Observe when mother earth is dry,

She drinks the droppings of the sky;

And then the dewy cordial gives

To every thirsty plant that lives.

The vapors, which at evening weep,

Are beverage to the swelling deep;

And when the rosy sun appears,

He drinks the ocean's misty tears.

The moon too quaffs her paly stream

Of lustre, from the solar beam.

Then, hence with all your sober thinking!

Since Nature's holy law is drinking;

I'll make the laws of nature mine,

And pledge the universe in wine.

[1] Those critics who have endeavored to throw the chains of precision over the spirit of this beautiful trifle, require too much from Anacreontic philosophy. Among others, Gail very sapiently thinks that the poet uses the epithet [Greek: melainae], because black earth absorbs moisture more quickly than any other; and accordingly he indulges us with an experimental disquisition on the subject.—See Gail's Notes.