342 Notes on Country Seats and Gardens. 



adjoining the village-school, and the house of the clergyman 

 near the church, will always be principal objects ; and shops for 

 the sale of different articles speak by their windows. Every 

 large village ought to have an open shed, or other public building, 

 in a central situation, to serve as a kind of market or gossiping 

 place, and also as a playground, or place of amusement, for the 

 boys in rainy weather. 



Whoever intends to ornament and improve a village, we would 

 strongly recommend to study Harlaxton. It is impossible to re- 

 flect on that village without imaginina; what a continued scene of 

 ornament and appearance of comfort all England, and even all 

 Europe, would present, if proprietors would follow the example of 

 Mr. Gregory. Happily, in this country, many have been engaged 

 in this work for a number of years, and considerable progress 

 has certainly been made. Though the best mode to succeed is 

 to have the very best advice at the commencement, and submit 

 every elevation that is to be carried into effect to an architect of 

 taste, yet let those who do not value advice of this kind make 

 the attempt with what knowledge they have, or can derive from 

 books, or from observing what has been done by others, and 

 they cannot fail to do good to a considerable extent. The way 

 to insure artistical buildings throughout the country is, not so 

 much here and there to employ a first-rate architect, who may 

 erect a splendid mansion with a handsome cottage as an entrance- 

 lodge, as to create a demand for architectural taste and knowledge 

 among country builders, carpenters, masons, and bricklayers, 

 generally, since it is by these persons that the great majority of 

 country buildings are both designed and executed. It is not by 

 the occasional employment of a first-rate physician that an indi- 

 vidual preserves his health, but by having some knowledge of the 

 human constitution himself, and having recourse, when necessary, 

 to the nearest apothecary or village practitioner. Where would 

 be all the beautiful flowers that now adorn the cottage gardens 

 throughout England, if their culture were only known to first- 

 rate gardeners ? For the general improvement of cottages, there- 

 fore, we must not depend solely on first-rate architects ; we must 

 educate the eye of the country carpenter and mason, and give 

 the cottager himself a taste for architectural and gardenesque 

 beauty. 



Hungerton Hall, the present residence of Mr. Gregory, 

 Chatsworth, Wootton Lodge, Alton Towers, Trentham, Har- 

 ringay, Trent Park, Beech Hill, and some places in Middlesex, 

 as well as East Comb, Charlton House, Belford, and Belvidere , 

 in Kent, we shall notice in our Number for September. 



