the prettiest bauble you ever saw. It is set in enamelled
meadows, with filigree hedges:-

'A small Euphrates through the piece is roll'd,
And little finches wave their wings of gold.'

Two delightful roads, that you would call dusty, supply me
continually with coaches and chaises; barges, as solemn as barons
of the exchequer, move under my window; Richmond Hill and Ham
Walks bound my prospects; but, thank God! the Thames is between
me and the Duchess of Queensberry. (32) Dowagers, as plenty as
flounders, inhabit all around; and Pope's ghost is just now
skimming under my window by a most poetical moonlight." (33)

He commenced almost immediately adding to the house, and
Gothicizing it, assisted by the taste and designs of his friend
Mr. Bentley; till, in the end, the cottage of Mrs. Chenevix had
increased into the castellated residence we now behold. He also
filled it with collections of various sorts-books, prints,
pictures, portraits, enamels, and miniatures, antiquities, and
curiosities of all kinds. Among these miscellaneous hoards are
to be found some fine works of art, and many things most valuable
in an historical and antiquarian point of view. For these
various expenses he drew upon his annual income, which arose from
three patent places conferred on him by his father, of which the
designations were, Usher of the Exchequer, Comptroller of the
Pipe, and Clerk of the Estreats. As early as the year 1744,
these sinecures produced to him, according to his own account,
nearly two thousand a-year; and somewhat later, the one place of
Usher of Exchequer rose in value to double this sum. This