"O'er ancient Baden's mystic spring Hygeia broods with watchful wing, And speeds from its sulphureous source The steamy torrent's secret course; And fans the eternal sparks of latent fire In deep unfathomed beds below, By Bladud's magic taught to flow— Bladud, high theme of Fancy's Gothic lyre!" Warton. The origin of Bath, like that of other celebrated towns, is involved in obscurity. To its medicinal springs, however, it is solely indebted for the great reputation it has enjoyed for centuries, as a sanctuary for the afflicted, a cheerful asylum for the invalid, and as a favourite point of reunion, where social pleasure and mental cultivation were sure of a kindred reception among the many gifted spirits who have sought health or relaxation in its shades. The comparative quiet which here prevails is not without its importance to the invalid; after the dissipation of a season in Town, a retreat to Bath is like the tranquillity of a monastery after the excitement of a military campaign. This was more particularly felt and acknowledged as long as the continent remained shut; but during the last twenty years the temptation to foreign travel and the fame of certain continental spas have annually diverted from home a great many of those whose cases, it is probable, would have benefited in an equal measure by resorting to the thermal waters of Bath. Travelling, however, is of itself a sanatory process; and to this, to the changes of scene, of society, of diet, and to the mental excitement produced by a succession of new scenes and incidents, the invalid is more indebted than to any of the numerous spas, to which the credit of a cure is so generally ascribed by the recruited votary. This is a fact well known to the physician, and corroborated by the results of daily experience. When such means are impracticable, however, the society and the waters of Bath furnish excellent substitutes; and the testimonies in their favour are too well supported by ancient and "modern instances" to require any eulogium in a work like the present. The trade of Bath, like that of most great watering-places, is greatly dependent on its visitors. Hotels and lodging-houses are numerous, elegant, commodious, and fitted for the accommodation of all classes of society. Property, nevertheless, has suffered much depreciation of late years, owing to various causes, and not a little to the preference given to those continental spas already alluded to, by which many of the streams which used to flow in upon Bath as a regular source of prosperity have been greatly diminished or entirely dried up. The public amusements of Bath are numerous and liberally conducted. Of these the most important are the subscription assemblies and concerts, at which a master of the ceremonies presides—a functionary of high authority, who holds his office in regular descent from the hands of the celebrated Beau Nash. The latter gentleman, by a peculiar union of good sense, "effrontery, wit, vivacity, and perseverance, acquired an ascendancy among the votaries of rank and fashion which rendered him a species of modish despot, to whose decrees it was deemed a part of the loyalty of high breeding to yield in silent submission." The assemblies are held in the Upper Rooms, in the vicinity of the Circus, which were erected in 1791, at an expense of twenty thousand pounds. The Ball-room is one hundred and five feet long, forty-three feet wide, and forty-two high. The Lower Assembly-rooms stood near the Parade, and were also very elegantly fitted up, though on a less extensive scale, but were destroyed by fire in 1820. The theatre is a handsome edifice, fitted up in splendid style, with three tiers of boxes, and the roof divided into compartments, containing the beautiful paintings by Cassali which formerly occupied a similar place in Fonthill Abbey. In the vicinity of Bath, especially on Lansdown and Claverton Downs, there are delightful spots for equestrian exercise. Races take place on the former of these the week after Ascot races. Bath is eminently distinguished for its numerous public charities, its literary and scientific institutions, its society for the encouragement of agriculture, the arts, manufactures, and commerce; its clubs, subscription-rooms, libraries, schools, and hospitals. The diseases in which the waters of Bath are resorted to are very numerous, and in many instances consist of such as are the most difficult and important of all that come under medical treatment. In most cases the bath is used along with the waters as an internal medicine—first adopted in the case of King Charles. The general indications of the propriety of using these medicinal waters are chiefly in cases where a gentle, gradual, and permanent stimulus is required. Bath water may certainly be considered as a chalybeate, in which the iron is very small in quantity, but in a highly active form, whilst the degree of temperature is in itself a stimulus of considerable power. |