| |
| IN the house of Albert Dürer | |
| Still is seen the studio | |
| Where the pretty Nurembergers | |
| (Cheeks of rose and necks of snow) | |
| Sat to have their portraits painted, | 5 |
| Thrice a hundred years ago. | |
| |
| Still is seen the little loop-hole | |
| Where Frau Dürer’s jealous care | |
| Watched the artist at his labor, | |
| And the sitter in her chair, | 10 |
| To observe each word and motion | |
| That should pass between the pair. | |
| |
| Handsome, hapless Albert Dürer | |
| Was as circumspect and true | |
| As the most correct of husbands, | 15 |
| When the dear, delightful shrew | |
| Has him and his sweet companions | |
| Every moment under view. | |
| |
| But I trow that Albert Dürer | |
| Had within his heart a spot | 20 |
| Where he sat and painted pictures | |
| That gave beauty to his lot, | |
| And the sharp intrusive vision | |
| Of Frau Dürer entered not. | |
| |
| Ah! if brains and hearts had loop-holes, | 25 |
| And Frau Dürer could have seen | |
| All the pictures that his fancy | |
| Hung upon their walls within, | |
| How minute had been her watching, | |
| And how good he would have been! | 30 |
| |
