WILLIAM BECKFORD 225 



or villa, whitening in the sun. This scene extends as far as the 

 eye can reach. 



Still ascending I attained the brow of the eminence, and had 

 nothing but the fortress of Belvedere and two or three open 

 porticoes above me. On this elevated situation, I found several 

 walks of trellis-work, clothed with luxuriant vines. A colossal 

 statue of Ceres, her hands extended in the act of scattering fertility 

 over the country, crowns the summit. 



Descending alley after alley, and bank after bank, I came to 

 the orangery in front of the palace, disposed in a grand amphi- 

 theatre, with marble niches relieved by dark foliage, out of which 

 spring cedars and tall aerial cypresses. This spot brought the 

 scenery of an antique Roman garden so vividly into my mind, 

 that, lost in the train of recollections this idea excited, I expected 

 every instant to be called to the table of Lucullus hard by, in one 

 of the porticoes, and to stretch myself on his purple triclinias ; 

 but waiting in vain for a summons till the approach of night, I 

 returned delighted with a ramble that had led my imagination 

 so far into antiquity. Ibid. (Florence, Sept. 14, 1780.) 



I dined in peace and solitude, and repaired, as evening drew 

 on, to the thickets of Boboli. 



What a serene sky ! what mellowness in the tints of the 

 mountains ! a purple haze concealed the bases, whilst their 

 summits were invested with saffron light, discovering every white 

 cot and every copse that clothed their declivities. The prospect 

 widened as I ascended the terraces of the garden. 



After traversing many long dusky alleys, I reached the opening 

 on the brow of the hill, and, seating myself under the statue of 

 Ceres, took a sketch of the huge mountainous cupola of the 

 Duomo, the adjoining lovely tower and one more massive in 

 its neighbourhood, built not improbably in the style of ancient 

 Etruria. Beyond this historic group of buildings a plain stretches 

 itself far and wide, most richly studded with villas and gardens, 

 and groves of pine and olive, quite to the feet of the mountains. 



Having marked the sun's going down and all the soothing 



p 



