at of the hill on which, or the crag beneath which, it is
placed; its form, one that will incorporate well with the ground, and
approach that of a large stone more than of anything else. The color
will consequently, if this rule be followed, be subdued and grayish,
but rather warm; and the form simple, graceful, and unpretending. The
building should retain the same general character on a closer
examination. Everything about it should be natural, and should appear as
if the influences and forces which were in operation around it had been
too strong to be resisted, and had rendered all efforts of art to check
their power, or conceal the evidence of their action, entirely
unavailing. It cannot but be an alien child of the mountains; but it
must show that it has been adopted and cherished by them. This effect is
only attainable by great ease of outline and variety of color;
peculiarities which, as will be presently seen, the Westmoreland cottage
possesses in a supereminent degree.

50. Another feeling, with which one is impressed during a mountain
ramble, is humility. I found fault with the insignificance of the Swiss
cottage, because "it was not content to sink into a quiet corner, and
personify humility." Now, had it not been seen to be pretending, it
would not have been felt to be insignificant; for the feelings would
have been gratified with its submission to, and retirement from, the
majesty of the destructive influences which it rather seemed to rise up
against in mockery. Such pretension is especially to be avoided in the
mountain cottage: it can never lie too humbly in the pastures of the
valley, nor shrink too submissively into the hollows of the hills; it
should seem to be asking the storm for mercy, and the mountain for
protection: and should appear to owe to its weakness, rather than to its
strength, that it is neither overwhelmed by the one, nor crushed by the
other.

51. Such are the chief attributes, without which a mountain cottage
cannot be said to be beautiful. It may possess others, which are
desirable or objectionable, according to their situation, or other
accidental circumstances. The nature of these will be best understood by
examining an individual building. The material is, of course, what is
most easily attainable and available without much labor. The Cumberland
and Westmoreland hills are, in general, composed of clay-slate and
gray-wacke, with occasional masses of chert[7] (like that which forms