|HE Villa Medici, now the property of the 

 French Government, has the most delight- 

 ful situation in Rome east of the gardens 

 of Pincio and slightly elevated above them. The 

 entrance to the garden is by a roadway at the left of 

 the villa, and leads immediately into a beautiful grove 

 with straight paths and fountains. Considering its 

 position, this seems really a forest, and one has some- 

 thing of a stroll before reaching the old flower-garden 

 behind the villa. Here most of the traces of the 

 flowers and their original arrangement have disap- 

 peared, and little is done to keep the place up in its 

 old glory; even the main features of the "parterre" 

 have been changed with a view to economy, and only 

 the general effects produced by the situation and its 

 relations to the other parts of the villa are left. 



There is, however, a great charm in the sharp-cut 

 box hedges which surround the flower-beds, in contrast 

 with the varied outlines of the grove through which 



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