248 POPE'S GARDEN. 



" found a spring* of the clearest water, which fell 

 in a perpetual rill, that echoed through the cavern 

 night and day," and from which, " looking down 

 through a sloping arcade of trees, the sails on the 

 river might be seen passing suddenly and vanish- 

 ing," is now mutilated and pillaged of its shells, 

 flints, and " simple pebbles." In addition to this 

 devastation, how much is it to be regretted that so 

 soon after his death his garden should have been 

 spoilt by bad taste. When Lord Nugent wrote 

 those well-known lines to Sir William Stanhope, 

 on his enlargements and improvements of Pope's 

 grounds, which I cannot but consider as equally 

 sycophantic and ignorant 



But fancy now displays a fairer scope, 



And Stanhope's plans unfold the soul of Pope, 



we should rather read 



And Stanhope's wealth destroys the taste of Pope. 



Would that his villa, his garden, and his grotto, 

 had fallen into the hands of one who would have 

 duly appreciated them of one who would have 

 kept up and cherished what others have so wan- 

 tonly destroyed or altered. That one is the author 

 of the Pleasures of Memory, who not only pos- 

 sesses much of the genius of Pope, and all his 



* This spring, which had disappeared for many years, and in- 

 deed was quite forgotten, suddenly burst out last Summer, and 

 again has become the ornament of the grotto. J. MITFORD, 

 1843. 



