Page:Life of William Blake 2, Gilchrist.djvu/186

EPIGRAMS AND SATIRICAL PIECES ON ART AND ARTISTS.

1

I asked of my dear friend orator Prig:
'What's the first part of oratory?' He said: 'A great wig.'
'And what is the second?' Then, dancing a jig
And bowing profoundly, he said: 'A great wig,'
'And what is the third?' Then he snored like a pig,
And, puffing his cheeks out, replied: 'A great wig.'
So if to a painter the question you push,
'What's the first part of painting?' he'll say: 'A paint-brush.'
'And what is the second?' with most modest blush.
He'll smile like a cherub, and say: 'A paint-brush.'
'And what is the third?' he'll bow like a rush,
With a leer in his eye, and reply: 'A paint-brush.'
Perhaps this is all a painter can want:
But look yonder,—that house is the house of Rembrandt.

2

'O dear mother Outline, of wisdom most sage.
What's the first part of painting?' She said: 'Patronage.'
'And what is the second to please and engage?'
She frowned like a fury, and said: 'Patronage.'
'And what is the third?' She put off old age.
And smiled like a syren, and said: 'Patronage.'

3

Oft the great encouragement given by English Nobility and Gentry to Correggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Catalani, and Dilberry Doodle.

Give pensions to the learned pig,
Or the hare playing on a tabor;
Anglus can never see perfection
But in the journeyman's labour.