THE GOTHIC AS AN OPENING TO THE IMAGINATION

• The Gothic temple at Stowe

The Gothic temple at Stowe (a pseudo-gothic temple in the garden we studied previously) was seen as a spur to the imagination because it was half concealed by trees.

[William Gilpin], A Dialogue upon the Gardens … at Stowe (1749).

The Gothic temple:
Nothing certainly in the kind can be more beautiful or great, than that pompous Pile rising in so magnificent a manner above the Wood. The Building cannot possibly be shewn to greater Advantage: The Appearance it makes presents you with an Idea sufficiently grand; yet your Imagination cannot be persuaded but that it is in fact much grander, and that the Wood hides a great Part of what is to be seen from your Eye. This is a most delightful manner of pleasing: A grand Object left to a good Imagination to improve upon, seldom loses by its Assistance

• Milton's poem about 'battlements' (c.1628)

Thomas Warton the Younger, in his notes to his edition of Milton's 'L'Allegro' (1785), wrote about the couplet

Towers and battlements it sees,
Bosom's high in tufted trees.

He refers to this evocation as  the 'symptoms of an old palace': this is using a view of a building with the idea that it is only a sign pointing to something larger.

Thomas Warton the Younger, ed. Poems on Several Occasions , by John Milton ( London, 1785), pp.48-49.

Where only a little is seen, more is left to the imagination. These symptoms of an old palace, especially when thus disposed, have a greater effect, than a discovery of larger parts, and even a full display of the whole edifice. The embosomed battlements, and the spreading top of the tall grove, on which they reflect a reciprocal charm, still further interests the fancy from novelty of combination: while just enough of the towering structure is shewn, to make an accompaniment to the tufted expanse of venerable verdure, and to compose a picturesque association. With respect to their rural residence, there was a coyness in the magnificence of our Gothic ancestors. Modern seats are seldom so deeply ambushed. They disclose all their glories at once: and never excite expectation by concealment, by gradual approaches, and by interrupted appearances.