Verses

Occasioned by the magnitude of the task of illustrating the Morte Darthur

There was a young man with a salary,
Who had to do drawings for Malory;
         When they asked him for more,
         He replied: “Why? Sure
You’ve enough as it is for a gallery.”

¶ 1893. Said to have been extemporised one morning, while Beardsley was still in bed, when J. M. Dent called to chivvy his young protégé for a batch of urgently-required designs for the book.