Käre bröder, så låtom oss supa i frid (Dear brethren, so let us drink in peace) is Epistle No.

[5] The epistles, written and performed in different styles, from drinking songs and laments to pastorales, paint a complex picture of the life of the city during the 18th century.

A frequent theme is the demimonde, with Fredman's cheerfully drunk Order of Bacchus,[6] a loose company of ragged men who favour strong drink and prostitutes.

At the same time as depicting this realist side of life, Bellman creates a rococo picture, full of classical allusion, following the French post-Baroque poets.

The women, including the beautiful Ulla Winblad, are "nymphs", while Neptune's festive troop of followers and sea-creatures sport in Stockholm's waters.

The composition has the timbre "Alt sedan Bernhardus kom til vår by" from a songplay by Henrik Brandel [sv], which the musicologist James Massengale assumes was Bellman's immediate source; the melody had been used in numerous other places.

Dearly beloved brethren, let us drink in peace, In the evil and strife of this troubled world: Let us struggle, Work, Stamp, Tread, Press the grapes, as it is the season.

In the second verse, Fredman announces that "Brännvins apostlar uppstiga var dag" ("Brandy's apostles rise up each day"), and invites his disciples to "Stöta basuner, förkunna vår lag" ("blow bassoons, proclaim our law").

Finally in the third verse, in the style of Acts of the Apostles, Fredman encourages his correspondent Theophilus to drink, mentioning Damascus, where St Paul had his dramatic conversion: "Drick min Theophile, strupen är djup; Si i Damasco där ligger en Slup, Fuller med flaskor" ("Drink my Theophilus", your throat is deep; See in Damascus there lies a sloop, full of bottles).

It was not, Burman explains, the first time he joked about religious texts, nor the first in which he mixed spirits and religion, but marked the start of his parodying of St Paul's letters to the faithful.