ully followed
out, would be found useful, if not for the attainment of excellence, at
least for the prevention of barbarism.
OXFORD, _Feb. 10, [1838]._
VI.
THE COTTAGE--CONCLUDING REMARKS.
"Nunquam aliud Natura, aliud Sapientia, dicit."
_Juvenal_ xiv. 321.
82. It now only remains for us to conclude the subject of the cottage,
by a few general remarks on the just application of modern buildings to
adorn or vivify natural scenery.
There are, we think, only three cases in which the cottage is considered
as an element of architectural, or any other kind of beauty, since it is
ordinarily raised by the peasant where he likes, and how he likes; and,
therefore, as we have seen, frequently in good taste.
83. I. When a nobleman, or man of fortune, amuses himself with
superintending the erection of the domiciles of his domestics. II. When
ornamental summer-houses, or mimicries of wigwams, are to be erected as
ornamental adjuncts to a prospect which the owner has done all he can to
spoil, that it may be worthy of the honor of having him to look at it.
III. When the landlord exercises a certain degree of influence over the
cottages of his tenants, or the improvements of the neighboring village,
so as to induce such a tone of feeling in the new erections as he may
think suitable to the situation.
84. In the first of these cases, there is little to be said; for the
habitation of the domestic is generally a dependent feature of his
master's, and, therefore, to be considered as a part of it. Porters'
lodges are also dependent upon, and to be regulated by, the style of the
architecture to which they are attached; and they are generally well
managed in England, properly united with the gate, and adding to the
effect of the entrance.
In the second case, as the act is in itself a barbarism, it would be
useless to consider what would be the best mode of perpetrating it.
In the third case, we think it will be useful to apply a few general
principles, deduced from positions formerly advanced.
85. All buildings are, of course, to be considered in connection with
the country in which they are to be raised. Now, all landscape must
possess one out of four distinct characters.
It must be either woody, the green country; cultivated, the blue
country; wild, the gray country; or hilly, the brown country.
I. The Woody, or green, Country. By this is to be understood the mixture
of park, pasture, and variegated for
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