public iparks 297 



Again the same author says: 



" Scenery of a purely pastoral character is no doubt 

 the most valuable element of a park within the limits 

 of a great city like New York, for no stronger contrast 

 to the constrained and artificial conditions of urban 

 life can be imagined than meadow-like stretches of 

 greensward which are not fenced in by rigid bounda- 

 ries but fade away in obscure and shadowy distance. 

 Broad open landscapes with spacious skies, and the 

 sense of enlargement and freedom which they bring, 

 offer the most pleasing contrasts to the hard confine- 

 ment of city streets with their skyline of roofs and 

 chimneys; the tranquillizing influence of soft, smooth, 

 grassy surfaces is an unfailing refreshment from the 

 wear and weariness, the strain and pressure of city 

 life, with its strenuous eflort and consuming ambition. 

 The designers of Central Park plainly endeavoured 

 to embody as much as possible within their limita- 

 tions, and in a dignified way without resorting to 

 afifectations and deceptions, the quiet, pastoral idea. 

 Within the narrow area of the park the broadest scope 

 of open meadow that could be secured was consider- 

 ably less than thirty acres. But the bordering woods 

 were so depressed as to leave the boundaries uncer- 

 tain and mysterious, and the turf was made to flow 

 into sunny alcoves and about promontories of foliage 

 until it was lost in hazy shadows which suggested in- 

 definite extent of the same restful scenery. The view 

 shown [see p. 197] is taken from a point overlooking the 



