Explore "Hints from Horace" by Lord Byron on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
ATHENS: CAPUCHIN CONVENT, March. 12, 1811.
Who would not laugh, if Lawrence, hired to grace / His costly canvas with each flattered face, / Abused his art, till Nature, with a blush, / Saw cits grow Centaurs underneath his brush? / Or, should some limner join, for show or sale, / A Maid of Honour to a Mermaid's tail? / Or low Dubost - as once the world has seen - / Degrade God's creatures in his graphic spleen? / Not all that forced politeness, which defends / Fools in their faults, could gag his grinning friends.