fea, and draws the carriage forwards, till the furface of the water is on a level with the floor of the dreffingroom; then he moves and fixes the horse to the other end-The perfon. within, being flripped, opens the door to the feaward, where he finds the guide ready, and plunges headlong into the water. After having bathed, he re-afcends into the apartment, by the steps which had been fhifted for that purpofe, and puts on his cloaths at his leifure, while the carriage is drawn back again upon the dry land; fo that he has nothing further to do but to open the door, and come down as he went up Should he be fo weak or ill as to require a fervant to put off and on his cloaths, there is room enough in the apartment for half a dozen people. The guides who attend the ladies in the water, are of their own fex, and they and the female bathers have a dress of flannel for the fea; nay, they are provided with other conveniences for the fupport of decorum. A certain number of the machines are fitted with tilts, that project from the fea-ward ends of them, fo as to screen the bathers from the view of all perfons whatsoever.--The beach is admirably adapted for this practice, the defcent being gently gradual, and the fand foft as velvet; but then the machines can be used only at a certain time of the tide, which varies every day; fo that fometimes the bathers are obliged to rife very early in the morning-For my part, I love fwimming as an exercife, and can enjoy it at all times of the tide, without the formality of an apparatus. You and I have often plunged together into the Ifis; but the fea is a much more noble bath, for health as well as pleasure. You cannot conceive what a flow of spirits it gives, and how it braces every finew of the human frame. Were I to enumerate half the diseases which are every day cured by fea-bathing, you might juftly fay you had received a treatife, inftead of a letter, from

Your affectionate friend
and fervant,

Scarborough, July 1.

VOL. VI.

CC

J. MELFORD.

I

To Dr LEWIS.

HAVE not found all the benefit I expected at Scarborough, where I have been thefe eight days.From Harrowgate we came hither by the way of York, where we ftaid only one day, to vifit the caftle, the minster, and the affembly-room. The firft, which was heretofore a fortrefs, is now converted into a prison, and is the best, in all refpects, I ever faw at home or abroad. It ftands in a high fituation, extremely well ventilated, and has a fpacious area within the walls, for the health and convenience of all the prifoners, except those whom it is neceffary to fecure in clofe confinement.-Even thefe laft have all the comforts that the nature of their fituation can admit of. Here the affizes are held, in a range of buildings erected for that purpose.

As for the minfter, I know not how to diftinguish it, except by its great fize, and the height of its fpire, from 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 stile is Saracen rather than Gothic, and, I fuppofe, it was first imported into England from Spain, great part of which was under the dominion of the Moors. Thofe British architects who adopted this ftile don't seem to have confidered the propriety of their adoption. The climate of the country poffeffed by the Moors or Saracens, both in Africa and Spain, was fo exceedingly hot and dry, that those who built places of worship for the multitude employed their talents in contriving edifices that fhould be cool; and, for this purpofe, nothing could be better adapted than those buildings, vaft, narrow, dark, and lofty, impervious to the fun-beams, and having little communication with the fcorched external. atmosphere; but ever affording a refreshing coolnefs, like fubterranean cellars in the heats of fummer, or natural caverns in the bowels of huge mountains. But nothing could be more prepofterous than to imitate fuch a mode

of architecture in a country like England, where the climate is cold, and the air eternally loaded with vapours, and where, of confequence, the builder's intention fhould 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 confider, that, in our churches in general, we breathe a gross stagnated air, furcharged with damps from vaults, tombs, and charnel-houses, may we not term them fo many magazines of rheums, created for the benefit of the medical faculty; and fafely aver, that more bodies are loft than fouls faved by going to church, in the winter efpecially, which may be faid to engross eight months in the year. I fhould be glad to know, what offence it would give to tender confciences, if the houfe of God was made more comfortable, or less dangerous to the health of valetudinarians; and whether it would not be an encouragement to piety, as well as the falvation of many lives, if the place of worship was well floored, wainscoted, warmed, and ventilated, and its area kept facred from the pollution of the dead. The practice of burying in churches was the effect of ignorant fuperftition, 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 confecrating all cemeteries even at this day.

THE external appearance of an old cathedral cannot be but difpleafing to the eye of every man who has any idea of propriety or proportion, even though he may be ignorant of architecture as a fcience; and the long flender fpire puts one in mind of a criminal impaled, with a fharp ftake rifing up through his shoulder.These towers, or fteeples, were likewife borrowed from the Mahometans, who, having no bells, used fuch minarets for the purpose of calling the people to prayers. -They may be of farther ufe, however, for making obfervations and fignals; but I would vote for their being distinct from the body of the church, because they ferve only to make the pile more barbarous, or Saracenical.

THERE is nothing of this Arabic architecture in the affembly-room, which feems 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 fort of idolatry which is performed in it at prefent: The grandeur of the fane gives a diminutive effect to the little painted divinities that are adored in it, and the company, on a ball-night, muft look like an affembly of fantaftic fairies, revelling by moon-light among the columns of a Grecian temple.

SCARBOROUGH feems to be falling off in point of reputation. All these places (Bath excepted) have their vogue, and then the fashion changes. I am perfuaded there are fifty fpas in England as efficacious and falutary as that of Scarborough, though they have not yet rifen to fame, and perhaps never will, unlefs fome medical. encomiaft fhould find an intereft in difplaying their virtues to the public view.-Be that as it may, recourfe will always be had to this place for the convenience of fea-bathing, while this practice prevails; but it were to be wished they would make the beach more acceffible to invalids.

I HAVE here met with my old acquaintance, H-t, whom you have often heard me mention as one of the most original characters upon earth.-I first knew him at Venice, and afterwards faw him in different parts of Italy, where he was well known by the nick-name of Cavallo Bianco, from his appearing always mounted on a pale horse, like Death in the Revelations. You must remember the account I once gave you of a curious difpute he had at Conftantinople, with a couple of Turks, in defence of the Chriftian religion; a dispute from which he acquired the epithet of Demonftrator.-The truth is, Ht owns no religion but that of nature; but, on this occafion, he was ftimulated to fhew his parts, for the honour of his country.-Some years ago, being in the Campidoglio at Rome, he made up to the buit of Jupiter, and bowing very low, exclaimed in the Italian language, "I hope, Sir, if ever you get your head above water again, you will remember that I paid my refpects to you in your adverfity." This fally was reported to the Cardinal Camerlengo, and by him laid be

fore Pope Benedict XIV. who could not help laughing at the extravagance of the addrefs, and faid to the cardinal, "Those English heritics think they have a right to go to the devil in their own way."

INDEED, Het was the only Englishman I ever knew who had refolution enough to live his own way in the midst of foreigners; for, neither in dress, diet, cuftoms, or converfation, did he deviate one tittle froin the manner in which he had been brought up.' About twelve years ago, he began a giro, or circuit, which he thus performed.-At Naples, where he fixed his headquarters, he embarked for Marfeilles, from whence he travelled with a voiturin to Antibes.-There he took his paffage to Genoa and Lerici; from which last place he proceeded, by the way of Cambratina, to Pifa and Florence. After having halted some time in this metropolis, he fet out with a vetturino for Rome, where he repofed himself a few weeks, and then continued his route to Naples, in order to wait for the next opportunity of embarkation. After having twelve times defcribed this circle, he lately flew off at a tangent to visit fome trees at his country-house in England, which he had planted above twenty years ago, after the plan of the double colonnade in the piazza of St Peter's at Rome. He came hither to Scarborough to pay his respects to his noble friend and former pupil, the M of G, and, forgetting that he is now turned of feventy, facrificed fo liberally to Bacchus, that next day he was feized with a fit of the apoplexy, which has a little impaired his memory; but he retains all the oddity of his character in perfection, and is going back to Italy, by the way of Geneva, that he may have a conference with his friend Voltaire, about giving the last blow to the Chriftian fuperftition.-He intends to take shipping here for Holland or Hamburgh; for it is a matter of great indifference to him at what part of the continent he first lands.

WHEN he was going abroad the last time, he took his paffage in a fhip bound for Leghorn, and his baggage was actually embarked. In going down the river by water, he was, by mistake, put on board of another yeffel under fail, and, upon enquiry, understood fhe