Wine, Women, and Song Part 17

Oh, alas! unhappy me!

What to do I cannot see; Wandering lost in exile so, Without guide or light I go!--

Dry your tears, my father dear, Haply there is better cheer; Now my mind on change is set, I'll not be a monk, not yet.

XIX.

The order adopted in this essay brings us now to drinking-songs. Next to spring and love, our students set their affections princ.i.p.ally on the tavern and the winebowl. In the poems on the Order we have seen how large a s.p.a.ce in their vagrant lives was occupied by the tavern and its jovial company of topers and gamesters. It was there that--

"Some are gaming, some are drinking, Some are living without thinking; And of those who make the racket, Some are stripped of coat and jacket; Some get clothes of finer feather, Some are cleaned out altogether; No one there dreads death's invasion, But all drink in emulation."

The song from which I have extracted this stanza contains a parody of S. Thomas Aquinas' hymn on the Eucharist.[33] To translate it seemed to me impossible; but I will cite the following stanza, which may be compared with stanzas ix. and x. of _Lauda Sion_:--

"Bibit hera, bibit herus, Bibit miles, bibit clerus, Bibit ille, bibit illa, Bibit servus c.u.m ancilla, Bibit velox, bibit piger, Bibit albus, bibit niger, Bibit constans, bibit vagus, Bibit rudis, bibit magus."

Several of the best anacreontics of the period are even more distinctly parodies. The following panegyric of wine, for example, is modelled upon a hymn to the Virgin:--

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 33: _In Taberna, Carm. Bur_., p. 235.]

A SEQUENCE IN PRAISE OF WINE.

No. 45.

Wine the good and bland, thou blessing Of the good, the bad's distressing, Sweet of taste by all confessing, Hail, thou world's felicity!

Hail thy hue, life's gloom dispelling; Hail thy taste, all tastes excelling; By thy power, in this thy dwelling Deign to make us drunk with thee!

Oh, how blest for bounteous uses Is the birth of pure vine-juices!

Safe's the table which produces Wine in goodly quality.

Oh, in colour how auspicious!

Oh, in odour how delicious!

In the mouth how sweet, propitious To the tongue enthralled by thee!

Blest the man who first thee planted, Called thee by thy name enchanted!

He whose cups have ne'er been scanted Dreads no danger that may be.

Blest the belly where thou bidest!

Blest the tongue where thou residest!

Blest the mouth through which thou glidest, And the lips thrice blest by thee!

Therefore let wine's praise be sounded, Healths to topers all propounded; We shall never be confounded, Toping for eternity!

Pray we: here be thou still flowing, Plenty on our board bestowing, While with jocund voice we're showing How we serve thee--Jubilee!

Another, regarding the date of which I have no information, is an imitation of a well-known _Christmas Carol_.

A CAROL OF WINE.

No. 46.

In dulci jubilo Sing we, make merry so!

Since our heart's pleasure Latet in poculo, Drawn from the cask, good measure.

Pro hoc convivio, Nunc, nunc bibito!

O crater parvule!

How my soul yearns for thee!

Make me now merry, O potus optime, Claret or hock or sherry!

Et vos concinite: Vivant socii!

O vini caritas!

O Bacchi lenitas!

We've drained our purses Per multa pocula: Yet hope we for new mercies, Nummoram gaudia: Would that we had them, ah!

Ubi sunt gaudia? where, If that they be not there?

There the lads are singing Selecta cantica: There are gla.s.ses ringing In villae curia; Oh, would that we were there!

_In Dulci Jubilo_ yields an example of mixed Latin and German. This is the case too with a comparatively ancient drinking-song quoted by Geiger in his _Renaissance und Humanismus_, p. 414. It may be mentioned that the word _Bursae_, for _Burschen_, occurs in stanza v.

This word, to indicate a student, can also be found in _Carm. Bur._, p. 236, where we are introduced to scholars drinking yellow Rhine wine out of gla.s.ses of a pale pink colour--already in the twelfth century!

THE STUDENTS' WINE-BOUT.

No. 47.

Ho, all ye jovial brotherhood, Quos sitis vexat plurima, I know a host whose wits are good, Quod vina spectat optima.

His wine he blends not with the juice E puteo qui sumitur; Each kind its virtue doth produce E botris ut exprimitur.

Host, bring us forth good wine and strong, In cella quod est optimum!

We brethren will our sport prolong Ad noctis usque terminum.

Whoso to snarl or bite is fain, Ut canes decet rabidos, Outside our circle may remain, Ad porcos eat sordidos,

Hurrah! my lads, we'll merry make!

Levate sursum pocula!

G.o.d's blessing on all wine we take, In sempiterna saecula!