POPE'S VILLA. 9 



Cobham (the varied fortune of whose garden is 

 singularly instructive) a semicircle of trees was 

 planted near the west front, from which radiated 

 five avenues. But the Dutch fashions and the 

 Topiarian work and the long avenues were to 

 be of no long duration. It is more than probable 

 that political feeling, as well as mere fashion, 

 may have had something to do with the change 

 in many cases; but, however this may be, those 

 who set themselves up as men of taste began 

 to find fault with the existing style. Pope was 

 among the first to discover that there was a 

 monotony when grove nodded to grove and each 

 alley had its brother, and he insisted that nature 

 must "never be forgot," and that one must 

 " consult the genius of the place in all." So he 

 set to work to consult the genius of his own 

 villa at Twickenham, and this genius certainly 

 prevented anything monotonous. He had flower- 

 beds, and slopes, and mounds, and vistas, and 

 a cypress-grove, and a shell-temple, and an 

 orangery, and a bowling-green, and, above all, 

 a wonderful grotto, " finished with shells, and 



