THE SOCIAL SIDE OF GARDENS 



made and enjoyed them. Even as a scientist recon- 

 structs his monster from a portion of bone, so might the 

 student of human manners rebuild an entire social 

 regime from some ruined garden whose tangled bos- 

 kets and moldering statues whispered their secrets of 

 the past. The pictures of Fragonard with their veils of 

 misty leaves and gracious rose-twined marbles tell more 

 of the actual social atmosphere pervading the reigns of 

 the Louis than a volume of printed pages could convey. 

 And to wander through one of the gardens built during 

 the Italian Renaissance is to have the soul of a whole 

 generation explained. 



The society of the Italian principalities in the six- 

 teenth century was as brilliant as the art, with all its 

 revival of learning, poetry, painting, and architecture. 

 Nor were the women less ardent, less cultured than the 

 men. The passion for creation, the creation of beauty, 

 which obsessed every one, flamed in them too. A few 

 wrote or painted ; but most found the fulfilment of their 

 desire in fashioning a perfect frame for the labor of the 

 greatest. So it was that many of these gifted women 

 turned their talents to the making of gardens, gardens 

 peculiarly suited for social enjoyment, for gatherings 

 of the wise and the witty, gardens expressing a certain 

 high reserve and yet inviting a pleasant freedom. 



"There was a passion for beautiful gardens in the 

 Italy of that day," says Christopher Hare, in her memoir 

 of Baldassare Castiglione, author of the world-famous 



