THE Lion laps the limpid lake,

The Pard refuses wine,

The sinuous Lizard and the Snake,

The petulant Porcupine,

Agree in this, their thirst to quench

Only with Nature's natural "drench."

In vain with beer you tempt the Deer,

Or lure the Marmozet;

The early morning Chanticleer,

The painted Parroquet,

Alike, on claret and champagne

Gaze with unfaltering disdain.

No ale or spirit tempts the Ferret,

No juice of grape the Toad.

Original

In vain towards the "Harp and Merit"

The patient Ox you goad;

Not his in rapture to extol

The praises of the flowing bowl.

The silent Spider laughs at cider,

The Horse despises port;

The Crocodile (whose mouth is wider

Than any other sort)

Prefers the waters of the Nile

To any of a stronger style.

The Rabbit knows no "private bar,"

The Pelican will wander

Through arid plains of Kandahar,

Nor ever pause to ponder

Whether in that infernal clime

The clocks converge to "closing time."

True "bona-fide traveller"

Urging no sophist plea,

How terrible must seem to her

Man's inebriety;

She who in thirsty moments places

Her simple trust in green oases.

With what calm scorn the Unicorn,

In his remote retreat,

Must contemplate the fervour born

Of old "ChÂteau Lafitte."

Conceive the feelings of the Sphinx

Confronted with Columbian drinks!

And oh! if all this solemn truth

Were dinned into its mind

From earliest years, might not our youth

Regenerate mankind,

Aspire to climb the Heights, and dare

To emulate the Belgian hare?