GARDENS OF FLORENTINE HUMANISTS 



shade in the noonday heats, but in small gardens it is 

 well to plant no trees on the lawn, and to leave the 

 grass exposed to the pure airs and sunshine." For the 

 ordinary person, two to four acres of ground should be 

 sufficient, but twenty acres would be more fitting for 

 kings and nobles. But since those personages who have 

 the means to satisfy their fancies are generally too igno- 

 rant or indolent to lay out their own gardens, the 

 writer proceeds to lay down rules for their guidance. 

 "A royal garden," he says, "should be girt about with 

 walls ; a fine palace should stand on the south side, 

 with flower-beds, orchards, and fishponds, and on the 

 north side, a thick wood should be planted to afford 

 shade and protect the garden from cruel winds." A 

 pavilion or casino, to serve as a dwelling-place in the 

 summer, should be placed in some part of the grounds, 

 surrounded with green palisades, while evergreen trees, 

 such as the pine, the cypress and ilex, which are never 

 bare of leaves, should be planted for ornament during 

 the winter months. Nor should a menagerie of wild 

 animals be wanting, or an aviary of singing birds, who 

 should be allowed to fly at will among the trees. 



Messer Piero's maxims seem to have met with 

 general approval from his fellow-countrymen, and in- 

 dicate the lines on which most Renaissance gardens were 

 laid out. As the sense of security increased, as men 

 became;rich and prosperous, country-houses and gardens 

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