250 XanDscape Brcbitecture 



is co-ordinated with the different parts of the place 

 and especially the house. 



In order to realize how fifty years later the Italian 

 villas assumed a different aspect from that noted by 

 Smollett, read what William Beckford, the creator of 

 Font Hill Abbey and therefore a competent observer, 

 writes : 



"I dined in peace and solitude and repaired as 

 evening drew on to the thickets of Boboli, What 

 a serene sky! What mellowness in the tints of the 

 mountains ! A purple haze concealed the bases, while 

 their summits were invested with saffron light, dis- 

 covering every white cot and every copse that clothed 

 their declivities. The prospect widened as I as- 

 cended the terraces of the garden. After traversing 

 many long dusky alleys I reached the opening on the 

 brow of the hill and seating myself under the statue 

 of Ceres, took a sketch of the huge mountainous 

 cupola of the Duomo, the adjoining lovely tower, and 

 one more massive in its neighbourhood, built not 

 unprobably in the style of ancient Etruria. Beyond 

 this historic group of buildings a plain stretches itself 

 far and wide most richly studded with villas and 

 gardens and groves of pine and olive, quite to the feet 

 of the mountains. 



"Having marked the sun's going down and all the 

 soothing effects cast by the declining rays on every 

 object, I went through a plat of vines to a favourite 

 haunt of mine: a little garden of the most fragrant 



