PREFACE 



The cordial reception given to the volume on " Some English Gardens," 

 published in 1904, has encouraged me to hope that a similar volume on 

 Italian gardens may be equally welcome. 



When in the year i88i I paid my first visit to Italy, the subjects 

 that appealed to me more strongly than any others were those to be 

 found in the old pleasure grounds attached for the most part to the 

 great country houses. At that time, I commenced the series ot 

 drawings which I have since continued, almost without a break, from 

 year to year. The reproductions of them in this book represent but a 

 tithe of the many drawings I have made during the last quarter of a 

 century. Some of these were unsuitable for reproduction, while many 

 others, especially the earlier sketches, have passed beyond my reach. 

 This may account for the omission of several well-known gardens, and 

 of others, less known, but well worthy of a place in this collection. 



Finding how much interest was aroused in the subject of the Italian 

 villas by my drawings of them exhibited from time to time at the 

 Galleries of the Fine Art Society, I began to collect materials for an 

 extensive work on the subject, and filled numerous note-books with 

 jottings, plans and sketches of detail. The present book has, to a great 

 extent, been written with the aid of my original notes, but it was found 

 impossible to include in a work of this class the plans, &c., which would 

 have made clear much that is ambiguous in the text. 



I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to express my thanks to 

 the owners of the many delightful gardens here presented, for the very 



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