Rev. James Dallaway had published the successful survey Observations on English Architecture. Yet, the passing of twenty years had brought more insight, clarity, and of course further changes to the physical layout of buildings across the United Kingdom. Rather than revising the original work, he created this volume, a collection of discourses, which included a variety of thoughts from other scholars on critical issues that had arisen. His work includes a lot of opinions of controversies about development of architecture, including his belief that Grecian architecture deeply influenced the Gothic style. He writes of the Tudor style, military architecture, and Free Masons, among other topics. Some critics have argued that his preference for certain architectural styles, such as Scottish Gothic, gives his work a biased tone when it comes to declaring some styles as superior to others. Regardless of preference, this work still despite the passage of time gives a lot of food for discussion.