I Must Acknowledge
However, I Have Not Seen The Famous Villas At Frascati And
Tivoli, Which Are Celebrated For Their Gardens And Waterworks.
I
intended to visit these places; but was prevented by an
unexpected change of weather, which deterred me from going to the
country.
On the last day of September the mountains of Palestrina
were covered with snow; and the air became so cold at Rome, that
I was forced to put on my winter cloaths. This objection
continued, till I found it necessary to set out on my return to
Florence. But I have seen the gardens of the Poggio Imperiale,
and the Palazzo de Pitti at Florence, and those of the Vatican,
of the pope's palace on Monte Cavallo, of the Villa Ludovisia,
Medicea, and Pinciana, at Rome; so that I think I have some right
to judge of the Italian taste in gardening. Among those I have
mentioned, that of the Villa Pinciana, is the most remarkable,
and the most extensive, including a space of three miles in
circuit, hard by the walls of Rome, containing a variety of
situations high and low, which favour all the natural
embellishments one would expect to meet with in a garden, and
exhibit a diversity of noble views of the city and adjacent
country.
In a fine extensive garden or park, an Englishman expects to see
a number of groves and glades, intermixed with an agreeable
negligence, which seems to be the effect of nature and accident.
He looks for shady walks encrusted with gravel; for open lawns
covered with verdure as smooth as velvet, but much more lively
and agreeable; for ponds, canals, basins, cascades, and running
streams of water; for clumps of trees, woods, and wildernesses,
cut into delightful alleys, perfumed with honeysuckle and sweet-
briar, and resounding with the mingled melody of all the singing
birds of heaven:
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