ON SIMPLE RURAL COTTAGES. 245 



ful attempts, and every rural dwelling, really' well designed and ex- 

 eputed, has a strong and positive eflfect upon the good taste of the 

 whole country. 



There is, perhaps, a more intuitive judgment — we mean a natu- 

 ral and instinctive one — in the popular mind, regarding architecture, 

 than any other one of tiie fine arts. We have inowh many men, 

 who could not themselves design a good common gate, who yet felt 

 truly, and at a glance, the beauty df a well-proportioned and taste- 

 ful house, and the deformity of one whose proportions and details 

 were bad! Why then are there so many failures in building orna- 

 mental cottages? 



We imagine the answer to this lies plainly in the fact, that the 

 most erroneous notions prevail respecting the proper use of decoea- 

 TioN in rural architecture. 



It is the, most common belief and practice, with those whose 

 taste is merely borrowed, and not founded upon any clearly defined 

 principles, that it is only necessary to adopt the ornaments of a cer- 

 tain building, or a certain style of building, to produce the best efiect 

 of the style or building in question. But so far is this from being the 

 true mode of attaining this result, that in every case where it is adopt- 

 ed, as we perceive at a glance, the result is altogether unsatisfactory. 



Ten years ago the mock-Grecian fashion was atits height. Per- 

 haps nothing is, more truly beautiful than the pure and classical 

 Greek temple — so perfect in its proportions, so chaste' and harmo- 

 nious in. its decorations. It is certainly not the best style for a coun- 

 try house ; but still we have seen a few specimens in this country, 

 of really beautiful villas, in this style— rwhere the proportions of the 

 whole, and the admirable completeness of all the parts, executed on 

 -a fitting scale, produced emotions of the highest pleasure. 



But, alas ! no sooner were there a few specimens of the classical 

 styl0 in the country, than the Greek temple mania became an epi- 

 demic. Churches, banks, and court-houses, one could very well bear 

 to see Tfitruvianized. Their simple uses and respectable size bore 

 well the honors which the destiny of the day forced upon them. 

 But to see the five orders applied to every other building^ from the 

 rich merchant's mansion to the smallest and meanest of all edifices, 

 was a spectacle which made'even the warmest admirers of Vitruvius' 



