Sir William Chambers:
To those usually called Gothic Architects we are indebted for the first considerable Improvements in construction; there is a lightness in their works, an art and boldness of execution, to which the ancients never arrived, and which the moderns comprehend and imitate with difficulty. England contains many magnificent examples of this Species of Architecture, equally admirable for the art with which they are built, the taste and ingenuity with which they are composed. One cannot refrain from wishing that the Gothic Structures were more considered, were better understood, and in higher estimation than they hitherto seem to have been. Would our Dilettanti, instead of importing the Gleanings of Greece, or our Antiquarians, instead of publishing loose incoherent prints, encourage persons duly qualified to undertake a correct elegant publication of our Cathedrals, and other Buildings called Gothic, before they totally fall to ruin, it would be a real service to the Arts of Design; preserve the remembrance of an extraordinary Style of Building, now sinking fast into Oblivion; and at the same time publish to the world, the riches of Britain in the Splendour of her ancient Structures.[Treatise on the Decorative Parts of Civil Architecture by Sir William Chambers. 1759]