Formal Gardening 



alterations of later years. The transition 

 from formality to inform.ality has every- 

 where been so skilfully managed that there 

 is no want of harmony in the scenes through 

 which we pass. The free park-like charm 

 of some of them merely seems refreshing in 

 contrast with the architectonic dignity of 

 those we have just left ; or, if we come first 

 upon the naturalistic parts, they merely ac- 

 cent the impressiveness of those which en- 

 circle or lead up to the palace. 



For an example of an opposite sort we 

 may look once more at our Central Park. 

 Here is a distinctly naturalistic scheme. 

 No large pleasure-ground, encircled by city 

 streets, could be less formal in general idea, 

 more rural in general effect. Yet its chief 

 feature is the Mall — a wide straight walk, 

 symmetrically planted with rows of elm- 

 trees, and ending upon an architectural ter- 

 race with flights of stairs descending to the 

 plaza at the edge of the lake. Nothing in 

 the park is more beautiful than the harmoni- 

 ous contrast we note when, standing on this 

 terrace, we look in one direction dovrn the 

 formal Mall, and in the other across the 

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