CHATSWORTH. 503 



balustrade of the terrace (all of that rich golden stone), and catch 

 fine vistas of the park scenery below and beyond you. Of course, 

 the Italian gardens are laid out in that symmetrical style which 

 best accords with a grand mass of architecture, and are decorated 

 with fine vases, statues, and fountains. A pretty effect is produced 

 by avenues of Portugal laurels, grown with single stems and round 

 heads, like the orange-trees that always border the walks of the 

 gardens of the continent ; and the Duke mentioned, in passing, that 

 the Prince and Princess Borghese, who had been guests at Chats- 

 worth but a few days before, had really mistaken them for orange- 

 trees. But one point where the Italian gardens of Chatsworth must 

 always be finer than any in Italy, is in the carpet of turf which 

 forms their groundwork. The " velvet turf" of England is world- 

 wide in its reputation ; but no one, till he sees it as it is here 

 short, tufted, elastic to the tread can realize that the phrase is not 

 a metaphor. A surface of real dark green velvet of a dozen acres, 

 would scarcely soothe the eye more, by its look of softness and 

 smoothness, than the turf in the Italian gardens at Chatsworth. 



But the crowning glory in Chatsworth, is its fountains. In a 

 country where water is always scarce, a situation that affords a pretty 

 stream, or a small artificial lake, is a rarity. But the whole of the 

 hill, or mountain, that rises behind the house and pleasure-grounds, 

 is full of springs, and has been made a vast reservoir, which is per- 

 fectly under command, and fulfils its purposes of beauty as if it 

 were under the spell of some enchanter. If you will suppose your- 

 self standing with me on the upper terrace of the Italian gardens 

 that morning, behind you rises up the palace, stately and magnifi- 

 cent ; all along its front of eight hundred feet, those gardens extend 

 a carpet of velvet, divided by broad alleys, enriched by masses of 

 the richest flowers, and enlivened by fountains of various form, 

 sparkling in the sunshine like silver. Before you, also, stretches 

 part of these gardens a part in which the principal feature is a 

 mirror-like lake, set in turf, and overhung by a noble avenue of 

 drooping lime trees beyond which you catch a vista of the distant 

 hills. 



Out of this limpid sheet springs up a fountain, so high that, as 

 you look upward and fairly hold your breath with astonishment 



THE 



UNIVERSITY 



OF 



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