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Woods (Woods (1828) I p.69) makes an explicit defence of his approach to making judgments of architecture:
We may judge of details by rule, but the only true method of estimating the excellence of an architectural composition is by the sentiment it produces. I must acknowledge that this is in some aspects an uncertain criterion, as the impression produced depends in part upon the temper of the mind at the moment, and even in the feelings of the body. However we may make allowances, and we may repeat the trial under different circumstances. (Woods (1828) I p.69)
...The uneducated man judges by his feelings; the half-educated by rule. He who is thoroughly master of the subject returns again to feelings but to feelings trained and purified by study and reflection; and this training of the mind to a true taste for what is good and beautiful, is an employment exceedingly pleasant in itself, and conducive to that perfection of the intellect, which it is the object of every man to obtain. A person who thus criticises every fine building which he sees, without vanity or presumption, with a sincere desire to find out whatever is excellent, and to understand and fully enter into, the reasons for any admiration which has generally been bestowed on it by others, yet at the same time not blindly following authority, but bringing everything to the test of his own feelings and judgment, will form to himself a habit, profitable not only when applied to architecture, and the other fine arts, but in everything in which human understanding is exercised. (Woods (1828) I p.v)
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]