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limit is seen to the extension of the meadow in a 

 lateral direction, while beyond the low shrubs 

 which form an undefined border to it in front there 

 are no trees or other impediments to vision for a 

 distance of half a mile or more and the only distant 

 object is the wooded knoll of Vista Rock nearly a 

 mile away, upon the summit of which it is an impor- 

 tant point in the design not yet realized, to erect a 

 slight artificial structure, for the purpose of catching 

 the eye and the better holding it in this direction. 

 The imagination of the visitor is thus led instinctively 

 to form the idea that a broad expanse is opening 

 before him, and, the more surely to accomplish this, 

 a glimpse of the slope of turf beyond the border of the 

 shrubs in the middle distance has been secured. As 

 the visitor proceeds, this idea is strengthened and the 

 hope which springs from it in a considerable degree 

 satisfied, if not actually realized, first by a view of 

 those parts of the cricket ground which lie to the right 

 and left of his previous field of vision, afterwards by 

 the broad expanse of turf on either side and before 

 him, which comes into view as he emerges from the 

 plantations at or near the marble archway. 



"The carrying out of this most important purpose 

 in the scenery of Central Park, owing to the rocky and 

 heterogeneous character of the original surface, in- 

 volved much more labour and a larger expenditure than 

 any other landscape feature of that undertaking."* 



' Olmsted and Vaux, Sixth Annual Report to Prospect Park Com- 

 mission, 1866. 



