 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 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 prevails; but
it were to be wished, they would make the beach more accessible to invalids.
    I have here met with my old acquaintance, H--t, whom you have often heard me
mention as one of the most original characters upon earth - I first knew him at
Venice, and afterwards saw him in different parts of Italy, where he was well
known by the nick-name of Cavallo Bianco, from his appearing always mounted on a
pale horse, like Death in the Revelations. You must remember the account I once
gave you of a curious dispute he had at Constantinople, with a couple of Turks,
in defence of the Christian religion; a dispute from which he acquired the
epithet of Demonstrator - The truth is, H-- owns no religion but that of nature;
but, on this occasion, he was stimulated to shew his parts, for the honour of
his country - Some years ago, being in the Campidoglio at Rome, he made up to
the
