Load fome vain Church with old Theatric state,
Turn Arcs of triumph to a Garden-gate;

Reverse your Ornaments, and hang them all

30

On fome patch'd dog-hole ek'd with ends of wall;
Then clap four flices of Pilafter on't,

That, lac'd with bits of ruftic, makes a Front.
Shall call the winds thro' long Arcades to roar, 35
Proud to catch cold at a Venetian door;
Conscious they act a true Palladian part,

And if they ftarve, they starve by rules of art.
Oft have you hinted to your brother Peer,
A certain truth, which many buy too dear :
Something there is more needful than Expence,
And fomething previous ev'n to Tafte-'tis Senfe:
Good Senfe, which only is the gift of Heav'n,
And tho' no Science, fairly worth the feven:

NOTES.

40

like that to Truth, is but] at the entrance of the anone; and those to Error and tient Gardens of Rome: But Abfurdity a thousand.

VER. 30. Turn Arcs of triumph to a Garden-gate ;] This abfurdity seems to have arifen from an injudicious imitation of what thefe Builders might have heard of,

they don't confider, that thofe were public Gardens, given to the people by fome great man after a triumph; to which, therefore, Arcs of this kind were very fuit. able ornaments.

A Light, which in yourself you must perceive; 45 Jones and Le Nôtre have it not to give.

To build, to plant, whatever you intend,
To rear the Column, or the Arch to bend,
To fwell the Terras, or to fink the Grot;
In all, let Nature never be forgot.
But treat the Goddess like a modeft fair,

Nor over-dress, nor leave her wholly bare;
Let not each beauty ev'ry where be spy'd,
Where half the skill is decently to hide.

50

He gains all points, who pleasingly confounds,
Surprizes, varies, and conceals the Bounds.

55

NOTES.

VER. 46. Inigo Jones, the celebrated Architect, and M. Le Nôtre, the defigner of the best Gardens of France. P.

VER. 53. Let not each beauty ev'ry where be fpy'd,] For when the fame beauty obtrudes itfelf upon you over and over; when it meets you full at whatever place you ftop, or to whatever point you turn, then Nature lofes her proper charms

of a modeft fair; and you begin to hate and naufeate her as a prostitute.

VER. 54. Where half the fkill is decently to hide.] If the poet was right in comparing the true drefs of Nature to that of a modeft fair, it is a plain confequence, that one half of the defigner's art muft be, decently to hide; as the other half is, gracefully to discover.

60

Confult the Genius of the Place in all; That tells the Waters or to rife, or fall; Or helps th'ambitious Hill the heav'ns to scale, Or fcoops in circling theatres the Vale; Calls in the Country, catches op'ning glades, Joins willing woods, and varies fhades from shades; Now breaks or now directs, th'intending Lines; Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs. Still follow Senfe, of ev'ry Art the Soul, Parts anfw'ring parts fhall flide into a whole, Spontaneous beauties all around advance, Start ev'n from Difficulty, ftrike from Chance ; Nature fhall join you; Time fhall make it grow A Work to wonder at-perhaps a Sтow.

Without it, proud Versailles! thy glory falls; And Nero's Terraces defert their walls:

NOTES.

VER. 66. Parts anfw'ring parts fhall flide into a whole,] i. e. fhall not be forced, but go of themfelves; as if both the parts and whole were not of yours, but of Nature's making. The metaphor is taken from a piece of mechanism finished by fome great mafter, where all the parts are fe previ

65

70

oufly fitted, as to be eafily put together by any ordinary workman: and each part flides into its place, as it were thro' a groove ready made for that purpose.

VER. 70. The feat and gardens of the Lord Vifcount Cobham in Buckinghamshire. P.

VER. 72. And Nero's

The vaft Parterres a thousand hands shall make,
Lo! COBHAM comes, and floats them with a Lake:
Or cut wide views thro' Mountains to the Plain, 75
You'll wish your hill or shelter'd feat again.
Ev'n in an ornament its place remark,
Nor in an Hermitage fet Dr Clarke.

NOTES.

Terraces defert their walls:] The expreffion is very fignificant. Had the Walls been faid to defert the Terraces, this would have given us the image of a destruction, effected by time only; which had been foreign to the poet's intention; who is here fpeaking of the punish ment of unfupported Tafte, in the defigned fubverfion of it, either by good or bad, as it happens; one of which is fure to do its bufinefs, and that foon; therefore it is with great propriety he fays, that the Terraces defert their walls, which implies purpofe and violence in their fubverfion.

VER. 75, 76. Or cut wide views thro' Mountains to the Plain, You'll wish your bill or shelter'd feat again.] This was done in Hertfordshire, by a wealthy citizen, at the expence of above 5000 l. by which means (merely to overlook a dead plain) he let in the north wind upon his house VER. 74. Lo! COBHAM and parterre, which were comes, and floats them with before adorned and defenda Lake:] An high compli-ed by beautiful woods. P. ment to the noble person VER. 78.-fet Dr Clarke.]

Behold Villario's ten-years toil compleat ; His Quincunx darkens, his Espaliers meet; The Wood fupports the Plain, the parts unite,

80

And strength of Shade contends with strength of
Light;

A waving Glow the bloomy beds display,
Blushing in bright diversities of day,

With filver-quiv'ring rills mæander'd o'er-
Enjoy them, you! Villario can no more;
Tir'd of the scene Parterres and Fountains yield,
He finds at last he better likes a Field.

85

Thro' his young Woods how pleas'd Sabinus ftray'd,

Or fat delighted in the thick'ning fhade,
With annual joy the red'ning shoots to greet,
Or fee the stretching branches long to meet!
His Son's fine Taste an op❜ner Vista loves,
Foe to the Dryads of his Father's groves;

NOTES.

Dr S. Clarke's bufto placed by the Queen in the Hermitage, while the Dr duely frequented the Court. P.

VER. 84. Blushing in bright diverfities of day,] i.. The feveral colours of

90

the grove in bloom, give feveral different tints to the lights and shades.

VER. 94. Foe to the Dryads of his Father's groves ;]. Finely intimating, by this fublime claffical image, that