The Expedition of Humphry ClinkerSmollett, T. (Tobias)
General
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
Smollett, T. (Tobias)
Epistolary fiction; Great Britain -- Fiction; Travelers -- Fiction
from vaults, 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 encouragement 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 be but displeasing to
the eye of every man, who has any idea of propriety or 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 Saracenical.
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 a diminutive effect to the little painted
divinities that are adorned in it, and the company, on a ball-night,
must look like an assembly of fantastic fairies, revelling by moonlight
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 spaws 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account