The two cottages which we have sketched at Ewhurst are very characteristic examples constructed in what is called "post and pan work." That is to say, the walls consist of a framework of timber called "post," which is subdivided into panels called "pan." These "pans," or panels, are filled in with brick-work. In the first example the brick is laid in herring-bone pattern, but in the second example the whole of the upper storey is covered with scalloped tiles, a treatment almost peculiar to Surrey and Sussex. On the ground floor storey the brick-work between the timbers is plastered over. The first cottage, which is of sixteenth century architecture, has a very prettily arranged external staircase, protected by the sloping eaves of the roof. The second cottage, which is seventeenth century work, has an unbroken and uninterrupted roof from end to end, which is the usual treatment, for it must be pointed out that the genuine old English cottage does not "break out all over" in ornamental gables, dormers, spirelets, finials, and spikes; even when most picturesque, it is remarkably sober and simple in outline and is as far as possible removed from the modern "Bijou cottage," or "Cottage Ornée," a class of building which is to architecture what "that pride which apes humility" is to virtue. The genuine cottage is the residence of the humble hard-working peasant, and its picturesque charm springs from its appropriateness, simplicity, and absence of fussiness or ostentation. The first cottage which we illustrate is a superior building to the second, but it has a marked sobriety and simplicity about it which assimilates so well with its humble surroundings. H. W. BREWER. "OUR HERO." A TALE OF THE FRANCO-ENGLISH WAR NINETY YEARS AGO. BY AGNES GIBERNE, Author of "Sun, Moon and Stars," "The Girl at the Dower House," etc. CHAPTER IX. SOME ACCOUNT OF ENGLAND'S HERO. An excuse need hardly be offered for giving here a few details as to the past history of General Moore, if only in explanation of Denham Ivor's supreme devotion to the man, and of Jack Keene's more outspoken admiration. Though Moore's name is inscribed in letters of blood upon the deathless roll of our national heroes, not so much is known about him by people in general as ought to be known. Ninety years ago a common mode of referring to him in the country, and still more in the Army, seems to have been simply as "Our Hero." And of this tale John Moore is the real centre. In those times of perpetual warfare, officers often reached high rank early. In the year 1803 he was still in the prime of manhood, having been born in 1761.