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R'pulation ; an affectation of simplicity, of 

 mere nature ; a desire of banishing all em- 

 bellishments of art, where art ought to be 

 employed, and even in some degree dis- 

 played. On this account, I have always 

 been sorry that ^fr. Mason should have be- 

 gun his Poem on English Gardening, by an 

 address to Simplicity: not that simplicity is 

 not fully deserving of all our homage, but 

 that it is more tlian useless to enforce the 

 practice of any one virtue, even where its 

 Gxcc^ss is least dangerous, when the general 

 tendency is towards that excess. Mr. Mason 

 has also given her a jurisdiction, to which, 

 in my opinion, she is by no means entitled ; 

 he has made her " arbi tress of all that's 

 " good and fair." Simplicity as a character, 

 may, I think, be opposed, to what is en- 

 riched and ornamented ; there is, indeed, 

 no one word appropriated to that opposite 

 character ; but in painting (and perhaps in 

 other arts) it might, without impropriety, be 

 termed Richness, A striking example of 

 their opposition may be found in the 

 works of Rubens, contrasted with those of 



