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88 KIPLING'S SUSSEX
And though a good wish will fill no dish,
And brim no cup with sack, Yet thoughts will spring as the glasses ring
To illumine our studious track. O'er the brilliant dreams of our hopeful schemes
The light of the flask shall shine ; And we'll sit till day, but we'll find the way
To drench the world with wine."
Balger sang those verses three times over, and the labourers, seeing how good things were tobacco and ale, helped him with the chorus, and then swelled in diverse tones the lines :
" And when we have dined, wish all mankind May dine as well as we."
Myself (to the company) : " Now is not that an honest kind of song, and does it not recall other mellow lines by a South Downs man—Hilaire Belloc ? "
The Tramp : " That name is new to me, although I have tramped the Downs for many years.
Balger : " Then I will sing you a tavern-bred, tavern-carol by this poet. But when I sing her you must pounce on the chorus and make the hussy go with a great round roar of song. Let it be a gale of song blowing around the world." |
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