A GARDEN IN VENICE 



was very easy ; something less so to restrain the 

 cortellazzo that hung from the back of the blue 

 waistcoat, for Pietro and his helpers declared 

 nearly every tree to be useless, and all wood 

 dead, that they might have the more to sell and 

 burn. 



Much less easy was it, the orchard being ours, 

 to decide what to do with it. A brand new plan 

 in the old ground was desecration, and we agreed 

 to make such changes only as, consistent with 

 the existing scheme, were needed to utilise and 

 beautify it. 



It was necessary, too, to have tender regard for 

 the genius of the place. "All is fine that is fit." 

 An Italian garden has found a home in many an 

 English pleasaunce, indeed the Italian, or rather 

 Roman garden, as old and older than the Plinies, 

 was the model of some of our loveliest. But our 

 individual taste loves vegetation as Nature grows 

 it rather than as man clips it. 



Suitable as is the evidence of man's art to such 

 gardens as those of the Pamfili Doria or Albani 

 Villas, indeed to any appurtenant to grand Italian 

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