in Lomhardi/. 447 



Vafrino, at the spot where Argante has slain, or rather fearfully 

 wounded, a warrior, who lies — 



La gran faccia 



Sien volto al ciel, e morto ancor minaccia." 

 " His face was upward turn'd, with dauntless air, 

 His aspect menaced, even in death severe." 



In another part of the picture Vafrino is seen untying the helmet 

 of the recumbent warrior, and recognising in him his master 

 Tancred, whom at first he believes to be dead. 



This villa is from the design of Piranesi; and, although 

 this celebrated architect has faults, it is to him we owe the 

 principles of the total reform which has taken place in the archi- 

 tecture of Milan. In the house in question, he has committed 

 the error which is so common in most of his buildings ; that is, 

 it is without a base ; or, to explain myself better, they are kept 

 too low. Signor Traversi told me that he entertained .some 

 thoughts of rebuilding the mansion on this account. The 

 garden was laid out by Antonio Villaresi, a gardener at Flo- 

 rence, and the father of the late Villaresi, the enlightened 

 director of these royal gardens; and it was here that Luigi Vil- 

 laresi was born, and imbibed from his father his taste for land- 

 scape-gardening. Signor Traversi has erected a tower from the 

 design of Pelagl, which looks like a monastery; the architecture 

 of which is a mixed Gothic, and which is adorned with basso 

 relievos, ancient and modern, in different styles, the subjects of 

 which are taken from sacred and profane history. The sum of 

 130,000/. must have been spent on this building. In it there 

 is a spacious gallery, used at present as a study by those 

 cultivators of the fine arts who pass the summer with Signor 

 Traversi, but which was formerly ornamented with the arms 

 of ancient warriors. 



According to the strict rules of art, the garden here is much 

 too near the house, it only being about 600ft. from it; and the 

 house is, also, so large, that it would require a garden ten times 

 the size of the present one. No attention has been paid to the 

 great law, that all garden constructions and edifices should be 

 made subordinate to the geometric scale of the house, so that 

 there may be a just proportion between them and the mansion ; 

 and a due attention should also be paid to the distances between 

 the objects, and to the whole extent of the garden. Sometimes 

 an edifice that is exceedingly rich, and of immense magnitude, 

 overpowers the impression which the natural scene imitated in 

 the pleasure-grounds should produce. The building has an- 

 other defect, which is, that it is not erected on a knoll, or risino- 

 ground, as such an edifice requires a marked kind of situation. 



In the first part, which is called the ancient grove, which was 

 planted when the garden was formed, in 1777, the following 



LL 2 



