The Genius of Wine
An old gentleman, a friend of mine, regards eternity as but a single day, and whole centuries as but an instant of time. The sun and moon are the windows of his house: the cardinal points are the boundaries of his domain. He wanders unrestrained and free; he dwells within no walls. The canopy of Heaven is his roof; his resting-place is the lap of Earth. He follows his fancy in all things. He is never for a moment without a wine-flask in one hand, a goblet in the other. His only thought is wine: he knows of naught beyond.
The intelligentsia and nobles, hearing of my friend’s weakness, proceeded to tax him on the subject; and with many gestures of disapprobation, fierce scowls, and gnashing of teeth, preached him quite a sermon on the rules of propriety.
酒德X
劉伯偷
有大JRANN先生。以天地寫一朝。萬觀篇須哭。日月為扇冊。X策蠶庭衡。行無就逃。層疊…盒底。幕天席地。縱章所如。止則按尼執照。動則章程設菇。權酒是甜甜。海知其餒。有實介公子。摺紛處士。開吾風聲。錢其所以0月奮抉撥誨。怒目切齒。阪控股法。是非鋒起。先生於是持接象糟。街杯歡聲。密緝義路。社遭詣糟。無恩無慮。其樂陶陶。兀然而醉。甜甜簡而盤。靜聽不開
雷鐘之聲。熟屁不觀著山之形。不覺鑫且看之切肌。利欲之感情。俯叡萬物援擾晶晶。抽江漠之戰俘諒。二叢侍倒置晶。如鎳嬴之X X 蛤。
When they began, the old gentleman filled himself another humper; and sitting down, quietly stroked his beard and sipped his wine by turns, until at length he lapsed into a semi-inebriate state of placid enjoyment, varied by intervals of absolute unconsciousness or of partial return to mental lucidity. His ears were beyond the reach of thunder, he could not have seen a mountain. Heat and cold existed for him no more. He knew not even the workings of his own mind. To him, the affairs of this world appeared but as so much duckweed on .a river; while the two nobles at his side looked like two wasps trying to convert a caterpillar.