APRIL. 171 



A cottage is the more interesting if its appurtenances be of 

 such a description as to evince some pleasing and benevolent 

 trait in the character of its inmates. It cannot be denied 

 that there are certain objects connected with almost every 

 dwelling-house that yield it an expression of human character. 

 Like the expression of a man's face, this may often mislead, 

 but it produces, on this account, no less impression on the 

 mind of the beholder. If a cottage is built in a simple style, 

 and exhibits around it such neat and natural ornaments as to 

 indicate that its indwellers, though poor, are possessed of 

 refined taste and virtuous habits, we look upon it with an 

 emotion more lively than that of mere satisfaction. But if 

 the style and appearance of the cottage be such as to indicate 

 that its inmates are the apes of fashionable life, the expres- 

 sion suggests ideas of qualities the opposite of what we admire 

 in the human character, and we look upon the whole as a 

 burlesque. 



It is true that these appearances are not always indicative 

 of the character they seem to express. A man of taste who 

 had carefully studied the expression of architectural orna- 

 ments, would be likely to discard all such as would serve to 

 injure this moral beauty, and whatever sinister traits of char- 

 acter he might possess, would refrain from exhibiting the 

 evidences of these traits in the style of his dwelling-house. 

 A poor man, on the other hand, though of a truly estimable 

 character, might, from a want of taste, and from imitation of 

 ridiculous models, gather around him such false ornaments as 

 would render his dwelling less charming to the beholder than 

 many poor men's cottages which had been built solely with 

 reference to the family wants. Many a man has ruined the 

 b#auty of his dwelling by aiming to accomplish a tasteful 

 work, when, if he had been satisfied with the attainment of 

 mere convenience, the ends of taste would have been more 

 nearly answered. More works in every department of taste 

 have been spoiled by unintelligent seekers after the beautiful, 

 than by those who never dreamed of such a quality. 



In general, the dwellings of the poor, when corresponding 

 with their circumstances, are more picturesque than the 



