House and Garden 
We shall strive to learn the origin of things, 
the why and wherefore of English rural archi¬ 
tecture, and perhaps wonder at the men who 
could build for themselves such pleasing 
and enduring homes. These were not built 
by skilled architects with carefully drawn 
plans, but by the peasants themselves, who 
wrought as they best could, sweetly, natu¬ 
rally, unaffectedly. They learnt the secrets 
of their art bv their commune with Nature, 
and from the traditions handed down from 
father to son from a remote past. The re¬ 
sults of their handicraft we can see today, 
though we have entered upon a di¬ 
minished inheritance, and have to mourn 
the loss of much that was beautiful, of 
which the restlessness of modern life has 
deprived us. 
And as we admire the cottage homes of 
England, and feel the sentiment that sheds 
a glamour over all, and makes us blind to 
the lack of sanitation and other conven¬ 
iences which modern theories have taught us 
to deem necessities, we shall try to learn the 
first causes, and mark the process of 
development to which our houses bear wit¬ 
ness. Man is always feeling for and striving 
after a more excellent way. The wondrous 
growth of Gothic architecture in England is 
the result of this human craving for perfec¬ 
tion ; and the hands that raised our mighty 
minsters were the same that reared our 
humbler homes, which by their beauty and 
exquisite and simple naturalness attract the 
wonder of all, whether we have been born 
amongst them, or have come wondering 
upon their beauties from all the grandeur 
over-seas. 
Remains of the Monastery of Ste.-Perine in the Forest of Compiegne 
87 
