Imatges de pàgina
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mated existence in a scene of natural beauty, but only of such existence as shall be imbued with the spirit, and partake of the essence of the beauty, which without it would be dead. If our object, therefore, is to embellish a scene, the character of which is peaceful and unpretending, we must not erect a building which shall be expressive of the abode of wealth or pride.

3. However beautiful or imposing in itself, such an object immediately indicates the presence of a kind of existence unsuited to the scenery which it inhabits, and of a mind which, when it sought retirement, was unacquainted with its own ruling feelings, and which consequently excites no sympathy in ours; but if we erect a dwelling which may appear adapted to the wants, and sufficient for the comfort of a gentle heart and lowly mind, we have attained our object; we have bestowed animation, and we have not disturbed repose.

4. It is for this reason that the cottage is one of the embellishments of natural scenery which deserves attentivè consideration. It is beautiful always and every where; and whether looking out of the woody dingle with its eyelike window, and sending up the motion of azure smoke between the silver trunks of aged trees, or grouped among the bright corn-fields of the fruitful plain, or forming gray clusters along the slope of the mountain side, the cottage always gives the idea of a thing to be beloved-a quiet, life-giving voice, that is as peaceful as silence itself.

5. The principal thing worthy of observation in a finished cottage is its all-pervading neatness, and the expression of tranquil repose. The swallow or the martin is permitted to attach his humble domicile, in undisturbed security, to the eaves; but he may be considered as enhancing the effect of

the cottage by increasing its usefulness, and making it contribute to the comfort of more beings than one. The whitewash is stainless, and its rough surface catches a side light as brightly as a front one; the luxuriant rose is trained gracefully over the window; and the gleaming lattice, divided, not into heavy squares, but into small-pointed diamonds, is thrown half open, as is just discovered among the green leaves of the sweet brier, to admit the breeze, that, as it passes over the flowers, becomes full of their fragrance.

6. The bright wooden porch breaks the flat of the cottage face by its projection, and branches of the wandering honeysuckle spread over its low hatch. A few square feet of garden, and a latched wicket, inviting the weary and dusty pedestrian to lean upon it for an instant, and request a drink of water or milk, complete a picture which, if it be far enough from the city to be unspoiled by town sophistications, is a very perfect thing in its way. The ideas it awakens are agreeable, and the architecture is all that we want in such a situation. It is pretty and appropriate; and, if it boasted of any other perfection, it would be at the expense of its propriety.

1.

LESSON IX. THE SHEPHERD'S COTTAGE.

WHERE Woods of ash, and beech,

And partial copses fringe the green hill foot,

The upland shepherd rears his modest home;
There wanders by a little nameless stream

That from the hill wells forth, bright now and clear,
Or after rain with chalky mixture gray,
But still refreshing in its shallow course
The cottage garden-most for use designed,
Yet not of beauty destitute. The vine
Mantles the little casement; yet the brier
Drops fragrant dew among the July flowers;

And pansies ray'd, and freak'd' and mottled pinks,
Grow among balm, and rosemary, and rue;
There honeysuckles flaunt, and roses blow
Almost uncultured: some with dark green leaves
Contrast their flowers of pure unsullied white;
Others like velvet robes of regal state
Of richest crimson; while, in thorny moss
Enshrined and cradled, the most lovely wear
The hues of youthful beauty's glowing cheek.

2. With fond regret I recollect, e'en now,
In spring and summer what delight I felt
Among these cottage gardens, and how much
Such artless nosegays, knotted with a rush
By village housewife or her ruddy maid,

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Were welcome to me; soon and simply pleased,
An early worshiper at Nature's shrine,

I loved her rudest scenes-warrens, and heaths,
And yellow commons, and birch-shaded hollows,
And hedgerows, bordering unfrequented lanes
Bower'd with wild roses, and the clasping woodbine,
Where purple tassels of the tangling vetch
With bittersweet and bryony inweave,

And the dew fills the silver bindweed's cups:

3. I loved to trace the brooks whose humid banks
Nourish the harebell, and the freckled pagil;
And stroll among o'ershadowing woods of beech,
Sending in summer from the heats of noon
A whispering shade; while haply there reclines
Some pensive lover of uncultur'd flowers,

Who from the tumps,3 with bright green mosses clad,
Plucks the wood sorrel with its light thin leaves,

Heart-shaped, and triply-folded, and its root

Creeping like beaded coral; or who there

Gathers, the copse's pride, anemones,*
With rays like golden studs on ivory laid
Most delicate; but touch'd with purple clouds,
Fit crown for April's fair but changeful brow.

CHARLOTTE SMITH.

1 FREAK'ED, variegated. [for rabbits, etc. 3 TEMP, a little hillock. 2 WAR'-EEN (wor'-ren), an inclosed place

4 A-NEM'-O-NE, the wind flower.

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1. IF all persons building in the country knew how much the pleasure we derive from rural architecture is enhanced by truthfulness, we should be spared the pain of seeing so many miserable failures in country houses of small dimensions. A cottage-by which we mean a house of small size-will never succeed in an attempt to impose itself upon us as a villa. Nay, by any such attempt on the part of the builder, the cottage will lose its own peculiar charm, which is as great, in its way, as that of the villa.1

2. This throwing away the peculiar beauty and simplicity of a cottage, in endeavoring to imitate the richness and variety of a villa, is as false in taste as for a person of simple character to lay aside his simplicity and frankness, to assume the cultivation and polish of a man of the world. The basis for enduring beauty is truthfulness, no less in houses than in morals; and cottages, farm-houses, and villas, which aim to be only the best and most agreeable cottages, farm-houses, and villas, will be infinitely more acceptable to the senses, feelings, and understanding than those which endeavor to assume a grandeur foreign to their nature and purpose.

3. The principle which the reason would lay down for the government of the architect in constructing buildings for domestic as well as public life, is the simple and obvious one, that both in material and character they should appear to be

what they are. To build a house of wood so exactly in imitation of stone as to lead the spectator to suppose it stone, is a paltry artifice, at variance with all truthfulness. When we employ stone as a building material, let it be clearly expressed; when we employ wood, there should be no less frankness in avowing the material. There is more merit in so using wood as to give to it the utmost expression of which the substance is capable, than in endeavoring to make it look like some other material.

4. A glaring want of truthfulness is sometimes seen in the attempt of ignorant builders to express a style of architecture which demands massiveness, weight, and solidity, in a material that possesses none of these qualities. Such is the imitation of Gothic castles, with towers and battlements built of wood. Nothing can well be more paltry and contemptible. The sugar castles of confectioners and pastry-cooks are far more admirable as works of art. If a man is ambitious of attracting attention by his house, and can only afford wood, let him, if he can content himself with nothing appropriate, build a gigantic wigwam of logs and bark, or even a shingle palace, but not attempt mock battlements of pine boards, and strong towers of thin plank. The imposition attempted is more than even the most uneducated person of native sense can possibly bear.

1 VIL ́-LA, an elegant country seat, or farm, with a mansion and out-houses.

LESSON XI.-BURIAL OF THE DEAD-MONUMENTS OF THE

BURIAL-GROUND.

J. A. PICTON.

1. VARIOUS modes have prevailed, in different ages and countries, for the disposal of the remains of the dead, according to the different ideas entertained of the relation between the soul and the body, and the peculiar notions of a future state of existence. Among the Greeks, the custom of burning the dead was nearly, if not quite, universal. The ashes were collected with pious care into an urn, which was deposited in a tomb, sometimes a family vault, with a monument erected over it to the memory of the deceased. Every classical reader will remember the description of the funeral pile of Patroclus, in the twenty-third book of the Iliad:

2.

"Those deputed to inter the slain
Heap with a rising pyramid the plain.
A hundred feet in length, a hundred wide,
The growing structure spreads on every side.
High on the top the manly corse they lay,

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