Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 050.djvu/350

316. Pooh! no more phrasing. Good wine needs no bush.

Did you paint that, Bernardo?

. Yes! great master;

How does it please you?

. Please me!—you paint this!

This warm and soft creation, full of love,

Where all the goddess blends with woman's charms;

These lips that breathe the soul of soft desire;

These eyes, like rising stars, half hid beneath

The golden flood that breaks through yonder clouds,

Sunburst of Jove, that strews the earth with flowers!

If this creation—this fair Danäe —

Be yours, Bernardo, then you are indeed

A mighty master!

. Sir, you banter well!

. Look ye, Bernardo! Here, friend, is a picture

I painted for to-morrow's competition;

Its chance is gone—I now may lock it up.

'Tis a good painting; yet, compared with yours,

'Tis a mere daub—observe the two together.

When did I ever paint such arms as these?

. Salvator!

. Now, I ask you, by the art

In which you are so great a master—say,

Say what you know to be the naked truth.

Is not your picture better far than mine?

. (after some hesitation.) I think 'tis better.

Yea, by God! it is.

(Embracing ,) Come to my arms, Bernardo. I am fill'd

With glad surprise to find in you so valiant

A fellow-labourer in the fields of art;

And if the world has hitherto been blind

To your great merits, it shall soon be taught

To do you justice—take my word for that.

. Rosa! my art has all its roots in love.

Take love away, my art would wither soon.

'Twas Laura made me; without her, I am

Like to a voice whose sound hath pass'd away.

What would you say, Bernardo, if I knew

A secret which would keep your art alive,

By fostering the love in which 'tis rooted—

And make fair Laura yours?

Oh Rosa! Rosa!

Our game is not secured; but yet, I think,

With tolerable luck, we shall succeed.

Has no one seen this picture but myself?

No one has seen it. I have kept it close:

For the ideal Danäe before you

Is my own Laura's image to the life.

Is Laura's image! Better! better still!

Pray, let your picture for an hour be placed

At my disposal.

Use your pleasure with it.

Let no one—let not even your Laura—know

That you have painted this. Is she aware

That you're an artist?

No! Salvator; first

I was determined to have your approval

Or condemnation, ere she saw my work.