The Villa d'Este , at Tivoli 
or recess in a Small Cascade; gently led to the 
great oblong basin, which gathers and stills it 
after its wanderings, what a beauty it adds to 
the general unity of the composition. 
So, too, the trees have been planted with 
foresight. Nothing else could do more tor 
the villa than the groups of Cypresses on the 
lower level surrounding the central fountain. 
From the entrance they insist, by their stately 
and sculpturesque grandeur, on making out 
the way to the palace. From the palace and 
other levels they make, as nothing else could, 
the termination of the scheme of the villa, 
by causing the eye to stop before looking at 
the distant hills. This carrying out of an 
idea, this composing that is felt in every fea¬ 
ture at d’Este unites these same parts into one 
grand whole. Perhaps this is best felt when 
viewed from the principal entrance. Between 
walls one looks along The Main Path to the 
cypresses. Between them the eye is led on 
to the distant stairway above which fountains, 
niches and terrace walls carry it on until it is 
finally stopped by the rich entrance and the 
long horizontal line of the palace. A mas¬ 
terly union of art and nature ; a use ©f ex¬ 
isting material, coupled with those things 
conceived by the brain and made by the hand; 
a unifying of many parts, each beautiful, that 
places Villa d’Este and the gardens of Italy 
“ on a pinnacle high above the others, peer¬ 
less and alone.” 
8 
