CHAPTER XLV. 

 A MODEL VILLAGE. 



PERHAPS the most interesting of all our experiences 

 during our tour of inquiry through the western counties 

 in 1880 was the discovery in Wiltshire of what was, 

 in very truth, a model village. It came upon us as 

 an instance of " good spoilt by no admixture of evil " ; 

 and it may be as well to give the description then written 

 verbatim : 



" The external aspect of the little village of Wilcote 

 would instantly impress any chance passer-by. The 

 pretty cottages of which it consists do not number more 

 than about fifty or sixty. Some are thatched, with thatch- 

 work that is veritably a work of art, so neatly and admirably 

 has it been done. Others are slate-roofed, and all are 

 either brick or stone built, after simple but elegant designs 

 the walls being pierced by red-latticed windows that 

 give abundance of light to the interiors. No cottage in 

 Wilcote has less than two bedrooms, and the majority 

 have three, in addition to which each has two rooms 

 below sitting-room and kitchen or pantry. Pretty porches, 

 creeper and rose-entwined, rustic summer-houses, and 

 box-edged gardens are notable features in the aspect of the 

 peasant dwellings of this little village; and over all there 

 is an air of brightness and freshness, and there is especially 

 an absence of the sort of ' soiled ' appearance which too 

 frequently is noticeable in workmen's dwellings which 

 have been inhabited a few years. All the gardens in their 

 season grow such fruit as apples, plums, and gooseberries, 

 and such vegetables as potatoes, beans, ' broad ' and 

 ' kidney/ parsnips, etc., whilst portions of them are devoted 

 to the brightest of flowers. The rents of these excellent 

 cottages whose interiors, in the matters of dryness, room, 

 and comfort, are everything that could be desired are no 

 more than fifty-two shillings per annum, and eightpence per 

 annum in addition for two chimney-sweepings each year, 



