amavi,
Commendo.

PREFACE.

Every reader turns with pleasure to those passages of Horace, and
Pope, and Boileau, which describe how they lived and where they
dwelt; and which, being interspersed among their satirical writings,
derive a secret and irresistible grace from the contrast, and are
admirable examples of what in Painting is termed repose.

We have admittance to Horace at all hours. We enjoy the company and
conversation at his table; and his suppers, like Plato's, 'non solum
in praesentia, sed etiam postero die jucundae sunt.' But when we look
round as we sit there, we find ourselves in a Sabine farm, and not in
a Roman villa. His windows have every charm of prospect; but his
furniture might have descended from Cincin-natus; and gems, and
pictures, and old marbles, are mentioned by him more than once with a
seeming indifference.

His English Imitator thought and felt, perhaps, more correctly on the
subject; and embellished his garden and grotto with great industry
and success. But to these alone he solicits our notice. On the
ornaments of his house he is silent; and he appears to have reserved
all the minuter touches of his pencil for the library, the chapel,
and the banquetting-room of Timon. 'Le savoir de notre siecle,' says
Rousseau, 'tend beaucoup plus a detruire qu'a edifier. On censure
d'un ton de maitre; pour proposer, il en faut prendre un autre.'

It is the design of this Epistle to illustrate the virtue of True
Taste; and to shew how little she requires to secure, not only the
comforts, but even the elegancies of life. True Taste is an excellent
Economist. She confines her choice to few objects, and delights in
producing great effects by small means: while False Taste is for ever
sighing after the new and the rare; and reminds us, in her works, of
the Scholar of Apelles, who, not being able to paint his Helen
beautiful, determined to make her fine.

ARGUMENT.

An Invitation, v. 1. The approach to a Villa described, v. 5. Its
situation, v. 17. Its few apartments, v. 57. Furnished with casts
from the Antique, &c. v. 63. The dining-room, v. 83. The library, v.
89. A cold-bath, v. 101. A winter-walk, v. 151. A summer-walk, v.
l63. The invitation renewed, v. 197. Conclusion, v. 205.

When, with a REAUMUR'S skill, thy curious mind
Has class'd the insect-tribes of human-kind,
Each with its busy hum, or gilded wing,
Its subtle, web-work, or its venom'd sting;
Let me, to claim a few unvalued