> > On the off chance, can anyone suggest an answer to this query which I
> > received?
>
> > I wonder if you can help me to identify a poem, a
> > fragment of which is quoted in the book 'A Tour in
> > Tartan-Land' by Cuthbert Bede, published in Edinburgh
> > by William Tait, in 1863. In Chapter 30, entitled
> > 'Newhaven and its Fishwives', the author mentions
> > Portobello, and then quotes some lines from a poem.
> > The only informaton given is
> >
> > 'I find, however, in a clever brochure published at
> > Edinburgh ten years since, and chiefly dealing with
> > Scottish art and artists, that one of the characters
> > asks,
> >
> > How do Scotch artists study from the nude,
> > Where men are saints and every girl a prude? etc.
> >
> > The artist who for travel has not wealth,
> > Must take the nude from statues or by stealth;
> > No land is perfect, so, we have some traces
> > Of modesty outraged at bathing-places.
> > The high-art youth, the anxious rising fellow
> > May sketch the nude from scenes at Portobello;
> > There draw a soldier, and a smooth-faced deacon,
> > Castor and Pollux-like upon the beacon.'
> >
> > Is there any possibility of identifying the original?
> > I would be very grateful for any help.
>
> Dennis Smith
>
> Head of Scottish Bibliography Unit Tel.: 0131-226 4531
> National Library of Scotland Fax: 0131-622 4803
> 33 Salisbury Place
> Edinburgh EH9 1SL e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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