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an automaton. Again, just as Mr. Pater says of Denysl’Auxerrois in “ Imaginary Portraits: ” “And that unrivalledfairness and freshness of aspedt—how did he alone preserveit untouched through the wind and heat?”, so, too, mayit be asked concerning William Morris; what was thesecret of his unflagging vigour and freshness ? and muchthe same answer must be given : “ by a natural simplicityof living,” by a love of and a conformity, as far as mightbe, to elemental nature. For his part Morris was dis-tinguished, in his own habits and surroundings, by thesame frugality he enjoined upon others. To abstain “ frommultiplying our material wants unnecessarily . . . and, asfar as we can, to see to it that” the articles we do use “ arethe work of free men and not of slaves; these two seem tome,” says Morris, “to be the main duties to be fulfilledby those who wish to live a life at once free and refined,serviceable to others and pleasant to themselves.” “Apart,”however, “ from the morality of the matter, ... let metell you,” says Morris in one of his ledtures, “ that thoughsimplicity in art may be costly as well as uncostly, at leastit is not wasteful, and nothing is more destructive to artthan the want of it. I have never been in any rich man’shouse which would not have looked the better for havinga bonfire made outside of it of nine-tenths of all that itheld. Indeed, our sacrifice on the side of luxury will, itseems to me, be little or nothing; for, as far as I canmake out, what people usually mean by it is either agathering of possessions which are sheer vexations to theowner, or a chain of pompous circumstance, which checksand annoys the rich man at every step. Yes, luxurycannot exist without slavery of some kind or other, andits abolition will be blessed like the abolition of otherslaveries, by the freeing both of the slaves and of theirmasters.” Again : “ Simplicity is the one thing needfulin furnishing, of that I am certain.” “ If only our houseswere built as they should be, we should want such a littlefurniture, and be so happy in that scantiness. Even as it is,we should at all events take as our maxim the less the better:excess of furniture destroys the repose of a lazy man, and