Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/260

 23 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. kind do so with reference to this standard; bxit it is not, on that account, the less founded on re;ison. The common standards of Architects, wliatever may be the material em- ployed, are the models handed down to us by the ancients ; and the common standards of the rest of mankind are the works erected by the Architects for the time being. Thus precedent takes the place of principle; and in Architecture, as in every thing else, fashion ultimately usurps the part of reason. But it is the province of criticism to test the fashions of the day, by a recurrence to first principles, and to endeavour to recall mankind to the consideration of fundamental laws. In no art is this more requisite than in Architecture; the pretended knowledge of which has hitherto, in all ages and countries, been in the bands of a few ; but which, to be improved and brought to perfection, ought to have its principles universally studied and understood, so as that its works may be examined and criticised on these principles by the many In the infancy of all art, the many are ne- cessarily led by the artists, and their arbitrary rules become law; but, with the progress of things, the many become enlightened, and, judging for themselves, force the professors of art to recur to fundamental principles ; and it is self-evident, that, in a useful art, these principles must be based on utility. These remarks are not more applicable to this Design than they are to several others; but we consider it necessary to make them, with a view of impressing on our readers the necessity of mainly depending upon their reason, in judging of all architectural works wh.atever. Design LXXVI. — A Cottage DiveUing, One Story hiyJi, containing Six Rooms, a Wash-house, and other Conveniences. 474. Accommodation and Construction. The ground plan, fig. 419, contains an entrance-porch, a ; breakfast-room, h ; dining-parlour, c ; two good bed-rooms, d and e ; with two closets in d; a servant's bed-room, /; kitchen, g ; wash-house, h ; and privy, 419 ^ There is a cellar under c, which is descended to by the stairs, /. A well may be dug, and a pump fixed either in the wash-house, or in the yard, m. llie wall n may be continued at convenience, the south-east side of it enclosing a yard, in which may be placed a cliicken-coop, pigsty, coal-house, dirt-bin, wood-house, and other conveniences ; and the north-west side may form one wall of the garden, against which, of course, fruit trees may be trained. It is proposed to have a cistern for rain water, over a part of the wash-house, to be formed of wood, and lined with zinc, as being much cheaper than load. To tliis the water is to be conveyed by large wooden gutters, lined with zinc, to the thatched roof, 'i'lie waste water from this cistern, and from the wash-house and from the pump, is to be led through the drain of the privy, to the liquid manure tank. The walls aic proposed to be of chalk-stone with brick corners; and with brick fticin^s