Beginning at the head of Windermere, and running down its border for
about six miles, there are six important gentlemen's seats, villas they
may be called; the first of which is a square white mass, decorated with
pilasters of no order, set in a green avenue, sloping down to the water;
the second is an imitation, we suppose, of something possessing
theoretical existence in Switzerland, with sharp gable ends, and wooden
flourishes turning the corners, set on a little dumpy mound with a slate
wall running all round it, glittering with iron pyrites; the third is a
blue dark-looking box, squeezed up into a group of straggly larches,
with a bog in front of it; the fourth is a cream-colored domicile, in a
large park, rather quiet and unaffected, the best of the four, though
that is not saying much; the fifth is an old-fashioned thing, formal,
and narrow-windowed, yet gray in its tone, and quiet, and not to be
maligned; and the sixth is a nondescript, circular, putty-colored
habitation, with a leaden dome on the top of it.
102. If, however, instead of taking Windermere, we trace the shore of
the Lago di Como, we shall find some expression and nationality; and
there, therefore, will we go, to return, however, to England, when we
have obtained some data by which to judge of her more fortunate
edifices.
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