JUNE 363 



Ampelopsis veitchii hurt our feelings. But the dicta- 

 torial tone, the inability to recognise two sides to a 

 question, is characteristic of even the greatest gardeners.' 

 . What I did not sufficiently explain is that it is not a 

 plant that I condemn in itself, but what I do condemn is 

 the placing of it in wrong situations, or allowing it to 

 destroy architectural beauty. I have under my own bed- 

 room window an ugly piece of slate roofing which this 

 autumn was covered with a mixture of Virginia Creeper 

 and Ampelopsis the latter still green, the former one 

 mass of ruby and gold. Nothing could be more beautiful. 

 But then it is growing where hardly anything else would 

 grow, which is different to sacrificing a good south or 

 west wall for this one week of beauty in the year. 



My objection to Ampelopsis veitchii was certainly 

 increased while in Florence, as it grew with the greatest 

 profusion in every direction, and as a picturesque object 

 (say, for sketching) the beautiful old Porta Eomana was 

 entirely destroyed and put out of tone, both with sky and 

 earth, by being almost entirely covered with this terrible 

 brilliantly green Japanese Ivy. 



June %7th. Just before I left I went to see the 

 Eiccardi Palace in the Via Cavour. The chapel I 

 thought, as I suppose everyone does, one of the most in- 

 teresting gems in Florence ; it is so wonderfully fresh in 

 colour. The frescoes are by Benozzo Gozzoli. We are 

 told his mind was less exalted than Fra Angelico's. That 

 may easily be. His pictures are quite mundane, but the 

 costumes and the landscape backgrounds are thoroughly 

 interesting, and the luxurious grandeur in these wonder- 

 fully preserved frescoes give one a thrilling idea of the 

 times. I was especially interested in the garden back- 

 grounds. The Roses were quite cultivated Eoses and very 

 large. The Cypresses were faithfully painted as I have 

 seen nowhere else ; some were quite natural, others again 



