242 



THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



was capable, to contrast the imposing grandeur of the first with the charming elegance of the 

 second. 



We can imagine the courtly old Cardinal gloating over the plans and watching the progress 

 of the workmen with an impatient eye ; but he was not destined to see the fulfilment of his 

 dreams. Pope Gregory XIII, hearing much of the beauties of the villa, proposed to pay it a 

 visit, and the Cardinal made extensive preparations to receive him. The first of the twin 

 buildings was finished. Vignola's design for the gardens was partly carried out ; but the Pope, 

 not being able to fulfil his proposed intention, sent in his stead that well meaning killjoy, San Carlo 

 Borrommeo. The Cardinal showed him all over the estate the new buildings, the grounds 

 and the woods no doubt shaking in his shoes, and trying to minimise its splendours, San Carlo 

 meantime was looking at and counting the cost, while thinking of the poverty-stricken borgo 

 lying on the hillside below. His trenchant remark was rightly construed as an order and a 

 sentence : " The money spent on this would have been better employed in erecting a hospital 



252. THE NORTH WALK, VILLA LANTE. 



lor the benefit of the poor of Viterbo." Cardinal Gambara had not the wit of his neighbour, 

 Cardinal Farnese, who, to such a stricture, replied : " I did give it them, but I made them earn 

 it with the sweat of their brow." He accepted the reproof and suggestion with politic readiness ; 

 the second villa was not built in his day, but a hospital was raised in Viterbo, and a large sam of 

 money spent upon the Cathedral. The house as he built it is square and comfortable, a good, 

 simple work of the Renaissance, with moderate-sized vaulted rooms. Outside it is of a beautiful 

 mellow grey stone, treated in slight relief and adorned with the Cardinal's armorial bearings, 

 in which the crab (Italian Gambara) takes a conspicuous place. The ceilings were decorated by 

 the brothers Zuccari, and are in their most restrained and harmonious style. The Holy See 

 made many requests to the Cardinal to make over his right in the property, which had been 

 specially accorded to him by Pius V, but he persistently refused, and kept it as his own, living 

 there and enjoying " his delight," as he called it, until his death in 1587. His successor. Cardinal 

 Casale, however, agreed to bequeath it to the See of Rome, by whom in future it was lent to the 

 Bishops of Viterbo. 



