THE EXPEDITION OF HUMPHRY CLINKER. To Dr. Lewis. I HAVE not found all the benefit I expected at Scarborough, where I have been these eight days. From Harrigate we came hither by the way of York, where we staia only one day to visit the Castle, the Minister, and the Assembly-room. The first, which was heretofore a fortress, is now converted into a prison, and is the best, in all respects, I ever saw at home or abroad. It stands in a high situation, extremely well ventilated; and has a spacious area within the walls, for the health and convenience of all the prisoners, except those whom it is necessary to ecure in close confinement. Even these last have ill the comforts that the nature of their situation can admit. Here the assizes are held in a range of buildngs erected for that purpose. As for the minster; I know not how to distinguish 't, except by its great size, and the height of its spire, Fom those other ancient churches in different parts of the kingdom which used to be called monuments of Gothic architecture; but it is now agreed that this style is Saracen rather than Gothic; and I suppose t was rst imported into England from Spain, grea part 4 swhich der he dominior the Mic^ seem to have considered the propriety of their adoption. The climate of the country possessed by the Moors or Saracens, both in Africa and Spain, was so exceedingly hot and dry, that those who built places of worship for the multitude employed their talents in contriving edifices that should be cool; and for this purpose nothing could be better adapted than those buildings; vast, narrow, dark, and lofty, impervious to the sunbeams, and having little communication with the scorched external atmosphere; but ever affording a refreshing coolness, like subterranean cellars in the heats of summer, or natural caverns in the bowels of huge mountains. But nothing could be more preposterous than to imitate such a mode of architecture in a country like England, where the climate is cold, ana the air eternally loaded with vapours; and where, of consequence, the builder's intention should be to keep the people dry and warm. For my part I never entered the Abbey-church at Bath but once, and the moment I stepped over the threshold, I found myself chilled, to the very marrow of my bones. When we consider that in our churches in general we breathe a gross stagnated air, surcharged with damps from vauits, tombs, and charnel-houses, may we not term them so many magazines of rheums, created for the benefit of the medical faculty and safely aver, that more bodies are lost than souls saved by going to church, in the winter especially, which may be said to engross eight months in the year? I should be glad to know what offence it would give to tender consciences, if the house of God was made more comfortable, or less dangerous to the health of valetudinarians; and whether it would not be an encourageinent to piety, as well as the salvation of many lives, if the place of worship was well floored, wainscotted, warmed, and ventilated, and its area kept sacred from the pollution of the dead. The practice of burying in churches was the effect of ignorant superstition, influenced by knavish priests, who pretended that the devil could have no power over the defunct, if he was : interred in holy ground; and this, indeed, is the only reason that can be given for consecrating all cemeteries, even at this day. The external appearance of an old cathedral cannot but be displeasing to the eye of every man who has any idea of propriety and proportion, even though he may be ignorant of architecture as a science; and the long slender spire puts one in mind of a criminal impaled, with a sharp stake rising up through his shoulder. These towers, or steeples, were likewise borrowed from the Mahometans, who having no bells used such minarets for the purpose of calling the people to prayers. They may be of further use, however, for making observations and signals; but I would vote for their being distinct from the body of the church, because they serve only to make the pile more barbarous, or Saracencial. There is nothing of this Arabic architecture in the Assembly-room, which seems to me to have been built upon a design of Palladio, and might be converted into an elegant place of worship; but it is indifferently contrived for that sort of idolatry which is performed in it at present. The grandeur of the fane gives & diminutive effect to the little painted divinities that are adored in it: and the company, on a ball-night, must look like an assembly of fantastic fairies, revelling by moon-light among the columns of a Grecian temple. Scarborough seems to be falling off in point of reputation. All these places, Bath excepted, have their vogue, and then the fashion changes. I am persuaded there are fifty spas in England as efficacious and salutary as that of Scarborough, though they have not yet risen to fame; and perhaps never will, unless some medical encomiast should find an interest in displaying their virtues to the public view. Be that as it may, recourse will always be had to this place for the convenience of sea-bathing, while this practice prevails; but it were to be wished they would make the beach more accessible to invalids, |