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Left it might be thought the poet's judicious' art to give a 

 fludied tamenefs to the defcription of the country of Holland, 

 I muft fubjoin another inftance where it certainly was not his 

 obje<5l to deprefs his poetical merits to an humble level with his 

 fubjedt : 



How often have I paus'd on ev'ry charm 



The Jhelter'i cet, the cultivated farm. 



The neverfniling brook, the bi:fy mill. 



The decent church that top'd the neighb'iing hill. 



Or this, 



Far diflerent thefe from ev'ry former fcene, 

 The cooling brook, Xhc grajjy vejled green, &c. 



In all thefe the author feems fenfible of the tamenefs of the 

 defcription, and endeavours, with bad effedl, to relieve it by the 

 pompous folemnity of his compound adjedlives. 



But the truth is what Goldfmith has himfelf told us in 

 his dedication of the Deferred Village to Sir Jofhua Reynolds, 

 " that he was Ignorant of that art in which his friend excelled." 

 He has therefore no idea of pi6lurefque efFe6l. He marks no 

 diftances in his fcenes — he ftudies no arrangement of his ob- 

 jedls — he enumerates what a fertile fancy and an exact judg- 

 ment would fuggeft, but the painter who Ihould follow him 

 would have their entire difpofition to make out. The writings 

 of Mr. Mafon compared with Do(flor Goldfmith's fhew of what 

 importance the knowledge of the fifter art is to a poet. 



The 



