fashioned with Horsham slabs.

[13] _Highways and Byways in Sussex_, by E.V. Lucas.

The builders and masons of our country cottages were cunning men, and
adapted their designs to their materials. You will have noticed that
the pitch of the Horsham-slated roof is unusually flat. They observed
that when the sides of the roof were deeply sloping, as in the case of
thatched roofs, the heavy stone slates strained and dragged at the
pegs and laths and fell and injured the roof. Hence they determined
to make the slope less steep. Unfortunately the rain did not then
easily run off, and in order to prevent the water penetrating into the
house they were obliged to adopt additional precautions. Therefore
they cemented their roofs and stopped them with mortar.

[Illustration: Cottage at Capel, Surrey ]

Very lovely are these South Country cottages, peaceful, picturesque,
pleasant, with their graceful gables and jutting eaves, altogether
delightful. Well sang a loyal Sussex poet:--

If I ever become a rich man,
Or if ever I grow to be old,
I will build a house with deep thatch[14]
To shelter me from the cold;
And there shall the Sussex songs be sung
And the story of Sussex told.

[14] I fear the poet's plans will never be passed by the rural
district council.