‘876 
bourhood?. The resort of pigeons to this 
happy spot, attracted by the saline par- ' 
ticles left in the soil, and the observation, 
that, however. severe the season, this 
marshy tract was never frozen over, first 
drew the attention of the proprietor to 
the place; and about the year 1718, it 
was railed in, anda little shed thrown 
over it. Thecredit of the water was 
soon after stamped, by the analysis of 
Dr. Greville and Dr. Baird; and, as its 
virtues became more venerally known, 
it was sold as a medicine. In the course 
of twenty years, the yicinity of the spring 
was greatly improv ed. Walks were laid 
out; trees planted; a pump erected ; 
and a room, for the acconmodation of 
the company, built. The eulogium be- 
stowed on this water, in a public ation of 
Dr. Short’s, added creatly to its celebri- 
ty, and produced a considerable influx 
of visitors to the Spa. Their aye 
has ever since been gradually increasing 
and the town of course proportionally en 
larging, till it has now attained a mag- 
nitude and respectability, far beyond the 
Innit of the most sanguine anticipation. 
Fashion now seems to claim it as one of 
her most favourite haunts; and, indeed, 
she has deci dedly taken the lead of the 
goddess Hygeia. 
Cheltenham, a few years. since, con- 
sisted only of one strect, which is "dani 
fied with the name of the “ High-street,” 
and is truly a fine one. ‘It runs from 
east to west, in a sweep, somewhat re- 
sembling that of the “ High-street” at 
Oxford, and is in length a full mile. Ie 
is every where light and airy, and is of 
considerable width in the centre of the 
town. ‘The houses are generally good, 
being, for the most part either newly 
built, or new-fronted ; of the former, 
many are executed in the modern Lon- 
don style, with virandas and areas. Here 
and there an vid hose obtredes upon 
the eye; but these are rapidly disappear- 
ing: ant. at no very distant period, the 
few shabby ccitages 
the top and bottom of the town, ‘will 
probably give place to more spacious and 
elegant structures. 
The High-street is well Saka and d 
cently lighted, and usually forms Bs 
grand promenade for the dashing pedes- 
trians, as its situation always commands 
one shady side. The shops are hand- 
some, and many of them exhibit a blaze 
of fashion and splendour, that would not 
discredit the streets of the metropolis. 
The lodgings are clean , comfortable, and 
commodious and the propriciers of 
Letters from Cheltenham: 
that still disiigure- 
then: by no means deficient in civility 
and attention. The market-place, which 
is small and i inconvenient, together with 
an adj joining house, projects most unfortu- 
nately into the middle of the street. 
These, I understand, it is in contem- 
plation to remove, and a market of a 
more suitable size is. designed to be 
erected lower in the street.* Should it 
be practicable, when this alteration is 
elected, to widen the street, by throw- 
ing into it the space now occupied by the 
present market and the adjacent houses, 
the beauty of its appearance will be very 
considerably increased. 
In the centre of the town stands the 
fragment of a ‘© Colonnade,” which 
branches off on the south side towards 
the Spa, near, to which it was originally 
designed to have extended. The few 
houses that are finished overhang the 
pavement, and are supported by” neat 
columns. This, if the street were com- 
plete, would have a charming effect, and 
would afford a delightful pedestrian re- 
treat, when a summer shower had ren- 
dered walking elsewhere impracticable. 
So many single houses and elegant 
rows have been ‘recently erected in the 
vicinity of the Highestreet, that their ve- 
capitulation would be uninteresting and 
urresome ; I shall, therefore, be content 
tv netice ‘the ends prominent only. Gn 
the ight, near the top of the town, a 
new street is begun, called ‘ Cambray- 
street,” through ties is the way to 
Thompson's, or the New Spa. Contigu- 
ous to thisis a plot of ground, which, 
if regularly surrounded with buildings, 
would, with great propriety, have bees 
named ‘* Cambray-square ;” but here 
houses have been erected in direct de- 
fiance of all order and method. One 
side is occupied by the new Theatre, 
which has asmall piazza in front; and 
on the other are two beautiful houses be- 
longing to Mr. King, the master of the 
ceremonies. Here Col. Riddel has an 
elegant residence, in the garden of which, 
a chalyheate spa has been discovered. 
A crescent is building in a field called 
Church Meadow, near the footway to 
the old wail; and behind that, it has 
been proposed to. erect a square, and 
some new streets. Near the top of the 
town, on the left, it is in contemplation 
to form a terrace in a commodious gar. 
* This plan has since been putin execu- 
tion, and a handsome edifice, intended for 
a market-house, is now nearly completed. 
, . > ‘deny 
