The Villa Palmieri near Florence, Italy 
here and there and one or two large pots of 
Pittosporum tobira scent the air. At the foot 
of the wall and on the side most protected 
from the sun a deep border of lilies-of-the- 
valley has been planted. Among the roses 
the most noticeable is the large snow-white 
flower of the Gloire 
lionnaise , the deli¬ 
cate shaded yellow 
of William Allen 
Richardson and 
the beautiful Reine 
Olga. Then there 
is a very small sin¬ 
gle white rose of 
which 1 did not find 
out the name, 
which had grown to 
a great height up 
the pillars of the 
gates. Other creep¬ 
ers on the wall were 
the sweet-scented 
R h y nco spher m u m 
jasminoides , not yet 
in bloom, Ficus 
Rapens , clematis, 
white and purple, 
and Akebiaquinata. 
Iron gates sur¬ 
mounted with the 
arms of the Pal¬ 
mieri, a palm tree 
between rampant 
lions, leads from 
this, the original 
garden of the villa, 
to the more mod- 
ern pleasure 
grounds. I he 
ground begins to 
rise from this point, 
till it reaches the 
level of San Do¬ 
menico, the old 
road from Florence 
to that place run¬ 
ning along the boundary of the Dowager 
Countess of Crawford’s property to the east. 
A spring garden, sheltered by thick cypress 
hedges, has been made on a lower terrace; a 
few steps higher we reach the lawn-tennis 
ground, also shut in on three sides by cypress 
A GLIMPSE OF THE 
hedges. To the southwest, and where the 
view is loveliest, a loggia of arches and col¬ 
umns has been built over the large rose- 
bordered “ vasca." This loggia was a very 
favorite resting place of the late Queen of 
England when spending some of the spring 
months of 1888 
and of 1893 at 
Villa Palmieri, lent 
to her by Lady 
Crawford. 
The steep hill 
beyond the lawn- 
tennis ground is 
covered with grass, 
with here and there 
a path winding up 
its side, disappear¬ 
ing and then reap- 
p e a rin g again 
among the clumps 
of trees and flow¬ 
ering shrubs which, 
planted some thirty 
years ago by the 
late Earl of Craw¬ 
ford and Balcarres, 
have grown apace 
to attain their pres¬ 
ent height in so 
short a time. 
There is so much 
besides that is 
beautiful in the 
grounds. Pages 
might be filled with 
the description of 
this and that spot; 
of a pergola under 
which monthly 
roses and daffodils 
had bloomed in the 
early spring; a path 
characteristical 1 v 
Florentine, leading 
spring garden from the lawn-ten¬ 
nis ground back to 
the chapel between roses and irises backed by 
the severe leaves of the agave; the quaintly 
formal columns of clipped cypresses that seem 
to support the lower side of the walled-in 
garden. The flowering shrubs of all kinds, 
from the guelder-roses, forsythia, spiraea, beau- 
76 
