EPIGRAMS
i
Advice of the Popes who succeeded the Age of Rafael
Degrade first the Arts if you'd Mankind Degrade,
Hire Idiots to Paint with cold light & hot shade,
Give high Price for the worst, leave the best in disgrace,
And with Labours of Ignorance fill every place.
Reynolds, vol. i, written at foot of title-page.
Gil. i. 257, EY ii. 318 (reading ' to the popes who succeeded to the age
of Rafail ').
1 you'd] you would Gil. 2 hot] not EY. 4 Labours of Ignorance]
labour of idleness Gil.
ii
Some look to see the sweet Outlines,
And beauteous Forms that Love does wear ;
Some look to find out Patches, Paint,
Bracelets & Stays & Powder'd Hair.
Reynolds, vol. i, p. xv. Blake's comment on Sir Joshua Reynolds' account
of his disappointment at his first impressions of Raphael. The prose passage
preceding these lines runs : — ' Men who have been Educated with Works of
Venetian Artists under their Eyes Cannot see Rafael, unless they are born
with Determinate Organs. I am happy I cannot say that Rafael Ever was
from my Earliest Childhood hidden from Me. I saw & I knew immediately
the difference between Rafael & Rubens.' Gil. i. 259, WMR (' Epig. ' iii),
EY ii. 320.
