Page:The first report, etc., of the Lichfield Society.djvu/24



DELIVERED BY T. JOHNSON, ESQ.



S a Member of this Architectural Society, and an Architect living in the City of Lichfield, I should reproach myself exceedingly, however reluctant I may feel in addressing this meeting, if I were not to express a hearty concurrence in the object for which this Society is formed, and an ardent hope that it may be instrumental in cultivating a genuine taste and spirit for Ecclesiastical Architecture.

After your very able and interesting address, it would appear ostentatious in me to enter into any lengthened detail of the rise, progress, and I may say, decay of Gothic Architecture in this country; nor is it necessary for me to argue whether Gothic Architecture (as it is termed) has any claim to originality with us. It is enough to say under any circumstances it is now Anglicised, and is a style the best adapted for our National Church.

The few observations I intend to make will bear more on the practical working of this Society than on the theory of Architecture itself, for unless theory and practice be in combination we cannot expect satisfactory results.

In looking at the Rules of this Society we find first, it is instituted under the title of “The Lichfield Society for the encouragement of Ecclesiastical Architecture;” and secondly, “That the objects of this Society shall be, generally, to promote the study of Ecclesiastical Architecture, and to collect and diffuse information upon this important subject; and specially to encourage the restoration of decayed and mutilated Ecclesiastical Buildings, and Sepulchral Monuments of the Middle Ages: with which view the operations of the Society shall be directed to the formation of a collection of Books, Prints, Drawings,