Wit and Humor of America, The Vol 08

<h2><SPAN name="VIVE_LA_BAGATELLE" id="VIVE_LA_BAGATELLE"></SPAN>VIVE LA BAGATELLE</h2> <h3>("<i>Swift's Cheerful Creed</i>")</h3> <h3>BY CLINTON SCOLLARD</h3> <p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">A bumper to the jolly Dean</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who, in "Augustan" times,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Made merriment for fat and lean</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">In jocund prose and rhymes!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah, but he drove a pranksome quill!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">With quips he wove a spell;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">His creed&mdash;he cried it with a will&mdash;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was "<i>Vive la bagatelle!</i>"</span><br/> <br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, there were reckless jesters then!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And when a man was hit,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">He quick returned the stroke again</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">With trenchant blade of wit.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twas parry, thrust, and counter-thrust</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">That round the board befell;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">They quaffed the wine and crunched the crust</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">With "<i>Vive la bagatelle!</i>"</span><br/> <br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">How rang the genial laugh of Gay</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">At Pope's defiant ire!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">How Parnell's sallies brought in play</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The rapier wit of Prior!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">And how o'er all the banter's shift&mdash;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The laughter's fall and swell&mdash;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upleaped the great guffaw of Swift,</span><br/> <span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_1498" id="Page_1498"></SPAN></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">With "<i>Vive la bagatelle!</i>"</span><br/> <br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">O moralist, frown not so dark,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Purse not thy lip severe;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">'T will warm the heart if ye but hark</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The mirth of "yester year."</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">To-day we wear too grave a face;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">We slave,&mdash;we buy and sell;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forget a while mad Mammon's race</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">In "<i>Vive la bagatelle!</i>"</span><br/> <span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_1499" id="Page_1499"></SPAN></span></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />