Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/106

 82 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. [Ujuauiiauj both these persons being under the usual size, they put a bed in the closet, /, and used the room, b. as the cobbler's work-room, for which, being lighted from two sides, it was very well adapted; but this is what is called, in Eng- 143 land, making shift ; a thing not to be recom- mended in any book written with a view to human improvement. We may, notwith- standing, state that a closet may be turned into a makeshift bed-room for persons of even the ordinary size, by projecting the foot of the bed, fig. 143, through a partition, u, into the next room, or closet, v, enclosing and cover- ing the projection in such a manner as to give it the appearance of a chest of drawers or a press, and making the top serve as a dressing table, w. In the space below the bottom of the bed, a large drawer, x, for clothes or linen may be obtained, opening into the closet, v. 172. Expression. It is evident, from inspec- tion, that something more is intended in the elevation of this cottage than mere expression of the subject. The blocks or dentils under the window sills, the projecting roof, and its tiles, the cover to the chimney top, the general form of the windows, and the arched head of the doorway, show something like an at- tempt at architectural style. What, then, is the style at- tempted? Those who have viewed the buildings of all the countries of Europe with an architectural eye, or those who have studied the cottage build- ings in the pictures of the Italian landscape painters, will best be able to determine this question. All will agree that it seems to belong to the Italian style. This style, as it is called, though in reality it is only a substyle or manner, is founded on the Roman variety of Grecian architecture, with some forms, dispositions, and ornaments belonging to the castel- lated Gothic, but is by no means definite in its characteristics. In build- ings of the humblest class, it may be described as characterised by flat and far projecting roofs, mas- sive walls, and windows broad rather than deep, which are generally car- ried up close to the eaves, in order to be shaded, as much as possible, from the sun. In adapting the Italian style to England, this last characteristic is generally somewhat mo- dified, as in this Design ; indeed no characteristic of any style or manner ought to be servilely imitated, when that imitation would prove inconsistent with utility or convenience. When one age oi country borrows the architecture of any other, it must be modified in such a ' ^^feaEs^^-eiiiji^^^ ^^