408 THE GARDEN AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. 



demolished the citizens ventured forth without dread from the narrow 

 city walls, and then there was developed a real care for the unpreten- 

 tious front garden. 



In the meantime a new epoch of culture had begun on the farther 

 side of th(^ Alps, and with it a new garden style grew up, starting from 

 the same State which in the fifteenth century gave such a remarkul)le 

 impetus to the history of culture, from Florence, where Machiavelli 

 first introduced military service for all citizens, where Niccolo da 

 Uzzano first established the principle of the modern income tax. 



Among the artists of the fourteenth century who wished to excite an 

 interest in the art of antiquity and thereby create a new art, Leon 

 Battista Alberti, among others, represented the theatrical side. An 

 architect by profession, he also created the show garden which now, in 

 more peaceful times, was attached to the palace. From the description 

 of gardens given b}' Pliny, he adopted the splendid Corinthian pillar as 

 a supporter for vines, colonnades, and artificial grottoes. But he also 

 gave special importance to the plan of the garden, and in a way that 

 was characteristic at once of an architect and a Southerner. Its field, 

 which was surrounded by a thick shorn hedge, must be rectangular, 

 round, or semicircular, or at least have such a regular contour as would 

 constitute a good architectural plan. Then the architect created with 

 compass and rule a perfectlj^ symmetrical division of beds and that 

 exact .symmetrj'of the garden which is a necessity of life to the Italian, 

 but which is to our taste an unspeakable weariness, especialh" when 

 developed on a large scale. According to this geometrical principle 

 there was, for example, laid out later at Rome the garden of the 

 Quirinal palace, which is divided by straight paths crossing at right 

 angles into some 80 equal quadrants, all surrounded by a hedge the 

 height of a man. The uniformity of this chessboard system is slightly 

 modified by planting, in about a dozen of these quadrants, trees which 

 necessarily rise above the level of the hedge, but they are so kept 

 under by the shears that they do not conceal the imposing regularity 

 of the plan. In view of this monumental monotony it is hardly at all 

 noticed that in certain of the quadrants miniature gardens of propor- 

 tional size are planted. Here, by means of low hedges of box, were 

 artistic scrolls of arabesques and sjinmetrically arranged beds in 

 which the elegance of the design and the diversity of invention of 

 Italian taste completelv compensated for what was otherwise wanting. 



In order to correctly judge this style of garden, there should be 

 taken into account the needs of the Italians and the conditions under 

 which it arose. 



The lack of shade characteristic of this kind of garden does not gen- 

 erally seem a fault to an Italian, for he remains indoors until after 

 sunset during the season when the sun is oppressive. The high hedge 

 serves as a green decoration without interfering with the circulation 



