stairs of which (also about eighteen in number) run the reverse way to 

 the first and so land in the centre. The third staircase belongs to the 

 horse-shoe type, but its arrangement will be better understood by 

 reference to the pictures given here than by a detailed description. The 

 ball ornament, which has been used liberally on the lower balustrades, is 

 supplemented on this staircase by monkeys cleverly modelled in terra 

 cotta. These monkeys, dressed in long jackets and armed with a spiked 

 glove, are represented in the act of playing the favourite Tuscan ball 

 game, Giuoco del Pallone. Aping the attitudes of men, these small 

 baboons are many of them intensely funny, and the artist must have been 

 closely famihar with both the ball-player and the monkey tribe to 

 succeed in producing such an amusing series. 



At the head of the great stairway, supporting tall piers and 

 guarding the opening to the cascade, are snow-white statues of nymph 

 and satyr. Above this platform stretches the unusual triple cascade, on 

 either side of which gently sloping stairs lead upward, the whole scheme 

 being enclosed by tall hedges of ilex. Here, as at Tivoli and Frascati, 

 when dealing with moving masses of water, the garden architects of the 

 sei-cento are to be found quite in their element and show their genius 

 and great versatility. 



The ilex trees of the bosco come down to within a few feet 

 of the verge of the terrace, and the broad face is clipped so as to 

 form a deep overhanging cliff of greenery. Immediately beneath the 

 shadow of this, a cypress hedge forms the parapet of the terrace, and this 

 is cut into a succession of arches or great niches containing busts ; the 

 top also follows the curve of the arch, and has quaint little finials between 

 each arch. Though time has taken away much of the stiffness from these 

 hedges, they must always have been pleasant to look upon ; a more 

 charming finish than that which they give to the terrace to-day, viewed 

 from whatever point you may choose, cannot well be imagined. Where 

 the water enters the cascade, graceful figures recline, intended to represent 

 the cities of Lucca and Florence, which have for the nonce laid aside 

 their ancient animosities, to preside over the water display of which they 

 are the centre. Beyond, in the centre of a circle of cypresses that domi- 

 nates the summit, stands a huge statue of Fame, balanced upon one foot, 



121 Q 



