[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin, — In the correspondence in
your journal ornament was lately mentioned as inconsistent with the economy needful in providing cottages for farm labourers, but the beauty of the old cottages does not depend, I think, upon ornament. The cottages in the Cotswolds and North Oxfordshire, built of stone, with high-pitched roofs of thin stone slabs ("Stones. field slates" and the like) and dormer windows, fully satisfy the eye, even when they lack the mullions which add to their charm. In Warwickshire and Woreestershire, again: the old red-brick cottages without a particle of applied ornament are often simply delightful. Of Surrey I know very little, but I believe that there also the characteristic form of cottage- building has its own charm. I would not say a single word to disparage the admirable efforts of yourself and others to provide healthy, comfortable cottages within the means of farm labourers as tenants, and lam sure these cottages will never be obtrusive or ugly, but wherever possible should notthe character- istic features of the buildings of the district be maintained? To preserve the character and the beauty of the old villages is by no means entirely a question of money. Thought, care, and a little money would often do so much, and, alas ! the thought, care, and money are usually lacking. In a rich nation like ours money is lavished, often wasted, upon objects of far less importance. It is grievous indeed to walk into a village like one I know of in Gloucestershire, which must have been a delight to behold thirty years ago, and find the harmony
• :utterly destroyed' by " Victoria Terrsee,it a red-brick new
;facing the village green. such as wa should expect to find in a mannfacturing town. The money spent on Victoria Terrace, if .not sufficient to make complete provision of healthy dwellings in the old style, would have gone very far towards 'it. This dismal experience is only too common, and how very seldom do we have the delight of walking through a village like Overbury, in Weroestereliire, where there are no blots, and all the new building is in harmony with the old. Is not the beauty of many of our English villages one of our most valuable national possessions ? Will not you, Sir, do all you
• can now and always to persuade your readers to preserve it ?
LWe are wholly with our correspondent, but we venture to say that by esoltewing cheap ornament—it can only be cheap in any case—he will find that the appearanee of the cottages is improved, net injured. We are (pertain that Tiotoria 'Terrace was cheaply and dismally ornamented. A curious 'result of allowing no ornament is that the unadorned cottage tends to look like the old cottages, not like the new. The only " uglifying" element in the £150 cottage of which we have written is the big windows. The 'old cottage-builders were indifferent to light and air, and this indifference gave them a mere seemly proportion between wall-spaoes and 'Windows. Here we dare not copy them.—En. Spectator.]
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