'To my Gothic ear, indeed the "Stabat Mater", the "Dies Irae", and some of the other hymns of the Catholic Church are more solemn and affecting than the fine classical poetry of Buchanan; the one has the gloomy dignity of a Gothic church, and reminds us instantly of the worship to which it is dictated; the other is more like a Pagan temple, recalling to our memory the classical and fabulous deities.'