It may be observed of the whole of the
cottage, that, though all is beautiful, nothing is pretty. The roof is
rather flat, and covered with heavy fragments of the stone of which the
walls are built, originally very loose; but generally cemented by
accumulated soil, and bound together by houseleek, moss, and stonecrop:
brilliant in color, and singular in abundance. The form of the larger
cottages, being frequently that of a cross, would hurt the eye by the
sharp angles of the roof, were it not for the cushion-like vegetation
with which they are rounded and concealed. Varieties of the fern
sometimes relieve the massy forms of the stonecrop, with their light and
delicate leafage. Windows in the roof are seldom met with. Of the
chimney I shall speak hereafter.
53. Such are the prevailing peculiarities of the Westmoreland cottage.
"Is this all?" some one will exclaim: "a hovel, built of what first
comes to hand, and in the most simple and convenient form; not one
thought of architectural beauty ever coming into the builder's head!"
Even so; to this illustration of an excellent rule, I wished
particularly to direct attention: that the material which Nature
furnishes, in any given country, and the form which she suggests, will
always render the building the most beautiful, because the most
appropriate.
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