246 THE GIANT CYPBESSES OF VEEONA. [Fes., 



way, liewu out of the cliff, leads to its summit, at a height of eighty 

 feet above the level of the main garden. This highest terrace extends 

 back from the edge of the cliff for some thirty yards, and extends 

 along it for the entire breadth of the garden— about a hundred and 

 twenty yards. It has several fine Cypresses, and a variety of shrubs 

 and trees, and commands a magnificent view over the entire city and 

 far away to the snowy peaks of the Alps. Here, at my ease, on a 

 rustic bench, I spent one of the pleasantest hours I have ever known in 

 a garden. 



A glowing, cloudless sky intensified the brilliant colouring of the 

 landscape ; a fresh bracing breeze, gently swaying the tall spires of the 

 giant Cypresses, tempered the sun-heat, and wafted from the distant 

 piazza the strains of a military band. Nor was vocal melody want- 

 ing, for the birds were singing gaily in the shrubberies, and from the 

 adjoining villa came the full rich notes of an Italian girl practising 

 the soprano music of an opera. Huge locusts and butterflies were 

 sunning themselves in the glow of noon-tide, and the bright- eyed 

 lizards darted hither and thither over the pathway. The lower terrace 

 is no more than a path a few feet wide cut out of the cliff, but is well 

 utilised, Honeysuckle, climbing Eoses, and various creepers being 

 trained upwards from it so as to clothe the face of the cliff with 

 foliage and flowers. It is terminated by a miniature marble temple, 

 a delightful retreat during the hot summer days ; and beneath it the 

 wall of rock is entirely concealed by Virginia Creeper, which at the 

 time of my visit was a grand blaze of crimson, visible from all parts of 

 the garden, and forming a brilliant background of colour to the dark 

 green of the Cypresses and Pines. 



The main portion of the flower garden lies to the left of the avenue. 

 The centre of it is a maze of parterres, divided by tiny gi-avelled 

 walks, edged with Box a foot wide. An old fountain gurgles and 

 splashes dreamily, and here and there a quaint statue, utterly unworthy 

 of the surroundings, stands on its mouldering moss-grown pedestal. 

 The flowers were past their prime, but that variety was not wanting 

 may be judged from the following list which I jotted down in my 

 note-book : — Rose, Petunia, Aster, Gladiolus, Marigold, Zinnia, Chry- 

 santhemum, Ijalsam, Cockscomb, Stock, Dahlia, Everlasting, Coleus, 

 Antirrhinum, Gaillardia, Ageratum, Geranium, Portulaca, Phlox, 

 Phlox Drummondii, Verbena, I'eriwinkle, Pansy, Lobelia, and Fuchsia. 

 Others there were of the names of which I was ignorant. Box and 

 Myrtle hedges separate a portion of the garden where the glass- 

 houses and forcing-beds are situate. The principal shrubs and trees 

 I noticed were Douglas and AVey mouth Pine, Spruce, Scotch and 

 Silver Pir, Orange and Pomegranate, each with fruit ripening, Pihodo- 



