198 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



He thus portrays the artistic mode of deal- 

 ing with ground too thickly wooded for 

 ornamental or picturesque purposes : 



"Where the united plumage of an ancient wood 

 extended wide its undulating canopy, and stood 

 venerable in its darkness, Kent thinned the foremost 

 ranks, and left but so many detached and scattered 

 trees as softened the approach of gloom, and blended 

 a chequered light with the thus lengthened shadows 

 of the remaining columns." 



But Walpole, a little farther on, admits 

 that Kent, on the one hand, had assistance, 

 and, on the other, had faults. 



"Mr. Pope undoubtedly contributed to fonn his 

 taste. The design of the Prince of Wales' garden at 

 Carlton House was evidently borrowed from the poet's 

 at Twickenham. There was a little of affected 

 modesty in the latter, when he said of all his works 

 he was most proud of his garden. ... I do not know 

 whether the disposition of the garden at Rousham, 

 laid out for General Dormer, and, in my opinion, the 

 most engaging of all Kent's works, was not planned 

 on the model of Mr. Pope's, at least in the opening 

 and retiring shades of Venus's vale." 



He goes on to mention that he considered 



