Morris, William: An address delivered by William Morris at the distribution of prizes to students of the Birmingham Municipal School of Art on Feb. 21, 1894 (London, 1898)

architectooralooral) tastes, were not in the least
moved by the masterpieces of Mediaeval Art; in
point of fact, since they did not use their eyes on
them, and since they were rejoicingatfirst in their
newly/recovered treasure of classical learning, and
later on in the acquirement of science so-called,
they considered these mouldering heaps of stone
to be mere relics of barbarism* In passing, I may
say that the French travels of that very shrewd
man of business and very complete Philistine,
Arthur Young, give us an excellent measure of
this stupidity. About the beginning of this cem
tury, a few people began to open their eyes to Me--
diaeval Art, of whom by far the most remarkable
was Walter Scott; and his obviously genuine love
for these works, combined with the conventional
idea that they were 4 barbarous/ produced some
curiousand amusing passagesinhisbooks* How/
ever, admiration for the Gothic buildings grew,
till at last people began to think that they would
like to have some more likethem, and triedit with
very small success, though they were mightily
pleased by their attempts* Again came a period
which learned so much more about the Gothic
style, as it was once called, that great and success^
ful architects practised in it, producing buildings
which did no great harm, when they did not take
theplaceof old buildings* Butinanother direction
this new knowledge had very bad consequences*
By this time our ancient buildings, having been
*5

Birming/
ham School
of Art, 1894*