206 THE \FLORIST. 
The multiplicity of marble statues, vases, sarcophagi, columns, capitals, 
busts, relievos, some purely. white, others of the richest coloured 
marble, granite, porphyry, and. alabaster, canalone’ be seen in: Italy: 
The uncommon. size’ and countless numberof, polished | tazzas 
is a constant surprize to me... They nearly all serve, as) basins. for 
jets. of water; and besides,. there. are. fountains so,. numerous 
that one or other is always within. sight.or hearing... The 
fountains in the villa gardens of the princely families. of the Borghese, 
Pamfilla, Dorin, Barbarina, and many. others; are of high preten- 
sions as. works of art.) But.one forgets, the groups of marble 
figures—the winged monsters or smiling’ cupids—in, admiring ‘and 
feeling the influence, in this -sun-gilded climate, of, such hberal gushes 
of pure bright water, which, tossed into the air, above the tops,of the 
tallest trees, falls in a diamond shower of glittering drops. .* -* 9) 
The Stone Pine and the Cypress trees have. an, individuality which 
is somehow wanting in our English timber trees. No child in England 
can tell you,/as the Italian children can, the names of every tree within 
sight.. To be sure in Italy trees are neither. so thickly planted, or in 
such variety as in England, The Ilex loses. its lumpishness when it 
becomes very aged, and there are trees which are said to be more than 
a thousand years old, and seeing them you have no scruples as to their 
great age. In the gardens of the Borghese villa there, are. groves of 
the Ilex so dense that the,sun does not disperse, the gloom; you can 
hardly read a book in those, dark avenues,at mid-day 5: and. there are 
miles of drives of this description. é * evonsetbak 
‘The Cypress trees are so much larger in bulk—loftier, ,blacker, and 
more formal—than 1) had anticipated,that,they rivet my attention 
daily ; for within sight. of my balcony I overlook many of those sentinel 
looking trees, and. wonder how I could convey, toa correspondent the 
effect they have upon me. To imagine any Cypress. he ever saw in 
Iingland increased im size, blackened in tone, more dense and more 
artificial, does not realise what I desire to convey. Imagine our largest 
Lombardy Poplars having all the branches tightly bound to the stem 
and steeped in ink, still you have not the Cypress of Rome... The bare 
lifeless stem or bole, like a scaffold pole, rises to. about the height of a 
mounted horseman, and then clothed as no. other tree is clothed, with 
bristling leaves so unlike leaves, and so compact that there is no salient 
point, no stray branches, nothing to check your thoughts, up they go 
to the pointed summit, piercing through other. foliage, or forming a 
line against the deep-blue sky. . Those trees ‘tell, marvellously massed 
with other foliage ; individually seen, I have the’ courage to say that 
they are ugly. . it 
The Stone Pines always delight me; the rich crimson tints of the 
deeply-incised scaly bark, the graceful bend of. the stem, and the mass 
of foliage spread flat before the heavens, and sending a shadow on earth, 
is a glorious sight. It occurs to me at this moment, that one reason 
(if we may presume to speak of reasons for what is all good) why the 
crooked stems of the Pime-trees are so constructed is, that. the sun’s 
warmth and light may be felt; for if straight as our Larches, the stems 
of the Pine would be nearly always in shadow. The Plane tree, Elm, 
