ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



grove, watching the rabbits peeping out of the bushes, 

 and looking down on the foaming waters of the Dario 

 in the gorge below. 



" Nothing is lacking," wrote Messer Andrea, " to 

 complete the charm and perfection of this spot, save 

 the presence of a scholar who would enjoy its beauty. 

 Such a man might live here in peace and quietness, 

 engaged in those studies that would make him happy, 

 and in which he would be content to spend the rest of 

 his life, careless of wealth or fame." * 



The quarters occupied by the Ambassadors at 

 Granada were in the upper city, which was still inhabited 

 by the Moors, whose carefully cultivated, well-watered 

 gardens filled Messer Andrea with admiration. But 

 the period of forty years' grace, granted them by the 

 conquerors, had almost expired, and in a few months 

 the Inquisition was to be set up in Granada. Already 

 many of the wealthier Moors were gone to Africa, and 

 the kind-hearted Venetian looked with a sigh at these 

 gardens of myrtle and musk roses, and thought sorrow- 

 fully of the doom which hung over them. 



But none of these brilliant and varied scenes could 

 make Navagero forget his own gardens at Murano and 

 Selve, his other villa in the Trevigiana district. 



" Sweetest Ramusio," he wrote from Toledo, "I care 

 more for my gardens at Murano and Selve than for 



1 Navagero, Viaggio in Spagna, 20-25. 

 120 



