Cotmania. Vol. VI. 1930-31

Southwell Minster.
Extract from the diary of John Ruskin. April 1876.
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"There at Southwell, the utter stupidity of the heads meant to
be human: the miserable attempts to be subtle without
knowledge, and dexterous without feeling: the essentially
hard, coarse, and vile touch through all the agony
& vanity of Chinese effort; and the palpable inability
to carve the body of anything (that of men, never
attempted - all English Gothic is mere boss &
decapitation); and the beasts, mere logs with
legs for lions, or ropes with scales for serpants-
utterly gross and humiliating to one's English
soul."

Commemorated by Randall Davidson (Archbishop of
Canterbury) to the Arch Deacon of Nottingham
(James Conybeare) when the latter in showing
the former round had stated that he believed
Ruskin had somewhere stated that the
carvings of the Southwell Chapterhouse were
the finest flowers of English Gothic.