I would next observe that this study of old examples must be _continuous_. It is not a course of study to be followed up for a certain time and then brought to a close, but must be continued indefinitely throughout your whole course, so as to be ever _reviving_ and ever _adding to_ your knowledge. In the study of Classic architecture, though it is from the original examples that knowledge and inspiration are drawn, these examples are so far removed from us, in this country at least, that it is as a rule only possible to study from them once or twice during a whole life. The case is, happily, very different with the examples of Mediæval art: we are surrounded by them wherever we go;--they are the early monuments of our own country, the works of our forefathers, and our study of them is not the work of one strong effort at a single period of our lives, but a constantly renewing study, a fountain to which we may return again and again whenever we feel to need its refreshing influences. This, though an inestimable advantage, _may_ prove a temptation to negligence, as we are apt to let go opportunities which are ever at hand, so that we must not trust to these desultory sippings for our main supply, but must _drink deep and long_ when we have the opportunity; and more especially I would urge upon _you_ to do so _now_--in the days of your youth, while yet unencumbered by the cares of business, while your feelings are fresh and your thoughts unshackled. _This_ is the time for laying in the great stores of knowledge which must be the main supply of your future lives, and _without_ which the scant and hasty draughts obtained on chance opportunities will be of no avail, but _after_ which they will be the means of constantly refreshing and adding ever new life to the knowledge already possessed. We may say of this as of other branches of study, “A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.” The conditions under which the study has to be pursued seem in some degree to preclude its being followed in a strictly _systematic_ manner. We are obliged to study buildings, of whatever date, as they may come in our way; and every building we visit is likely to be of many periods and to have undergone alterations more or less radical; so that we are almost forbidden to systematise our studies on any principle, chronological or otherwise. We must, in fact, take our examples pretty much as we happen to find them; and the best method when we set out on a sketching tour is, probably, to devote our attention to a particular district, and to follow it up, town by town and village by village, as convenience or previous information may suggest, visiting and thoroughly studying _all_ objects worthy of it which come in our way.