parish. The inducement as regards economy is now entirely the other way. If a landlord or any employer of labour introduce any additional workmen into the district, he will, in future, pay exactly the same share of the cost of any pauperism that may arise amongst them, whether they live on his estate or not; and it is quite clear that, in nine cases out of ten, the chances are that the workpeople will be far less provident, and that, therefore, far more pauperism will exist amongst them, if they be living in large villages, and close to the public-house, than if living close to their employer. So that besides the economy of having people near to their work, every landlord who does not wish to pay large poor-rates, is now directly interested in having as many of his workmen as possible living on his estate, and not in large villages at a distance.

For all these reasons, therefore, I look forward to a time, which I hope may not be far distant, when a very large proportion of the cottages that are built, will be built by the landlord or

employer, and be under his immediate control, instead of being built as at present by some speculating builder, and under no control at all: and I am certain that, as this becomes more general, the notion that cottages are to pay six per cent. on the outlay will become less so. At the same time, it is very probable that, although a better and more costly cottage may usually be built than at present, they may, after all, pay better, even in the shape of rent, than the present bad ones do. The present tendency of all wages seems to be to increase, and I do not know why, at the same time, the rent paid for cottages should not do so also. Moreover, the practice will probably become more common of attaching good-sized gardens to the cottages; the result of which is, that the occupier will gladly pay such a rent for the garden and cottage together, as will afford a fair interest on the money spent on the cottage.

CHAPTER II.

ON COTTAGE CONSTRUCTION.

UNDER this head I propose to consider the various modes in which the ground and chamber plans of cottages, may be compactly and economically arranged, and, at the same time, may consult as far as possible the comfort of the inmates. And in this chapter the different forms of cottages will, for convenience, be treated of in four sections.

In § various plans of cottages with a livingroom and scullery on the ground-floor, and three upstairs bedrooms, are considered. The plans

Nos. I to 8 are of this form.

§ 2. Plans of cottages with living-room, scullery, and two upstairs bedrooms. Plans Nos. 9 and 10.

§ 3. Plans of cottages with a parlour and

kitchen on the ground-floor, and two or three upstairs bedrooms. Nos. II to 16.

§ 4. Plans of pairs of cottages with a different number of rooms in each. Nos. 17 to 20.

In all of these plans the principal room is drawn of the same size, 14 ft. by 12 ft.; not because this size is better than any other, but in order that the comparative size and compactness, and, therefore, the comparative economy of the several plans, may be the more easily judged of.

The cost of a cottage depends, no doubt, partly on other things; but it is also, of course, directly proportioned to the area which the cottage occupies. The numbers attached to the ground-plans of the several cottages give the area in square feet which is occupied by each; and as the livingrooms (and also sc ne other parts of the plans) are drawn of exactly the same size in all of them, a rough estimate of the comparative cost of the several plans may thus be arrived at. Other sizes and proportions for the living-room are equally as good, such as 13 ft. by 13 ft., 15 ft. by 11 ft., 14 ft.

by 11 ft., 13 ft. by 12 ft., 13 ft. by 11 ft., 12 ft. by 12 ft. or even a smaller one in some cases, especially in those plans which have a parlour, may be used equally well, or even, in some of the plans, more advantageously than the one employed. My object has not been so much to give the best possible plans, as to illustrate the principles of construction required to build as good cottages as possible. It will be seen also that in all, the plans are so drawn as that every room, both on the ground and chamber plans, shall have but one door opening separately into the passage. Nothing is so uncomfortable in any house, whether large or small, as making passages of the rooms, and the smaller the house the greater the discomfort of this; and the plans are thus drawn to show that this can be very easily avoided in cottages, without adding materially to their cost. But it is not meant to be asserted here, that this should always be carried out to this extent; indeed, where the scullery is not used as a living-room, as it never ought to be, there