The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

180 TOBIAS SMOLLETT
a fortress, is now converted to a prison, and is the best, in all
respects, I ever saw at home or abroad—It stands in a high situa-
tion, 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 secure in close confinement—Even
these last have all the comforts that the nature of their situation
can admit. Here the assizes are held, in a range of buildings erected
for that purpose.
As for the Minster, I know not how to distinguish it, except by
its great size and the height of its spire, from those other antient
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 suppose, it was first
imported into England from Spain, great part of which was under
the dominion of the Moors. Those British architects, who adopted
this stile, don’t 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 sun-
beams, and having little communication with the scorched external
atmosphere; but ever affording a refreshing coolness, like sub-
terranean cellars in the heats of summer, or natural caverns in the
bowels of huge mountains. But nothing could be more pre-
posterous, than to imitate such a mode of architecture in a country
like England, where the climate is cold, and 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
stept 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
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