/Ifoars mottles flfcontasue 173 



where I am, but perfectly proportioned and 

 uniform, from a design of Palladio's. The gar- 

 den is in the style of Le Notre, and the furni- 

 ture in the best taste of Paris. I am almost 

 ready to confess it deserves the preference to 

 this, though built at far less expense. The 

 situations are as different as is possible, when 

 both of them are between a mountain and the 

 lake : that under which the Duke of Mantua 

 chose to build is much lower than this, and 

 almost sterile ; the prospect of it is rather 

 melancholy than agreeable ; but the palace, 

 being placed at the foot of it, is a mile distant 

 from the lake, which forms a sort of peninsula, 

 half a mile broad, and 't is on that is the de- 

 lightful garden, adorned with parterres, espa- 

 liers, all sorts of exotic plants, and ends in a 

 thick wood, cut into ridings. That in the midst 

 is large enough for a coach, and terminates at 

 the lake, which appears from the windows like 

 a great canal made on purpose to beautify the 

 prospect. On the contrary, the palace where I 

 lodge is so near the water that you step out of 

 the gate into the barge, and the gardens being 

 all divided, you cannot view from the house 

 above one of them at a time. In short, these 

 two palaces .may in their different beauties rival 

 each other, while they are neither of them to 

 be excelled in any other part of the world. 



