William Shakespeare, Player, Playmalcer, and Poet: a Reply to Mr.
George Greenwood. M.P. liy H. C. Dooehinic, D.Litt. With Faeshniles of the Five Authentic Signatures of the Poet. Louden: Smith, Elder, and Co. [2s. not. J Old Cottages and Farmhouses in Surrey. Photographed by Qaleworthy Davie. With an Introduction by W. Curtis Green, London : B. T. Dateford, [21e. net.J
but also as an inspiration for present purposes. Now more than ever is attention turned to cottage-building, and if we are going to build nothing better than the ordinary modern cottage, terrible will be the denunciations of posterity. The beauty of the old villages of England is something to be proud of. Are they to pass away from natural causes, and to be replaced by structures entirely hideous and usually badly built!' It is to be hoped that the example of the past may be followed before it is too late, and that new cottages as beautiful as the old will be built in the country. As Mr. Green tells us, the old houses were the product, not of architects and plans, but of the skill and taste of local craftsmen. These, alas ! have departed. What is the ideal of the small country builder now P Is it not generally to imitate the villas outside the nearest growing town P The only hope at present is to proceed with the help of those architects who have made
• the old village buildings their study, and who, to their credit, are now producing in some few places, notably Surrey, cottages which are not unworthy of the old models, and which do not strive after, originality. One most important point to be considered in building new cottages is that of local style and material. We know of a Somereetshire village- Blagdon—which has been utterly disfigured by the activities of some imperfectly educated architect, who has covered the ground with houses in which fancy timbering runs riot. In the district, which is a stone one, no old timbered work exists, and the effect is, naturally, very bad indeed. Against such absurdities of bad taste books like the one before us should be a protection. In turning over these pages nothing is more impressive than the general unity of style. Of course the details are endlessly varied, though not for the sake of showing the cleverness of the designer; but rather we see that use has given the form to most things in these buildings. The artistic sense of the craftsman comes out in all kinds of ways ; but never do we find the senseless ornament of bad modern work. But all through the variety of these Surrey houses. runs a main current of style, partly, no doubt, conditioned by the materials used,—timber and brick. This unity gives a charm to the villages which they could not possess if their builders had been feverishly seeking individual artistic expression. The collotype reproductions of Mr. Davis's photographs are well executed, and the book, with its numerous beautiful examples of cottages and farmhouses, is a very attractive one.
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