ROUSSEAU 1 61 



sand, long and palisaded walks, which always afford shade in 

 their sunny land, and they require many fountains, great and 

 small, a crowd of statues, obelisks and bas-reliefs, of which they 

 possess a far greater store than we can show. They do not care 

 a morsel for the keeping up of their gardens, nor for their 

 cleanliness, and they cannot spend much on them. None of 

 their gardens outside the town, not excepting the finest of all, 

 that of Pamphili, which is the most rural and park-like, can 

 compare to St Cloud in charm of rusticity or to Marly in 

 picturesqueness. The best statues in the Ludovisi gardens are 

 those of Silenus and Priapus. 



.... The Belvedere and the park of the Ludovisi villas are 

 mountains cut into terraces, covered with verdure, containing 

 grottoes and superb cascades. The great fountain in the 

 Belvedere is nearly equal to that of St Cloud ; it is one of the 

 finest things of its kind that can be seen. It descends, with a 

 terrific sound of air and water, through pipes arranged expressly 

 to make a perpetual cannonade. Besides this great fountain, 

 there are numerous smaller ones ; many in very good taste. The 

 hill of the Belvedere is scooped out into three terraces, orna- 

 mented with grottoes and with fagades, in rustic architecture, all 

 ornamented with cascades in full play. The great cascade is 

 crowned with columns with twisted flutings, through which the 

 water circulates in spiral lines. The Ludovisi cascade has above 

 it a platform containing a huge fountain basin. The long fagades 

 of grottoes, with porticoes, fountains, and statues are beautiful, 

 both here and in the Aldobrandini gardens. In the latter, at the 

 foot of the hill, is a very fine building designed by Porta. The 

 Avenues below are fringed with oranges and palisades of laurel, 

 with balustrades, on which are placed vases full of myrtle and 

 pomegranates. Letters of Charles de Brasses, translated by Lord 

 Ronald Gower. 



I BEGAN to traverse in ecstacy the orchard thus transformed ; ROUSSEAU 

 and if I did not find exotics, and plants of Indian growth, 

 I found those of the country arranged and blended so as to 



L 



