structs the villa, and forms a vision of the beauty of 

 the place. 



There are two villas in Frascati belonging to the 

 Borghese family, one of which, the Villa Taverna, has 

 been kept up as a family residence, and the other, 

 Mondragone, is now occupied by a Jesuit school. 

 The palace and the scale of the gardens of the latter 

 are of great size ; but with the exception of a fine ter- 

 race in front of the house, and an avenue of cypresses 

 which leads up to it from the public road, there is 

 nothing left but architectural details. The walls and 

 fountain of the old garden still exist, and also a pavil- 

 ion and colonnade of remarkable dignity at one end of 

 it ; but the razed parterre is now used as a playground 

 for boys. 



The Villa Taverna has a very charming flower-gar- 

 den, which is reached from one wing of the house. 

 It is raised above the road, and is, in fact, so enclosed 

 and supported by architecture that it seems to be lit- 

 erally an apartment of the house. The central fount- 

 ain here is a very handsome one, surrounded by 

 laurels cut in a circular form. There are some inter- 

 esting fountains let into the wall, and the balustrade 

 which connects the garden and the house is a very 



good one. Beyond this there is little here to detain 



104 



