Let it not be supposed, however, that such a combination of attributes
is rare; on the contrary, it is common to the greater part of the
cottages of Italy. This building has not been selected as a rare
example, but it is given as a good one. [These remarks refer to a cut in
the magazine text, represented in the illustrated edition by a
photogravure from the original sketch.]]
32. Having now reviewed the distinctive parts of the Italian cottage in
detail, we shall proceed to direct our attention to points of general
character. I. Simplicity of form. The roof, being flat, allows of no
projecting garret windows, no fantastic gable ends: the walls themselves
are equally flat; no bow-windows or sculptured oriels, such as we meet
with perpetually in Germany, France, or the Netherlands, vary their
white fronts. Now, this simplicity is, perhaps, the principal attribute
by which the Italian cottage attains the elevation of character we
desired and expected. All that is fantastic in form, or frivolous in
detail, annihilates the aristocratic air of a building: it at once
destroys its sublimity and size, besides awakening, as is almost always
the case, associations of a mean and low character. The moment we see a
gable roof, we think of cock-lofts; the instant we observe a projecting
window, of attics and tent-bedsteads.
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