
f 
 tendants. 
31796-] 
not attempt to recommend. This is, a 
vifit to fome of the fafhionable watering 
places ; where, at a diftance trom friends, 
_ relations, and all the endearments cf home 
} ° jie . 
and native foil, the poor harraffed patient 
languifies, and perhaps dies, amtdft the 
hurry of thoughtlefs diffipation, and the 
cold negligent fervices of mercenary at- 
And Town, I am greatly fur- 
prifed, that where the virtues of the fup- 
pofed remedy are fo inadequate, and every 
other circumitance is fo oppofite and un- 
favourable, the power of fafhion thould 
| 
| 
be able to influence men cf {kill and hu- 
munity, to give advice fo little conforma- 
ble to the dictates of either. Cf all withes 
relative to this poor precarious life, the 
daft and moft reafonable is a peaceful and 
Quiet departure from it ; and of all tor- 
mentors he is the the moft inhuman, who 
extends his moleftation to the very article 
of death. 
“ Thefe reflections lead me to {cme 
indignant cenfure of another fafhionable 
cruelty, which could never have gained 
ground fomuch, had not fafhion the power 
of ftifling every emotion or reflcétion that . 
would oppofe its fway. Ineflicacious as 
I believe all medicinal waters are in con- 
fumptive cafes, it is certain, that many 
grievous maladies receive. from them re- 
lief, which no other remedy would fo 
effcCiually beftow.. They are, therefore, 
the refort of numbers, affliéted with dif- 
orders, fome highly painful, fome dan- 
gerous, and all fatiguing and dittreffing, 
which demand quiet, ftillnefs, and repofe. 
Yet thefe are the places, where the dif- 
fipated and the gay choofe to crowd, for 
their round of fummer amufements. 
Here, unmoved by the melancholy {pec- 
tacles continually before their cyes, and 
carelefs how much they aggravate the 
fufferings of fellow-creatures, they dance, 
they play, they racket, with all the mo- 
dith rage of people, who think they exift 
only to divert themfelves. But did the 
delicate and fentimental fair one but once 
reflect, that every ftep fhe takes in the 
dance, and every note of the mufic, brings 
agony to fome poor wretch, and prevents 
that fleep he would give worlds to pur- 
chafe; it muft furely fiop her fhert in the 
midit of merriment, and alarm her with 
the apprehenfion of gw//, in what fhe be- 
fore regarded as innocent amufement. 
Add to this, the increafe of expence, and 
abridgement of conveniences, which the 
fick fuffer from this unwelcorfie intru- 
fion, and the numbers who are actually 
debarred from any fhare of the benefits 
to be derived from thefe aatural reme- 
4 
Watering Places... Primeval Europe. 
271 
dies, and the evil will appear of very im= 
portant magnitude. JI by no means in- 
clude the frequenters of the fea-bathing 
places in my cenfure. That bounteous 
element flows in fo liberally upon us, that 
there ts little danger fafhion fhould me- 
nopolize it, or bar all its avenues. . Be-" 
fides, the generality of falt-water bathers 
are likely to be as'much benefited by 
cheerful company and agreeable exercife, 
as by the grand panacea they pretend to 
value fo much. It is only the choicer 
and rarer gifts of Hygeia, that I would 
referve for the peculiar advantage of thole 
\ . : 
who need their aid.’’ ie 
EEE 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
I W AS fo much ftruck withan expreifion 
ina Paper inyour Magazine, ** Onthe 
primeval form of Europe,” that I can- 
not refilt requefting the ingenious writer, 
to prefent us with. his farther thozzhts 
upon the fubjeé. ** Europe, he conceives, 
originally confifted of a clufter of I/lands.” 
This idea appears to me yery probable ; 
and it is ftrengthened by a circumftance 
which probably did not occur to your cor- 
tefpondent. In the account of the peo- 
pling of the earth after the deluge, re- 
corded in the tenthchapter of Genefis, the 
part called the ifles of the nations, is al- 
lotted to the fons of Japhet, and univer- 
fal tradition afcribes Europe to his de- 
fcendants. Repeatedly throughout ferip- 
ture, the ifles of the Gentiles are men- 
tioned, and all commentators agree in 
fuppofing that Europe is defcribed under 
this appellation. Hence, we have reafon 
to conclude, that Europe was at the time 
when the book of Genefis was written, a 
clufter of ifles; and it is not improbable 
that by more accurate refearches. into 
ancient hiftory, the time. may be afcer- 
tained, when thefe iflands were united 
into one continent. The fubject merits 
enquiry, and your correfpondent may, 
perhaps, afford much-entertainment and 
inffruction to your readers, by producing 
the paflages at full length from ancient 
writers, which bear upon this queftion. 
ZI am, &c. 
BEN JAPHET. 
<n 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE majority of your Englith readers 
muft be weil acquainted with Nos. 
XI and XII of the Microcofm. They 
contain Obfervations on the Reformation of 
the Kuave of Hearts, a poem, and are the 
pre- 
May 5, 1795. 
