The Country Gmtlanans Magazine 



354 



house this, where even the sun's beams in 

 pity refuse to enter, lest man as well as God 

 should see the filth of soul and body which 

 crouch here to hide themselves ! What an 

 infinite pitifulness there is about these un- 

 conscious figures ! Fifty-four human beings ! 

 eleven men, thirteen women, and thirty 

 children, with highest mental and moral pos- 

 sibilities, and with bodies exactly answering 

 to that of which Novalis says, "It is the 

 highest revelation of God— when we touch 

 the human form we are in contact with 

 Divinity." We say it is infinitely mournful 

 to see these human fifty-four going down to 

 death in dirt and darkness and degradation — 

 wondering fitfully if there be a God, whether, 

 indeed, there is any Father for them "the 

 pitiful children" in this wide slumberous 

 iiniverse. 



But it is foreign to our purpose to add 

 another to the list of jeremiads, touching 

 which allusion has been made. Our aim is 

 an intensely practical one. We purpose to 

 set before the readers of our journal, in as 

 clear a form as may be possible to us, certain 

 principles under the heads of Commodity, 

 Firmness, and Delight, which necessarily 

 govern all good cottage architecture. We 

 vntend, in short, to explain the "well bitild- 

 ingj' and the healthy or healthful arrange- 

 ment of the apartments of houses for the 

 labouring classes. The present division will 

 foe occupied with the first of these three prin- 

 ciples — viz., that of Commodity or Fitness. 

 Another series of papers may appropriately 

 ibe taken up for an examination, at a future 

 time, of the laws of sanitation as they 

 effect the building of all kinds of domestic 

 dwellings, including those of the labouring 

 classes. 



We intend, then, in our present series to 

 lay down certain maxims relating to Com- 

 modity or general Fitness, which should in- 

 fluence the building of cottages. And it 

 may be advisable to explain our general plan 

 before proceeding to particulars, as well that 

 the reader may understand and enter into 

 our method of arrangement, as for readiness 

 of reference in future. 



We purpose, then, to consider :—istly, 



the site. 2dly, the accommodation of the 

 house considered under the three heads of 

 number, size, arrangement. 



It is, then, our task, in the first place, to lay 

 down certain rules which ought to govern 

 the choice of sites in cottage building. 



Site — I. It is of the highest importance 

 that low marshy, boggy ground should be 

 avoided. On this point the testimony of the 

 highest authorities is universally at one. Mr 

 Bardwell, in his admirable treatise on "Healthy 

 Homes," says, " The most essential qualities 

 are those most conducive to health, and the 

 easy access to public roads and conveyances, 

 avoiding the proximity of marshes, boggy 

 ground, and stagnant waters." "It is 

 obvious," says Mr J. W. Stevenson, in " The 

 Cottage Homes of England," " that low, 

 marshy, and damp land should be avoided ; 

 also, ponds, pools, ditches, stagnant waters, 

 and other similar places should be as far as 

 practicable from the intended erection." The 

 testimony ofMr James Sanderson, inhis "Rural 

 Architecture," is of like character." "Wher- 

 ever," says he, on p. 25, " there is a choice 

 of situation, the proximity of marshes, fens, 

 boggy ground, or stagnant water, should be 

 studiously guarded against, and if rivers are 

 near, the site of the house should be on 

 elevated ground, so as to be out of the reach 

 of fogs and other unwholesome miasmata, 

 which water periodically generates." 



2. The site should be well drained, and 

 this for exactly the same reason as makes 

 the former rule of the last importance. 

 Dampness about a house is in everywise to 

 be avoided. Pestilential miasmata (naturally, 

 almost inevitably, associated with undrained 

 ground and dwellings), and their frequent 

 results — contagious diseases of the most fear- 

 ful character — have more than once at- 

 tested the necessity of a strict observance of 

 this rule. The following excellent remarks 

 on this point are to be found in the Fourth 

 Annual Report of the Scottish Association : — 

 "Too much care cannot be taken to insulate 

 by very deep drains, the site of the cottage from 

 the surrounding grounds, so as to make the 

 whole underfloor and foundations thoroughly 

 free of damp. The drains (several feet 



