Page:English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the nineteenth century.djvu/48

 &ensp;Wherefore add this particular rule to your code, &ensp;Let all vehicles take the wrong side of the road, And man, woman, and child be left-handed.

&ensp;Yet regard not the awkward appearance with doubt, &ensp;But remember how often mere blessings fall out, That at first seemed no better than curses: &ensp;So, till things take a turn, live in hope, and depend &ensp;That whatever is wrong will come right in the end, And console you for all your reverses.

&ensp;But the acid has duly been lower'd and bites &ensp;Only just where the visible metal invites, Like a nature inclined to meet troubles; &ensp;And behold as each slender and glittering line &ensp;Effervesces, you trace the completed design In an elegant bead-work of bubbles.

&ensp;But before with the varnishing brush you proceed. &ensp;Let the plate with cold water be thoroughly freed From the other less innocent liquor; &ensp;After which, on whatever you want to protect, &ensp;Put a coat that will act to that very effect, Like the black one which hangs on the vicar.

&ensp;Then the varnish well dried—urge the biting again, &ensp;But how long, at its meal, the cau forte may remain, Time and practice alone can determine: &ensp;But of course not so long that the mountain, and mill, &ensp;The rude bridge, and the figures—whatever you will— Are as black as the spots on your ermine.

&ensp;It is true, none the less, that a dark looking scrap, &ensp;With a sort of Blackheath and Black Forest, mayhap, Is considered as rather Rembrandty; &ensp;And that very black cattle and very black sheep, &ensp;A black dog, and a shepherd as black as a sweep, Are the pets of some great dilettante.

&ensp;But before your own picture arrives at that pitch, &ensp;While the lights are still light, and the shadows, though rich. More transparent than ebony shutters, &ensp;Never minding what Black-Arted critics may say, &ensp;Stop the biting, and pour the green blind away, As you please, into bottles or gutters.