xc
I, Rubens, am a Statesman and a Saint.
Deceptions . . . And so I'll learn to paint.
MS. Book, p. 38. Only in EY i. 219.
1, 2 I . . , paint]
- 'Rubens had been a Statesman or a Saint ;
- He mixed them both — and so he learn'd to Paint.'
MS. Book 1st rdg. del. 1 I, Rubens, am] Rubens was EY. 2 . . .] A word illegible in MS.
xci
To English Connoisseurs
1 You must agree that Rubens was a Fool,
And yet you make him master of your School,
And give more money for his slobberings
Than you will give for Rafael's finest things.
5 I understood Christ was a Carpenter
And not a Brewer's Servant, my good Sir.
MS. Book, p. 38. DGR, WMR (' Epig.' 5, xi), EY (' Coupl.' xix) with-
out title.
4 things] thing EY. 5, 6 I . . . Sir] An addition, EY omit. Cp. Adveriise-
ment (MS. Book, p. 63) :' He who could represent Christ uniformly like a dray-
man must have queer conceptions : consequently his execution must have
been as queer, and these must be queer fellows who give great sums for such
nonsense and think it fine art.'
xcii
Swelled limbs, with no outline that you can descry.
That stink in the nose of a stander-by.
But all the pulp-wash'd, painted, finish'd with labour.
Of an hundred journeymen's — how-d'ye do Neighbour ?
MS. Book, p. 38. Only in EY i. 220. Cp. Advettisement (MS. Book, p. 19) :
' Rubens' Luxembourg Gallery is confessed on all hands to be the work
of a blockhead. It bears this evidence in its face. How can its execution
be any other than the work of a blockhead? Bloated gods — Mercury, Juno,
Venus, and the rattle-traps of mythology, and the lumber of an awkward
French palace are thrown together, around clumsy and ricketty princes and
princesses, higledy-piggledy.'
2 stander] passer EY. 3 But] For EY. painted] EY omit. 4 an]
a EY. journeymen's] journeymen EY. Cp. Advertisement (MS. Book,
p. 18, circa 1810) : ' What man of sense will lay out his money upon the life's
labour of imbecility, and imbecility's journeyman . . . ?'
