CARDINAL BEMBO AND HIS VILLA 



" I am back at my Villa," he wrote to Soranzo, 

 " and have already spent three days here with singular 

 pleasure, owing to the extraordinary beauty of the 

 season. No one ever remembers so fine a March ! 

 Not only are the roads dry, the skies blue and the air 

 as balmy as in summer all three things that are very 

 unusual at this time of year but the trees are green 

 and full of leaf, and their foliage already affords us 

 shade from the heat of the sun, which has not yet 

 climbed far towards the north. Yesterday, which was 

 the Feast of Our Lady, I picked some quite large 

 almonds and several ripe strawberries, which is more 

 singular as none have yet arrived in the city from 

 Arqua, where, as you know, fruit ripens earlier than in 

 any of these parts. What is still more remarkable, the 

 vines in this district have put forth not only eyes, but 

 young tendrils, before the pruning-knife has touched 

 them. The swallows have been here some days, and 

 the turtle, cuckoo, and nightingale have all been heard. 

 If, as I hear, the Papal Court is on the way to Rome, 

 you will have summer weather at Easter, which I for 

 one do not envy you." l 



The wonderful beauty of the season, as Bembo told 

 the Pope in another letter, made him less inclined to 

 envy the gentle citizens of Padua, whom he saw return- 

 ing from the Coronation festivities with faces flushed 

 and tired by their exertions to secure a good place at 

 the pageant. But these halcyon days at the Villa were 

 already numbered. On the death of Navagero, 

 1 Ltticre, ii. 200. 

 155 



