FILL THE GOBLET AGAIN. LORD BYRON. FILL the goblet again! for I never before Felt the glow which now gladdens my heart to its core; I have tried in its turn all that life can supply; I have lov'd, who has not? but what heart can declare In the days of my youth-when the heart's in its spring, I had friends, who has not? but what tongue will avow The heart of a mistress some boy may estrange; Friendship shifts with the sunbeam ;-thou never canst change; Thou grow'st old, who does not? but on earth what appears, Whose virtues, like thine, still increase with its years? Yet, if blest to the utmost that love can bestow, We are jealous, who's not? thou hast no such alloy, When the season of youth and its vanities past, When the box of Pandora was open'd on earth, Long life to the grape! for when summer is flown, We must die! who must not? May our sins be forgiven, THE BEST OF ALL GOOD COMPANY. BARRY CORNWALL. The music by HENRY PHILLIPS. SING!-Who sings To her who weareth a hundred rings? The vine, boys, the vine! The mother of mighty wine. O'er wall and tree, And sometimes very good company. Drink!-who drinks To her who blusheth and never thinks? The grape, boys, the grape! Oh, never let her escape Until she be turn'd to wine! For better is she Than vine can be, And very, very good company. Dream!-Who dreams Of the god that governs a thousand streams? 'Tis wine, boys, 'tis wine! God Bucchus, a friend of mine. Oh, better is he Than grape or tree, And the best of all good company. A SONG AFTER A TOAST. CHARLES MACKAY. From "Legends of the Isles." The music by W. HOBBS. IF he to whom this toast we drink If he hath sooth'd the mourner's woe, If he be poor, and yet has striven One loaf that it was hard to share; He never did a deed of shame; Fill high! we'll drain in deep respect A bumper to his name. But rich or poor, if still his plan To snatch the meed of virtuous fame; AMONG all nations in which poetry has been cultivated, songwriters have ever found abundance of exercise in their vocation in adapting to music the expression of moral sentiment, or in making the satire of manners more agreeable, more popular, and more permanently useful, by the union of poetry and music. Some of the most beautiful songs in the English language belong to this class; and there has been no song-writer worthy of the name who has not occasionally forsaken the amatory, convivial, or patriotic departments of his art-long erroneously considered by false critics to be the only legitimate spheres of song-to praise virtue, to condemn vice, to hold folly up to ridicule, and to depict the good or ill manners of society. The songs of this description are exceedingly numerous, and are of every degree of merit and demerit, ranging from the broadest comedy to the seriousness of the sermon, and even of the hymn. The vanity of human life, the instability of greatness, the charms of friend ship, the pleasures of temperance, the blessings of a contented mind, the consolations of old age, and a thousand similar topics, are true sources of inspiration for the lyrist; while subjects of more public interest-the growth or decay of national virtue, and the condition, hopes, aspirations, and fears of the people in general, or of large and important sections of them, afford, in like manner, abundant opportunities for the moral or satirical song-writer. "Poets," as Mr. Emerson finely and truly says, "should be lawgivers: that is, the boldest lyric inspiration should not chide or insult, but should commence and lead the civil code and the day's work." It was in reference to this class of songs that Fletcher of Saltoun uttered the famous dictum (not his own) on the importance of song-writing. In his "Account of a Conversation concerning the right Regulation of Governments for the common Good of Mankind," he complains that "the poorer sort of both sexes are daily tempted to all manner of wickedness by infamous ballads sung in every corner of the streets. I knew." he adds, "a very wise man that believed if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation. And we find that most of the ancient legislators thought they could not well reform the manners of any city without the help of a lyric, and sometimes of a dramatic poet." The extension of education and the triumphs of the printing-press have rendered the labours of the moral and satirical song-writers of less value than in the time of the ancient legislators, or than in those times, comparatively recent, when Fletcher of Saltoun wrote; but, even in our day, a false error may be propped up by a song, and a great truth advanced by the same agency. So that the dictum still retains a portion of its ancient value. The moral and satirical songs are here included together; for if satire be not moral, it is an abuse; and the lessons of morality have often a better chance of being effective if sharpened by judicious satire. There are vast numbers of political songs and ballads of this class, which have been produced from the days of the civil wars to our own, which would alone fill many interesting volumes, valuable for the light they would throw |