The private garden is enclosed by walls, and may be entered either 

 directly from the road or through gateways on either side of the casino. 

 It is arranged on the simplest lines, and, as the ground slopes gently 

 away from the house, only slight levelling was called for. This takes 

 the form of a house terrace, raised about three feet above the general 

 level, and protected by a marble balustrade built on a gentle curve and 

 interrupted in the centre by wrought-iron gates of singular beauty. 

 This delicate piece of work is the more remarkable from its rarity, 

 especially in connection with a country house, and it would be interesting 

 to know its history. In a country where the minor arts were carried to 

 such a pitch of perfection, it is not a little surprising to find the art of 

 working in iron so little cultivated. A village smith in England would 

 have been ashamed to produce such a clumsy piece of railing as that 

 which surrounds the Vasca delP holotto in the Boboli gardens, and it is 

 no exaggeration to say that more good wrought iron is to be found in a 

 single English county than in the whole of Tuscany. 



Some sloping steps of brick and marble lead down to the parterre of 

 clipped box which is laid out in a number of not too intricate 

 geometrical plots. These plots are filled with roses, good hardy 

 flowers, and a sprinkling of annuals ; lemon-trees in vases being placed 

 at all salient points. In the centre, raised upon a couple of shallow steps, 

 is a simple octagonal fountain-basin of marble, the angles of which are 

 emphasised by curving acanthus leaves that connect its moulded rim with 

 the edge of the upper step. The space between is filled in with a 

 mosaic of white, red, and dark-green pebbles ; the mosaic being 

 repeated on the lower step in combination with a red brick edging. In 

 the association of brick and marble, in a country where marble is a 

 common building material, there is nothing strange or incongruous ; on 

 the contrary, the combination has a most delightful effect, especially 

 when the hand of- Time has passed gently over it. 



From this fountain wide paths radiate, the canted angles being 

 occupied by marble benches with bracketed feet, set within tall screens of 

 box that form a rude back and arms, and curve down so as to meet the 

 edging of the adjoining beds. Except at midday, one or other of these 

 seats is always in shadow, and it would not be easy to conceive a more 



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