THE SOCIAL SIDE OF GARDENS 
made and enjoyed them. Even as a scientist recon¬ 
structs his monster from a portion of bone, so might the 
student of human manners rebuild an entire social 
regime from some ruined garden whose tangled bos¬ 
kets and moldering statues whispered their secrets of 
the past. The pictures of Fragonard with their veils of 
misty leaves and gracious rose-twined marbles tell more 
of the actual social atmosphere pervading the reigns of 
the Louis than a volume of printed pages could convey. 
And to wander through one of the gardens built during 
the Italian Renaissance is to have the soul of a whole 
generation explained. 
The society of the Italian principalities in the six¬ 
teenth century was as brilliant as the art, with all its 
revival of learning, poetry, painting, and architecture. 
Nor were the women less ardent, less cultured than the 
men. The passion for creation, the creation of beauty, 
which obsessed every one, flamed in them too. A few 
wrote or painted; but most found the fulfilment of their 
desire in fashioning a perfect frame for the labor of the 
greatest. So it was that many of these gifted women 
turned their talents to the making of gardens, gardens 
peculiarly suited for social enjoyment, for gatherings 
of the wise and the witty, gardens expressing a certain 
high reserve and yet inviting a pleasant freedom. 
“There was a passion for beautiful gardens in the 
Italy of that day,” says Christopher Hare, in her memoir 
of Baldassare Castiglione, author of the world-famous 
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