THE GARDENS OF VENICE 



like mirrors, the bedsteads and chairs were carved 

 and painted, the carpets and hangings were of costly 

 Oriental stuffs. In the words of the poet Calmo, 

 " This was a palace where a monarch might fitly 

 make his home, and Jove himself might worthily be 

 received." Priuli's lifelong friend, Cardinal Pole, was 

 often his guest at Treville, " and wrote many letters to 

 Messer Alvise" ex villa tua. " This angelic spirit," 

 as Cardinal Contarini called the saintly English prelate, 

 was always happy in the country, and in one of his 

 letters from Treville, he says that he may well call 

 Priuli's villa " a. Paradise, because of its situation in 

 these delicious hills, and even more because of the 

 friends whose company I am enjoying." When Priuli 

 came in his turn to pay the Cardinal a visit at the 

 monastery of Carpentras, Pole wrote to their mutual 

 friend, saying that Messer Alvise was most diligent in 

 the study of philosophy and agriculture, and thinks 

 of turning horticulturist, " in which idea he is en- 

 couraged by the beautiful garden belonging to these 

 good Fathers, and their truly excellent gardener." * 



Another interesting Venetian, like Priuli, the friend of 

 Bembo and his circle, was Alvise Cornaro, whose Treatise 

 on the Simple Life (La Vita Sobria) became first 

 known to English readers through Addison's paper in 

 the Spectator. This scholar and philosopher lived to be 



1 Poli, Ep. ii. 162. 



129 i 



