HISTORICAL NOTICES. 
15 
confined even to the colonnades of their villas, and broad 
enriched terraces, vases, and statues, every where enliven, 
and contrast with, the verdure of the foliage ; trees and plants 
being often less abundant, than the sculptural ornaments 
which they serve to set off to advantage. An island — Isola 
Bella — in one of their little lakes, has often been quoted 
as the most highly wrought type of the Italian taste ; “ a 
barren rock,” says a spirited writer, “ rising in the midst of 
a lake, and producing hut a few poor lichens, which has 
been converted into a pyramid of terraces supported on 
arches, and ornamented with hays and orange trees of 
amazing size and beauty.” The Villa Borghese, at Rome, 
is one of the most celebrated later examples, with its 
pleasure grounds three miles in circumference, filled with 
symmetrical walks and abounding with an endless pro- 
fusion of sculpture. 
The old French gardens differ little from those of Italy, 
if we except that, with the same formality, they have more 
of theatrical display — frequently substituting gilt trellises 
and wooden statues for the exquisite marble balustrades 
and sculptured ornaments of the Italians. But we must 
not forget the crowning glory of the Geometric style, the 
gardens of Louis XI Y. at Versailles. A prince whose grand 
idea of a royal garden was not compassed under two hun- 
dred acres devoted to that purpose, and who, when shown 
the bills of cost in their formation, amounting to two hun- 
dred millions of francs, quietly threw them into the fire, 
could scarcely fail, whatever the style of art adopted, in 
producing a scene of great splendor. He was fortunate, too, 
in his gardener, Le Notre, whose ideas, scarcely less superb 
than those of his master, kept pace so closely with his 
fancies, that he received the honor of knighthood, and was 
