First impressions of the New World on two travellers from the Old, in the autumn of 1858Trotter, Isabella Strange
History
First impressions of the New World on two travellers from the Old, in the autumn of 1858
Trotter, Isabella Strange
Canada -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
The church which we went to in the morning offered a great contrast to
this, the interior being fitted up with high old-fashioned pews, like
many a village church at home; but besides this, a further interest
attached to Trinity Church, as being the one in which Dean Berkeley used
to preach, and from its remaining unaltered in its internal appearance
from what it was in his days. The pulpit is still the same, and there is
still in the church the organ which he presented to it, at least the
original case of English oak is there, and part of the works are the
same, though some pipes have lately been added. Independently of Trinity
Church, the town of Newport has many associations connected with Bishop
Berkeley's memory, the place where he lived, and where he wrote his
"Minute Philosopher" being still pointed out, as well as the spot on the
beach where he used to sit and meditate. The most striking buildings,
however, are the hotels, one of which, the "Ocean House," is the largest
building of the kind we have ever seen. It has very much the appearance
of the huge convents one sees in Italy, and, standing on the top of the
cliffs, it has a most remarkable effect. There are some very good
streets, but the greatest part of the town consists of detached houses
standing in gardens. There are very few stone buildings of any kind. The
hotel we are in is not the largest, but is considered the best, and in
the height of the season the place must be very gay.
The next, perhaps the greatest, feature here is the bathing. There are
three beaches formed round a succession of points, the whole forming a
lovely drive on dry hard sand; and such a sun as we gazed upon yesterday
setting over these distant sands passes description. On the first of
these beaches are ranged more than a hundred bathing machines at about a
hundred yards above high-water mark, looking like sentry boxes on a
large scale, with fine dry sand between them and the sea. We went down
on Saturday to see the bathing, which is here quite a public affair; and
having fixed our eyes on a machine about a dozen yards off, we saw two
damsels enter it, while a young gentleman, who accompanied them went
into an adjoining one. In a few minutes he came out attired in his
bathing dress and knocked at the ladies' door. As the damsels were
apparently not ready, he went into the water to wait their coming, and
in due time they sallied forth dressed in thick red baize trowsers and a
short dress of the same colour and material, drawn in at the waist by a
girdle. The gentleman's toilet was coloured trowsers and a tight flannel
jacket without sleeves. He wore no hat, but the ladies had on very
_piquante_ straw hats trimmed with velvet, very like the Nice ones, to
preserve them from a _coup de soleil_. They joined each other in the
water, where they amused themselves together for a long time; a
gentleman friend's presence on these occasions is essential, from the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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