with a smile even more flattering than her words. It was well that she engrossed the attention of her host from the dialogue going on between Lord Hervey and Lady Mary.
"You learned the language of flowers in the East," said he; "but I thought dwarfs were only the messengers."
"And such they are now," replied his listener: " here is one flower for you,
'The rest the gods dispersed on empty air,'"
and she flung the blossoms carelessly from her.
Pope did not see the action, for he was pointing out a beautiful break in the view. "I have," said he, "long had a favourite project—that of planting an old Gothic cathedral in trees. Tall poplars, with their white stems, the lower branches cut away, would serve for the pillars; while different heights would form the aisles. The thick green boughs would shed 'a dim religious light,' and some stately old tree would have a fine effect as the tower."
