fn 1Rew BnglanD 



circled the infant town of Boston nestled 

 among its hills. 



While the struggles for the sustenance 

 of life would allow the early settlers lit- 

 tle opportunity for attention to aesthetic 

 principles, yet their humble homes, with 

 the surrounding orchards and gardens, all 

 so well chosen as to position, gave evidence 

 of their influence. The style of architec- 

 ture, where any pretence to such was 

 adopted, was the result of the experience 

 taught by the severity of the climate, and 

 it will be readily allowed by the tasteful, 

 that the plain cottages and unadorned old 

 houses, that are now so much admired, 

 where allowed to exist, were more in keep- 

 ing with their environment and with the 

 habits of the people, than the preten- 

 tious buildings which have usurped their 

 places. 



Only a comparatively few of the multi- 

 plicity of estates which have been held in 

 the suburbs of Boston can here receive 

 even brief attention. The notices and 

 descriptions of Dorchester and Roxbury 

 123 



