"Success to the Rhine wine, sweet or sour! and the devil take him that won't sing its praises as loudly as e'er a rascal of the Rheingau itself! So up, you German pigs, and let's sing! up, you Hanz, Franz, Alberick, Jake, and Simson! up, you old rogue Schlachtenschlager, for you can sing like a cherubim! and up, you jolly dog, Teff Affidavy, who is up already, and can sing as well as the best! join hands, bring flowers, crown the cup, and sing the Rheinweinlied like seven angels--the Rheinweinlied, you hard-headed, jolly dogs, in broad Deutsch! and after that, we'll sing it in my own translation, botheration, which is better than the original, for all that ass, Jingleum, says _he_ made it. Are you ready?" "Ready!" responded the happy six; and in an instant every man was singing, at the top of his voice, the famous Rheinweinlied--a song of such noble and heart-stirring capacity, at least so far as the music is concerned, that if it be objected to it, that it has sometimes set a singer beside himself, it may be wondered how any one can hear it and keep sober at all. The winds blew, the rain fell, and the lightning flashed, while this jolly company rose round the table, and sang in concert the praises of old father Rhine. THE RHEINWEINLIED. I. Bekränzt mit Laub den lieben vollen Becher, Und trinkt ihn fröhlich leer. In ganz Europia, Ihr Herren Zecher! Ist solch ein Wein nicht mehr. II. Ihn bringt das Vaterland ans seiner Fülle: Wie wär er sonst so gut? Wie wär er sonst so edel, wäre stille Un doch voll Krafft und Muth? III. Am Rhein, am Rhein, da wachsen unsre Reben; Gesegnet sei der Rhein! Da wachsen sie am ufer hin, und geben Uns diesen Labewein. IV. So trinkt ihn denn, und lasst uns alle Wege Uns freum und fröhlich seyn! Und wüsster wir wo iemand traurig läge, Wir gäben ihm den Wein. "Bravo! bravissimo! bravississimo!" cried Affidavy. "Here's to you, you dogs--'_Ihr Herren Zecher!_' And now for _my_ paraphrase. All you that don't know it, why you may sing the German lingo over again: the two will go very well together." So saying, he burst forth on the following _rifacimento_ of the original; the others, in general, holding fast to their own more sonorous expressions; the effect of which Babel-like intermixture of languages was to increase the noise, if it did not add to the spirit of the author. I. The right Rhine wine! We'll crown the cup with roses, And quaff about, and laugh about, Till all eyes wink! Such joys divine Sure mother Nature owes us: So laugh about, and quaff about,-- Come, drink, boys, drink! II. Our Father-land! 'Tis that the vine produces: How else should be this jolly wine So good, so good? Long as we stand, We'll put it to its uses: So laugh about, and quaff about, As true souls should! III.