348 MORE POT-POURRI 



The two most beautiful villas I saw truly carried out, 

 with their lovely grounds, the half-monkish ideal expressed 

 by Newman : ' By a garden is meant mystically a place 

 of spiritual repose, stillness, peace, refreshment, and 

 delight.' Our gay, modern, brilliant, flowery English 

 parterres and Scotch and Irish gardens express, to my 

 mind, none of this. Apart from everything else, their 

 limited size renders this impossible. They tell us a garden 

 is the reward of toil ; the earth's cry of delight that winter 

 is over and gone ; the full enjoyment of plenty and rich 

 colour, requiring constant care ; not a place of ' spiritual 

 repose, stillness, and delight.' 



The more splendid of these two villas was, tradition 

 says, designed by Michael Angelo, and it is worthy of his 

 brain and hand. In its large simplicity it reminds one 

 of his will : ' Lascio 1' anima a Dio e la mia roba ai piu 

 prossimi parenti.' This villa stands many miles high on 

 the hillside south-west of Florence, and is approached by 

 the usual stately Cypress avenue. Its massive plain front 

 and its open arcade are most impressive. On the right 

 was the solemn shade of the Ilex grove, and beneath was 

 the boundless view of sunlit Florence. 



The other villa, most wonderful of all as regards its 

 surroundings and views, was Villa Gamberaia (which 

 means, 'Pool of the Crayfish'), four or five miles from 

 Florence beyond Settingiano. I suppose everyone who 

 goes to Florence sees it, or used to do so ; now it is more 

 difficult. Napoleon III. lived in it at one time. I wonder 

 if in after-life his thoughts sometimes turned with 

 sorrowful regrets to the peaceful days passed there? 

 Here were Cypresses taller and straighter than any I 

 had ever seen ; long green alleys ending in small temples ; 

 high walls over which Oleanders tossed themselves, their 

 branches heavy with the bloom of their exquisite pink 

 flowers ; and all the long afternoon of the late June day 



