114 



that arise from an irregular mixture of ve~ 

 getation; as of trees and shrubs, or of vines* 

 ivy, and other creeping plants which climb 

 up the vases, steps, and balustrades: at the 

 Villa Negroni I remember being particularly 

 struck with many of these circumstances^ 

 which have since, to the extreme regret of 

 all the artists, been destroyed. The more 

 broken, weather-stained, and decayed the 

 stone and brickwork, the more the plants 

 and creepers seem to have fastened and 

 rooted in between their joints, the more pic- 

 turesque these gardens become : and in that 

 respect they have to the painter's eye an 

 immense advantage over modern gardens, 

 from which all present decoration, and all 

 future picturesqueness, are equally banished. 

 But between the original design, and such 

 an extreme change, there are many inter- 

 mediate states ; as there are likewise many 

 intermediate degrees between the wild and 

 singular irregularity of those plants which 

 seem to start from the old walls, and the ele- 

 gant forms of vegetation that no less fre- 

 quently are produced by accident. Alii 



