The Expedition of Humphry ClinkerSmollett, T. (Tobias)
General
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
Smollett, T. (Tobias)
Epistolary fiction; Great Britain -- Fiction; Travelers -- Fiction
From Harrigate, we came hither, by the way of York, and here we shall
tarry some days, as my uncle and Tabitha are both resolved to make use
of the waters. Scarborough, though a paltry town, is romantic from its
situation along a cliff that over-hangs the sea. The harbour is formed
by a small elbow of land that runs out as a natural mole, directly
opposite to the town; and on that side is the castle, which stands very
high, of considerable extent, and, before the invention of gun-powder,
was counted impregnable. At the other end of Scarborough are two public
rooms for the use of the company, who resort to this place in the summer
to drink the waters and bathe in the sea; and the diversions are pretty
much on the same footing here as at Bath. The Spa is a little way beyond
the town, on this side, under a cliff, within a few paces of the sea,
and thither the drinkers go every morning in dishabille; but the descent
is by a great number of steps, which invalids find very inconvenient.
Betwixt the well and the harbour, the bathing machines are ranged along
the beach, with all their proper utensils and attendants. You have never
seen one of these machines--Image to yourself a small, snug, wooden
chamber, fixed upon a wheel-carriage, having a door at each end, and on
each side a little window above, a bench below--The bather, ascending
into this apartment by wooden steps, shuts himself in, and begins to
undress, while the attendant yokes a horse to the end next the sea, and
draws the carriage forwards, till the surface of the water is on a level
with the floor of the dressing-room, then he moves and fixes the horse
to the other end--The person within being stripped, opens the door to
the sea-ward, where he finds the guide ready, and plunges headlong into
the water--After having bathed, he re-ascends into the apartment, by the
steps which had been shifted for that purpose, and puts on his clothes
at his leisure, while the carriage is drawn back again upon the dry
land; so that he has nothing further to do, but to open the door, and
come down as he went up--Should he be so weak or ill as to require
a servant to put off and on his clothes, 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 sex, and they and the female bathers have
a dress of flannel for the sea; nay, they are provided with other
conveniences for the support of decorum. A certain number of the
machines are fitted with tilts, that project from the sea-ward ends
of them, so as to screen the bathers from the view of all persons
whatsoever--The beach is admirably adapted for this practice, the
descent being gently gradual, and the sand soft as velvet; but then the
machines can be used only at a certain time of the tide, which varies
every day; so that sometimes the bathers are obliged to rise very early
in the morning--For my part, I love swimming as an exercise, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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