With black and blue and green myself I paint,
With me an atheist stands before a saint;
Far above Nature, I make Art precede,
And before sovereigns give the poor the lead.
Many who bear the name of learned and wise,
Did I not help them, you would oft despise;
Nay more, within my grasp together bound
The king, the beggar, and the harlot’s found;
In one thing I excel the proudest lords,
You always may depend upon my words.