New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-28
LYING IN ITALY.
Notes on the People, on Gardens and
on Travelling.

UNDER DER PETRAIA. with Some saunterines. IL
pany.
There was time, not long ago. when garden
ing books seemed 10 ill the world. blowing in on
every breeze and growing il must be admitted
more and more tenuous in material. The craze"
is declining. in consequence perhaps of a s,,rfet
but now and then appears a volume which Va.
should be sorry TO miss. Such volume is I'm
der Petraia,' which, like its predecessor. In a
Tuscan Garden" is the work Of an English
woman lover OF all things beautiful in nature
and in art, and one who has been for many years
a householder I'm Italy. This is a gIorihed gar
den book inasmuch while it offers many fasci-
mating pages 70 the amateur plant grower II also
deals most entertainingly with various phases OF
Italian life and character and with the artistic
and historic charms Of various Italian towns
The authors observations have been made in A
spirit Of womanly sympathy mingled with
shrewdness; II is evident that while she delights
in her alien surroundings she is as much alive
TO faults as 10 virtues.
An amusing chapter is devoted 10 the question
Of what goes 10 the making Of a "Buena Sig
nora" a person who is believed by her rustic
neighbors on a Tuscan hillside to be one pos
sessing heart. "Cuore." she says lis the key
which unlocks all doors the cloak that covers
any number OF shortcomings" and preliminary
requirements for that reputation Of "Cuore" are
one blind eye and one looking through a rose
tinted glass Courtesy and kindness and tact
as regards those rustics must never fail. Us a
little bill presented that has I'm some unaccount-
able manner increased in gravity, you will not
with any brutal British frankness point this out.
but you will skilfully save the face-Chinese
fashion-of' the adversary and so manipulate
your criticisms 10 allow him TO retreat grace
fully under cover Of having made a little mis-
take" You will" she adds. ION every possible
q occasion avoid the direct path and go warily
round about the bush" There is one height 10
which she doubts that the British will ever at
tain:
Rights strollng up your avenue of a Monday
Most old Italian villas have attached 10 them
custom. probably inherited from the monasteries
poor in their immediate neighborhood, and as you
on the vested Rights Tbese mgs not he 10 coR
founded with stray or sturdy beggars-they
than yourself From time immemoria they have
been accustomed 10 make this weekly visitation.
some me lGea that the charity that has been incul
more e e Inc pIeSlous gay may bring forth its fruit
son. some cases only sPiece, but if the vista
q1 I,%, Idly Iiay sum sum at the end q The day
the Yeiad i P1h substantial gain the day is 70
They enter -FOUR orderly grounds with the air Of
y determined
itself twice blessed for they give and receive from
short cuts. all the gossip OF the neghborhood This
a!sO you VIII endure II you have -Cuore" and il is
never betrsy how much the Eira6 5Oy " yS 6
vested hshir goes against the British grain.
This particular Briton being large-minded and
capable Of apprehending other peoples point of
view has, IL is evident. justly deserved to be
considered the possessor of "CuOre." IL is pleas
ant 20 be reminded that whatever the defects
Of Tuscan character ingratitude is not among
them.
In another sprightly chapter the author de-
scribes what she calls a trip into the Middle
Ages search for an old villa in the neighbor-
mood OF Florence. There are plenty Of these TO
be found many of them centuries old and
crammed with historic associations. But, alas,
they are not comfortable, and can hardly he
made so. One ancient CASTILLO had no frenIacos.
another with forty great vaulted chambers
panied over with gods and goddesses and other
ihythologlcal figures il would have been eouaIlv
impossible TO warm. To the custodian OF a third
oid mouse IL was suggested that IL would he het
Ter 10 brick up certain window ''The man
looked doubtful, and said he did not think the
owner would like 10 have that particular window
touched. as il had been designed IN, Micbaal
Angelo. and he added the man. was as Mr.
haps you may have heard. a really very consid-
cradle person" At last the house was found
charming little house included in the propert,,
surrounding the royal villa La Petraia This
last is castle rather than a villa and was built
by one OF the Brunelleschi before 1862 Sir John
HARDWOOD and his men laid siege 70 the place
two years after that date. and We're beaten OFF
with stonesdsnd arrows. That unpleasant ner
son. Ferdinando DEF Medici. bought il in 1915.