"
The Sherborne Spa, but recently erected, is indeed a very splendid
building, and forms a very beautiful object from the High-street, from
which it is plainly seen through a grove of trees, forming a vista of
nearly half a mile in length, standing on a gentle eminence, presenting
on both sides gravelled walks, with gardens and elegant buildings, that
display great taste in architecture. The Pump-room is a good specimen of
the Grecian Ionic, said to be correctly modelled from the temple on the
river Ilissus at Athens, and certainly is altogether a work worthy of
admiration. The grotesque colossal piece of sculpture which crowns the
central dome, as well as the building, has been wittily described by the
author of the "Cheltenham Mail."
12 The great number of Irish families who reside and
congregate at Cheltenham fully justifies the poet's
particular allusion to the fair daughters of Erin.
~246~~
"And then lower down, in fine Leckampton stone,
We've the fane of _Ilissus_ in miniature shown;
And crown'd with Hygeia--a bouncer, my lud!
And as plump, ay, as any princess of the blood,
Carved in stone, but a good imitation of wood:
With her vest all in plaits, like some ancient costume,
But or Roman or Grecian, I'm loth to presume,
So I cannot be _poz_ yet I blush to confess,
That her limbs are shown off in a little undress;
Whilst the goddess herself, _en bon point_ as she is,
With her curls _a la Grecque_, and but little _chemise_,
Is so plump and so round, my dear sir, it is plain,
She must bring _the robust_ into fashion again.
Pages:
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811