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FRAGMENT V.
ON
DATES OF BUILDINGS.
A COTTAGE or Keeper's House was deemed necessary at Aspley
Wood, about three miles from Woburn Abbey. The Duke of
Bedford (to whom I am indebted for numerous opportunities
of displaying his good Taste) one day observed, that out of
the numerous Cottages called Gothic, which every where pre-
sent themselves near the high roads, he had never seen one
which did not betray its modern character and recent date. At
the same time his Grace expressed a desire to have a Cottage of
the style and date of buildings prior to the reign of Henry VIII,
of which only some imperfect fragments now remain.
Adjoining to this building, an attempt has been made to
assimilate a garden to the same character, and the annexed
Plate will furnish an example of both.
A communication of some curious specimens of Timber-
houses was made to the Society of Antiquaries in 1810, which
was ordered to be engraved and printed for the Archaeologia.
But this building does more than any drawing, to exemplify
many of the parts which have been thus rescued from the effects
of time.
To admirers of genuine Gothic forms, the following Note