In Ancient Times, as Story tells, / The Saints would often leave their Cells, / And ſtrole about, but hide their Quality, / To try good Peoples Hoſpitality.
Why dost though linger, then, / To hear the flatteries of these men of rags? / These bankrupt beggar-men, / Whose riches are the broke meat in their bags?
By Wednesday it had already won art-world notoriety, and on Saturday it achieved a public visibility that any artist would envy, after a self-promoting wag tore the banana off the wall and gobbled it up.
The stopping, restarting, swearing and routine self-deprecation (I'm in trouble with the vicar – eternal trouble, quips Martin) is the kind of carry-on that has fans purring with pleasure.
