the lesser palaces. On two sides it is protected by high escalopped walls, 

 and over the third you may look down twenty feet to the busy street 

 below. Its central feature is a little artless fountain, placed beneath the 

 shadow of an octagonal arbour which is wreathed with vines and finished 

 with a vane ; making a deliciously cool spot in the midst of the garden. 

 Straight paths divide it into four small plots that are always gay with 

 simple flowers, such as monthly roses, hollyhocks, lilies, poppies, and 

 larkspurs ; and on one side room has been found for a solitary cypress 

 and a group of shady trees. Above one corner an armed knight stands 

 guard, his shield emblazoned with the Capponi arms. 



Not far distant, overhanging the river, is a little terrace, that, like a 

 swallow's nest, seems to cling to the face of an old palace. A few years 

 ago this was little more than a bare platform, with nothing to recom- 

 mend it but the lovely view. Now, thanks to much loving care and 

 thought, it has been converted into one of the brightest spots in all 

 Florence. Raised as it is high above the road, for it is attached to the 

 second floor of the palace, everything naturally must be grown in pots or 

 cases ; but nowhere is pot-culture better understood than in Italy, and, 

 though some plants, like the carnation, succeed better than others, there 

 are few that will not yield to careful management. 



Woodbine and climbing roses, jessamine and wistaria vie with each 

 other in their efforts to cover wall and trellised pergola, forming towards 

 one end of the terrace an arbour of denser green, with an ideal lounging- 

 place beneath its shade. At other points slighter arches carry strong, 

 free-blooming roses, such as " Reine Marie Henriette," or " Marechal 

 Niel " with its loose pale flowers, " Gloire de Dijon," and the sweet 

 Pink Rambler. Many another rose, including the lovely " Safrano," 

 " Celestine Forestier," " Madame Lambard," " Marie van Houtte," and 

 " Anna OUivier," which finds no room on the over-crowded trellis, hangs 

 over the iron balustrade in untrained profusion, and fills the air with 

 its sweet fragrance. 



Beneath the pergola, shelter is found for some choice carnations or 

 azaleas, shade-loving lilies, or less robust roses, and other flowers, which 

 when exposed to the full rays of the sun would pass away too 

 quickly. 



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