"Take {228}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!"
Terror shook the limbs of Bacchus,
Paly grew his pimpled nose,
And {229}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!"
"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!
[Illustration: 241]