Art Out-of-Doors 



water to the naturalistic opposite shore of 

 the lake. 



Each of these prospects gains in charm 

 b}^ its artistic opposition to the other ; and 

 even when we are far away from the ter- 

 race, the Mall plays a necessary part in the 

 scene. It was needed in such a park to 

 accommodate great crowds of pedestrians ; 

 and what is needed in a park must, if skil- 

 fully introduced, increase its beauty by in- 

 creasing the force and truth of its expres- 

 sion. The Mall gives just the one strong 

 touch of confessed art which was required, 

 in the centre of this big naturalistic pleasure- 

 ground, to prove that it is a public pleas- 

 ure - ground and not a stretch of pastoral 

 country or a private domain with an exces- 

 sive number of roads and paths. It v^as 

 needed to emphasize the artistic character of 

 the general scheme, and to prepare the eye 

 for such other formalities and artificialities 

 as are required in a much frequented public 

 resort. It says in unmistakable accents that 

 the whole scheme is non-natural ; that the 

 purpose of the neighboring landscape-pict- 

 ures is not to make people believe that they 

 170 



