The Florentines said ' 'Tis a Dutch-English bore,
Michael Angelo's Name writ on Rembrandt's door.'
9The Florentines call it an English fetch,
For Michael Angelo never did sketch —
Every line of his has Meaning,
And needs neither Suckling nor Weaning.
13'Tis the trading English- Venetian cant
To speak Michael Angelo, and act Rembrandt,
It will set his Dutch friends all in a roar
To write ' Mich. Ang.' on Rembrandt's door ;
17But you must not bring in your hand a Lie
If you mean that the Florentines should buy.
Ghiotto's Circle or Apelles' Line
Were not the Work of Sketchers drunk with Wine ;
21Nor of the City Clock's running . . . fashion ;
Nor of Sir Isaac Newton's calculation.
7, 8 The . . . door] EY incorrectly call this a ' rejected ' couplet. 10 For Michael] EY omit For.13, 14 Tis . . . Rembrandt] 'Rejected' EY, who insert here, after 1. 14, an incorrect version of the first reading of II. 19-22. 18 mean that] EY omit that.If . . . buy] Following this are the lines:—
'These verses were written by a very envious man,
Who whatever likeness he may have to Michael Angelo
Never can have any to Sir Jehoshuan.'
19-22 Ghiotto's . . . calculation] These lines written later at foot of page. Another reading was:—
' Nor of the City Clock's Idle Facilities
Which sprang from Sir Isaac Newton's great Abilities.'
EY omit 11. 19-22, and print this rejected couplet after 1. 14, reading 'futilities' for 'facilities' and 'sprang of' for ' sprang from.'
lxxiii
A Pitiful Case
1 The Villain at the Gallows tree,
When he is doom'd to die,
To assuage his misery
In virtue's praise does cry.
MS. Book, p. 33. Only in EY i. 216. This epigram refers to the concluding words of the last Discourse delivered by Reynolds at the Royal
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