not, I will supply the omission, in the shape of a ballad, "to the tune
of a former song by George Bubb Doddington." It is entitled, "Strawberry
Hill."

"Some cry up Gunnersbury,
For Sion some declare;
And some say that with Chiswick House
No villa can compare.
But ask the beaux of Middlesex,
Who know the country well,
If Strawb'ry Hill, if Strawb'ry Hill
Don't bear away the bell?

"Since Denham sung of Cooper's,
There's scarce a hill around
But what in song or ditty
Is turned to fairy ground.
Ah, peace be with their memories!
I wish them wondrous well;
But Strawb'ry Hill, but Strawb'ry Hill
Must bear away the bell."

It is no way surprising that a noble poet capable of writing such a
ballad should have admired the villa of Horace Walpole: it is no way
surprising that a proprietor capable of admiring such a ballad should
have printed his own glorification of Strawberry Hill.

I am not insensible to the easy grace and the piquancy of his letters;
no man could ever pour more delightful twaddle into the ear of a great
friend; no man could more delight in doing it, if only the friend were