Classic Poem

I am the jolly prince of drinkers,
Ranting, roaring, fuddling boys!
Who take a delight in tossing full tankards,
Filling the ale-house with my noise.
Ten gallons at a draught
Did I pour down my throat.
But hang such silly sips as these:
I laid me all along
With my mouth unto the bung,
And I drank off a hogshead at my ease.

I've heard that a fop who'd toss a full tankard
Crowned himself the prince of sots;
But hang such silly idle drunkards,
Snatch their flagons, break their pots;
My friend and I did join
For a cellar full of wine,
And locked the vintner out of door.
One morning at the tap,
There we drank it every drop,
And eagerly ranged about for more.

My friend to me did make a motion,
" Must we part, and with dry lips? "
Oh, then we went unto the ocean,
Where we did meet a fleet of ships.
Their lading it was wine,
And that most superfine;
Their burden was ten hundred ton.
We drank it all at sea,
Long before we came to quay,
And the merchants did swear they were undone.

And then we went to the Canaries,
Hoping to find a better touch;
And there we did meet with Portuguese,
Likewise the Spaniards and the Dutch.
'Twas near the river Rhine
We drank up all the wine,
We thought to drink the ocean dry.
Bacchus swore he'd never found
In the universe all round
Two souls, such thirsty souls, as my friend and I.