’s flow
Bewail my much loved country’s woe,
And all her coming danger tell;
Enough to me it is to know
I love my native country well.
XVII.
The song went round, the Goblin Groom
Still plied the wine in festal room;
And bumper after bumper flew;
It was I ween a jovial crew.—
What chance had mortal man at drink
With one of charmed degree;
I cannot say, but needs must think
That chance but small could be.
And so it proved, and so they found,
E’er thirty bumper toasts went round.
XVIII.
Why need I tell, why need I show
Humanity debased, laid low;
How some beneath the table lay;
How others strove to get away,
And, tumbling headlong on the floor,
Ne’er reached the fated festal door;
Whilst stammering, incoherently,
Towards the goblin turned an eye;
Still saw him quaff the liquor down;
Still saw him smile, still saw him frown,
As fancied joke, or fancied toast,
Or fancied anger, ruled him most:
And thus he toasting bumpered on,
As long as he was looked upon.
XIX.
And many say they heard the splash,
And jingle of the elfin glass,
Long after all the rest were dead,
And carried lifeless into bed:
But none may tell, for none can say,
Where the unhallowed goblin lay:
But he had beat the sportsmen all,
At drinking in the festal hall;
And soon I’ll show, if luck betide,
How this elf goblin dared to ride.[8]
But now I’ve left them all at rest:
Where is the greatest, and the best?
He, amid D— —h’s lovely groves,
With virtuous footsteps strays the while,
And woos the graces, and the loves,
With many a courtly winning smile.