226 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



effects cast by his declining rays on every object, I went through 

 a plat of vines to a favourite haunt of mine : a little garden of 

 the most fragrant roses, with a spring under a rustic arch of grotto- 

 work fringed with ivy. Thousands of fish inhabit here, of that 

 beautiful glittering species which comes from China. This golden 

 nation were leaping after insects as I stood gazing upon the deep 

 clear water, listening to the drops that trickle from the cove. 

 Opposite to which, at the end of a green alley, you discover an 

 oval basin, and in the midst of it an antique statue full of that 

 graceful languor so peculiarly Grecian. 



Whilst I was musing on the margin of the spring (for I returned 

 to it after casting a look upon the sculpture), the moon rose above 

 the tufted foliage of the terraces, which I descended by several 

 flights of steps, with marble balustrades crowned by vases of aloes. 

 Florence^ Oct. 5, 1780. 



As soon as the sun declined I strolled into the Villa Medici ; 

 but finding it haunted by pompous people, nay, even by the 

 Spanish Ambassador, and several red-legged Cardinals, I moved 

 off to the Negroni garden. There I found what my soul desired, 

 thickets of jasmine, and wild spots overgrown with bay; long 

 alleys of cypress totally neglected, and almost impassable through 

 the luxuriance of the vegetation ; on every side antique fragments, 

 vases, sarcophagi, and altars sacred to the Manes, in deep, shady 

 recesses, which I am certain the Manes must love. The air was 

 filled with the murmurs of water trickling down basins of porphyry, 

 and losing itself amongst overgrown weeds and grasses. 



Above the wood and between its boughs appeared several 

 domes, and a strange lofty tower. I will not say they belonged 

 to St. Maria Maggiore ; no, they are fanes and porticoes dedicated 

 to Cybele, who delights in sylvan situations. The forlorn air of 

 this garden, with its high and reverend shades, make me imagine 

 it as old as the baths of Dioclesian, which peep over one of its 

 walls. Rome^ June 30, 1782. 



Home persuaded me much against my will to accompany him 

 in his Portuguese chaise to Pagliavam, the residence of John the 



