THE SUNK GARDEN, THE VATICAN 

 built for Pius IV by Pirro Ligorio, the architect 

 who built the Villa d'Este. The classical 

 gateway, with its two flights of steps and oval 

 fountain between them, was also made by order 

 of Pius IV, and may be his work. It is 

 possible that this pope may have laid out this 

 garden. Chattard, in a description of the Vatican 

 published in 1665, describes it much as it is to- 

 day, with its box-edges cut into quaint conceits 

 and its eighty odd pots of herbs. 



The fountain is a very simple one of traver- 

 tine ; the four statues around it are ornamental 

 statues of no particular value, the only historical 

 detail is to be found in the flowery devices forming 

 the name and coat-of-arms of Pius IX. 



The recent popes have made no innovations, 

 and perhaps the gardens are more suggestive as 

 they are, in their old-world taste, and with their 

 reminiscences of bygone centuries. 



L. P. B. 



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