One boundless Green, or flourish'd Carpet views, 95 With all the mournful family of Yews; The thriving plants, ignoble broomsticks made, Now sweep those Alleys they were born to shade. At Timon's Villa let us pass a day, Where all cry out, “What sums are thrown away!" So proud, so grand; of that stupendous air, 101 NOTES. Ver. 95. The two extremes in parterres, which are equally faulty; a boundless Green, large and naked as a field, or a flourish'd Carpet, where the greatness and nobleness of the piece are lessened by being divided into too many parts, with scroll'd works and beds, of which the examples are frequent. P. Ver. 95. Carpet views,] His fine taste, views, is an inaccurate expression, and hardly grammar; at least, an harsh combination of words. Is a total banishment of evergreens right? Has not this fashion of banishing them been carried too far? Ver. 96. mournful family of Yews ;] Touches upon the ill taste of those who are so fond of Evergreens (particularly Yews, which are the most tonsile), as to destroy the nobler Forest-trees to make way for such little ornaments as Pyramids of dark green continually repeated, not unlike a Funeral procession. P. Ver. 99. At Timon's Villa] This description is intended to comprise the principles of a false Taste of Magnificence, and to exemplify what was said before, that nothing but Good Sense can attain it. P. Ver. 103. Greatness, with Timon,] The first edition of this Epistle was in folio, 1731. A spurious one was published in octavo, 1732, with many severe remarks by Concanen and Welsted, as was supposed; to which was prefixed a print designed by Hogarth, in which Pope is represented standing on a builder's high stage, and white-washing the great gate-way of Burlington-house, and at the same time bespattering the coach of the Duke of Chandos passing by. Hogarth suppressed this To compass this, his building is a Town, No artful wildness to perplex the scene; NOTES. 105 110 115 120 print, which is now become very valuable. It is remarkable our Author never once names Hogarth, though he had so many opportunities of doing it. Ver. 104. All Brobdignag] It is worth mentioning, that two pieces of burlesque poetry, one on Pygmies, by Moreau the preceptor of Scarron, and the other by Scarron himself, on Giants, bear a close resemblance to the Lilliput and the Brobdignag of Swift. Ver. 109. Lo, what huge heaps of littleness around!] Grandeur in building, as in the human frame, does not take its denomination from the body, but the soul of the work; when the soul therefore is lost or encumbered in its envelope, the unanimated parts, how huge soever, are not members of grandeur, but mere heaps of littleness. W. Ver. 110. A labour'd Quarry] In his letters he applies this expression to Blenheim; the massy magnificence of which Sir Joshua Reynolds always defended against the common cant of its being heavy. By Brown's late improvements, Blenheim is become one of the finest examples of laying out grounds judiciously. 7 With here a Fountain, never to be play'd; First thro' the length of yon hot Terrace sweat; 130 thighs, Just at his Study-door he'll bless your eyes. His Study! with what Authors is it stor❜d? NOTES. Ver. 121. With here a Fountain,] It is amusing to see how far our taste in gardening has spread. The present Empress of Russia writes thus to Voltaire, June 25, 1772: "J'aime à la folie présentement les jardins à l'Anglaise, les lignes courbes, les pentes douces, les étangs en forme de lacs, les archipels en terre ferme; et j'ai un profond mepris pour les lignes droits, les allées jumelles. Je hais les fontaines qui donnent la torture a l'eau pour lui faire prendre un cours contraire à sa nature; les statues sont reléguées dans les galeries, les vestibules, &c. En un mot, l'Anglomanie domine dans ma plantomanie." Ver. 124. The two Statues of the Gladiator pugnans, and Gla diator moriens. Ver. 124. die in flow'rs ;] This is more finical and puerile than his usual manner. Ver. 130. The Approaches and Communication of house with garden, or one part with another, ill-judged, and inconvenient. P. Ver. 133. His Study! &c.] The false Taste in books; a satire on the vanity in collecting them, more frequent in men of Fortune than the study to understand them. Many delight chiefly in the elegance of the print, or of the binding; some have carried To all their dated backs he turns you round; NOTES. 135 140 145 it so far, as to cause the upper shelves to be filled with painted books of wood; others pique themselves so much upon books in a language they do not understand, as to exclude the most useful in one they do. P. Ver. 138. but they are Wood.] There is a flatness and insipidity in this couplet, much below the usual manner of our Author. Young has been more sprightly and poignant on the same subject. Universal Passion, Sat. 3. Ver. 139. or Milton] This is one of the few places in which our Author seems to speak highly of Milton. Ver. 142. The false taste in Music, improper to the subjects, as of light airs in churches, often practised by the organist, &c. P. Ver. 142. That summons you to all the Pride of Pray'r :] This absurdity is very happily expressed; Pride, of all human follies, being the first we should leave behind us when we approach the sacred altar.-But he who could take Meanness for Magnificence, might easily mistake Humility for meanness. W. Ver. 145. And in Painting (from which even Italy is not free) of naked figures in churches, &c. which has obliged some Popes to put draperies on some of those of the best masters. P. Ver. 146. There sprawl the Saints of Verrio or Laguerre,] This was not only said to deride the indecency and awkward position On gilded clouds in fair expansion lie, NOTES. of the figures, but to insinuate the want of dignity in the subjects. Raphael's pagans, as the devils in Milton, act a nobler part than the Gods and Saints of ordinary poets and painters. The cartoons at Hampton-Court are talked of by every body; they have been copied, engraved, and criticised; and yet so little studied or considered, that in the noblest of them, of which likewise more has been said than of all the rest, we are as much strangers to St. Paul's audience in the Areopagus, as to those before whom he preached at Thessalonica or Berea. The story from whence the painter took his subject is this:"St. Paul came to Athens,-was encountered by the Epicureans and Stoics,-taken up by them to the court of Areopagus,--before which he made his apology; and amongst his converts at this time were, Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris." On this simple plan he exercises his invention. Paul is placed on an eminence in the act of speaking, the audience round him in a circle: and a statue of Mars, in the front of his temple, denotes the Scene of Action. The first figure has been taken notice of for the force of its expression. We see all the marks of conviction and resignation to the direction of the divine Messenger. But I do not know that it has been suspected that a particular character was here represented. And yet the Platonic countenance, and the female attendant, shew plainly, that the painter designed DIONYSIUS, whom Ecclesiastical story makes of this sect; and to whom sacred history has given this companion. For the woman is DAMARIS, mentioned with him, in the Acts, as a joint convert. Either the Artist mistook his text, and supposed her to be converted with him at this audience; or, what is more likely, he purposely committed the indecorum of bringing a woman into the Areopagus, the better to mark out his Dionysius; a character of great fame in the Romish Church, from a mystic voluminous impostor, who has assumed his titles. Next to this PLATONIST of open mien, is a figure deeply collected within himself, immersed in thought, and ruminating on what he hears. Conformable to his state, his arms are buried in his garment, and his chin reposing on his bosom; in a word, all his lineaments denote the STOIC; he says as plainly, Ne te quæsiveris extra, as if the Painter had |