URBANE COTTAGES.
The rural spirit is perhaps as strong in Devon as in any county of England ; and to the architect of its county council, Mr. Percy Morris, we owe words of particular wisdom on the preservation of country houses. His little pamphlet on Rural Houses, just published by the C.P.R.E. (from 17 Great Marlborough Street) is an epitome of the art and craft of reconditioning old cottages. The money to build or rent new cottages is often not forthcoming ; but the most thoroughly impoverished landlord, or local body, can now borrow money cheaply and easily for making old cottages, if they are for rural workers, fit to live in : light, sanitary, and sufficiently roomy. Among the many excellent photo- graphs, ten pages of them, are admirable examples of the increase of window space ; and some of the old half-timbered cottages of Devon and elsewhere are seen to be definitely improved in mere beauty of appearance by this new archi- tecture. It is our duty to preserve the urbanities as well as the amenities of our countryside, to use Mr. Morr:s' suggestive pun. a
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