Note 78 — Chapter III
Reading edition
In Doran’s Table Traits, p. 300 (Bentley), will be found a drinking-song which was sung in the army not very long since during the prevalence of cholera, when, the author says (not defining the exact period), drinking in India was fearful. We extract two verses to show the callousness that prevailed.
“Not a sigh for the lot that darkles, Not a tear for the friends who sink, We’ll fall ’mid the wine cup’s sparkled, As mute as the wine we drink. Come, stand to your glasses steady! ’Tis this that the respite buys. One cup to the dead already; Hurrah! for the next that dies. “Who dreads to the dust returning? Who shrinks from the sable shore, Where the high and haughty yearning Of the soul can sting no more? No, stand to your glasses steady; This world is a world of lies! One cup to the dead already; Hurrah! for the next that dies.”