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10 HISTORY OF GARDENING. Parr I.

: 5 F ie- chicory, cucumbers, 1vy, acanthus, myrtle, narcissus, and roses.— Both Virgil and Pro- pertius mention the culture of the pine-tree as beloved by Pan, the tutelar deity of gardens; and that the shade of the plane, from the thickness of its foliage, was particu- larly agreeable, and well adapted for conyivial meetings.‘fhe myrtle and the bay they describe as in high esteem for their odor; and to such a degree of nicety had they arrived in this particular, that the composition or mixture of odoriferous trees became a point of study; and those trees were planted adjoining each other, whose odors assimi- lated together. Open groves in hot countries are particularly desirable for their shade, and they seem to have been the only sort of plantation of forest-trees then in use. From Cicero and the elder Pliny, we learn that the quincunx manner of planting them was very generally adopted; and from Martial, that the manner of clipping trees was first introduced by Cneus Matius, a friend of Augustus. Statues and fountains, according to Propertius, came into vogue about the same time, some of them casting out water in the way of jets-d’eau, to occasion surprise, as was afterwards much practised in Italy in the dawn of gardening in the sixteenth century.

38. The gardens and pleasure-grounds of Pliny the consul are described at length in his Letters, and delineations of their ichnography have been published by Felibien in 1699, and by Castell in 1728. Some things, which could only be supplied by the imagination, are to be found in both these authors; but on the whole their plans, especially those of Castell, may be considered as conveying a tolerably correct idea of a first-rate Roman villa, as in the Laurentinum, and of an extensive country-residence, as in the Thuscum.

39. The Villa Laurentinum was a winter residence on the Tiber, between Rome and the sea; the situation is near Paterno, seventeen miles from Rome, and is now called San Lorenzo. The garden was small, and is but slightly described. It was surrounded by hedges of box, and where that had failed, by rosemary. There were platforms and_ terraces; and figs, vines, and mulberries were the fruit-trees. Pliny seems to have valued this retreat chiefly from its situation relatively to Rome and the surrounding country, which no walls, fortresses, or belt of wood, hid from his view. On this region he expatiates with delight, pointing out all“the beauty of his woods, his rich meadows covered with cattle, the bay of Ostia, the scattered villas upon its shore, and the blue distance of the mountains; his porticoes and seats for different views, and his favorite little cabinet in which they were all united. So great was Pliny’s attention in this particular, that he not only contrived to see some part of this luxurious landscape from every room in his house, but even while he was bathing, and when he reposed him- self! for he tells us of a couch which had one view at the head, another at the feet, and another at the back.”(Preface to Malthus’s Introduction to Girardin’ s Essay,&c. p. 20.) We may add with Eustace and other modern travellers, that the same general appear- ance of woods and meadows exists there to this day.

40. Pliny’s Thuscum, or Tusculan Villa(fig: 3.), now Frascati, was situated in a natural amphitheatre of the Apennines, whose lofty summits were then, as now, crowned with forests of oak, and their fertile sides richly covered with corn-fields, vineyards, copses, and villas. Pliny’s description of this retreat, though well known, is of import- ance, as showing what was esteemed good taste in the gardens and grounds of 4 highly accomplished Roman nobleman and philosopher, towards the end of the first century, under the reign of Trajan, when Rome was still in all her glory, and the mistress of the world in arts and in arms.

41. A general tour of the Tusculan Gardens is given by Malthus and Dr. Fal- coner. Their extent, Malthus thinks, may have been from three to four acres, and their situation round the house.

Beginning there, the xystus or terrace(5), says the author of the Historical Essay, is described as in the front of the portico, and near to the house; from this descended a lawn covered with acanthus or moss(13), and adorned with figures of animals cut out in box-trees, answering alternately to one another. This lawn was again surrounded by a walk enclosed with tonsil evergreens sheared into a variety of forms. Beyond this was a place of exercise(2), of a circular form, ornamented in the middle with box-trees sheared as before into numberless different figures, together with a plantation of shrubs kept low by clip- ping. The whole was fenced in by a wall covered by box rising in different ranges to the top.

Proceeding from another quarter of the house, there was a small space of ground, shaded by four plane-trees(7), with a fountain in the centre, which, overflowing a marble basin, watered the trees and the verdure beneath them.: Opposite to another part of the building was a plantation of trees, in form of a hippodrome(6), formed of box and plane trees alternately planted, and connected together by ivy. Be- hind these were placed bay-trees, and the ends of the hippodrome, which were semicircular, were formed of cypress(8). The internal walks were bordered with rose-trees, and were ina winding direction, which however terminated in a straight path, which again branched into a variety of others, separated from one another by box-hedges; and these, to the great satisfaction of the owner, were sheared into a variety of shapes and letters(10), some expressing the name of the master, others that of the artificer, while here and there small obelisks were placed, intermixed with fruit-trees,

Further on was another walk, ornamented with trees sheared as above described, at the upper end of which was an alcove of white marble shaded_by vines, and supported by marble pillars, from the seat of which recess issued several streams of water, intended to appear as if pressed out by the weight of those which reposed upon it, which water was again received in a basin, that was so contrived as to seem al- ways full without overflowing. Corresponding to this was a fountain, or jet d’eau, that threw out water to a considerable height, and which ran off as fast as it was thrown out. An elegant marble summer-

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