On Labourers' Cottages^ 
63 
Each of these Cottages contains two dwellings. In front, behvixt 
it and the road, (from M'hich it is separated by a green hedge and a 
deep ditch) is a garden belonging to both, and only divided by a walk 
down the middle. Behind, is an entire yard to each house, fitted up 
with a pig-stye and every other convenience. The entrance to each 
dwelling is from its own yard; and a road is left, closed with a gate, 
at each end of the garden, by which the yard is entered, and coals and 
other articles brought in. To each single house is allotted an acre of 
land, independent of the garden, for the inmates to cultivate as they 
think proper; thus finding a profitable employment for the labourer’s 
wife, when she has time to spare,—for such children as are fit for la¬ 
bour,—and for the man himself, on a summer evening, after he has 
finished his daily task at his employer’s. 
The erection of these Cottages, has not been attended with much 
expense. They are built of brick, and covered with tiles or thatch; 
the bricks and tiles, I think, made upon the spot. They are plain 
buildings, and destitute of all those external ornaments, which, like the 
crested buttons on a liveiy suit, proclaim the dependence of the pos¬ 
sessor. Yet covered as they are with fruit-trees, shrubs and climbers, 
they are not void of beauty, though that beauty may be somewhat dif 
ferent from what a fastidious fancy would call the picturesque. 
The accompanying sketch, will convey some idea of their appear¬ 
ance, and for some future number, if agreeable, I may have it in my 
power to procure a correct plan of the interior of each, and of its re¬ 
lative situation in respect to its garden and all its conveniencies. 
This, Gentlemen, appears to me, a practical, and a practicable mode 
of doing good at a cheap rate. It has indeed many advantages, which 
are too obvious to need pointing out. A number of honest industrious 
families are placed in a state of comfortable independence, instead of 
being, as is too frequently the case, a disgrace to their friends, and a 
burden to their parishes; a tract of land, hitherto useless, is made pro¬ 
ductive, and consequently of increased value to its owner; and tlie 
