e case, it is a direct consequence, that we
shall find much nationality in the Church or the Fortress, or in any
building devoted to the purposes of active life, but very little in that
which is dedicated exclusively to relaxation, the Villa. We shall be
compelled to seek out nations of very strong feeling and imaginative
disposition, or we shall find no correspondence whatever between their
character, and that of their buildings devoted to pleasure.

101. In our own country, for instance, there is not the slightest.
Beginning at the head of Windermere, and running down its border for
about six miles, there are six important gentlemen's seats, villas they
may be called; the first of which is a square white mass, decorated with
pilasters of no order, set in a green avenue, sloping down to the water;
the second is an imitation, we suppose, of something possessing
theoretical existence in Switzerland, with sharp gable ends, and wooden
flourishes turning the corners, set on a little dumpy mound with a slate
wall running all round it, glittering with iron pyrites; the third is a
blue dark-looking box, squeezed up into a group of straggly larches,
with a bog in front of it; the fourth is a cream-colored domicile, in a
large park, rather quiet and unaffected, the best of the four, though
that is not saying much; the fifth is an old-fashioned thing, formal,
and narrow-windowed, yet gray in its tone, and quiet, and not to be
maligned; and the sixth is a nondescript, circular, putty-colored
habitation, with a leaden dome on the top of it.

102. If, however, instead of taking Windermere, we trace the shore of
the Lago di Como, we shall find some expression and nationality; and
there, therefore, will we go, to return, however, to England, when we
have obtained some data by which to judge of her more fortunate
edifices. We notice the mountain villa first, for two reasons; because
effect is always more considered in its erection, than when it is to be
situated in a less interesting country, and because the effect desired
is very rarely given, there being far greater difficulties to contend
with. But one word more, before setting off for the south. Though, as we
saw before, the gentleman has less _national_ character than the boor,
his _individual_ character is more marked, especially in its finer
features, which are clearly and perfectly developed by education;
consequently, when the inhabitant of the villa has had anything to do
wi