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One may with truth further apply to Mr. Pope what was 

 said of Buchanan, that his mind was stored with all the fire, 

 and all the graces of ancient literature. Mr. Pope's attachment 

 to gardens, appears not only in his letter to Martha Blount, 

 describing Sir W. Raleigh's seat but in his own garden at 

 Twickenham, (where, as Mr. Loudon feelingly observes, 

 only the soil of which now remains) and in his letter to Mr. 

 Blount, describing his grotto but it also bursts forth in 

 many passages throughout his works and in his celebrated 

 Guardian (No. 173), which attacks, with the keenest wit, 

 " our study to recede from nature," in our giants made out 

 of yews, and lavender pigs with sage growing in their bellies. 

 His epistle to Lord Burlington confirms the charms he felt 

 in studying nature. Mr. Mason, in a note to his English 



A similar honour was paid to the Abbe Raynal, whose reputation was 

 such, that the Speaker of the House of Commons observing him among the 

 spectators, suspended the business of the house till he had seen the eloquent 

 historian placed in a more commodious seat. It is painful to relate, that 

 this powerful writer, and good man, who narrowly escaped the guillotine, 

 expired in a garret, in extreme poverty, at the age of eighty-four; the only 

 property he left being one assignat of fifty livres, worth not threepence in 

 ready money. Perhaps one might have applied the following anecdote (told 

 by Dr. Drake in his Literary Hours) to Abbe Raynal: "A respectable cha- 

 racter, having long figured in the gay world at Paris, was at length compelled 

 to live in an obscure retreat in that city, the victim of severe misfortunes. 

 He was so indigent, that he subsisted only on an allowance from the parish. 

 Every week bread was sent to him sufficient for his support, and yet at length, 

 he demanded more. On this the curate sent for him. ' Do you live alone?' 

 said the curate. ' With whom, sir, is it possible I should live? I am wretched, 

 since I thus solicit charity, and am abandoned by all the world.' 'But, sir, 

 if you live alone, why do you ask for more bread than is sufficient for your- 

 self?' The other at last, with great reluctance, confessed that he had a dog. 

 The curate desired him to observe, that he was only the distributor of the 

 bread that belonged to the poor, and that it was absolutely necessary that he 

 should dispose of his dog. 'Ah, sir!' exclaimed the poor man, weeping, 'and 

 if I lose my dog, who is there then to love me?' The good pastor took his 

 purse, and giving it to him, ' take this, sir,' said he; 'this is mine this I 

 can give.' " 



