ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



"As you saw, I mounted my horse, still suffering 

 from the illness which Rome unkindly gave me, in 

 reward for my trouble in coming to see her. But, 

 as I rode, my strength returned at every step, and 

 by the time I arrived here, I was myself again. 

 Whether this was due to the pleasure I felt in leaving 

 Rome, which certainly treated me badly this time, or 

 to the change of air, or to healthy exercise, I will not 

 attempt to decide, probably it was the result of all 

 three ! At Padua I paid visits to some of my friends, 

 and received visits from others, and then came on to 

 my Villetta, which received me with open arms and 

 where I find a peace and content that are a great 

 contrast to the troubles which beset me in Rome. I 

 do not hear disagreeable news. I need not think of 

 lawsuits or wait on Procurators, or visit Auditors of the 

 Rota. I hear nothing but the voices of nightingales 

 warbling from every bush in joyous rivalry, and the 

 songs of other birds, who all do their best to please 

 me with their divine harmonies. I read, I write; 

 when I choose, I ride or walk, I spend much of my 

 time in a grove at the end of a pleasant and fruitful 

 garden, where I gather vegetables for the first course 

 of our evening meal, and sometimes pick a basket of 

 strawberries, which are not only delicious to the taste, 

 but perfume the whole breakfast-table with their 

 fragrance. Nor should I forget to tell you that all 

 day the garden and house, and the whole place, are 

 full of roses. And that nothing should be lacking to 

 my enjoyment, I spend the evening, when it is pleas- 

 anter to be on the water than on land, in a small 

 boat. First I row along a clear stream that flows past 

 the house and then on the Brenta, which this brook 



