364 MORE POT-POURRI 



were cut in rounds and shapes, probably the earliest re- 

 presentation of topiary work in the world. The flower 

 beds were cut out in the grass with hedges such as one 

 sees to-day round any modern hotel. The extraordinary 

 preservation of the frescoes is owing to their having been 

 in the dark. Now the owners have made a large window, 

 and a Philistine proprietor years ago cut a door through 

 the principal fresco. The portraits of the Medicis on 

 horseback, and the splendid clothes, figure, and horse of 

 the Eastern Emperor, impressed me with the feeling it 

 was quite the finest thing of the kind I had seen. 



I suppose everyone climbs up to the top of the old 

 Palazzo Vecchio and sees that old Medicean room, once 

 the library, where the huge white doors of the book- 

 cases are panelled with the most beautiful old maps. If 

 I remember rightly, America is represented by the island 

 of Cuba ! The colour of them is splendid. Even modern 

 maps would make a beautiful decoration for a white room, 

 I think. German modern maps are exceedingly well 

 coloured, and some representing seas and currents have a 

 mystery and poetry quite their own. 



The comparatively new public road on the San 

 Miniato hill, which Mr. Hare calls ' an enchanting drive,' 

 struck me as extremely well done, very well planted, and 

 all the plants well blocked together. In a few more years, 

 when it has lost its ' new ' look, it will be very beautiful even 

 from a gardener's point of view. The variety of Oleanders 

 from snow-white to darkest red were the best I have 

 ever seen. 



The interior of San Miniato is one of the most curious, 

 old, and impressive churches in all Florence ; but the 

 strange burial-ground, dug apparently into the rock, is to 

 my mind pathetically ugly. The utter bad taste of it is not 

 on so large a scale as the famous cemetery at Genoa, 

 which to the very utmost carries out Mr. Buskin's words 



