Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/89

 SAINT-AMANT 73 He loves these energetic conclusions. Thus, in Le Fromage (like the real Pantagruelist he is, he cele- brates cheese, ham, sausage, and all excitants to thirst, with only less rapture than the wine that slakes it), he concludes : — " O of Bacchus thou sweet lure ! Cheese, thou art a treasure sure ! So may but of thee to think Spur me evermore to drink ! Fill Lackeys 1 " The " Orgye " is of befitting dithyrambic irregularity. As it is brief (I mean the poem, not the debauch), it may be given entire : — "Bring wine ! bring wine ! the freshest, sparkling red ! Pour, waiter, pour, till to the brim it fills, For I would drink a toast in mighty swills — Here's to the health of all alive and dead ! Pour me yet of this rich red wine, For it alone makes my red blood run ; It is my fire, my blood, and my sun. Oh, but it's sweet ! it ravishes my soul ; No such pleasure in life as the bowl. No such pleasure in life as to drink ; Keep pace with me, my dear friend Faret, Or you shall be, ere you can wink, Stripped of the name that rhymes with cabaret ! " In Le Enamoure he cites touching proofs of his devotion to his mistress : — " Since to good ham I prefer The visage of a damsel fair, I can smoke not as of yore, And in wine exceed no more :