The older domestic architecture of the English may be viewed in another pleasing light. Their buildings and residences have not only the recommendation of beauty and complete adaptation, but the additional charm of having been the homes of our ancestors, and the dwellings of that bright galaxy of English genius and worth, which illuminates equally the intellectual firmament of both hemispheres. He who has extended his researches, conamore, into the history of the domestic life and habits of those illustrious minds, will not, we are sure, forget that lowly cottage by the side of the Avon, where the great English bard was wont to dwell; the tasteful residence of Pope at Twickenham; or the turrets and battlements of the more picturesque Abbotsford; and numberless other examples of the rural buildings of England, once the abodes of renowned genius. In truth, the cottage and villa architecture of the English has grown out of the feelings and habits of a refined and cultivated people, whose devotion to country life, and fondness for all its pleasures, are so finely displayed in the beauty of their dwellings, and the exquisite keeping of their buildings and grounds.
