GARDENS OF FLORENTINE EIUMANISTS 
shade in the noonday heats, but in small gardens it is 
well to plant no trees on the lawn, and to leave the 
grass exposed to the pure airs and sunshine.” For the 
ordinary person, two to four acres of ground should be 
sufficient, but twenty acres would be more fitting for 
kings and nobles. But since those personages who have 
the means to satisfy their fancies are generally too igno¬ 
rant or indolent to lay out their own gardens, the 
writer proceeds to lay down rules for their guidance. 
“ A royal garden,” he says, “ should be girt about with 
walls; a fine palace should stand on the south side, 
with flower-beds, orchards, and fishponds, and on the 
north side, a thick wood should be planted to afford 
shade and protect the garden from cruel winds.” A 
pavilion or casino, to serve as a dwelling-place in the 
summer, should be placed in some part of the grounds, 
surrounded with green palisades, while evergreen trees, 
such as the pine, the cypress and ilex, which are never 
bare of leaves, should be planted for ornament during 
the winter months. Nor should a menagerie of wild 
animals be wanting, or an aviary of singing birds, who 
should be allowed to fly at will among the trees. 
Messer Piero’s maxims seem to have met with 
general approval from his fellow-countrymen, and in¬ 
dicate the lines on which most Renaissance gardens were 
laid out. As the sense of security increased, as men 
became;rich and prosperous, country-houses and gardens 
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