Excerpt from The Origin, Progress, and Present Condition of the Fine Arts in Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 1 of 2

I have not spared either labour or expense. I have devoted nearly two years of my life to the completion of this purpose, and I have now the honour of laying before you the result of these labours in a compendious form. The main object being to diffuse as widely as possible amongst the reading portion of society a correct knowledge of the leading facts and circumstances by which the progress of the Fine Arts has been advanced, suspended, or retarded, throughout their entire progress in the British Isles, I have made these exertions to render the work acceptable to those who are known to be judges of literary exertions, as well as of pictorial merit, and I have endeavoured to maintain that spirit of good feeling and cordiality so fully and impartially exercised towards native talent of every class by this Institution, and which is so essential to the prosperity of the arts in every land.

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