The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

THE EXPEDITION OF HUMPHRY CLINKER 181
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 wor-
ship 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, in-
fluenced 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 con-
secrating all cemeteries, even at this day.
The external appearance of an old cathedral cannot be but dis-
pleasing to the eye of every man, who has any idea of propriety and
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 diminu-
tive effect to the little painted divinities that are adored in it, and
the company, on a ball-night, must look like an assembly of fantastic
fairies, revelling by moon-light 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 pre-
vails; but it were to be wished, they would make the beach more
accessible to invalids.