o man with an artist's eye would think, for a
moment, of building such a house as this on our wooded hillside. He
would construct there his English cottage in good solid stone, whose
steep roofs would shed with facility the summer rain and the winter
snow, whose irregularities of form and outline would harmonize with
nature's Gothic work in precipice and rock, in trees and climbing vines.
Or else, he would place there his Swiss chalet, which would be in
harmony with the scene, and a pleasing object to the eye of the
observer. On the broad, open plane the villa should be made, or seem, to
cover a considerable space, while the nice cottage might be built more
compactly.

But here let us remark, that many of our attempts at the English
cottage, generally known as the Gothic, have been failures, and some of
them sad abortions.

This comes from defective models and plans, and these defects arise
mainly from these sources--the lack of boldness and variety in the main
outlines, and in the construction of the roofs and chimneys. Such a
cottage, to be pleasing and satisfactory, must have irregularities in
form, variety in ornament, and boldness in treatment. A square house
with additions of gables, and dormers and pinnacles, and ridge crests,
will not give us an English cottage. It is a work of art, like a poem
or a picture, and not a mechanical aggregation of Gothic features and
ornaments. We were about to say that it should never be attempted in any
other material than stone, but as many of us cannot command the means
for such permanent buildings, we will concede that it may be allowable
for us to put our wooden buildings into the cottage form, using the best
taste and the most beautiful and picturesque styles, even if the
material is objectionable.

One other observation, before we return to our main topic, may be
indulged. It is simply the suggestion that too little attention has been
paid to the _sky-outlines_ of our country houses. Roofs and chimney-tops
have been treated as necessary evils, instead of being made, as they may
be, highly ornamental. The unity of the plan, as a work of art, is lost
as you ascend above the eaves, all the rest seeming like excrescences
growing out of structures otherwise commendable and satisfactory. The
superior horizontal lines of the roof will depend somewhat upon the
background of the house. When a building is placed upon the crest of a
hill, or upon a slope descending from the main poi