t only was this temple of the
Muses--this abode of genius--the resort of the learned and the wittiest
of the land--levelled to the earth, but all that the earth produced to
remind posterity of its illustrious owner, and identify the dead with
the living strains he has bequeathed to us, was plucked up by the roots
and scattered to the wind." On the authority of William Hewitt I have
stated on an earlier page that some splendid Spanish chesnut trees and
some elms and cedars planted by Pope at Twickenham were still in
existence. But Churton is a later authority. Howitt's book was published
in 1847.

[039] _One would have thought &c._ See the garden of Armida, as
described by Tasso, C. xvi. 9, &c.

"In lieto aspetto il bel giardin s'aperse &c."

Here was all that variety, which constitutes the nature of beauty: hill
and dale, lawns and crystal rivers, &c.

"And, that which all faire works doth most aggrace,
"The art, which all that wrought, appeared in no place."

Which is literally from Tasso, C, xvi 9.

"E quel, che'l bello, e'l caro accresce a l'opre,
"L'arte, che tutto fa, nulla si scopre."

The next stanza is likewise translated from Tasso, C. xvi 10. And, if
the reader likes the comparing of the copy with the original, he may see
many other beauties borrowed from the Italian poet. The fountain, and
the two bathing damsels, are taken from Tasso, C. xv, st. 55, &c. which
he calls, _Il fonte del riso_. UPTON.

[040] Cowper was evidently here thinking rather of Milton than of Homer.

_Flowers of all hue_, and without thorns the rose.

_Paradise Lost_.

Pope translates the passage thus;

Beds of all various _herbs_, for ever green,
In beauteous order terminate the scene.

Homer referred to pot-herbs, not to flowers of all hues. Cowper is
generally more faithful than Pope, but he is less so in this instance.
In the above description we have Homer's highest conception of a
princely garden:--in five acres were included an orchard, a vineyard,
and some beds of pot-herbs. Not a single flower is mentioned, by the
original author, though his translator has been pleased to steal some
from the garden of Eden and place them on "the verge extreme" of the
four acres. Homer of course meant to attach to a Royal residence as
Royal a garden; but as Bacon says, "men begin to build stately sooner
than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection." The
mansion of Alcinous was