VILLA 
with the dainty maidenhair fern and_ enriched 
with golden mosses. Perhaps the most beautiful 
of all Mr. Latham’s illustrations are the two which 
show us the entrance to the heart of the garden, 
the low flight of four curving steps, flanked on 
either side by groups of figures. This is the 
garden of the Hermes and Caryatide. On one 
side stands the Casino or summer-house, a small 
villa, having three stories to the east and one to 
the west. It contains three or four rooms on 
each floor, and a gaily-frescoed loggia looks out, 
both on the east and west fronts. The peculiar 
distinction of this garden consists in the twenty- 
eight giant stone figures which stand round it 
on three sides, and which, interspersed with tall 
cypresses, have a picturesque stateliness such as 
can hardly be matched elsewhere. Each one 
is different, with a beautiful natural variety : 
some stand in couples, whispering together; a 
faun blows a conch shell into his companion’s 
ear, who wards off the sound with his hands ; 
another plays Pan’s pipes; one nymph, with her 
hands thrown up behind her head, seems to lean 
lazily back in a cypress bower ; others clasp young 
birds or bunches of grapes; over ali Time has 
flung his hoary charm. They stand out high and 
erect, and are seen against the melting blue of 
the far distance. A double stairway, rich in 
dolphins and sea-beasts, leads to the remains of 
another garden behind the Casino, where. still 
stands a slender fountain and a graceful semi- 
circle of fountain gateways, and from this one 
passes into the woods again. The upper part 
of the grounds is left to run wild, except that 
the box hedges are cut. 
It is impossible adequately to describe the 
charm of this high and lovely garden. It is in 
extraordinarily good preservation, and this is the 
more striking, that there is not the slightest sign 
of any restoration. As the photographs show, the 
carving of the stonework is as clear and well-cut 
as ever. Look at the detail of the mouldings of 
the east and west stairways, the bold and grotesque 
dolphins of the cascades. The whole garden has 
a look of weird melancholy, almost magical in its 
effect, and forlorn as it is, is yet more beautiful 
in its solitary silence than it could have been in 
its hour of magnificence. 
The west of the garden terminates in the 
stables, erected for Cardinal Alessandro, from 
Vignola’s designs. There is stabling for sixty 
horses. Overhead is a corridor, in the form of 
a cross, which divides four airy rooms, and on a 
higher storey is accommodation for the grooms and 
coachmen. 
One of the most striking features of the castle 
is the massive wall which entirely surrounds it and 
the grounds. It is about three miles in circum- 
ference, a solid bastion of masonry, descending into 
a hollowed-out, moat-like channel, from which the 
land slopes up on the opposite side. The grounds 
are therefore absolutely isolated and unapproachable, 
FARNESE. 
and can only be entered from the castle and by one 
other gate. In the Cardinal’s time the woods at 
the back were full of deer, wild boar, and game, 
and miniature hunting parties often took place. 
The splendour of Caprarola was short, and for 
more than a hundred and fifty years now it has 
been practically untenanted. In® thes edaysagou 
Cardinal Alessandro and his successor Odoardo great 
state was kept. In 1596 there was a theatre in the 
garden, and Liberati’s play, ‘* Gli Intrighi d’ Amore,” 
was acted here. After Odoardo’s death the ducal 
seat was moved to Parma, and by 1650 much of 
the beautiful furniture had been taken there too. 
The male line became extinct in January, 1731, 
with Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma, and 
Caprarola was left as dowry to his niece Elizabeth, 
who had married Philip V., King of Spain and 
Naples. By command of. these monarchs, the 
whole palace was put into thorough order, the doors 
and windows repaired, and the roof entirely renewed 
and supplied, at great expense, with lead conduits. 
This accounts in great measure for the good 
condition in which the palace remains. The 
Queen conceded its use to Cardinal Acquav-va, 
Archbishop of Monreale, Protector of the Two 
Sicilies and in Rome, the vigilant Minister of His 
Majesty the King of Naples. Acquaviva also did a 
good deal in the way of restoration, mending stucco 
ornamentation, retouching and protecting the decay- 
ing frescoes, and refurnished the whole, in a style 
which the somewhat fulsome Sebastiani pronounces . 
to be “worthy of his great soul.” He entertained 
continually, summer parties of princes, clerics, and 
nobility, in what, to quote our chronicler once more, 
“was esteemed the most artistic, commodious, and 
best decorated palace in the whole world.” It still 
belongs to the ruined Bourbon family. 
Many are the noble guests who have been 
entertained here. San Carlo Borrommeo stayed for 
a few days in 1580. It was on that occasion that 
he made the speech to the Cardinal that I have 
already quoted (Villa Lante) ; but even he was 
penetrated with the loveliness, and said to his host, 
“What must Paradise be like!” Gregory XIII. 
was the guest of Cardinal Alessandro in 1585. His 
attendant cardinals were lodged in the rooms over 
the stable, from which a special passage was made, 
communicating with the main building. The Chief 
Magistrate and all the citizens were at the gates to 
present the keys and to pay their homage to the 
Vicar of Christ, who in return presented the silver 
cross borne by his cross-bearer and a noble chalice 
to the cathedral, where they are still preserved, 
besides blessing the town and its inhabitants from 
the palace windows and enriching them with 
copious Indulgences. Among the attractions of the 
stately pageant was a procession of a hundred 
maidens, dressed in white, carrying olive branches 
and clashing cymbals. Cardinal Odoardo was the 
host of Clement VIII., and Sebastiani gives an 
account of a visit paid by Queen Christina of 
Sweden, in December, 1655, when she stopped at 
