Villas. 79 



interest which their villas inspire is in their pictures 

 and statues ; as to the most celebrated of which an 

 eminent writer, quoted in one of these books, says : 

 " A few Cardinals created all the great villas of 

 Home. Their riches, their taste, their learning, their 

 leisure, their frugality, all conspired in this single 

 object. "While the eminent founder was squander- 

 ing thousands on a statue, he would allow but one 

 <rown for his dinner. He had no children, no stud, 

 110 dogs to keep. He built for his own pleasure, or 

 for the admiration of others ; but he embellished his 

 country, he promoted the resort of rich foreigners, 

 and he afforded them a high intellectual treat for a 

 few pauls which never entered his own pocket." 

 Doubtless every person with love of the Fine Arts en- 

 joys as a great treat a visit to some of these galleries; 

 but to anyone with a taste for horticulture it is 

 refreshing to go from the dazzling beauty which they 

 present, sometimes with somewhat of sameness, into 

 such grounds as those of Isola Bella, or others about 

 Italian waters, and see the progress ornamental gar- 

 dening is making there. In 1872 I spent some days 

 at Hotel Tramontane, which was Tasso's Villa, at 

 Sorrento ; and two of the proprietors, ladies from 

 our county of "Wicklow, seemed quite anxious to in- 

 troduce into their grounds, where lemons, oranges, 

 and other fruits luxuriate, such ornamental shrubs 

 and plants as would add to the beauty of one of the 

 loveliest spots in Europe. And in visiting these and 

 other show places abroad, and admiring their most 



