GARDEN GATES 



too, and tall, slender pillars, cypresses, or pines to mark 

 the gateway. 



On the island of Corfu the Empress Elizabeth of Aus- 

 tria built a great palace where she spent much of her time. 

 It has a wonderful outlook over the purple Grecian sea 

 and tawny islands, and behind it lie the gardens, a floor 

 higher than the front of the building. These are attained 

 from within through the main hall of the palace, or from 

 without by a flight of marble steps with a balustrade of 

 beautifully carved pillars, at whose turnings stand statues. 

 Beyond the topmost steps a serpentine path adorned by 

 columns wreathed in creepers winds and winds until it 

 achieves an airy colonnade from which the gardens drop 

 away in three terraces. This colonnade extends on two 

 sides, with statues at regular intervals before it, looking 

 out into the garden ; a formal garden of date- and sago- 

 palms and flaming beds, ordered paths and rhythmic 

 fountains, where marble steps and temples and statues 

 play a great part, white against a myriad tones of green, 

 for the vines have flourished everywhere. 



In Spain the gardens are usually inclosed on three 

 sides by the house to which they belong, while the open 

 side has a wrought-iron fence with an arch or triple arch 

 of stucco surmounted by small cupolas for the entrance; 

 such, for instance, as obtain in the garden of the 

 Alcazar at Seville. In Mexico we see the same 

 characteristics; while often the only entrance is 

 through the house, as in the old Borda gardens. Here 



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