RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 299 



as to heighten her beauties ; while by the harmonious union 

 he throws a borrowed charm around his own creation. 



The English, above all other people, are celebrated for 

 their skill in what we consider rural adaptation. Their 

 residences seem to be a part of the scenes where they are sit- 

 uated ; for their exquisite taste and nice perception of the 

 beauties of Landscape Gardening and rural scenery, lead them 

 to erect those picturesque edifices, which, by their varied out- 

 lines, seem in exquisite keeping with nature; while by the 

 numberless climbing plants, shrubs, and fine ornamental trees 

 with which they surround them, they form beautiful pictures 

 of rural beauty. Even the various offices connected with the 

 dwelling, partially concealed by groups of foliage, and con- 

 tributing to the expression of domestic comfort, while they 

 extend out, and give importance to the main edifice, also 

 serve to connect it, in a less abrupt manner, with the 

 grounds. 



So different indeed is the general character of the cottage 

 and villa architecture of England, that many an American, on 

 looking over the illustrated works of their writers on domestic 

 architecture, while he acknowledges their high scenic beauty, 

 generally regards them in much the same light as he does 

 Moore's description of the vale of Cashmere, in LallaRookh — 

 beautiful imaginative creations of the artist, but which can 

 never be realized in every day life, and a comfortable dwell- 

 ing. The fact however is, it is well known, quite the con- 

 trary ; for many of the English country residences are really 

 far more beautiful than the pictorial representations ; and no 

 people gather around themselves more of those little comforts 

 and elegancies, which make up the sum total of home, than 

 the inhabitants of that highly cultivated and gardenesque 

 countrv. 



