Hello,
Lord Byron devoted a whole stanza to hock in Don
Juan’s second canto (II, 180):
Ring for your valet—bid him quickly
bring
Some hock and soda-water, then
you'll know
A pleasure worthy Xerxes the great
king;
For not the bless'd sherbet,
sublimed with snow,
Nor the first sparkle of the
desert-spring,
Nor Burgundy in all its sunset
glow,
After long travel, ennui, love, or
slaughter,
Vie with that draught of hock and
soda-water.
A. Bouazza
From:
Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf Of
Alexey Sklyarenko
Sent: zondag 3 februari 2013
1:11
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L]
Lord Byron's Hock
'Ah!' said
Demon, tasting Lord Byron's Hock. 'This redeems Our Lady's Tears.'
(Ada,
1.38)
Hock is mentioned in Byron's
The Waltz (1813):
Imperial Waltz!
Imported from the Rhine
(Famed for the
growth of pedigrees and wine),
Long be thine
import from all duty free,
And hock itself
be less esteem’d than thee;
In some few
qualities alike—for hock
Improves our
cellar—thou our living stock.
The head to hock
belongs—thy subtler art
Intoxicates
alone the heedless heart:
Through the full
veins thy gentler poison swims,
And wakes to
wantonness the willing limbs.
In vain I hoped that VN's
play The Waltz Invention had something to do with Byron's
poem.* But his hock redeemed my
disappointment.
*According to some
commentators, "Calembourg" mentioned in VN's play by Waltz is London.
Yet, the poet Turvalski (whose poem is recited by one of the generals) seems
to be in no way related to the Countess of Waltzaway (a distant
relation of Horace Hornem's spouse). Horace Hornem, the fictitious
author of The Waltz, was invented by Byron.
All private editorial communications are read by both
co-editors.