Romism

The vituperative dean of Carlisle Cathedral, Francis Close, was a die hard low church Protestant whose extreme views Pugin bitterly opposed.⁷¹ Close complained in 1844 of 'the dark and fatal errors which are being interwoven with the national faith by means of ecclesiastical statuary, paintings and architecture'.⁷² He saw in these 'errors' the threat of 'popery' and laid the blame firmly on two movements: 'as Romism is taught analytically at Oxford it is taught artistically at Cambridge, – that it is inculcated theoretically in tracts at one university, it is sculptured, painted, and graven at the other.'

2007, Kim Woods, quoting Francis Close, Imported Images: Netherlandish Late Gothic Sculpture in England, C.1400-c.1550, Shaun Tyas, →ISBN, page 166