328 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



ment of the building, though, of course, much reduced, is 

 not unlike that of the latter edifice. The entrance porch is 

 always preserved, and the bay window jutting out from the 

 best apartment, gives variety, and an agreeable expression of 

 use and enjoyment, to almost every specimen of the old Eng- 

 lish cottage. 



Perhaps the most striking feature of the Rural Gothic 

 style as we see it in the best old English cottages, is the 

 pointed gable. This feature, which grows out of the high 

 roofs adopted, not only appears in the two ends of the main 

 building, but terminates every wing or projection of almost 

 any size that joins to the principal body of the house. The 

 gables are either of stone or brick, with a handsome mould- 

 ed coping, or they are finished with the long projecting 

 roof of wood, and verge boards, carved in a fanciful and 

 highly decorative shape. In either case, the point or apex 

 is crowned by a finial, or ornamented octagonal shaft, ren- 

 dering the gable one of the greatest sources of interest in 

 these dwellings. 



The porch, the labelled windows, the chimney shafts, and 

 the ornamented gables, being the essential elements in the 

 composition of the old English cottage style, it is evident that 

 this mode of building is highly expressive of purpose for 

 country residences of almost every description and size, from 

 the humblest peasant's cottage, to the beautiful and pictur- 

 esque villa of the retired gentleman of fortune. In this sim- 

 ple form, the whole may be constructed of wood very cheap- 

 ly, and in the more elaborate villa residence, stone, or brick 

 and cement may be preferred, as being more permanent. 

 No style so readily admits of enrichment as that of the old 

 English cottage when on a considerable scale ; and by the 

 addition of pointed verandas, bay windows, and dor mar- 



