BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF 
 BATH CELEBRITIES.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 OF 
 
 BATH CELEBEITIES, 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN, 
 
 WITH SOME 
 
 FRAGMENTS OF LOCAL HISTORY. 
 
 BY JEROM MURCH, 
 
 President of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 
 And Fice-Presidenl of the Somersetshire Archcwlogical and Natural 
 
 Society. 
 
 " For sluggard's brow the laurel never grows ; 
 Renown is not the child of indolent repose." 
 
 Thomson's Castle of Indolence. 
 
 LONDON : ISAAC PITMAN & SONS. 
 BATH : WILLIAM LEWIS & SON, 
 
 MDCCCXCIII.
 
 TO 
 THE HALLOWED MEMORY 
 
 OF ONE WHO WAS 
 
 MY BELOVED COUNSELLOR 
 
 THROUGH SIXTY-TWO YEARS, 
 
 AND WHO AIDED ME IN REVISING THE 
 
 EARLIER PAGES OF THIS BOOK, 
 
 IT IS NOW 
 MOST GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.
 
 BATH CELEBRITIES. 
 
 CHAPTEK. 
 
 I. THE EARLY BRITISH PERIOD. 
 
 II. THE ROMAN PERIOD. 
 
 III. THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 IV. THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 V. THE EARLY MAYORS or BATH. 
 
 VI. SIR JOHN HARINGTON AND BISHOP MONTAGUE. 
 
 VII. WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 VIII. DR. GUIDOTT AND His CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 IX. BEAU NASH. 
 
 X. RALPH ALLEN. 
 
 XL JOHN PALMER. Part 1. 
 
 XII. THE SAME. Part, 2. 
 
 XIII. PHYSICIANS OF THE Two LAST CENTURIES. Part 1. 
 
 XIV. THE SAME. Part 2. 
 XV. DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 
 
 XVI. SIR W. HERSCHEL AND CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 
 
 XVII. DR. W. SMITH AND CHARLES MOORE. 
 
 XVIII. THE Two WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH AND HOARE. 
 
 XIX. THOMAS BARKER AND BENJAMIN BARKER. 
 
 XX. FOUR DIVINES: HALES, CARTE, JAY AND KEMBLE. 
 
 XXI. BISHOP BAINES AND BISHOP CLIFFORD. 
 
 XXII. ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 XXIII. ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER AND REV. J. HUNTER. 
 
 XXIV. GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 XXV. WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. Part 1. 
 
 XXVI. THE SAME. Part 2. 
 
 XXVII. WILLIAM BECKFORD. Part 1. 
 XXVIII. THE SAME. Part 2. 
 
 XXIX. Miss LINLEY. 
 
 XXX. MRS. SIDDONS.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages originated in a desire to bring together and put 
 into popular form a few biographical facts of local interest. Bath has 
 been long in high repute for its wonderful springs and remarkable 
 beauty, but comparatively few know what a succession of eminent men 
 have been connected with it. From time to time various writers have 
 given valuable information, especial praise being due to a former and 
 a present resident in the City ; the Eev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., who 
 wrote on " The Connection of Bath with the Literature and Science of 
 England," and Mr. R. E. M. Peach, the indefatigable author of 
 " Historic Houses,' 1 " The Street Lore of Bath," and other instructive 
 treatises. 
 
 But the aims of these and similar productions have been somewhat 
 different from my own. With me the chief object has been a series of 
 short biographies, following the stream of local history from the earliest 
 times. And while taking a wider range of subjects I have also had in 
 view a larger class of readers, those whose attachment to the City of 
 Bath would make them usefully interested in the lives of its greatest 
 ornaments. To Mr. Hunter's work, valuable as it is, little publicity 
 was given; only fifty copies of the original edition were printed, and 
 when a second appeared, twenty-six years afterwards, its circulation was 
 confined chiefly to the small body who wished for it, the Bath Literary 
 Club. 
 
 My readers will scarcely expect to find, within the small compass of 
 these pages, minute and complete narratives. Not only would many 
 volumes have been necessary for such a task, but far more time and 
 labour than an octogenarian could hope to give. Hence my desire has 
 been to state biiefly the moi-e important facts, to arrange them as much 
 as possible in chronological order, and to give information that would
 
 Xli. PREFACE. 
 
 be acceptable to the people of a city which has long been dear to me. 
 The "Fragments of Local History" icere suggested by some of the memoirs 
 as enabling me to deal more fully with matters in which the subjects of 
 those memoirs u'ere largely interested. To know something of the 
 charitable institutions is to know more of the medical profession, and 
 an account of other undertakings may help to show what the citizens 
 generally have done. 
 
 I have only to add a few words of thankful acknowledgment. It 
 would have been impossible to fulfil the task I undertook without the 
 aid of libraries other than my own. The want has been abundantly 
 met by the valuable "Bath books " of Mr. Peach, Mr. Frederick Shum 
 and the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution. In only one instance 
 did these collections fail me, and then the volume I wanted ivas kindly 
 supplied by another friend, himself an authority on the subject which 
 occupied my pen. Nor can I think lightly of the advantage of having 
 had the sketches published weekly at first, as they have thus had a 
 twofold revision. Errors, however, will probably be found; Judgment 
 and Memory are never infallible, and at an age approaching eighty- 
 six are very liable to lead astray, but I have no fear that the verdict 
 on this last fruit off an old tree " will be too severe. 
 
 November, 1893.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF BATH 
 CELEBRITIES, 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE EARLY BRITISH PERIOD. 
 
 My plan in these sketches is to select from a long roll of 
 remarkable men the chief of those who, while celebrated 
 themselves, promoted the reputation and prosperity of Bath. 
 In many cases their fame was not merely local ; they filled 
 offices and accomplished work of national importance, thus 
 associating the city with the best interests of the country. 
 
 The order of the proposed sketches will be chronological. 
 Scanty as the earlier materials are, I think they should not 
 be unused. Some writer justly says, " We have a share in 
 the past, and the past works in us." It is peculiarly so with 
 regard to the City of the Springs, whose biography is chiefly 
 valuable for its historical character. And although only 
 short notices can be given of the early British, Roman and 
 Saxon periods, they will be sufficient to show what a long 
 chain time has produced, and how various are the links of 
 which it is composed. 
 
 I shall not aim chiefly at giving new information. Much 
 of what rny narratives will contain may be found in various 
 works by well-known authors. Some of it perchance has 
 been gathered into my own papers, read from time to time 
 before public bodies. My object now is to condense 
 in historical sequence, incidents worthy of remembrance
 
 THE EARLY 
 
 generally, but especially by those who are attached to Bath. 
 Although local patriotism may be a lower quality than the 
 earnest love of country, it is yet one to be cultivated, both 
 for the pleasure it causes to its possessor and for the good 
 it leads him to do. Although the charm of novelty may be 
 wanting in sketches such as I now propose, they may yet 
 be some stimulus to the same public spirit as that which 
 animated men who did good work in the world and is 
 always needed for progress in small as well as large matters. 
 
 PRINCE BLADUD. 
 
 To not a few cities and nations, especially the older ones, 
 the lot was given of having their early history marked by a 
 mixture of fact and fable. The idea that Bath owes its 
 origin to Bladud and the Swine is on a par with the idea 
 that Rome is indebted for its existence to the nursing by a 
 wolf of Romulus and Remus. Through many centuries both 
 ideas were firmly fixed in the national mind, they were the 
 subject of popular ballads, of tales by mothers to their 
 children, of lays by poets and records by annalists. As to 
 the Bladud story I find credit given to it by Geoffery of 
 Monmouth in the twelfth century, by Leland, the learned 
 antiquary, in the sixteenth, and by Wood, one of Bath's 
 greatest architects, in the eighteenth. The hold that it 
 gained in Bath is evident from the frequent use of the name 
 of the British Prince. Not only were streets and inns and 
 banks so designated in days gone by ; periodical publications 
 of the present time, even the society journal of the city, 
 announcing all the chief events of fashionable life, have 
 assumed the historic appellation. 
 
 But in mentioning these reasons for beginning my sketches 
 with one of Bladud, I would not have it supposed that there
 
 BRITISH PERIOD. 
 
 is nothing to be said for the theory of an earlier origin of 
 Bath, or an earlier knowledge of the springs. Professor 
 Earle has shown in his valuable book, Bath : Ancient and 
 Modern, that there are good reasons for tracing the origin to an 
 anterior settlement on and around the adjoining hill of Sols- 
 bury, and, supposing such a settlement, it is hardly possible 
 that those who migrated hither from so short a distance would 
 know nothing of the springs. The termination " bury " means 
 a fort or stronghold, being to the inhabitants what mediaeval 
 castles were to small isolated populations throughout Europe. 
 The prefix Sol, from whence Sul and Sulis, was the name of 
 the deity reverenced by successive generations in this part 
 of Somersetshire. It has been found inscribed on stones in 
 many parts of Bath at various periods. Similar considerations 
 led Professor Earle to opine that Solsbury was " more than 
 a hill fort, occupied on emergencies for purposes of pro- 
 tection, it was the venerable site of a populous British town." 
 This opinion appears to be justified by the well known origin 
 of various cities. Historians of Bristol state that a camp at 
 Clifton was the original settlement there, established on the 
 edge of the vast chasm in the banks of the Avon, and 
 fortified by an ancient British prince, to protect from Welsh 
 aggressions. The more easy access to the river for trading 
 purposes on the level bank of what became Bristol, would 
 operate at Caer Odor (the city of the chasm, as Clifton was 
 then called) in like manner to the attraction of the springs 
 at Solsbury ; there would be migration for good reasons in 
 both cases to the neighbouring localities. The analogy also 
 extends to the name of Bristol, one of the former names of 
 Clifton having been Caer Brito, which was first given to the 
 new settlement ; in the time of the Saxons it was Bristowe,- 
 and afterwards Bristol.
 
 THE EARLY 
 
 Returning to Prince Bladud little more can be said 
 than is told in the two legends which have successively 
 gained credit. They agree in some important particulars 
 such as the Prince being the son of Lud Hudibras, 800 years 
 before Christ The more incredible one also states that he 
 was master of the Black Art, that by this means he created 
 the first bath of the city, and that, conversing habitually with 
 the Devil, he heard from him all he wanted to know. " Con- 
 stantly devising some new wonder, he at length announced 
 that he was about to fly in the air like a bird. He started 
 for London on wings he had made, getting on well for some 
 time, but finally meeting with contrary winds, his strength 
 failed, the strings snapped, and he came down on the roof 
 of Apollo's Temple in London, where he was dashed to 
 pieces." Part of this myth is that a reign of 20 years being 
 thus ended Bladud left a son called Leir, who reigned 60 
 years, that Leir had no son but three daughters, Germoyle, 
 Regan, and Cordoyle. All this is recorded by Geoffery of 
 Monmouth, translations of whose annals were well known 
 and may yet be found in public libraries. Shakespeare was 
 probably familiar with them. Malone says, " He had certainly 
 read the account of Bladud as it occurs not far from that of 
 Cymbeline." May not its mythical character have been a 
 stimulus to his own imagination and had much to do with 
 the production of the immortal play of King Lear ? 
 
 The other less marvellous legend I have given in an 
 unpublished work containing photographs of medallions 
 illustrating the connection of royalty with Bath on the 
 Ecritoire presented to the Princess of Wales in 1870. 
 Prefixed to the photographs are short notices of the people 
 and events to which they refer. Bladud is represented by 
 the artist as a forlorn lad, yet with a refined face, having a
 
 BRITISH PERIOD. 
 
 sheepskin over his head and shoulders, holding a spear 
 and tending his pigs.* 
 
 The following is the version I gave of the more modern 
 myth. " Prince Bladud, only son of Hudibras, King of 
 Britain, 800 years before Christ, being afflicted with leprosy, 
 was sent away from the Court of his father and wandered into 
 Somersetshire. Arrived at Keynsham and in great distress, 
 
 * The Ecritoire is a beautiful specimen of the cabinet work 
 for which Eath is remarkable. Being intended as a wedding 
 present to the Princess of Wales on her marriage, it was adorned 
 with seven china medallions illustrating the connection of royalty 
 with the city. But various circumstances delayed the offering ; 
 amongst them the elaborate character of the work, and the diffi- 
 culty arising from the original limitation of the present to one 
 class of inhabitants, the ladies, instead of including the citizens 
 generally. At length the latter course was adopted ; a deputation, 
 including the Mayor, were received at Marlborough House, by 
 the Prince and Princess of Wales, and graciously informed that 
 the Ecritoire would be highly valued for its beautiful work- 
 manship, with the historical pictures, and sent to Sandringham 
 for the use of the Princess. The subjects of the pictures were 
 Prince Bladud and his Swine ; the Coronation of King Edgar 
 in the Bath Abbey ; Canute of Denmark dictating to the Monks 
 in the Bath Monastery ; the entrance of Edward III. into the 
 ancient City ; Queen Elizabeth's visit to Bath ; Queen Anne 
 and Prince George of Denmark received by the Corporation of 
 Bath ; and the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria opening 
 the Bath Park in 1832. The design for the Ecritoire was con- 
 tributed by Major Davis, F.S.A., the drawings for the historical 
 pictures by Mr. Arthur Murcb, and the work carried out by Mr. 
 Knight, of Milsom Street. A handsome volume with photographs 
 of the medallions and printed accounts of the scenes to which 
 they refer, accompanied the Ecritoire.
 
 THE EARLY 
 
 he obtained by some means charge of a herd of swine, which 
 he drove across the Avon to the Valley, five miles distant, 
 where, amidst tall weeds and brambles, he saw hot springs 
 boiling up. Attracted by the heat the herd rushed in ; and 
 the poor Prince, finding the shelter so sorely needed, took up 
 his abode in the place, which is called to this day Swineswick 
 or Swainswick. Day by day the animals wallowed in the 
 mire till their skins showed a wonderful change for the better ; 
 and their keeper, following their example, soon derived 
 a similar benefit. In due time he re-appeared at Court, 
 making himself known to the Queen, his mother, by means 
 of a ring she had given him on leaving. Years passed before 
 he succeeded to the throne ; but when he did so he revisited 
 the scene of his wonderful cure, made cisterns around the 
 springs and built houses for himself and his suite. Hence the 
 city of Caer-brennen, afterwards called Akemannesceastre (the 
 sick- man's city) then Bathan answering to the German Baden, 
 subsequently Aquse Solis (the name given by Antoninus in his 
 Itinerary), and finally Bath." 
 
 Wood and other old writers amplify the story with no little 
 confidence in modern credulity. They picture the recovered 
 Prince distinguishing himself as the patron of all that was 
 good. To him they attribute, as results of great travel and 
 especially of his residence at Athens, the introduction into 
 Britain not only of Greek philosophy, but of Greek religion. 
 Some even give him the credit of building in Bath that 
 magnificent temple of Minerva which is known to have 
 existed there in the time of the Romans, the grand remains 
 of which are still to be seen in the vestibule of the Royal 
 Literary Institution. But here the credulous chroniclers were 
 surely in error ; those remains the noble friezes and cornices, 
 the glorious pediment and sculptured symbolism, the owl and
 
 BRITISH PERIOD. 
 
 the helmet, point rather to the great people who for 400 years 
 made Bath one of their chief British dwelling places, and 
 whose votive altars and other monuments are so completely 
 in harmony with the architecture of the temple. 
 
 One of the advantages of modern writers on subjects like 
 these is that by careful consideration of historical materials, 
 including recent archaeological discoveries, they can come 
 nearer to the truth than their predecessors. Thus can be 
 ascertained how much of ancient legends is likely to be false 
 and how much true, what tends to make a story worthy of 
 general belief and what should be put aside as mere 
 imaginative fringe. If the Solsbury origin of Bath be 
 probable, if the springs were known before Bladud was sent 
 from home, other things seemingly out of joint, become prob- 
 able also. The British Queen is said to have given her poor 
 son a ring when he went away. This is hardly compatible 
 with her neglecting him so far as not to know what became 
 of him, allowing him to wander no one knew where, and 
 become a swineherd. But if a settlement at Bath already 
 existed, if something, however little, was known of the springs, 
 what more natural than that he should be sent there to be 
 cured ? The fond mother receives him again ; his recovery 
 becomes complete, and before succeeding to the throne he 
 travels in search of knowledge and wisdom. Through all 
 future years he never ceases to be grateful for his restoration 
 by means of the springs. He constructs baths for the general 
 use of them ; he builds houses for his own occasionaj 
 residence and that of his suite ; he converts a small settle- 
 ment into the beginning of a city. Much of all this being 
 recorded by competent annalists, and the rest being highly 
 probable, Prince Bladud may be fairly placed at the head of 
 the roll of Ancient Bath Celebrities.
 
 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EOMAN PERIOD. 
 
 The Bath Celebrities of the Roman Period consisted of 
 the foremost men of the Roman colony who occupied the 
 city four hundred years. Whatever Bladud may have done 
 or be supposed to have done on his return from Athens to 
 promote science and civilisation, there was now neither 
 ability nor enterprise to make Bath what it became after 
 Caesar landed in Britain. Centuries had passed since 
 Bladud died; a succession of wars had devastated the country; 
 the mineral springs and their surroundings were forsaken. 
 Then at the beginning of the Christian Era came a new race 
 as conquerors but with high intents ; they came to found a 
 colony of the great empire, whose works should be worthy of 
 its greatness. The springs would suit their luxurious tastes ; 
 the scenery would remind them of what they had quitted ; 
 there were quarries of stone for grand temples, beautiful 
 villas and spacious baths, all fit for citizens who came from 
 the Eternal City. 
 
 Such were the advantages enjoyed by the legion whom the 
 Emperor Claudius sent. That the chief officers were 
 cultivated men is evident from the numerous architectural 
 remains still existing. Nor was Italian refinement manifest 
 only in great public monuments like the Temple of Minerva, 
 whose remains are still with us. We have proofs of it also 
 in the lately uncovered baths, in Samian ware and other 
 pottery, lamps, cups, urns and vases which have been dug 
 up from time to time. Two works of art a large bronze 
 medallion with the legend Pompeia on it, and a head 
 supposed to be a fragment of a statue of Apollo, now in the
 
 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 
 
 Literary Institution, are, of themselves, sufficient to indicate 
 the order of intellect that prevailed. In connection with all 
 this, however, no name stands out with special prominence 
 as that of a local celebrity ; a few emperors and generals 
 share the chief honour of the public works because nothing 
 could have been done without their initiation or sanction. 
 All, therefore, that 1 can do in the way of biography is to 
 mention the few to whom history has attributed certain 
 undertakings. 
 
 The Emperor Claudius is believed to have visited Bath 
 soon after the conquest of Britain. To him is given the 
 credit of cleansing the neglected springs a work to which 
 his attention would be directed by his physician, Scribonius, 
 who accompanied him. Warner says, "Extremely curious 
 with respect to natural appearances were the bituminous 
 cuticle covering the surface of the earth and the warm 
 stagnant mass under the waters, appearances which would 
 naturally attract notice. An immediate investigation of the 
 causes of these phenomena would take place, and the mineral 
 springs, which had wasted their medicinal virtues on the 
 desert around, would be cleared and utilised/' Scribonius is 
 represented as being especially interested in the work, from 
 his desire to make the waters available for the cure of painful 
 disorders as well as for luxury and ordinary uses. By his 
 advice Claudius was induced to forego the usual Roman 
 practice of fixing the site of the camp on one of the adjoining 
 hills, and to build the town in what Warner calls "the 
 morassy hollow of a close vale." In modern times the 
 sanitary objections to "the close vale" have been more 
 clearly seen, with the effect of extending the city up the 
 sides of the hills. 
 
 The plan of Claudius, formed during his short stay, was to
 
 10 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 
 
 build a town 400 yards from east to west and 380 from north to 
 south. It was to be surrounded by a wall 20 feet high, with 
 angular towers at the corners, and four gates facing the four 
 cardinal points. A small portion of a wall that succeeded 
 the original one remains opposite the Mineral Water 
 Hospital. Warner mentions that workmen, digging there in 
 the middle of the last century, reached, at the depth of 11 
 feet, the foundations of the first rampart. The town ordered 
 by the Emperor was to have the springs in the centre ; there 
 were to be dwellings and stables for legionaries, consisting of 
 3,050 foot and 500 horse, and special directions were given 
 for a residence for the commander in a suitable position. 
 Roman architects and builders lost no time ; the town soon 
 sprung up, adorned with baths and temples ; people flocked 
 from the adjoining counties to join the new colony and share 
 its advantages with distinguished Roman generals. Professor 
 Earle supposes that "further knowledge would establish a 
 considerable parallelism between the Aquae Solis of this 
 period and the Bath of the eighteenth century." 
 
 One of the chief benefactors was Julius Agricola, father-in- 
 law of Tacitus, and general in the reigns of Yespasian, Titus 
 and Domitian. It was by Vespasian that Agricola was 
 appointed Governor of Britain, in which capacity he dis- 
 tinguished himself by reforming abuses that former governors 
 had sanctioned, and by endeavouring to induce the Britons 
 to conform to Roman customs. His policy was described by 
 Tacitus in a well known passage quoted by Edmund Burke, 
 in what Mr. P. B. Duncan, of New College, Oxford, writing 
 on the subject in one of his essays, calls "his precious 
 fragment of English history."* Agricola aimed to divert the 
 
 * It does not appear that these essays were published. The
 
 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 11 
 
 Britons from warlike pursuits and rebellion against Roman 
 rule by softening their manners, promoting education of 
 various kinds, and doing all in his power to encourage 
 
 title page merely indicates that they were printed at Oxford by 
 Thomas Combe in 1840. If Mr. Philip Bury Duncan was not 
 one of the most celebrated of Bath men he was one of the most 
 useful. It will, therefore, not be inappropriate to borrow a note 
 from the pages of " Three Decades of the Bath Literary Club," a 
 paper read by myself in 1890. The lapse of three years has 
 made me slightly alter a date. " Here it would be almost un- 
 grateful to omit a tribute to the memory of one who was long 
 pre-eminent in service to literature and science "in Bath. Joined 
 in every good work by an excellent brother with whom he lived, 
 Mr. Philip Bury Duncan was one of the most prominent founders 
 of our Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. He had removed 
 to Bath from Oxford, where he was Resident Fellow of New 
 College and Curator of the Ashmolean Museum. His services to 
 the University were in later life suitably acknowledged by the 
 diploma of LL.D. The knowledge and experience gained there 
 proved of great value in the work of forming a high class library 
 at the Institution and beginning a local museum. To the 
 intellectual life then awakened in Bath he brought vigour by 
 lectures of no common interest at evening meetings at the 
 Institution. They are happily preserved in two small volumes 
 printed at Oxford, in 1840, entitled 'Essays and Miscellanea.' 
 The variety of subjects is as remarkable as the learning and 
 thoughtfulness with which they are treated. To mention only a 
 few : Painting, Sculpture, Botany, Zoology, Geology, Foreign 
 Travel, the Voice of Birds, Quackery, Conversation, Novels, the 
 Nature of Human Hair, and A Gentleman's Day in Antient Rome ; 
 no wonder that the pleasant lecture room was well filled. Mr. 
 Duncan was Chairman of the Institution when I joined it in 1834 
 now fifty-nine years ago. We all admired his varied ability,
 
 12 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 
 
 artistic taste. Young men of rank were persuaded to learn 
 the language and wear the patrician dress of Italy, although 
 these had hitherto been considered badges of slavery, while 
 
 his unceasing energy, his catholic disposition, and his quiet 
 munificence. When the Literary Club was formed he regretted 
 that age and infirmities prevented his becoming a member, but 
 we had his warmest sympathy, and an occasional literary contri- 
 bution. He was succeeded, for a short time, in the chairmanship 
 of the Institution by Mr. Markland, and Mr. Markland by myself 
 in 1859. Thus the office has only 'been vacant twice in more 
 than sixty years." To this tribute may be added Mr. Duncan's 
 inscription in the essays to his brother, who was also an unwearied 
 benefactor of Bath. 
 
 TO 
 
 MY BELOVED BROTHER AND FRIEND, 
 
 JOHN SHUTE DUNCAN, 
 
 " Qualem non candidiorem 
 " Terra tulit neque quo me sit devinctior alter ; " 
 
 WHO HAS ALWAYS EXHIBITED 
 THE TOTAL FORGETFULNESS OF SELF, 
 
 COMPARED TO WHICH, 
 THE VIRTUES OF HEROES SINK TO NOTHING. 
 
 IN MEMORIAL OF 
 A CONSTANT AND MUTUAL AFFECTION, 
 
 EXTENDED TO 
 THE SCRIPTURAL AGE OF MAN. 
 
 This being a note to a chapter on the Roman Period, it may be 
 further stated that the brothers Duncan were especially interested 
 in the preservation and arrangement of the grand Remains found 
 at various times in Bath, also that to commemorate this and 
 other services a brass plate was affixed in the vestibule of the 
 Institution, surmounted by two portraits in the same frame, 
 presented by the daughter of Mr. J. S. Duncan, Mrs. Eraser, late 
 of Manchester.
 
 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 13 
 
 land-owners acquired agricultural knowledge as a means of 
 improving their property. In the city of the springs, 
 Agricola found ample scope for all this. Here were a people, 
 able and willing to fall in with every scheme of refinement. 
 Men and women who had come from lonely dwellings in the 
 country to enjoy advantages hitherto unknown were delighted 
 with the new life open to them. Thus would the city 
 become, as Professor Earle suggests, " very much what Bath 
 was in the eighteenth century." Who can doubt that the 
 wise Governor of Britain was welcomed by all classes when- 
 ever he came to see how his orders, including the beautiful 
 temple of Minerva, had been carried out ? 
 
 I now come to action of a very different kind. A system 
 of trade corporations had been highly developed throughout 
 the Roman Empire. Professor Earle mentions that no less 
 than forty-four guilds or societies of this kind were known 
 to exist, and Warner gives a long account of a large company 
 of Smiths at Bath. They were Armourers, connected with 
 what was called the fabrica, a great military forge, a stw-ag 
 national institution, of which the Emperor Hadrian was the 
 founder, by whose directions the branch at Bath is said to 
 have been established. But on the last point the evidence is 
 slight. Hadrian certainly came to Britain and probably to 
 Bath. So much, moreover, was done by him in this country 
 generally that on his return to Rome he was honoured with 
 the title of Restorer of Britain. But whether he himself 
 established the Bath branch of the Corporation of 
 Armourers, or committed the work to one of his generals, is 
 uncertain ; indeed the fact that there was a great industry in 
 the midst of the cultivated population of the city is the only 
 one of importance. The object of these bodies in the various 
 towns was to make arms for the use of the legions to which
 
 14 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 
 
 they were attached, at public forges. Officers were appointed 
 to receive and distribute the arms, which no person was 
 permitted to manufacture unless admitted as a member of 
 the company. Besides the ordinary fabricce for local legions, 
 there were the fabricce sacrce, much larger establishments, 
 which supplied whole provinces, and even kingdoms. There 
 are indications that Bath had one of these for the purpose of 
 furnishing arms to troops at a distance as well as to the 
 garrison of the neighbourhood. The Rev. Joseph Hunter, in 
 his treatise on The connection of Bath with the Literature 
 and Science of England, says that this manufactory must 
 have caused the processes of metallurgy to be carried on to a 
 considerable extent, and that the furnaces thus used may 
 also have produced the beautiful bronzes I have mentioned, 
 with many other works of art. Thus the city would become 
 one of bustle and business, the abode not only of people of 
 leisure, but of shrewd, skilful men. Another respect, this, in 
 which Bath, of the second century, resembled Bath of 
 modern times ; for as Agricola's artists and Hadrian's 
 inventors gave it a name to live in the annals of industry in 
 their day, so did Ralph Allen and John Palmer, by their 
 wise enterprises, make it known in theirs. 
 
 Although my object is biographical rather than historical, 
 I must not omit another matter in connection with the great 
 works of the time. While artisans found abundant occupation 
 in Bath, unskilled labourers, probably slaves, were employed 
 by hundreds in constructing the wonderful roads to and from 
 the city. Those marvellous highways were carried over hill 
 and dale, in lines as straight as possible, towards Durocorinium 
 (Cirencester), another to Yerlucio (Westbury), a third to 
 Ischalis (Ilchester), a fourth to Abone (Bitton), on the way to 
 the Severn. "The last place," says Warner, "was probably
 
 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 15 
 
 made a station when Vespasian led his troops from Bath- 
 immediately after taking possession of the country round it, 
 against the Silures, in the. year 44 or 45." Two Roman 
 Celebrities have prominent places in the events of the period, 
 Plautius, a commander of the troops, who returned to Rome 
 in 49, receiving there an ovation for his meritorious services 
 in Britain, and Publius Ostorius Scapula, who succeeded him 
 at Bath. On the banks of the Severn is a village near where 
 the ancient Roman ferry crossed the river ; Ostorius erected 
 a fort there ; the place is called in Domesday book Oster-clive ; 
 its name is now Aust. Thus is the present connected with 
 the past. 
 
 It might have been supposed that some of the inscriptions 
 so beautifully cut on the votive altars and other monuments 
 still existing in the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution 
 would refer to men who might be designated Celebrities. But 
 it is hardly so ; they refer, interesting as they are, to people 
 of comparatively limited influence, such as an officer of the 
 army beloved by his troop, a freedman fulfilling a vow 
 connected with the health of his patron, and a priest of the 
 Goddess Sulis honoured in this way by his wife Calphurnia. 
 A few are important as bearing on historical facts like those 
 relating to the Government industry just mentioned. In the 
 vestibule of the Institution is an upright stone adorned by a 
 moulding and a triangular top with a device of fruit and 
 flowers. The inscription, which is wonderfully clear, is to the 
 memory of Julius Vitalis, who was smith or armourer to the 
 twentieth legion, and who is said to have been beloved by his 
 fraternity, they showing respect for his memory by placing 
 the stone over his remains. It was found in the year 1708 
 on the side of the London Road, Walcot ; interments of that 
 time, in Bath as at Rome, not being within the city but along
 
 THE ROMAN PERIOD. 
 
 highways leading to it. Many of the inscriptions refer to the 
 divinity SuL One suggests questions touching the early 
 progress of Christianity in Britain. I do not say more on the 
 subject because it has been ably dealt with by various 
 archaeologists, and my object is chiefly biographical. All who 
 wish for ample information on the antiquities of Bath should 
 become acquainted with the descriptions in the Aquce Solis 
 of the Rev. Prebendary Scarth, who conferred great obligations 
 on the city by a long course of learned and successful 
 research. 
 
 Is it too much to hope that any plan for protecting the 
 Roman Bath and connecting it with the proposed extension. 
 of the Pump Room structure may include a spacious corridor 
 so as to bring all the important remains of the ancient city 
 into juxta position with the Bath ? There are tesselated pave- 
 ments of villas in the neighbourhood as well as votive altars 
 and other monuments and ornaments that might be thus 
 shown to very instructive advantage, free access being allowed 
 at certain hours both to residents and visitors.
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 One hundred and sixty-seven years passed after the Roman 
 troops were withdrawn from Britain and before the Saxon 
 period commenced. The two most important events affect- 
 ing Bath were the change of religion from Heathendom to 
 Christianity and the great battle of Dyrham, A.D. 577, in 
 which the three British Kings were defeated. The change of 
 religion had begun in consequence of the Roman edict that 
 all temples throughout the Empire should be henceforth used 
 for Christian worship, but the people, exhausted by incessant 
 struggles with northern invaders, could no longer resist the 
 Saxon Chieftains. In vain had Arthur on former occasions 
 fought and conquered again and again; in vain did the 
 worn-out Britains revive the memories which Tennyson 
 described : 
 
 " For many a petty king ere Arthur came 
 Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war 
 Each upon other, wasted all the land ; 
 And still from time to time the Heathen host 
 Swarmed over seas and harried what was left. 
 And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, 
 Wherein the beast was ever more and more, 
 But man was less and less till Arthur came." 
 
 Terribly as the defeat was, aggravated by recollections like 
 these, it was eventually overruled for good. The importance 
 to Bath of Saxon rule, with all its far-reaching consequences, 
 can scarcely be overrated. It gave not only new life but 
 higher life ; slow in development it is true, but infinitely 
 better than either the half savage state of British existence or 
 B
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 the military government of Rome, even with all its artistic 
 alleviations. Both were inconsistent with genuine freedom, 
 which could only be gained permanently, though perhaps 
 slowly, by the influences of the Christian religion. Much as 
 in these times, many of us, looking at the matter from our 
 own stand point, may see that is objectionable in monastic 
 institutions, yet who can doubt that it was by them chiefly 
 the gradual improvement of the country was effected? 
 Through them the rulers of the Saxon period worked ; the 
 Kings Osric, Offa, Athelstan, and ^Edgar, the ecclesiastics 
 Dunstan and J^lphege, of whom I have now to write, would 
 have been otherwise powerless. But before we can understand 
 what they did, it is necessary to bear in mind the state of 
 things with which they had to deal. For this purpose I will 
 quote from the valuable historical essay by Professor Earle. 
 The habits of the Saxon conquerors, it appears, made them 
 averse to city life. They loved the free and open country, and 
 pitched their dwellings where a stream, a plain or a wood took 
 their fancy. Even had it not been so they would have been 
 repelled by the desolation everywhere visible. Bath, after 
 being forsaken by the Romans, had been devastated by 
 successive invaders ; streets, baths, temples, monuments were 
 all in ruins ; what was there to tempt such a people to make 
 it their home ? In reference to this, Mr. Earle writes : " There 
 is at Exeter a book still lying where it was deposited about the 
 year 1050 by Leofric, the tenth bishop of Crediton and first 
 bishop of Exeter. It is a volume of English poetry, 
 unmistakeably described in the extant catalogue of books 
 given by him to his cathedral, and it is still in the keeping of 
 the chapter. One of the oldest poems in the book is a 
 testamentary piece descriptive of a city in ruins. There is 
 massive masonry, the place was once handsomely built and
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 decorated, and held by warriors, but now all tumbled about ; 
 works of art exposed to the sky, and forming a strange 
 Contrast to the desolation around ; there is a wide pool of 
 water hot with fire ; and there are the once frequented baths. 
 This is no vague poetic dream, but the portrait of a definite 
 spot. It suits the old Brito-Roman ruin of Akeman (as Bath 
 was then called) after 577, and it suits no other place that I 
 can think of in the habitable world." 
 
 How to restore this ruined city was the problem the rulers 
 had to solve. The way that would naturally first occur to 
 them was that of bringing people together by meeting their 
 most obvious wants. The Christian religion, as I have 
 intimated, had begun to interest many, and public worship 
 would still have, as it had in heathen times, and will always 
 have, a strong attractive power. Hence the earliest Saxon 
 kings founded religious establishments. Historians differ as 
 to whether Osric or Offa did most in this way ; they reigned 
 over different provinces, but both had been converted to 
 Christianity, and both were interested in the sick man's city. 
 Osric led the way by founding a nunnery for patients near 
 the springs about the year 67 6. From the beginning of Saxon 
 rule the springs were a great means of effecting its object or 
 restoring the city. The virtues so well known to the Romans 
 Were soon recognised by their practical successors, and 
 quickened the process of reconstruction. But Osric was 
 King of the Huiccii, the Jugantes of Tacitus, inhabitants, 
 according to Bede, of Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and part 
 of Gloucestershire,whereas Bath belonged to another kingdom, 
 that of Wessex, the consent of whose sovereign it was neces- 
 sary to obtain. It was given, and a woman named Bretana 
 regularly appointed as a kind of abbess. The king enlarged 
 the establishment by inducing one hundred families to join
 
 20 
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 it. But, generous as the effort was, the times were against 
 it and the institution fell into decay. 
 
 'Then came Offa, the renowned King of Mercia, who 
 wrested Bath from the King of Wessex in the year 775, and 
 established a college of secular canons, the germ of 
 the celebrated Bath Monastery. Its progress was slow 
 until the reign of Athelstan, which commenced in the early 
 part of the tenth century. He had done much for Bath by 
 establishing a mint, giving the city municipal privileges, and 
 employing other means of raising it again to a high position. 
 But his love of learning and literature would give him 
 especial sympathies with the monastery ; he, therefore, did 
 much to amend its sinking fortunes. In addition to several 
 large estates in the neighbourhood of the city he made 
 valuable gifts to the library, taking a personal interest in 
 selecting books, such as those on medical science, which 
 would be practically useful. Thus the Abbey of Bath 
 became, in the words of Mr. Earle, " a nourishing institution, 
 beneficent, educational, and highly ornamental. It was 
 imposing in every aspect ; by its buildings, by its brother- 
 hood, and by its political importance. Its church, the 
 predecessor of that long Norman building of which we still 
 see some of the pier -bases, was greatly admired. Of the 
 religious reputation of the monastery we shall catch a glimpse 
 presently. Of its library and literature some few specimens 
 exist, especially one volume at Cambridge, which tells of the 
 estates of the Abbey and of the benevolent agrarian policy of 
 the abbots." Much might be said also of what they did in 
 the manumission of slaves and other philanthropic move- 
 ments in the West of England. 
 
 The "glimpse of the religious reputation " I have mentioned 
 may be caught as we proceed to the close of the tenth century.
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 21 
 
 The church of the Abbey was then the scene of one of the 
 most brilliant events in the history of Bath. King JEdgar 
 was crowned with great pomp at the festival of Whitsuntide 
 in the fourteenth year of his reign. It was an event that lit 
 up the entire West of England, and gave to the city of the 
 springs a radiance which it retained through many a year. 
 From the Abbeys of Gloucestershire, Hampshire and 
 Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall dignitaries came to 
 give grace to the ceremony. The old poets and annalists 
 were especially jubilant on the subject. A book entitled 
 The Glory of Regality, by Arthur Taylor, gives the 
 original and translation of one of the poems. Reduced to 
 prose it sets forth that ^Edgar was crowned " with mickie 
 pomp in the old borough of Achemannescestre, named by 
 those who dwelt in it Bath, that there was mickie rejoicing 
 on that happy day of Pentecost and that there were of priests 
 a heap, of monks a vast crowd, of wise men a great gathering. " 
 How long the remembrance of the event lived in Bath is 
 shown by Leland, who, writing 600 years afterwards, says it 
 was still the custom there to elect a King at Whitsuntide and 
 treat him with a banquet in commemoration of the pageant 
 of 973. This continued as late as the time of Beau Nash. 
 
 The coronation of ^Edgar at Bath may have been due to 
 various causes. One, his own interest and that of his family 
 in an important, historical city. Another, its central position 
 as to some of the chief churches and monasteries. Another, 
 the connection with it of the archbishop who officiated at the 
 ceremony, Dunstan, and his great ally, ^Elphege. Monastic 
 life was rapidly becoming identified with the national life and 
 monopolising the property of the country. Dunstan was 
 especially interested in replacing the secular clergy with 
 Benedictine monks, nowhere was this policy carried out more
 
 02 THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 vigorously than in Somersetshire and the adjoining counties. 
 -Edgar boasted of having founded forty-seven monasteries, 
 andintended to make the number fifty. All this may have 
 had much to do with the selection of Bath for the ceremony. 
 There was a curious question, of which even Professor 
 Freeman in his great work, The Norman Conquest, stated 
 he could find no adequate solution why the coronation was 
 delayed so long ? But it need not be discussed here, my 
 object being chiefly to show that JEdgar fairly ranks among 
 those who were honoured in the city.* 
 
 Dunstan was a celebrity of a different kind. Living in 
 early life at Glastonbury, first as an ascetic monk and afteiv 
 wards as a powerful abbot, his influence in Bath would be 
 
 * Wliy the coronation of sEdgar at Bath was delayed so long t 
 Although the discussion of this question was not convenient 
 within the limits of the chapter as first issued a few con- 
 siderations may be referred to here. I ventured to suggest 
 them in an inaugural address at a meeting of the Somersetshire 
 Archaeological Society at Bath in 1876 and the address was 
 printed in the Journal of the Proceedings of the year. It 
 appeared to me, though with sincere deference to the judgment 
 of the Historian of the Norman Conquest, that the ceremony 
 which had been postponed through fourteen years may at length 
 have been fixed upon partly as a means of celebrating the 
 triumph and establishing the power of a new order of things. 
 JEdg&T had very much at heart the identification of Monastic 
 Life with the National Life, thus binding the Church of England 
 and the People of England to Rome, and monopolising not only 
 the government but the property of the country. ^Edgar took so 
 much pride in the Benedictine scheme that according to Sharon 
 Turner, he boasted, A.D. 964, of having founded forty-seven 
 monasteries and declared his intention to increase them to fifty.
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 .considerable. His , descent from a noble Wessex family 
 ; accounts for the secular accomplishments which distinguished 
 him as a young man and recommended him to the Court. 
 .He played .upon the harp, excelled in painting and 
 sculpture, advised the king on intricate State affairs, and at 
 times pretended to work miracles. But we are told by his 
 Biographers that "he suffered much from the devil, who, being 
 'especially offended by his miraculous pretensions, prompted 
 ;some envious courtiers to persuade Athelstan he was a 
 magician. The devil, so runs the legend, succeeded; 
 , JDunstan was 'dismissed, forsook the world and became a 
 monk." Then began his connection with Somersetshire ; he 
 built a small cell against the wall of the old church at 
 Glastonbury in order to give himself entirely to religious 
 exercises. Having thus recovered from the terrible imputa- 
 tion as to " the black art" he was again sought by Athelstan, 
 , ,who, in choosing his chief advisers, fixed on those who 
 combined superior statesmanship with ecclesiastical zeal. 
 Dunstan was first made abbot of the rich monastery of 
 Glastonbury, and after other marks of royal favour chequered, 
 however^ by severe reverses Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 This brought him again to Bath for the coronation. Much 
 bad happened to him since the time of the tiny cell at 
 Glastonbury, but in the various chances and changes of life 
 he had always obeyed the call of duty. That was his 
 prominent characteristic. No dread of loss or exile prevented 
 his rebuking wickedness in high places. As statesman, 
 prelate, master, and friend, he was faithful to conscience and 
 his Christian work. His weaknesses were those of the age 
 in which he lived; his noble qualities deserve grateful 
 remembrance. 
 
 The remaining celebrity of the time and place is JElphege,
 
 24 THE SAXON PERIOD. 
 
 in English, JElfheah. His connection with Bath originated 
 with his friend Dunstan, whom he imitated by building a 
 small cell and living as an anchorite. He chose for his site 
 the village of Weston, where it is said he was born, though 
 his family who, like Dunstan's, were of noble rank, lived at a 
 distance. His rigid asceticism, which had grown into much 
 favour among those in his class of life, led many of them to 
 come to him for advice, some of whom became monks and 
 lived under his rule, while others gave him the means of 
 supporting the new brotherhood. This led to his appoint- 
 ment as abbot at the Bath monastery. ^Edgar appears to 
 have had much confidence in him. " If it is true," says the 
 author of his life in the National Biography, " that the king 
 in 970 refounded the Church of Bath as a convent of regulars 
 the new society probably owed to JElfheah a considerable 
 increase in its numbers." 
 
 In 984 he quitted Bath, where he had laboured so 
 successfully, to become Bishop of Winchester. There he 
 distinguished himself by his efforts to convert the northmen, 
 and especially by his influence with Olaf ; the Norwegian king. 
 That he had the statesmanlike qualities as well as the 
 religious zeal of Dunstan was shown by the next mark of 
 royal confidence, his elevation to the Archbishopric of 
 Canterbury. Those qualities were prominent in his policy as 
 to the frequent Danish invasions which at that time so 
 troubled the Government, but although his conduct was 
 always humane and considerate, he at length fell a victim to 
 the savage barbarity of the invaders. They had assembled 
 in great force at Canterbury, besieged the city and burnt it. 
 The venerable prelate, with many of his people, was made 
 captive, half starved and otherwise ill-used. In the hope of 
 gaining a large ransom they were taken to the ships and kept
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 25 
 
 prisoners for seven months. At length came a day on which 
 the ransom was to be paid, but JElphege refused to save his 
 life by sacrifices which his friends could ill afford to make. 
 Then his enemies withdrew their offer ; in vain did one of 
 their leaders, who had been much impressed by the Arch- 
 bishop's teaching and example, offer gold and silver and all 
 that he had to save him ; he was put to death with the most 
 inconceivable aggravation of savage cruelty. 
 
 Although during the Saxon period Bath attracted fewer 
 residents than in the Roman occupation, there must have 
 been some in connection with the increase of trade. I 
 have mentioned that Athelstan established a royal mint, 
 coins from which may still be seen not only in the museums, 
 of countries under English rule but in those of the North of 
 Europe. No doubt the chief officers of the mint were men of 
 ability and influence, trusted by the Government, and doing 
 for commerce and industry what the armourers of the Roman 
 period did for warlike purposes. Their names appear on the 
 coins of several successive reigns, and the fact that those coins 
 were issued for so long a period and in so few places (not 
 even Bristol being one) shows the high position of Bath. 
 
 In concluding my account of the Roman period I 
 mentioned Mr. Scarth's Aquce Solis as very useful with 
 regard to the antiquities of Bath. I would now suggest, as 
 aids to a good understanding of the Saxon period, The 
 Saxon Chronicle, Conybeare's Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon 
 Poetry, and Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 JOHN DE VILLULA. 
 
 From the close of the Saxon period to the Norman 
 Conquest the Danes were the ruling power, with the excep- 
 tion of three years marked by the restoration of Ethelred 
 and the short reign of his son. History records that Sweyne, 
 the father of Canute, made Bath his head-quarters in 1 015, to 
 receive the submission of the Western Thanes, also that the 
 effigy of Canute appears on coins still existing from the Bath 
 mint. Further, there is a legend that this sovereign often 
 visited the Bath monastery to take counsel with the monks as 
 to the laws he should frame for the kingdom, dictating what 
 they should write. One of the medallions of the ecritoire 
 presented to the Princess of Wales, and mentioned in a 
 former sketch, represents the king thus engaged. 
 
 The connection of Sweyne with Bath makes the legend as 
 to his son probable. It was a time when men knew no better 
 way of relieving the pangs of conscience than by endowing 
 and frequenting religious institutions. With Canute all high 
 enjoyment was marred by the remembrance of the deeds of 
 violence of which he had been guilty through a great part of 
 his life. Sovereign at the same time of England, Denmark 
 and Norway ; possessing more power in each country than 
 any of his predecessors, there was yet the " rooted sorrow," the 
 " mind diseased," that made existence miserable. In vain did 
 his courtiers remind him that his own valour and wisdom had 
 won for him the proud eminence ; he listened rather to the 
 spiritual advisers of prayer, penance and self-denial ; seeking
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 27 
 
 relief chiefly in enriching chantries where masses might be 
 said for the souls of those who had fallen in battle against 
 him. 
 
 Canute's munificence in Bath would naturally cause his 
 memory to be cherished. But not even the wealth and 
 dignity of the Abbey could avert the fate that awaited the city 
 after the Norman Conquest. In the war between the two 
 sons of the Conqueror the entire country from Bristol to 
 Worcester was devastated ; Bristol was taken by Robert, the 
 lder son ; Bath he sacked and burnt. This occurred in 1 087, 
 and should be remembered with some other events in 
 connection with the subsequent doings of the remarkable man 
 who is the chief subject of the present sketch. The contest 
 between the royal brothers had ended in the victory of Rufus, 
 who received from his father a letter to Lanfranc, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, recommending that the rights of the elder 
 should be cancelled and the younger called to succeed. The 
 Domesday book contained particulars respecting Bath which 
 facilitated the next great change in its fortunes. It was there 
 shown to be a royal " ferme, held by the king," and was 
 known to be disposable to any Norman rich enough to buy it. 
 Rums inherited the ferme and sold it to John de Villula for 
 500 marks. 
 
 The buyer was a physician of Tours, who came to England 
 in the train of the Conqueror. After some time he came to 
 Bath apparently with the view of practising in connection 
 with the springs, but having acquired considerable wealth, 
 being also both able and ambitious, he seized opportunities of 
 personal advancement. Well known at the English court, and 
 a favourite of Rufus, he had no difficulty in turning his position 
 to advantage by buying not only the Royal ferme but also the 
 bishopric of Somerset. All such offices were then saleable, the
 
 28 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 chief qualification being that the buyer should be a foreigner of 
 some mark. As fast as the Saxons were dispossessed, as they 
 generally were with ruthless cruelty, crowds of Norman, 
 German. Belgian, and Italian aspirants were imported to take 
 their places. De Villula became by means of his purchases a 
 king-bishop ; he had power, both temporal and spiritual, to 
 do what he liked ; his ability was equal to his ambition and, 
 though Bath may have hated the foreign yoke, its people had 
 some compensation. They saw the city gradually rebuilt ; 
 another great church erected on the site of the old one ; 
 visitors came again to the springs attracted by the medical 
 reputation of the new owner and a spirit rekindled in the 
 Abbey, making it the home of eminent men, such as the 
 Roman city was in the times of Hadrian and Agricola. 
 
 De Villula lived but little at Wells although the seat of the 
 bishopric of Somerset was there. He greatly preferred Bath 
 as more interesting from its historical associations and giving 
 wider scope for objects he had at heart. Thierry in his 
 elaborate history of the Norman Conquest states that "the 
 newly appointed bishops generally deserted the smaller towns 
 in which episcopal seats had been fixed and built palaces in 
 the larger towns." No doubt the existence of the monastery 
 at Bath and the necessity of great attention to its interests 
 would be one strong reason for transferring the seat, and 
 another event occurred which strengthened the purpose of de 
 Villula. Some time after he had obtained the bishopric, the 
 Abbot of Bath, ^Elsig, died, to whose office he succeeded, thus 
 acquiring additional influence in the city. He employed it 
 to reorganise the brotherhood and give the institution a 
 higher character ; at the same time exchanging the title of 
 Bishop of Somerset for that of Bishop of Bath ; the prior and 
 monks of the Bath Abbey forming the chapter of the
 
 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 29 
 
 cathedral. As was to be expected this exaltation of Bath 
 caused much mortification at Wells, which was increased by 
 the rigorous treatment of the Canons there. They saw their 
 revenues alienated, their beautiful refectory and dormitories 
 pulled down, and themselves turned adrift from their peaceful 
 homes to live amongst the laity. All this long rankled in 
 their minds. We shall see presently how peace between the 
 rival cities was at length restored. Meanwhile it is only just 
 to de Villula to remember that if some parts of his policy 
 were questionable others were eminently useful. At Wells 
 he could not have done what he did at Bath in the way both 
 of local and national progress, restoring a ruined historical 
 city and gathering around him benefactors to the science and 
 literature of the country. 
 
 Fifty years passed before the dissensions were healed. De 
 Villula had died and been succeeded by Godfrey, a German 
 promoted by the influence of the queen of Henry I. Godfrey, 
 we are told, was " gentle and pious, sprung from a noble 
 family, but could not get back the revenues for the Canons 
 at Wells though he tried to do so." The next Bishop was 
 Robert, " a monk of Lewes, who had been sent to Glastonbury 
 to put the affairs of the Abbey in order ; " " he also," says 
 the historian I have just quoted, " was descended of illustrious 
 parents, a religious man and expert in business." He became 
 the peacemaker ; to him was " resigned the land and rents 
 of the impoverished Canons," and when he had completed 
 some noble preparatory works he effected the union of Bath 
 and Wells. I am now quoting chiefly from a very curious 
 document written in Latin by one who is supposed to have 
 been a Canon of Wells ; it was discovered by the Rev> 
 Joseph Hunter in a register of the priory of Bath, preserved 
 in the library at Lincoln's Inn, and edited for the Camden
 
 30 THE NORMAN PERIOD. 
 
 Society; the date of the document is 'probably that of the 
 reign of Henry II. The preparatory works to which I have 
 alluded are thus mentioned: "It is also to be added that 
 the same bishop built, at great expense, the church of the 
 blessed Peter the Apostle at Bath. He built also a chapter 
 house and cloister, dormitory, refectory and infirmary. Nor 
 ought it to be forgotten that the great church at Wells was 
 built by his counsel and assistance." Then the good monk 
 proceeds to show how the great church was consecrated 
 and dedicated by four bishops, how Robert appointed suit- 
 able cathedral officers to the satisfaction of both Bath and 
 Wells, and how when all this was done he prepared " a 
 charter of it for perpetual memory which the Pope confirmed." 
 This ancient record is also valuable for the light it throws on 
 the earlier history of the diocese, especially for its information 
 respecting the Saxon bishops. Returning to de Villula I have 
 only to add a passage from Mr. Hunter's appendix to the Latin 
 treatise, with reference to a criticism by the author of the 
 document : " But the testimony of William of Malmesbury 
 will for ever vindicate the memory of one of the few promoters 
 of exact knowledge and truth in England, and consequently 
 of the best interests of the human race." De Yillula died in 
 1122, greatly respected. Leland, who gives honour where 
 honour is due, was affected by the sight -of his tomb many 
 years afterwards in one of his journeys, overgrown with 
 weeds. It was in " the middle of the presbytery of the fair 
 church he had built, but which had become waste and 
 unroofed." Such was the state of the sepulchre of the 
 physician from Tours who had reigned as Bishop at Bath 
 tfiirty-four years. 
 
 Among the eminent men whom he gathered around him 
 was one who received honourable mention from all the
 
 THE NORMAN' PERIOD. 31 
 
 historians of the period Adelard Bathoniensis. He was 
 an Oriental scholar who, having acquired, says Mr. Hunter, 
 "what could be learned at home visited Spain, Egypt, and 
 Arabia. He brought from those countries treatises on natural 
 philosophy, and is in fact the main link by which western 
 science is connected with that of the east.' 7 To him Europe 
 owed the elements of Euclid not in the original Greek but 
 in an Arabic translation. He was also an inquirer into 
 nature, an original discoverer and altogether a profound 
 philosopher. Such a man must have given a character to 
 Society at Bath and probably attracted hither multitudes of 
 inquirers eager to sit at his feet. Associated with Adelard in 
 the monastery was Hugolinus,^ .called in Domesday book 
 V Interpres," , a man of many languages. After them came 
 William of Bath, a divine ; Henry of Bath, a lawyer ; and 
 Reginald of Bath, a physician ; all celebrities in .their day t 
 adding to their ordinary avocations the advancement of 
 scientific and literary culture. Concerning Hugolinus there 
 i,s information in Domesday book. De Villula bought of 
 him for the Bath monastery some valuable properties. These 
 we learn were at "Eston," Batheaston, "Herlei," Warleigh, 
 and " Clafterton," Claverton. The purchase was made early 
 in the reign of Rufus.* 
 
 * It may not be inappropriate to add to the preceding sketch 1 a 
 list of the Bishops of Bath and Wells as given in Mr. Earle's 
 History with the dates of their accession, remarking that John of 
 Tours and Godfrey though not titular bishops of both churches 
 were virtually so. The union took place under Bishop Robert. 
 It is interesting to observe that in this list is Reginald FitzJocelin,
 
 32 THE. EARLY 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE EARLY MAYORS OF BATH. 
 
 John de Villula died in the year 1122 in the reign of 
 Henry I. I have noticed other celebrities who brought us 
 down to the middle of the century. There is now a very long 
 interval unmarked by any distinguished life. But history is 
 not silent ; the city made progress of various kinds, and 
 names identified with it appear from time to time. Although 
 little is said we may infer from the mere mention of some of 
 them in Domesday book that they were prominent men. 
 Others, like the first mayors and members of Parliament, find 
 their places in local history, and I am induced to keep up the 
 connection of my narratives by stating a few circumstances 
 relating to them. 
 
 the founder of S. John's Hospital in Bath, Thomas Wolsey, the 
 celebrated cardinal, James Montagu, who restored the Bath 
 Abbey Church, William Laud, of high ecclesiastical memory, and 
 Thomas Ken, the sainted author of the morning and evening 
 hymns. Bishop Ken, who spent much time at the beautiful seat 
 of Longleat, near Warminster, and whose study, commanding a 
 magnificent view, is still shown to visitors, bequeathed a large num- 
 ber of books, nearly 200 volumes, chiefly foreign, to the old Bath 
 Abbey Library where they remain with many others, alas, never 
 used. It is hoped that ere long they may, together with other 
 scattered collections, form part of a good public library worthy 
 of the city. The two last Bishops in the following list have been 
 much respected for their attention to this part of their diocese, 
 though living at the ancient palace at Wells. Lord Auckland 
 took a prominent part in opening the new wing of the Mineral
 
 MAYORS OF BATH. 
 
 33 
 
 During the greater part of the nonbiographical interval the 
 Bath monastery continued the home of learned men. Among 
 them were the eminent physicians mentioned in my last 
 sketch, who ministered to the bodily as well as spiritual 
 wants of the people. John de Villula, it will be remembered, 
 was a doctor of medicine before he was a bishop, " outrunning," 
 his biographers say, " all his contemporaries in honour and 
 profit." What Reginald of Bath did as a medical man we are 
 not told; nor yet what were the services of one <; Magister 
 Johannes de Bathonia, Medicus " so the record runs, that he 
 should have been granted " a suitable chamber with free 
 
 Water Hospital and preached a sermon on its behalf in London 
 obtaining a good collection at a fashionable West End Church. 
 Lord Arthur Hervey was one of the Company of Revisers of the 
 authorised version of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 BISHOPS OF BATH AND WELLS. 
 John Clerk 
 William Knight 
 William Barlow 
 Gilbert Bourne 
 Gilbert Berkeley 
 Thomas Godwin 
 John Still 
 James Montagu 
 Arthur Lake .. 
 William Laud 
 Leonard Mawe 
 Walter Curll .. 
 William Piers 
 Robeit Creighton 
 Peter Mews 
 Thomas Ken ... 
 Richard Kidder 
 George Hooper 
 John Wynne 
 Edward Willes 
 Charles Moss ... 
 Richard Beadon 
 George Henry Law 
 Richard Bagot 
 Robert Eden ) 
 Lord Auckland f 
 Arthur Hervey ) 
 Lord A. Hervey J 
 
 John of Tours 
 Godfrey 
 Robert 
 
 
 1088 
 1123 
 1136 
 
 Reginald FitzJocelin 
 
 
 1174 
 
 Savaric 
 
 
 1192 
 
 Jocelin Troteman 
 
 
 1206 
 
 Roger 
 William Button 
 
 
 1244 
 1248 
 
 Walter Giffard 
 
 
 1265 
 
 William Button 
 
 
 1267 
 
 Robert Burnell 
 
 
 1275 
 
 William de March 
 
 
 1293 
 
 Walter Hasleshaw 
 
 
 1302 
 
 John Drokensford 
 
 
 13(19 
 
 Ralph of Shrewsbury 
 
 
 1329 
 
 John Barnet ... 
 
 
 1:^63 
 
 John Harewell 
 
 
 1366 
 
 Walter Skirlaw 
 
 
 1386 
 
 Ralph Erghum 
 Henry Bowett 
 
 
 1388 
 1401 
 
 Nicholas Bubwith 
 
 
 1407 
 
 John Stafford 
 
 
 1425 
 
 Thomas Beckington 
 Robert Stillington 
 
 
 1443 
 1466 
 
 Rich Fox 
 
 
 1491 
 
 Oliver King ... 
 Hadrian de Castello 
 
 
 1495 
 1504 
 
 Thomas Wolsey 
 
 
 1518 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 1523 
 1541 
 1549 
 1554 
 1560 
 1584 
 1593 
 1608 
 1616 
 1626 
 1628 
 1629 
 1632 
 1670 
 1673 
 1685 
 1691 
 1704 
 1727 
 1744 
 1774 
 1802 
 1824 
 1845 
 
 1854 
 1870
 
 34 THE EARLY 
 
 ingress and egress for life," also ample allowances from the 
 kitchen, each being duly named. But that such men were of 
 some mark is evident and that King Athelstane, among the 
 books he gave to the library of the monastery, made a point 
 of including the best on medical science, indicates the 
 estimation in which that science was held. 
 
 I may here advert to a trifling historical problem before quitting 
 the Norman period. Following the usual authorities I have 
 described Villula as coming " to England in the train of the 
 Conqueror." A friendly critic has questioned the accuracy of 
 this, and in favour of his view, he has urged some weighty 
 considerations. 
 
 First, that in the absence of definite testimony the statement 
 looks more like probable conjecture than matter of fact. Was 
 the successful physician either a Norman or a subject of the 
 Conqueror, but on]y what he was designated " John of Tours." ? It 
 was there he " outran all his contemporaries in honor and profit " 
 and laid the foundation of the rank and fortune which afterwards 
 gave him such an important place in history. That he took orders 
 at the beginning of his career was a fortunate incident inasmuch as it 
 gave bim tbe qualification for the Episcopal office. For all that he 
 did before he came to England there would have been bardly time 
 if he had come in the train of William. But by some means be was 
 known to Rufus ; possibly his medical reputation caused a 
 friendship, so that Rufus rather than William would be the 
 attracting power. I have also been reminded that I have said 
 nothing about tbe famous palace the aspiring churchman built in 
 Bath. My reason for reticence was the extreme uncertainty as 
 to where it stood, who occupied it and what became of it. Mr. 
 Peacb is of opinion that " it stood over the Roman baths and 
 what remained of it was removed early in the seventeenth century 
 and a bowling green laid out upon the site."
 
 MAYORS OF BATH. 35 
 
 Now as to the earliest mayors. We have seen that Bath 
 became a " burg " in the Saxon period. At the Norman 
 Conquest such towns had long had coinage rights, market tolls, 
 and various other local privileges. To these in the year 1194 
 was added first at Winchester, then at Bath, the power to try 
 their own cases in their own courts and according to their own 
 local laws. Then the increase of public business, required 
 a presiding officer with more dignity and power than 
 had been allowed previously ; hence the appointment of a 
 mayor. But prior to this privilege it was necessary to 
 constitute the elective body. This caused the incorporation 
 of certain citizens as freemen, who, in Bath, retained the title 
 and exercised the rights until very recently. The admission 
 to the freedom was obtained in later times, if not also in the 
 early ones, by apprenticeship, a part of the Guild system which 
 prevailed extensively in Europe. The importance of these 
 bodies of freemen was recognised at the Reformation by the 
 transfer to them of much monastic property. To those of 
 Bath came the valuable Bath commons, the rent of which they 
 continued to enjoy until the Corporation, empowered by Act of 
 Parliament, and seeing the gradual extinction of the body, 
 purchased for the benefit of the public, the interest of those 
 who remained. I happened to be one of a few citizens who 
 gave, before a committee of the House of Commons, the 
 evidence which was required to legalise the transfer. 
 
 We pause here to consider the great significance of the 
 Establishment of the Boroughs in England which has been 
 ably treated by Professor Earle. 
 
 Warner states that the first Mayor of Bath was John 
 Savage, appointed in the year 1412. He is placed at the 
 head of a list of ten who filled the office before 1587, being all 
 the names he had been able to collect. They appear at the
 
 36 THE EARLY 
 
 head of the Roll in the Guildhall which is hung up in the 
 Mayor's room. Professor Earle has given in his history the 
 curious original English of the oath taken by the freemen in 
 the mayoralty of John Savage, also the following translation : 
 " I engage to be attentive and obedient to the Mayor of Bath 
 and all his successors ; and I will attach myself to no other 
 authority to the prejudice of any burgess of Bath. Neither 
 may I bring any suit against any burgess of Bath except in the 
 Mayor's Court, if so be that the Mayor is willing to do me 
 right and competent to do it. Saint Catherine's Day I 
 engage to keep as a holy day yearly ; and to the best of my 
 power I will help to maintain Saint Catherine's Chapel and 
 the bridge. All other customs and liberties that belong to the 
 aforesaid freedom I will well and truly keep and maintain. So 
 help me God and holy angels." 
 
 The researches of Warner in the city archives as to the 
 earliest mayors appear to have been less complete than those 
 of another antiquary Mr. H. Riley, who at the request of 
 some learned body had access to them in later times. He 
 discovered a Latin deed showing that the office of mayor 
 existed as early as 1230, and as the deed throws curious light 
 on the civic usages of the time I transcribe a copy of the 
 translation by Mr. Riley : 
 
 " Know present and to come, that I, Walter, son of Serle, 
 in my lawful power have given to Juliana, daughter of William 
 Springod, one seld to the south of the Stalls of Bath, which I 
 bought of Robert Prither for 4 marks and half a mark of 
 silver ; to hold and to have to himself and to whomsoever he 
 shall wish to give or assign it ; rendering for it yearly to the 
 Lords of the fee at the Feast of S. Michael 7 pence and at 
 Hock day 5 pence for Land gable (Land tax) for all service 
 exaction and demand And that this my gift may have the
 
 MAYORS OF BATH. 37 
 
 strength of perpetual security, this present charter I have 
 corroborated with the impression of my seal These being 
 witnesses, Caskill de Westone John Duport at that time Mayor 
 of Bath, Andrew the Clerk, Geoffry Wissi Hugh de Aystone, 
 Thomas Sweyn, Walter Cabbel and many others." 
 
 Mr. Riley traces the date to about 1230, and remarks: 
 " This is perhaps the very earliest mention of a Mayor of 
 Bath. The device of the seal has much the appearance of an 
 ancient gem." 
 
 More recently two Bath gentlemen have published a 
 valuable book showing that the Bath mayoralty had an 
 origin even earlier than that supposed by Mr. Riley. In 
 The Municipal Records of Bath, by Mr. Austin King and 
 Mr. B. H. Watts, we have a minute account, most clearly 
 stated, of all the Bath charters and their contents. Not only 
 this ; we also learn what preceded them, what was the spirit 
 of the people who obtained them and how, step by step, the 
 citizens gained the right of self-government which is now more 
 prized. .We are reminded that the Saxon Chronicle mentions 
 a Grieve of Bath named Alfred, who died in 907, that the 
 present Mayor is his official lineal descendant, that even the 
 changes of the Norman Conquest did not annihilate local 
 courts thus governed, that the Town Council of the present 
 day therefore represent the Tun Moot of Saxon times, and 
 that thus, through a thousand years, Bath has had a municipal 
 government. For these reasons it is a mistake to suppose 
 that the civic liberties of Bath date chiefly from the charter of 
 Elizabeth. Century after century charters were granted by 
 various sovereigns, from Richard Coeur de Lion to Henry 
 VIIL, some granting privileges, others confirming them. The 
 charter of Elizabeth codified these, defined the constitution of 
 the governing body, stated the number of aldermen and
 
 38 THE EARLY 
 
 councillors to be appointed, and ordained such ceremonies as 
 carrying maces of gold or silver before the mayor ; but the 
 real power existed long before. Who and what the 
 celebrities of the middle ages were we have very little 
 information. Now and then the good deeds are mentioned of 
 some great benefactor like Reginald FitzJocelin, who, in the 
 twelfth century, rebuilt S. Michael's Church, and founded S. 
 John's Hospital. We are also told of kings and queens who 
 held Bath as their property, and we might imagine Edward I. 
 and his high-spirited mother, Eleanor of Provence, showing 
 similar interest in the city to that displayed by the Roman and 
 Saxon sovereigns ; but after all this would be only imagining, 
 and it is better to deal with facts. 
 
 Unfortunately, facts are also scanty with regard to another 
 subject closely connected with that of the mayoralty the 
 earliest members of Parliament for Bath. We only know 
 when they were first returned, what were the names and 
 position of some of them, and how unwillingly, in many cases 
 they undertook the office. The earliest known representatives 
 of Bath were Henry Bayton and Thomas Misleterre, returned 
 in 1297, the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Edward I. 
 Where they lived, or what was their position, we are not told, 
 but subsequent records show that the citizens chose men 
 from the neighbouring villages and the trading classes of 
 Bath. Thus we have John de Suthstoke, Johnde Hampton, 
 Hugh de Wyke, Richard Wydicornbe, William de Radestoke, 
 Roger le Tanner, John le Draper, Alexander le Teinturer 
 and William le Goldsmith. These represented the city in 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ; their successors, 
 soon after the charter of Elizabeth, were generally men of 
 county position, bearing such names as Harington, Hunger- 
 ford, Fitzharding, Horner, Langton, Popham and Blathwayt.
 
 MAYORS OF BATH. 39 
 
 In the early period membership was deemed a burthen which 
 men were anxious to avoid ; in the later it was evidently an 
 honour, though not then so eagerly sought as in modern 
 times. When we reach the reign of Elizabeth, we hear of a 
 few local celebrities, such as Sherstone, who was the first 
 Mayor under her Majesty's charter, and his son-in-law, 
 Prynne, who was twice elected member for the city and 
 succeeded to the Kecordership. Prior to this time, late in 
 the fourteenth century, there was a celebrity of the other sex, 
 though unfortunately, while we are told the names of mayors 
 and members of Parliament, the only designation by which 
 the good lady is known is that of " The Wyf of Bathe." She 
 may be mentioned here, partly on her own account and partly 
 because Chaucer could not have written of her as he did 
 without knowing something of the city. At that time the 
 woollen trade, which had long been carried on in Bath 
 extensively, appears to have been very flourishing, " better 
 cloth being sold than was produced by the looms of Ypres 
 and Ghent." Whether the heroine or one of her five 
 husbands was distinguished in this way the Canterbury 
 Tales do not inform us, but the Father of English Song 
 represents her as a learned lady who must have acquired 
 some classical lore in Bath ; though it is stated by an 
 annotator that what she quoted as from Ptolemy was not 
 found in his works, and that she was in the habit of fathering 
 on him wise sayings the real author of which she could not 
 remember. 
 
 I have mentioned William Sherstone as the first Mayor 
 under the charter of Elizabeth. He also was a clothier, a man 
 of considerable substance, probably a landowner, at all events 
 a large occupier. He lived in a house called the Barton, the 
 name of the estate which he appears to have farmed, and
 
 40 THE EARLY 
 
 which was probably the Royal "Berton" of Saxon and 
 Norman times, originally purchased of the Crown by John 
 de Villula, and afterwards transferred, sometimes to kings 
 and queens and back again to courtiers or the city. The 
 house, much altered, now stands at the end of Barton street, 
 Queen square, and is part of the business premises of Messrs. 
 Jolly and Son. It is pleasant to think of it as the residence 
 of the first of Queen Elizabeth's mayors, with its then agree- 
 able surroundings in open country, down to the Avon in one 
 direction, and across the commons to Weston in the other. 
 Pleasant also to think of him as the public spirited man who 
 probably first won his seat in the House of Commons, which 
 he retained through five Parliaments, as well as his three 
 successive mayoralties, by the earnestness and ability with 
 which he pressed the claim for incorporation on the Govern- 
 ment. Tradition states that the Queen honoured Barton 
 house by sleeping there when she visited her godson, Sir 
 John Harington, at Kelstone, but of this there is no proof. 
 That a genuine Bath celebrity, however, William Prynne, 
 was a frequent visitor at the old mansion is highly probable, 
 as his father married Miss Marie Sherstone, the Mayor's 
 daughter, and he had much intercourse with the family for 
 many years.* 
 
 * As the last note contains a list of the Bishops of Bath and 
 Wells it may be interesting to note who the Mayors of Bath were 
 from the earliest recorded period. I have stated that Mr. Riley 
 discovered in the archives of the city that the earliest mention of 
 a Mayor, John Duport, is of the date 1230, in the reign of Henry 
 III., whereas Warner begins his list with John Savage, 1412. 
 The Bath historian gives a list of ten, the only names he had been 
 able to obtain from 1412 to 1587 inclusive, which are placed at
 
 MAYORS OF BATH. 
 
 41 
 
 the head of the first roll now hung up in the Guildhall, this 
 roll bringing the list down to 1799. The History of Bath being 
 published soon afterwards could not include more ; so the list 
 now given contains the names from 1412 to the present time. 
 
 THE ROLL OF THE MAYORS OF BATH. 
 
 BEFORE THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT. 
 
 ...1658-9 
 ... 1660 
 ... 1661 
 ... 1662 
 ... 1663 
 ... 1664 
 ... 1665 
 ... 1666 
 ... 1667 
 ... 1668 
 ... 1669 
 ... 1670 
 ... 1671 
 ... 1672 
 ... 1673 
 ...1674-5 
 ... 1676 
 ... 1677 
 ... 1678 
 ... 1679 
 ... 1680 
 ... 1681 
 ... 1682 
 ... 1683 
 ... 1684 
 ... 1685 
 ... 1686 
 ... 1687 
 ... 1688 
 ... 1689 
 ... 1690 
 ... 1691 
 ... 1692 
 ... 1693 
 .. 1694 
 1695 
 1696 
 1697 
 1698 
 1699 
 1700 
 1701 
 1702 
 1703 
 1704 
 1705 
 1706 
 
 John Savage .. 
 
 . 1412 John Peewce ... 
 
 Ralph Hunt 
 
 . 1414 
 
 John Bigges ... 
 
 Richard Widecombe ... 
 
 . 1416 
 
 Jo. Ford 
 
 John Savage ... 
 
 . 1425 
 
 Jo. Parker 
 
 William Hayne 
 
 . 1471 
 
 Wm. Childe ... 
 
 Richard Chapman 
 
 . 1503 
 
 Hen. Chapman 
 
 Henry Co veil 
 
 . 1533 
 
 Wa. Gibbes ... 
 
 Edward Ludwell 
 
 . 1551 
 
 John Peewce ... 
 
 Thomas Ash 
 
 . 1583 
 
 Tho. H. Gibbes 
 
 John Court 
 
 . 1587 
 
 Rob. Chapman 
 
 The Charter of Queen Eliz 
 
 abeth 
 
 Wm. Childe . 
 
 (32nd Elizabeth) 4th Sept. 
 William Sherstone ... 
 
 1590. 
 . 1590 
 
 Edward White 
 Jo. Masters 
 
 William Sherstone ... 
 
 . 1615 
 
 Hen. Clwpman 
 
 William Chapman 
 
 . 1616 
 
 Hen. Parker ... 
 
 Walter Chapman 
 
 . 1617 
 
 Jo. Bush 
 
 William Clift 
 
 . 1618 
 
 Wa. Gibbes ... 
 
 Richard Gay 
 
 . 1619 
 
 Benja. Baber ... 
 
 William Sherstone ... 
 
 . 1620 
 
 Robt. Chapman 
 
 Thomas Moorford 
 
 . 1621 
 
 Jo. Masters 
 
 Robert Frey 
 
 . 1622 
 
 William Bush ... 
 
 William Chapman ... 
 
 . 1623 Edw. Buskett ... 
 
 Matthew Rendall 
 
 . 1621 Robert Hayward 
 
 Richard Gay 
 
 1625-30 Walter Hickes 
 
 William Chapman 
 Richard Gay ... 
 
 . 1630 Jo. Bush 
 . 1631 Jo. Gibbs 
 
 Arthur Sherstone 
 
 . 1632 John Pococke ... 
 
 Anthony Langston ... 
 
 . 1633 Benja. Baber ... 
 
 Matthew Rendall ... 
 
 . 1634 Wa. Gibbes ... 
 
 John Chapman 
 
 . 1635 Robt. Chapman 
 
 John Biggs 
 Richard Chapman 
 Robert Fisher (1639 to 1644) 
 
 . 1636 Jo. Masters ... 
 . 1637 George Colliber 
 1638 William Bush ... 
 
 John Parker 
 
 . 1644 Edw. Buskett ... 
 
 John Chapman 
 John Biggs 
 
 . 1645 
 . 1646 
 
 Robert Hayward 
 Walter Hickes... 
 
 Jo. Muzood 
 
 . 1647 
 
 John Axford ... 
 
 Walter Chapman 
 
 . 1648 
 
 Jo. Bush 
 
 Richard Price 
 
 . 1649 
 
 Jo. Gibbes 
 
 John Peewce 
 
 . 1650 
 
 Thomas Gibbes 
 
 Walter Chapman 
 
 . 1651 
 
 Benja. Baber ... 
 
 Jo. Parker 
 
 . 1652 
 
 Ric. Matters ... 
 
 Jo. Muzood 
 
 . 1653 
 
 W. Chapman ... 
 
 Jo. Parker 
 
 . 1654 
 
 Jo. Bush 
 
 Walter Chapman 
 
 . 1655 
 
 William Bush ... 
 
 Jo. Boys 
 
 . 1656 
 
 Waltr. Hickes... 
 
 Jo. Masters 
 
 . 1657 
 
 Edw. Woolmer
 
 THE EARLY 
 
 Jo. Gibbs 
 
 .. 1707 
 
 G. Biggs 
 
 1768 
 
 Edwd. Bushell 
 
 .. 1708 
 
 Thos. Atwood 
 
 1769 
 
 Charley Child ... 
 Walter Gibbes 
 
 .. 1709 
 1710 
 
 John Chapman 
 John Horton 
 
 1770 
 1771 
 
 Thomas Gibbes 
 
 ... 1711 
 
 Walter Wiltshire 
 
 1772 
 
 Richard Morgan 
 
 .. 1712 
 
 Frans. Bennett 
 
 1773 
 
 Richard Ford 
 
 .. 1713 
 
 Phil. Ditcher 
 
 1774 
 
 Thos. Bi'-rgs 
 
 ... 1714 
 
 Edward Bushell Collibee ... 
 
 1775 
 
 Wm. Long 
 
 .. 1715 
 
 Hon. Wright 
 
 1776 
 
 Jno. Saunders ... 
 
 .. 1716 
 
 John Chapman 
 
 1777 
 
 Ric. Matters 
 
 .. 1717 
 
 Simon Crook 
 
 1778 
 
 Thomas Henshell 
 
 ... 1718 
 
 John Chapman 
 
 1779 
 
 Wm. Collibee 
 
 ,. 1719 
 
 Walter Wiltshire 
 
 1780 
 
 Eclw. Woolmer 
 
 .. 1720 
 
 Frans. Bennett 
 
 1781 
 
 George Tryme ... 
 
 .. 1721 
 
 Leonard Coward 
 
 1782 
 
 Wm. Bush 
 
 ... 1722 
 
 James Leake 
 
 1783 
 
 Jno. Hickes 
 
 ... 1723 
 
 Wm. Street 
 
 1784 
 
 Tho. Atwood 
 
 ,. 1724 
 
 Edward Bushell Collibee . . . 
 
 1785 
 
 Rokwell Gibbs 
 
 ,. 1725 
 
 William Anderdon 
 
 1786 
 
 Waltr. Chapman 
 
 ... 172G 
 
 Leonard Coward 
 
 1787 
 
 Wm. Chapman 
 
 ... 1727 
 
 Jac. Smith 
 
 1788 
 
 John Billing 
 
 .. 1728 
 
 Leonard Coward 
 
 1789 
 
 Tran. Bave 
 
 .. 1729 
 
 John Horton ... 
 
 1790 
 
 Richard Ford ... 
 
 .. 1730 
 
 Walter Wiltshire 
 
 1791 
 
 William Horton 
 
 ... 1731 
 
 A. Moysey 
 
 1792 
 
 Milo Smith 
 
 .. 1732 
 
 H. Harington 
 
 1793 
 
 Richard Morgan 
 
 .. 1733 
 
 Wm. Anderdon 
 
 1794 
 
 Tho. Short 
 
 .. 1734 
 
 J. Symons 
 
 1795 
 
 Tho. Atwood ... 
 
 ... 1735 
 
 J. Palmer 
 
 1796 
 
 Rd. Matravers... 
 
 ... 1736 
 
 Chas. Phillott 
 
 1797 
 
 James Atwood... 
 
 ... 1737 
 
 Geo. Chapman 
 
 1798 
 
 Jno. launders ... 
 
 ... 1738 
 
 Jn. Horton 
 
 1799 
 
 Wm. Bush 
 Charles Stone 
 
 ... 1739 
 ... 1740 
 
 (Thus far Warner). 
 H. Atwood 
 
 1800 
 
 Hen. Atwood ... 
 
 ... 1741 
 
 Wm. Watson ... 
 
 1801 
 
 A. Allen ... "/. 
 
 ... 1742 
 
 H. Parry 
 
 1802 
 
 Ambrose Bishop 
 John Chapman 
 
 ... 1743 
 ... 1744 
 
 J. Symons 
 Wm. Anderdon 
 
 1803 
 1804 
 
 John Cogswell... 
 
 ... 1745 
 
 (has. Phillott 
 
 1805 
 
 Tho. Atwood 
 
 1746 
 
 Tno. Horton 
 
 1806 
 
 Thursby Robinson ... 
 
 ... 1747 
 
 H. Atwood 
 
 1807 
 
 James Atwood... 
 Charles Stone 
 
 ... 1748 
 ... 1749 
 
 Henry Parry 
 J. Palmer 
 
 1808 
 1809 
 
 Hen. Atwood 
 Francis Hales ... 
 
 ... 1750 
 ... 1751 
 
 Ar. Moysey 
 J. Phillott ... .". ", 
 
 1810 
 1811 
 
 Tho. Atwood 
 John Chapman 
 
 1752-3 
 ... 1754 
 
 Chas. Crooke 
 Wm. Anderdon 
 
 1812 
 1813 
 
 Saml. Bush ... 
 Edward Bushell Collibee 
 Will. Chapman 
 Hen. Atwood ... 
 Frac. Hales ... 
 Thos. Atwood 
 John Champan 
 Francis Hales ... ." 
 
 ... 1755 
 ... 1756 
 ... 1757 
 ... 1758 
 ... 1759 
 ... 1760 
 ... 1761 
 ... 1762 
 
 Ch. T. Phillott 
 M. Nichols ... "'. "; 
 Edmd. Anderdon 
 G. H. Tugwell 
 J. Kitson 
 Geo. Edwd. Allen 
 J. Wiltshire . 
 Wm. Clarke ... 
 
 1814 
 1815 
 1816. 
 1817 
 1818 
 1819 
 1820 
 1821 
 
 Saml. Bush 
 John Horton ... 
 Edward Bushell Collibee 
 Hon. Wright 
 Will. Chapman [" 
 
 ... 1763 
 ... 1764 
 ... 1765 
 ... 1766 
 ... 1767 
 
 Chas. Crooke ... 
 Chas. Phillott 
 Emd. Anderdon 
 Geo. Edw. Allen 
 E. Pickwick ... ]." 
 
 1822 
 1823 
 1824 
 1825 
 1826
 
 MAYORS OF BATH. 
 
 G. H. Tugwell 
 
 . 1827 Geo. Kitson . 
 
 .. 1831 
 
 W. Tudor 
 
 ... 1828 William Clark 
 
 . 1832 
 
 J. H. Spry 
 
 ... 1829 J. Phiilott 
 
 ... 1833 
 
 J. F. Davis 
 
 ... 1830 George Norman 
 
 ...1834-5 
 
 
 AFTER THE ACT. 
 
 
 W.T.Blair (Jan. 1st) 
 
 ... 1836 Thomas Barter 
 
 . 1S62 
 
 W. T. Blair (Nov. 9th) 
 
 ... 1836 Jerom Murch 
 
 1863-4 
 
 L. Barrow 
 
 ... 1837 
 
 George Moger 
 
 ... 1865 
 
 Henry Gordon 
 Eichard Strutth. Cruttwell 
 
 ... 1838 
 . 1839 
 
 W. J. Thompson 
 Edw. W. Slack ) 
 
 ... 1866 
 
 William Hunt 
 
 ... 1840 
 
 William Hunt f 
 
 ... 1867 
 
 George Norman 
 John Edridge ... 
 
 ... 18-11 
 ... 1842 
 
 Thomas Jolly 1868 
 Thomas Washbourne Gibbs... 1869 
 
 George Moger ... 
 Henry Gordon 
 
 ... 1843 JohnHulbert 
 ... 1844 E. S. Elaine 
 
 1870-1 
 ... 1872 
 
 S. Batchellor 
 
 ... 1845 William Hunt 
 
 ... 1873 
 
 Aug. Geo. Barrette ... 
 
 ... 1846 J. A. Paynter 
 
 1874-5 
 
 William Hunt 
 
 ... 1847 Jerom Murch 
 
 3876-7 
 
 William Sutcliffe 
 
 ... 1848 James Chaffin ... ... 
 
 1878-9-80 
 
 Fred Dowding 
 
 1849-50 
 
 John S. Bartrum 
 
 ... 1881 
 
 William Long 
 
 .. 1851 
 
 Handel Cossham 
 
 ... 1882 
 
 F. T. Allen 
 
 ... 1852 Thomas Wilton 
 
 ... 1883 
 
 T. Gill 
 
 ... 1853 Handel Cossbam 
 
 ... 1884 
 
 William Hunt 
 
 ... 1854 
 
 Anthony Hammond ... 
 
 ... 1885 
 
 William Bush ... 
 
 . 1855 
 
 Jerom Murch ... 
 
 . 1886 
 
 E. Cook 
 
 ... 1856 
 
 Anthony Hammond ... 
 
 . 1887 
 
 Eandle Wilbraham Falcon 
 
 er. 
 
 H. W. Freeman 
 
 .. 1888 
 
 M.D. 
 
 1857-8 
 
 John S. Hartrum 
 
 ... 1889 
 
 Thos. Barrett, M.D. ... 
 
 ... 1859 
 
 Jerom Murch 
 
 ... 1890 
 
 Thomas Jolly 
 
 ... I860 
 
 John S. Turner 
 
 ... 1891 
 
 Thomas Fuller... 
 
 ... 1861 
 
 Jerom Murch ... 
 
 ... 1892
 
 44 SIR JOHN HARINGTOX 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 SIR JOHN HARINGTON AND BISHOP MONTAGUE. 
 
 My sketch of William Sherston, first Mayor of Bath under 
 the Charter of Elizabeth, introduced us to her Majesty's 
 reign. It brought us to a period remarkable for the eminent 
 men it produced : statesmen, warriors, divines, scholars, 
 poets, dramatists, discoverers and philosophers. Although 
 few were intimately connected with the Court, they all, in 
 various ways, gave a splendour to the reign and struck a 
 light that gradually pervaded the chief towns of England. 
 Much need of that light was there in Bath ; the dissolution 
 of the monastery had sent its learned men adrift ; the citizens 
 saw their principal church roofless and desolate ; and the few 
 visitors who came for society or the springs found scanty 
 attractions with abundant discomfort. Such was the state of 
 things when Harington and Montague came on the scene ; 
 one was a country squire living at Kelston, the other the 
 Bishop of the Diocese. The work in connection with which 
 they are now introduced was the restoration of the Abbey 
 Church, a work foremost among those for regaining the 
 reputation of the city. 
 
 The Haringtons belonged to an ancient family in Cumber- 
 land. They derived their name from Haverington in that 
 county, and suffered much in the wars of the Roses. One of 
 them was the first Lord Harington, of Exton ; another was 
 grandfather of the author of Oceana. The father of the 
 subject of this sketch was in the service of the Lord High 
 Admiral Seymour, and restored the fortunes of his branch of 
 the family by marrying Ethelreda, the natural daughter of 
 Henry VIII. To this lady his Majesty granted, on the
 
 AND BISHOP MONTAGUE. 45 
 
 dissolution of monasteries, the forfeitures of several Somerset- 
 shire manors, Kelston being one. Her husband had probably 
 the literary tastes then growing among men of his station in 
 life, which qualified him to be somewhat of a preceptor and 
 companion to the Princess Elizabeth. A time came when he 
 and his wife had to attend upon her in prison, for which and 
 their general loyalty, she showed her gratitude after she 
 ascended the throne by becoming godmother to their son, 
 taking, afterwards, an interest in his education, and, though 
 quick to rebuke him when he failed to please her, giving 
 him, as long as she lived various proofs of regard. 
 
 On succeeding to the Kelston estate, Harington became 
 interested in Bath. Among his friends was Dr. Montague, 
 the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who is said to have been 
 indebted to him for a previous preferment the mastership 
 of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. This appointment, or 
 much interest with regard to it, was vested in Lady Sidney, 
 an aunt of Harington. There is a story that the two friends, 
 being caught in a shower near the Abbey, the layman advised 
 the Bishop to take shelter in the church, and conducted him 
 to the north aisle, which, being entirely roofless, afforded no 
 protection. " Why, we are still in the rain," said the Bishop, 
 " there is no roof to your church." " The more is the pity," 
 answered his shrewd companion, " and the more need for 
 your lordship's munificence" A quaint memorandum by 
 Harington himself gives a more exact idea of what passed, 
 while it indicates the practical, as well as poetical mind so 
 obvious in his various works. I am indebted for the 
 orthography to Nugce Antiquce, and for much information 
 on the subject to Britten's History and Antiquities of the 
 Abbey Church. "Having long waitede for our goode 
 Bishoppe to visit his poor sheepe and rotten folde, I rubbede
 
 40 SIR JOHN HARINGTON 
 
 my braines for suche rustic Latin as might remaine therein, 
 and was bent to meete him at the place of visitation ; and 
 being well encouraged to speak roundelye of his service, to 
 helpe us on to restoringe our churche to its olde state, or 
 rather to a new state of bewtie. After all was ended and his 
 benedictions given, I began with my own Sis Nobiscum 
 Domine, and started up in the Churche isle with my Poetrie 
 or rather Historic, for I sought not to give it the flower but 
 looked for the goode fruit that might come of my spare 
 sowing." 
 
 What the " goode fruit " was will be seen when we come 
 to Bishop Montague. A few incidents in Harington's life 
 may be here mentioned. He was educated at Cambridge, 
 his tutor being Dr. John Still, afterwards Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, of whose influence on his mind he writes very grate- 
 fully. From Cambridge he went to study law at Lincoln's 
 Inn, but soon found the atmosphere of the Court more to his 
 taste. The Queen then lived much at Hatfield, where he 
 enjoyed the companionship of her clever ladies, for whose 
 amusement he translated the twenty-eighth book of Arisosto's 
 Orlando Furiosonot the most seemly portion of that 
 attractive book. Unluckily for Harington, his work fell into 
 the Queen's hands, who blamed him for corrupting the 
 morals of her women, and is said to have banished him to 
 Kelston till he should have translated the whole folio. This 
 was about the year 1590; the first edition of the work so 
 completed was published in 1591. There is a copy of this 
 edition in the Cambridge University library. It had been 
 presented to the author's mother-in-law, Lady Rogers. At 
 the end is a list, in his own handwriting, of all his poems on 
 domestic occasions. He had then been married eight years. 
 Lady Rogers lived at Cannington, in Somersetshire. Of the
 
 AND BISHOP MONTAGUE. 47 
 
 Kelston household little is known except that the eldest son 
 became a Cromwellite. The father's exuberant spirits found 
 vent everywhere, at home and abroad, in a constant flow of 
 epigrams, too seldom adapted to correct tastes. It was not 
 until comparatively late in life that he cared for political 
 employment, although even when he was at Cambridge the 
 Queen sent him a copy of one of her speeches to Parliament, 
 requesting him to " ponder well what she had said." 
 
 At the same period her great Minister, Lord Burleigh, with 
 whom Harington's family were friendly, wrote a letter to him 
 (given in Nugce Antiqucc) which might have turned his 
 thoughts to statesmanship. But being popular as an author, 
 full of humour, and yet showing much practical sagacity, he 
 preferred writing on his favourite subjects, and thus amusing 
 both the public and himself. At length, after gravely offend- 
 ing the Queen by an inuendo in one of his books against 
 the Earl of Leicester, and again receiving her forgiveness, he 
 was sent with the Earl of Essex to Ireland on an ill-fated 
 expedition as commander of horse. On this occasion he was 
 knighted by Essex, another cause of offence to Elizabeth, 
 who required that such honours should only be conferred by 
 herself. Great disasters occurred in Ireland, compelling 
 both Essex and Harington to return in haste and endeavour 
 to make their peace with the Queen. But this time her 
 anger was unappeasable. When her godson knelt before her 
 she caught him by the girdle, swearing her usual oath that he 
 and the fool Essex were too much for her, and bidding the 
 unhappy knight " go quickly about his business." He there- 
 fore went back to Kelston, glad to be at home once more, 
 resolved to "run no more risk of shipwreck on the Essex 
 coast," and writing, " if I go into such troubles again I deserve 
 the gallows for a meddling fool." Headers of Sir Walter
 
 48 SIR JOHN HARINGTON 
 
 Scott's Kenilworih may remember that it contains frequent 
 references to the Queen's " witty godson " as one who had 
 experienced both the smiles and frowns which he describes. 
 The novelist quotes a passage from Nugce Antiquce illustrative 
 of his own account of the variable treatment of Leicester : 
 " Her mind was oft time like the gentle air that cometh from 
 the western point in a summer's morn 'twas sweet and 
 refreshing for air around her; her speech did so win all 
 affections. And again she could put forth such alterations 
 when obedience was lacking as left no doubt whose daughter 
 she was. When she smiled it was a pure sunshine that every 
 one did choose to bask in, if they could, but soon came a 
 storm from a sudden gathering of clouds, and the thunder fell 
 in a wondrous manner on all sides." Notwithstanding 
 Harington's disgust with political life, a time came when office 
 would have been a great boon to him. The Queen had died ; 
 his means had been greatly reduced by extravagant habits and 
 costly litigations. So he appealed to James I., who favoured 
 him, but the application eventually failed. His mind had even 
 turned again to Ireland, whose people he thought he under- 
 stood, and of whose wants he was believed to have larger and 
 more generous views than those of most of his contemporaries. 
 But it was too late ; his health gave way and he died at 
 Kelston. aged 51, leaving his wife and seven children. 
 
 That Sir John Harington was one of the most remarkable 
 men of his tune appears from the copious memoir of him in 
 the National, Biography. It includes an account of his 
 numerous literary works, also references to books, such as 
 Fuller's Worthies of Somerset, and Wood's Athena; 
 Oxon, treating of his life and character. Since I began this 
 sketch I have been able to consult the Rev. J. J. Poynton's 
 Memoranda, Historical and Genealogical, relating chiefly to
 
 AND BISHOP MONTAGUE. 49 
 
 members of the . Harington family of later times, of whom, 
 especially Dr. Henry Harington, I shall have to write later. 
 Mr.Poynton's work, however, contains a copy of a curious deed 
 in the Record Office showing the pugnacious side of Sir John's 
 character, and giving " a fair example of how family quarrels 
 were conducted in 1602." Lady Rogers, his wife's mother, 
 had died in Bath; he, therefore, went immediately to 
 Cannington to take possession of certain effects hequeathed to 
 him ; his brother-in-law disputed the claim, prohibited his 
 entrance, and barricaded the house. On trying to force his 
 way, " Sir John was seized by five or six men and locked in 
 a dark room for nine hours." Then came Star Chamber 
 proceedings against Mr. Rogers, one of those costly litigations 
 from which Harington's fortune suffered so severely. 
 
 Before we proceed to Bishop Montague's claim to 
 remembrance we may notice what others did in the matter of 
 the Abbey Church. It was at the end of the fifteenth century 
 that Dr. Oliver King, eminent both as statesman and divine, 
 became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and being greatly 
 distressed at the ruinous state of the old edifice, began to 
 rebuild it. But he only lived a few years ; the work proceeded 
 slowly for want of funds .notwithstanding his own munificence, 
 and all he could do was to leave injunctions with the head of 
 the Convent, Prior Birde, to carry out his design. . Prior 
 Birde also did what he could ; he lessened the expenditure of 
 the Convent in order that the money might be devoted to the 
 church, and " he himself," says Wood, " expended so much of 
 his own means that he died poor." Then followed another 
 Prior equally zealous and generous ; but the clouds were 
 gathering for the great national tempest, the piety which had 
 raised so many splendid ecclesiastical buildings was fading 
 away, and State aid could no longer be obtained. To so low 
 D
 
 50 SIR JOHN HARINGTON 
 
 an ebb had public feeling in the matter fallen that, though on 
 the dissolution of the Bath Monastery the Commissioners 
 offered to sell the church to the city for 500 marks, the offer 
 was refused. Harington, of course, was ready with an 
 epigram on the dignitaries in whose successive reigns the 
 work languished : Bishop King, Cardinal Adrian, Cardinal 
 Wolsey, Bishop Clark, and Bishop Knight : 
 
 " Church ! I wail thy woful plight, 
 Whom King nor Card'nall, Clerke nor Knight, 
 Have yet restored to ancient right." 
 
 The poet, however, does justice to one good man Thomas 
 Bellott, steward, and afterwards executor, to Lord Burleigh, 
 who contributed largely towards finishing a transept. After 
 showing how the funds raised under the Queen's brief had 
 been misappropriated, he writes, " And thus the church lies 
 still, like the poore traveller spoiled and wounded by thieves. 
 The Priest goes by, the Levitts go by, but doe nothing : only 
 a good Samaritan, honest Mr. Billet (worthy to be billetted 
 in the New Jerusalem) hath pow'rd some oyle in the wounds 
 and maintained it in life." 
 
 But then came the squire and the bishop. The latter 
 responded to his friend's appeal by giving 1,000, and under- 
 taking to do certain works. Warner gives the names of 
 various benefactors, among whom were Sir Henry Montague, 
 brother of the bishop, and then Lord Chief Justice, who was 
 at the charge of the great west doors with their elaborate 
 carving. The vestry was built by Sir Nicholas Slattern, of 
 London; additional donors being the EarJs of Rutland, 
 Sufiolk, Hartford, Worcester, Northampton, and Shrewsbury ; 
 Lady Hunsden, Lady Dorset, and Lady Boothe ; many trades- 
 men, esquires, knights, and baronets, several of the Sherston
 
 AND BISHOP MONTAGUE. 51 
 
 family, cum multis aliis. Among the various friends to whom 
 Harington wrote was Mr. Sutton, the wealthy founder of the 
 Charter House School. The characteristic letter to him in 
 Nugce Antiquce refers first to a report (for which the writer 
 apologises) that Sutton intended to leave his money to Prince 
 Charles, and then endeavours to persuade him to give some 
 of it to the Abbey Church. " I would be glad to make you 
 amends now by any endevor of mine. Only my old friend 
 don't forget to be a benefactor to Bath Church in your life 
 time, for alms in one's life is like light borne before one, 
 whereas alms after death is like a candle carried behind one. 
 You promised to see the church before this ; whensoever you 
 come, my lodgings shall be at your commandmente ; the baths 
 would strengthen your sinews, the alms would comfort your 
 soul. The tower, the quire and two isles are all-ready finished 
 by Mr. Billett, executor to the worthie Lord Treasurer 
 Burleigh, and the walls are up ready for covering. The lead 
 is promised by our bountifull Bishop, Dr. Montague, timber is 
 promised by the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Hartford, the 
 Lord Say, Mr. Hopton and others. 
 
 Of " the bountifull Bishop " Bath was naturally proud. 
 The son of Sir E. Montague, he was born in 1568, his family 
 being descended from the Montacutes, Earls of Salisbury. 
 In 1593 he became master of Sidney Sussex College, 
 Cambridge, as already mentioned, of which in the phrase- 
 ology of Fuller, he was the Nursing-Father. In 1604 he 
 was made Dean of Worcester by King James, " who," says 
 the same author, did " ken a man of merrit as well as any 
 Prince in Christendome." In 1 608 he was advanced to the 
 See of Bath and Wells, and in 1616 to that of Winchester. 
 There he died at the end of two years. By his particular 
 desire, he was buried in the Abley Church at Bath, where a
 
 52 SIR JOHN HARINGTON 
 
 stately monument was erected by his four brothers, with a 
 long Latin inscription. The monument was restored about 
 twelve years ago at the expense of the late Mrs. Elliott, with 
 the assistance of her friend, Mr. John Stone, Town Clerk of 
 Bath. Bishop Montague was known in the literary world as 
 the translator of the works of James I. into Latin. A copy, 
 splendidly bound in velvet and gold, was given to the 
 University of Cambridge by the King. In the reigns of 
 Elizabeth and James, the diocese of Bath and Wells drew 
 large revenues from the lead mines at Mendip. "Of this 
 abundant crop," says Fuller, " Bishop Still is said to have 
 had the harvest, Bishop Montague the gleanings and Bishop 
 Lake the stubble ; yet considerable was the profit to him and 
 successors." In the history of Somersetshire few subjects are 
 more interesting than that of the Mendip Lead Mines, and 
 perhaps no work contains so much information respecting 
 them as is scattered through the volumes of the 
 Somersetshire Archaeological Society. In vol. viii. there is a 
 remarkably learned paper by Mr. James Yates on the " Mining 
 Operations of the Romans in Britain," with an account of the 
 ." Pigs " and their Roman inscriptions now in various English 
 museums, lead being much used in those days, especially 
 for coffins. The Rev. Prebendary Scarth, writing later of 
 the Mendips, vol. xix., states, " In the time of Edward IV. 
 these mines are said to have furnished employment to a great 
 population of miners, the immense deposits of slags and 
 slimes indicating the extent of the workings." Another 
 antiquary, the Rev. W. A. Jones, of Taunton, shows, vol. xv., 
 how the Bishop of the Diocese was appointed with others by 
 the King, one of "The Four Lords Royal of Mendip," to 
 adjudicate on a disputed question ; how, on the summons 
 of a special Commissioner, all the Commoners of the district
 
 AND BISHOP MONTAGUE. 53 
 
 to the number of 10,000, assembled before the "Lords 
 Koyal " " upon a place of Lord Bath's, called the Forge," and 
 how the said judges after a full hearing of the case put their 
 seals to a satisfactory settlement. And thus in due time do 
 things apparently unconnected work together; the wonderful 
 operations of Nature thousands of years ago produce the 
 Mendip lead mines, and the revenues from the Mendip lead 
 mines become in the sixteenth century a chief factor in the 
 restoration of Bath Abbey Church.* 
 
 * Mr. Poynton informs me that the statement of various 
 biographers, which I have adopted in page 45, that Lady Sidney 
 was aunt to Sir John llarington is doubtful. The Sidney 
 connection was with the Haringtons of Eston. The foundress of 
 Sidney Sussex College was Lady Frances Sidney, Countess of 
 Sussex, daughter of Sir W. Sidney, knighted at Flodden and 
 aunt to Sir Philip Sidney. She left 5,000 to found the college. 
 
 From the same obliging writer I learn an incident illustrative 
 of Sir John Harington's versatility, not mentioned, I believe, by 
 his biographers, but referred to in a Trad on the State of Ireland, 
 1605, edited 1879 by the Kev. W. Macray, one of the Librarians 
 of the Bodleian. It is that Sir John made overtures, when his 
 fortune was low, to get appointed,^?- saltum, Archbishop of Dublin. 
 The extravagant idea may have been prompted by a family 
 tradition that an ancestor, Sir James Harington, a military knight 
 in early life, had become successively Hector of Badsworth and 
 Dean of York, preceding Cardinal Wolsey in that Deanery.
 
 54 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 Many years have passed since I collected materials for a 
 paper on William Prynne. It was read before a meeting of 
 the Bath Literary and Philosophical Association, and 
 published at their request. In order to maintain the historical 
 sequence of these sketches, I now reproduce the substance of 
 it with some alterations and additions. Prynne was not only 
 a Bath Celebrity ; he was a very prominent figure in the 
 national affairs of the period, and is even now regarded as a 
 high constitutional authority. 
 
 He was able to trace his ancestry through four or five 
 hundred years. The earliest progenitors on record lived in 
 Shropshire somewhere near the Wenlock Ridge, which is 
 broken by grassy hillocks, then called preens. There, in the 
 twelfth century, dwelt a family who were owners of the 
 surrounding country and hence acquired the name of their 
 land, which became first Prin, afterwards Prynne. From 
 Shropshire some of them migrated, early in the sixteenth 
 century, to Bristol, two brothers gaining much repute as 
 opulent merchants ; one served as sheriff in 1536, the other 
 in 1 549. Each was the father of sons still more distinguished, 
 to whose descendants rank and fortune came in large measure ; 
 the elder daughter of one of them, Sir Gilbert Prynne, married 
 the great grandson of the Lord Protector Somerset, the 
 younger Sir George Hastings, who was related to the Earl of 
 Huntingdon. 
 
 A descendant of Sheriff Edward Prynne was an agriculturist 
 living at Aust, near Bristol. He pastured his flocks on Clifton 
 and Durdham Downs, long before the present streets,
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 55 
 
 crescents, and terraces were built. His name was Erasmus ; 
 lie was succeeded at Aust by his son Thomas, the father of the 
 subject of the present sketch. Thomas, preferring a larger 
 and better farm at Swainswick, removed thither, and was 
 appointed general manager of the estate, of which his farm 
 was a principal feature, belonging to Oriel College, Oxford. 
 I gain much of the information in this sketch from a 
 biographical Fragment Relating to William Prynne, edited 
 by Mr. Bruce for the Camden Society. Many interesting 
 particulars of the family and the parish associated with their 
 name are also given in Mr. R. E. M. Peach's recent valuable 
 work The Annals of Swainswick. 
 
 Thomas Prynne's settlement at Swainswick brought him 
 into intimacy with the substantial Bath burgess, William 
 Sherston, Mayor and member of Parliament, whose daughter 
 Marie he married. Their first son and second child was born 
 at Swainswick in 1GOO, and named William, after his grand- 
 father, with whom in early life he spent much of his time ; 
 while at King Edward's School he was trained for the higher 
 education of Oriel All that we know of his parents suggests 
 that to their opinions and character much of the work he did 
 and the eminence he attained were due. The home of his 
 childhood appears to have been suited to the development of 
 an earnest, serious spirit. The son would naturally have his 
 early sympathies ranged on the TPuritan side by the national 
 events discussed in the family circles at Swainswick and Bath. 
 Among the earliest he could remember would be the Gun- 
 powder plot, his grandfather having been in Parliament when 
 it occurred and one of the intended victims, one also of the 
 House who condemned the conspirators. Other events dwelt 
 upon at the time would be the Spanish Armada, the new 
 translation of the Scriptures and the death of Prince Henry, to
 
 56 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 whom the Puritans had fondly looked as their avowed 
 protector. All these would be topics of conversation in the 
 Prynne and Sherston households ; they would be warmly 
 discussed by the Mayor's constituents, and influence the 
 formation of his grandson's mind. 
 
 Prynne went to Oxford in 1616. The connection of his 
 father with Oriel College probably caused ' his aptitude for 
 scholarship to be encouraged. At that time Oxford was 
 chiefly Puritan ; the contest between the two parties in the 
 Church had, however, commenced. Laud had become a 
 favourite of James I., and obtained, as one of his first steps on 
 the State ladder, an appointment for the better government 
 of the University. This signified that the study of the 
 Fathers, Council and Schoolmen was to be substituted for 
 systems of Theology founded upon the Scriptures. Although 
 Prynne was one of the students who came under the operation 
 of the new mandate, it may be doubted whether in his time it 
 was fully carried out. The Vice-Chancellor, who was also 
 Dean of Christchurch, and the two Professors of Divinity were 
 against it, yielding a mere perfunctory obedience to the royal 
 will. Encouraged by them, Prynne's course of study resulted 
 in deeper attachment to the religious teachings of his home, 
 and a clearer insight into the objects of Laud. There was 
 much in the circumstances of time and place to make the 
 aspiring churchman an object of his adverse criticism, though 
 it was after his residence at Oxford that Laud became Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells, and while filling that office was selected to 
 crown Charles I. But the subsequent translations to London 
 and Canterbury, the iniquitous proceedings of the Star 
 Chamber, and the general course of ecclesiastical events gave 
 the names and doings of the two men connected prominence, 
 till in the changes of political life Laud caused Prynne to be
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 57 
 
 brought before one tribunal and cruelly punished, and Prynne 
 was the chief manager of the trial of Laud, a trial which 
 ended in a terrible death at another. 
 
 Prynne lost his father in 1620, four years after he first 
 went to Oxford. He then took his Bachelor's degree and 
 quitted the University with some idea of succeeding to the 
 management of the Oriel College estate, as his father had left 
 him a share of the lease of the farm and property connected 
 with it. His decision, however, was for the Bar, to which he 
 was called at Lincoln's Inn, where, though the legal training 
 which led to so much eminence in after life must have been 
 good, we chiefly hear of his theological sympathies. His Inn 
 of Court was that of Sir Thomas More and Lord Ellesmere ; 
 it had had its own preacher since 1581, and could boast of a 
 succession of Puritan divines of great reputation, men of 
 larger and more liberal minds than those of their brethren 
 generally. Donne the poet held the office at the time of 
 Prynne's admission. Some of his most eloquent sermons 
 were preached in the new chapel, one especially at the 
 opening. It was Donne who laid the first stone of the new 
 building, and urged his friends to spare no cost in adorning 
 it. Accordingly, while a few of the more wealthy and 
 distinguished gave entire windows of stained glass, seventy -five 
 of the fellows, among whom was Prynne, contributed 
 emblazonments of their coats of arms. On the removal of 
 Donne to the Deanery of St. Paul's he was succeeded by Dr. 
 Preston, afterwards master of Emanuel College, another 
 eminent Puritan, and, like Donne, an intimate friend of 
 Prynne. But fond as the Swainswick student was of 
 controversial divinity, such was his repute for legal learning 
 that he was chosen at an unusually early age first reader and 
 then bencher of his Inn. Among those who pursued their
 
 58 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 studies at the same time and place were Noy, Glyn, Sherfield, 
 Hakewill, Lenthal, St. John, and Wilbraham, men who, with 
 widely different opinions, had much interest in the troubles 
 of the succeeding reigns. While on the one hand party ties 
 would be strengthened by congenial professional companion- 
 ships, on the other the friendship of Donne and Preston, and 
 the examples of Milton and Andrew Marvell, would encourage 
 higher and larger tastes. Still, it must have been at Lincoln's 
 Inn that the foundation was laid of that marvellous 
 constitutional knowledge which is manifest in Prynne's later 
 works, giving him a reputation more solid and lasting than 
 any he acquired in other ways. 
 
 At the time at which we are now arrived Prynne was 25 
 years of age. He was in practice as a barrister with good 
 prospects, but his chief vocation even now was authorship. 
 Mr. Bruce, in The Fragment, from which I have quoted, gives 
 a list of 196 books written by him. It extends over three 
 momentous periods of English history, from 1627 to 1670, 
 another book appearing 20 years after his death. The first was 
 The Perpetuitie of a Regenerate Man's Estate ; the next The, 
 Unloveliness of Love Locfces,proving the wearingor nourishing 
 of a Love Locke to be altogether unseemly and unlawful unto 
 Christians. Imagine a young barrister gravely writing a 
 quarto volume against such a fashion! It suggests the 
 question were the wives and daughters of the Cavaliers the 
 only ladies he lectured, or were delinquents among the fair 
 Puritans, and, if so, did they follow his advice ? Then came, 
 successively, treatises against Pledging of Healths, against 
 Arminianism in the Church of England, against The Popish 
 Bowing at the name of Jesus. All these books abound in 
 strong reflections on the Government, and especially on 
 the ecclesiastical party of which Laud was the head. But the
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 59 
 
 author was not prosecuted until he published, in 1633, his 
 Histrio Mastrix : The Player's Scourge or A ctor's Tragedie, 
 an enormous quarto of a thousand pages, decrying not only 
 plays, music and dancing, but maypoles, bonfires, hunting, 
 and public festivals of all kinds. His language, even for those 
 times, was extremely coarse and bitter. Play houses he calls 
 " Satan's chapels," playgoers " little better than incarnate 
 devils," play actors the vilest names in the Billinsgate 
 vocabulary. Any facts he mentions lose their force in conse- 
 quence of the personal vituperation with which they were 
 connected. Much of it being applied to kings and queens, 
 was supposed to refer to the Royal Family of England. 
 Henrietta, wife of Charles I., had a strong liking for the drama, 
 and sometimes acted on a private stage. This was alleged to 
 be in the author's mind when he denounced Nero as worthy 
 of death for enjoying the same amusement. Such language 
 was eagerly caught hold of by Laud, who had long wanted 
 some tangible ground for prosecution, who had the ear of the 
 king in any matter requiring Royal authority, and who was 
 able to carry out his purpose relentlessly in the Star Chamber, 
 the most terrible court ever known in England. 
 
 Prynne's prolific authorship formed a pleasant link of his 
 connection with Bath. Even so long ago as his time there 
 was a library in the Abbey Church to which presents of his 
 books were sent, some by himself alone, others jointly with 
 his London publisher, Mr. Michael Sparke. There they are 
 now in good condition , after the lapse of two hundred years. 
 A record of these and other interesting benefactions may be 
 seen in a vellum catalogue in the library. It contains the 
 titles of about thirty volumes of Prynne's works, a few con- 
 sisting of several smaller ones bound together. The first he 
 gave was the first he published, The Perpetuitie of a
 
 60 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 Regenerate Man's Estate, a quarto of the date of 1627. 
 There is also the celebrated Canterburies Doome, a history of 
 the trial of Archbishop Laud, which lie was requested to 
 write by the House of Commons. Most valuable of all are 
 three folio volumes of his edition of Sir Robert Cotton's 
 Records, a work which not many years ago was sold at an 
 auction in London for the large sum of 1 64. It is hard to . 
 believe that the man who thus added to the permanent 
 literature of England, also plunged into such fierce polemical 
 contests and thereby brought upon himself sufferings so 
 terrible. What a contrast is the earnest student of con- 
 stitutional history, working days and nights in the solitude of 
 his study, to the mutilated convict returning from the pillory 
 amid shouting multitudes, and composing those memorable 
 lines : 
 
 "My face for ever scarred with burning brands by Laud, 
 Exulting I return glad sacrifice to God." 
 
 These lines referred to the conclusion of his second great 
 trial. There was one previously in which he was charged 
 with having published a libel on Queen Henrietta, in his 
 book Histrio Mastrix, the Player's Scourge or Actor's 
 Tragedie. No one expected, even then, that the Star 
 Chamber would deal leniently with him, his twenty-three 
 judges with Archbishop Laud and the Lord Treasurer at their 
 head were too well known. Their sentence for this offence 
 was that Prynne be fined .3,000, degraded from the Bar, 
 expelled from Oxford and Lincoln's Inn, stand in the pillory 
 both at Westminster and Cheapside, have an ear cut off at 
 each place, and see his book burnt by the common hangman. 
 
 If there were no hope for him at the time of the first 5 trial, 
 what must have been the eneral feeling when the second
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 61 
 
 took place ? During the three following years he employed 
 himself incessantly in writing and publishing bitter attacks on 
 the Government, especially on Laud. At first milder treatment 
 was tried by his judges ; for a letter to the Archbishop written 
 in the Fleet and exposing the horrors of the Star Chamber, 
 he was simply reprimanded and ordered back to prison. 
 But Prynne was not now in a mood to be affected by leniency, 
 though with strange inconsistency he had in his confinement 
 presented a petition asking for it ; even professing " unfeigned 
 sorrow for passages which had fallen inconsiderately from his 
 pen." But his cacoethes scribendi impelled him to fresh 
 attacks. Special offence was given by his News from Ipswich ; 
 for this the Star Chamber inflicted another fine, this time 
 ^5,000, and sentenced him to lose the remainder of his ears 
 in the pillory, to be branded on both cheeks with the letters 
 S.L. (Schismatic libeller), and to be perpetually imprisoned in 
 Carnarvon Castle. It was on his return to the Tower after the 
 execution of the sentence, that he wrote in Latin the exulting 
 lines, a translation of which has been quoted. 
 
 In the historical fragment edited by Mr. Bruce, there is a 
 touching account of the scene at the scaffold. It shows how 
 two other offenders, Bastwicke and Burton, stood on the pillory 
 with Prynne, and how as they walked to it the people strewed 
 herbs and flowers before them. " The hangman," says the 
 writer, " burnt Prin in both the cheekes, and because hee 
 burnt one cheeke with a letter the wrong wave hee burnt that 
 again, a surgeon clapping on a plaister to take out the fire." 
 From the Tower Prynne was taken to Carnarvon Castle, but 
 did not remain there long in consequence chiefly of the 
 number of visitors admitted to see him. Kemoval was then 
 ordered to Mount Orgueil Castle in the island of Jersey, of 
 which Sir Philip Carteret, a devoted Royalist, was Governor,
 
 62 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 but he also was too indulgent to satisfy the Government. 
 Although obeying orders so far as to exclude visitors, both he 
 and the ladies of his family did all in their power to soften 
 the rigours of confinement. Seeing that their prisoner was a 
 scholar and a gentleman they cheered him with their society 
 and allowed him other relaxations suited to his case. The 
 stern Puritan who had declaimed on the " unloveliness of 
 love-locks," preferred nevertheless, to spend the evenings of 
 three long years in the drawing-room of the castle, rather than 
 hear the waves dash against the walls of his solitary cell. Nor 
 was the kindness lost upon him ; a time came when Sir Philip 
 Carteret was bitterly attacked by a portion of the Puritan 
 party, then in power, and Prynne, at the risk of forfeiting his 
 popularity, successfully defended him. " I should have shown 
 myself," he said, " a monster of ingratitude if I had not 
 contributed my best assistance to support him against the 
 aspersions of his inveterate, backbiting enemies, who 
 endeavoured to oust him from his offices only that they might 
 step into them." 
 
 Although Prynne had been a prisoner so long, he was not 
 released from Jersey Castle by the expiration of his term. 
 During his confinement political events of great magnitude 
 had followed in rapid succession, and at length culminated in 
 others entirely altering the complexion of public affairs. 
 England having been twelve years without a Parliament, the 
 king could no longer forego calling one, but as soon as it met, 
 the conduct of Charles ami his Ministers was attacked with a 
 vehemence which caused its speedy dissolution. Another was 
 elected, the Long Parliament, which proved still more 
 intractable. " The meeting of this," says Macaulay, " was one 
 of the great eras in the history of the civilised world. Whatever 
 of political freedom exists either in Europe or America has
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 63 
 
 sprung directly or indirectly from those institutions which it 
 either secured or reformed." One of its first acts was to 
 release from prison the victims of the Star Chamber. The 
 sentences were declared illegal and the judges ordered to 
 make reparation. Especial interest was shown by the 
 multitude in the deliverance of Prynne, Bastwicke, and 
 Burton. When they landed in England they were received 
 with the strongest demonstrations of joy. On their approach 
 to any town large masses of people crowded to welcome them, 
 bringing liberal presents to defray all their charges. As they 
 drew near London the excitement increased. Flowers were 
 strewed in their paths ; trees were planted by the roadside ; 
 and the shouts which rent the air were mingled with invectives 
 against their persecutors. The restored captives scon proved 
 that they had neither forgotten nor forgiven the wrongs they 
 had endured. Prynne was elected member for Newport in 
 Cornwall, and became as prominent by his speeches in 
 Parliament as by his books. While others pushed forward 
 the impeachment of Stafford, he was chief manager of the trial 
 of Laud. Human nature, however, was not then exalted by 
 what he did. That retribution should at length come to Laud 
 was to be expected. That one who had been so arbitrary, 
 cruel, and unjust should be severely punished was not 
 surprising. Nor the fine of 20,000 for obtaining canons from 
 Convocation, stretching the King's Prerogative, and even the 
 execrations of the multitude who followed him to the Tower. 
 Still it was sad to see his old enemy foremost in every petty 
 act of annoyance ; searching the wardrobes of Lambeth Palace, 
 emptying the primate's pockets for proofs against him, carrying 
 away his diary, his little book of private devotion, and the 
 bundles of papers he had prepared for his defence. For 
 though the temper of the times as well as Laud's political
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 offences may be urged in extenuation of Prynnes animosity, 
 though he had various qualities which command our 
 admiration, it is evident that now, as at other times, true 
 greatness was not one of them ; he forgot all the Christian 
 precepts he urged in his own letter to Laud when he himself 
 wanted forbearance ; he lost the high place in history which 
 would otherwise have been undoubtedly accorded to him. 
 
 Terrible indeed were the reverses of the Archbishop. First 
 the overthrow of all his hopes of ecclesiastical ascendency. 
 News came from Scotland that the Liturgy was rejected, and 
 that the Covenanters were triumphant. Archy Armstrong, 
 the King's fool, meeting Laud and relying on the privilege of 
 his office, asked, " Whea's fule now ? " In happier times the 
 taunt would only have been laughed at; now, the poor 
 jester's motley coat was pulled over his ears, and himself 
 banished from the Court. Then came the Oxford retribution ; 
 he who caused the expulsion of Prynne from the University, 
 who had feasted a royal party at Christ Church, and who had 
 even ordered comedies for their amusement, had to resign the 
 Chancellorship. He was even sent to the Tower, and was 
 denied, with unjustifiable severity, even coals and wood in the 
 depth of winter. Each of the three weary years of his confine- 
 ment saw the quarrel between the king and the Parliament 
 become fiercer and more desperate. Finally, he was brought 
 to trial, Prynne acting as solicitor to the House of Commons, 
 and, after much delay by the Peers before whom he was tried, 
 condemned to death. It was now his turn to implore for 
 mercy, but all he could obtain was an alteration of the sentence 
 from hanging to beheading. 
 
 And what was Prynne's own fate in the immediate future ? 
 Not to find his path strewn with roses and leading to power 
 in high places. No doubt his sufferings and his ability
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 65 
 
 caused what he still wrote in his books to be read eagerly, 
 and what he often said in Parliament to have some weight. 
 But the leaders of his party dreaded his imprudence too 
 much to give him high office, and contended themselves with 
 appointing him a visitor of the University of Oxford, one of 
 a body of fourteen lawyers and ten divines to rectify alleged 
 evils. This employment was probably intended to divert his 
 mind from the great struggle then impending between the 
 Presbyterian and Independent sections of the Puritan party, 
 the former being willing to make terms with the king ; the 
 latter intent on carrying out a "root and branch policy." 
 Prynne had lately become in favour of a compromise. He 
 made a violent speech in Parliament supporting it, but so 
 powerful were his opponents that he was forbidden, two days 
 afterwards, to enter the House. Again, however, he resumed 
 his pen, and sent forth his defiance in pamphlet after 
 pamphlet, each more vituperative than the last. In one, his 
 attacks on the great leader of the Independents, Oliver 
 Cromwell, were so fierce that he was a third time committed 
 to prison, the one now allotted to him. being Dunster Castle. 
 Here he was kept between two and three years, as we learn 
 from his book addressed to Mr. John Bradshaw and his 
 associates at Whitehall, sliling themselves the Council of 
 State. Cromwell, though now rarely yielding to any 
 argument from books, appears to have been impressed with 
 the remonstrance of Prynne on the violation of Magna 
 Charta in his case, and ordered him to be set free. 
 
 The joy with which he regained his liberty can be easily 
 imagined. It, is pleasant to think of him on his way back to 
 London stopping at sunny Swainswick, and receiving the 
 greetings of his friends at Bath. But there was no " second 
 spring " for him on his return to the battle-field of London 
 E
 
 gg WILLIAM PRYNNE. 
 
 politics ; the autumn of his life had come and, with it, 
 changes, which to most men have been more sad than any 
 in nature. He was an instance of the transition, not 
 uncommon in violent and impulsive men, from one set of 
 political opinions in early life to another, the very opposite, 
 in declining age. No doubt he would have pleaded, he did 
 plead in answer to charges of apostasy, that times had changed 
 and he was justified in changing with them. This was his 
 defence in answer to the pamphlet of an opponent, Prynne 
 against Prynne. Other books which he published at this 
 time indicate the course his mind was taking. Therefore, 
 when in 1639 he resumed his place in the House of 
 Commons no one wondered that he was intent on restoring 
 Charles II. Yet it was strange to see the grandson of 
 William Sherston soliciting the electors of Bath to support 
 him in his altered character. It should be remembered, 
 however, what a small body they were the old close Corpora- 
 tion, and how they had veered backward and forward many 
 a year. They sent him to what was called the healing 
 Parliament, and on the Restoration his services to the 
 Royalists were rewarded by his appointment as Chief Keeper 
 of the Public Records, an office for which he was no doubt 
 eminently fitted, with a salary of 500. In 1661 he was 
 again elected for Bath, and showed his gratitude to his 
 constituents by vehemently opposing a bill for reforming 
 Corporations. So offensive was his opposition that, two days 
 after his speech, he was compelled to :isk pardon of the 
 House in order to avoid another imprisonment. 
 
 It was towards the close of life that Prynne resumed most 
 closely his connexion with Bath. I have not mentioned his 
 first Recordership to which he was appointed in 1647, as 
 successor to Serjeant Hyde. He then received eighteen votes
 
 WILLIAM PRYNNE. 67 
 
 of the Corporation against four given to Mr. John Harington, 
 of Kelston, but was compelled to vacate the office on his 
 imprisonment. His second appointment was while he sat as 
 member for the city. The records at the Guildhall contain 
 many proofs of his interest in civic proceedings. On one 
 occasion two members of the Corporation went to London to 
 see him in order to obtain the summer assize at Bath. On 
 another he was the medium of one of those presents to the 
 king which some towns were induced to offer in this instance 
 100. On another his abilities and influence were employed 
 to promote a scheme for making the Bath river navigable to 
 Bristol. 
 
 His local ties and sympathies are nowhere more manifest 
 than in his will made in 1669. It brings us back to the 
 associations of early years and the claims of kindred. I have 
 mentioned his presents of books to the Abbey Library ; others 
 went to Oriel College; the MSS. to Lincoln's Inn. His 
 interest in the lease at Swainswick he gave to his brother and 
 sister. The poor boys and girls of his native parish were 
 remembered by a legacy of 10 for binding them apprentices. 
 Thus in small as in great matters his heart was right, and if 
 the shadows of human imperfection were deep his memory will 
 yet be cherished for his marvellous energy, his constitutional 
 learning and his strict integrity.
 
 DR. GUIDOTT AND 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 DR. GUIDOTT AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 Dr. Guidott was celebrated as an eminent physician and a 
 voluminous writer of the seventeenth century. One of his 
 books, entitled A Discourse of Bath and the Hot Waters 
 there, contains memoirs of eighteen contemporaries. In 
 this sketch I propose to introduce a few of the more renowned 
 of these, glancing first at the local medical literature anterior 
 to their time. In a future sketch my readers will be made 
 acquainted with the more celebrated of their successors 
 practising in Bath in the eighteenth and the earlier part of 
 the nineteenth centuries. 
 
 DR. WILLIAM TURNER. 
 
 The oldest book on medical practise in Bath, of which there 
 is any knowledge, was written by Dr. William Turner. It is 
 a thin, black-letter folio of great rarity and interest, printed 
 in Germany in 1552, and entitled, A Booke of the Natures 
 and Properties as well of the Bathes in England as of other 
 Bathes in Germany and Italy. The author was some years 
 abroad in the service of the Duke of Somerset, to whose son, 
 the Earl of Hereford, he dedicates the book, and by whose 
 influence he obtained Church preferment ; for although in the 
 title-page he only styles himself doctor of physic, he was really 
 also Dean of Wells. An extract from his pages will give an 
 opinion of the quality of the Bath springs three hundred and 
 forty years ago : " Hearing after my return to England that 
 their was a natural bathe within your father's Dukedom, I 
 ceased not till I got license to go to the same bathe, which
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 69 
 
 done I carried certain diseased persons with me, with whom 
 I tarried as long as I could. And afterwards, being Dean of 
 Wells, which place is not far from Bathe, and having liberty 
 to tarry there as long as I list, I tried the same bathes a little 
 further, and found by experience that they were a very 
 excellent tresure, a most precious gift of God." 
 
 DR. JOHN JONES. 
 
 There is another curious old book of the sixteenth century 
 by Dr. John Jones, a worthy Welshman, with the title, The 
 Bathes of Bathes Ayde, wonderful and most excellent agaynst 
 very many Sicknesses. The date is 1572, just twenty years 
 after Dr. Turner's, like which it is in good clear black letter. 
 The author obtained celebrity by practising at stated times in 
 some of the chief cities in England, coming to Bath for what 
 was then, even in Queen Elizabeth's reign, " the season." 
 That he practised in various places would tend to make the 
 waters known, while still further publicity would be given to 
 them by his book, which connected their application with 
 what were then known as the general principles of medical 
 and surgical science. Among the amusing part of the contents 
 is a genealogical table, prefaced by the statement that, 
 according to the chronology of Scripture, Bladud discovered 
 the springs " about the year 3080 of the age of the world, and 
 890 before the incarnation of Christ, Elisha being then prophet 
 in Israel." Here follow 29 circles representing 29 generations 
 between Adam and Eve and Elisha, all which I mention to 
 give some idea of the fanciful British medical literature of the 
 sixteenth century. In order to make known the true nature 
 of the Bath waters, and to secure good advice to patients 
 needing them in various parts of the country, Dr. Jones 
 shrewdly recommends that church preferment should be given
 
 70 DR. GUIDOTT AND 
 
 to medical men of the principal towns for the express purpose, 
 naming Salisbury, Worcester, Hereford, Gloucester, Bristol, 
 Exeter? and Wells, the farthest not to be more than a day's 
 journey from the springs. What a joy it would be to the 
 good man if he could arise and see his idea more fully carried 
 out in the Bath Mineral Water Hospital, with its comfortable 
 wards, its admirable management, and its hundred and fifty 
 grateful patients from all parts of the country. 
 
 DR GUIDOTT. 
 
 Dr. Turner and Dr. Jones in the sixteenth century prepared 
 the way for Dr. Guidott and his contemporaries in the 
 seventeenth . The Springs were now beginning to regain their 
 ancient Roman fame ; distinguished people once more came 
 to them, and men of fair education competed for practise. Dr. 
 Guidott's book, from which I quote, includes a period of 
 seventy years, treats many subjects connected with the com- 
 position and administration of the waters, and is prefaced by 
 an " Epistle Dedicatory " to his " Right Worshipfull and much 
 honoured Friend, Sir Edward Greaves, Baronet," who was also 
 an eminent physician. The author was born in 1638, at 
 Lymington, the eldest son of Francis Guidott, and a great 
 grandson of Signor Antonio Guidotti, a native of Florence, who 
 came to England'in the reign of Edward VI, by whom he was 
 knighted. This descendant was sent to school at Dorchester, 
 and in 1656 became a Commoner of Wadham College, 
 Oxford, where he studied anatomy and medicine, and after 
 being admitted M.B. in July, 1666, began to practise " about 
 Oxford." In the following year he removed to Bath, 
 "encouraged," he says, "by Dr. John Maplet, a noted 
 physician of that place, who helped him to attain extensive 
 practise, most of which," says the author of a memoir in the
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 71 
 
 National Biography " he had lost in 1679 by his impudence, 
 lampooning and libelling." Another writer states that 
 "although his ability brought him considerable practise, his 
 temper and his crusade against quackery brought him many 
 enemies." In a preface to Dr. Jorden's Discourse of 
 Natural Battles, he writes, " Empiricks and juggling 
 Medicasters do so much abound, that 'tis almost as hard a 
 matter now to meet with a regular and accomplished physician 
 as it was in former times for Diogenes to meet with an honest 
 man." That he himself was competent appears in his various 
 books, of which a very long list is given in the National 
 Biography, and his skill may be inferred from the fact that 
 for some years he practised in London as well as in Bath, also 
 that he was offered professional chairs at Venice and Leyden, 
 but declined both. The time and place of his death are not 
 mentioned. He was living in Bath as late as 1098. 
 
 DR. EDWARD JORDEN. 
 
 One of the chief physicians in Dr. Guidott's list is Dr. 
 Edward Jorden. He was a man of good family, took his 
 degree at Padua, travelled much on the continent, practised 
 some time in London, and eventually settled in Bath. Greatly 
 devoted to chemistry " he was at considerable charges." says 
 his biographer, "about the ordering of Alom, which not 
 succeeding as he expected, he was thereby much prejudiced in 
 his estate. But his life was so answerable to the Port and 
 Dignity of the Faculty he professed that he had the applause 
 of the Learned, the respect of the Rich, the prayers of the 
 Poor, and the Love of all." While living in London he 
 became Licentiate of the College of Physicians, and enjoyed 
 the confidence of James I. One of his intimate friends was 
 the medical baronet already mentioned, Sir Edward Greaves,
 
 72 DR. GUIDOTT AND 
 
 of All Soul's College, Oxford, Physician in Ordinary to the 
 King, often practising in Bath, and taking the lead among his 
 brethren not more by his rank and wealth than by his 
 professional skill. In wealth he seems to have been surpassed 
 by Dr. Samuel Baue, a native of Cologne, famed for two things 
 besides medical proficiency, his knowledge of languages and 
 his fashionable costume, his patients having the pleasure of 
 seeing him " day by day in purple velvet, and the finest linen 
 much bedecked with lace." His family acquired a good 
 position in Somersetshire, intermarrying with various 
 residents ; a Miss Baue became the wife of Dr. Edward 
 Harington. 
 
 DR. JOHN MAPLET. 
 
 Of higher professional mark was Dr. John Maplet, who we 
 have seen was instrumental in bringing Dr. Guidott to Bath, 
 and whose position, acquirements and character were all 
 remarkable. Educated at Christchurch, Oxford, first Proctor 
 of the University and then Principal of a College, his antece- 
 dents favoured his success in the city of the Springs. Pre- 
 viously, however, he accepted invitations to travel on the 
 Continent with two Lord Falklands successively, the elder 
 brother for two years, and then on his death the younger. 
 Returning to England he practised at Bristol in the summer 
 and at Bath in the winter, employing the intervals of his 
 professional work in elegant authorship, notably Latin epistles 
 to distinguished friends. The medical literature of the time 
 owed something to another of Guidott's contemporaries, Dr. 
 Yenner. A huge Monument in the Abbey Church sets forth 
 how learned and charitable he was, especially that he wrote 
 a book with the title, Via Recta ad Vitam Longam. If he 
 followed his own rules as to diet and regimen he was a good 
 example of their efficacy, for he lived to the age of eighty-five.
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 73 
 
 VISIT OF PEPYS. 
 
 There is a pleasant notice of the Venner and other Monu- 
 ments in the well-known Diary of Pepys. The gossiping 
 chronicler came for the waters in 1668 and amused himself 
 with jotting down what he saw and heard on a certain Sunday. 
 " Up and walked about the town. Saw a pretty good market- 
 place and many good streets and very fair stone houses. 
 And so to the great church and saw Bishop Montague's tomb. 
 Many brave people came, among others, two men were 
 brought in on litters and set down in the chancel, but I did 
 not know a face. Here a good organ ; but a vain pragmatical 
 fellow preached a ridiculous affected sermon and made me 
 angry, likewise some gentlemen who sat next me and sang 
 well. So home, walking round the walls of the city, which 
 are good and the battlements all whole. After dinner comes 
 Mr. Butt again to see me, so he and I to church where the 
 same idle fellow preached, so I slept most of the sermon. 
 Next day to this church again to see it and look over the 
 monuments, among others Dr. Venner's and Filling's, also a 
 lady of Sir W. Waller's, he lying with his face broken." 
 Pilling was rector of Bath 35 years ; Lady Waller was 
 daughter of Sir Richard Reynell, and wife of the Parliamen- 
 tary General. The " good market-place, many good streets 
 and fair stone houses " which attracted the attention of 
 Pepys indicate a continuance of the enlargements and 
 improvements begun in the previous century, and show that 
 Bath was beginning to lose the wretched aspect described by 
 Macaulay on the authority of Wood. There would not have 
 been so many accomplished medical men, some of them 
 making handsome fortunes, if there had not been a corres- 
 ponding number of well-to-do patients. The awakened city 
 evidently grew in proportion to the steady increase of both.
 
 DR. GUEDOTT AND 
 
 DOCTORS SOMERSCHALL, MAYHOW AND PEIRCE. 
 
 Dr. Guidott's abhorrence of quackery has been mentioned. 
 His last memoir is of one Dr. Somerschall, or Seneschall, 
 who figured as an alchemist. One of his modes of gaining 
 notoriety was that of wearing a fur coat in summer, which does 
 not appear to have answered so well as Dr. Baue's purple 
 velvet and beautiful lace. Two other men of considerable 
 eminence the biographer omits, Dr. Mayhow and Dr. Peirce, 
 probably rivals, and, on some disputed matters, antagonists. 
 Mayhow, who published his opinion of the Bath waters, 
 differed from his brethren as to the theory that nitre and 
 sulphur were components, and he gave some sound chemical 
 reasons for his view. Peirce was a considerable author and 
 ranked high in his profession. He was a Commoner of 
 Lincoln's Inn, Oxford, and was created AI.D. by his University. 
 In longevity he excelled Venner, living to be nearly a 
 hundred years of age. When and why he disagreed with 
 Guidott it is not difficult to learn ; there are passages in the 
 writings of both which show that the green-eyed monster 
 had much to do with it. Both published lists of cases 
 closely resembling those now treated in the Bath Mineral 
 Water Hospital In Peirce's experience there is also this 
 similarity ; he lodged a large number of patients in his own 
 house, attending constantly to the cases. It was what was 
 called the Old Abbey House, than which, with regard to size 
 and situation, nothing could be more convenient. It was 
 just between the church and the bath; the church was 
 reached by crossing a small garden, the bath from a gallery 
 overlooking it. The need of such facilities in later times, 
 especially of immediate contiguity with bathing appliances 
 had much to do with the erection of the present Grand Pump
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 75 
 
 Room Hotel, where patients may bathe without going out of 
 doors. The Abbey House, Mr. Peach states in one of his 
 valuable works of local history, was built on the site of the 
 palace of John de Yillula, occupied by Dr. Peirce in 1653, 
 and demolished for improvements in 1755. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 There was another eminent physician of the seventeenth 
 century not mentioned by Dr. Guidott : Dr. Johnson, famed 
 as the editor of the Herbal of Gerarde, then one of the best 
 botanical works in England. He also published a translation 
 of Ambrose Pary's medical and surgical works, and others 
 relating to botany, of which Her in Agrum Cantianum, 
 1620, and Ericetum Hamstedianum, 1632, were the first 
 local catalogues of plants published in England. He died in 
 1644. This glance at the Bath Medical Celebrities of the 
 seventeenth century has also included the chief causes of the 
 progress of the city in the same period. The' latter are 
 remarkable when it is considered what an eventful era the 
 century was throughout the country, its civic changes and 
 national commotions affecting Bath considerably. We have 
 seen how the growing importance of the city was recognised 
 by the charter of Elizabeth, and every reader of history 
 remembers the fierce political warfare waged on the surround- 
 ing hills and even in the streets. It was the time of the 
 conflicts between the Royalists and Republicans, one holding 
 the city a certain number of years till it was regained by the 
 other ; the time being marked by the memorable battle on 
 Lansdown, described in Clarendon's history of the Great 
 Rebellion. Still through all the din of war and the strife of 
 faction, through alarms from foes and treachery by friends, 
 there were two predominating influences to keep up steadily
 
 76 DR. GU1DOTT AND 
 
 the progress of the city- the springs and the medical 
 profession. Of this there is ample proof if the influx of 
 distinguished visitors be any evidence. Never within so short 
 a period as that from the middle of the seventeenth to the 
 middle of the eighteenth century have there been so many 
 visits from royal personages for the benefit of the waters. 
 Charles II. came attended by his chief physician, Sir 
 Alexander Fraser in 1640, again with his queen Henrietta 
 Maria in 1644 ; in 1663, Charles II. brought his wife ; the 
 Princess Anne and her husband came in 1692, Anne 
 returning when she was queen in 1702. Through the next 
 fifty years the bells rang in at intervals the Princess Amelia, 
 William, Prince of Orange, James II. and his Queen, Mary 
 of Modena, Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his Consort, and 
 the Princess Mary, daughter of George II., with her niece the 
 Princess Caroline. 
 
 Dr. THOMAS LINACRE. 
 
 The visits of all these royalties for the waters naturally 
 attracted a great number of people of rank and fashion. 
 But would any of them have come if Bath had not been 
 noted for its medical men. for the skill with which its 
 waters were administered, and the generally high character 
 of the profession ? At the beginning of this sketch I 
 noticed the dawnings of improvement in this respect as 
 evidenced by the physicians who appeared on the scene in 
 the early part of the century, but I omitted to mention one 
 to whom the country at large owed a vast debt of gratitude. 
 This was Linacre, one of the greatest benefactors of the age, 
 who, living in the sixteenth century, grieved sorely at the 
 abundances of incompetent practitioners and the absence of 
 all legal restraint. Himself a man of high character and rare
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 attainments, taught by Vitelli at Oxford and Demetrius at 
 Florence, physician successively to Lorenzo de Medici, 
 Henry VII., and Henry VIII., friend of Tonstall, Latimer, 
 Melancthon, Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Wolsey, who 
 more likely to command attention to a great scheme of 
 reform ? His was one of numerous instances of the com- 
 bination at that time of medical and ecclesiastical duties. 
 Ten years prior to his appearance as a medical reformer, he 
 became a priest, officiating first as Rector of a small parish in 
 Kent, and afterwards as Prebendary of Easton-in-Gordano, 
 at Wells. While filling these offices he devised a remedy 
 for the evils of the medical profession by originating the Royal 
 College of Physicians, in which he had the powerful aid of 
 the King, Henry VIII., and his minister, Wolsey. The 
 biographies of the period contain many proofs of the great 
 value of the College, and of the intellectual influence of Linacre 
 on the coming race of medical students. Sir Thomas Elyot, 
 styled " Knight, Diplomatist, and Scholar," wrote about 1530 
 a remarkable book on education, T}w Govemour, which 
 passed through eight editions. A new one was printed as 
 late as 1881, and the Times in reviewing it spoke of the 
 author as owing his training to " the group of learned men 
 who clustered round Sir Thomas More, notably to Linacre 
 the Head of the College of Physicans, and one of the chief 
 representatives of the new learning in England." That Bath 
 profited by the new institution there can be no doubt. To 
 such a place, then so full of idle and ignorant people who had 
 much money to spend, its requirements, dealing destruction 
 to empirics, must have been invaluable. How these men 
 played off their tricks, what fruitful subjects of satire they 
 afforded, we learn from the pages of Anstey, Smollett and 
 Fielding. By whose wise exertions the next generation and
 
 78 DR. GUIDOTT AND 
 
 all succeeding generations of medical men were trained to 
 supersede them is taught by a study of the noble life of 
 Linacre. One of the best memoirs in the National Biography 
 is that of this remarkable man.* 
 
 * A correspondent of the Bath Herald, well-known as an earnest 
 antiquary, communicated to that journal some interesting 
 additional particulars respecting Dr. Turner, Dean of Wells. I 
 did not state them in my sketch because I was compelled to 
 study compression, and the Dean, though a useful visitor in Bath, 
 does not rank as one of its own celebrities. But having now 
 more space I gladly introduce Mr. Frederick Shum's letter with 
 my grateful acknowledgment. 
 
 To the EDITOR of THE BATH HEBALD. 
 
 SIB, Your readers are greatly indebted to Mr. Murch for his interesting 
 papers on Bath Worthies. It is with a view of drawing attention to the series 
 of papers still appearing in the Bath Herald that I send you additional 
 particulars of that distinguished Somersetshire theologian, Dr. William Turner, 
 Dean of Wells, who was only briefly referred to by Mr. Murch as being the 
 author of the first printed book on the Thermal Waters of Bath. Apart from 
 his slight connection with Bath he attained great celebrity, both in England 
 and on the Continent, and was a man of great mark among the pioneers of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 Not only was he one of the earliest writers on the Bath Waters, but he was 
 also the author of " the first true botanical work in this country," and has been 
 rightly named the father of English botany, as another Bath celebrity, Mr. 
 William Smith, is known as the father of English geology. This rare volume, 
 which with his first edition of the Bath Waters is in the "Collection of Bath 
 Books," contains the first record locally of our native plants ; it was published 
 in 1538, and entitled " Libellus de re Herbaria Novus." 
 
 Dr. William Turner in learning, science and religion was far in advance of 
 the times in which he lived. Born at Morpeth, in Northumberland, he entered 
 Pembroke College, Cambridge, and shortly after taking his B.A. degree in 1529 
 was elected Fellow and treasurer of his college. He applied himself with great 
 ardour to the study of physic and theology, and was highly esteemed by 
 members of the University. While an under-graduate he became a disciple of 
 Latimer, and an intimate friend of Ridley, the Bishop Martyr. 
 
 During his residence at Cambridge public disputations were held there on the
 
 HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 79 
 
 tenets of the Reformers, and the University decided in favour of the King 
 against the Pope. Turner had the courage of his convictions, and as a young 
 man fearlessly and zealously preached the doctrines of the Reformation, travel- 
 ling like John Wesley 200 years later, through the villages, towns, and cities of 
 England to make known the truth to the common people. He was imprisoned, 
 but, nevertheless, received sympathy and assistance from Pembroke College, 
 who voted him a sum of money in 1542. After his release from prison he 
 travelled to Italy, where he continued his studies, and at Ferrara was created 
 Doctor of Medicine. He then proceeded to Germany and Holland in pursuit of 
 botanical specimens, residing for a considerable time in Barle and Cologne. It 
 was at this period he wrote his brief but telling religious pieces, printing them 
 at these two centres and circulating them in England, where they were eagerly 
 read by his countrymen, but were eventually prohibited by King Henry VIII. 
 in the last year of his reign. 
 
 On the accession of Edward VI., in 1547, he returned to England, was 
 appointed physician to the Duke of Somerset, and received from the Archbishop 
 of York a living in that city. In 1550 he was preferred to the City of Wells, 
 and created a Doctor of Medicine in Oxford. His energy and learning, his wit 
 and varied accomplishments, rendered him as popular at home as he had been 
 on the Continent. When Queen Mary succeeded, he was deprived of his 
 appointments, and compelled to take refuge in Germany, where he prosecuted 
 his botanical studies and scientiBc researches, cultivated the gardens in which he 
 had planted his specimens, and from time to time issued his tracts. His works 
 were a second time prohibited by the Crown, and the Wardens of the various Lon- 
 don Companies were ordered to give up all copies when discovered. Hence the 
 rarity of Turner's books. In 1558, on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, he 
 came to England, and preached at S. Paul's on the 10th of September, before a 
 vast assemblage of people, and shortly afterwards was reinstated iiihis deanery, 
 with the addition of several rectories in Somerset. He died 7th July, J568, and 
 was buried in the Church of St. Olave, where may now be seen a tablet, written 
 in Latin, to his memory. ' 
 
 The indomitable character of the man may be seen in his works to-day, as it 
 was equally patent to his contemporaries, who were witnesses of his self- 
 denying labours 350 years ago. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Bath ; Jan. 21st, 1893. F. S.
 
 BEAU NASH. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 BEAU NASH. 
 
 It may seem incongruous to connect the name of the great 
 Roman historian with that of a Bath master of the ceremonies, 
 and yet there is a remark of Tacitus applicable to Richard 
 Nash : Non semper errat fama aliquando eligif. We 
 remember, however, that if " Fame is not always mistaken 
 but sometimes chooses right," it is partly because she deals 
 with circumstances as they exist at certain times and gives 
 her laurel crown accordingly. Nash was the man for the 
 hour, the place and the people ; he appeared when just such 
 a man was needed as a controlling power in a disorganised 
 community ; and whatever his faults may have been or those 
 of the subjects over whom he ruled (in both cases sufficiently 
 obvious), the difficult work was accomplished and hence his 
 renown. 
 
 At the beginning of the eighteenth century Bath was one 
 of the most remarkable places in the kingdom. It may be 
 said that in some respects pertaining to time and place it was 
 unique. First there were the springs rapidly regaining the 
 reputation they possessed during the Roman settlement, 
 fifteen hundred years before. Then the advent of a higher 
 class of medical men with a sounder knowledge of the laws 
 of health and superior social qualifications. It was also the 
 time when the general revival after the middle ages, which 
 was felt throughout Europe, operated in making the class of 
 well-to-do English people who lived in lone country houses 
 dissatisfied therewith. To all such people Bath had many 
 attractions; they found, besides health-giving springs and 
 skilful physicians, convenient houses, society of all kinds,
 
 BEAU NASH. 81 
 
 fashionable amusements, and a beautiful neighbourhood. 
 What city then could be compared with it ? How natural 
 that country squires and their families, men and women with 
 mere rustic antecedents and even men and women of 
 questionable character should congregate there. And how 
 necessary that some master spirit should appear invested 
 with authority by the inexperienced crowd themselves to lay 
 down laws for their guidance and bring order out of 
 confusion. 
 
 Richard Nash was born at Swansea in 1674. His father 
 was a gentleman whose principal income was derived from a 
 partnership in a glass manufactory. His mother was niece 
 to Colonel Foyer, who suffered death for defending Pembroke 
 Castle against the troops of the Commonwealth. The father 
 strained his resources to give his son a good education, send- 
 ing him first to Carmarthen School and then to Jesus 
 College, Oxford, to prepare him for the study of the law. 
 Young Nash soon showed, however, that though much might 
 be expected from his genius nothing could be hoped from 
 his industry, his distinction being chiefly for proficiency in 
 the youthful lollies of the time. Before he was seventeen he 
 went through all the mazes of a college intrigue. He tried 
 to extricate himself by an offer of marriage which was 
 accepted, but which his tutors and other friends contrived to 
 get cancelled. Then he determined to enter the army, bought a 
 pair of colours and " dressed to the very edge of his finances," 
 but soon becoming disgusted with the life of a soldier he 
 resumed his inclination for the bar. Thus in the reign of 
 William III. Nash was a member of the Middle Temple. It 
 had been long customary for the Inns of Court to give a 
 revel or pageant on the accession of a monarch. For many 
 years poets were the conductors because plays were exhibited 
 F
 
 82 BEAU NASH. 
 
 and complimentary verses recited. By degrees the literary 
 feature was eliminated, the last poet honoured with the 
 commission being Sir John Davis. Nash was now the man 
 to meet the altered taste, and his connection with the Temple 
 made the choice appropriate. The King was so struck with 
 his ability on the occasion that he made him an offer of 
 knighthood. This, however, the Arbiter Elegantiarum 
 thought it prudent to decline. " Please your Majesty/' he 
 replied, "if you propose to make me a knight, may it be one 
 of the poor knights of Windsor for then I should have a 
 fortune at least sufficient to support the title." Another 
 story, not improbable, is that when Queen Anne visited Bath 
 she asked him why he refused the honour, and he answered, 
 " Because Sir William Reed, the mountebank, should not 
 call me brother." The hint given to King William about the 
 poor knights was not taken, but though Nash failed to 
 improve his circumstances immediately, he yet gained many 
 friends and had his path smoothed for the office he soon 
 after filled at Bath. 
 
 It was early in the first decade of the century that he came. 
 There was already a master of the ceremonies, Captain 
 Webster, when the amusements were only in an embryo state. 
 The company assembled on a bowling green where they 
 enjoyed country dances to the music of a violin and hautboy. 
 At other times they sauntered in the Orange Grove, so-called, 
 not because the pretty square had orange trees ; the saunter- 
 ing was between three rows of sycamores. The name is said 
 to have originated in the fact that in 1734 a column was 
 erected in the centre to commemorate the cure of the Prince 
 of Orange. Webster succeeded sufficiently to cause a migra- 
 tion of the dancers from the bowling-green to the Townhall, 
 each gentleman paying half-a-guinea for admission. But
 
 BEAU NASH. 83 
 
 progress was slow, and Nash, it is said, though at first only a 
 visitor, availed himself of a curious incident to rival the 
 original M.C. Some eminent London physician, disliking 
 the reputation Bath had acquired, published a pamphlet 
 threatening to put a toad into the springs. Nash, hearing 
 this, assured the good people who were somewhat alarmed at 
 the idea, that if they would give him leave he would charm 
 away the poison of the doctor's toad. ' ' But how ? " they 
 asked. " Why," he said, " as the venom of the tarantula is 
 charmed, by music." They consented; he established a 
 band of such merit that numbers flocked to hear it, and the 
 fame of the city rapidly increased. 
 
 It is true that there have been doubts as to the truth of 
 this story with reference to Bath and to Dr. Kadcliffe, who 
 was supposed to have been the physician. A modern writer 
 states that the spring was really in Northamptonshire and the 
 antagonist Dr. Willis. Possibly Nash caught at the idea to 
 turn it to his purpose. At all events he charmed the people 
 if not the toad, and they showed their gratitude in no stinted 
 measure. Webster had proved himself a low-minded, dis- 
 reputable gambler, and was killed in a duel. The city then 
 gave Nash full power to make any laws and levy any taxes he 
 wanted for his purpose, installing him master of the cere- 
 monies and King of Bath. Never was local sovereignty more 
 complete. He strengthened it by exactly the kind of measures 
 the city needed. His first care was to put his band on a 
 higher and more permanent footing. Then he promoted the 
 completion of the Pump Room, which was begun by Webster 
 in 1704, and opened under his successor's auspices in 1706. 
 It was first enlarged in 1751, afterwards still further many 
 years later, and eventually it gave way to the present building, 
 erected from designs by Baldwin in 1781. Nash, com-
 
 84 BEAU NASH. 
 
 mencing his reign in 1704, directed that the balls should begin 
 punctually at six and end at eleven ; the closing rule being 
 especially strict lest the good effect of the waters should be 
 counteracted. Not even the Princess Amelia could get it 
 relaxed in her favour. In matters of dress at the balls, Nash 
 was a thorough and much -needed autocrat. The Duchess of 
 Queensbury appeared at one of the Dress Balls in an apron 
 of point lace, said to be worth five hundred guineas. " Be 
 so good as to take it off, Madam " was the mandate. Her 
 Grace obeyed. Nash took it and threw it to her attendants. 
 Gentlemen were required to abstain from oaths, swords, and 
 top-boots. Strict laws were issued against duelling, and 
 various facilities were given for the termination of quarrels. 
 No one could settle questions of precedence better. He is 
 said to have been acquainted with the rank and quality of 
 almost every important family in the kingdom. If he found 
 scandal causing divisions and animosities he discovered who 
 were the authors and withheld his favour until the offence 
 ceased. 
 
 No doubt much of Nash's power was caused by his defer- 
 ence to human weaknesses. Thus he even acquired the 
 homage of the constituted authorities, a strange instance of 
 civic submission. Who would now believe that the magis- 
 trates of the Old .Roman city paid the same respect to the 
 fictitious royalty of Nash as was given to genuine kings and 
 queens ? Can it be imagined that, although under the cir- 
 cumstances a certain deference might have been expedient, 
 they would be dazzled or rather dazed by his tawdry chariot, 
 his six grey horses, his footmen, outsiders, and French horns ? 
 For thus was it he travelled to keep in order his other sub- 
 jects at Tunbridge Wells. The reason he gave for always 
 wearing a white hat was that it might not be stolen, as if its
 
 BEAU NASH. 85 
 
 shape and quality were not sufficiently distinctive. The 
 connivance of the magistrates and corporation in all these 
 follies is still less to their credit when it is remembered how 
 the mock state was kept up. The fees of office were, of 
 course, utterly inadequate ; so that the chief part of the 
 burthen was borne by the gaming-table. Bath then swarmed 
 not only with people of distinction, but with needy adven- 
 turers to whom gambling was the great financial resource. 
 Nash was known for his proficiency in it from early manhood ; 
 he maintained himself by it while professing to study law in 
 the temple ; but, so low was the scale of morality everywhere, 
 that no disgrace accompanied it, and his success in filling 
 Bath with visitors blinded the world to the means by which 
 he supported the grandeur. 
 
 Some writer has pleaded that while Nash shared the 
 passion of the age in this respect he was better than other 
 adventurers, inasmuch as he never cheated. To this may 
 possibly be added the fact that, though for many years he 
 won enough to defray current expenses, he did not save 
 enough to avoid at the close of life the most distressing 
 poverty. Always both impulsive and generous, one quality 
 made him the victim of chance rather than skill and judg- 
 ment at the gaming table, the other led him to give and 
 forgive with the freedom of a really rich man. A gentleman 
 of broken fortune, once standing behind his chair as he 
 played a game of picquet for two hundred pounds, and 
 observing with what indifference he won the money, observed 
 to a friend, " Heavens, how happy would all that money make 
 me." Nash heard it, put the money into his hand, and said, 
 " For once I have done some good, go and be happy." Nor 
 was his kind-heartedness merely occasional ; the records of 
 his life contain many similar instances. In the meridian of
 
 86 BEAU NASH. 
 
 his fortune his gifts to the needy are said to have been equal 
 to his other expenses. During the exceptionally severe 
 winter of 1739, his personal exertions to relieve distress were 
 unremitting ; he went among the poor in their own houses, 
 and gave his best attention to the most deserving and 
 industrious. 
 
 Neither was charity with him confined to objects of the day 
 and hour. He established a Jong claim to gratitude in con- 
 nection with a scheme for making the springs available to the 
 poor from distant places by means of a Mineral Water 
 Hospital. He was certainly one of its most active and 
 successful promoters ; he induced some of the best men of 
 the city to frame the constitution and procure the Act of 
 Parliament by which it is governed to this day ; he had the 
 assistance of Wood, the eminent architect, as to the designs, 
 and of Ralph Allen, Dr. Oliver, the Rector of Bath, and Dr. 
 Stevenson, the Nonconformist Minister, in obtaining funds. 
 The fact that he was one of the treasurers from the opening 
 in 1742 till his death in 1761, shows the confidence he 
 enjoyed. An appropriate compliment was paid to his memory 
 by a marble statue in the Pump Room, the work of Prince 
 Hoare ; with an outline of the plan of the hospital in his 
 hand. Through a hundred and fifty years has this noble 
 institution conferred incalculable and ever increasing benefits ; 
 not confined only to those who in the city need the waters, 
 but to sufferers from rheumatism, sciatica, paralysis, and other 
 disorders in any part of the kingdom. It is pleasant to know 
 that succeeding generations of the worthies of Bath have 
 kept pace with time by increasing the facilities and advan- 
 tages of the hospital First, space was gained by an additional 
 story ; then the patients, instead of being taken to the springs 
 in Sedan chairs, had the water conveyed through pipes to the
 
 BEAU NASH. 87 
 
 building ; subsequently a new wing for day-rooms, an exercise 
 ground on the premises, and other additions and improve- 
 ments have testified to the laudable desire to insure to as 
 large a number as possible the full benefit of the institution. 
 
 The ultimate disastrous change in the fortunes of Nash 
 was due to wise legislation for repressing gambling. Early 
 in the reign of George III. the most prevalent games, those 
 which were chiefly played in Bath, were declared fraudulent 
 and unlawful. There had been, however, an extremely profit- 
 able game set up at Tunbridge, called E.G., the promoters of 
 which managed to evade the law, and with them Nash as a 
 last resource confederated at Bath. But Parliament was not 
 to be baulked ; the offenders were discovered, and a more 
 stringent Act was passed, destroying all the hopes of the 
 once powerful autocrat, and leaving him a dreary prospect 
 for the remainder of his life. Happily this was not pro- 
 longed ; he had nearly reached the end when grim poverty 
 began to darken his dwelling, the home in S. John's court 
 where his kindness had gained the hearts of all who served 
 him. A weekly pension was allowed him by the Corporation 
 just sufficient for his maintenance until death came. This 
 was in 1761, at the age of 88 ; he was honoured with a public 
 funeral and a handsome monument in the Abbey, in 
 addition to the marble statue elsewhere, already mentioned. 
 
 In the early part of this sketch it may be thought that I 
 have attached undue importance to Nash's share in the 
 revival of Bath. Some writer has said that such a city could 
 not have " danced or gambled into existence," and that the 
 chief agencies in its prosperity have been its great natural 
 advantages. There can be no doubt of this ; nor can we fail 
 to remember thankfully how, while lower influences have, in 
 each succeeding decade, passed away more and more, the
 
 88 BEAU NASH. 
 
 higher ones have gained ever increasing power. If the follies 
 and vices which threw their dark shadow over English social 
 life in the eighteenth century affected deeply for a time the 
 national character, there is surely much in the higher public 
 spirit and greater private excellence of recent times to inspire 
 hope for the future. With regard to the moral responsibilities 
 of individual men and women who have been leaders of an 
 era, Justice as well as Charity requires that the circumstances 
 under which their minds and lives were formed should be 
 always considered. In many cases the wonder is, not that 
 they failed to do more good, but that they succeeded in doing 
 so much. The great point is to judge fairly if possible. 
 There are two scraps of poetry on Nash's character. One, 
 the lines on his monument in Bath Abbey, which appear to 
 perpetuate exaggerated eulogy ; the other, the epigram 
 ascribed by Goldsmith to Lord Chesterfield, surely much 
 nearer reality; the epigram having been caused by the 
 position of Nash's portrait in a public ballroom between the 
 busts of Newton and Pope. 
 
 " Immortal Newton never spoke 
 
 More truth than here you'll find, 
 Nor Pope himself e'er pen'd a joke 
 
 Severer on mankind. 
 Nash represents man in the mass 
 Made up of wrong and right, 
 Sometimes a knave, sometimes an ass, 
 
 Now blunt and now polite. 
 This Picture placed these busts between 
 
 Gives Satire its full strength, 
 Wisdom and Wit are little seen 
 But Folly at full length."
 
 RALPH ALLEN. 89 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 RALPH ALLEN. 
 
 The shade of Ralph Allen might well complain if he were 
 omitted in an account of Bath Celebrities. No name during 
 his useful life was better known in the city that he loved and 
 through a large part of the West of England. Few local 
 worthies since his death, a hundred and fifty years ago, have 
 been held in higher repute for solid service to the country and 
 effectual quickening of the national life. Well may proofs of 
 general gratitude be still seen in appropriate places : marble 
 busts in the Guildhall and Mineral Water Hospital ; portraits, 
 painted and engraved, in many a private dwelling. Often are 
 philanthropists of the present day reminded of his modest 
 benevolence by Pope's well-known couplet, and of his social 
 attractiveness by Fielding's description of Squire Allworthy. 
 But to many Bath citizens of these modern times the tale of 
 his remarkable life and its memorable work is probably still 
 unknown ; here, at all events, it must not be untold. 
 
 Ralph Allen was born in 1693 or 1694. He was the son 
 of worthy parents who kept an inn at St. Blaise, near St. 
 Austell, in Cornwall. Their vocation led Pope in the couplet 
 just mentioned to designate him as "low-born/' an epithet 
 changed, after remonstrance by Bishop Warburton, to 
 "humble." The paltry attempt at disparagement may be 
 almost pardoned for the prominence given to a rare quality in 
 the lines as they stand : 
 
 " Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame, 
 
 Do good by stealth and blush to find it fame." 
 But no one who has known successive generations of the Allen 
 family could fail to see that, whatever the outward circum-
 
 90 RALPH ALLEN. 
 
 stances of earlier ancestors may have been, there has been no 
 lack of the innate dignity characteristic of nature's gentlemen. 
 I remember, when travelling in Italy many years ago, stopping 
 at a small inn kept by a man apparently very " humble," and 
 yet it came out that he was of noble extraction ; while 
 singularly attentive and obliging, he always avoided undig- 
 nified positions. 
 
 Here my readers will allow me to repeat a few facts stated 
 in a paper I once read at a literary meeting. In another 
 Cornish village, St. Columb, there was a good old grandmother 
 who kept a post office. To her Ralph was sent when a boy in 
 order that he might help her in sorting and carrying out the 
 letters. Cornwall, it should be remembered, was then a more 
 important county than many others in consequence of its great 
 mining business and its large share of Parliamentary 
 representation. In that little village office the lad of St. 
 Blaise, by turning his opportunities to good account, laid the 
 foundation of his future fortune. The Inspector of the district 
 noted his ability and steadiness, and a neighbouring 
 magistrate, Sir John Trevelyan, who was accustomed to visit 
 Bath, aided in obtaining employment for him here. 
 
 At the age of eighteen Allen became a clerk in the Bath 
 post office. Continuing to commend himself to influential 
 persons, he soon received the appointment of postmaster. 
 Some writers represent that the more immediate cause of his 
 promotion was the zeal he showed in opening letters of 
 suspected persons and thus discovering a conspiracy against 
 the Government. Undoubtedly the friends of the Pretender 
 were active in the West of England, and Allen may have 
 obeyed instructions which the Government thought itself 
 justified in giving. At all events, important intelligence was 
 given to General Wade, who was then quartered with troops
 
 RALPH ALLEN. 91 
 
 at Bath, and who became another powerful friend of the 
 Cornish youth. Ere long Allen married Wade's natural 
 daughter, one of the happiest events of his prosperous life. 
 That in addition to the lady's good qualities she had some 
 fortune may be inferred from the fact that her husband soon 
 engaged in his great undertaking of the Combe Down stone 
 quarries. Another step of the ladder he ascended so rapidly 
 within a few years was the Bath Corporation, then possessing 
 the privilege of electing the members of Parliament for the 
 city. Rejoined this body in 1722, was eventually chosen 
 Mayor of Bath, and for many years took the lead in 
 Municipal affairs, exercising special influence in all that 
 related to Mr. Pitt's representation of the city. 
 
 Thus we are introduced to the new system of the cross 
 posts. In no place could the experiment have originated 
 more favourably. The geographical position of Bath combined 
 with its waters, scenery and society to make it a place of great 
 resort for influential people. .Ralph Allen, brought by his 
 office into frequent intercourse, was able to confer with them 
 as to the plans he had in view. Mr. Pitt, afterwards Earl of 
 Chatham, had built a house in the Circus, lived there during 
 the season, and was a medium with the Government as one of 
 the members for the city, but all this was long after the first 
 contract for the cross posts. It is due to Allen to remember 
 that with himself, with his own power of calculation and 
 management, the plans had their origin, and by his energy 
 and perseverance in the employment of suitable means they 
 were carried out. Nor should the difficulties be forgotten 
 difficulties arising from the want of communication which he 
 endeavoured to lessen. With roads so few and bad, with 
 conveyances so poor and slow, with people for obeying his 
 instructions so dull and ignorant, no common skill was needed
 
 92 RALPH ALLEX. 
 
 to organise a system covering a large extent of country. Any 
 one who has read Arthur Young's Tour in the North of 
 England, or the novels of Fielding, Smollett, and Richardson, 
 with their vivid description of the state of England at the 
 period, can imagine the obstacles which a post office reformer 
 would have to overcome. 
 
 Up to this time legislation had not done much to improve 
 postal communication. The two most important Acts were 
 one of the Commonwealth (1657), among the latest of the 
 Long Parliament, and another of the reign of Queen Anne. 
 The former begins by reciting the various advantages, social, 
 commercial, and political of a General Post Office, and gives 
 it a more permanent form by placing it under the control of 
 a Postmaster-General. To him was committed the duty not 
 only of arranging the tariff and transmitting letters, but of 
 providing horses for travellers riding post. The Act of 
 Queen Anne (1710) gave increased facilities, but prior to 
 Ralph Allen's time it was almost a dead letter for want of the 
 requisite spirit and intelligence. He, therefore, proposed to 
 establish cross posts from Exeter to Chester by way of Bath, 
 Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, thus connecting the West 
 of England with Lancashire districts and the mail route 
 to Ireland. Previously letters between neighbouring towns 
 had been conveyed by circuitous routes, often going to 
 London and coming back by different roads. Allen per- 
 suaded the Government to allow him to construct his system, 
 and to have successive leases at rents regulated by the results. 
 In addition to all the costs of the new service he paid 2,000 
 a year for the first contract, 4,000 for the second, 6,000 
 for the third, and 8,000 for the fourth, the last being for 
 the remainder of his life. General Wade was his bondsman 
 to the Treasury. It was difficult to ascertain indeed no one
 
 RALPH ALLEN. 93 
 
 but himself and his clerks could discover what his profits 
 really were, the receipts from the cross posts being collected, 
 not by the Government but by themselves. By an account 
 which was found among Allen's papers after his death, it 
 appeared that he calculated his net profits at 10,000 a year 
 or half a million sterling altogether. But there is another 
 statement from which I obtain much of the information I am 
 now giving. Allen employed an intelligent man called Jones 
 as clerk of the works from 1731 till his death in 1704. 
 Jones kept a diary, which still exists, and states that twenty- 
 six years before Allen's death he saw an account showing a 
 clear gain of 16,000 a year. This, however, may have been 
 only for a time, though his great outlay for many years in buy- 
 ing large estates, planting innumerable acres, and erecting 
 costly buildings proves that his income from various 
 sources must have been very considerable. 
 
 If we inquire how the country was served by these contracts 
 the answer is satisfactory. On each renewal additional work 
 was required, and, so far as we are able to judge, faithfully done. 
 At Allen's death, when the system had been in operation 44 
 years, cross posts had extended to all parts of the kingdom. 
 Then such large dimensions had been attained as to be 
 nearly unmanageable in private hands, and the authorities 
 were not sorry to see the responsibility lapse to the Crown. 
 A new office called the " bye letter office " was then estab- 
 lished in London under the charge of a manager at a salary 
 of 300. At the end of the first year profits to the amount 
 of ="20,000 were added to his Majesty's income. In 179!), 
 when the management was transferred to the general office, 
 they had reached the yearly sum of .200,000. Notwith- 
 standing this there was no reduction of postage; on the 
 contrary it was increased from time to time to meet war
 
 94 RALPH ALLEX. 
 
 expenses and for other purposes. According to the terms of 
 Queen Anne's Act large pensions were to be paid out of the 
 surplus revenues of the post office and the remainder retained 
 by the Queen "for the better support of her Majesty's house- 
 hold and for the honour and dignity of the Crown of Great 
 Britain." On the accession of the three first Georges success- 
 ively Bills were passed in accordance, though at a later period, 
 while 7,000 a year was fixed as the sum for the civil list the 
 entire net revenue was directed to be carried to the consoli- 
 dated fund. 
 
 In considering the history of the post office up to the time 
 of Allen's death we have passed over much that is interesting 
 in his personal history. The wealth and position he acquired 
 gave him an influence which he employed in ways not less 
 honourable to himself than beneficial to the neighbourhood. 
 His wealth was by no means entirely due to his Government 
 contracts ; he continued the business to which I have referred, 
 of quarryrnaster on Combe Down, where the cottages he built 
 for his workmen originated the present village. Prior Park 
 is said to have been erected in order that he might exhibit 
 the qualities of the Bath stone, which also became manifest in 
 other large buildings of the period, notably the Exchange at 
 Bristol, the General Hospital at Bath, and St. Bartholomew's 
 in London. The rapid growth of Bath in the last century 
 conduced largely to the success of the quarries. Their owner 
 sold the stone for the houses in Queen Square, Wood Street, 
 the Orange Grove, and the North and South Parades. But 
 who would grudge him his prosperity ? Who that knew how 
 large-hearted he was, how generous and hospitable in private 
 life, how ready to forward every good public object ? To set 
 apart .1,000 annually for quiet acts of kindness was one of 
 his earliest objects. To send Fielding two hundred guineas
 
 RALPH ALLEN. 95 
 
 from this fund, even before he knew him, as soon as he heard 
 he was in distress, was a mode of doing good habitual to him. 
 Equally characteristic were his legacies of various kinds, 
 including a handsome annuity for educating Fielding's 
 children, when fatherless, and 1 ,000 to Mr. Pitt, because he 
 was poor. Ralph Allen was the chief supporter of Beau 
 Nash's noble object a hospital for the poor from all parts of 
 the kingdom whose cases needed the Bath Waters. At once 
 he gave .1,000 to it, and promised all the stone for the 
 building ready cut and delivered. He gave ^500 towards 
 re-building the Guildhall in 1763. He clothed and equipped 
 a hundred Volunteers on the breaking out of the Rebellion. 
 He built a bridge at Newton St. Loe at a cost of 4,000. As 
 he acquired successively on the other side of Bath the estates 
 of Combe Down, Claverton, and Hampton Manor, he covered 
 the hills with plantations, which now at a distance of a 
 hundred and fifty years give beauty and glory to the land- 
 scape. Let every lover of fine old trees, everyone who enjoys 
 the walks and drives of the neighbourhood, bless the mind 
 that conceived this great source of delight to future genera- 
 tions. Allen's splendid notions as to Prior Park are said to 
 have utterly confounded his friend and architect, John Wood, 
 but he carried them out. It is generally known that he 
 built " Sham Castle " as a prominent object from many parts 
 of Bath. In later life he spent three months annually at 
 Weymouth. He had also a residence at Bathampton, to which 
 he occasionally retired for repose. 
 
 In social life the Allworthy of Tom Jones was as genial as 
 in giving aid to the needy. Fielding dined at his table daily 
 when he lived near. Pope, Mason, Hartley, Richardson, 
 Graves of Claverton, Hoare, the painter, Gainsborough, 
 Bishops Hurd, Sherlock, and Warburton, Lord Chatham, and
 
 96 RALPH ALLEN. 
 
 the younger Pitt all enjoyed his hospitality ; and members 
 of the Royal family visiting Bath accepted his invitations. 
 Prior Park was then on a small scale to Bath what Holland 
 House was in later days on a larger to London, the house 
 where the most celebrated men of the day met and where the 
 spirit of kindness flowing from the host and hostess gave 
 brightness to the wit and flavour to the wisdom of the various 
 guests. Honour therefore to the memory of the first post 
 office reformer. If he earned a splendid fortune he gave a 
 bright example of the best way of spending money. The 
 beautiful house which he built, the magnificent trees which he 
 planted, the landscape full of Italian loveliness which he 
 adorned, are all memorials of a taste worthy one of nature's 
 nobles. And when he was carried to his grave in the sweet 
 God's Acre at Claverton, realising the exquisite wish of 
 Goldsmith to be laid amid the bowers he loved, who would 
 not hope he might long rank high with men immortalised 
 by an older poet, men 
 
 " Who by new arts life's uses have improved, 
 And for good deeds are honoured and beloved ?" 
 
 He died in 1764. at the age of 71. The inscription on the 
 tomb records his "full hopes of everlasting happiness in 
 another state." 
 
 " Ralph Allen " says the author of the memoir in the 
 National Biography, " was rather above the middle height, 
 of stout build, very grave and well-looking, extremely plain in 
 his costume, and remarkably courteous in his behaviour. 
 His character has been drawn in the most glowing terms by 
 Pitt, Bishop Kurd, Bishop Warburton, Mrs. Delany, and 
 others, all bearing testimony to his simplicity, benevolence, 
 splendid hospitality, strong natural abilities, and domestic
 
 RALPH ALLEN. 97 
 
 virtues. His nephew, Thomas Daniell, became a wealthy 
 merchant of Truro, whose son, Ralph Allen Daniell, was 
 M.P. for West Looe." The second Mrs. Allen was sister 
 to Captain Tucker, whose daughter, after living at Prior 
 Park some years, married the Rev. William Warburton, 
 afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, and on Allen's death 
 he entered into possession of Prior Park. This little family 
 history illustrates the truth that important destinies often 
 follow trifling incidents. Pope was a friend and often a 
 guest, ultimately an ungrateful one, of Allen. Warburton, 
 being a friend of Pope, once wrote a letter proposing to visit 
 him at Twickenham. Pope happened to be at Prior Park 
 when the letter arrived and caused him, on receiving it at 
 dinner, to look perplexed. " What is the matter ?" said Allen. 
 " Oh, a Lincolnshire parson wants to visit me and I can't have 
 him." "If that be all let him come here." He came, 
 repeated his visits, and married Miss Tucker. For some time 
 after his marriage Warburton lived at Prior Park and in 
 future years was often there. His social powers, his learned 
 books, and his good connections, advanced him step by step 
 until, through Allen's influence with William Pitt, he reached 
 the See of Gloucester. Prior Park then saw him but seldom, 
 and after his death, in 1779, his widow, having married his 
 chaplain, the Rev. Stafford Smith, lived chiefly in Queen 
 Square, Bath. By arrangement or inheritance, the next 
 possessor of the Postmaster's mansion was Viscount 
 Hawarden, who married a daughter of Philip Allen, Ralph's 
 brother. He lived there 24 years, and was succeeded by his 
 son, the second Viscount, who died in 1807 without issue, 
 when all direct connection of Prior Park with the Allen family 
 ceased. There is much that is interesting in the subsequent 
 ownership of the estate, and much that awakens pleasant 
 G
 
 98 RALPH ALLEN*. 
 
 recollections, but here the present sketch must end. In 
 1816 the Claverton property was purchased by Mr. Vivian, 
 solicitor to the Excise, who pulled down the old Hungerford 
 house, and built another on the crest of the hill, now 
 occupied by its present owner, Mr. H. D. Skrine. The 
 Bathampton Estate has been inherited successively by Mr. 
 George Edward Allen, great nephew of Ralph, Major Ralph 
 Shuttleworth Allen, MP., his nephew, and Colonel F. Allen, 
 son of the last mentioned.* 
 
 * In my original sketch of Ralph Allen, in the Bath Herald, I 
 fell into an error on the authority of the National Biography, 
 where it is stated that " By his second wife he had an only child, 
 Ralph, who became comptroller of the bye letter office, but of 
 whom little further is known." I was surprised that no previous 
 writer had mentioned this son ; it seemed possible, however, 
 that there should be some reason for reticence, and I relied 
 (unwisely it seems) on the general accuracy of the great 
 biographical work. Moreover seven years had passed since the 
 publication of the volume, and no correction, so far as I knew, of 
 this statement had appeared. The author appears to have 
 founded it on confused ideas of a few facts. There was a Ralph 
 Allen Warburton, only child of Bishop Warburton, who died in 
 early youth, and there was a postmaster (not comptroller), 
 Philip Allen, who succeeded his brother Ralph in that capacity, 
 but that brother, 1 am now reassured, with certainty, never had 
 a son. 
 
 Those who wish for further information on the subject of this 
 sketch would find it in a volume of -Remains in Prose and Verse of 
 the Rev. Francis Kilvert. It contains an Essay on Pialph Allen and 
 Prior Park read before the Bath Literary Club in 1857 and, some 
 years afterwards, was pronounced by the Rev. Joseph Hunter in a 
 letter to the author " by far the best memoir of Allen that had yet
 
 RALPH ALLEN. 99 
 
 appeared." The essay is chiefly valuable for the light it throws on 
 the friendships between Allen and his eminent visitors, Pope, 
 Fielding, Warburton and other celebrities, as also on the acquisition 
 and expenditure of the Postmaster's handsome fortune. But the 
 volume altogether is more than usually interesting inasmuch as it 
 perpetuates the memory of Mr. Kilvert, who, if not a celebrity of 
 Bath was undoubtedly one of its greatest worthies. Without the 
 slightest appearance of self importance, he was remarkable 
 amongst his fellow citizens for a combination of qualities which 
 gave him no common social influence. While there was an air of 
 dignified simplicity about him which could not fail to strike a 
 stranger, his friends felt that to be favoured with his companion- 
 ship was to be in the way of growing better as plants improve 
 under the sun and air they love. If " Simon, the son of Onias, 
 made the garment of holiness honorable," Francis Kilvert made it 
 so natural, so gently and genially attractive that one wondered 
 it was not universally worn, except that in his case it seemed 
 a part of his very nature. As a clergyman though by his 
 preaching and his published sermons he gained the reputation 
 of an able and zealous churchman, yet by his courtesy, charity 
 and large mindedness he won the affectionate regard of many 
 who did not worship at the same altar. As a teacher of youth 
 parents deemed it a privilege to have sons under his care, and 
 many were the proofs that with all his high classical attainments, 
 with all his success in producing good sound scholarship, his 
 constant aim was pure and elevated character. As a literary man 
 how charming was his society, how substantial were his services ; 
 whether one thinks of such works as the Remains of Bishop 
 Warburton and the Life of Bishop Kurd his distinguished relative, 
 or of the essay on the author of The Spiritual Quixote, the poems 
 he wrote from time to time and the monthly symposia of the 
 Literary Club which he enjoyed, it is the same. He was also 
 just the man to appreciate Allen; he never had a more genial 
 task than that of writing his life; to know that the great and
 
 100 RALPH ALLEN. 
 
 good Post Office Eeformer often came with Warburton to the 
 humble parsonage at Claverton which he occupied at the 
 beginning of his ministry, to remember that Shenstone enjoyed 
 its beautiful garden and that the Venerable Eichard Graves spent 
 fifty years on the spot, endeared it unspeakably to Mr. Kilvert. 
 I find in the collection of the fragments which pious hands 
 brought together in the Remains that a foremost place was 
 justly given to lines entitled, An Israelite Indeed, and, as they 
 appear to have been an unconscious portrait of the author him- 
 self I conclude my tribute by transcribing them. 
 
 " Whene'er I see a calm consistent walk, 
 Deep piety that finds not vent in talk, 
 Faith that can realise a world on high, 
 Hope's anchor hold, the glow of Charity, 
 The liberal hand that grasps no hoarded pelf, 
 Humility that last and least counts self, 
 Candour that thinks no ill, imputes no guile, 
 Courage that spurns at Fortune's frown or smile, 
 Whatever that real Christian's name or creed, 
 In him I hail an Israelite indeed, 
 To him the hand of fellowship I give, 
 Content with him to die, with him to live."
 
 JOHN PALMER. 101 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Those who imagine that the history of Bath is the history 
 of a mere pleasure -seeking city should think of some of the 
 Celebrities in these sketches. Nor have a few of the more 
 eminent yet appeared ; we have still to glance at the Literati 
 of the later period and at Contemporaries in various profes- 
 sions who distinguished both themselves and the city. But if 
 there had been only the t\vo men who did so much in postal 
 matters, Ralph Allen and John Palmer, who worked for 
 similar objects, in the same city and during the same century, 
 the mistake would be rectified. In order to connect the 
 historical parts of my narrative as closely as possible I proceed 
 at once to Palmer's share in the great improvements. 
 
 We have seen how Allen increased the cross posts but not 
 yet how the letters were carried. We know that the bags 
 made up were called mails, but we have still to ask who and 
 what conveyed the bags ? Let no one imagine the mail 
 coach of modern days running through all parts of the 
 kingdom, or indeed anywhere in those days. That, however, 
 was a sight which those of us who have seen it do not wish to 
 forget the dashing coachman with his four mettlesome 
 steeds, the redcoated guard blowing cheerily on his horn as 
 they drove through the quiet villages. There was an annual 
 custom a procession of thirty or forty beautiful mail coaches 
 which I saw in London on a king's birthday sixty-five years 
 ago, the horses with new harness, the coachmen and guards
 
 ]Q2 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 with new liveries, delighting hundreds of spectators who lined 
 Piccadilly. Very different all this from the wretched boys 
 on worn-out hacks in the times we are reviewing. 
 
 No other mode existed before the close of the sixteenth 
 century, carriages of every kind being unknown even to 
 people of fortune and great officers of State. And if judges 
 had to go circuit in jack-boots, if ladies could only travel to 
 town from their country seats on a pillion behind some 
 relative or serving man, if even Queen Elizabeth was bound to 
 place herself at the rear of her Lord Chancellor when she 
 went from Greenwich to the city, what better conveyance 
 could be expected for letters ? Only of neither the men nor 
 the steeds let too favourable an idea be formed. Few post 
 boys in the provinces were required to go at a greater rate 
 than three or four miles an hour, and the want of discipline 
 among them was grievous. They drank, they loitered, they 
 played games on the road, they cheated the Government by 
 carrying letters for their own profit at lower rates, they were 
 an easy prey to any robber or ill-disposed person who chose 
 to interfere with them. An amusing anecdote in Campbell's 
 Tales of the Highlands illustrates the way in which 
 expresses were forwarded: "Near Inverary we regained a 
 spot of comparative civilisation, and came up with the post 
 boy whose horse was quietly grazing at some distance while 
 lied Jacket himself was immersed in play with other lads. 
 'You rascal,' I said to him, 'are you the post boy and thus 
 spending your time ? ' Nae, nae, sir,' he answered, ' I'm no 
 the post, I'm only an express.' " 
 
 The first carriage of any kind for the use of the public was 
 a rude wagon without springs, the body resting solidly on the 
 axle. About the year 1608 this came to be used for carrying 
 letters on the principal roads in connection with passengers
 
 JOHN PALMER. 103 
 
 and goods. Fifty years afterwards stage wagons travelled 
 regularly between London and Liverpool, starting from an 
 inn in Aldermanbury every Monday and Thursday, occupying 
 ten days in the summer and eleven or twelve in the winter. 
 Then came stage coaches, a great improvement, though for a 
 long time the speed was only two or three miles an hour even 
 on the better roads around London. It was considered a 
 great effort when in 1690 a stage coach undertook to convey 
 passengers all the way to York in seven days, except while 
 the Midland Counties were impassable from floods. Even 
 when Allen was intent on facilitating communication as much 
 as possible, the Fly Coach, as it was called, from London to 
 Exeter, occupied five days, one of the incidents being that a 
 halt was made at Axminster in the early morning long 
 enough to allow a woman-barber to shave the coach. Thoresby, 
 the antiquary and naturalist, relates that in his expeditions to 
 the North by those conveyances, he was in the habit of stop- 
 ping occasionally to go in search of fossil shells in the fields 
 or on the road-side. At the beginning of a long journey it 
 was the custom of the travellers to choose a chairman who 
 regulated all such discussions as those relating to the inns 
 where the party should dine or sleep. But there were times 
 when the coachman chose to have his own way, and in 1760 
 an action was tried in the Court of King's Bench to recover 
 damages from a driver who had wanted to compel the passen- 
 gers to dine at some low inn in which he had an interest. 
 The passengers had rebelled, had walked on to a respectable 
 place at some distance and had eaten their dinner, with the 
 mortification, however, of then seeing the coach go past at 
 full speed and leave them to get to London as best they 
 could. The jury gave them such comfort as was possible in 
 damages to the amount of twenty pounds. John Palmer's
 
 104 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 mail coaches appear .to have been suggested originally by 
 cases of practical inconvenience to himself. He was manager 
 of the Bath Theatre, and in that capacity had to take long 
 journeys to engage performers for his company. Not only 
 was he often delayed in going from Bath to London, which 
 occupied three days, and from Bath to other places on still 
 worse roads, but when he had promised some bright particular 
 star for a certain night the audience was disappointed because 
 the miserable coach had not arrived. Before, however, we 
 enter on his scheme, it may be well to notice some of the 
 incidents of his life, which, as in Allen's case, largely affected 
 the history of the English post office and gave our city a 
 prominence both honourable and beneficial. 
 
 John Palmer was born in the year 1742. His father was 
 a respectable brewer, and his mother belonged to an old and 
 good family. His early education war for the Church, to 
 which, however, he objected, preferring the army. To the 
 army his father objected, and at length his lot was fixed in 
 the brewery, where he found time for pursuits more congenial 
 with his tastes. He followed a pack of hounds belon^m" 1 to 
 
 1 O O 
 
 a clerical relative in the neighbourhood, and he cultivated a 
 love of the drama then highly popular, the latter under great 
 disadvantage, for while his kinsman mounted him well the 
 only building available for a theatre was an old, ruinous 
 barn. Long and loud had been the complaints about this 
 building ; not only did the people of rank and fashion who 
 now came to Bath in great numbers denounce it, but even 
 the performers were ashamed of it. To erect a building 
 worthy of the city which had become more attractive than 
 any in the kingdom was an object in harmony with John 
 Palmer's enterprising character. His father's public spirit 
 led him to unite with nine of the principal inhabitants in
 
 JOHN PALMER. 105 
 
 building a theatre in Orchard Street, afterwards used as a 
 Catholic Chapel. The appeal for aid for this building was 
 prefaced by the lines : 
 
 " Plays are like mirrors made for men to see 
 How bad they are how good they ought to be." 
 
 Whether the instruction was equal to the amusement we are 
 not informed, but in another half-century a still larger and 
 more commodious theatre was wanted and rose in Beauford 
 Square. This met the fate of so many in modern times 
 the interior was destroyed by fire on Good Friday, 1862. 
 The shell being preserved it was immediately rebuilt at a 
 cost of = J 12,000, and is now in use. Many who were present 
 at the opening performance, The Midsummer Night's Dream, 
 March 4th, 1863, have still a vivid recollection of the 
 interest displayed by the old city when the love of the drama, 
 so true and strong in former days, was once more revived. 
 In the excellent company Mr. Chute, the manager, brought 
 together was Miss Ellen Terry, her first appearance in Bath. 
 A copy of the hand-bill is given in Mr. Belville S. Penley's 
 History of the Bath Stage lately published. Returning to 
 Palmer's theatre we learn that to insure its success the father 
 bought up the shares of the old company and the son novy 
 devoted himself entirely to the business. After spending 
 some time in London, where he was rewarded with an Act 
 of Parliament protecting the property and a royal patent 
 giving it an envied distinction, he returned to grapple with 
 the obstacles occasioned by the unpopularity of the manager. 
 There was in fact for some reason a strike among the staff ; 
 all declared that they would perform no longer. John 
 Palmer saw that only one course was open to him ; he 
 mounted his horse and proceeded on a tour of several
 
 106 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 hundred miles in search of a new company. At the end of 
 a fortnight he came back again successful, having been 
 joined by recruits of considerable reputation at various towns, 
 which led him to adopt the plan of an annual journey to 
 visit all the best theatres and maintain the efficiency of his 
 staff. Soon after he had arranged these matters to the 
 satisfaction of Bath he undertook similar responsibilities at 
 Bristol, having also acquired an interest in its theatre, for 
 which he likewise obtained a patent, and by working the 
 two together he was able to promote the prosperity of both. 
 
 It was amid these labours that Palmer conceived his 
 projects of mail coaches. His spirit chafed against the waste 
 of time and temper to himself and others by the existing 
 locomotion. At Bath he heard continually of the annoyances 
 to distinguished visitors by the state of the roads and the slow- 
 ness of carriages. At Bristol he learned from the merchants 
 what a blessing it would be if they could travel to London or 
 obtain their letters in fourteen or fifteen hours instead of 
 three days. He had only to look at Prior Park and remem- 
 ber its venerable owner in former years to see what great 
 difficulties could be conquered and what ample rewards might 
 follow. But John Palmer had a much more arduous task 
 than Ralph Allen even in obtaining attention to his proposal; 
 partly for this reason, that while one did the work himself 
 the other could only show how it was to be done. This, how- 
 ever, Palmer showed most clearly in a report addressed to the 
 younger Pitt, who was then Prime Minister, stating the chief 
 causes of complaint and the plans he proposed. " The Post," 
 he says in this able document, "instead of being the quickest 
 conveyance in the country is almost the slowest. The roads 
 have been greatly improved ; other carriers mend their speed, 
 but letters are as tardy as ever. Carried generally by idle
 
 JOHN PALMER. 107 
 
 boys on worn-out hacks, they are often stolen on the road, so 
 that in many cases other modes are employed and the 
 Government loses the profit. If tradesmen for greater 
 security send by the stage coach why should not the stage 
 coach carry the mail bags with the additional protection of 
 armed guards? Let there be a complete system of such 
 coaches; let them run on all the principal roads of the 
 kingdom ; let them leave London daily at the same time and 
 arrive at the various towns at fixed hours ; let there ba 
 regular communication through the cross post with places 
 out of the direct lines ; and let the roads be extended and 
 improved wherever the wants of the public are sufficient to 
 justify the outlay." 
 
 Such were the leading features of Palmer's scheme. We 
 are cow come, it should be remembered, to the year 1784. 
 Trade had increased considerably and the country required 
 to be more opened out. Civil engineering, a profession which 
 had lately acquired dignity and importance, became available 
 for the purpose. Watts and Boulton, Rennie and Telford, 
 Brindley and Smeaton made roads, bridges, and canals, even 
 in remote districts hitherto little known. But notwithstanding 
 all this Palmer for a long time argued in vain. The post 
 office authorities whom Mr. Pitt consulted were against him 
 to a man. Who was Palmer that his plans should be listened 
 to in opposition to those who had had the subject before them 
 so many years? What should a brewer, a theatre manager, a 
 crazy enthusiast living down at Bath, know about the 
 working arrangements which had been long cared for by men 
 of great experience ? If you do what he recommends you will 
 only endanger the revenue at present produced by the post 
 office, but you will fling the commercial correspondence of the 
 countrv into the utmost confusion and raise a clamour which
 
 108 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 it will be impossible to appease. This was actually the 
 language of the gentlemen consulted by the Prime Minister. 
 " Mr. Palmer," continues a Mr. Hodgson, " says that the post 
 is slow and ought to outstrip all other conveyances, I cannot 
 see it." " He proposes," adds another official, " that there 
 should be mail guards ; of what use would they be ? The man 
 would have to be waited for at every ale-house the coach 
 passed." " If desperate fellows were determined on robbery, 
 would firearms be of any avail ? or would not the crime of 
 murder lie at some one's door ? " " And after every effort 
 what is proposed could not be done ; to bring the Bath mail 
 to London in sixteen or eighteen hours would be impossible." 
 
 Mr. Pitt heard or read all this but quietly judged for him- 
 self. Like his father, the Earl of Chatham, as we are 
 reminded by Mr. Commissioner Hill, in a paper on the 
 subject, he did not believe in impossibilities. With the clear 
 vision for which he was so famed he saw that the scheme would 
 be both practicable and possible and resolved that it should 
 be tried. Some impulse may have been given to him by his 
 intercourse with the city of Bath, for the representation of 
 which he had been proposed as a candidate in the same year, 
 though unsuccessfully. 
 
 In Lord Rosebery's nobly impartial Life of Pitt, there is 
 the remark (p. 99) with reference to this period " It is doing 
 Pitt no injustice to say that in the earlier years of his adminis- 
 tration his mind was given rather to domestic questions than 
 to foreign affairs." We have proofs of it in what he did to 
 abolish corruption in high places, to reform the national 
 finances, and to amend the representation of the people. And 
 remembering this it is easy to imagine he would lend a willing 
 ear to John Palmer's scheme for saving time in the transit of 
 letters. Of the figureheads by whom it was opposed it was
 
 JOHN PALMER. 109 
 
 well said they were possibly honest but certainly wooden. 
 The nation was becoming weary of them with regard to many 
 matters. " In their despair/' said Lord Rosebery, " men 
 looked round for one who should cast the money changers out 
 of the temple of Government. At this moment there appeared 
 a young University student, rich with lofty eloquence, and 
 heir to an immortal name, untainted in character, spotless in 
 life, showing the tirst day he met Parliament as Minister a 
 supreme disdain for the material prizes of political life." 
 . . " In a few months the elder Pitt had raised England 
 from the ground and placed her at the head of Europe. 
 Might not something be hoped of the son ? " In the concluding 
 part of this sketch it will be seen how the son dealt with the 
 mail coach problem.
 
 110 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Mr. Pitt's influence prevailed ultimately in causing a trial 
 of John Palmer's plan of mail coaches. It was not necessary 
 to wait for long discussions in Parliament ; the power to give 
 the order belonged to the Postmaster-General. But before he 
 could act it was considered necessary to settle the amount of 
 Palmer's remuneration ; and here even Mr. Pitt's financial 
 ability failed for some time. He left the matter to be dealt 
 with by his private secretary, Pretyman, afterwards Bishop of 
 Lincoln, who corresponded with the Lords of the Treasury on 
 one side and Palmer on the other. Unfortunately no written 
 agreement had been entered into, only a verbal understanding 
 that two and a half per cent, on the increased revenue of the 
 Post Office should be paid for life if the plan succeeded, and 
 nothing if it failed. But Mr. Pitt refused to allow longer 
 delay, and required that a beginning should be made at once, 
 whch led to the following announcement issued on the 24th 
 of July, 1784: "His Majesty's Postmaster- General being 
 inclined to make an experiment for the more expeditious 
 conveyance of mails of letters by stage coaches, machines, 
 &c., has been pleased to order that a trial shall be made upon 
 the road between London and Bristol, to commence at each 
 place on Monday, the 2nd August next." Then follows a list 
 of places, letters for which could be sent by these mail 
 coaches, and the announcement concludes : "All persons are 
 therefore to take notice that the letters put into any receiving 
 house before six in the evening or into this chief office before 
 seven will be forwarded by the new conveyance ; all others
 
 JOHN PALMER. Ill 
 
 for the said post towns and their districts put in afterwards or 
 given to the bellmen must remain until the following post 
 at the same hours." 
 
 Soon all the gloomy predictions of the officials were scat- 
 tered to the winds. A proud day for John Palmer was that 
 on which his plan was tested within three weeks of the 
 Treasury announcement. The distance between London and 
 Bath was accomplished in fourteen hours, between eight in 
 the morning and eleven at night. Going back one hundred 
 and nine years we can imagine the joy of the Bath people 
 when a mail worthy to be called "his Majesty's" arrived for 
 the first time. Their indefatigable townsman, the projector, 
 had removed to London some time previously in order that 
 he might superintend the arrangements and see that they 
 were not thwarted by interested opponents. On the first day 
 of the change he was installed at the Post Office with the title 
 of Surveyor and Controller -General and a salary of .1,500 a 
 year, together with the commission of two and a half per cent, 
 upon any excess of net revenue over 240,000, the amount at 
 which the profit to the Government stood at the date of his 
 appointment. The Bath Chronicle of February 24, 1785, 
 contains an account of a meeting of the Bath Corporation, at 
 which resolutions were passed thanking Mr. Palmer for the 
 great benefit derived from his plan and praying Mr. Pitt not 
 to allow it to be delayed or thwarted. In the memorial to Mr. 
 Pitt are these words : " We cannot but avow both pride and 
 pleasure in the reflection that the only substantial reforms in 
 a department of such great importance to this commercial 
 country have been contrived and executed, the first by a 
 member of this Corporation and the present by a native of 
 this city as well as one of our Council." The same paper also 
 contains a memorial to Mr. Pitt from the merchants of
 
 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 Bristol and a resolution of thanks to Mr. Palmer. Tokens 
 struck in Bath in commemoration of the establishment of 
 mail coaches by a townsman may be seen in the Bath 
 Museum. One has the motto : " To Trade Expedition, to 
 Property Protection." Another: "Gratitude to J. Palmer, 
 sq., for benefits received from mail coaches." 
 
 The rates of postage were slightly raised in consideration 
 of the greater advantages to the public, but cheerfully paid, 
 and the number of letters soon increased. Coaches were at 
 once applied for by the municipalities of the largest towns, 
 Liverpool being the first to aim at equality with Bristol, and 
 York claiming what was due to the great highway to the 
 North. " At first," says Mr. Baines in his History of Liver- 
 pool, " these coaches were small vehicles drawn by two horses 
 which were changed every six miles; they carried four 
 passengers besides the coachman and guard, the latter being 
 armed to the teeth as a security against highwaymen." The 
 speed in Lancashire and some other districts began at only 
 six miles an hour. On the Bath Road it must have been 
 greater, probably seven or eight, and ere long nine. That it 
 was increased cautiously was owing not only to the state of the 
 roads but to the official habit of magnifying difficulties. 
 From end to end of the kingdom the public were frightened 
 by assurances that if the speed got up to ten miles an hour it 
 would be a clear tempting of Providence ; the brain would be 
 injured ; dreadful accidents would certainly happen ; all who 
 travelled must first make their wills. Lord Chancellor 
 Campbell relates that when a young man he was frequently 
 warned against the mail coaches improved by Palmer on 
 account of the fearful rate at which they flew, and instances 
 were offered to him of passengers who had died suddenly of 
 apoplexy from the rapidity of the motion.
 
 JOHN PALMER. 113 
 
 If the day on which the first mail coach ran to Bath was a 
 day of triumph to Palmer how great must his satisfaction have 
 been the next few months. Contracts for the mails were 
 made at 20,000 a year below the original estimates ; the 
 discontinuance of postboys was followed by a diminution of 
 robberies, and improved supervision prevented defalcation in 
 country offices. While all classes, especially those in trade, 
 welcomed the change with thankfulness, the revenue, which 
 had been stagnant forty years, quickly showed signs of 
 improvement, and when the plan was fairly in operation 
 justified every hope that had been formed. Notwithstanding 
 all this, Palmer found himself hampered continually, wearied 
 with technical objections and unable to carry out much that 
 he wished. The Postmasters-General (for there were then 
 two, Lord Walsingham and the Earl of Chesterfield,) gave 
 heed to every objection raised by inferior officers and took 
 part in the various controversies which arose. Who can 
 wonder that Palmer, thus annoyed, sometimes failed in 
 judgment and temper, falling into snares which artful men 
 had laid for him, and trying to carry his measures by 
 questionable means ? He was unfortunate in his deputy, a 
 gentleman named Bonner, to whom he wrote freely on the 
 conduct of which he complained, and who on being suspen- 
 ded after a violent dispute made known Palmer's letters, 
 some of which were certainly imprudent. Bonner appealed 
 to the Postmaster-General, who ordered him to be restored, 
 but Palmer refused to receive him and was therefore suspended 
 in his turn. To his own appeal there was no response ; 
 the Government considered, rightly or wrongly, that he could 
 not work with the other authorities, and in spite of all his 
 claims he was dismissed. This occurred in 1792, after about 
 eight years' service. The remuneration which had been 
 H
 
 114 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 agreed upon was altered to a fixed annual sum of 3,000. 
 It was in vain that, acting on counsel's opinion, Palmer 
 contended for a larger pension ; the Lords of the Treasury 
 firmly refused, and he was compelled to submit. 
 
 But it was only for a time. Such a man with so good a 
 cause and so many friends could not fail to renew his efforts. 
 He was now in his fiftieth year and might fairly expect long 
 life. No more work was given to him by the Government, 
 nor does he appear to have again engaged in business of any 
 kind. It was natural therefore that he should employ him- 
 self, though for the long period of sixteen years, in showing 
 the justice of his claim. At length he formally petitioned 
 the House of Commons, and a committee was appointed to 
 report on his case. Mr. Pierrepoint, connected with Bath as 
 one of the Manvers family, moving for the committee, laid 
 great stress on the fact that in case of failure he was to receive 
 nothing. The report stated that though he had experienced 
 constant opposition from the oldest and ablest officers in the 
 service he had surpassed the expectations he had held out 
 both as to despatch and expense, the revenue having increased 
 since 1783 to the amount of nearly half-a-million. Sheridan, 
 also well known in Bath, supported his claim in a brilliant 
 speech. " None but an enthusiast " (he said) " could have 
 formed such a plan, none but an enthusiast could have made 
 such an agreement ; none but an enthusiast could have 
 carried it into execution ; and I am confident that no man in 
 this country or any other could have done it but that very 
 individual John Palmer." 
 
 Still all was in vain. The report was not adopted. The 
 House refused to alter the compensation. Palmer withdrew, 
 weary but not despairing. Public opinion cheered him by 
 frequent manifestations of gratitude. Eighteen towns and
 
 JOHN PALMER. 115 
 
 cities, including York, Chester, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Liverpool 
 and Edinburgh, presented him with their freedom. From 
 Glasgow he also received a handsome silver cup which, 
 having descended to his grand-daughter, Miss Palmer, was 
 given by that lady in 1875 to the Bath Corporation. An 
 alderman of Bath, he was twice elected Mayor and four times 
 member of Parliament ; to the Mayoralty in 1796 and 1809 ; 
 to the Parliamentary representation in 1801, 1802, 1806, and 
 1807. Thus encouraged he renewed from time to time his 
 efforts to obtain justice, placing in the hands of every member 
 of Parliament particulars of his case, and spending altogether 
 no less a sum than 1.3,000. At length his son, then Major 
 Palmer, having succeeded him in the representation of Bath 
 succeeded also to this arduous task. In 1808 he moved a 
 resolution which, although opposed by the Government, was 
 agreed to by some of their supporters and strongly, advocated 
 by leading members of the other party, Lord Henry Petty, Sir 
 Francis Burdett, Mr. Windham, and others. The resolution 
 was to the effect that he was entitled to the sum he claimed, the 
 percentage for fifteen years, and henceforward during his life. 
 It was carried by a majority of eighty-six against the 
 Ministers, and 54,700 was at once paid to him. This, and 
 the continuance of the percentage as long as he lived, 
 eleven years, during which the revenue steadily increased, 
 made the close of his life enjoyable. He had also the 
 happiness of seeing two of his sons distinguish themselves in 
 their professions. The elder, who became Major-General 
 Palmer, represented Bath with Mr. Roebuck as late as 1837. 
 Another, the third son, Edmund, was a gallant naval officer, 
 who in 1814 captured a frigate in the French war. He 
 married a niece of Admiral Earl St. Vincent, who after his 
 death lived some time in Bath. Mr. Palmer, the Bath
 
 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 worthy, died at Brighton in 181 8. His remains were brought 
 to Bath and interred in the Abbey Church. Unfortunately 
 no inscription marks his resting place. It was delayed 
 because a public movement for a monument was expected 
 but the exact spot is known to his family, one of whom 
 possesses a fine portrait of him by Gainsborough. 
 
 The English are unlike other nations with regard to their 
 eminent men. If any town in France, Belgium, Switzerland, 
 Germany, or Italy, had produced a Kalph Allen or a John 
 Palmer it would have had some worthy memorial. We 
 content ourselves with now and then talking about local 
 celebrities and then allowing them to be forgotten, regardless 
 of the inspiration which the young especially never fail to 
 gain in such cases. In this respect the third great postal 
 reformer was honoured ultimately as he deserved. True, 
 Rowland Hill was not without sore trials and anxieties, even 
 to sharing the fate of Palmer in being dismissed from the 
 service. But in his case, as in that of his predecessor, the 
 country appreciated what the Government could not under- 
 stand ; the people had no doubt of either the advantage or 
 the practicability of Penny Postage. On Rowland Hill's 
 dismissal by a new Government, a national testimonial was 
 raised, to which Bath contributed its share, consisting chiefly 
 of small subscriptions by the middle and working classes, 
 and resulting in a cheque to the great benefactor of 13,000. 
 After some time he was reinstated ; it was found that the 
 work could not advance without him ; he was allowed a 
 greatly improved staff, including his brother as a chief officer ; 
 and aided by a good succession of Postmaster-Generals he 
 established important principles and secured good practical 
 results. The Queen joined in welcoming his return to office 
 by making him a K.C.B. But at length another trouble
 
 JOHN PALMER. 117 
 
 arose ; a new Postmaster -General, Lord Stanley of Alderley, 
 could not see with him on the vital point. He had lahoured 
 to establish a system of service on the principle that merit 
 should have the chief weight, patronage comparatively little, 
 and Lord Stanley cancelled the rule. This affected Hill's 
 position seriously, because men were appointed who disliked 
 his plans and disregarded his orders. He appealed to the 
 Treasury but in vain, and finding his strength as an old man 
 unequal to perpetual conflicts, he resigned. On all sides, 
 however, he now received abundant acknowledgments. The 
 Queen sent a message to Parliament, recommending a grant 
 of ,20,000. The Prime Minister (Lord Palmerston) moved 
 it and the House carried it without a division. He was also 
 to receive for life his full salary of .2,000 a year. Other 
 proofs of appreciation were not wanting. The Corporation of 
 London gave him the Freedom of the City ; the Royal 
 Society made him a Fellow ; the University of Oxford a 
 D.C.L. As age increased he had more and more of the 
 accompaniments due to it after a life like his : 
 
 " Love, obedience, honour, troops of friends." 
 
 And, finally, when fourscore and four years had yielded their 
 full fruit, he was laid where such men ought to lie, where the 
 worlds true nobility ought to rest, in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 In thus concluding the present sketch I have gone beyond 
 the lines of local biography in order to complete to a certain 
 point the narrative of postal reform. May I not also repeat 
 what I ventured to say many years ago, while addressing an 
 audience on the same subject, that in the history of the 
 English Post Office two lessons are remarkably prominent : 
 That a good step in advance often leads to others far better, 
 and that from all stations of life power for large, good move -
 
 118 JOHN PALMER. 
 
 ments comes out. The son of a Cornish publican, the 
 manager of a Bath brewery, the assistant to a Birmingham, 
 schoolmaster become great public benefactors, simply by 
 applying with all their might their various gifts to the work 
 which their hands found them to do.
 
 PHYSICIANS. 119 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND 
 
 NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 The sketch of Dr. Guidott and his contemporaries in a 
 former chapter, brought us to the close of the seventeenth 
 century. There are still to be noticed the more eminent 
 Bath physicians of the eighteenth and those who have passed 
 away of the nineteenth Comparatively small as the number 
 is, the space here allotted to each must be limited, the order 
 of treatment being still to a great extent chronological. Of 
 one of the remaining list, Ur. Henry Harington, his family 
 history begun in my earlier series, and his varied accomplish- 
 ments which were more than usually remarkable, will require 
 a distinct sketch. 
 
 DR. HARTLEY. 
 
 It has been already shown in these pages how the 
 intellectual character of the medical profession rose from the 
 time of Linacre. Very striking was the increase in the range 
 of knowledge combined with greater thoroughness and 
 practical power. Of this there was an admirable example in 
 Dr. Hartley, who was born at the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century and adorned its fourth and fifth decades. The son 
 of a Yorkshire clergyman, he was sent to Cambridge with a 
 view to orders in the Church of England, but having doubts 
 about the Articles and being extremely conscientious, he 
 preferred the study of medicine. After practising for a time 
 in Newark, Bury St. Edmunds and London, he eventually
 
 120 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 settled in Bath, where, though regarded with much confidence 
 as a skilful physician, his easy circumstances induced him to 
 give his chief time to philosophical investigations. They formed 
 his favourite employment and were the real foundation of his 
 celebrity. He had studied logic and mathematics under 
 Professor Sauriderson, Sir Isaac Newton was his guide on 
 some important scientific points, and John Locke on moral 
 and metaphysical questions. The result of his studies was his 
 great work, Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and 
 his Expectations, in two thick octavo volumes, printed in 
 1749, by Richard Cruttwell, of Bath. He did not expect it 
 would be welcomed immediately by the philosophical world ; 
 nor in this did he misread the signs of the times, as the 
 subject received little attention until Dr. Priestley, in 1775, 
 combated his leading theory. It was said, however, that all 
 the Birmingham philosopher did was to convince the world of 
 his own materialism and of his desire to show that Hartley's 
 doctrine as to the properties of the brain and nerves led to a 
 similar conclusion. This did not trouble the author or his 
 friends because his great reputation rested also on other 
 grounds, notably his profound scholarship and his practical 
 benevolence. In the fifth edition of the book now before me, 
 also printed by Cruttwell, and published in 1810, there is an 
 engraved portrait indicating the beautiful characteristics by 
 which he gained the love and respect of all who knew him. 
 No one can look at that portrait and wonder that Hartley was 
 admired and beloved by a large circle. The friend of Ralph 
 Allen and the best of the visitors at Prior Park, he 
 corresponded with some of the most eminent men of the time. 
 Among them were Hooke the Roman historian ; Dr. Jortin 
 the authority in ecclesiastical history, Dr. Hales and other 
 prominent members of the Royal Society, Butler, Hoadley,
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 121 
 
 and Warburton, distinguished prelates of the Church of 
 England. With Pope also he was intimate, though not 
 insensible to what he thought the poet's shortcomings. He 
 regarded the Essay on Man as written under the influence of 
 Lord Bolingbroke, and advocating the sufficiency of human 
 philosophy to -the exclusion of divine revelation. Through 
 life, however, he retained a strong opinion that religion should 
 unite mankind by practical rather than dogmatic bonds, and, 
 while continuing in communion with the Church of his 
 fathers, he acted invariably on the most comprehensive 
 lines. His professional skill was perhaps better known to the 
 poor than to the rich ; he often visited the humblest 
 dwellings and was welcomed in cases both of mental and 
 bodily distress. His chief medical works were written to 
 alleviate the malady of the stone, which he himself suffered 
 from and which appears to have hastened his end. He died 
 in Bath in 1757 in his fifty-second year leaving issue by two 
 marriages. His son, who succeeded him in his house in 
 Belvedere, became member of Parliament for Hull, and 
 distinguished himself by his strenuous opposition to the 
 American war, also as one of the earliest advocates of the 
 abolition of the slave trade. 
 The next celebrity is 
 
 DR. CHEYNE, 
 
 a friend of Dr. Hartley, like him an author, a pleasant 
 companion, and a skilful physician, but a very different man. 
 He also was originally destined for the Church, partly, perhaps, 
 because he was related to Bishop Burnet, but by the advice 
 of his tutor, Dr. Pitcairn, he resolved to study medicine. 
 One point of difference in Hartley and Cheyne appears at the 
 beginning of their respective careers ; Hartley abstemious
 
 122 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 and more intent on attainments in science than professional 
 success, Cheyne becoming a bon vivant in order to obtain 
 patients. When about thirty years of age, he migrated from 
 his home in Scotland to begin practise in London, where a 
 strange experience awaited him ; he found that to be a bottle 
 companion to the younger gentry who were free livers would 
 do more for him than if he were laden with University 
 honours. In a letter to a friend he avows that he adopted 
 the method because he had observed it to succeed with 
 others. Year after year he continued it until his convivial 
 irregularities caused a state of health which rendered 
 advancement in his profession at that time impossible. He 
 grew excessively fat, short-breathed, lethargic and listless, 
 swollen to such an enormous size as to exceed thirty-two 
 stone in weight. He also laboured under a nervous and 
 scorbutic disorder to the most violent degree, so that his 
 life became an intolerable burthen. Having tried in vain 
 all the usual medicines he resolved to go into the country 
 and adopt a milk and vegetable diet, which graudally removed 
 his complaints. After some time he was advised to try the 
 Bath waters to complete his restoration, and he succeeded so 
 well that it caused his settlement in Bath. We have seen 
 that several physicians of note divided their time between 
 Bath and London ; this also Dr. Cheyne did, and, being at 
 length presentable as to appearance, regained some of his 
 patients in the Metropolis. His facile pen greatly promoted 
 his popularity, but here again he was unlike Hartley, who 
 wrote slowly and for future times rather than for the present, 
 whereas Cheyne threw off treatise after treatise on Health, on 
 Nervous Diseases, on Vegetable Diet, and on the Bath 
 Waters, rapidly, for immediate effect. The fact that his own 
 experience confirmed his theories and dictated his advice
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 123 
 
 promoted the sale of his books, while a certain scientific 
 character was given to them. At a period when special 
 theories were in fashion he ranked with the physicians (to 
 use the jargon of the time) " who accounted for the operations 
 of medicines and the morbid alterations in the human body 
 on mechanical principles." Even in the present day, however, 
 his Essay on the Gout and the Bath Waters, which passed 
 through seven editions, might be read with advantage. 
 Although retaining his abstemious habits through all the 
 temptations of Bath society his social powers were valued by 
 a large circle. He was intimate with Allen, the physician of 
 Nash, on pleasant terms generally with his brethren, and 
 bore with good humour their constant banter on his milk and 
 vegetable diet. Nor should it be forgotten that in later life, 
 when scoffing on serious subjects was so general, he did what 
 he could to discourage it and to maintain habitual reverence 
 for religion. Dr. Hartley visited him in his last illness. He 
 died in 1752 at the age of seventy-two, and was buried at 
 Weston, near Bath, where also his wife and brother, who was 
 vicar of the parish thirty years, were afterwards interred. 
 
 DR. WILLIAM OLIVER. 
 
 Who has not heard of Oliver biscuits ? And who that 
 knows what they are does not appreciate them ? They are 
 included in the list of Local Delicacies given in Mr. Peach's 
 recent interesting book, The Street Lore of Bath, where we 
 learn when they were first made for sale, and how they have 
 maintained their prestige. Other things have also caused 
 this good Doctor to be remembered in Bath. He was one of 
 the founders and first physicians of the Bath Mineral Water 
 Hospital. In a large picture in the Board .Room, there is a
 
 124 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 portrait of him sitting opposite two patients on whose cases 
 he is deciding. And he is mentioned in various books of the 
 period as one of those who, by their skill, energy, good 
 judgment and high character did much for the rising 
 prosperity of Bath. 
 
 Of his family and early history little is known. There were 
 t\vo physicians of the name at intervals in the early part of the 
 nineteenth century. Short memoirs of both appear in the 
 appendix to Brittoris History of Bath Abbey, but the author 
 fails to establish a relationship. The first of them, who 
 preceded the subject of this sketch, was descended from an 
 old Cornish family, and while studying at a Dutch University 
 joined the expedition to England under the Prince of Orange. 
 Like his namesake he was a Fellow of the Royal Society, to 
 which he communicated learned papers after his settlement in 
 Bath. The family of the second Dr. Oliver, the inventor of 
 the biscuit, though not known here previously, became 
 established in the neighbourhood after his death, holding 
 property and occupying a handsome house at Weston. 
 
 Different in one respect from other physicians of the time 
 his fame was entirely local. Probably he found his Bath 
 patients become so numerous that he did not need the 
 fashionable custom of giving part of his time to London. 
 People of distinction were now flocking here more and more, 
 attracted by the gaieties over which Nash presided as much 
 as by the increasing reputation of the springs. Yet there are 
 proofs that regard and confidence were not confined to the 
 wealthy ; Dr. Oliver's good work at the hospital would have 
 been sufficient to commend him to the middle and poorer 
 classes, among whom he was deservedly popular. One of his 
 patients, Miss Mary Chandler, a worthy milliner much 
 respected, whom he attended in a dangerous illness, published
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 125 
 
 a volume of poems which ran through four editions and was 
 the medium of her gratitude to her doctor : 
 
 " Pure goodness winged your feet, inspired your tongue ; 
 Soft were your accents but your reasoning strong. 
 Heaven bade me live and you prescribed the way ; 
 To you, next Heaven, my grateful thanks I pay. 
 And now I breathe and live and sing anew, 
 And owe my breath and life and song to you." 
 
 Dr. Oliver died in 1764, and was buried like his 
 contemporary, Dr. Cheyne, in Weston Church, where, as well 
 as in the Bath Abbey, his friends placed a monument with a 
 eulogistic inscription. The following medical men of Bath 
 were also interred at Weston: George Cheyne, M.D., 1740 ; 
 John Clarke Scott, M.D., 1805; William Falconer, M.D., 
 1824; Edward Percival, M.D., 1831; Thomas Falconer 
 Clerk, M.D., 1839 ; George Kitson, Surgeon, 1859 ; Charles 
 Parry, M.D., 1860. 
 
 THREE DOCTOR FALCONERS. 
 
 It is remarkable that father, son, and grandson, succeeded 
 each other at Bath in the medical profession. Much might be 
 said of their ancestors as well as of themselves, distinguished 
 as they were in Scottish history and in science and literature. 
 The family were of Caledonian origin ; its genealogical head 
 w.as Sir Alexander Falconer, a Lord of Session in 1639, and 
 among subsequent family connections were Hume the 
 historian, Drummond of Hawthornden the poet, and 
 Pennant the antiquary and naturalist 
 
 The first Dr. Falconer was son of the Recorder of Chester, 
 where he was born in 1744. It appears that the recorder 
 became a freeman of Chester in 1733, and that all the male
 
 126 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 representatives of the family have been successively admitted 
 to the privilege. The last was Mr. Thomas Wentworth 
 Falconer of the Sarawak Civil Service, sou of Dr. Handle 
 Wilbraham Falconer, of Bath, and very recently received by 
 the Mayor of Chester into the civic brotherhood. The son of 
 the recorder settled at Bath in 1770, was admitted a Fellow of 
 the Royal Society in 1773, became physician to the Mineral 
 Water Hospital in 1734, and died at his house in the Circus, 
 No. 29, in 1824. Probably no Bath physician has equalled 
 him in authorship, if we may judge from a list of forty-seven 
 books written by him. Many are on medical subjects, some 
 on classical and theological, some on botany and natural 
 history, the latter including papers for two societies in which 
 he took great interest the Bath and West of England, and 
 the Manchester Literary and Philosophical. 
 
 His books on the Bath waters were long in high repute. 
 To an Essay on the Influence of the Passions on the 
 Disorders of the Body, the third edition of which was pub- 
 lished in 1796, was adjudged the first Fothergilian Gold 
 Medal. To another on The Diseases of the Hip Joint, and 
 on the Use of the Bath Waters as a Remedy, published in 
 1805, the Medical Society of London adjudged its silver 
 medal. The list containing these particulars is appended by 
 his grandson, Mr. Thomas Falconer, County Court Judge., to 
 the third edition of a book of great research and ability A 
 Dissertation on St. Paul's Voyage from Ccesarea to PuteolL 
 Referring to Observations relating to Natural History 
 selected from the Principal Writers of Antiquity, Dr. Parr 
 says: "I have lately been instrumental in procuring from the 
 Cambridge Press the publication of a work on botanical 
 subjects by my friend, Dr. Falconer, whose knowledge is 
 various and profound, and whose discrimination on all topics
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 127 
 
 of literature are ready, vigorous and comprehensive." The 
 high opinion entertained of him by his brethren in the 
 Metropolis led to his being consulted by a large number of 
 distinguished people who came to Bath, among them Mr. 
 Pitt, whom he attended here in his last illness in 1805. 
 With reference to his position in local society, about that 
 time in its most brilliant phase, Mrs. Piozzi relates that when 
 any doubt existed among the literati, either on a point of 
 scholarship or an historical fact, the common remark was, 
 " We must go to Falconer." 
 
 His son, Dr. Thomas Falconer, also lived at No. 29, in 
 the Bath Circus. Alter graduating at Oxford in 1810 as 
 a student for the Church, he filled the post of Bampton 
 lecturer. He was distinguished by a wide field of knowledge, 
 manifest in the authorship of twenty-three works, classical, 
 medical and theological. Dalzell, Greek professor at 
 Edinburgh, was much struck with his acquirements as a 
 scholar, and Nares, so renowned for his erudition, calls 
 himself a "humble admirer of his great talents." That 
 he was chosen by his University (Oxford) to edit the 
 Geography of Strabo is a sufficient indication of his learning. 
 As a clergyman he often assisted his friend, the Bath 
 historian, the Rev. Richard Warner, in his clerical work 
 in St. James's parish, and after receiving the degree of 
 M.D., gave much medical advice to the poor. He has been 
 justly described as "a man of singular independence of 
 character, a fine scholar and a notable citizen/' He had five 
 sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Hector of Bushey, 
 translated his edition of the Geography of Strabo for Bonn's 
 Library ; another son was many years judge of a County 
 Court in South Wales ; and the youngest, Dr. Randle 
 Wilbraham Falconer, was the third physician of the family.
 
 128 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 One of the daughters married the Right Hon. J. A. Roebuck, 
 M.P. This second Dr. Falconer died in 1839, and was buried 
 near his father in Weston Churchyard. 
 
 To the memory of Dr. Randle Wilbraham Falconer an 
 appropriate tribute was paid in a memoir by Mr. Peach soon 
 after his death, which, to the sorrow of a large circle of friends, 
 occurred in 1881. What he did for the city as a twice-elected 
 mayor, as a humane and judicious magistrate, as a physician 
 advancing the best interests of the profession both by his pen 
 and practise, and as a supporter of numerous useful institu- 
 tions, all this is held in grateful remembrance. Who that 
 was privileged to work with him would forget his efforts to 
 establish the Bath City Lectures, which were successful, or 
 those for a Public Abattoir and a Public Library, which were 
 unsuccessful? Forty years have passed since those efforts 
 were made. So much has been done in the interval for the 
 benefit of the city that it may be hoped the spirit of 1853 has 
 gained fresh strength, and the objects then advocated may 
 yet be accomplished. More and more obvious is the need 
 of a Public Library since the Schools for Technical Education 
 have been founded, the provision for which can hardly be 
 deemed complete without such an institution in immediate 
 connection with them and the benefit of which might be 
 shared by every class in the city. Like his brother, the County 
 Court Judge, who by his benevolence and public spirit in South 
 Wales gained so much distinction, Dr. Randle Wilbraham 
 Falconer threw bread upon the waters which was sure to be 
 found after many days. Both helped to make the world 
 better than they found it, and neither will soon be forgotten 
 in the city which they loved.
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 129 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND 
 NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 If it be thought that members of the medical profession 
 occupy too large a space in these pages, it should be 
 remembered that for several centuries no other profession has 
 been so prominent in Bath. Next to the springs they have 
 been the chief attraction to visitors ; what they could do to 
 restore health or alleviate maladies has been the chief 
 consideration ; many celebrated men of other kinds might 
 come and go ; celebrated physicians were always here. Those 
 of whom I have now to write are Dr. Sibthorpe, Dr. Cogan, 
 Sir George Gibbes, Dr. Parry and Dr. Barlow. 
 
 DR. SIBTHORPE. 
 
 It has been said that Dr. Sibthorpe must have been an 
 eminent man to have had such a beautiful monument in 
 Bath Abbey. Certainly the skill of Flaxman was rarely 
 employed with greater success, and the effect is more striking 
 in consequence of the generally poor character of the 
 sculpture around. Excepting another work by Flaxman, two 
 by Chantry, and a few by Hoare, Nollekens, Westmacott and 
 the Bacons, the hundreds of tombs, tablets, emblems and 
 medallions in the Abbey have scarcely any artistic feature to 
 recommend them. Not that the families who ordered the 
 memorials can be blamed ; men like the brothers of Bishop 
 j
 
 130 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 Montague and the friends of Waller, the Parliamentary 
 General, did the best they could in the then state of English 
 Art. 
 
 That Dr. Sibthorpe was eminent there can be no doubt. 
 Few among the concourse among whom he lies better deserved 
 a handsome monument. He spent his short life in advancing 
 the science of botany, travelling over the world to increase a 
 knowledge of Nature's most beautiful works. He first visited 
 France and Italy after completing his University studies ; then 
 on his return was appointed Professor of Botany at Oxford in 
 succession to his father. Twice in subsequent years he sailed 
 to Greece, travelled in parts of the country usually unexplored, 
 accumulated specimens of rare plants and returned to embody 
 the scientific results in a splendid work which unfortunately 
 could not be published until after his death. The last journey 
 in 1749 was undertaken at a time when his delicate health 
 made it hazardous. Not recovering he settled at Bath for a 
 better climate and congenial society, continuing the 
 preparation of his work until his pen was laid aside for ever. 
 His Flora Oxoniensis he had published at Bath about 1794 ; 
 for his Flora Grceca he left an estate to the University of 
 Oxford, requiring that any surplus should be devoted to 
 founding a Professorship of Rural Economy. He died at 
 Bath in 1800 at the age of thirty -eight. 
 
 BE. COGAN. 
 
 This gentleman was a striking instance of the versatility of 
 some physicians of the period. Probably his varied training 
 may account in some measure for his divers tastes and 
 pursuits. Beginning his education at a good school at 
 Kibworth under Dr. Aikin, the father of Mrs. Barbauld, he 
 continued it for the Nonconformist ministry at Mile-end
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 131 
 
 and Homerton. His earliest settlement was as pastor of a 
 congregation at the Hague, from whence he came back again 
 to England for another at Southampton, but here as in the 
 Dutch city his stay was short. There were two causes for the 
 next step : he announced to his flock that he had become a 
 Unitarian, of which they disapproved, and he had gained in 
 Holland the affections of a young lady whom he wished to 
 marry. So he returned to Holland, studied medicine at 
 Leyden, wrote in 1767 a learned thesis, took his degree, 
 married the lady, and practised successively at Leyden, 
 Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. After a few years thus spent he 
 returned to London and devoted himself to the obstetrical 
 branch of his profession. It may be supposed that he was 
 also devoted to books from his settlement at Paternoster Row ; 
 there, however, he soon became in request, chiefly with the 
 city ladies, and by their means established a prosperous 
 reputation. I learn this from a little work by Dr. Julian 
 Hunter entitled Old Age in Bath. The subjects are Dr. 
 Sherwen and Dr. Cogan, two physicians well known to his 
 father, the Rev. Joseph Hunter. Dr. Sherwen's fame was 
 literary rather than medical, being gained chiefly by the 
 prominent part he took in the Chatterton controversy. 
 
 Respecting Dr. Cogan's devotion to midwifery, Dr. Hunter 
 remarks that the practise of it was at that time with men 
 both a speciality and a novelty. The other sex had been 
 accustomed to officiate in such cases, a woman having 
 presided over the births of all the sons of Queen Charlotte. 
 It may be easily imagined that Mrs. Gamps abounded in 
 those days and that a demand had arisen for well-qualified 
 men as accoucheurs. If Dr. Cogan had been living now he 
 would probably have been one of the first to see that women 
 of the requisite mental and moral power might be advan-
 
 132 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 tageously trained for a kind of practise so peculiarly suited 
 to them. But he had to deal with the case as it stood ; 
 public opinion was against the Mrs. Gamps and in favour of 
 educated men ; he was known to be one of much skill and 
 judgment and easily gained a large practise. Often sent for 
 at a late hour of the day he and his kind of work were so well 
 known that people who met him on his nocturnal expeditions 
 would say, " there goes Dr. Cogan to a lying-in." Even the 
 footpads, so common at the time, were said to have spared 
 him, and the police gave more than the usual protection. It 
 is related that on one occasion he was taken blind -folded to a 
 certain large house, carried to a lady's room, paid a fifty 
 pound note and conducted back without knowing his 
 employer. Another lady who needed no concealment once 
 remonstrated with him on his dress, which was not in the 
 usual professional style : " Pray, sir, can you be a doctor ; 
 you dress like a gentleman." He answered, "Really, madam, 
 if it will increase your confidence or contribute to your ease 
 I will send for my cane and my very best wig." 
 
 Dr. Cogan's London reputation also grew in other ways. 
 "While living at Amsterdam he had been interested in a 
 society for recovering the drowned. In 1773 he translated 
 the memoirs of this society for publication in London, and in 
 1774 he and his friend, Dr. Hawes, founded the Royal 
 Humane Society of London. To his pen were due its first 
 six annual reports, by the circulation of which and his own 
 personal efforts an impulse was given to the establishment of 
 similar institutions in many parts of the world. Having no 
 children and not being eager for wealth, Dr. Cogan disposed 
 of his practise to Dr. Sims who became the first accoucheur 
 in London. Then he returned for a short time to Holland 
 to pursue the study of moral philosophy for which he had
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 133 
 
 already gained repute. There, to gratify at the same time his 
 Dutch wife and his own agricultural taste, he hired a fine 
 family estate called Zulenstein. But it was a time when 
 revolution was in the air all over the continent. He was 
 driven back to England and settled at Bath, living here 
 about twenty years. His time was much devoted to the 
 publication of his various philosophical works, notably his 
 Treatise on the Passions, which passed through several 
 editions. He had been known as an author in London by a 
 Life of John Buncle, junior, Gentleman, intended as a 
 sequel to Mr. Amory's popular novel with a similar title. 
 Other works of more or less merit and on a great variety 
 of subjects owed their authorship to him. 
 
 The activity of Dr. Cogan's mind was certainly not 
 diminished by the climate of Bath. He had always a passion 
 for farming, to indulge which he took land at South Wraxall 
 and was well known both as a practical and theoretical 
 agriculturist. He took a prominent part with Sir Benjamin 
 Hobhouse, Dr. Falconer and Dr. Parry on the Council of the 
 Bath and West of England Society in its early days, often 
 winning prizes at the annual exhibitions. He founded a 
 Bath Humane Society which still exists after the lapse of four- 
 score and ten years, and he always kept up his connection 
 with the parent society in London, watching over its interests 
 and attending its annual meetings. At one of these he 
 received the beautiful gold medal of which only five were 
 minted, one each for George III., the Duke of Kent, the Duke 
 of Sussex, Dr. Hawes and himself At another meeting there 
 was a curious scene: a Royal Highness in the chair, Dr. 
 Lettsom the eminent Quaker physician the chief speaker, 
 Dr. Cogan singing songs of his own composition, and a 
 solemn procession of persons who had been rescued from
 
 134 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 drowning walking round the room while the company joined 
 in the choruses. His steadfast attachment to the institution 
 was shown by a bequest of 1 00 in his will. 
 
 Dr. Cogan's ready wit and habitual cheerfulness made him 
 a welcome guest in the circles he joined. It happened that 
 in Bath some of these were followers of Mr. Jay, others those 
 of the Unitarian minister, Mr. Hunter ; with the former he 
 became intimate, because Mrs. Cogan, being a Dutch Calvinist, 
 attended his chapel, and his connection with the latter may 
 be inferred from the fact that he was one of those who invited 
 Mr. Hunter to settle in Bath. His religion had no trace of 
 sectarianism in it ; the theological works he published were 
 remarkable for their catholic spirit ; he is represented by an 
 American biographer as " steadying the trembling hand of 
 eighty- two to show that the chief object of the Great Creator is 
 the happiness of all his creatures, and that man has no higher 
 mission than to aid by every possible means in its fulfilment." 
 Dr. Cogan having removed to London on the death of his 
 wife died there in 1818. He followed soon afterwards and 
 was buried at Hackney. He requested that the inscription 
 on his grave-stone should be " Jesus said : I am the 
 Resurrection and the Life." Mrs. Cogan's resting place was 
 at Widcombe. 
 
 Dr. Cogan had a half-brother of much repute as a Greek 
 scholar and schoolmaster the Rev. Eliezer Cogan. In early 
 life he also became a Unitarian, and for many years ministered 
 to a church of that body at Walthamstow. On being 
 introduced to Porsou with the remark that he was intensely 
 devoted to Greek, the Professor answered, " If so you must be 
 content with bread and cheese for the rest of your life." But 
 he could not be dissuaded from writing and publishing, in 
 addition to works of religious and practical usefulness, some
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 135 
 
 on his favourite subject, the study of the classics. That his 
 love of ancient literature would gain for him the regard of 
 men like Porsou and Parr was very natural, also that his 
 success as a teacher would cause his school to be filled with 
 pupils. Belonging to Nonconformist families, many of them 
 yet became highly distinguished in public life. One was 
 Benjamin Disraeli, of whom he used to say, " I don't like him, 
 I can never get him to understand the subjunctive." Others 
 were Samuel Sharpe the Egyptologist, Lord Overstone the 
 banker, Mr. Russell Gurney Recorder of London, and Mr. 
 Milner Gibson a Cabinet Minister. 
 
 SIR GEORGE SMITH GIBBES 
 
 may be also fairly ranked with the Bath Celebrities! "He 
 enjoyed," says Mr. Monkland in his Literature and Literati 
 of Bath, "a very extensive practise for many years." The 
 same genial chronicler also writes of him as not only a man 
 of much skill, but "kind-hearted, liberal in his medical pro- 
 fession, social in his habits and a very agreeable companion." 
 The praise of the writer, however, is not indiscriminate, for 
 though he states that " he was a universal genius and nothing 
 came amiss to him : music, painting, philosophy, chemistry, 
 mechanism ; yet " he adds, " like too many of the genius 
 tribe he was as fickle as he was versatile in his pursuits, 
 
 ' Everything by turns and nothing long.' " 
 
 George Smith Gibbes was the son of the Rev. George 
 Gibbes, D.D., rector of Woodborough, in Wiltshire. From a 
 school at Southampton he proceeded to Exeter College, 
 Oxford, and graduated B.A. in 1792. He was then elected a 
 fellow of Magdalen, took the degree of M.B. in 1796, and of 
 M.D. three years afterwards. Several instances of the same
 
 136 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 date suggest the remark that Lord Salisbury's recent complaint 
 on visiting Oxford was not so applicable then as now. " I 
 always think," said the Chancellor, "that the science of 
 medicine has scarcely received among us the tribute it ought 
 to receive among sciences which rest upon observation. 
 It is the most sober, the most absolute, the most positive of 
 all sciences. Others give wide play to the imagination, but 
 scientific imagination is the snare of scientific men. If you 
 indulge in it by the bedside of a patient the patient dies." 
 
 Forcible as these words are, they appear to indicate the 
 tendency, if real, of the close of the nineteenth rather than 
 that of the eighteenth century. The experience of Gibbes 
 and many of his contemporaries at Oxford appears to have 
 been practical rather than imaginative and the history of 
 other medical men who did good work in Bath bears similar 
 testimony. Becoming a fellow of the Royal College of 
 Physicians the new alumnus devoted himself to the ailments 
 especially requiring his attention in the city of the springs. 
 Here, in 1800, he published his first Treatise on the Bath 
 Waters, and, in 1803, his second, both above the average of 
 works on the subject. In 1804 he was elected physician to 
 the Bath (Mineral Water) Hospital; some years later he 
 successively delivered his Harveian oration before the college, 
 obtained the appointment of Physician Extraordinary to 
 Queen Charlotte, and was knighted by George IV. The last 
 of these honours was conferred in 1820. In addition to the 
 private pursuits and accomplishments mentioned by Mr. 
 Monkland, he was much interested in non-professional public 
 matters, being a magistrate for the county of Somerset, filling 
 an office in the Bath Corporation, and taking an active part 
 in founding the Bath Literary Institution. On him devolved 
 the honour of delivering the lecture at the opening of the
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 137 
 
 Institution on the advantages of its establishment, which was 
 followed the next year by Mr. Hunter's, On the connection of 
 Bath with the Literature and Science of England. Dr. 
 Munk, in his Roll of the Royal College of Physicians, states 
 that Sir George Gibbes practised here with distinguished 
 reputation and success many years. About 188-5 he quitted 
 Bath and retired to Sidmouth, where he died in 1851, aged 
 eighty. Of the church in that town his son was incumbent, 
 and there may be seen a mural tablet to his memory. One of 
 his most remarkable works was entitled, Observations on the 
 component parts of Animal Matters, and their conversion 
 into a substance resembling Spermaciti. This, of course, 
 appeared in his younger days, when chemistry was his ruling 
 passion. 
 
 DR. PARRY. 
 
 We now come to a name more familiar in the present day 
 than any that have preceded it. No Bath physician of his 
 time had a higher standing than the first Doctor Parry, and 
 throughout the kingdom he had great repute both for his 
 writings and practise. Much of his culture he owed to near 
 kindred and early associations ; his father, the Rev. Joshua 
 Parry, a learned Nonconformist minister at Cirencester, being 
 the intimate friend of Earl Bathurst, who lived near and was 
 the Maecenas of the time. His college training he received at 
 Warrington, where the society of Dr. Aikin, his daughter 
 Mrs. Barbauld and the Rigby family aided greatly in the 
 formation of his mind. Having begun his medical studies at 
 Edinburgh, he continued them two years in the house of Dr. 
 Denman, a friend of the Aikins and father of the Lord Chief 
 Justice. Prior to his settlement at Bath in 1779 he married 
 Miss Rigby, whose brother at Norwich and nephew in London
 
 138 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 both attained medical celebrity and who shared all the high 
 tastes of her husband. His practise, small at first as usual, 
 steadily increased until it included a list of patients perhaps 
 larger and more remarkable than that of any other local 
 practitioner in the kingdom. It was the period 1780 to 1816', 
 during which Bath was in the zenith of its fame, and Dr. 
 Parry's memoranda show that many of the British nobility and 
 most distinguished men of the time consulted him. Beginning 
 with receipts for the first year of .39, he notes them for the 
 fifth 239 ; for the tenth 1,600, and afterwards nearly 
 =3,000. There is a story that during some epidemic he was 
 returning home after a long morning's work when a friend 
 remarked that his waistcoat pockets, of the large fashion of 
 the time, seemed very full, probably of guineas. " Yes," he 
 said, <: I believe there are ninety-nine, I may make it a round 
 sum before I get home." Yet Dr. Parry was not mercenary ; 
 if he enjoyed success he deserved it ; through a long life he 
 studied earnestly ; he published many elaborate treatises ; he 
 cultivated music, painting and literature, and he devoted 
 much time to works of benevolence and public utility. In 
 1782 he was elected Governor of the Bath Hospital, in 1800 
 fellow of the Royal Society, in successive years a member of 
 other learned bodies at home and abroad, and lastly he was 
 honoured with the Bedford Gold Medal of the Bath and West 
 of England Agricultural Society for his varied services during 
 thirty-seven years. The land he purchased on Sion Hill, 
 where he built Summerhill, enabled him to try various minor 
 experiments in agriculture, while a farm he hired in the 
 neighbourhood gave scope for that breeding of sheep and 
 production of wool for which he was celebrated. He died in 
 1822, after seeing his sons become worthy of their parentage, 
 the elder following the same profession in the same city, the
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 139 
 
 youngest distinguished as a naval officer by Arctic discoveries. 
 Dr. Parry's friends caused a handsome monument to be 
 erected to his memory in the choir of the Abbey Church. 
 
 The elder son, Dr. Charles Hemy Parry, succeeded his 
 father at Summerhill. He also had a considerable practise 
 and was widely known as an accomplished physician. But he 
 probably distinguished himself more in literature than in 
 medicine, for which his education at the University of 
 Gottingen and his travels in Germany with S. T. Coleridge 
 gave Mm a strong bias. Pursuing his academic course at 
 Edinburgh he made the acquaintance of Mr., afterwards Lord, 
 Brougham, with whom he long maintained a correspondence. 
 Some of the best years of his life were devoted to the 
 elucidation and confirmation of his father's medical views, 
 which he accomplished by editing and publishing in several 
 volumes his various writings. He was also the author of a 
 work of considerable research. The Parliaments and Councils 
 of England from William the Conqueror to the Revolution 
 in 1688, and of a life of his grandfather, the Nonconformist 
 minister, which was edited after his death by his relative, Sir 
 J. Eardley-Wilmot, Bart. Dr. Charles Parry some years 
 before his death retired to Brighton, where he died in 1860 
 full of years. He was buried in a family vault at Weston, near 
 Bath, several of his daughters having preceded him. 
 
 The fame of the younger son was national rather than local. 
 Sir Edward Parry will be known in the annals of England as 
 a distinguished Arctic navigator and the worthy companion of 
 Sir John Franklin. Five quarto volumes written by his own 
 hand in successive years testify to the work those brave men 
 did, their unfailing courage and their patriotic service. Step 
 by step they advanced until they reached the higher posts of 
 their profession, always displaying the qualities that deserved
 
 140 PHYSICIANS OF THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 them, receiving at length their knighthood together, and 
 standing, side by side, at an Oxford commemoration for the 
 degree of D.C.L. All this is told with much beauty of 
 expression by the Rev. Edward Parry, in a memoir of his 
 father's life. There we learn that the home of the navigator's 
 childhood continued ever dear to him, and there that his 
 native city was always foremost to do him honour. While the 
 Bath Corporation led other municipal bodies in presenting 
 him with the freedom of their city, the Bath people showed 
 their grateful remembrance by a handsome offering of plate. 
 In all national manifestations, however, the two friends were 
 hand in hand, as when at Oxford the Prize Poem of the year 
 was recited with the lines alluding to their return : 
 
 " But fairer England greets the wanderers now, 
 Unfading laurels shade her Parry's brow, 
 And on the proud memorials of her fame, 
 Lives, linked with deathless glory, Franklin's name." 
 
 DR. BABLOW. 
 
 A few readers of these sketches probably remember Dr. 
 Barlow, who for thirty-seven years, until his death in 1848, 
 was prominent in Bath. Born at Mullingar, in the county 
 of Meath, and the son of a distinguished medical man, he 
 was educated for the same profession, attending the schools 
 of Dublin, Edinburgh and London. He practised in Dublin 
 until 1807, when he removed to Bath to begin the career 
 which rendered him one of the most useful and honoured 
 members of the profession. His private practise, although 
 considerable, was surpassed by that of several of his brethren, 
 but his work as physician to both the large hospitals and his 
 various scientific publications gained for him great repute.
 
 AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 141 
 
 He was scarcely ever absent from the hospitals on his allotted 
 day, and at the " United " generally passed from three to four 
 hours investigating the cases of out-door patients and pre- 
 scribing for their relief. The kindness with which lie listened 
 to their histories made him a great, favourite, though an 
 occasional quickness of manner when he was overburthened 
 with work may have been slightly observable. His real 
 feeling was manifest in the practical direction of all his 
 efforts. No better illustration is needed than the " Flannel 
 Waistcoat Charity '' which he established to meet the want of 
 sufficient clothing, and is still one of the most useful in 
 connection with the Hospital. 
 
 Among his intimate friends and fellow workers was one 
 who thoroughly sympathised with him in all his benevolent 
 and scientific projects Mr. J. Soden. They were both 
 ardent Phrenologists, and together founded a local Phreno- 
 logical Society, engaging Mr. George Combe to deliver a 
 course of lectures and enlisting a considerable number of 
 members for the discussion of problems. There could be no 
 belter testimony to Dr. Barlow's favourite theories on the 
 subject than his own broad, beautiful forehead, and fine, 
 regular features all eloquent of his moral and mental 
 qualities. Whether his scientific knowledge of physical 
 deficiencies in the brains of others strengthened his charit- 
 able allowances or not, it is certain that in this respect 
 his example was in unison with his doctrine. It would be 
 easily imagined that when it was proposed to found a Literary 
 and Scientific Institution worthy of the city, he was one of 
 the most active supporters ; nor should it be forgotten that 
 the offshoot which -flourishes to this day the Literary and 
 Philosophical Association owed its formation in a great 
 measure to him. Of his medical works those in the highesc
 
 142 PHYSICIANS. 
 
 repute were eight valuable treatises in the Cyclopaedia of 
 Practical Medicine and an Essay on Physical Education, the 
 latter having been translated into several European languages. 
 He also published pamphlets on Medical Reform, the Bath 
 Waters, The Study of Phrenology and numerous essays in the 
 Medical Journals illustrating the pathology and treatment of 
 disease. With all his skill and knowledge, however, he could 
 not baffle the great enemy beyond the age of sixty-three. 
 Nearly fifty years have now passed since his death ; many 
 good men have come and gone, but few more worthy of 
 honoured remembrance than Dr. Barlow. 
 
 Other ornaments of the medical profession have also passed 
 away in the present century whose memories those who knew 
 them would not willingly let die. A more copious biographer, 
 one with a wider scope than the present, should do justice to 
 physicians like Dr. Daniel Pring and Dr. James Watson, also 
 to surgeons like Mr. George Norman and Mr. Richard 
 Thomas Gore. Knowing and esteeming them all as I did, 
 whether for great professional skill or enlightened public 
 spirit, whether battling with acute disease in the private 
 chamber or giving their noble services in the public hospital, 
 I regret that I must content myself with paying this short 
 tribute to their worth.
 
 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. H3 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 
 
 Dr. Henry Harington was fifth in descent from Sir John 
 Harington, Queen Elizabeth's godson. The intermediate 
 descendants having been also connected with Bath it will be 
 right to state first a little of what is known of them. Few 
 families in any city can trace their pedigree through five 
 hundred years and point to a succession of eminent ancestors 
 from the time of the Wars of the Roses to the present century; 
 but this is what a respected member of the Harington family 
 now living in Bath can do. 
 
 Sir John Harington, of the Tudor times, died at Kelston in 
 1612, leaving seven children. His ideas as to education, 
 like many of his other ideas, were peculiar and produced a 
 result he did not anticipate. Although a strong Royalist lie 
 is said to have placed his eldest son to be trained by a 
 Puritan, hoping he would see in him and his party so much 
 to dislike as to be confirmed in the old faith. What the 
 young man's impressions were when he returned home does 
 not appear, but it is certain that eventually he became both 
 Presbyterian and Parliamentarian, and was censured accord- 
 ingly by party writers. He was much liked, however, in the 
 neighbourhood of Kelston, where he inherited his father's 
 estate. As member for Bath in the time of the Common- 
 wealth and Chairman of Sessions for the county of Somerset 
 he was prominent and influential. He married Lady Dioness 
 Ley, daughter of the first Earl of Marlborough, and dying in 
 1654 left several children, the eldest surviving son being 
 John, his successor.
 
 144 DK. HENRY HARINGTON. 
 
 This John was born in 1627. He also belonged to the 
 Puritan party, and, on the accession of Charles II., was thereby 
 in danger of much tribulation. In 1 660 Lord Chancellor 
 Hyde wrote to Lord Poulett for "a true account of all who 
 had been employed in the late troubles by commission, civil 
 or military, under the Usurper." "Among some others," he 
 continues, " information is delivered of John Harington, son 
 to the late member for the city of Bath, bearing arms by 
 virtue of commission from the Usurper." This demand and 
 Lord Poulett's answer are found in Nugw- Antiques, written 
 by a Harington, and have been lately reproduced, in beautiful 
 facsimiles illustrating the Harington pedigree, by the Rev. 
 F. J. Poynton, rector of Kelston. Lord Poulett replied to 
 Lord Hyde that he had submitted his lordship's letter to 
 Mr. Harington, in which it was stated " whatever the father's 
 principles led him to, the son was no object for his Majestie's 
 displeasure." The reply was followed by a curious certificate 
 as to the good intention of the Kelston squire, signed by 
 Lord Poulett and twenty other noblemen and gentlemen of 
 Somerset. The substance was that he did accept a commis- 
 sion from Cromwell, and that the signers themselves had 
 earnestly entreated him to do so, but it was in order that 
 they and their families might be secured from the "spoyle 
 and ruine " they anticipated from the Civil War. " To the 
 above certificate/' says Harington in a memorandum on the 
 same page in Mr. Poynton' s book, " I am indebted for my life 
 and fortune, which otherwise had been forfeited by the laws 
 of the land, and hereby I obtained under the seal of England 
 his Majestie's most gracious pardon." 
 
 In preparing for his work Mr. Poynton examined, among 
 other MSS.,the Records of the City of Bath. He there found 
 that this John Harington was first chosen, with Mr. James
 
 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 145 
 
 Ash, member for Bath in 1 658. It was four years after his 
 father's death, which is at variance with the statement in 
 Nugce- Antiques that he went in 1646 "to dine with the 
 Maior and citizens to confer with them about serving in 
 Parliament as his father was helpless and could not go any 
 more ; " adding that he could not, however, be excused, and 
 that " the Maior promised him and Sir John Homer a horse 
 apiece." " Nor," adds Mr. Poynton, " is the name of Horner 
 for Bath anywhere discernible. In fact the borough seems to 
 have gone short with one member for some years previous to 
 1658. Has the compiler of the Nugm confounded the 
 representation with that of the shire ? It would seem so." 
 Whatever the public duties and trials of this Mr. Harington 
 may have been, he had many of a private nature in connec- 
 tion with his property. As his mother, Lady Dioness, sur- 
 vived her husband twenty years, and Kelston was settled on 
 her for her life, the son lived at Corston, another family estate, 
 though her ladyship spent her time almost entirely in Bath 
 or London. During her absence Kelston became greatly 
 deteriorated, so that when the heir came to his inheritance 
 his fortune was sorely taxed. The claims upon him were very 
 heavy. Married four times, he had twenty children and 
 innumerable grandchildren. Yet he was very generous, a 
 benefactor to many parishes, and always ready with his purse 
 for good public objects. His name is in the list of con- 
 tributors to the old Bath Abbey Library. One of his wives 
 having property in Marshfield he made a bequest to that 
 parish. Kelston was liberally remembered in his will, and 
 the vicarage of Weston was re-endowed with certain sources 
 of income which had been alienated by some ancestor. 
 
 On his death, in 1700, another John Harington, his SOD, 
 succeeded him at Kelston. In 1725 lie died and being
 
 146 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 
 
 childless, his brother Henry inherited the estate. This was 
 the father of the chief subject of the present sketch, by whose 
 aid, as the eldest son, he disentailed the property. Mr. 
 Poynton has shown how seriously the family resources had 
 been reduced from time to time, dating so far back as the 
 outlay by Sir John "in completing and adorning the great 
 mansion called Kelston house." Probably for this purpose 
 two of the manors granted by Henry VIII. were disposed of: 
 St. Catherine's Court in Batheaston and Nyland near Glaston- 
 bury. Sir John also spent large sums of money in litigation ; 
 he attempted to recover some ancient manors belonging to 
 another branch of the family, and he undertook a Star 
 Chamber suit against his wife's relations, the Rogers's of 
 Cannington. Again, the manorial estate of Corston, which 
 the frugality of Sir John's son, the Parliamentarian, had added 
 to the family resources, was, in 1693, diverted to the use of 
 another branch. Thus were the acquisitions of one genera- 
 tion lost by the bad management of another. The more 
 immediate cause of the sale of Kelston by the father of Dr. 
 Harington of Bath, appears to have been the heavy charge 
 on the estate for the legacies and marriage portions of the 
 owner's younger brothers and sisters. He clung, however, 
 to his ancestral property till 1759, when, finding he could no 
 longer support his position, he availed himself of his power 
 to sell. The estate was bought by Mr. Hawkins, an eminent 
 surgeon, afterwards Sir Csesar Hawkins, baronet, who pulled 
 down the large stately mansion and built a smaller one. Dr. 
 Pocock, the antiquary, happened to be in Bath during the 
 demolition, and describes in his tour the grandeur and great 
 solidity of the old edifice. The last owner retired to Bath, 
 where he spent the remaining years of his life, enjoying the 
 society of his son. He died in 1769 at the age of eighty- 
 three, and was buried among his ancestors at Kelston.
 
 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 147 
 
 At length we come to the life of Dr. Henry Harington, 
 "whose memory," Mr. Poynton justly says, "still lingers in 
 Bath as of one long known and very highly esteemed there." 
 " It comes under our notice," he adds, " accompanied at first 
 by sad reflections If we grieve over the demolition of the 
 ancient and beautiful home, what must be our regret for the 
 last Harington born within its walls, baptised in the old 
 parish church and associated with all its ancestral surround- 
 ings. It seems hard that the only surviving son should 
 never himself enjoy the property, but should find himself, cm 
 coming of age, with no power in family affairs because his 
 elder brother had joined his father in barring the entail." 
 
 Still there was much to reconcile him to his lot. The 
 long, painful struggle with strained circumstances was ended. 
 The reverse had not been caused by the follies and vices 
 which had ruined so many wealthy families. The estates had 
 not been wasted by costly election contests or gambled away 
 on the turf or at the card table. In addition to the father's 
 unsullied name there were his own pleasant professional 
 prospects and circle of congenial friends. No man was better 
 able to say, " My mind to me a kingdom is/' Not destined 
 to be Squire of Kelston, he chose the work of life most 
 conducive to the enjoyment and usefulness of life. Holy 
 Orders had been thought of, but he wanted wider scope than 
 they would have allowed him, and after the usual course at 
 Oxford he studied medicine. His first settlement was at 
 Wells, where two of his uncles (Hudlestones) were suc- 
 cessively rectors of St. Cuthbert's Church. Here he practised 
 eighteen years, earnestly cultivating all the time his love of 
 music. 
 
 In 1757 he removed to Bath, where he followed a medical 
 uncle, Dr. Edward Harington. The literary as well as
 
 148 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 
 
 musical society was larger, and he had more inducements to 
 cultivate his talents in both directions. Fifty and sixty years 
 ago one often met in Bath Society those who remembered his 
 genial manners, his agreeable conversation and his rich 
 stores of anecdote. The benevolence of Dr. Henry Harington 
 was known to all the country round. He was warmly 
 interested in the Bath Hospital, now styled the Mineral 
 "Water Hospital, to which he was physician. Not only was 
 his house open on certain days to the poor who needed his 
 advice, but he willingly wrote it to those at a distance who 
 were unable to come. 
 
 His facile pen was never more successful than when 
 appealing for charitable objects. To his love of literature 
 testimony is given by various writers of the time. There was 
 a Rev. Samuel Rogers who published a Latin version of 
 Gay's Elegant Fable of the shepherd and philosopher. 
 He dedicated the book to " the ingenious, learned and 
 judicious " Dr. Harington, and mentions his literary merit as 
 one of his claims to distinction. Mr. Monkland in his 
 pleasant little volumes on The Literature and Literati of 
 Bath describes Dr. Harington among a knot of good talkers 
 at Bull's Library, a favourite place of resort, in his accustomed 
 chair, with his full-bottomed wig, his three-cornered hat and 
 full of animation though quite blind and approaching his 
 ninetieth year. Of his wit there is a specimen in his well 
 known epigram in the Abbey Church : 
 
 " These walls adorned with monument and bust 
 Show how Bath Waters serve to lay the dust." 
 His political proclivities may be inferred from one of his 
 toasts: 
 
 " Here's to Rex, Lex and Pontifex, 
 A toast no loyal heart rejects :
 
 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 149 
 
 The King in safety all protects 
 The Church to future bliss directs. 
 May knaves who plot the State to vex 
 Find Law provides for all their necks." 
 
 Milder and more in accord with his usual mood were his 
 lines on 
 
 THE THREE ENGLISH PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 " Three wondrous sages midst these eras born 
 Eevered for knowledge, Albion's isle adorn. 
 One called forth Science as she slumbering lay, 
 And led the dawn of intellectual day. 
 The next through life immersed in Thought profound, 
 Toiling for Truth search'd Nature's ample round. 
 The third reviewed with new enlightened soul 
 Improved all past and perfected the whole." 
 
 In the time of Dr. Harington, and notably by his efforts 
 scientific music was much cultivated in Bath. For some 
 years prior to his settlement here the concerts and oratorios 
 had obtained considerable repute. William Herschel and his 
 gifted sister Caroline, the Linleys "the nest of nightingales" 
 beloved by Dr. Burney, with a few others were heard of 
 everywhere. The passionate love of music which Harington 
 had cherished from his earliest years was probably one strong 
 reason for his removal to a city where it would find ample 
 scope. Kauzzini had become Director of the public concerts, 
 Incledon was articled to the Director, Braham lived in his 
 house, Madame Mara and Mrs. Billington were as great 
 attractions then as Madame Catalani and others were after- 
 wards. A catch club had been popular, but was beginning to 
 decay. Harington, with the assistance of two friends the 
 Rev. John Bowen and the Rev. Thomas Broadhurst, both of
 
 150 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 
 
 whom I knew well, formed out of its remnants the Bath 
 Harmonic Society. He also published a long series of 
 musical compositions, much admired in their day, especially 
 the glees and anthems. Perhaps he gained the greatest fame 
 by his Eloi or The Last Words of our Saviour, which 
 was sung for many years on Good Friday in the Abbey 
 Church and other churches in Bath. The versatility of his 
 mind on various subjects is shown in works as different from 
 each other as the Ode to Discord and the Ode to 
 Harmony, the Witch of Wokey a ballad in the old 
 English style, and the Geometrical Analogy of the Catholic 
 Doctrine of the Trinity. Nor did these numerous works 
 prevent his interest in various city matters. As trustee of 
 his mother, he contracted for the erection of Northumberland 
 buildings. It was in one of these houses he lived some years 
 until his death, and there he gathered his congenial friends 
 around him to share his hospitality. He was a member of the 
 Bath Corporation many years, and filled the offices of alder- 
 man, magistrate and mayor. On his death in 1827 at the age 
 of eighty-nine, he was buried with his ancestors at Kelston, 
 but an elegant monument was erected to his memory in the 
 Abbey Church with a long classical inscription, six lines of 
 which indicate his leading characteristics : 
 
 Medicus solers et fidelis 
 
 Poeta lepidus ; 
 
 Musicus sciens et peritus ; 
 
 Magistratus, gravis, Justus et acer ; 
 
 Erga suos amantissimus ; 
 Erga omnes comis et benevolus. 
 
 Further knowledge of the life and works of this excellent man 
 may be obtained from various memoirs, notably from one in
 
 DR. HENRY HARINGTON. 151 
 
 the third volume of the Bath and Bristol Magazine, 
 published in 1834. The author signs himself Philo-Musicus, 
 the real name being probably the Rev. Thomas Broadhurst, 
 an intimate friend and most genial fellow -worker in the 
 Harmonic Society and other kindred objects. He states that 
 Dr. Harington "married the amiable and accomplished 
 Miss Musgrave, of Oxford," by whom there were four children, 
 hree sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Edward, was 
 Mayor of Bath in 1745, and having taken up a loyal address 
 from the Corporation was knighted by George III. Sir 
 Edward was the author of several spirited and ingenious 
 publications. One of the most interesting in Bath was 
 A Schizzo on the Genius of Man, in which the merits of 
 Thomas Barker, who had recently acquired fame by his 
 picture " The Woodman " were particularly considered. Dr. 
 Harington's second son, Henry, was a Prebendary at Norwich, 
 where he was popular and useful as a preacher, and where in 
 1799 he published the second edition of a remarkable book 
 Nugce- Antiques, relating chiefly to his distinguished ancestor 
 of Queen Elizabeth's time. Sir Edward's son married a 
 Somersetshire lady of fortune, Miss Bave, descended from the 
 eminent physician noticed in a former sketch, and his 
 grandson was a clergyman in recent times and of great repute 
 for benevolence at Exeter. He lived till 1 88 1 , was Chancellor 
 and Sub-Dean of Exeter, an intimate friend of Bishop 
 Philpotts and, being possessed of ample means, enjoyed the 
 privilege of doing much practical good, especially to his 
 poorer clerical brethren. He thoughtfully remembered in his 
 will the poor of Kelston, where he was buried in the old 
 family vault.* 
 
 * The connection of the Baves and Haringtons is very amply 
 described by Mr. Poynton in the work I have often referred to
 
 152 SIR W. HKRSCHEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 SIR W. HERSCHEL AND CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 
 
 That Bath should be at all noted for scientific men has been 
 a matter of some surprise. How contrary to the Genius 
 Loci would be the exclamation of many who knew it only as 
 a fashionable place. They would expect perhaps some 
 musical taste and love of art, but not the patient, plodding, 
 studious habits required in the pursuit of science. That a 
 distinguished Astronomer and the Father of English Geology 
 should be found in a city famed for dancing and card-playing, 
 whose visitors were believed to worship chiefly at the shrine 
 of Pleasure, would seem passing strange. 
 
 Yet a little inquiry would show that the fact was not new. 
 
 on the parish of Kelston. The description is commenced in page 
 78 with an elaborate chapter entitled, The Bares of Bath and of 
 Barrow Court, Tickenham, co. Somerset, allied to the Haringtons, both 
 of Kelston and Corston, in the same County. This chapter is 
 followed by an exhaustive pedigree of the Baves and copious 
 summaries of their wills, from the time when Dr. Samuel Bave 
 settled in Bath in 1640 to the death of Dr. Anthony Bave of 
 Wootton-under-Edge, in 1738. The first Dr. Bave of Bath 
 bought Barrow Court some time before his death, and bequeathed 
 it to his son Anthony, with contingent remainder to another son, 
 Charles, who was also devisee of his father's house and gardens in 
 Bath and property in Gloucester, sole executor of his mother's 
 will and inheritor of lands at Tickenham. That a Bath physician 
 of the seventeenth century should have been in a position to 
 found a family as thus described is noteworthy in connection with 
 the local medical history of the period.
 
 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 153 
 
 It would be seen that in almost every period of the history of 
 Bath, science has had its votaries there. The mysterious 
 springs alone would have given an impulse to investigation, 
 and brought thoughtful men intent on more than common 
 aims. Century after century, from the time of Adelard and 
 John de Villula to that of Herschel and William Smith, such 
 men have appeared, as these pages testify, quickened them- 
 selves and quickening others. Within twenty-five years of 
 recent times two of the largest scientific societies in the king- 
 dom, the British Association and the Bath and West and 
 Southern Counties Society, have each held two meetings at 
 intervals in Bath, and nowhere have they been more warmly 
 welcomed, nowhere more successful as to numbers, earnestness 
 and practical results. 
 
 The first of the names at the head of this sketch belongs 
 rightly to national rather than local history. But Herschel 
 began his astronomical career in Bath, spent some of the best 
 days of his life here, and by his great discoveries added to the 
 reputation of the city. His early history, like that of many 
 remarkable men, illustrates the influence of difficulties in 
 forming character and ensuring ultimate success. The family 
 were of Jewish origin, the heads of three successive generations 
 being called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but all became 
 Christian confessors. Abraham, expelled from Mahren, his 
 place of residence in Germany, on account of his Protestantism, 
 was the great uncle of the astronomer, whose father was 
 originally a farmer near Leipsic. The farmer, excelling in the 
 national aptitude for music, gave up his farm to teach what he 
 knew so well, and was able to develop considerable musical 
 talent in all his ten children. 
 
 William, the future astronomer, was born at Hanover in 
 1738, and came to England when twenty-one to earn his
 
 154 SIR W. HERSCHEL AND 
 
 living by his father's profession. Having intellectual tastes 
 he had been provided at home with a French tutor, under 
 whom he had made considerable progress in logic, ethics and 
 metaphysics. But his studies were interrupted by the poverty 
 of his family, and at fourteen he was placed in the band of the 
 Hanoverian Regiment of Guards, a detachment of which he 
 accompanied to Yorkshire. After many struggles with adverse 
 fortune he attracted the notice of Lord Darlington, who 
 engaged him to instruct a military band then forming for the 
 Durham Militia. Having fulfilled this engagement, he 
 passed several years in the West Riding, giving lessons in the 
 principal towns, and employing his leisure in improving his 
 knowledge of English, acquiring Italian, and improving his 
 Greek and Latin. In 1765 he gained the situation of organist 
 at Halifax. There also he taught music and directed oratorios 
 and concerts. And there, moreover, with a view to master 
 the theory ot harmony, he taught himself mathematics, which 
 led ultimately to his great astronomical investigations. 
 
 It was in the following year, 1766, he removed to Bath. He 
 was accompanied by his elder brother, who, with a sister, be- 
 came his companion for many years. The brothers were both 
 engaged by Mr. Linley for the Pump Room Band, and William 
 also obtained the situation of organist to the Octagon Chapel, 
 which was very advantageous as leading to a profitable range 
 of public and private engagements. Caroline, an admirable 
 woman, poor, patient, self-denying, self-educated, found 
 employment first as her brother's leading solo singer at his 
 various concerts, also in training the trebles and copying the 
 scores, afterwards in aiding him to perfect his astronomical 
 instruments and to " sweep the heavens " from the little 
 garden at the back of the home in New King Street. This 
 work of perfecting the instruments by the brother and sister
 
 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 155 
 
 is one of the most interesting in the records of science. We 
 have seen that Herschel's thirst for knowledge of the heavenly 
 bodies had been stimulated by his mathematical acquirements. 
 After working twelve or fourteen hours a day at lessons to 
 musical pupils, or conducting concerts and oratorios, he sought 
 relaxation in studying optics. He borrowed from a friend in 
 Bath a two-feet Gregorian telescope which delighted him so 
 much that he commissioned a friend in London to buy one of 
 larger dimensions, but found that the price was beyond his 
 means. By no means discouraged, he resolved to construct 
 the complicated machine with his own hands, and after 
 repeated disappointments succeeded. In the year 1774 he 
 had the great pleasure of seeing the planet Saturn through a 
 five-feet Newtonian reflector of his own making. There could 
 now be little doubt as to his future career. 
 
 And now old things were changed. Musical engagements 
 were gradually relinquished. Time was found for cultivating 
 the acquaintance of scientific men in Bath. For some years 
 the city had had a Philosophical Institution of which Herschel 
 was a member with a few other remarkable men. It failed 
 to succeed, however, and another was formed, the original 
 minute book of which is now in the possession of a Bath 
 citizen, Mr. Frederick Shum, who has favoured me with a 
 sight of it. Thence I learn that of this new Institution Dr. 
 William Falconer was president, and that on the 3rd of 
 January, 1799, Mr. Herschel and Sir William Watson were 
 received on the ground that they had been members of the 
 former Institution. The success of Herschel in his earlier 
 construction of telescopes impelled him to " try his hand " 
 at larger ones, seven, ten, and even twenty feet in length. 
 Eventually he began a regular survey of the skies by means 
 of a seven feet reflector, in the course of which he remarked
 
 156 SIR W. HERSCHEL AND 
 
 that a star recorded as fixed was progressively changing its 
 position, and by prolonged attention he was enabled to 
 ascertain that it was a hitherto undiscovered planet. The 
 Royal Society at once awarded him their annual gold medal 
 and elected him a Fellow. In compliment to the king he 
 named the planet Georgium Sidus ; continental astronomers 
 chose to designate it first Herschel, afterwards Uranus. The 
 king, however, showed his appreciation by at once granting 
 a salary which enabled the discoverer to give up the musical 
 profession and devote the rest of his life to astronomy. 
 What he afterwards did ; how he quitted Bath to be near the 
 king at Slough and was knighted in due time ; how he 
 constructed new instruments, made fresh discoveries, and 
 was duly honoured by Oxford and other seats of learning ; 
 how he trained his son to follow in the same glorious path, 
 winning admiration by religious worth as well as scientific 
 eminence ; all this may be learned from the biographers of 
 the period. His portrait appropriately adorns the reading- 
 room of the Bath Institution. 
 
 Sir William married in 1788 the daughter of Mr. Baldwin, 
 a London merchant, a most amiable woman whose jointure 
 relieved him from all pecuniary care ; they had the one 
 son just mentioned who was born in 1792. The king con- 
 tinued his sincere friendship for many years, granting him 
 2,000 twice for the completion of a giant reflector in 
 addition to .200 a year for repairs and his salary as 
 Astronomer Royal. His majesty was among the many 
 distinguished visitors who came to Slough to see the reflector, 
 being accompanied on one occasion by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury whom he helped through the great tube, saying 
 " Come my Lord Bishop I will show you the way to Heaven." 
 Herschel's biographers all write of him as possessing the
 
 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 157 
 
 qualities of truly great men, kindness, modesty, simplicity 
 and readiness to explain. His family affections were 
 unusually strong, endearing him to his widowed mother and 
 many other kindred whom he assisted. In 1807 he had a 
 severe illness which permanently impaired his strength and 
 caused him to take frequent intervals of rest at Bath and 
 other places. He lived, however, till 1822 when he died at 
 Slough in his eighty-fourth year, where he was buried. Lady 
 Herschel survived him ten years. 
 
 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 
 
 Mention of this distinguished woman is made in the pre- 
 ceding sketch which is given chiefly as it appeared in the 
 original series. It was not at first my design to write a 
 separate memoir, but having now more scope I cannot with- 
 hold a few outlines of one of the most remarkable lives in the 
 annals of science. Bath may well be proud of Caroline 
 Herschel ; humble as her position was during the time she 
 lived here, her path was ever onward and upward ; day by 
 day, unknown to the world, intent only on the work of the 
 hour, she laid the foundation of a world-wide fame which will 
 long endure the tests of time. 
 
 In the large family of the Herschel brothers and sisters at 
 Hanover, she was the eighth child and fourth daughter. 
 Born in 1750, she came to Bath in 1772 to assist her 
 brother in the musical engagements to which he was then 
 devoted. Her father being in the same profession had given 
 her a few violin lessons which relieved her from the household 
 drudgery imposed by her mother, and enabled her to take 
 part in his pupil's concerts. But his untimely death made 
 fresh efforts necessary; first she attempted to learn dress- 
 making in order to earn her livelihood, and then endeavoured
 
 158 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 
 
 to qualify herself as a governess by practising fancy work in 
 hours taken from sleep. It was at this period that her 
 brother William, to whom from childhood she had been 
 strongly attached, offered her a home at Bath. She readily 
 accepted the proposal and threw all her energies into every- 
 thing that could advance his interests. For singing at his 
 concerts she prepared herself by imitating the violin parts 
 with a gag between her teeth, and is said to have " gained 
 a tolerable execution before she began to sing." 
 
 .These particulars I owe chiefly to the Dictionary of 
 National Biography, its authority being Mrs. John Herschel's 
 Memoirs and Correspondence of her relative. It is there 
 stated that Caroline's brother besides giving her two singing 
 lessons daily taught her English and Arithmetic, though her 
 studies were impeded by continual demands for aid in his 
 astronomical pursuits. She herself says, "The summer of 
 1775 was taken up with copying and practising music in 
 addition to attendance on my brother when polishing mirrors, 
 since by way of keeping him alive I was constantly obliged to 
 feed him by putting food into his mouth ; I also read novels 
 to him while he was at work, sometimes stopping to lend a 
 hand so that in time I became as useful a member of the 
 workshop as a boy in the first year of his apprenticeship. As 
 I was to take part in the oratorios, I had for a whole twelve- 
 month two lessons a week from Miss Fleming, the celebrated 
 dancing mistress, to drill me for a gentlewoman ; God knows 
 how she succeeded." The brother aided the preparation by 
 giving her ten guineas with which to buy a dress, the result 
 being that on her first appearance she was pronounced "an 
 ornament to the stage " and received much applause. She 
 sang as first treble in the Messiah, Judas Maccabeus and 
 other pieces, at Bath and Bristol, sometimes five nights in the
 
 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 159 
 
 week, but declined an engagement for the Birmingham 
 Festival, having resolved to appear only where her brother 
 conducted. Their last public performance was at Margaret's 
 Chapel, Bath, on Whitsunday, 1782. 
 
 This was prior to their removal to Datchet in consequence 
 of the appointment by George III. mentioned in a preceding 
 page. At Datchet, Caroline's training for astronomy, which 
 was begun at Bath, was pursued with greater vigour, though 
 she very unwillingly abandoned music. She called herself 
 "a mere tool which her brother had the trouble of 
 sharpening," but some one remarked that " that there was 
 temper in the tool which made it invaluable." She not 
 only acquired the necessary knowledge to perform simple 
 calculations and keep the records of his multitude of 
 observations in perfect order as long as he lived ; she also 
 learned the details of those observations with such success 
 that she began to " sweep the heavens " on her own account 
 with a small Newtonian reflector. 
 
 In the first year at Datchet she discovered three remark- 
 able nebulae, one of them the well-known companion to the 
 Andromeda nebula. In the intervals of her attendance on 
 her brother, often through the watches of the night till day 
 began to dawn, she brought the stars of the British 
 Catalogue into zones of one degree each for his " sweeps," 
 and prepared all his papers for the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions. In ten years, between 1786 and 1 797, she discovered 
 eight comets, live of them with undisputed priority ; one was 
 afterwards famous as " Enckes comet." For her "Eeduction 
 and Arrangement in the form of a Catalogue of all the Star 
 Clusters and Nebulse observed by Sir William Herschel " she 
 received the Astronomical Society's Gold Medal in 1828. 
 "This laborious work," says the National Biographical
 
 160 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 
 
 Dictionary, was styled by Sir David Brewster, " an extra- 
 ordinary monument of the inextinguishable ardour of a lady 
 of seventy-five in the cause of abstract science. Although 
 never published it was the most valuable of her under- 
 takings, because indispensable to the review by her nephew, 
 Sir John Herschel, of the northern nebulae. Miss Herschel 
 was created an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical 
 Society in 1835 and of the Royal Irish Academy in 1838." 
 
 Turning to domestic subjects, her brother's marriage in 
 1788 and his death in 1822 were probably the most trying 
 events of her English life. Not that she thought the marriage 
 unwise, but the change from her home with him to solitary 
 lodgings cost her severe pangs, though it was bravely borne 
 and she worked with him cordially as before. Her devotion 
 to him was simply boundless and after his death was 
 transferred to his son; even the success she gained was 
 regarded as caused by her connection with Sir William, not 
 as the reward of any efforts of her own ; and it was to Sir 
 John Herschel as his representative that the same unselfish 
 allegiance was given. In all her little money matters there 
 was the same forgetftdness of self; it was not till she was 
 nearly forty years of age she thought herself free to spend 
 according to her own liking and then it was in consequence 
 of a salary of ^50 a year granted to her by the king as her 
 brother's assistant In the shock caused by his death she 
 resolved, friends thought unwisely, to go back to Hanover. 
 When she left England she made over her little funded 
 property 500, saved by her frugul habits, to her brother 
 Dietrich whom she had nursed at his house in the Markstrasse 
 till his death, and Sir William's legacy of ^100 a year 
 enabled her to do more for needy relatives. Some years 
 before her departure she spent a short time at Bath to set in
 
 CAROLINE HERSCHEL. 161 
 
 order the house of her brother Alexander, a teacher of 
 music. Her later years were cheered by many attentions. 
 All men of science passing through Hanover called to see 
 her. Her ninety-sixth birthday was marked by Humboldt's 
 transmission to her, in the name of the King of Prussia, of his 
 gold medal for science. On the succeeding anniversary she 
 entertained the crown prince and princess with great anima- 
 tion for two hours, even singing to them a composition of her 
 brother William. She lived long enough to receive Sir John 
 Herschel's Gape Observations, the completion of his great 
 celestial survey, and then, January, 1 848, passed calmly away 
 in her ninety-eighth year. Her coffin contained, at her 
 special request, a lock of her beloved brother's hair, and the 
 inscription on the tomb-stone, adjoining that of their parents, 
 was composed by herself to " commemorate her participa- 
 tion in his immortal labours." 
 
 The story of the family will not be complete without a few 
 lines on Sir John Herschel. He was born at Slough in 1 792, 
 when the household was full of triumph for recent discoveries 
 and the completion of another grand telescope. An astro- 
 nomical atmosphere marked all his earliest years and gave 
 direction to his studies. At Cambridge he was Senior 
 Wrangler and Smith's Prizeman, and soon afterwards in 
 conjunctioa with Peacock and Babbage, reconstructed 
 Lacroix's Treatise on the Differential Calculus. In 1810 he 
 began to examine the double stars, aided by James South, 
 with whom he worked several years. The result of their 
 joint labours, shown in many wonderful* discoveries, was 
 presented in a Report to the Royal Society, and acknowledged 
 by the presentation of the gold medal of the Astronomical 
 Society, and the astronomical prize of the French Academy. 
 L
 
 162 SIR JOHN HERSCHEL. 
 
 Nor was John Herschel content with working out former 
 researches. He earned fame gradually in other fields, in 
 galvanism, chemistry, mathematics and electricity. It had 
 fretted his father's spirit that in the cloudy climate of England 
 he could only work successfully even with the best telescopes 
 about 100 hours in the year. He could not go to the Cape 
 but his son could and went, taking his wife and children, 
 remaining away four years, and concluding the resurvey of 
 the skies for which he had been long preparing. Well might 
 the civilised world ring with applause of this noble instance 
 of self-denial, especially when in the true spirit of greatness 
 he declined the compensation offered by Government for his 
 expenses. Large honors were however awarded him ; he was 
 made a Baronet, a D.C.L. of Oxford, and Lord Rector of 
 Marischal College, Aberdeen, with other marks of distinction. 
 During the thirty years that followed, his works as an author 
 would alone have made him eminent. His Outlines of 
 Astronomy passed through eight editions, a success due not 
 only to its scientific teachings but to the revelation of his 
 own bright, genial, truthful, poetic and reverential nature. 
 On this, Dr. Stanley, the Dean of Westminster, was eloquent 
 when, in 1871, the author having gently passed away in his 
 eightieth year was fitly laid by the side of Newton in the 
 grand old Abbey. Speaking of the religious excellence of 
 his friend Dr. Stanley, remarked, " Not with high-vaulting 
 words, but with deep humility he saw in the unity of science, 
 the unity of one supreme Life and Power, habitually entering 
 into the spirit of those sublime words, " The Lord our God 
 is one Lord."
 
 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND CHARLES MOORE. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND CHARLES MOORE. 
 DR. WILLIAM SMITH. 
 
 There have been many William Smiths all over the world, 
 but only one for whom Bath has been celebrated. Few 
 general readers are aware either that there was such a celebrity 
 in the gay city, or, if so, what was his title to distinction. 
 Few know that our William Smith was the Father of English 
 Geology, that he long lived in and around Bath, directing the 
 formation of the Somersetshire Coal Canal, and that while 
 thus employed he began the discoveries which raised 
 him eventually to the scientific rank he occupied. 
 
 A hundred years have now passed since he began his work 
 in the beautiful valleys around Bath. His nephew and 
 biographer, Professor Phillips of Oxford and other writers 
 have traced with loving hands the progress of geological 
 science in the interval. My task is simply to mention a few 
 incidents illustrative of the life of a very remarkable discoverer, 
 and a singularly clear-minded, right-minded, unselfish man. 
 He was born in 1769 ; his father, an intelligent mechanic was 
 descended from a race of farmers who owned through many 
 generations small tracts of land in Oxfordshire and Gloucester- 
 shire. This parent died when he was eight years old leaving 
 him and other children to a gentle and affectionate mother 
 who was intent on giving them as good an education as 
 possible, though it seems there was no better than that of the 
 village school. William, however, passed to the care of a 
 paternal uncle, one of the farmers of the family, so very 
 practical that he was not at all disposed to tolerate the boy's
 
 164 BR. WILLIAM SMITH AND 
 
 early taste for collecting "pundibs," Terebratulse, and "pound- 
 stones," used as pound weights by dairy women. The good 
 farmer was better satisfied when his nephew showed an 
 interest in draining and improving land, though it was only 
 after urgent entreaty he could be induced to part with a little 
 money for the purchase of books on the rudiments of geometry 
 and surveying. 
 
 Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen the growing 
 youth prosecuted irregularly, with no instruction or sympathy, 
 yet earnestly and successfully, the studies to which his mind 
 had been awakened. He began to draw mechanical objects 
 and attempted engineering calculations, thus recommending 
 himself to a worthy neighbour, Mr. Webb of Stow-on-the- 
 Wold, who had been employed to make a complete survey of 
 their native parish of Churchill for the purpose of inclosure. 
 At once Smith became his assistant, and a very useful engage- 
 ment it proved to both parties, for although Webb, like his 
 pupil was self-taught, and but slightly acquainted with public 
 works, he possessed considerable mechanical skill, and his 
 practise included much now given to engineers, while his 
 generous disposition allowed full scope to Smith's aspirings. 
 " Speedily entrusted," says his biographer, " with the manage- 
 ment of all the ordinary business of a surveyor, he traversed 
 in constant activity the oolitic lands of Oxfordshire and 
 Gloucestershire, and the lias, clays and red marls of Warwick- 
 shire ; visited the Salperton tunnel on the Thames and Severn 
 canal, and examined the peculiarities of a boring for coal in 
 the New Forest. All the varieties of soil in different districts 
 were particularly noticed and compared with agricultural and 
 commercial requirements of the locality, not merely for present 
 professional needs, but to be treasured in a mind capable of 
 combining them afterwards."
 
 CHARLES MOORE. 165 
 
 In 1791 Mr. Webb transferred to his young friend the 
 survey of an estate at Stowey in Somersetshire. No railway 
 then, and perhaps no coaching there, he had to walk all the 
 way from Gloucestershire, carefully observing and recording 
 what he saw. In 1792 and 93 he was occupied professionally 
 at the High Littleton Collieries, near Bath, where again he 
 studied surrounding soils and made memoranda for models of 
 strata arranged in the order in which nature had placed them. 
 His ability and perseverance induced some gentlemen of the 
 neighbourhood to consult him about one of the numerous 
 canals talked of at the time, their more immediate object 
 being the transit of coal from the Radstock district. If not 
 at once equal to the occasion Smith soon became so ; he 
 studied all the schemes for conquering inequalities of level, 
 inclined planes, caissons and locks, procuring some instru- 
 ments and inventing others, resolved to compete creditably 
 for the honours within his reach. Nor were the committee 
 of the canal insensible to his merits or unequal to the occasion ; 
 when their Bill had received the sanction of Parliament they 
 deputed two members of their body to accompany him as- 
 their engineer on a tour of inquiry into the construction, 
 management and trade of other navigations. The journey 
 extended to nine hundred miles, occupying nearly two- 
 months ; by one route the party reached Newcastle, by 
 another returned through Shropshire and Wales to Bath ; 
 and while the two shrewd coal- owners lingered to inspect 
 every invention interesting to themselves, the embryo geologist 
 noted every aspect of every part of the country to see how 
 far his own theories were borne out. In future years, from 
 time to time, he published as results of his observations a 
 succession of maps and descriptions of strata. Of six such 
 publications in 1815, 16 and 17, there is an elaborate account
 
 166 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND 
 
 in the Edinburgh Review of the date of 1818. The author 
 mentions one of the maps as " the first work of the kind that 
 had ever appeared in England, the production, after the 
 labour of more than twenty years, of a most ingenious man 
 who had been singularly deficient in the art of introducing 
 himself to public notice." 
 
 The journey with the two directors was taken in 1794, 
 when Smith was twenty-seven years old. He lived till 1839, 
 reaching his seventieth year, eventually with much distinction 
 but after many vicissitudes. The incidents of the interval 
 may be rapidly sketched, for in truth what has been said as 
 to his early life explains the reputation he gradually acquired. 
 It was the right application of his remarkable qualities during 
 his surveys, his journeys on foot, and engineering conferences 
 that gave him such a rare amount of valuable knowledge. 
 Professor Phillips fully shows this in the story of his life, of 
 which I have here made use, and to which I can never turn 
 without admiration. I remember that the young self-taught 
 man attracted the few inquiring spirits interested in the 
 geology of Bath, the Rev. Joseph Townsend, the Rev. 
 Benjamin Richardson, and Dr. James Anderson, and induced 
 them to join him in recording facts and constructing charts. 
 I remember that the middle-aged man enlightened the 
 princes and potentates of agriculture : Mr. Coke of Norfolk, 
 Francis, Duke of Bedford, Lord Hardwicke, Sir John 
 Johnstone, Mr. Pusey, visiting them at their homes, inspect- 
 ing their great estates and showing the influence of strata on 
 vegetation. I remember that the old man, at length suffer- 
 ing from his want of worldly wisdom and having sold his 
 cherished little property near Bath, had to part successively 
 with his books, his instruments, the museum he had collected, 
 and even the home where he welcomed his friends. But I
 
 CHARLES MOORE. 167 
 
 also remember the gleams of comfort which cheered him from 
 time to time ; no large accession of worldly means it is true, 
 though kindness in this respect was not withheld ; though 
 Government acknowledged his services to the country by a 
 pension and private friends were considerate ; but what 
 chiefly smoothed his downward path was the testimony borne 
 to his honour by the highest authorities in the realm of his 
 favourite and at length prospering science. 
 
 It is pleasant in conclusion to recall some circumstances 
 connected with that testimony. One of the great benefactors 
 of science in the early part of the century was Dr. Wollaston, 
 a relative and friend of a gentleman well known in similar 
 paths in Bath, the Rev. Leonard Blomefield. Dr. Wollaston 
 invested ^1,000 for " promoting researches concerning the 
 mineral structure of the earth and rewarding those by whom 
 they should be made," and the first year's income was devoted 
 to the acquisition of a die for a medal bearing the head of the 
 founder. In 1831, the Trustees, who were the Council of the 
 Geological Society, passed a resolution " that the first medal 
 of fine gold be procured with the least possible delay and 
 presented to Mr. William Smith in consideration of his being 
 a great original discoverer in English geology and especially 
 of his having been the first in this country to discover and 
 teach the identification of strata and to determine their 
 succession by means of their embedded fossils." The interest 
 of the presentation was greatly increased by the fact that the 
 president was Professor Sedgwick, " an original thinker and 
 faithful observer/' who said at the interesting ceremony that 
 he had tracked Mr. Smith's footsteps through Wiltshire and 
 the neighbouring counties with his maps in his hand learning 
 from him as his master. After wishing that the stern lover of 
 truth, Wollaston himself, "before whose dark eye all false
 
 168 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND 
 
 pretensions withered," could have been present, Sedgwick 
 proceeded: " I would appeal to those intelligent men who form 
 the strength and ornament of this society whether there was 
 any room for doubt or hesitation that we ought to place our 
 first honour on the brow of the Father of English Geology ? " 
 The British Association, founded at York in 1831, was a 
 source of great pleasure to Smith. Always warmly welcomed 
 by his brethren, to himself, says his nephew, " the return of 
 the meetings was like the revival of spring to the vegetable 
 world." At Dublin, in 1835, he was received with special 
 kindness by the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, which 
 conferred on him the unexpected honour of the Degree of 
 Doctor of Law. That he had reached his sixty-seventh year 
 did not diminish the pleasure felt by him and his friends, 
 while through the world of science generally it was felt that 
 never was title more deserved, for had he not promulgated 
 some of the grandest laws of nature ? Except on the summons 
 to these meetings, he now rarely quitted his hermitage at 
 Hackness in Yorkshire, where he spent six of the calmest and 
 happiest years of his life as the highly valued land steward on 
 the large estate of Sir John Johnstone. At length, believing 
 his work was done, he retired to Scarborough, though he 
 proved able to attend several more meetings of the Association, 
 one of much interest in 1836 at Bristol, when I had the 
 pleasure of seeing him enjoy the wit and eloquence of his 
 friend Sedgwick. In 1 838 he accepted a commission from the 
 Government to examine, with Mr. de la Beche and Mr. Barry, 
 the principal quarries of the kingdom, prior to the selection of 
 stone for the new Houses of Parliament. In 1 839 he consented 
 to go to one more meeting at Birmingham. But man proposes 
 and God disposes. Visiting an old friend at Northampton on 
 his way he was seized with illness. The summons was short
 
 CHARLES MOORE. 1 69 
 
 but decisive. His vigorous constitution yielded quickly. In 
 a few days there was a peaceful end to an eminently useful 
 life. 
 
 CHARLES MOORE. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is described in a memoir to which 
 it will now be indebted as " the foremost geologist of Somerset 
 and one of the foremost in England." This remark by so 
 indefatigable a votary of the same science as the Kev. H. H. 
 Winwood, will be considered amply sufficient to place Charles 
 Moore next William Smith in the roll of Bath Celebrities. 
 Here he spent nearly fifty years of his life in the unceasing 
 study of scientific facts ; on this city he conferred lasting 
 benefits by the development of its geological surroundings 
 and the formation of his beautiful museum ; and by a wide 
 circle of men of science he was regarded as an eminent 
 authority on doubtful questions. 
 
 It may be not unfrequently noticed that those men are the 
 most successful who have had the least outward assistance in 
 early life. Charles Moore was the son of a respectable printer 
 and bookseller in the town of Ilminster, and his training had 
 reference to the business of his father which was probably 
 favourable to mental culture. But, besides this, and what 
 would now be considered a short and limited education in the 
 local schools he had few advantages, the lot of standing 
 behind a counter seeming to be that to which he was 
 destined. Thus, about the year 1837 he was engaged by 
 Mr. Meyler, a well-known bookseller of Bath, with whom he 
 remained some years, but on the death of his father he 
 returned to Ilminster for a time to aid the family in retaining 
 their home. 
 
 This temporary residence in his native town appears to have 
 greatly favoured the bias of his career. Mr. Winwood has
 
 170 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND 
 
 shown how it reawakened tastes which had been cultivated in 
 
 his school-days, and partially revived at Bath amidst the 
 
 claims of business. The neighbourhood in which he had 
 
 been brought up is remarkable for its geological phenomena ; 
 
 "few districts can boast," says the author of the memoir, " of 
 
 such medals of creation as a short ramble would disclose in 
 
 the Upper Lias strata around his native town." Even the 
 
 walls of the Commercial School with which he was so familiar 
 
 were built of Ammonites and Belemnites, the latter locally 
 
 called " Ladies' fingers," which proved as attractive to him as 
 
 the " Pundibs and Poundstones " of Oxfordshire, were to his 
 
 predecessor William Smith. "In my school-boy days" he 
 
 writes in one of his early papers " my half-holidays were often 
 
 spent in collecting the Ammonites, with which the beds in 
 
 the Upper Lias strata abound, for the purpose of rubbing them 
 
 down to show their starry chambers." But it was not until 
 
 the return of Charles Moore to his favourite haunts after the 
 
 Bath interval that the dormant taste was thoroughly revived. 
 
 No doubt his intelligence had become more keen and strong ; 
 
 he could observe the wonders of creation with a more earnest 
 
 desire to know their origin, the " how " and the " why " of 
 
 what he saw. In a speech at the Bath meeting of the 
 
 British Association in 1864, he related an Ilminster incident 
 
 which occurred twenty years before as contributing to the 
 
 reawakening of his interest, and leading to scientific results of 
 
 great importance. " An old civic building," he said, " near 
 
 the School-house in which he had passed his early days was 
 
 being renovated, and two boys were amusing themselves with 
 
 a pebble or nodule they had found in the rubbish. This in 
 
 rolling from one to another separated, and by a lucky chance 
 
 the pieces were looked at and preserved. In the centre, and 
 
 naturally at the point of separation was a beautiful fish of the
 
 CHARLES MOORE. 171 
 
 extinct genius Pachycormus." "This," adds Mr. Winwood, 
 "was the first beginning of that magnificent collection of 
 fishes which now enrich the Bath Museum. Before finally 
 leaving his native town, he had accumulated most of the 
 characteristic fossils of the district, and by short visits there, 
 a few days at a time, he made himself thoroughly acquainted 
 with its physical and stratagraphical geology." 
 
 In 1853 Charles Moore returned to Bath, a more ardent 
 student of Nature, and happily with the prospect of being 
 able to devote his life to the work. He had become 
 engaged to a lady of congenial disposition in Widcombe 
 Crescent, whose means allowed his relinquishment of business, 
 and he was married to her soon afterwards. The leisure he 
 thus acquired enabled him not only to distinguish himself 
 in the world of science but to take a prominent part in 
 Bath public life, especially in the political conflicts of the day, 
 when he advocated consistently what he deemed the cause 
 of progress. For many years he was known as an able and 
 useful member of the Town Council, where his opinion was 
 often sought on such questions as the supply of water, the 
 causes of the local land-slips and the varied quality of the 
 great oolite beds to which the city owes so much of its 
 beauty. It may be easily imagined how, as he became 
 known, he was valued by the various scientific societies of 
 the district. To the Bath Institution he was an invaluable 
 member, sparing neither time nor strength in promoting its 
 interests, as his life-long work the Museum so amply testifies. 
 What an instructive companion he was in the excursions of 
 the Field Club and at the meetings of the Somersetshire and 
 Natural History Society many of their members can well 
 remember. Nor should it be forgotten that with all these 
 claims upon him the higher duties of life were faithfully
 
 172 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND 
 
 discharged; he had too much simplicity of character to 
 obtrude professions and manifestations, but in all weathers, 
 morning and evening, he frequented his place of worship ; 
 teaching in the Sunday School for many years and aiding 
 every organisation for charitable purposes. 
 
 It may be thought that what has now been said does not 
 show that Charles Moore rose to the height of a Bath 
 Celebrity ; we therefore turn again to Mr. Winwood's memoir. 
 There we find abundant proofs of the high position he estab- 
 lished by long, arduous, successful and disinterested labour 
 through many a time of trial and difficulty down to the latest 
 moments of his life. As no language of my own would be 
 adequate, even if I were personally acquainted with the facts, 
 I may be allowed to quote extracts from the memoir merely 
 as indications of what was done in the way of papers read 
 before Field Clubs, Archaeological Societies, British Associa- 
 tion Meetings and other gatherings. Respecting a paper at 
 Bath in 1852 on the Palceontology of the Middle and Upper 
 Lias, which referred to Moore's former researches in the beds 
 at Ilminster, Mr. Winwood writes : 
 
 " Until very recently those beds were supposed to belong to the 
 Inferior Oolite, and he claims to have placed them in their true 
 position, as underlying and distinct ; asserting that from his 
 intimate acquaintance with the Lower Lias Beds at Twerton, and 
 those of the Inferior Oolite in the neighbourhood of Bath, he was 
 able to show that they hold not only a distinct position but also a 
 fauna peculiarly their own. It was in this paper that he alludes 
 to the discovery of that marvellously rich yellow Limestone band 
 in the Upper Lias, only from 4 to 5 inches thick, called the 
 "Saurian, Fish and Insect bed," from which he obtained his 
 beautiful Pachycormi, now deposited in the Bath Museum and 
 still awaiting some specialist to describe. It was from this 
 nodular Limestone also that he uncovered his " Baby Saurian "
 
 CHARLES MOORE. 173 
 
 as he called it, the Pelagosaurus Moorei (Deslongchamps), the 
 story of the finding of which he graphically told to the writer of 
 the present notes ; and the history given in a subsequent paper 
 on the " Middle and Upper Lias of the S. W. of England," (Som. 
 Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, vol. xiii, p. 181, 1865-6) 
 one among the many instances of this man's patient industry and 
 indomitable perseverance." 
 
 " Elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1854, 
 he contributed five valuable papers to their journal. The first in 
 1860, "On the so-called Wealden beds of Linksfield arid the 
 Reptiliferous Sandstones of Elgin," directed attention to the 
 similarity of appearance between these Linksfield shales with their 
 limestone beds, and those of the Bone bed series (at the base of 
 the Lias) at Pylle Hill near Bristol, at Aust Passage, and at 
 Penarth, also at the Uphill cutting on the G.W.E. The litho- 
 logical resemblances were well marked ; and he recognised the 
 " White Lias " the " Gotham Marble," the " Bone bed," and the 
 Gypseous clay bands of the S. country in the quarry at Linksfield. 
 The palseontological evidence, moreover, supported his correlation 
 of these beds. As to the Cornstone at Linksfield, on which the 
 above mentioned beds rest, he thought they were of Triassic date, 
 as he had observed on the flanks of the Mendips and elsewhere 
 stone of a similar aspect belonging to the Trias and occasionally 
 yielding remains of reptiles and fishes. In this paper he men- 
 tioned his discovery of reptilian and mammalian teeth near 
 Frome, in a fissure containing a Triassic deposit, and ventured to 
 correlate them with the reptilian remains found at Lossiemouth, 
 and therefore the probable Secondary age of the latter." 
 
 " The result of his many years work amidst the Secondary rocks 
 of the district was laid before the Geological Society on March 
 20th, 1867, under the title, "On Abnormal conditions of Secondary 
 deposits when connected with the Somersetshire and South Wales 
 Coal-basins ; and on the age of the Sutton and Southerndown 
 series."
 
 174 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND 
 
 " In this paper, giving his reasons for the abnormal character of 
 the Secondary formations on the N. of the Mendips, he speaks of 
 the difficulties attending the investigation of his subject and the 
 length of time occupied ; corroborates God win- Austin's view of an 
 old land area near Frome, and shows that this may be looked for 
 in the Mendip axis of elevation, by his discovery of Mammalia, 
 Reptilia, and terrestrial Mollusca that once inhabited this land area 
 in Rhaetic and Liassic times. The barrier of land, thus interposed 
 to the incursion of the waters of the Secondary seas, modified the 
 physical features of the whole line of country between Frome and 
 a portion of S. Wales, thus accounting for the extreme tenuity of 
 the Secondary deposits to the N. of this barrier as compared with 
 those on the S. With the one exception of the statement of his 
 views as to the Basaltic dyke, this contribution will remain the 
 best authority on the geology of a portion of England surpassed 
 by none in geological interest ; and will serve as a mine of 
 information to many a future explorer of that particular district, 
 as it has done to many a past one. This paper alone was 
 sufficient to establish his reputation as one of the leading 
 geologists of the day." 
 
 " Charles Moore was a frequent attendant at the Meetings of the 
 British Association for the Advancement of Science, and read 
 several papers before Section C. My earliest acquaintance with 
 him was in the year 1863, shortly after my arrival in Bath, when 
 we went together to the Newcastle Meeting as two of the local 
 Secretaries for the Meeting to take place the following year in Bath ; 
 and in the Report of the Transactions of Section C, presided over 
 by Warington W. Smyth, F.R.S., is a short abstract of Moore's 
 paper " On the equivalents of the Cleveland Ironstones in the W. 
 of England." He had traced these Ironstone bands from Lyme 
 Regis to Yeovil and Bath. In the following year, in the midst of 
 his arduous labours as one of the local Secretaries at Bath, he 
 found time to lay before Section C, then under the Presidency of 
 Prof. Phillips, the specimens of Saurians, Fish and Cuttle-fish he
 
 CHARLES MOORE. 175 
 
 had discovered in the Upper Lias at Ilminster ; and the mamma- 
 lian and fish-teeth (70,000 in number) obtained from the greenish 
 clay which filled the fissures at Holwell, and the remains of the 
 extinct animals from the drift that surrounded Bath. The 
 President said that the Section had heard one of the most inter- 
 esting and instructive addresses that could be possibly given to 
 the British Association. They had expected a most interesting 
 communication from Mr. Moore, but not to the full the great 
 treat he had given them, illustrated as it was with specimens of 
 his own discovery of the greatest possible value and interest. 
 Sir Charles Lyell, who was also present, spoke of Moore's 
 discoveries in the Mammalian drift of the Bath basin as rendering 
 essential service to science, alluding especially to his finding the 
 male and female musk sheep in that neighbourhood." 
 
 "On February 15th, 1882, the evening Meeting was set 
 apart for Charles Moore and myself, when he was to have 
 communicated his latest investigations on the " Eozoon and 
 Micropaleeontology," embodying some of his recent microscopic 
 researches in the Palaeozoic rocks. Death, however, had taken 
 away my geological friend, and the pen of the earnest, hard- 
 working student of nature had ceased to write ; he had gone 
 to his rest, literally worn out and a victim (may we not say a 
 martyr 1) to the cause of science, for which he had laboured and 
 for which he lived. How well I remember the closing scene, or 
 at any rate the last hours spent with him in endeavouring to 
 elucidate the fibre mystery. Possessed with the idea that even in 
 the earliest rocks of the earth's crust he could trace the presence 
 of organic life, he had selected the room in the Institution 
 where the least chance of any adventitious or external accidents 
 could interfere with his researches ; he had prepared some glass 
 slides coated with glycerine over-night, these we were to examine 
 the following morning microscopically and compare the results of 
 the night's capture with the residue he proposed to test after 
 decalcificatiori of the rock by hydrocloric acid in the morning.
 
 176 DR. WILLIAM SMITH AND CHARLES MOORE. 
 
 The specimen so tested was a slice of the Laurentian rock 
 containing the so-called Eozoon Canadense. I was particularly 
 struck with the zeal of the man, who, labouring under a most 
 distressing cough at the time, and being asked whether he did not 
 feel the cold (I was chilled to the backbone during the time of the 
 investigation in the Lonsdale room at the Institution), replied, 
 No, I don't, but suppose my enthusiasm has kept me warm. 
 These were the last words I ever heard him utter ; in a fortnight 
 after this he was gone. Bath knew him no more a simple green 
 mound in the pretty little Unitarian burial ground at Lyncombe 
 marks his resting place by the side of one of his sisters, and it is 
 to be hoped that some appropriate record will be erected there to 
 mark the last home of one of Bath's most scientific and hard- 
 working students of nature ere all traces be lost. But his memory 
 remains, and his name, linked with Walcott, William Smith and 
 Lonsdale, will be handed down to posterity as that of a man 
 whose good work in the scientific investigation of the wonders of 
 nature any city may be proud of. Si queris monumentum circum- 
 spice The Moore Museum, purchased after his decease by his 
 fellow citizens for a thousand pounds, and secured to the city of 
 his adoption by those who appreciated his work and honoured 
 his memory, is a memorial of the scientific labours of a man whose 
 scientific acquaintance it was my great privilege to make, and 
 whose presence seems to be with me as I busy myself amongst 
 the cases that contain the results of his life-long work." 
 
 Mr. Winwood gives at the end of his interesting narrative 
 the titles of twenty three " Papers and Communications " by 
 his friend and fellow labourer.
 
 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, AND WILLIAM HO ARE. 177 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, AND 
 WILLIAM HOARE. 
 
 THE Two WOODS. 
 
 A stranger in Bath, observing its handsome buildings, 
 would naturally suppose that the city could boast of a long 
 roll of architectural celebrities. But this can hardly be said ; 
 it is remarkable how few there have been in the two centuries 
 since the city began to attain eminence in respect to its 
 buildings. Striking likewise is the fact that those few have 
 been so far above the average of their professional brethren 
 in the provinces of any country as were the two ^Yoods of 
 Bath. Walter Savage Landor, in a note to his Imaginary 
 Conversation between Pericles and Sophocles, says of Queen 
 Square and the Circus, that " there is nothing in Rome, or the 
 world, to equal them." Perhaps this is exaggerated praise, 
 but everyone knows that Macaulay wrote of Bath as "that 
 beautiful city which charms eyes even familiar with the works 
 of Bramante and Palladio." For my present purpose, how- 
 ever, there is sufficient force in a recent moderate remark of 
 Lord Grimthorpe, "by attending to the true principles of art 
 the two Woods changed Bath from a mean-looking town to 
 the most beautiful in England." 
 
 It is true that fault has been found with the interiors of the 
 houses. Critics have complained that, in many cases, out- 
 ward effect is obtained at the cost of comfort and convenience. 
 We are told of dark, narrow staircases ; of some rooms ill- 
 shaped, others badly lighted, and a want of varied 
 accommodation. But without admitting that this gives a 
 M
 
 178 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, 
 
 correct idea, we yet remember what the Woods had to do ; 
 not to build a number of detached houses, each having 
 sufficient space for ample individual requirements, but to 
 erect the streets, squares, crescents and circuses of a city. 
 For such an object diminished internal advantages, to some 
 extent, were unavoidable. Those who are acquainted with the 
 works of the Woods in country situations can testify that 
 there they proved they knew, as indeed is evident in their 
 city work, that " good architecture is not wrapped up in a 
 front wall," but is visible within as well as without and fulfils 
 its true object in securing the full amount of comfort possible 
 in the circumstances of the case. 
 
 There is a valuable book, not so well known as it ought to 
 be, The Municipal Records of Bath, by Austin J. King and 
 B. H. Watts. It has an essay on " the Renaissance of the 
 City," in which an explanation of some leading characteristics 
 is given in the statement that "they were due to a 
 Triumvirate." The individuals were Ralph Allen, Richard 
 Nash and John Wood, who, though each playing a distinct 
 part, yet aided in producing the general result. Allen, as was 
 told in a former chapter, came from Cornwall to Bath in 171 1 
 as a clerk of the Post office, and in the next two decades rose 
 rapidly to a position of great influence. Previously the Bath 
 stone, since so celebrated, had been comparatively little 
 worked ; Alien, as his means increased, bought quarries and 
 began a vigorous trade in their contents. At the same time 
 there was a great demand for more and better houses; people, 
 some of great distinction, came from all parts of the country 
 and looked in vain for suitable homes. The Cornish post- 
 master, having a sharp eye for every kind of talent, brought 
 Wood to Bath. It was about the year 1722, and together 
 they planned such magnificent piles of buildings as would
 
 AND WILLIAM HOARE. 179 
 
 require all the stone that could be worked in a life-time. For 
 Wood was more than a skilful architect, though qualified to 
 delight future ages by enduring monuments of genius ; he 
 was "an administrator of a type rarely met with." "The 
 stagnation of the building trade in Bath " (says the writer on 
 the Renaissance) " was so great in the seventeenth century that 
 competent workmen were not to be had there. Wood brought 
 excavators from some great waterworks, masons from York- 
 shire and carpenters from London." It was he who 
 introduced into the West of England even such simple 
 appliances as the lever, the pulley, and the windlass, to the 
 vast relief of the builders, who had previously no other 
 method of hoisting their heavy stones than that of dragging 
 them up with small ropes against the sides of a ladder. 
 
 It may be asked what the other member of the Triumvirate, 
 Nash, did to aid the work and fame of Wood. The answer is 
 that no man knew better than Nash what the wants of the 
 City were as to good dwelling houses and public buildings. 
 Whatever his moral failings may have been, in consequence 
 of the inferior education and circumstances of the period, his 
 mental capacity was undoubted. Hence there were constant 
 cogitations with him on designs in quick succession for the 
 Parades, Queen Square, the Circus and other great works. 
 Certainly it was with Wood that Nash took counsel respecting 
 the Bath Hospital, which he had so much at heart, though 
 Wood himself by his business talent conquered the great 
 difficulties about the site, and made no charge for anything 
 he did in connection with the structure. But, still, it was 
 with and for Allen that Wood was chiefly concerned. Mr. 
 Peach states that his first work was in connection with the 
 Postmasters town house ; not that he was the original 
 architect of it, but employed to make great additions and
 
 180 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, 
 
 alterations. Twenty years afterwards, about 1735, Allen, 
 having acquired considerable wealth, and wishing to make 
 his quarries productive, resolved to build a large house on the 
 Prior Park estate, with regard to which he had the advantage 
 not only of Wood's genius in the designs but also of his skill 
 and knowledge as to working the stone. For no one knew 
 so well the true method of excavation, how to treat the oolite 
 so that it should stand weather, and how to adapt the grain 
 to the required position. He had other good clients, notably 
 the Duke of Chandos, for whom he built Chandos Court ; he 
 restored St John's Hospital, and canalised the Avon between 
 Bath and Bristol, an undertaking in which many had failed, 
 and was peculiarly arduous to him with his other great works 
 on hand. Among the houses he built in the neighbourhood 
 were Eagle house, Batheaston, the Shockerwick mansion, and 
 what Mr. Peach justly describes as " the exquisite house at 
 the head of the sloping avenue at Bathford." 
 
 In one character certainly the great architect did not excel 
 that of an author. His Description of Bath, in two volumes, 
 is marred by absurd credulity as to past history, and egotistical 
 exaggerations of various kinds. Of the little that is known 
 of him personally it is said that he was a proud, sensitive man, 
 with a great dislike of all shallow pretentious, but with so 
 little worldly wisdom as to have comparatively scanty means. 
 His house at Batheaston, however, where he lived at the close 
 of his life, and his general position in the neighbourhood, 
 caused his appointment as a county magistrate. He and his 
 son both died at Batheaston, the elder in 1754, the younger 
 in 1781, and both were buried near the altar of the Church of 
 Swainswick. Of the younger Wood the information given by 
 various writers is even more meagre than that of the father. 
 It is remarkable that the latter never mentions him in his
 
 AND WILLIAM HOARE. 181 
 
 account of the works they had jointly on hand for so many 
 years. But the fact that they were on good terms may be 
 inferred from the evident harmony of their procedure and the 
 fact that they both lived and died in the same house at Bath- 
 easton. The chief buildings, for which the younger Wood had 
 the principal responsibility, appear to have been the Circus, 
 York Buildings, Brock Street, Royal Crescent and the Assembly 
 Rooms.- The father, we have seen, died in 1754 ; the Circus 
 was begun about 1760; York Buildings, 1762; Brock Street, 
 1765 ; the Royal Crescent, 1767 ; the Assembly Rooms, 1769. 
 What other- architect in any provincial town could boast of 
 having erected in such quick succession so many magnificent 
 piles of buildings, destined to command unstinted admiration 
 through many a long year ? At the end now of more than a 
 century the Crescent in particular is as impressive as it ever 
 was. " Beautiful for situation," there is a combination of 
 simplicity and classic grandeur in the noble range of mansions 
 which once seen can never be forgotten. The Assembly 
 Rooms also, occupying half an acre of ground in the centre 
 of a hilly city, yet with no step throughout ; its lofty, well 
 proportioned rooms all admirably suited to their various 
 purposes ; no wonder that the world of fashion thronged them 
 so long. We think of the inscription to Sir Christopher 
 Wren's honour in St. Paul's Cathedral and remember how 
 appropriate the word " Circumspice " would have been in a 
 monument to either of the Woods in the city they adorned. 
 But there is no marble to their honour in Abbey, crescent, 
 circus or square. Neither did any local biographer pay a 
 tribute to the struggles and successes of those two pre- 
 eminently remarkable men. No one knows whether they 
 speculated unwisely in the works they undertook or lost 
 money in other ways. All we are told is that the father
 
 182 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, 
 
 could not have been rich, and the son died very poor, his 
 widow having even come to want. What a melancholy ter- 
 mination of such a story ! 
 
 GAINSBOROUGH. 
 
 Passing to celebrities in painting it hardly need be stated 
 that although, as in other cases, my task is limited, I am far 
 from forgetting what Bath owes to those who are not in my 
 list. Undoubtedly the reputation of the city has profited by 
 the labours of many in various professions who, without 
 attaining the first rank, did their work thoroughly well 
 Several of the most celebrated, whose lives are here sketched, 
 only began their career in Bath, studying, practising per- 
 severing, till they could enter on the great arena in London, 
 where their full power was developed. 
 
 Foremost among the painters was Gainsborough, one of 
 the undying names in the history of English art. Happily 
 he has not wanted faithful chroniclers of his life and works, 
 one of whom Allan Cunningham in Muway's Family 
 Library, gives a pleasant account of his early history. 
 " Born," he says, " in 1727 at Sudbury, in Suffolk, his family 
 were of old standing, well-to-do and of unblemished respect- 
 ability. His memory and his love of art are still cherished 
 in the eastern county, where a beautiful wood is shown four 
 miles in extent, whose ancient trees, winding glades and 
 sunny nooks inspired the exquisite taste for landscape 
 painting which was developed in after life. Scenes are 
 pointed out where he used to sit and fill his copy-books with 
 penciilings of flowers and trees or whatever pleased his fancy, 
 and it is said that those early attempts of the child bore a 
 distinct resemblance to the mature works of the man/'
 
 AND WILLIAM HOARE. 183 
 
 When ten years old he had made some progress in 
 sketching, and at twelve he was a confirmed painter, though 
 his devotion to the art and the deficiency in those times of 
 early education prevented anything like good general cultiva- 
 tion. Encouraged by the advice of friends, who saw his 
 earliest attempts and believed " the boy was a genius," his 
 father sent him to London to study under Hayman, one of 
 the companions of Hogarth. Grignon, the engraver, who 
 knew him well, informed Edwards, author of the Anecdotes 
 of Painters, that Gainsborough received the first rudiments 
 of his art from Gravelot, another celebrity of the time. He 
 remained in London four years and then returned to Sudbury 
 to make such a beginning as the Fates would allow. In one 
 respect they favoured him ; he was universally acceptable as 
 a companion in consequence of his pleasant manners, his 
 handsome person and his lively conversation. In another 
 respect he was also fortunate. Seated one day sketching in 
 the woods, a young lady appeared on the scene to whom he 
 showed his work. Miss Margaret Burr was of Scottish 
 extraction, then only in her sixteenth year, but in addition 
 to the charms of good sense and good looks possessed an 
 annuity of 200. Gossips in the neighbourhood added what 
 they thought another attraction. She was the natural 
 daughter of an exiled prince, a parentage she herself was 
 rather proud of in future years. Whether Gainsborough 
 cared for the distinction or not, he wooed and won the lady ; 
 she made him a kind and faithful wife. Leaving Sudbury 
 they began life together in a small house at Ipswich at ^6 a 
 year, resolving to do the best they could. 
 
 This, at first, was merely painting a few local portraits. 
 Gainsborough's fame slowly increased and interested a neigh- 
 bour of some repute, Philip Thicknesse, governor of
 
 184 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, 
 
 Landguard Fort and well known in Bath, where he spent 
 much of his time. He was a vain, selfish man, but probably 
 wished to gratify the artist as well as himself by giving 
 him a commission to paint the fortress with the port of 
 Harwich and the neighbouring hills for the price of 30 
 guineas. The picture was engraved, and contributed to make 
 Gainsborough known, but he was now in his thirty-first year ; 
 he had exhausted the faces and the scenery of Ipswich and his 
 talents demanded wider scope. Thicknesse, who then played 
 the part of patron, though afterwards a false friend, was of the 
 same opinion and advised his removal to Bath. This was in 
 1758, when there appeared to be an opening in Bath for all 
 kinds of talent. At first there was but little encouragement ; 
 people cared little for painting, not even the more educated 
 who admired the Greek and Italian architecture of the two 
 Woods. There had been comparatively little foreign travel 
 to give any love or even knowledge of the great masters 
 whose works had created a new intellectual world in the older 
 cities of Europe. Gradually, however, young men came to 
 Bath ; aiming first at what was most likely to give employ- 
 ment portraiture, and, though well qualified for higher 
 work, willing to wait patiently. Such was the case with 
 Gainsborough. He began in the Abbey churchyard, but soon 
 removed to Ainslie's Belvedere, where he could enjoy a 
 beautiful view of Hampton Rocks, his favourite sketching 
 ground. Charging at first only five guineas for a portrait, he 
 spent the intervals of the sittings in studying the fine trees 
 of the neighbourhood ; notably one near the London road, 
 still standing, and called Gainsborough's elm. His studio 
 being soon sought by discerning visitors, he ventured to hire 
 a house in the Circus. Men of eminence at the Bar and 
 the Senate ; women, distinguished on the stage and the
 
 AND WILLIAM HOARE. 185 
 
 orchestra; all were charmed, both with his social qualities 
 and artistic skill. For full length figures his price rose to 
 50, 70, and 100 guineas. There, in the Circus, he painted 
 Lord Chancellor Camden, Bishop Kurd, Miss Linley, 
 Sheridan, Richardson, Garrick, Burke, Sterne, Quin, and 
 many others. As one of the earliest members of the Royal 
 Academy he often sent up pictures by Mr. Wiltshire of 
 Shockerwick, a prosperous London carrier, who always 
 refused payment on the ground that he loved pictures too 
 well to make a charge. The artist, however, prevailed upon 
 him at various times to accept six of his works. Some idea 
 of their ultimate value may be formed from the fact that 
 when at length the treasures at Shockerwick were sold, the 
 National Gallery secured two, the " Parish Clerk " (a venerable 
 man at Bradford- on -Avon) for ^500, and "The Harvest 
 Wagon " for oC2,500. There was also a portrait of Quin, 
 which went elsewhere. About the same time " The Sisters," 
 from another gallery realised 9,975. 
 
 The connection of Gainsborough with Mr. Wiltshire leads 
 me to introduce selections from an interesting account of the 
 Shockerwick estate and the Wiltshire family, in Bladud, the 
 Bath Society Paper. The information is due to the researches 
 of Mr. Peach. My extracts have a two -fold interest, the 
 mansion of Shockerwick having been built by the elder Wood, 
 whose memoir precedes that of Gainsborough in these pages. 
 I have pleasant recollections of representatives of three 
 generations of the Wiltshire family.* 
 
 * " Shockerwick derives its name from Adam de Socherwicke, 
 who lived as early as the reign of Henry II. He held it of the 
 Bishop of Bath as part of a knight's fee. After passing from 
 the Socherwicke family the manor with Batheaston, Bathford,
 
 186 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, 
 
 Great as Gainsborough's fame was as a portrait painter, 
 his own delight was in landscapes. To his sitters he was 
 often brusque and independent ; to Nature a most patient 
 and joyous scholar. Cunningham says "he was like a poet 
 divided between two mistresses, paying to the one cold visits 
 and giving to the other a warm heart." It is certain that the 
 Bath people did not care for his landscapes. In vain they 
 saw his studio full of charming views of the most beautiful 
 objects in the neighbourhood. They were willing to pay 
 
 and much besides, came into the possession of the Hosate (now 
 softened into Hussey) family, whose principal seat was called 
 Husei and then Hussey Court, standing on or very near the 
 present mansion. In the reign of Philip and Mary the manors 
 were held by Thomas Earl of Northumberland. Hussey Court 
 then suffered from neglect, until in 1667 Shockerwick was sold, 
 with Batheaston, to James Lancashire ; and from that time 
 until about eighty years after, when Shockerwick passed into 
 the possession of the Wiltshire family, not much can be found 
 recorded of it. The Court had become a ruin, scarcely one stone 
 standing upon another, and the Park little better than open fields. 
 Then, with the Wiltshires, came the great transformation, the 
 revival of all that was picturesque and beautiful in the charming 
 domain." 
 
 " The Wiltshire family, like Allen and others, of whom we are 
 so proud, were of mean origin (perhaps 'humble' is the word.) 
 The first of the family whom we trace is Thomas Wiltshire, who 
 died in 1648. He left a son Walter, who had two sons, Walter 
 and Julyan j the former of whom died in 1719, the latter in 1721. 
 This Walter was the man known as the lessee of Wiltshire's 
 Rooms.' Besides other issue he left a son John, who, with 
 Walter (our local worthy), was the founder of the vast carrying 
 business, which owed its later development to Walter. This
 
 AND WILLIAM HOARE. 187 
 
 liberally for likenesses of themselves ; farther than that their 
 love of art did not go. So after spending 14 years in Bath 
 he removed to London. This was in 1774. What he did 
 there to found the English school of which the nation is now 
 so proud, may be seen in the chief galleries of the country. 
 This sketch, therefore, may well be confined to the earlier 
 features of his life. One, however, prominent throughout, 
 which ought to be mentioned, was his passionate love of 
 music. This made him acquainted with Thicknesse ; they 
 
 important business, which opened up the resources of the city, 
 and brought it within reach of the metropolis and every part of 
 the country, taken in connection with Allen's stone trade and his 
 rare munificence, together with the genius of the two Woods, 
 made Bath what it is. Walter Wiltshire was the progenitor of 
 worthy successors, who, down to the latest occupier, John 
 Wiltshire in recent times, worthily sustained the chivalrous 
 character, the generous nature, and the beneficent disposition, 
 by which the first Walter of Shockerwick was distinguished. 
 This Walter, in conjunction (more or less) with his father 
 John, acquired the ancient domain of Shockerwick and other 
 property, between 1740 and 1750. About the latter year 
 he engaged Wood the elder to lay out the grounds, and to design 
 and build the mansion one of his most characteristic achieve- 
 ments. Walter Wiltshire, like Allen, was a gentleman by nature. 
 If he lacked the dignified reserve, the mental grasp, and the 
 gentle hauteur of Allen, he was imbued with the same desire 
 to do good to dispense his bounty with judgment, and so 
 far as his means justified. Walter Wiltshire built No. 1, Broad 
 Street, in which he transacted his business and conducted his 
 correspondence in chief; at his classic little seat at Shockerwick 
 he delighted to dispense his hospitality with a gentle courtesy 
 and a bounteous hand."
 
 188 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH, 
 
 began their friendship by playing the violin together at 
 Ipswich. Here I remember that much may be learnt about 
 Thicknesse in an interesting paper by Mr. F. Shum on 
 "Gainsborough and his connection with Bath," read before 
 the Literary and Philosophical Association, and afterwards 
 printed, in 1875. As to the painter's affection for music, 
 Allan Cunningham says that he allowed his house to be 
 infested with all sorts of Professors save bag-pipers. He 
 loved Giardini and his violin, Abel and his viol-de-gamba, 
 Tischer and his hautboy, and was in raptures with a strolling 
 harper from the Welsh mountains. The poet's account of 
 the great artist's house in the Bath Circus is full of interest. 
 Surrounded by numerous friends he lived in good style, 
 entertained hospitably, and was kind to all who needed 
 assistance. In London his generosity increased with his 
 prosperity. That he had failings may be easily imagined. 
 One of them was jealousy of his illustrious rival, Reynolds. 
 But it wore away before the end of life came, when he seems 
 to have well made his peace with the world generally. He 
 died in London in 1788, in the sixty-first year of his age. 
 He had thought much of the event and often talked quietly 
 about it From Sheridan, for whom he had great regard, he 
 obtained a promise to attend his funeral. To Reynolds he 
 sent quite at the last to ask him to come and take leave of 
 him. There was the old friendly, cheerful tone at this 
 memorable meeting. " Ah ! " said Gainsborough suddenly, 
 "we are all going to heaven, and Vandyke is of the company ;" 
 then instantly fell back and died. 
 
 WILLIAM HOARE 
 
 may be said to have competed at Bath successfully with 
 Gainsborough, who both found and left him there enjoying
 
 AND WILLIAM HOARE. 189 
 
 great repute. Hoare, like his contemporary, was a native of 
 Suffolk, the son of a prosperous farmer who gave him an 
 excellent education. The boy developed at school so great 
 a talent for drawing that he was allowed to adopt art as a 
 profession. Beginning in London under Grisoni, an Italian 
 master, he proceeded to Rome to complete his studies at a 
 time when an English student in the Eternal city was a 
 novelty. His father was ruined by the South Sea Scheme, 
 and the son, thrown on his own resources, maintained him- 
 self by making skilful copies of famous works which were 
 sold easily. After spending nine years in Italy he returned 
 to London hoping to paint historical subjects or, failing in the 
 attempt, to gain a living by portraits. In both he failed at 
 first, yet ventured to marry a Miss Barber, who, having con- 
 nections in Bath, induced him to settle there. At once his 
 prospects brightened ; he soon obtained ample and profitable 
 work. The author of the memoir in the Dictionary of National 
 Biography says that " for many years he was without a rival," 
 alluding to the time before Gainsborough. Among the distin- 
 guished visitors who sat to him was the elder Pitt, who pre- 
 sented his portrait to Lord Temple in 1754 and wrote in high 
 terms of the artist's powers. That the Bath Corporation thought 
 highly of them was shown by a commission they also gave 
 for a portrait of the great statesman for the Guildhall when 
 he had ceased to be a Member for the city. The Pelham 
 family were Hoare's special patrons ; many of them sat to 
 him and they probably encouraged his study of crayon drawing. 
 In this he succeeded so admirably that his works in crayon 
 were perhaps more highly esteemed than those in oil. Main- 
 taining his connection with London he frequently contributed 
 to the small Exhibitions of the time. He was one of the 
 artists who attempted to establish an academy in 1755.
 
 190 THE TWO WOODS, GAINSBOROUGH," 
 
 Thirteen years later he and his friends succeeded ; the Royal 
 Academy was established under the immediate patronage of 
 the king, who signed William Hoare's diploma as an original 
 member. He was a man of scholarly tastes and enjoyed the 
 personal friendship of many of his eminent sitters, together 
 with that of Ralph Allen and the visitors at Prior Park. His 
 death occurred in 1792. He left a numerous family ; of one 
 son, Prince Hoare, the well-known artist and dramatist, some 
 account will now be given ; a daughter married a brother of 
 Sir Richard Hoare of Stourhead. Fortunately Bath possesses 
 several works of her famous artist. Besides the portrait of 
 Lord Chatham there are others of Christopher Anstey, Beau 
 Nash, Samuel Derrick and Governor Pownall. Of less merit, 
 though to a certain extent interesting, are " The Pool of 
 Bethesda " in the Octagon Chapel, Bath, a large picture of the 
 Saviour in St. Michael's Church in the same city, and "Medical 
 Men Examining Patients " in the Mineral Water Hospital. 
 The National Portrait Gallery contains the Duke of Newcastle, 
 Lord Chesterfield, Lord Temple and Pope, all in crayons, and 
 a full length of the Duke of Grafton in oil. Many of his 
 portraits were engraved. 
 
 There were two artists of the name of Prince Hoare in 
 Bath; one a sculptor, the brother of William, and who 
 executed the bust of Beau Nash in the Pump Room, the other 
 already mentioned as the son of the Royal Academician. 
 Prince Hoare, junior, was born at Bath, in 1755, educated at 
 the Bath Grammar School, and instructed in art by his father. 
 In 1772 he gained a Society of Arts' premium and went to 
 London to learn at the Royal Academy. In 1776 he visited 
 Rome, studying under Mings with Northcote and Fuseli as
 
 AND WILLIAM HO ARE. 191 
 
 fellow pupils. In 1780 he returned to England and exhibited 
 at the Academy a classical picture called " Alceste," and a 
 picture of Sir Thomas Lawrence when a child. He ceased to 
 exhibit after 1 785, and devoted himself chiefly to dramatic 
 writing. His first play, a tragedy Suck things ivere, was 
 acted in Bath in 1788, and repeated in London for the benefit 
 of Mrs. Siddons. "His best known production," says the author 
 of the memoir in the Dictionary of National Biography, was 
 the farce, No Song, no Supper, which became very popular. A 
 long list of other productions, some of great merit, extending 
 over many years, is given in the same work. The offices he 
 filled indicate, as well as his numerous works, that he was a 
 man of varied accomplishments. For some years he was 
 Foreign Secretary to the Royal Academy ; well known also as 
 a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society 
 of Literature, to which he bequeathed his library. He died at 
 Brighton in 1834.
 
 192 THOMAS BARKER AND 
 
 CHAPTER XIX, 
 THOMAS BARKER AND BENJAMIN BARKER. 
 
 An advertisement has lately appeared repeatedly in the 
 Athenceum of a want to purchase some oil paintings of certain 
 artists, among those named being Gainsborough, Constable, 
 Keynolds, Opie, and "Barker of Bath." To the English 
 public the last name is less known than most of the others, 
 though sixty and seventy years ago it was in great repute with 
 connoisseurs, and the pictures with which it was identified 
 were by no means of an ephemeral character. There were 
 three Barkers connected with Bath ; Thomas, the subject of 
 this sketch, the most distinguished, Benjamin his brother, 
 so far honoured as to be called the English Poussin, and 
 Thomas Jones, the son of Thomas, who attained considerable 
 celebrity after his removal to Paris and London. 
 
 Various circumstances combined to make Thomas Barker 
 the one chiefly remembered. His talent was pre-eminent, his 
 local training most interesting, and he studied and painted 
 in Bath through a very long life. He was a native of Ponty- 
 pool, the son of an erratic artist who had been employed there 
 in some Japan works, and removed to Bath, when his children 
 were young, in search of further employment. The works in 
 the Welsh town gave his sons their earliest ideas of art before 
 poverty impelled them to dash off little pictures at Bath with 
 the chance of gaining means of subsistence. The pictures 
 were seen in a small window in what is now called Cross street, 
 Kingsmead, by a well-to-do coachmaker, as good as he was 
 prosperous, a Mr. Spackman, who went into the house, 
 inquired who did them, and on satisfying himself that Thomas
 
 BENJAMIN BARKER. 193 
 
 deserved encouragement, undertook the charge of his training. 
 His first care was to give him a good, sound education. Then 
 after some years he sent him to Rome for a course of study in 
 art. How that paved the way for his success, what a tone of 
 classic refinement it gave to his works, is known to all who 
 are acquainted with them. 
 
 Spackman was judicious in allowing the youth's faculties 
 to expand as a preparation for Rome. They not only 
 expanded ; they gave proof of extraordinary genius which 
 could not fail to profit by the varied influences awaiting him. 
 That he attained at his very early age, in a provincial town, 
 such an envied position might well encourage his generous 
 patron. We are told that though Etty at thirty -five could 
 only get 25 for a large, grand picture, painted on com- 
 mission in Italy, Barker before he was twenty easily obtained 
 considerably more for even small works. Sir Edward 
 Harington, in his enthusiastic pages of Schizzo, eulogising 
 the genius of Barker, states that he was not nineteen when he 
 painted " The Woodman." A later writer, Mr. Frederick 
 Shum, points out that the same subject employed his pencil 
 at three different periods, each picture surpassing the preced- 
 ing. The first was a woodman in a thunderstorm, painted at 
 the age of fourteen, after a picture by Gainsborough, and, 
 being exhibited by Spackman in an early collection, realised 
 a considerable sum. The second, about two years later, 
 represents the same man returning from his labour with his 
 dog on a winter evening ; it was sold by Spackman to Mr. 
 Rogers of Southampton, a well-known collector, for five hundred 
 guineas, and thirty years ago was in the possession of Lord 
 Powlett. The third, painted at the age of twenty-one, show- 
 ing the old patriarch going forth on a snowy morning, met 
 with extraordinary success ; it was sold in the first place to 
 N
 
 194 THOMAS BARKER AND 
 
 Machlin for five hundred guineas, and exhibited by him with 
 the result that he was offered a thousand for it. It was also 
 engraved by Bartolozzi so that it might be known all over the 
 country, and then worked in worsted by Miss Linwood and 
 hundreds of ladies. Did ever artist rise to fame more quickly ? 
 For this picture Barker had two sources of inspiration the old 
 man himself and Cowper's poem, " The Task." The old 
 man lived at Claverton many years and was much respected 
 by the worthy Rector, Richard Graves, author of the Spiritual 
 Quixote. In later life the intervals of his work as a woodman 
 were occupied in the garden of Mr. Howse of Lyncombe, in 
 which parish he spent the close of his life. He was buried 
 in the little Unitarian cemetery adjoining the garden where 
 he worked, and his name George Kelson is graven on the 
 stone over his remains. The poetic inspiration was in 
 the simple lines of Cowper : 
 
 u Forth goes the Woodman, leaving unconcerned 
 The clieerful haunts of men, to wield the axe 
 And drive tlie wedge in yonder forest drear, 
 From morn to eve his solitary task. 
 Shaggy and lean and shrewd with pointed ears, 
 And tail well cropped, half lurcher and half cur, 
 His dog attends him." 
 
 Barker, before his departure, became known as the painter 
 of the Woodman, not only in all art circles but in every part 
 of England. Abroad he employed himself in visiting the best 
 Italian galleries, copying the old masters and sketching from 
 nature. At Rome he endeavoured, in conjunction with his 
 friends Eastlake and Flaxman, to organise a society of English 
 students. It grieved him that in so great a centre, where 
 France had a good school and provided handsomely for it,
 
 BENJAMIN BARKER. 195 
 
 where Germany and even Belgium had classes, England with 
 all her wealth and power did almost nothing. But while a 
 generous public spirit prompted his organising efforts, many 
 a tale was told of his industry and perseverance in everything 
 relating to self-improvement often at considerable risk. 
 Against the advice of his friends he persisted in going out to 
 sketch on the Campagna in the fierce heat of the mid-day sun 
 until he was disabled by a coup de 8ole.il Then he found 
 retreats in the grand old palaces where he studied far-famed 
 frescoes, and laid the foundation of a success in that branch 
 of art which his contemporaries had laboured in vain to 
 reach. For good as are many similar works in England, costly 
 as were those of Leslie, Stanfield and others in Buckingham 
 Palace and the Houses of Parliament, it is believed that 
 Barker's " Massacre of the Sciotes by the Turks " in the house 
 he built for himself in Bath will endure when they have 
 faded away. 
 
 His experience of a sun-stroke on the Campagna did not 
 teach him wisdom. He often walked to Tivoli with a huge 
 folio under his arm and lingered till the heavy dews from the 
 stagnant marshes made his homeward walk dangerous. At 
 length he was compelled by illness to return to England, 
 where he was warmly welcomed by his good friend Spackman 
 and others who were interested. Perhaps no better estimate 
 could be formed of his versatility and artistic power than that 
 which was obtained by successive exhibitions of his works in 
 Bath. At the time Spackman began them, before he went to 
 Rome, people exclaimed " What a wonderful boy," while some 
 of the best judges in the country joined the chorus, and when, 
 after a lapse of years, the fruits of study and experience had 
 increased his fame, the days on which the works were shown 
 were like public holidays. For some reason he declined
 
 19G THOMAS BARKER AND 
 
 joining the Royal Academy ; not even his friend Lawrence 
 could persuade him to do so; but he sometimes sent 
 pictures to it, and for half a century exhibited at the British 
 Institution ; thus the public were prepared for the later 
 collections at Bath. It was a grand occasion when, the gallery 
 of his new house on Sion Hill being completed, he and his 
 brother joined their forces, brought together some of their 
 best productions and invited the world to see them. News- 
 papers told of innumerable strings of carriages containing 
 the elite of the country round, from Bowood to Brockley 
 Combe, and from Berkeley Castle to Badminton. This was 
 early in the century. Other exhibitions followed of the works 
 of Thomas Barker alone. One was devoted to the Battle of 
 Waterloo with the scene of " Up Guards and at them." On 
 another day visitors were invited to see " The Trial of Queen 
 Caroline/' when the crowds were greater than on the 
 opening of the gallery. But popular as such pictures were, 
 they gave a less perfect idea of the genius of the artist than 
 his quiet works, such as " Sunset," " The Morning Star," 
 "Lansdown Fair," Diogenes in Search of an Honest Man," 
 "The New Zealand Chiefs/' "The School of Euclid," and 
 " Poor Mary the Maid of the Inn." It was known that, while 
 his powers were quickened by the society with which he mixed, 
 his hosts were delighted with the brightness he brought to 
 their homes. For he was not a man of small resources ; his 
 variety of information, as well as his genial manners made 
 him welcome wherever he went. To lovers of art, like Lords 
 Lansdowne, Egremont and Stafford, Sir W. Cockburn, Mr. 
 Smith Pigott and Mr. Rogers, the tales he had to tell, the 
 experiences he was able to relate, gave much zest to his 
 conversation. There is an anecdote that, on going to dine 
 with Lady Jervis in Bath, he was shown what was called a
 
 BENJAMIN BARKER. 197 
 
 fine old Rembrandt, bought by her mother at Southampton, 
 which Barker, recalling his copying days, had no difficulty in 
 identifying as his own work. A similar story is told of a 
 dealer in London extolling to him and a friend who 
 accompanied him to his shop the merits of a supposed 
 Correggio, " a genuine and undoubted work of the master." 
 
 Correggio was indeed a master to Barker ; for many years 
 he made him his model ; but he was able to convince his 
 friend that the picture before them was of much later date ; 
 there happened to be a distinguishing mark showing that he 
 himself was the painter. Barker's great love for both 
 Rembrandt and Correggio did not prevent abundant original 
 and independent effort. The short list already given might 
 be extended to one of several pages, and if a life worthy of 
 him should ever be written there ought to be many a pleasant 
 illustration of scenes that inspired him. " Poor Mary the 
 Maid of the Inn" has been mentioned. I owe much of the 
 information in this sketch to an interesting lecture on Barker 
 given by Mr. Frederick Shum thirty years ago at the Bath 
 Royal Literary Institution. His knowledge of Barker and of 
 many of his friends enabled him to give the anecdotes I have 
 already quoted, and he happened to know the history of the 
 picture of " Poor Mary." " The question has been mooted," 
 he says, " whether the ballad by Southey was suggested by the 
 picture or the picture by the verses. I am inclined to think 
 neither statement correct." Both Southey and Barker were 
 acquainted with Sir Foster Cunliffe and visited him and Lady 
 Cunliffe at their hospitable mansion in South Wales. In the 
 neighbourhood was a poor deranged girl, often to be seen 
 wandering about the ruins of Tintern Abbey. One day when 
 Barker was riding in the carriage with Lady Cunliffe they 
 caught a glimpse of her seated upon a bank in a romantic spot
 
 198 THOMAS BARKER AND 
 
 far from any dwelling, the very type of melancholy. Barker, 
 deeply affected by her appearance, obtained from Lady 
 Cunliffe the particulars of her history, in return for which she 
 stipulated for a sketch of the girl, and, when an opportunity 
 offered, obtained from Southey after a similar recital his 
 description in verse. 
 
 We have had glimpses of Barker's prosperous days ; we 
 must now glance at those of his declining life. For them, 
 unfortunately, he made no provision ; though his earnings 
 were large his outgoings were larger. Like so many of his 
 brethren he had but little worldly wisdom, so that, when a 
 change of circumstances came, things quickly went from bad 
 to worse. If people wanted to see his pictures they found he 
 had sold all the best ; if they wanted to give a commission 
 he would only condescend to portraits where he was unknown, 
 and for other subjects the inward fire had become extin- 
 guished ; he had in fact neither strength nor spirit to paint. 
 A few friends did all they could to cheer him ; there had 
 been a grant of IQQ by the Government in 1846, when 
 Sir Robert Peel was Prime Minister ; but this was inadequate 
 to the wants of the family, and a further effort was made 
 privately. Nothing could be more depressing than his 
 domestic circumstances. Towards middle life he had married 
 a Miss Jones, who for some time fully shared his prosperity. 
 But soon after they settled at Doric house her health gave 
 way, and for sixteen years she never left it. Laid aside 
 mentally as well as bodily, she ceased to be the cheerful 
 companion of former days, so that how desolate his home 
 became can be easily imagined. It has been mentioned as a 
 good trait in his character that he was always devotedly 
 attentive to his afflicted wife, never failing in any of the tender 
 assiduity of a nurse. She sat to him for the Magdalen in his
 
 BENJAMIN BARKER. 199 
 
 fine picture of the " Resurrection," and in happier years 
 entered thoroughly into all his objects of interest. 
 
 Specimens of his works abound in the city he loved, 
 throughout Somersetshire, and in the adjoining counties. 
 Not many are to be seen in public galleries ; only one in the 
 National Gallery "A Landscape on Somerset Downs," but 
 several in the South Kensington Museum, notably, "Sheep 
 Washing," " Lansdown Fair," and a " Boy Extracting a Thorn 
 from his Foot." He died at Bath in 1847 at the age of eighty. 
 
 BENJAMIN BARKER. 
 
 The other brother from Pontypool was also assisted gener- 
 ously in early life by Mr. Spackman, but not to the same 
 extent as Thomas. He appears to have fought his way 
 upward with much less aid in various respects though with 
 results highly honourable to him and to Bath, where he 
 eventually settled. Neither Sir Edward Harington's 
 Schizzo with all its information about the Barker family, 
 nor The Dictionary of National Biography gives any 
 particulars of his education. But the lecture of Mr. Shum, 
 already referred to, gives interesting facts as to his later 
 history ; and I may be allowed to repeat some of them here, 
 because they have the value given to a great extent from 
 personal knowledge and increased by discriminating judgment. 
 
 "The works of Benjamin Barker," says Mr. Shum, "were 
 of valued merit, but the best will bear comparison with those 
 of any artist, and whatever may be the position which our 
 English school may attain they will be found worthy to grace 
 our choicest galleries. Although at first sight there does 
 not appear much in his pictures yet, the longer you view 
 them, the better you are pleased and the more you see to 
 admire. Two small landscapes of his which have been more
 
 200 THOMAS BARKER AND 
 
 or less before me for the last twenty years I never tire of 
 looking upon ; they are full of poetry and to a contemplative 
 mind suggest a thousand thoughts." 
 
 " His pictures generally were more carefully painted than 
 his brother's and more highly finished. The elder Barker 
 possessed the greater power and manifested more versatility 
 of genius ; yet he was more unequal and less uniformly 
 pleasing. His was the freer and bolder hand, Benjamin's the 
 more careful and delicate. In all his paintings you may see 
 his taste in the selection of subjects, a scene either beautiful 
 in itself or suggestive to the imagination. Although his 
 reputation was not proportioned to his merit, yet among his 
 patrons were some of the best judges of art ; of whom may be 
 mentioned the Marquis of Stafford, Lords Egremont, Essex 
 and Dartmouth. Neither of the Barkers had much tact in 
 matters of business, but Benjamin had more than his brother. 
 He not only obtained handsome prices for his works but 
 realised a good income from teaching. He chose a beautiful 
 site for a villa in Bathwick hill and was the first to build 
 there. Among the numerous visitors attracted to his pleasant 
 residence was Queen Charlotte, while staying in Bath. Some 
 said she went to see the pictures ; others that it was to see the 
 kitchen, which was reported to be a model one." During the 
 years 1813-20 he was a large contributor, chiefly of land- 
 scapes, to the Water-colour Exhibition in London, also, 
 though less in number, to the British Institution. Three of 
 his water-colour drawings may now be seen in the South 
 Kensington Museum. After enjoying a fair share of prosperity 
 in Bath he removed to Totness, where he suffered a lingering 
 illness and died in 1838 at the age of sixty- two.
 
 BENJAMIN BARKER. 201 
 
 A third Barker has been mentioned, Thomas Jones, the 
 son of Thomas. Born in Bath and first educated by his 
 father he was sent to Paris in 1834, became a pupil of Horace 
 Vernet and remained in his studio several years. He 
 exhibited frequently at the Salon ; on one occasion " The 
 Beauties of the Court of Charles II," for which he received 
 a gold medal. Many medals were also awarded him by 
 provincial towns in France. For Louis Philippe he painted 
 "The Death of Louis XIV.," which was destroyed in the 
 Revolution of 1848, and for the king's youngest daughter, the 
 Princess Clementina, "The Bride of Death," for which he 
 received the Cross of the Legion of Honour. The inspiration 
 of this picture was a deeply affecting death-bed at Bath in 
 the house of a family to whom the artist was much attached. 
 On his removal to London he painted pictures for the 
 Exhibition of the Royal Academy, where his portraits were 
 admired, especially one of Mr. Disraeli, now in the possession 
 of the Queen. Subsequently he dealt chiefly with military 
 subjects, going to the great battlefields of the time for scenes. 
 These works, says The National Biography, are faithful and 
 impressive records of the most memorable events of the 
 Crimean and Franco-German campaigns. Thomas Jones 
 Barker died in London in 1882 at the age of sixty-seven. 
 
 Bath continued the nursery of good painters many years, 
 but those who attained great eminence did so after their 
 removal to London. Of these one of the most celebrated was 
 Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., who, born at Devizes in 1769, 
 was placed at an early age under an artist here, probably 
 William Hoare. When only thirteen he received prizes from 
 the Society of Arts for copying in crayons the "Transfiguration" 
 by Raphael, supporting himself while working up to future, 
 distinction by painting half-guinea likenesses of the fashionable
 
 202 THOMAS BARKER AND BENJAMIN BARKER. 
 
 people of Bath. Sir Frederic Leighton, one of his 
 successors in the Presidency, is connected with Bath by early 
 residence ; his parents lived many years in the Circus. A 
 beautiful monument designed and erected by him to the 
 memory of his mother adorns one of the suburban cemeteries. 
 A lately deceased distinguished academician, Mr. Long, was 
 born and educated here : he also began his successful career 
 as a portrait painter; in addition to the earlier works 
 possessed by fellow citizens in private dwellings, there is at 
 the Guildhall a portrait by him, in his later style, of Mr. 
 William Hunt, several times Mayor of Bath, painted by 
 public subscription. Of not a few other recent local artists 
 it may be said that but for the greatly increased competition 
 of the nineteenth century they also would have become Bath 
 Celebrities, for most of them spent their lives here with good 
 repute and fair success. Ford, Jagger, Sheldon, Syer, 
 Duffield, Hardwick, the Hardys, Maddox, Rosenberg, all 
 deserve honourable mention in the local annals. They are 
 succeeded by men and women who in their day are also 
 doing good work.
 
 FOUR DIVINES HALES, CARTE, JAY, KEMBLE. 203 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 FOUR DIVINES HALES, CARTE, JAY, KEMBLE. 
 
 It would be strange if among the Celebrities of Bath there 
 were no divines. That there would be a large number would 
 not be expected by any who know the circumstances of the 
 city. It would not be just, however, to suppose an amount 
 of religious indifference sufficient to discourage considerable 
 pulpit eminence. 
 
 At various periods there have been able and excellent 
 ministers in Bath. They were somewhat known in the 
 eighteenth century ; more in the nineteenth ; men of learning, 
 piety, eloquence, and practical usefulness. Still, except in a 
 few instances, they have not been Celebrities, destined to 
 leave their mark on the city and be a light to future genera- 
 tions. Bath has, however, been the training place for divines 
 of rank as well as laymen. Three instances will be re- 
 membered. Canon Fleming, now of London and York, was 
 preacher at All Saints' ; the present Dean of Windsor was 
 curate of Walcot ; and the late Archbishop of York was 
 incumbent at the Octagon Chapel. My present chapter will 
 contain sketches of the " ever-memorable " John Hales, the 
 Rev. Thomas Carte, the Rev. William Jay and the Rev. 
 Charles Kemble. 
 
 THE EVER-MEMORABLE JOHN HALES. 
 The fact that this title was first given by high authority 
 and continued in successive centuries indicates celebrity. 
 Born in Bath in 1 584 and receiving his classical education at 
 King Edward's School, Hales was one of its earliest and 
 most distinguished scholars. " His proficiency in grammar
 
 204 FOUR DIVINES HALES, 
 
 learning," we learn from the British Biography, "was so 
 early that at thirteen he was sent to Corpus Christi College 
 in Oxford, and soon became Fellow of Merton." There he 
 was noted for " subtle disputations in philosophy, eloquent 
 declamations on history, and exact knowledge of Greek," the 
 latter qualifying him, first to read the Greek lecture in his 
 college, and afterwards to be Greek Professor in the 
 University. He was also chosen by Sir Henry Savile to 
 assist in his edition of S. Ghrysostom and by the University 
 to deliver the oration at the interment of Sir Thomas Bodley, 
 the founder of the Bodleian Library. 
 
 Having taken Holy Orders he accompanied King James's 
 ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton, in 1618 to Holland as his 
 chaplain. How long he acted in this capacity, or continued 
 to officiate as a clergyman, does not appear, but frequent 
 mention is made of his great interest in theological questions. 
 An intimate friend of Chillingworth, he shared the strong 
 desire of that eminent man " to see religion freed from what- 
 ever did not belong to it ; and cultivated in its primitive 
 purity and simplicity." One of his contemporaries remarks 
 that he went to Holland a Calvinist and returned an 
 Arminian, and when a friend who saw him reading Calvin's 
 Institute remarked that he thought he had got beyond that, 
 he answered, "In my younger days I read it to inform 
 myself, I now read it to reform him." His engagement with 
 Sir Dudley Carleton led to his taking an active part at the 
 Synod of Dort. On his return he was appointed Canon of 
 Windsor, but steadily refused any further preferment, 
 " choosing rather a good conscience." Towards the close of 
 life his pecuniary trials were great. He kept his library as 
 long as possible, but was at length compelled to sell it, live 
 in very small lodgings and put up with scanty fare. He
 
 CARTE, JAY, KEMBLE. 205 
 
 died at Eton in 1656 at the age of seventy-two. Anthony 
 Wood writes of him as "sincerely pious, of the strictest 
 integrity, charitable to the utmost extent of his means, and 
 of the most amiable and engaging manners." In 1659 his 
 works were published with the title Golden Remains of the 
 Ever -mem or able Mr. John Hales, and in subsequent years 
 other productions of his pen were distinguished by the same 
 appellation.* 
 
 * One of Mr. Peach's Bath books is a fine copy of the early 
 edition of the Golden Remains. Its value is increased by a few 
 annotations of recent date, one being an extract from the register 
 of Hales's baptism, May 5th, 1854, from the register of St. 
 James's parish, Bath. There are also printed cuttings from 
 Bath newspapers containing letters caused by some local theolog- 
 ical discussions. The following is signed Francis Barham, who 
 was known as a learned and benevolent man ; he writes as 
 a peacemaker : " It may befit us sometimes to revive the 
 memories of great worthies who have flourished in Bath in the 
 good old times. Amongst these worthies John Hales, with whose 
 name the title ' ever-memorable ' is constantly associated 
 occupies a conspicuous place. The reason why he is so called 
 and why his Remains are called Golden Remains is principally 
 because he was one of the most illustrious pacificators of his age 
 and country. While most scholars, divines and politicians were 
 eager if not violent for the triumph of particular sects and parties, 
 John Hales rose to that holy universalism of truth which views 
 them all as necessary parts in the whole system of things as 
 indispensible wheels in the organised clock-work of society, not 
 to be destroyed but regulated and harmonized. He therefore 
 urged the pacification of sects and parties, Jews and Christians, 
 Catholics and Protestants, Conformists and Nonconformists, and 
 proclaimed the principles of civil and religious toleration and
 
 206 FOUR DIVINES HALES, 
 
 The estimation in which Hales was generally held is shown 
 by his influence at the Synod of Dort. A series of his letters 
 to the English Ambassador on the proceedings of the Synod 
 are given in the Remains. There also may be found the 
 remarkable sermons which Chillingworth is said to have 
 prized as " most precious for setting forth the great religious 
 questions of the day clearly and courageously." One proof 
 of the success Hales sometimes met with in his efforts for 
 conciliation may be found in the good understanding between 
 him and Archbishop Laud, to whom he is said to have owed 
 his appointment to the Canonry at Windsor. Differing so 
 widely on theological and ecclesiastical questions they could 
 yet see in each other grounds for mutual respect, though 
 not even Laud could induce Hales to accept other preferment 
 than the canonry. He would aid the Archbishop in his 
 controversy with a Jesuit, but he would not, directly or 
 indirectly, sanction what he believed to be wrong. 
 
 THE REVEREND THOMAS CARTE. 
 
 Thirty years after the death of Hales, Thomas Carte was 
 born, the son of a Prebendary of Lichfield. His celebrity in 
 Bath was as Reader in the Abbey Church, a political contro- 
 versalist and a prolific historian. Though styled " Reader " 
 in the Abbey, he was in fact Rector of Bath, and it was from 
 
 liberty long before they were generally understood. He believed 
 the true church to consist of truly pious persons in every denomin- 
 ation, the Bible to be the only true confession of faith and 
 subscriptions to particular human creeds to be the cause of 
 division and antagonism. In this respect he agreed with Jeremy 
 Taylor in his Liberty of PropJmi/ing and Archdeacon Blackburn in 
 his Confessional."
 
 CARTED JAY, KEMBLE. 207 
 
 a sermon preached in that capacity his chief notoriety dates. 
 This was on the thirtieth of January, 1714, when the Jacobite 
 party was still strong in the city. Carte being at their head, 
 lost no opportunity of defending the Stewarts, and now vindi- 
 cated Charles I. v/ith respect to the Irish massacre. He was 
 answered by the Rev. Henry Chandler, Minister of the 
 original Nonconformist congregation in Bath, then denomin- 
 ated Presbyterian, now Unitarian. Several letters followed 
 on both sides which, being published, acquired more than 
 usual importance as the antagonists were both able men. 
 
 Carte, however, had a greater trouble before him. On the 
 accession of the House of Hanover he refused to take the 
 oaths of allegiance. He even threw aside his clerical habit 
 and assumed the character of a layman, acting for some time 
 as secretary to Bishop Atterbury. In 1722, either in speech 
 or writing, he had so far committed himself as to be accused 
 of high treason, a reward of ,1.000 being offered for his 
 apprehension by the Government. There was a story that an 
 officer was sent from London to arrest the Jacobite offender, 
 and that in order to escape he jumped from the window of 
 the Rectory house in full canonicals. At all events he was 
 compelled to quit England, but he was welcomed in France, 
 introduced to men of learning and position, and gained access 
 to the best libraries of Paris. Thus he was enabled to pursue 
 his historical researches which eventually resulted in several 
 important works. While thus engaged, Queen Caroline, wife 
 of George II., who had much sympathy with scholars, arranged 
 that he should return to England. 
 
 Some writer has remarked that Carte was weak rather than 
 wicked ; certainly he had the esteem of many who differed 
 from him ; he counselled forbearance if he did not always 
 practise it, saying often " there will be mistakes in divinity
 
 208 FOUR DIVINES HALES, 
 
 while human beings preach, and in government while mortals 
 rule." The chief of his many works was a History of England 
 in four volumes. His Life of the Duke of Ormond was also a 
 work of much repute. Bishop Warburton said of him " You 
 may read Hume for eloquence, but Carte is the Historian for 
 facts." At his death he left his mass of papers to his widow who 
 married a member of the Church of Rome by whom, Mr. 
 Jernegan, they were sold for a considerable sum to the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford for the Bodleian Library. His great wish was to 
 bring his History, which ends in 1564, down to the Revolu- 
 tion, for which purpose he says he had taken great pains in 
 copying innumerable documents in England, Scotland, and 
 other countries. The various intrigues of the Court at the 
 end of the reign of Charles II., were his chief subjects of 
 investigation. One of his biographers states, that while the 
 papers were in Mr. Jernegan' s possession, the Earl of Hard- 
 wicke paid ^?200 for the perusal of them, and Mr. Macpherson 
 "300, to use them as materials for his historical work. 
 
 THE REV. WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 A striking contrast to Thomas Carte, but undoubtedly 
 celebrated, because singularly able and eminently useful, was 
 William Jay. He was born in 1769, the son of a Wiltshire 
 stonecutter, and in due time apprenticed to his father, with 
 whom he worked in the erection of Fonthill Abbey. The 
 Dissenting minister of his native village, Tisbury, noticing 
 his studious disposition, recommended him to the Rev. 
 Cornelius Winter, of Marlborough, who received him as a 
 pupil. Jay not only studied earnestly, but preached in the 
 neighbouring villages when only sixteen years of age, always 
 attracting crowds to hear him. On leaving Marlborough in 1 788 
 he preached a series of discourses for the Rev. Rowland Hill,
 
 CARTE, JAY, KEMBLE. 209 
 
 at Surrey Chapel, London, where the fame of the boy- 
 preacher filled the large building. His first settlement was 
 at Christian Malford near Chippenham, whence he removed 
 to Clifton to officiate in an Independent chapel belonging to 
 Lady Maxwell. It was in 1791 that he removed to Bath, 
 where he enjoyed great popularity during the long period of 
 sixty-two years. The writer in The National Biography 
 says " his style was simple, his manner earnest, and his 
 voice remarkably good." John Forster calls him the " prince 
 of preachers," Sheridan " the most natural orator he had ever 
 heard," and even so fastidious a critic as Beckford describes 
 his mind as " a clear, transparent stream, flowing so freely as 
 to give the idea of its being inexhaustible." For many years 
 he supplied Surrey Chapel for six weeks at a time. Some of 
 his works had a large circulation. The Mutual Duties of 
 Husbands and Wives, ran to six editions ; Morning Exercises 
 to ten ; and the Evening Exercises had also a considerable 
 sale. He died in 1853, in the house in which he had long 
 lived, No. 4, Percy place, at the age of eighty-four. 
 
 Mr. Jay retired from the ministry of Argyle chapel where 
 he had ministered more than half-a-century in 1853. The 
 event was followed by the secession of a part of the congrega- 
 tion who built a Chapel in Charlotte street, which in compliment 
 to their former pastor they named Percy chapel Many 
 tributes to his memory appeared after his death, one in 
 recent times by Mr. Peach in the first volume of his Historic 
 Houses, which I may introduce here as remarkably faithful 
 and comprehensive.* 
 
 *" It is a proof of Mr. Jay's rare qualities that for so long a 
 period he maintained his influenc3 over a large congregation, 
 unimpaired almost to the last. He was a man of fine courage, 
 O
 
 210 FOUR DIVINES HALES, 
 
 THE REV. CHARLES KEMBLE. 
 
 Few Bath benefactors are remembered with more gratitude 
 than the munificent restorer of the Abbey Church. And Mr. 
 Kemble had other strong claims as a clergyman and a 
 citizen ; his memory will be long respected for his earnest 
 ministrations in the pulpit and his services to many useful 
 institutions. But by his work at the Abbey he did 
 spontaneously for the noblest building in the city what few 
 men could do and what no other man would have done. 
 
 great ability, and possessed preaching power of a high order. 
 These were attributes which enabled him to win and hold that 
 ascendancy over his people, which he used with a moderation and 
 wisdom that marked the character of the man. Mr. Jay devotsd 
 himself exclusively to his ministerial duties, turning neither to 
 the right nor to the left after other pursuits. In relation to the 
 Church, to politics, and the exciting questions of the day, during 
 his long and honoured life, his conduct was characterized by great 
 caution, candour, and sound judgment ; and he always acted 
 towards those with whom he differed in opinion, on the principle 
 that there are generally two, if not more, sides to every question. 
 Mr. Wilberforce no doubt was attracted towards Mr. Jay by this 
 breadth of character and eclectic taste. It may be thought that 
 Mr. Jay clung with too much tenacity to the position he had so 
 long filled. It was natural that a man of so much energy and 
 intellectual vitality should be unwilling to admit the decaying 
 powers and enfeebled physical ability which had become painfully 
 apparent to others, and that he should resist the proposed 
 assistance proffered by his congregation. He did not object to an 
 assistant, but a co-pastor was to him highly distasteful. ' If,' he 
 said, ' two ride on horseback, one must ride behind.' The reply 
 to which was very simple, namely, that as to a co-pastor or
 
 CARTE, JAY, KEMBLE. 211 
 
 Charles Kemble was born in 1819. His father and grand- 
 father were opulent tea merchants in London. His father died 
 when he was six weeks old leaving no other child. For a 
 long time it was doubtful whether he could be reared, so 
 delicate were his infancy and childhood. But first the care of 
 a judicious mother, then the wise training of grandfather and 
 uncles, brought him up. He always spoke of his grandfather 
 very gratefully, attributing to his influence the business habits 
 he found so useful in after life. 
 
 Not these, however, nor yet the prospect of considerable 
 wealth, fixed young Kemble's destination. His strength of 
 
 assistant there could never arise a dispute as to which place Mr. 
 Jay was to occupy. The end was that during the closing years 
 of his ministry he had the aid of a coadjutor of singular eminence, 
 in the person of Eobert Alfred Yaughan, a man of great 
 accomplishments. Mr. Yanghan came to Bath in 1848, and re- 
 moved to Birmingham in October, 1850, where he remained until 
 1855. He died in 1857, too soon for the church of which he was 
 one of the brightest and most gifted ministers ; and for literature, 
 on which he left the impress of his power and learning in various 
 essays, and in that remarkable work, Hours with the Mystics. His 
 sermons were full of exquisite thoughts, showing deep reading and 
 immense diligence. We believe that Mr. Jay, before he died, was 
 brought by reflection and by what he discerned around him, to 
 believe that something more than praying and preaching were 
 indispensible in a pastor ; that a knowledge of his people, of their 
 thoughts, and habits, and personal lives was needful, and that it 
 was desirable to meet and see them in their homes as well as in 
 his chapel. This he did not do, and the fault was not all his own. 
 He had grown up with j\ system which did not insist so much 
 upon pastoral care and general regard for the flock, as upon pulpit 
 exhortations and long prayers."
 
 212 FOUR DIVINES HALES, 
 
 character and religious convictions made him resolve to devote 
 himself to the ministry of the Church of England. His 
 mother, still anxious about his health, accompanied him to 
 Oxford, where he passed through the usual course until his 
 ordination in 1842. His first settlement was as curate at 
 Stockwell in a new church without a district. Soon after- 
 wards the incumbent resigned and he succeeded him, forming 
 with judgment and carrying out with energy various plans. 
 For the rapidly increasing population he obtained a new 
 parish consisting of part of Lambeth and containing 7,000 
 people. He also immediately built schools for 400 children 
 at the part of the parish farthest from the church and 
 provided Sunday services for the parents. 
 
 On another large work in Stockwell Mr. Kemble soon fixed 
 his heart a second church. Governed by no sectarian feeling, 
 but by earnest interest in the spiritual condition of his fellow 
 creatures, he erected the needed building at his sole cost. He 
 was thus engaged when Mr. Simeon's Trustees made him the 
 offer of the Rectory of Bath. Strong as the ties were which 
 bound him to Stockwell after seventeen years of constant 
 work, he yet felt it right to accept the invitation. Here he 
 commenced another service of fifteen years, and continued it 
 with the same fidelity and large heartedness which he had 
 always shown. Removing in 1859 he found three objects to 
 be carried out if possible. (1) The separation of St. James's 
 Parish from the Abbey Parish, (3) the restoration of the 
 Abbey Church with more space for worshippers, and (3) the 
 re- building of the National Schools. 
 
 The first was accomplished, and an income of J&3GO with a 
 house provided for the vicar of St. James's. The rebuilding 
 of the schools had to be given up, partly in consequence of 
 the establishment of a School Board. But the restoration of
 
 CARTE, JAY, KEMBLE. 213 
 
 the Abbey arid the blending of the nave with the choir were 
 carried out with great vigour. Besides substantial repairs of 
 considerable magnitude, it was deemed right to undertake 
 ornamental works appropriate to the dignity and importance 
 of the edifice. The beautiful groined ceiling of Bath stone, the 
 east and other windows, Prior Bird's elegant little chapel, the 
 reredos, all testify to the spirit which characterised the plans. 
 From the beginning Mr. Kemble was cordially aided by an 
 energetic committee and the support of the city generally. It 
 was felt that no sectarian or political differences should prevent 
 a united effort for doing what was needed to such a fine old, 
 historic, national monument. On the seventh of May, 1864, 
 at the first public meeting called on the subject, the Bishop 
 of the Diocese presided, the Mayor of Bath, a Nonconformist, 
 moved the first resolution, which was seconded by the Rector, 
 and the entire proceedings were in all respects worthy of the 
 occasion. The total cost exceeded 30,000, about one-third 
 being provided by Mr. Kemble and his family, the remainder 
 by public subscription. The fine coloured window in the 
 transept was put up at the expense of Mrs. Elliott, who also 
 paid for the restoration of Bishop Montague's tomb. The east 
 window originated with the Bath Literary Club, one of whose 
 members collected from comparatively few friends the amount 
 of the cost, about thirteen hundred pounds. 
 
 Nearly ten years passed before the Restoration was 
 completed. Through the whole time neither Mr. Kemble's 
 energy nor generosity ever flagged. He attended to all the 
 details with the committee, meeting any pecuniary difficulty 
 arising from unexpected wants and encouraging public efforts 
 by his munificent example. Nor did this engrossing 
 occupation preclude his discharge of many other duties ; his 
 functions as Rector of the parish, the Royal United Hospital,
 
 214 FOUR DIVINES HALES, CARTE, JAY, KEMBLE. 
 
 of which he was President several years, the Mineral Water 
 Hospital, where he filled the office one year, and long acted 
 as Governor, the Victoria Park Committee, the School Board 
 and other institutions had the benefit of his unremitting 
 service. Amid so many engagements in the year 1873, illness 
 arrested him. He had lately completed a new edition of a 
 Hymn Book which he originally compiled before coming to 
 Bath. An attack of bronchitis was followed by symptoms of 
 heart disease which laid him aside for some time. At length 
 in August, 1874, the summons came ; it found him ready ; the 
 flame of life flickered a few weeks and all was over. He was 
 buried in the Abbey Cemetery with every mark of respect 
 from the ministers of all denominations, the Corporation of 
 the city and the people at large.
 
 BISHOP BAINES AND BISHOP CLIFFORD. 215 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 BISHOP BAINES AND BISHOP CLIFFORD. 
 
 It may have been obvious that the reputation of nearly all 
 the eminent men of whom I have written has not been merely 
 local. Their names if not their works, their positions if not 
 their histories have been well known to a considerable extent, 
 thereby increasing their claim to grateful local remembrance. 
 This was the case especially with the two prelates whose 
 histories have been selected for the present chapter. Closely 
 connected with Bath by official ties they were heard of and 
 respected in distant countries while their own sympathies 
 had a range of corresponding extent. 
 
 It is impossible to write of such men without remembering 
 this leading characteristic of the Catholic Church. Macaulay, 
 fifty years ago, said that " the members of her communion 
 were certainly not fewer than a hundred and fifty millions, 
 whereas all the other Christian sects united scarcely amounted 
 to a hundred and twenty millions." Probably in the interval 
 the proportion has become still more favourable on the 
 Catholic side ; at all events there is, happily, a growing 
 disposition to regard not only numbers but great antiquity, 
 marvellous vitality and undoubted practical usefulness as 
 reasons for deep interest in one of the foremost religious 
 agencies of the world. 
 
 The preceding chapter of divines, short as it is, illustrates 
 the variety of the human mind. Hales was a broad Church- 
 man, so broad that, though his learning and ability would 
 have given him high station, he declined all preferment. 
 Carte was a high Anglican, so high that the Government of
 
 216 BISHOP BAINES AND 
 
 the day ordered him to be arrested for treason and he, while 
 still a clergyman, refused to wear clerical habits. Jay was a 
 Nonconformist, relying for means of usefulness in the world, 
 neither on ordained sacramental observances nor any other 
 obedience to state requirements, but on simple, powerful, 
 practical preaching, such as would affect the conscience and 
 daily life. Kemble, a clergyman of the Established Church, 
 but in sympathy with all sincere Christians, devoted himself 
 and his opportunities to the right preservation of a noble 
 historic religious edifice and to general means of doing good 
 in the city where his lot was cast. After saying what has to 
 be said of Bishop Baines and Bishop Clifford I propose to 
 introduce notices of two other members of the clerical pro- 
 fession, Mr. Warner and Mr. Hunter, who being chiefly 
 remarkable for public services outside the lines of that pro- 
 fession, and perhaps differing from all the others in some 
 respects on religious matters, are additional instances of the 
 prevailing variety of human thought. 
 
 Peter Augustine Baines was born in 1786 at Pear Tree 
 Farm, near Liverpool. In 1798 he- quitted his home with 
 three brothers to study divinity in Hanover. It was at the 
 English Benedictine Abbey of Lambspring, but in about four 
 years his studies were interrupted, the property suffering 
 the fate of war, being seized by the Prussian Govern- 
 ment. The students were scattered, and Baines, returning 
 to England, joined a mission near York connected with 
 the Benedictine College of St. Lawrence, Ampleforth. 
 When he had passed through the usual gradations to the 
 priesthood and occupied fourteen years as a teacher in the 
 college he was selected to take charge of the mission at Bath, 
 where his exceptional gifts were fully recognised. The author 
 of the memoir in the Dictionary of National Biography says
 
 BISHOP CLIFFORD. 217 
 
 " he was conspicuous for his eloquence as a preacher, his 
 vigour as a controversialist, and above all the charm and 
 dignity of his personal bearing." 
 
 Six years afterwards Dr. Baines was consecrated as a 
 bishop, still continuing his work in Bath. Soon, however, 
 he fell into serious ill-health, and being advised to travel, 
 visited Rome with a few friends, who kindly accompanied 
 him. " He came," says Cardinal Wiseman, in the fascinating 
 chapter on Leo XII in his Recollections of the last four Popes, 
 " with an interior abscess working on an enfeebled frame, 
 hoping that change of climate might do more than medicines 
 or their administrators. He was not disappointed ; the mild 
 climate, the interesting recreation, and perhaps still more, the 
 rest from the labour and excitement in which he had lived 
 wrought a visible change for the better ere the return of 
 spring. A delightful summer spent between Assisi and 
 Porto di Fermo completely re-established the health which he 
 had travelled to seek." One advantage of this visit was an 
 intimate acquaintance with the reigning pontiff Leo XII, who 
 was much interested in him, not only on account of his social 
 qualities and great abilities, but as a member of the Benedic- 
 tine brotherhood to which Leo himself belonged, and whose 
 interests he had much at heart. Cardinal Wiseman's further 
 account of the steps by which Bishop Baines gained celebrity, 
 as well as of some striking personal characteristics must form 
 part of this sketch : 
 
 " By degrees the reputation which he had acquired in England 
 began to spread in Rome ; several noble families in which he had 
 been intimate at home were in Rome, and gave many others the 
 opportunity of becoming acquainted with him ; and he had a 
 power of fascinating all who approached him, in spite of a decided 
 tone and manner which made it difficult to differ from him in
 
 218 BISHOP BAINES AND 
 
 opinion. He had sometimes original views upon a certain class 
 of subjects ; but on every topic he had a command of language, 
 and a clear manner of expressing his sentiments, which commanded 
 attention, and generally won assent. Unfortunately, this proved 
 to him a dangerous gift. When he undertook great and magni- 
 ficent works, he would stand alone : assent to his plans was a 
 condition of being near him ; any one that did not agree, or that 
 ventured to suggest deliberation, or provoke discussion, was easily 
 put aside ; he isolated himself with his own genius ; he had no 
 counsellor but himself; and he who had, at one time, surrounded 
 himself with men of learning, of prudence, and of devotedness to 
 him, found himself at last almost alone, and fretted a noble heart 
 to a solitary death. 
 
 " At the period, however, to which this chapter belongs, these 
 faults could scarcely show themselves to any great disparagement 
 of his higher and better powers. In the course of the ensuing 
 winter he was able, though contrary to the opinion of his friends, 
 to appear in the English pulpit, which, as we shall see, Leo XII 
 opened in Rome. The church, which was nearly empty when 
 preachers of inferior mark occupied it, was crowded when Bishop 
 Baines was announced as the orator. Many people will remember 
 him. He was happiest in his unwritten discourses. The flow of 
 his words was easy and copious, his imagery was often very elegant, 
 and his discourses were replete with thought and solid matter. 
 But his great power was in his delivery, in voice, in tone, in look, 
 and gesture. His whole manner was full of pathos, sometimes 
 more even than the matter justified ; there was a peculiar tremu- 
 lousness of voice, which gave his words more than double effect, 
 notwithstanding the drawback of a provincial accent, and occasional 
 dramatic pronunciations. In spite of such defects, he was 
 considered, by all that heard him, one of the most eloquent and 
 earnest preachers they had ever attended." 
 
 It is not surprising that in these circumstances Dr. Baines
 
 BISHOP CLIFFORD. 219 
 
 was destined by Leo XII to be the first English cardinal. 
 The fact that they were both Benedictines influenced the 
 Pontiff who told Monsignor Nicolai that he had been " looking 
 around for a member of the order on whom to bestow the 
 hat of restitution.'' 
 
 With this view Leo, having made suitable inquiries as to 
 fitness in various respects, desired that as a preparatory step 
 Baines should remove from his private apartments in Rome 
 to the Benedictine monastery of San Callisto and wear the 
 Episcopal habit of his order. Cardinal Wiseman states he 
 was assured on good authority that this having been done 
 the Pope renewed the offer but it was declined ; why, we are 
 not told ; only that " the bishop would have been made a 
 cardinal not on national grounds but as a Benedictine, though 
 the thought of travelling so far for a fitting recipient of the 
 dignity was generous and broad and undoubtedly formed the 
 basis of th nomination of an English cardinalite in the 
 ensuing Pontificate." 
 
 In one of the passages I have quoted referring to 
 " magnificent works " there is probably an allusion to the 
 great enterprise of Prior Park in which certainly courage 
 may have been more conspicuous than prudence. What was 
 accomplished there, however the purchase of the estate, 
 said to have been the noblest day-dream of his life and the 
 establishment of the college, for which a want had long 
 existed, amply confirms Dr. Wiseman's statement as to the 
 influence the Bishop had acquired by his abilities and high 
 character. The titled and wealthy Catholics of England saw 
 in him no common man ; they believed him capable of doing 
 much to restore their church to what they conceived to be 
 its right position in the country ; and if a Protestant like 
 Macaulay could be so deeply impressed with the vital power
 
 220 BISHOP BAINES AND 
 
 of that church as to write the celebrated eulogy, in which he 
 states that " the proudest royal houses are but of yesterday 
 when compared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs," can it 
 be wondered that noblemen and gentlemen should gladly 
 support one of their prelates whose aspirations were so high ? 
 Hence on returning from Rome after the death of Bishop 
 Collingridge, whose coadjutor he had been at Bath, hastening 
 back, we are told, with the added responsibility of Vicar 
 Apostolic of the Western district, he proceeded to carry out 
 his plans as to Prior Park. The new buildings arose ; the 
 college succeeded, at least for a time ; men who attained 
 much eminence were trained in it ; the indefatigable bishop 
 continued to preach in Bath with his accustomed eloquence 
 and gathered around him occasionally at Prior Park the 
 friends of the students and the elite of Bath. But all that 
 had been done caused a load of anxieties and obligations 
 which oppressed him till the close of his life " fretting a 
 noble heart to a solitary death." This came with unexpected 
 suddenness in 1843 at the age of fifty-seven. Very numerous 
 were the testimonies of respect and affection. At the lying 
 in state upwards of thirteen thousand persons passed round 
 the catafalque. Besides the memory of his great personal 
 services he left numerous controversial writings, pastorals 
 and lectures. He was interested in art and much as beloved 
 Italy he had a great admiration of the city and scenery of 
 Bath. I remember standing with him in the portico of 
 Prior Park when, looking at the varied landscape stretched 
 out before us, the richly covered hills, the city embosomed 
 among them, the Avon winding peacefully for many a mile, 
 he said "I know nothing more beautiful in Italy or anywhere."
 
 BISHOP CLIFFORD. 221 
 
 Prior Park is so often mentioned that I add a few particu- 
 lars. The following description appeared lately in a London 
 morning paper : 
 
 " Prior Park is situated at the head of a long, well-wooded vale 
 on a brow which commands a beautiful view. It derives its name 
 from the fact that it once belonged to the priors of Bath Abbey. 
 The original house as it now stands was built by Wood for Ralph 
 Allen, who was the original of Fielding's Allworthy in Tom 
 Jones. It is a handsome Palladian structure with a central 
 portico, two large wings and connecting arcades ranged in a 
 semi-circle. The front descends in terraces to a stream and pool, 
 which are spanned by a bridge, built in the form of a temple. The 
 house is built of Bath stone, darkened by time, and the effect of 
 the pillared front and the porticoed entrance is very fine. It 
 came to the Roman Catholic Church by gift, and is now used as a 
 residence for the Bishop of Clifton, and a college for the education 
 of aspirants to Roman Catholic orders." 
 
 To this I subjoin a short history of the property. It 
 belonged to the ancient monastery and included on that 
 side of Bath three Combes, Widecombe, Lyncombe, or the 
 Watery Valley, and Smallcombe in the Parish of Bath wick. 
 Ralph Allen's purchase was a portion of the Widecombe, 
 adjoining his stone quarries, where the Prior of the Monastery 
 had possessed a park which supplied it with venison, and a 
 grange or farm with the usual produce for such an 
 establishment. This portion was called the Prior Park estate 
 after the dissolution in the time of Henry VIII, when it 
 was purchased by Humphrey Colles, then transferred to 
 Matthew Colthurst, and ultimately to Fulke Morley from 
 whom it descended by kinship to the Duke of Kingston. 
 From him it devolved through the female line to the 
 Meadows family, who assumed the name of Pierrepont, the 
 head of which family was created Earl Manvers.
 
 222 BISHOP BAINES AND 
 
 Allen acquired the estate in the full tide of his prosperity. 
 He wanted a house corresponding to it, but he also wanted to 
 show what effect could be produced by the stone from his 
 adjoining quarries. It has been stated in the Memoir of 
 Allen that after the death of Bishop Warburton in 177D, Lord 
 Hawardenwho married Allen's niece succeeded to the property 
 and lived there till he was followed by his son who died 
 without issue in 1807, when the connection of Prior Park with 
 the Allen family ceased. The house was afterwards void or 
 had only occasional tenants until 1817. Then Mr. Thomas, 
 a Bristol merchant, came and remained nine years. In 1827 
 Bishop Baines was placed in possession, very much as the 
 result of the great efforts made by himself to buy the property 
 for a high-class educational establishment. Two wings were 
 built for distinct classes of students, and called respectively 
 St. Peter's and St. Paul's College. Great spirit was thrown 
 into the undertaking, and for some time the prospects were 
 encouraging, but at length heavy clouds intervened, the 
 expenses could not be sustained, the college was broken 
 up and the estate let A succession of tenants occupied it 
 for some years, the longest being Mr. Thompson, a 
 Nonconformist gentleman from a distance, who became a 
 member of the Bath Corporation. In 1856 it was again 
 vacant, and bought by Bishop Clifford, a most generous effort 
 for the revival of a thoroughly efficient Catholic College. 
 
 From the additions and improvements which have been 
 made in the interval, now thirty-seven years, it may be 
 inferred that there has been a fair amount of success. Two 
 elements have certainly not been wanting : unceasing interest 
 on the part of the noble-minded prelate who accomplished 
 the purchase and the high character of successive presidents 
 and assistants. If Bishop Baines was instrumental in adding
 
 BISHOP CLIFFORD. 223 
 
 considerably to the original structure of Ralph Allen the 
 wings and arcades for the college and the commencement of 
 a beautiful chapel, Bishop Clifford caused a completion of 
 much that was unfinished and infused from year to year a 
 spirit of the greatest value. 
 
 It is probable that exaggerated ideas prevail as to 'the 
 mansion. Handsome as it is externally the interior is far from 
 being what might be supposed. Wood is said to have been 
 much more particular about accommodation for the horses for 
 the establishment than for the inmates of the house. Allen, 
 though in some respects unassuming, was fond of state ; his 
 horses were richly caparisoned and he seldom drove with less 
 than four. It was one of the follies of the times promoted by 
 the man whom the Corporation was so weak as to consider 
 King of Bath. And while Wood did not give his employer a 
 single good room in the centre of the house his care for the 
 horses and even for the pigeons and poultry was excessive. 
 Still the sight of the noble facade, with its magnificent flight 
 o steps and the other architectural surroundings, adorned as 
 they all are by luxuriant vegetation, are worth a long journey 
 to see and will always form one of the greatest attractions of 
 
 Bath. 
 
 BISHOP CLIFFORD. 
 
 While these pages are passing through the Press, I hear of 
 the death of this distinguished prelate. Although Clifton 
 was his habitual place of residence he spent much time at 
 Prior Park, and his intimate connection with it would alone 
 justify a tribute to his memory here. But he was also well 
 known in Bath, much interested in its various scientific 
 societies and especially useful in throwing light on doubtful 
 questions relating to its Roman antiquities and other matters 
 of local history.
 
 224 BISHOP BAINES AND 
 
 The Athenwum justly says that Bishop Clifford was in 
 many ways an uncommon man ; by descent indeed almost a 
 curiosity. He was the second son of the seventh Baron 
 Clifford, of Chudleigh who married the daughter of Thomas 
 Wild who, being left a widower, took orders in the Church of 
 Rome and eventually received a Cardinal's hat. Hugh 
 Clifford was thus the extraordinary instance of a Cardinal's 
 grandson, and there is reason to believe that had he lived a 
 little longer he would have enjoyed the dignity conferred on 
 Dr. Wild. So long ago as the early fifties Dr. Oliver in his 
 Collection illustrating the history of the Catholic Churches 
 in the West of England, predicted that Dr. Clifford would 
 become a prominent character in the community. 
 
 He received part of his early education at Prior Park, at 
 the time when Bishop Baines lived at the mansion, and he 
 was in constant intercourse with him until his death. The 
 next resident prelate was Archbishop Errington, with whom 
 he had the warmest friendship, as is shewn by the desire to 
 be interred by his side in the corridor adjoining the college 
 chapel. Bishop Clifford's love for Prior Park, begun in early 
 life, continued to the end. He was accustomed to say that 
 wherever he was, through the long period of sixty years, 
 no place had greater charms for him. In addition to the 
 surpassing beauty of the landscape and the historic 
 associations, which no one could appreciate better than him- 
 self, there would be his attachment to successive heads of the 
 college, men of no ordinary intellectual and religious worth. 
 
 Great therefore must have been his sorrow when, in 1856, 
 the vicissitudes came which broke up the college and deprived 
 the catholics of the beautiful estate. But great also were his 
 courage and energy, when, after the changes of nine years, 
 he obtained funds for buying back the property and
 
 BISHOP CLIFFORD. 225 
 
 re-establishing a high class seminary. Mention was made of 
 his efforts by Dr. Hedley, Bishop of Newport, in his sermon 
 at the Mass prior to the interment. " No one," he said, 
 " could tell how generous and large hearted the deceased 
 prelate was ; no one would ever know how much the place 
 where they were assembled owed to him." As one of the 
 audience I felt indeed it was only necessary to look around on 
 the rows of noble pillars, the ceiling, the windows and other 
 accessories, all in the exquisite style and proportions of an 
 Italian cathedral, to feel the force of the preacher's remark. 
 And while this was evidence of the care, skill and cost with 
 which additions had been made through successive decades, 
 thoughts would crowd upon the mind of the constant care for 
 the educational objects of the establishment and of the love 
 which every member of it cherished for the benefactor. 
 
 The contiguity of Clifton made Dr. Clifford's frequent visits 
 to Bath easy. And here a large circle of friends were always 
 glad to welcome so genial and accomplished a visitor. Apart 
 from his episcopal duties many objects of interest in the city 
 had a share of his regard, especially the antiquities, on which 
 he occasionally gave lectures at the Institution. It would be 
 easily imagined by all who knew the tendency of his mind and 
 his intimate knowledge of Rome that the uncovering and 
 development of the magnificent baths within his diocese 
 would be watched by him with peculiar pleasure. On this and 
 other kindred subjects he was always regarded as an authority 
 by the various archa3ological societies with which he was 
 connected at Bath and Bristol and in the counties of the 
 district, while his charming simplicity of style and manner 
 attracted all sects and parties and led to the formation of 
 many friendships. But every one knew that it was to the 
 church of his fathers his most ardent affection and constant 
 P
 
 BISHOP BAINES AND 
 
 service were given. Year by year it was seen how buildings 
 arose, institutions multiplied, congregations increased, under 
 the fostering care of the indefatigable bishop. Yet preaching 
 was not amongst his accomplishments, in consequence of a 
 slight physical hesitancy. His eminence in the church, how- 
 ever, caused him to be selected for the sermon at the funeral 
 of his intimate friend Cardinal Newman. Few dignitaries 
 were better known in Rome ; he had the rare privilege of 
 being consecrated to his bishopric at the Vatican ; with 
 Pius IX he appears to have been for a long time a special 
 favourite, and that Leo XIII had sincere regard for him is 
 said to have been shewn by a willingness to give him the post 
 of English adviser when Cardinal Howard left Home. This 
 would have been unwelcome to him in consequence of the 
 strong ties of Clifton and Prior Park. One reason for the 
 Pope's desire to have such an adviser would probably be his 
 thorough knowledge and excellent pronunciation of the Italian 
 language. It has been even said that Bishop Clifford could 
 preach well in Italian though not in English. 
 
 It should be gratefully remembered that the strong religious 
 affections which have been mentioned were combined with 
 much independence of character. Dr. Hedley mentioned 
 this in his eloquent sermon with reference to Dr. Clifford's 
 objection to the celebrated dogma of the immaculate con- 
 ception for which the Pope required the acceptance of the 
 Church. The preacher attributed the objection to a broad- 
 mindedness acquired by Roman experiences, to mingling 
 with the most learned theologians and men of the widest 
 intellects, and to constant contact with the great stream of 
 Catholic thought. " The Catholic Church," said Dr. Hedley, 
 " though an immutable Church was not silent and dead, like 
 some stony sphinx of the Egyptian desert silted up by the
 
 BISHOP CLIFFORD. 227 
 
 sand of ages ; no, her immutability was the accompaniment 
 of perpetual life." "Dr. Clifford," he continued, "recognised 
 this, and saw that, unalterable as the Church was, there was 
 nevertheless in her the development of leaf and the bursting 
 of flower from year to year and century to century." Another 
 writer remarks that " he aimed at leading his flock by gentle 
 suasion and high example rather than by enforcing blind 
 obedience to the voice of authority. 
 
 Prior Park had seen many remarkable gatherings. States- 
 men, Philosophers and Philanthropists had often met there in 
 genial conclave. But never probably within that beautiful pile 
 of buildings had there been such a grand and solemn 
 spectacle as on Friday, the eighteenth of August. The 
 preceding circumstances had touched many a chord of loving 
 sympathy. It was known how the good Bishop had gone on 
 with his work until he had found it necessary to submit to an 
 operation. It was known bow he wished for it to be performed 
 in the quiet of Prior Park with the aid of his personal 
 medical attendant, Mr. King. It was known how a London 
 specialist had been so successful that strong hopes of recovery 
 were entertained, but how in a few sad days other symptoms 
 appeared, and, after the last solemn ceremonies, the patient 
 sank to rest. And thus were brought together from Bath and 
 Clifton and Bristol and all the country round that large 
 sympathising congregation. Those who were present will 
 long remember the solemn dirges, the array of dignitaries, 
 the eloquent sermon, the universal sorrow ; and many must 
 have returned home thankful for having known so good a man. 
 Writing on the fit association of the names of Oliver and 
 Clifford as " antiquaries both born and made " the Athenaeum 
 adds : 
 
 " If archaeology was a pastime to Clifford, it was at the same 
 time a serious study. In Wilts and Somerset he brought much
 
 228 BISHOP UAINES AND BISHOP CLIFFORD. 
 
 research to investigations in local topography, especially as to the 
 sites of battles between King Alfred and the Danes. He was an 
 enthusiastic member of the archaeological societies of Somersetshire 
 and Gloucestershire ; but beyond a few papers read at the meetings 
 of these and similar societies, he has left no written records of his 
 opinions and researches. Few modern bishops have produced less 
 ' copy ' of any kind. He fought shy, if he could, of that sort of 
 extended ' imprimatur,' in the form of an episcopal preface to a 
 pious volume, which the modern Roman Catholic author appears 
 hardly to be happy without. When religious controversies raged, 
 Bishop Clifford seldom ranged himself as a champion of the 
 opinions he was well fitted by his sense of courtesy and toleration 
 to defend with effect. In 1874, when he published a reply to 
 Mr. Gladstone's anti- Vatican pamphlets, he did so in the form of one 
 of the pastorals which every Roman Catholic bishop is expected to 
 address to his flock at stated seasons of the ecclesiastical year ; and 
 this, perhaps, will remain as a standard little treatise on the civil 
 allegiance of the spiritual subjects of the Pope." 
 
 An annotation by the Rev. J. Hunter refers to another 
 Roman Catholic Bishop in Bath who deserves to be remem- 
 bered, Dr. Walmesley. Mr. Hunter had written of Sir W. 
 Herschel as having done much to strengthen the connection 
 of science with the city and adds : 
 
 " The only other resident of Bath contemporary with Herschel 
 who can be singled out as likely to have encouraged and assisted 
 him, as far as I am informed, is Dr. Walmesley, a Roman 
 Catholic Bishop and vicar of the western district, who lived much 
 in Bath, and died there in 1797. His house was destroyed in 
 the riots of 1780. He is said by Roman Catholic writers to have 
 been ' very eminent as a mathematician and astronomer.' He 
 was also a theological writer ; as was his successor, Dr. Baines, 
 the first superior of the great establishment at Prior Park."
 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 229 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 From time to time clergymen of the Church of England 
 and ministers of various denominations in Bath have been 
 celebrated for preaching power, but probably none more than 
 William Connor Magee. On the platform also as well as in the 
 pulpit few, if any, excelled him in impressing, usefully and 
 permanently, the minds and hearts of those whom he 
 addressed. Thoughtful, earnest, fearless, unconventional, he 
 was also painstaking ; he spared no labour in being well 
 prepared for what he had to say ; though his delivery had at 
 the same time the charm of true eloquence. 
 
 In an article on his death the Times remarked that Magee 
 was "not born in the purple/' But the social position of 
 his family was good, and early influences may account for 
 much in his character. His grandfather, who, after being 
 Bishop of Raphoe, became Archbishop of Dublin, was of 
 much repute for " evangelical " orthodoxy. His father was 
 vicar of Drogheda, he himself being educated at Trinity 
 College, Dublin, where he made his mark both as a scholar 
 and debater. After his ordination he officiated for a time in 
 a Dublin parish, but being obliged to travel for his health he 
 spent two years in Malaga, and on his return in 1847 accepted 
 the curacy of St. Saviour's, in Bath. In 1850 he obtained the 
 incumbency of the Octagon Chapel, where Herschel had 
 been organist seventy years before, and where a fashionable 
 congregation with strong "evangelical" proclivities now 
 assembled. 
 
 Although Magee's bias was then quite in the same direction 
 his preaching was sometimes in a strain to which his hearers
 
 230 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 were unaccustomed, and a few of them quitted the chapel. 
 The incident on his part was one of those indications of 
 mental independence which characterised his life in all its 
 future stages ; he thought for himself and acted accordingly. 
 Year by year as he became better known in Bath his 
 popularity and influence increased, so that not only as a 
 preacher but as a platform orator, not only in the city which 
 admired his eloquence but through a large sphere beyond it, 
 he gained much repute. In the Bath Chronicle of the two 
 weeks succeeding that of his death there were articles by 
 Mr. Peach entitled " Recollections of Archbishop Magee," 
 with some striking instances of the effects produced by his 
 speeches. Of the exciting questions of the day three are 
 particularly mentioned Table-turning, Sabbath Observance 
 and Disestablishment. On the last, the orator spoke at a 
 great meeting for two hours in answer to the arguments of 
 the Liberation Society. His speech passed through many 
 editions, and so great was the demand that two hundred and 
 forty five members of Parliament sent to the local publisher 
 for copies. 
 
 Thus it was not surprising that Dr. Magee was induced to 
 remove to London. In I860 he succeeded Dr. Goulburn as 
 minister of Quebec Chapel. . Six months later he was pre- 
 sented to the rectory of Enniskillen. In 1868 he became 
 Dean of Cork, Donnellan Lecturer at the University of Dublin, 
 and Dean of the Chapel Royal at Dublin. In 1868 he was 
 made Bishop of Peterborough. Before his removal to Ireland 
 he gained much renown as a preacher before select congrega- 
 tions at Oxford, Cambridge and the Chapel Royal of London, 
 also before large masses of people at the special services at 
 St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey. " Wherever he went," 
 says the Times, " he pondered well the subject of his sermon,
 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 231 
 
 never trusting wholly to inspiration, but drawing up full 
 notes, in some cases learning his sermons by heart and 
 preaching them as though extempore. His doctrine was of 
 the sort that pleases most Englishmen, going on broad lines, 
 though it is not to be denied that it changed somewhat with 
 the church fashions of the age, so that it might be said of 
 him as of some other prelates, that rising in his profession he 
 became higher in more senses than one." " In one thing," 
 the Times adds, " Dr. Magee never changed ; he remained 
 courageous in advancing unconventional opinions which were 
 intended to shock prejudices that he loathed and cant which 
 he held in equal abhorrence. He was once asked to interest 
 himself in a carpenter's son who was doing well at a small 
 school, and whom it was proposed to send to a University. 
 ' Let him first graduate as a good carpenter.' answered Magee, 
 ' what becomes of your boasted concern for the welfare of the 
 working classes if you lift a man out of those classes as soon as 
 he shows brains." " Though this may be mentioned as a proof 
 of rather brusque unconventionalism it surely cannot be 
 quoted as a conclusive argument. There may be many 
 carpenters with brains who are amply equipped for that 
 calling, but few who could become statesmen or archbishops. 
 Why should the few fail to have the chance of rising, not for 
 their own sakes only but for the public weal ? 
 
 Even a sketch of Dr. Magee would be insufficient if it failed 
 to notice his published works. They consist largely of 
 speeches and single sermons on subjects of public interest, 
 which ensured a ready sale. Few orators find themselves so 
 famous as to hear that so many members of Parliament had 
 sent for a speech as soon as it was published. Much in 
 demand also were the successive volumes of sermons preached 
 in Bath at St. Saviour's Church and the Octagon Chapel ;
 
 232 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 they passed through several editions rapidly, and soon became 
 out of print. The author of the articles in the Chronicle, to 
 which reference has been made, states that the Bishop 
 declined to have them reprinted because they presented his 
 immature convictions ; but many of his former hearers still 
 value them for their depth of thought, striking language, and 
 practical power. The same author remarks, however, that 
 these sermons if compared with a subsequent volume, The 
 Gospel and the Age, would be found not only different in 
 style but in essential points of doctrine. This also, he adds, 
 may be said of the sermons delivered at the Dublin Church 
 Congress, when Dr. Magee was president as Dean of Cork, 
 The Breaking Net, and Rebuilding of the Walls. Of a 
 sermon preached before the British Association at Norwich 
 in 1868, which the present writer had the privilege of hearing, 
 Charles Kingsley said, "It was the most glorious piece of 
 eloquence I ever heard." The great preacher gratified his 
 Bath friends by a visit to that city as Dean of Cork, for 
 the meeting of the Association in 1 864. Among his earlier 
 works was an interesting life of his friend, the Rev. E. 
 Tottenham, for some years a popular evangelical clergyman 
 in Bath. Another may be specially mentioned : A sermon 
 preached at Bath in 1853, Talking to Tables a Great Folly 
 o?' a Great Sin. Auricular Confession was the subject first 
 of a lecture in Bath, afterwards of a speech in London, both 
 published in 1852. A local periodical, Northamptonshire 
 Notes and Queries, gave, after the Bishop's death, a list of 
 sixty-five works issued during his life, some of them pamphlets, 
 others substantial volumes, many having reached second and 
 third editions. In a memoir prefixed to this list it is 
 remarked that one great characteristic of Dr. Magee was that 
 of a Church Reformer. " In his diocese he put his finger on
 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 23$ 
 
 abuses and abolished them. He never flinched from speak- 
 ing out plainly and loudly when there was reason for it. As 
 a matter of fact he had a real Irish delight in a contest, 
 enjoying a tilt with popular fallacies and common heterodoxy." 
 The appointment of Dr. Magee to the See of Peterborough 
 in 1868 was advised by Mr. Disraeli. When asked what he 
 most admired in the preacher, the Premier, who had possibly 
 not often heard his sermons, answered, " He is persuasive." 
 The Times remarked, " That was true, but it might perhaps 
 have been truer to say he is disconcerting. He shed new 
 lights so suddenly and vividly on a question that his hearers 
 were frequently taken aback and confessed to themselves that 
 had they seen the matter in this way they would have acted 
 differently. So when politicians were annoyed by the 
 Bishop's exposure of what was bad in their measures they 
 were not necessarily persuaded that those measures ought to 
 be abandoned." With reference to his oratory in the House 
 of Lords the same writer says, " The Archbishop's versatility 
 was the product of a lively Irish character and of a highly 
 trained intellect. He was heard at his best in the Session of 
 1883, when, speaking on the Cathedral Bill he described 
 with exuberant sarcasm the position of Churchmen unable to 
 remove the abuses of their Church because of Nonconformist 
 or Agnostic enemies who were interested in letting these 
 excrescences grow as germs of a mortal disease. He told the 
 Government that they would not dare to introduce any 
 measure of Church Reform for fear of irritating their great 
 backbone, and he caused general amusement by sketching 
 the probable fate of a Church Bill struggling through the 
 House of Commons amidst amendments moved by certain 
 Irish members. Bishops are not accustomed to speak with 
 such elaborate playfulness as Dr. Magee used on this occasion,
 
 234 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 nor would many of their right reverend lordships be able to 
 match their late colleague's irresistible manner if they tried 
 to do so. With his large mouth, shaggy eyebrows and 
 twinkling eyes ; with his expressive wags of the head and his 
 quick, forcible gestures ; with his droll sallies and occasional 
 outbursts of strong emotion he always compelled attention." 
 
 Eminent as Dr. Magee was in the House of Lords he never 
 considered that his chief duty was there. He looked upon 
 the administration of his diocese, and even the work to be 
 done in Convocation, as having stronger claims upon him. 
 Still, there can be no doubt that the public came to know 
 him best by what he did and said in the Upper House, and 
 one of his sons has furnished means of increasing the 
 knowledge by a volume of speeches. The first was on the 
 Irish Church Bill in 1 869 ; the last on the Children's Life 
 Insurance Bill in 1890 ; the chief intermediate subjects being 
 Temperance, Education, Disestablishment, Church Patronage, 
 Cruelty to Animals, the Cathedral Statutes, and the Discipline 
 of the Clergy. To the fact that he was always heard with 
 great interest, and generally with great admiration, there was 
 universal testimony at the time of his death. The journal I 
 have already quoted states justly, " If others surpassed him 
 in erudition and the technique of the theologian, he stood 
 above them all in the sagacity of the statesman. Dr. Magee 
 never took a narrow or professionally clerical view of any 
 public question. Much as his eloquence and wit were 
 appreciated by all classes, for he was equally a favourite with 
 popular audiences and with the elite of London society, there 
 was something more highly prized by those who loved him 
 best and honoured him most. It was the assurance that he 
 would bring to bear upon whatever subject he had to discuss 
 the powers of a strong and supple intellect working with a
 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 235 
 
 manly freedom from sectional prejudices, and apply to the 
 complex problems of daily life, not cut and dried formulas, 
 but an elevated and enlightened common sense." 
 
 This was notably illustrated by his treatment of one of the 
 great questions of the day. He would never consent to treat 
 Disestablishment as fatal to the interests of religion. Both 
 as Priest and Bishop he always fought against the idea that 
 the vitality of the Church of England would be impaired by 
 severing its connection with the State. " He thought the 
 connection good for the State, but he was earnest in advising 
 that Churchmen should face the possibility of Disestablish- 
 ment, and be prepared to make such a measure, if it came, 
 turn to the benefit of the Church. He never quite forgave 
 Mr. Disraeli for having made his Cardinal Grandison, in 
 Lothair, sneer at the establishment as a Parliamentary 
 Church ; the words seemed to him to reflect the writer's own 
 private opinions those of a Gallic who cared not much for 
 churches save in their political uses." Equally independent, 
 perhaps beyond the verge of prudence, was the Bishop on the 
 Temperance question. True he contended that he had been 
 misunderstood with regard to his memorable saying, "I 
 would rather see England free than sober." Still on various 
 occasions he showed he believed that " common sense " was 
 set at nought ; he believed that a good principle was worked 
 in the wrong way, worked so as in some cases to produce evil 
 results. At all events he would not conceal what he felt. A 
 curate in his diocese appeared before him wearing a blue 
 riband in his button-hole. " I suppose you have reflected," 
 said the Bishop, " that if you are respected in your parish 
 you need not sport any emblem to advertise your character 
 as a temperance man ; whereas if you are not respected this 
 piece of blue would only remind people of the Pharisee and
 
 236 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 the phylactery." To a lady wearing the same badge he 
 addressed a similar remonstrance, advising her to discard 
 superfluous finery. In these instances, as in that of the 
 carpenter's son already mentioned, the reasoning may not 
 be conclusive ; there may be, many think there is, a good 
 argument for the temperance badge in the necessity of 
 testifying against a fearful and destructive evil, but what the 
 Bishop said was in harmony with his general character for 
 mental independence and should be viewed in that light. 
 
 On the death of Archbishop Thompson it was Lord 
 Salisbury's turn to advise the promotion of Dr. Magee. 
 Besides the obvious fact of eminent intellectual fitness there 
 was that of similarity of theological and ecclesiastical opinions. 
 It was justly said there were only two objections the advanced 
 age and the feeble health of the successor, but it was re- 
 membered that many bishops had done and were doing 
 vigorous work after they had reached threescore and ten, also 
 that Dr Magee had apparently gained strength since a recent 
 illness. So he entered on his new duties amid general 
 congratulations and was enthroned in March, 1891. But he 
 only lived long enough to show that he wished the line of 
 duty which had won so much regard in the diocese of 
 Peterborough and in public assemblies still to animate him. 
 He presided at a meeting of the Convocation of the Northern 
 Province when he explained and justified the Clergy 
 Discipline Bill ; he was publicly received at Hull, Beverley, 
 and elsewhere as he settled down to his allotted work, and he 
 made preparation for continuing in the House of Lords his 
 efforts with regard to the painful subject of " Children's Life 
 Insurance." For the last object he went to London in April 
 to preside over the committee of the Bill in Parliament, leaving 
 his family at Bishopsthorpe suffering from influenza, then
 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 237 
 
 prevailing in all directions. Soon after his arrival in town the 
 
 malady attacked himself : Sir Andrew Clarke and Dr. 
 
 Walker, of Peterborough, did all they could, but in vain ; day 
 
 by day for a fortnight the patient became worse, and then 
 
 bronchitis, accompanied by inflammation of the lungs, 
 
 extinguished all hope. Forseeing the result he insisted on 
 
 resigning the chairmanship of the Lord's Committee, but 
 
 retained to the last his strong interest in the benevolent 
 
 measure he had advocated so well. The death-bed was 
 
 surrounded by Mrs. Magee and his sons and daughters, who 
 
 had recovered sufficiently, some to nurse him the last few 
 
 days and all to pay the final tribute of love. It can be imagined 
 
 how deep was the sorrow everywhere when the tidings became 
 
 known, especially in the places which knew him best ; in York 
 
 as soon as the great bell of the grand old Minster proclaimed 
 
 the loss the diocese had sustained ; in Peterborough where he 
 
 had gained the warm regard of all classes, parties and 
 
 denominations ; in Dnblin which cherished the recollection 
 
 of his early life and was proud of him for his personal work as 
 
 well as his intellectual greatness ; and why should I not add 
 
 in Bath, for though thirty years had passed since his work here 
 
 had ceased, many remained who felt they had lost one who 
 
 had been to them a wise teacher and a valued friend. 
 
 And as this sketch has been written because Dr. Magee 
 ranks among the Celebrities of our city, I venture to mention 
 a somewhat personal incident. At the time of his elevation 
 to the archbishopric I happened to be Mayor of Bath, and 
 knowing the feeling of many citizens on the subject, I 
 prepared an address of congratulation and invited signatures. 
 It seemed to me a time when any theological or political 
 difference should be forgotten, and when men and women 
 should be glad to unite in showing not only a grateful
 
 238 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 remembrance of the first fruits of ministerical life, but a sincere 
 admiration of the qualities which had led step by step from 
 the pulpit of the Octagon Chapel in Bath, to the throne of 
 York Minster. My suggestion was adopted, the address was 
 numerously signed, I sent it to the Archbishop, and received 
 
 the following answer : 
 
 " Bisliopsthorpe, York ; 
 
 " 27th March, 1891. 
 
 " My dear Mr. Mayor, It was with sincere pleasure that I 
 received the address of congratulation from old Bath friends, at 
 the head of which your name is placed. 
 
 ",The years which I spent in Bath were among the happiest of 
 my life, endeared to me as they were by unvarying kindness on 
 the part of those to whom I ministered, and by many friendships 
 never to be forgotten, though alas many of those with whom they 
 were formed have passed away. 
 
 " It was very pleasant to me to find that there are still so many 
 left who regard with affectionate interest the career of one who 
 for so many years was privileged to live and labour among them. 
 Pray assure them from me how much their kind words have 
 cheered and gratified me, and 
 
 " Believe me, 
 
 " My dear Mr. Mayor, 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 W. C. EBOK." 
 " Jerom Murch, Esq., 
 
 " Mayor of Bath." 
 
 The following letter is from a friend of the author of these 
 Sketches who lived in Bath many years and has always been 
 an eminent advocate of Temperance : 
 
 " Dear Mr. Murch, I have been from home, and only yesterday 
 read your very interesting paper in The Bath Herald, under 
 " Sketches of Bath Celebrities," on Archbishop Magee. In your
 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 239 
 
 paper you make several references to his opinions and remarks on 
 the Temperance question. You are not probably aware, or you 
 must have forgotten that Dr. Magee was for some years a pledged 
 abstainer. On Monday, June 18th, 1859, Dr. Magee signed the 
 Temperance pledge, after hearing John B. Gougli deliver one of 
 his stirring orations in the Bath Theatre, to an immense audience 
 paying theatre prices to hear that remarkable man. 
 
 " That was a memorable occasion for the Temperance movement 
 in Bath, as well as an interesting incident in Dr. Magee's vigorous 
 life. The fact is deeply impressed upon my memory. The 
 Theatre was packed with nearly two thousand people, who 
 listened with wrapt attention to the thrilling address of that 
 remarkable man. It was my privilege to be Chairman of that 
 meeting. Dr. Barrett, then Mayor of Bath, moved a resolution of 
 thanks to the lecturer, which was to have been seconded by Mr. 
 Edward Saunders, when Dr. Magee rose in the Dress Circle and 
 asked permission to second it ; which being granted, he did in 
 earnest and eloquent words. He afterwards came on to the stage, 
 heartily shook hands with Mr. Gough, confessed his conversion 
 to the Temperance principle and signed the pledge, with, I think, 
 forty-six others, one of whom was the Rev. James Fleming, now 
 Canon of York. 
 
 '' I think it is due to Dr. Magee's memory to say that the 
 words, ' I would rather see England free than England sober,' 
 and which have been so much commented upon and so much 
 misrepresented, was not said in relation to Teetotalism, but was 
 said in regard to the ' Permissive Bill ' or < local option ' which 
 he was urged to take up. And the clear and intended meaning 
 of what he said was, that he would rather see England free to 
 work out her own emancipation from the thraldom of drink by 
 voluntary effort and moral suasion, than see her made sober by 
 Act of Parliament or compulsion. That fully accords with his 
 bent of mind and general teaching ; and his objection to wearing 
 the badge of blue was not an indication of his repugnance to, or
 
 240 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 
 
 dislike of total abstinence, but an objection to parading it 
 outwardly before the world a feeling very much participated in 
 by many of the oldest and staunchest Temperance reformers. 
 
 " Knowing how fair you are in your criticisms, I thought it 
 right to trouble you with these remarks as to one phase of that 
 remarkable man's life and teaching. 
 
 " I remain, dear Mr. Murch, 
 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 "B. P. EDWARDS." 
 " Hadleigh House, Hammersmith, W. ; 
 
 "May 1st, 1893." 
 
 Honourable mention is made of Dr. Magee's eloquence in 
 the House of Lords in a recent article in the Daily News 
 on the oratory of that Assembly, which the writer thinks 
 worthy of great praise when called forth on great occasions. . 
 After eulogising especially Lords Lyndhurst, Ellenborough, 
 and Derby of past times, and the Duke of Argyll, Lord 
 Salisbury and Lord Rosebery of the present day, he adds : 
 " Perhaps the House of Lords in our time never had a more 
 powerful and eloquent debater than the late Bishop of Peter- 
 borough and Archbishop of York, Dr. Magee. The unfortunate 
 thing was that Dr. Magee, being a Bishop, could not find full 
 scope in the House of Lords. He ought to have been a front 
 bench politician in the House of Commons. There he could have 
 made his mark as a political orator. In the House of Lords he 
 missed it necessarily missed it ; he could not help himself ; he 
 was a Bishop. There is a mediaeval Bishop told of, if we 
 remember rightly, by Montaigne, who was not allowed to fight in 
 a battle with the weapons of a knight, and who rushed into the 
 fray and knocked his foemen down with a club. But the Bishop 
 of Peterborough could not well use a heavy club in the mimic 
 frays of the House of Lords. Dr. Wilberforce, once best known 
 as the Bishop of Oxford, contrived somehow to get better scope
 
 ARCHBISHOP MAGEE. 241' 
 
 for his very remarkable eloquence in the House of Lords. But 
 we do not think he had the originality, the freshness, and the 
 force of Bishop Magee. There have been many eloquent 
 speakers of late years as in former years among the Archbishops 
 and Bishops in the House of Lords, but the field of their 
 eloquence is peculiarly circumscribed. They have to speak rather 
 when they may than when they will or would, and eloquence in 
 a political assembly does not thrive under such conditions."
 
 242 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER AND 
 REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 
 
 We are now come to literary celebrities of the eighteenth 
 and nineteenth centuries. It will not be inferred from the 
 absence of previous separate treatment that Bath had no 
 eminent authors until now. It will be remembered that from 
 Adelard of the Norman period to the Falconers of the 
 Georgian there were many who kept the lamp burning. But 
 it will also be remembered that they gained their general 
 repute in other ways, chiefly as divines and physicians, and 
 were classified accordingly. 
 
 A similar explanation may be given as to the literary 
 celebrities of whom sketches will be given in this and the 
 remaining chapters. They are six : Christopher Anstey, 
 Richard Warner, Joseph Hunter, William Napier, Walter 
 Savage Landor, and William Beckford. Nearly all were known 
 otherwise than for distinction in literature ; Anstey as a man 
 of fashion, Warner as a clergyman, Hunter as a Noncon- 
 formist minister, Napier as a distinguished General, and 
 Beckford as the lavish builder of Fonthill. All, however, 
 were eminent as authors ; and if Napier and Beckford were 
 less conspicuous than the others in that capacity, if Napier's 
 fame as a General and Beckford's as Lord of Fonthill over- 
 shadowed their reputation as men of letters, still Bath claims 
 them as among her literary celebrities ; one wrote in her 
 neighbourhood a great work, the History of the Peninsular 
 War, the other, besides being the author of Vathek, possessed 
 here one of the largest and most valuable private libraries in 
 the kingdom.
 
 AND REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 243 
 
 Mr. Warner, in his literary recollections gives a select list 
 of Bath Literati of modern times with short memoirs of the 
 more distinguished. And Mr. Monkland. in his pleasant 
 little volumes, gives nearly two hundred names. But both lists 
 indicate rather the prevalence of literary taste and industry 
 than anything like eminence in authorship. Undoubtedly 
 the society of Bath in the last two centuries has been 
 brightened and elevated by an intellectual infusion to an 
 extent unusual in provincial towns. And there is another 
 remarkable circumstance ; probably few places in the kingdom 
 have been so much referred to in books by popular writers. 
 Macaulay praises not only the architecture of Bath, but " the 
 beautiful city which the genius of Anstey and of Smollett, of 
 Frances Burney and Jane Austen has made classic ground." 
 And while the mine worked by Fielding in Tom Jones, 
 Sheridan in the School for Scandal, Graves in the Spiritual 
 Quixote, Bulwer in Paul Clifford, and Dickens in Pickwick, 
 proved so rich, others were opened in the regions of science, 
 history and archaeology. It will be seen, however, that the 
 Bath writers who obtained celebrity, they whose works were 
 destined to live the longest and form part of the best national 
 literature were, with a few exceptions, not so remarkable for 
 works on local subjects as for those of general interest. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY 
 
 may be considered one of the exceptions. He was a Bath 
 Celebrity because he wrote the best book which had been 
 published on Bath Life. The son of the Rev. Dr. Anstey of 
 Trumpington, he was born in 17 24 and educated at Eton and 
 King's College, where he was distinguished as an elegant 
 scholar. So far however as University distinctions were 
 concerned he was unhonoured ; he began a Latin speech in
 
 244 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER 
 
 the public schools with a sarcastic allusion to some unfair 
 treatment he thought he had received, and for that speech he 
 was rusticated. In the epilogue to the Bath Guide he play- 
 fully refers to the event : 
 
 Of Granta, sweet Granta, where studious of ease, 
 
 Seven years did I sleep and then lost my degrees." 
 
 His academic achievements at Cambridge were creditable. 
 Having early succeeded to a scholarship he distinguished 
 himself by his Tripos verses for the " Commencement " in 
 1745. He also gained University reputation by a Latin poem 
 on the Peace of 1748. On the death of his mother he 
 succeeded to the family estates, resigned his fellowship, 
 married a daughter of Mr. Calvert the wealthy brewer, and for 
 some time combined the cultivation of letters with the pursuits 
 of a country gentleman. In 1762 he published, in conjunction 
 with Dr. Roberts, of King's College, a translation of Gray's 
 elegy into Latin, which, says the writer in the National 
 Biography, " had the advantage of Gray's criticism and elicited 
 an interesting letter from the poet which is given in an edition 
 of Anstey's works." 
 
 About this time he went to Bath for medical treatment 
 after a serious illness. He recovered ; the city and its society 
 pleased him, and he resolved to live here, fixing his residence 
 first in the Royal Crescent. But it was necessary he should 
 return to Trumpington for a time, and he spent the interval 
 in describing the votaries of folly and fashion he had seen at 
 Bath with such wit and force and truth that he became 
 famous at once. The first edition of Anstey's New Bath 
 Guide was printed in quarto at Cambridge. Its success was 
 instantaneous ; the booksellers could not supply it fast enough ; 
 all the best writers praised it and all the world of fashion read
 
 AND REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 245 
 
 it Gray writes to Wharton ; Horace Walpole to Montague ; 
 the clever satire is eulogised and the classic allusions are 
 especially admired. Bath was now rising rapidly ; the 
 buildings of the two Woods drew crowds of country visitors ; 
 and Anstey thus writes to his mother : 
 
 " Our neighbour Sir Easterton Widgeon has swore 
 He ne'er will return to his bogs any more ; 
 The Thickskulls are settled ; we've had invitations 
 With a great many more on the score of relations ; 
 The Loungers are come too. Old Stucco has just sent 
 His plan for a house to be built in the Crescent ; 
 'Twill soon be complete, and they say all their work 
 Is as strong as St. Paul's or the Minster at York. 
 Don't you think t'would be better to sell our estate 
 And buy a good house here before 'tis too late ? 
 You never can go my dear mother where you 
 So much have to see and so little to do." 
 
 Anstey continued to write at intervals after his removal to 
 Bath. In 1769 he published an elegy on Lord Tavistock 
 who died from a fall from his horse. Another poem, TJte 
 Election Ball, was a contribution to the noted vase of Lady 
 Miller at Batheaston. But neither these nor any of his other 
 works had the freshness and vivacity of The New Bath Guide, 
 although he had the stimulus of intercourse with the chief 
 wits of the age. Perhaps there was an adverse influence in 
 the size of his family, for he had thirteen children. Eight 
 only survived him ; the eldest son became a barrister of some 
 repute, and inherited considerable literary power, shown in 
 his Pleader's Guide, and his edition of his father's works. 
 The elder Anstey died at the house of a son-in-law, Mr. 
 Bosanquet, of Hardenhuish, near Chippenham, and was 
 buried in Walcot Church. There are monuments to him in 
 the Bath Abbey and the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.
 
 246 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER 
 
 His memory is also kept alive by some verses in gilt letters 
 on a tablet in the Pump Room, which he wrote in aid of the 
 Bath Mineral Water Hospital and indicate that there was a 
 side of his character worthy of admiration. 
 
 " Oh pause awhile, whoe'er thou art 
 That drinks this healing stream, 
 If e'er compassion o'er thy heart 
 
 Diffused its heavenly beam. 
 Think on the wretch whose distant lot 
 
 This friendly aid denies ; 
 Think how in some poor lonely cot 
 
 He unregarded lies. 
 Hither the helpless stranger bring, 
 
 Eelieve his heartfelt woe, 
 And let thy bounty like this spring 
 
 In genial currents flow. 
 So may thy years from grief and pain, 
 
 And pining want be free, 
 And thou from heaven that mercy gain 
 The poor receive from thee." 
 
 Among the numerous valuable contributions by Mr. Peach 
 to the periodical literature of Bath was a series of Papers in 
 Bladud, in 1886, on some local worthies. One of them 
 contains a passage relating to Anstey's Bath Guide which 
 may supply a deficiency in the preceding sketch where 
 perhaps too little has been said of that remarkable book. 
 Mr. Peach remarks : 
 
 " It was not only popular during the life of the author, but we 
 believe that a larger number of editions have been published in 
 the present century than even in his life-time. The terms and 
 allusions in the work are obscured by time and change, but it is 
 none the less true that they illustrate more clearly and distinctly 
 the manners and customs of the period than any other local source
 
 AND REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 247 
 
 of information. The ordinary literature of the time does not give 
 us so clear a conception of Bath every-day life as the witty verse 
 of Anstey. Fielding, Smollett and Richardson constructed their 
 narratives and characters out of the depths of their own genius, 
 the light and shade being tinctured more or less by the peculiar 
 manifestations they contemplated. But Anstey, limiting the 
 field of his observation, presents, in the most amusing manner, 
 the realism of the eighteenth century with all the characteristic 
 humbug, hypocrisy, charlatanry and folly which was peculiar to 
 a certain type of the Bath ' Society ' of the period." The writer 
 proceeds however to shew that with all its cleverness and instruc- 
 tive power the satire of the New Bath Guide has been surpassed in 
 purity and elevation of tone by that of the present century, and 
 instances of this are quoted convincingly from the pages of 
 Thackeray, who, without a touch of grossness, lifts his reader to 
 an atmosphere where 
 
 " Men may rise to stepping stones 
 Of their dead selves to higher things." 
 
 THE REV. RICHARD WARNER. 
 
 Few names are more prominent in local literature than this. 
 Warner's History of Bath is in many good libraries in the 
 West of England. Other accounts of the city are remarkably 
 good, notably Mr. Earle's, but Warner's, through nearly a 
 hundred years, has been the most copious, comprehensive and 
 complete. That he was a marvellously voluminous writer is 
 in his case but slight ground of distinction, though he began 
 to write books before he was thirty and continued till he was 
 nearly fourscore. He had, however, other claims; as a 
 clergyman his services were intellectually above the average 
 of those in Bath ; in society he was also valued as a cultivated 
 man ; and in various ways he contributed largely to the higher 
 life of the city. 
 
 Richard Warner was the son of a respectable London 
 tradesman, and was born in 1763. He was educated at
 
 248 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER 
 
 Oxford, apparently for the Church, but on leaving the 
 University his inclination was not in that direction. To 
 literary work he was devoted from the beginning, but at one 
 time he strongly desired to go to sea and explore the world. 
 This his father opposed, so he worked in a solicitor's office 
 for a time, writing his first book in his leisure hours. It 
 was evident, however, that a clerical life would be most in 
 harmony with his prevailing tastes. He therefore took holy 
 orders and became curate to the Rev. W. Gilpin at Boldre in 
 Hampshire. Although the rector was in many respects a man 
 after his own heart circumstances soon led him to quit Boldre 
 and remove to Fawley in the same county. Here again he 
 was not destined to stay long ; the place was unhealthy ; the 
 family became ill and were sent to Bath ; and he determined 
 to try to get a professional engagement there. This he did 
 at All Saint's Chapel, where he officiated a short time, and then 
 as one of the curates of Walcot parish till he was appointed 
 curate of St. James's. He held this curacy twenty-three years 
 with much credit to himself and usefulness to his flock, 
 writing rapidly the various works which he published and 
 engaging prominently in the controversies of the time. 
 
 In his Literary Recollections he admits being largely 
 infected with the cacuethes scribendi. Neither success nor 
 want of it appears to have made much difference ; no sooner 
 was one work issued than another was planned and speedily 
 begun. His " maiden volume," as he terms it, appeared in 
 1789, A Tour Round Lymington. He had not then resolved 
 to go into the Church, and was beginning to study law, from 
 which he found relaxation in writing the book. How little 
 he knew of business matters may be inferred from his order- 
 ing a thousand copies to be printed " that the demand of the 
 public might be quickly met." Undiscouraged by the
 
 AND REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 249 
 
 disappointment which followed, he " threw," to use his own 
 words, " into the ocean of English Literature within the four 
 succeeding years, another duodecimo, three octavo volumes, 
 a quarto pamphlet, a more substantial bantling of the same 
 size, besides issuing proposals for a topographical work in 
 three bulky folio volumes." These were to contain a History 
 of Hampshire, for which he made great preparations, obtain- 
 ing influential patronage, visiting the Record Office, the 
 British Museum, the English Universities and many other 
 places ; but all the labour was lost ; he found that his plan 
 would require a very long purse, half a dozen lettered men as 
 assistants and ten years' hard work ; so he dropped it. 
 
 Of the History of Bath there is better record. The 
 author had grown older and wiser and saw more clearly how 
 to succeed. " In the last few years of the century," he says, 
 " he had been so much interested in the Eoman antiquities 
 of Bath as to wish to rescue them from the darkness, 
 dishonour and oblivion in which they had long remained." 
 Dr. Harington, one of the Corporation, obtained for him from 
 that body not only the necessary authority but the necessary 
 funds, and in the course of a few months, with the aid of two 
 able friends, he had the remains cleansed and arranged. 
 Many years .afterwards they were deposited in the Literary 
 and Scientific Institution, of which they have long been one 
 of the greatest attractions. Warner's ever-ready pen was 
 employed in a description which he published in 1797. All 
 this brought before him the great want of a good history of 
 the city to whose ancient relics he had given so much time. 
 " Again," he says, " I consulted Ur. Harington, and once more 
 received his encouragement with a promise of any assistance 
 he could render." Mr. Cruttwell, his worthy parishioner, 
 and a most excellent printer, agreed to take upon himself
 
 250 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER 
 
 every expense connected with the work and give him half of 
 any profits. In the course of two years the history appeared. 
 Its reception does not appear to have been very nattering, 
 but gradually it came to be appreciated. Modern critics 
 complain of some omissions, notably those relating to 
 Bathwick and Widcombe, but it should be remembered that 
 in 1801 those suburbs were scarcely part of the city and by 
 no means important. The want of a general index is certainly 
 a great fault. 
 
 Many other works came out in quick succession. Prior to 
 the History of Bath, the author published in 1792 An 
 Attempt to Ascertain the Situation of the Ancient 
 Clausentium, in 1793 Topographical Remarks on the South- 
 Western Parts of Hampshire, in 1796 a History of the Isle 
 of Wight, in 1798 A Walk Through Wales, in 1799 a Second 
 Walk in Wales, in 1800 a Walk Through Some of the 
 Western Counties of England, and in 1801 Excursions from 
 Bath. After these came a History of the A bbey of Glaston, 
 in royal quarto, A Tour Through the Northern Counties, 
 Omnium Gatherum,, a short-lived periodical, and various 
 other works, including, Literary Recollections, in two volumes. 
 Amid all these contributions to general literature the curate 
 of St. James's did not fail to employ the press on religious 
 subjects. A keen controversialist, he took part in many of 
 the discussions of the time, especially Catholic Emancipation, 
 to which, though a strong Whig, he was decidedly opposed. 
 Besides several single sermons, he published two volumes of 
 Practical Discourses. Some of his works sold well ; by 
 others he must have lost considerably. For instance, in the 
 case of Omnium, Gatherum intended to be a periodical 
 publication; with his usual sanguine temperament he 
 ordered 750 copies, of which only 150 were sold, so the first
 
 AND REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 251 
 
 number was also the last. His Literary Recollections, in 
 two volumes, published in ] 830, is a rambling autobiography, 
 chiefly interesting for the memoirs of various eminent friends. 
 He was especially intimate with Dr. Samuel Parr, who often 
 visited hirn in Bath, and some of whose letters to his "friend 
 Richard " are extremely amusing. The two Dr. Falconers, 
 William and Thomas, are frequently mentioned, Thomas 
 being a great ally, often assisting him in the pulpit and 
 parish of St. James's, and sharing to a great extent his 
 friend's theological and political sympathies. Warner was an 
 uncompromising Whig; he hated war as he hated Calvinism 
 and preached boldly against both. Though not agreeing 
 with the High Church party, he said he could work with them 
 better than with the opposite class. 
 
 Some of his works were remarkable for their pungency. 
 Much excitement was caused by two satirical productions, 
 The Bath Rebellion and Bath Characters ; the latter a series 
 of dialogues upon living characters, the weak spots of each 
 being unsparingly exhibited. Warner was far from blameless 
 in his satires ; he not only used the lash severely but indulged 
 in wit disgraced by vulgarity. Of these various elements 
 were his mind and character composed. He was a type of 
 clergyman which became more and more rare as the 
 nineteenth century advanced and is now scarcely ever met 
 with. That he was in good repute professionally is evident 
 from his long curacy at St. James's and from successive 
 presentations to livings towards the close of his life. In 1817, 
 before he quitted St. James's, lie became Rector of Great 
 Charfield, Wilts ; afterwards he was incumbent successively 
 of Timberscombe, Croscombe and Chelwood. He held both 
 Great Charfield and Chelwood when he died in 1857 at the 
 age of ninety-five.
 
 252 CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, REV. R. WARNER 
 
 THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 
 
 This gentleman was connected with Bath as the respected 
 minister of the oldest Nonconformist congregation in the 
 city twenty- seven years. The Act of Uniformity passed in 
 1662, causing the ejectment of two thousand clergymen, drove 
 from their livings many in and around Bath which led to the 
 formation of a Presbyterian congregation. By this name it 
 was known until the close of the eighteenth century when, as 
 a consequence of the latitude allowed by the Trust deeds of 
 their chapel, the congregation became Unitarian. Mr. 
 Hunter's immediate predecessor, Mr. Jardine, was so called, 
 but although the subject of this sketch had been led to the 
 same theological conclusions he preferred the more com- 
 prehensive name of Presbyterian. His love of antiquity, 
 especially of ancient literature, which he cherished from 
 childhood, gave him eventually the rank of an eminent 
 antiquary. He filled an important post in the Record office 
 of the nation, and wrote a succession of historical works of 
 much value and authority. 
 
 Joseph Hunter was born in 1 783 at Sheffield, where his 
 ancestors had lived two hundred years. His father, who was 
 a cutler, died when he was very young, and he was placed 
 under the guardianship of a Presbyterian minister. At a 
 suitable age he was enrolled at Manchester College, York, 
 then having its chief Professors the Rev. Charles Wellbeloved 
 and the Rev. John Kenrick, one known as the author of 
 Eboracum, the other for his work on Egypt. Both at school 
 and college Hunter spent much of his spare time in 
 antiquarian studies, filling volumes which are still in existence 
 with church notes, coats of arms and monumental inscrip- 
 tions. His only ministerial settlement was at Bath, where he
 
 AND REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 253 
 
 remained from 1809 till 1833. He published four sermons 
 between 1811 and 1819, which indicate that he was too quiet, 
 thoughtful, and, it must be added, heterodox, to be a popular 
 preacher. But there was a charm in his style, an earnestness 
 in his convictions, and a consistency in his character which 
 accounted for the attachment of a highly intelligent con- 
 gregation. Not having many pastoral duties he devoted 
 himself largely to literary pursuits ; it was at Bath that he 
 collected materials for his most important works, Hallam- 
 shire published in 1819 and the History of the Deanery of 
 Doncasier in 1828 and 1831. These handsome and costly 
 folios were welcomed not only by the most eminent 
 antiquaries of the day, but by country gentlemen of the 
 localities and by book collectors generally, as permanent 
 additions to the literature of the country. At the head of the 
 list of subscribers to Hallamshire was the Prince Regent. 
 
 Nor were Mr. Hunter's labours in Bath limited to his 
 study. He was one of the chief founders of the Bath Royal 
 Literary and Scientific Institution. No one worked more 
 earnestly in forming its valuable library and giving it a 
 character worthy of the city. In 1827 he gave an interesting 
 lecture on the Connection of Bath with the Literature and 
 Science of England. Twenty-six years later he consented, 
 at the request of the Bath Literary Club, to allow them to 
 reprint the lecture, and he added some valuable notes. One of 
 the members of the club, Mr. Long, showed his appreciation 
 of it by having a blank volume of magnificent proportions in 
 appropriate binding filled with successive pages of the lecture 
 and engraved illustrations of its contents, generously present- 
 ing the volume to the club library. Another institution, we 
 are told by the National Biography, in which Mr. Hunter 
 had much interest was " The Stourhead Circle," " a party of
 
 254 REV. JOSEPH HUNTER. 
 
 gentlemen residing in Wiltshire and Somersetshire who 
 assembled annually for antiquarian discussion under the 
 hospitable roof of Sir Richard Colt Hoare of Stourhead." 
 
 In 1833 he was appointed sub-commissioner of the public 
 records and removed to London. In 1838, on a reconstruc- 
 tion of the service he became an assistant keeper of the first 
 class. He often gave the fruits of his researches to the 
 volumes of the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was a 
 vice-president, and to those of the Archaeological Institute. 
 His pen was incessantly occupied ; year by year the press 
 teemed with his productions on a great number of historical 
 and biographical subjects. His Dissertations on Shakespeare's 
 Works, his Diary of Ralph Thoresby, his Life of Oliver 
 Hey wood, his Defence of Lady Hewleys Trustees, his History 
 of the Bishopj*ic of Somerset, show the wide range of his 
 intellectual vision. The Biographical Dictionary gives a 
 list of thirty-two of his principal works written in Bath and 
 London. His happiness appears to have been in proportion 
 to the gratification of his literary and antiquarian tastes. 
 Writing to an intimate friend who had congratulated him on 
 his seventy-second birthday, he says, " Yours has been a 
 prosperous life and I have no reason to complain of mine. 
 You have done many good works ; I have endeavoured to do 
 the same. Both of us I may say have gained golden opinions 
 from some whose praise is to be valued, and both of us will 
 be found to have left some impression on the age in which 
 we have lived." In 1815 Mr. Hunter married Miss Hay ward, 
 daughter of Dr. Hayward, of Bath. They had six children, 
 one of whom, Dr. Julian Hunter, lived in Bath for some 
 years, carrying on good work at the Institution. His father 
 died in 1861 at his house in Torrington Square, and was 
 buried at Ecclesfield, near Sheffield.
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 Colonel William Napier came to Freshford, near Bath, 
 with his family in 1831, and lived there and at Bath till 1842, 
 when he became Lieutenant -Governor of Guernsey. In Bath 
 he was chiefly known as an earnest and eloquent politician, 
 being, through the eleven years of his residence, one of the 
 foremost speakers at public meetings on the great questions 
 of the day. This caused many applications to him from 
 various important constituencies to represent them in Parlia- 
 ment, but he declined them all on the ground that his 
 pecuniary means were insufficient, and that he could not 
 abstract the time required by his History of the Peninsular 
 War. I shall be indebted for most of the information in this 
 sketch to an admirable life in two volumes written by his 
 son-in-law, Mr. H. A. Bruce, M.P., some time Home Secre- 
 tary, afterwards Lord Aberdare, whose work is enriched with 
 a large number of letters from eminent men and women. 
 
 William Francis Patrick Napier was born in 1785, the 
 third son of the Honourable George Napier. His father was 
 sixth son of the fifth Lord Napier, who was descended from 
 Scott of Thirlestane ; hence the family motto, " Ready, aye 
 Ready." His mother was Lady Sarah Lennox, the seventh 
 daughter of the second Duke of Richmond, who it is well 
 known traced his pedigree to Charles II. One of Lady 
 Sarah's sisters married the first Lord Holland and was 
 mother of Charles James Fox ; another sister married the 
 Duke of Leinster and they were parents of the unfortunate 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Lady Sarah's husband, the father 
 of heroes, was himself cast in the true heroic mould. He
 
 256 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 possessed great powers, mental and bodily, and was 
 distinguished by an integrity and unselfishness then too rare 
 in public life. Thus noble were the family influences on 
 voung Napier's inind as he grew up ; his letters to his mother. 
 in Lord Aberdare's volumes, show that they were good seed 
 sown in good ground, and the fruits in after years amply 
 justified all the bright anticipations of his career. 
 
 Yet so far as what would be called education was concerned 
 nothing could be more deplorable. William and his elder 
 brother Charles, the hero of Scinde, were placed in a 
 grammar school in their native town of Celbridge, near 
 Castletown. The master was a passionate, ill-judging man, 
 and the scholars were for anything like scholarship by no 
 means remarkable. The martial spirit of the period caused 
 Charles Napier to organise a volunteer corps in the school, 
 which probably gave to both brothers their first idea of 
 military matters. Not minding his lessons, and taking to a 
 great degree his own course, William read everything he 
 could lay his hands on. Romances of all kinds were 
 devoured, Don Bellarmin of Greece being his especial 
 favourite ; but history, poetry and travels were all consumed. 
 Conspicuous among his pet subjects were Plutarch's Lives, 
 which probably inspired his passionate admiration in after 
 years for the great men of antiquity. At this period he 
 knew and often conversed with Captain Arthur Wellesley, 
 but not, it is considered, then much to his advantage. On 
 leaving school he received his first commission in the Royal 
 Artillery and was soon transferred to the sixty -second 
 regiment. A few months afterwards his uncle, the Duke of 
 Richmond, gave him a cornetcy in the Blues, one advantage 
 of which was that it recommended him to General Sir John 
 Moore, who proved an invaluable friend. When not yet
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 257 
 
 nineteen he obtained a captaincy in part of Moore's Own 
 West Indian Brigade. 
 
 Here all that is possible is to take a rapid view of Napier's 
 life before he entered on the literary part of it. In 1807 he 
 served in the deplorable Copenhagen expedition, was present 
 at the siege of that capital and afterwards marched under 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley to attack the Danish forces. Returning 
 to England for a time, he went with his regiment in 1808 to 
 Spain and endured more than his share of the hardships of 
 Sir John Moore's retreat, being thrown into a fever from 
 which he hardly escaped with his life. In 1809 he became 
 aide-de-camp to his uncle the Duke of Richmond, Lord- 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, but soon gave up the appointment to 
 serve in Portugal, where the fates were against him. He was 
 first attacked with violent pleurisy for which he was bled 
 four times a day, and then in the battles that followed he and 
 his brother George were dangerously wounded. The only 
 reward of their zeal and courage was that they were specially 
 selected by Lord Wellington for the brevet rank of major. 
 From Lisbon William Napier was sent to England in the 
 autumn of 1811, and in the spring of the following year 
 married Caroline Amelia, daughter of General the 
 Honourable Henry Fox, and niece to the great statesman, " a 
 lady as remarkable for intellectual vigour as her husband 
 and admirable in every relation of life." 
 
 When only three weeks married, and still suffering the 
 effects of his wound, Napier sailed again for Portugal. 
 After the battle of Salamanca he joined the victorious army 
 in entering Madrid, where he remained some time. Early 
 in 1813 he returned to England, but soon went back to the 
 Peninsula, and was engaged in repelling an attack by 
 Marshal Soult, in which he was twice wounded. The 
 R
 
 258 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 greatest battle of the next few years was at Waterloo in 1815, 
 which took place while Napier was embarking at Dover to 
 join his regiment at Brussels. It can be imagined how his 
 spirit would have chafed if he had known what he missed, 
 but he was in time to accompany the British army to Paris 
 where he saw the triumphal entry of Louis XYIIL, whom, 
 however, he much disliked. Patriotic as he was, he had 
 great admiration of Napoleon Bonaparte, entertaining the 
 highest opinion of him as a general, and sympathising in no 
 small degree with his courage. About this period Napier 
 attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and on the return of 
 the army of occupation in 1819 was quartered at Belfast. 
 Here he had an opportunity of purchasing another step, 
 the regimental Lieutenant- Colonelcy, but he was unable to do 
 so for want of means. In vain did a warm friend, Lord 
 Fitzroy Somerset, press the required sum upon him as a 
 loan ; he declined it because he could not see his way to 
 repay the money. It might have been thought that an officer 
 of such extraordinary merit, one so highly connected, who 
 had commanded a regiment in several general actions and 
 received three wounds, one of them causing life-long misery, 
 would have had the distinction promptly conferred upon him. 
 But on other grounds he had become disgusted with war, and 
 now as the distinction was not given he retired with a stricken 
 spirit on half-pay to seek in literature the reputation which 
 narrow means and official neglect denied him in his profession. 
 The beginning of the new era in Colonel Napier's life, when 
 he conceived the idea of writing his great history, is thus 
 described by Lord Aberdare : " After retiring on half pay he 
 took a house in Sloane Street and spent much of his time in 
 painting and sculpture. In these pursuits, as in all others, 
 he showed extraordinary perseverance. As a preparation he
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 259 
 
 devoted himself to the study of anatomy and the Elgin marbles, 
 and his statuette of Alcibiades is a proof of the progress he 
 made. He became an accurate and vigorous draughtsman, was 
 no mean colourist, and in the opinion of eminent artists would 
 have attained the foremost rank of living painters and 
 sculptors had he not been irresistibly drawn towards 
 Literature. Though Art was his principal pursuit he also 
 read largely and mixed much with friends whose thoughts 
 and pursuits were congenial with his own. Still he felt a 
 want unsatisfied, an undeveloped power within him struggling 
 to come forth. At this time Jomini published his work on 
 the Principes de la Guerre which contained the first exposi 
 tion of Napoleon's system of warfare. Having studied all 
 Napoleon's campaigns thoroughly, Napier was enabled to 
 write a very truthful review of Jomini's book for The 
 Edinburgh. This was in 1821 ; the negotiations with the 
 editor led him to visit the northern city where he became 
 personally acquainted with Jeffery and other literary 
 celebrities. Soon afterwards he visited Paris and made 
 acquaintance with Marshal Soult, against whom he had fought 
 so bravely. The French hero, not to be outdone in magnan- 
 imity, entered afterwards into Napier's project of the history 
 of the war, and even generously contributed materials for it." 
 Not, however, till 1 823 was the great work begun. Early 
 in that year Colonel Napier was walking with Lord Langdale 
 in some fields now covered with the houses called Belgravia. 
 The friends conversed on Southey's late narrative of the war 
 in Spain and Lord Langdale was so much struck with Napier's 
 remarks that he urged him strongly to write a history himself. 
 The incident was thus stated to his daughter the year before 
 he died. " It was all owing to Lord Langdale ; he first 
 kindled the fire within me. I was living in Sloane Street on
 
 260 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 half pay, a pleasant, desultory life, enjoying my home and 
 friends in London, talking to officers I had known in the 
 Peninsula, consorting with Chantry and other artists and 
 painting a great deal. I had never written anything except 
 the review in The Edinburgh. Langdale asked me what I 
 thought of turning to as an occupation, saying the review had 
 proved to him I had powers yet undeveloped. He argued so 
 seriously that the late war was my peculiar province, that I 
 began to think whether I would not try." On his return to 
 his house Napier told his wife what had passed, also his 
 doubts as to being equal to the work, but she encouraged him 
 strongly, he resolved to attempt the task and immediately 
 began to collect materials. His first step was to call upon 
 the Duke of Wellington, who also encouraged him, saying he 
 could not part with his own private papers because he 
 intended to publish them himself, but he would give him 
 important official documents and answer any questions. He 
 next called on Sir George Murray, hoping to get the " Orders 
 of Movements " and the maps and plans illustrative of the 
 operations in the Peninsula, but Murray refused on the 
 ground that he also contemplated writing a history. It is 
 remarkable that neither of these men, who were then, in the 
 opinion of the whole army, the fittest to undertake the work, 
 did undertake it. After the publication of the first and 
 second volumes of Napier's History both relinquished the 
 idea. They found that the book was written with such 
 unparallelled truthfulness and extraordinary animation that 
 any other narrative would be dull and insipid. 
 
 "We are now come to a period when London life was found 
 incompatible with the needful application. Other circum- 
 stances also, of a family nature, made it desirable that country 
 air and quiet should be sought Hence the removal of
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 261 
 
 Colonel Napier to Freshford in 1831, and the commencement 
 of those political services which made him through eleven 
 years a Bath Celebrity. Nor was it strange that such a man 
 at such a time, though always intent on the work he had in 
 hand, should yet often leave his desk to mingle with the 
 multitude. Notwithstanding his aristocratic connections and 
 military spirit, his heart was ever with the people. For the 
 rank and file of the army he felt as great an interest as for 
 the cause in which they fought together, and the rank and 
 file loved him with a fervour of which he was proud. So as 
 to the masses of the English population ; no man knew 
 better either the qualities by which they were characterised 
 or the evils under which they were suffering, and was it 
 possible for him to be a silent spectator of all that passed ? 
 A Reform Government was at length in power; a new- 
 Parliament had been elected ; measures on which the people 
 had long set their hearts came forth ; in every town there 
 were meetings and discussions such as had never been known 
 before. Bath was a remarkable instance ; the city at large 
 had gained the power, hitherto confined to the Corporation, 
 of electing its representatives, and it had Mr. Roebuck as one 
 of its first candidates. Mr. Roebuck was a friend of Colonel 
 Napier ; they had many likes and dislikes in common ; they 
 had both a great aversion to the Whig party ; they were both 
 in hearty unison with what may be called ultra-radicals, and 
 the hard battle Mr. Roebuck now had to fight made his friend 
 all the more anxious to help him. So that for a long time 
 there was rarely a public meeting in Bath, whether with 
 reference to Mr. Roebuck's contest for the seat or on behalf 
 of some important measure before Parliament, at which 
 Colonel Napier's eloquent voice was not heard. 
 
 His first political speech was made at Devizes in May,
 
 262 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 18.31, at a meeting to vote an address to William IV. 
 thanking him for dissolving Parliament. Again, in 
 September, when it was generally expected that the House of 
 Lords would throw out the Reform Bill, Colonel Napier was 
 at Devizes joining in indignant remonstrance. " It is 
 impossible/' says a journal of the period, " to convey an idea 
 to those who were not present of the spirit and fire with 
 which he spoke. As an orator he must be seen and heard to 
 be appreciated. A clergyman who was present remarked, 
 ' such a soldier and such a speaker might lead an army any- 
 where/ " The fame of these speeches pervaded the country ; 
 hence invitations to the orator from all quarters some to 
 speak at similar meetings, others to be a candidate for seats 
 which had become vacant. He had been invited to contest 
 Bath but preferred that the choice should fall upon Mr. 
 Roebuck. Mr. Brace gives a letter from Mr. Charles Buller 
 who had been asked to stand for Bridgwater but declined, 
 and now urged Napier to come forward. He answered, 
 courteously, that he was not in a position to make the 
 necessary sacrifice, that he had a large family of children, 
 very little money, and very bad health ; moreover, he was 
 engaged in a difficult literary work which required constant 
 attention, his reputation and means of living in a great 
 degree depending on it. He stated that he had given a 
 similar answer to various applications from important 
 constituencies; among them being those of Nottingham, 
 Glasgow, Birmingham, Kendal and Oldham. Of the 
 speeches at Bath his biographer gives striking specimens in 
 those of August and November, J 835, February and May, 
 1836, and early in 1837, on the subjects of Coercion, Irish 
 Church Reform, Irish Corporation Reform, the Abolition of 
 Slavery, and the Obstruction of the House of Lords. Not
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 263 
 
 always had he the entire sympathy of his audience ; many 
 regretted his frequent bitter attacks on the Whigs ; critics 
 often observed a strong dash of one -sidedness ; but admiration 
 of his eloquence was universal and everyone acknowledged 
 his noble and generous spirit. 
 
 Largely as his time was occupied in Bath and other places 
 with political work, Colonel Napier steadily continued his 
 literary labours. In 1838 he wrote for the Westminster 
 Review an important article on the despatches of the Duke 
 of Wellington, "wishing to show that a Radical magazine 
 could appreciate the genius of the great soldier." " Nor did 
 he disdain," says Lord Aberdare, " lighter works of 
 imagination," for in April of the same year he contributed to 
 Bentley's Magazine a tale called " Griffone/' replete with 
 beaut.iful fancies and imagery. But it was on his history 
 that the powers of his mind were concentrated ; and here 
 should he mentioned the valuable assistance he received from 
 Mrs. Napier throughout the progress of the work, but 
 especially in deciphering correspondence. It is best 
 described in his own words. "When the immense mass 
 of King Joseph's correspondence, taken at Vittoria, was 
 placed in my hands I was dismayed at finding it to be a 
 huge collection of letters, without order, written in a crabbed 
 hand, and in three languages, the most important documents 
 being in cipher, and without a key. Despairing of any 
 profitable examination of these valuable materials, the 
 thought crossed me of giving up the work, when my wife 
 undertook first to arrange the letters by dates and subjects, 
 next to make a table of reference, translating and epitomising 
 the contents of each ; and this without neglecting for an 
 instant the care and education of a very large family, she 
 effected in a most simple and comprehensive manner,
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 enabling me to ascertain what I wanted at any time in a few 
 moments. She also undertook to decipher the secret 
 correspondence, and not only succeeded, but found a key to 
 the whole. When I related this to the Duke of Wellington 
 he seemed at first incredulous, but ended by saying, "I 
 would have given .20,000 to any person who could have 
 done it for me in the Peninsula." What the great 
 commander thought of the book which had the benefit of 
 these labours has been already stated. How he valued the 
 simple and beautiful dedication can be easily imagined : 
 
 "To 
 
 Field-Marshal 
 The Duke of Wellington. 
 
 This History I dedicate to your Grace because I have served 
 
 long enough under your command to know why 
 
 the soldiers of the Tenth Legion were 
 
 attached to Caesar." 
 
 At length the task of so many years was finished. 
 Congratulations came from all quarters. Honours the author 
 had previously received in the usual course of events. He 
 had attained the rank of Major-General in 1841 on leaving 
 Bath to take the office of Governor of Guernsey, which he 
 held six years. Relinquishing this, he received the 
 distinction of K.C.B. as a mark of her Majesty's approbation 
 of his services in the command of the island. For some 
 years he was intensely interested in all that related to Sir 
 Charles Napier's Indian successes, writing his life in two 
 brilliant volumes, also copious histories of the conquest and 
 administration of Scinde. 
 
 Nothing could be more gratifying than the testimony of 
 brother officers to the value of his great work. Colonel 
 Shaw writes : " Having read your first volume with every 
 attention, I congratulate you sincerely. It is a book which
 
 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 265 
 
 wiJl be read with admiration by the present and by future 
 ages. As a military history nothing in our language can be 
 placed in comparison with it." Major-General Sir W. 
 Campbell says : " I do not think such a history has appeared 
 since that of Xenophon. The writing is beautiful, and, 
 though entirely free from affectation, the author says the 
 best things ; short, pithy, and to the purpose. He flings 
 to the right and left the dirt and filth of prejudice, lays bare 
 the baseness and corruptions of Juntas, and exposes, alas, 
 the madness or imbecility of our own Government." 
 Marshal Soult, with his wonted generosity, said to Colonel 
 George Napier in Paris, " Your brother's work is perfect ; it 
 does honour to his head and heart, and ought to be as 
 satisfactory to the French army as it is to the English." 
 
 All this could not fail to cheer the illustrious General in 
 his latter days. And, unfortunately, those days were 
 saddened by events and circumstances which called for the 
 utmost consolation his friends could offer. Within a short 
 time he had to grieve for the death of three brothers, Charles, 
 George and Henry; also for that of a beloved daughter. 
 And who would mourn more deeply the departure of the 
 Duke of Wellington ? Then came the alarming illness of 
 Lady Napier. It was doubtful, indeed, which would be 
 taken first, his own state was so precarious. The decree was 
 for him; it came on the 12th February, 1859. But the 
 Angel of Death did not tarry. Of both it could soon be said 
 by their numerous friends : 
 
 " Their peace is sealed, their rest is sure 
 
 Within that better home ; 
 
 Awhile we wait and linger here, 
 
 Then follow to the tomb." 
 
 " One of Sir William Napier's highly gifted relatives was Lady 
 de Kos, his mother's sister, and the third daughter of Charles,
 
 266 GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. 
 
 fourth Duke of Richmond. She married the Hon. William F. 
 de Ros, afterwards Lord de Ros, Governor of the Tower, survived 
 him many years, and died in 1891 at the age of ninety-six. Only 
 three years before her death she published, at the request of many 
 of her friends, her Personal Recollections of the Duke of Wellington, 
 which were very favourably received. In a recent review of a 
 new edition the writer states that the work, prefixed as it is by 
 a memoir of the author, together with some of her correspondence, 
 is not only of value historically, but exceedingly interesting and 
 readable. Lady de Ros, as a child, often played with the 
 Princess Charlotte, whom she describes as a frank but extremely 
 indiscreet girl, openly avowing that the two things in the world 
 she most hated were ' boiled mutton and grandmamma.' " I 
 mention the book here says the author of a review in the 
 Westminster Gazette, in connection with an anecdote often 
 repeated, of which Lady de Ros gives a correct version. " It is 
 well known that George III. greatly admired Lady Sarah Lennox 
 when both were young. There is little doubt whom he would have 
 made Queen of England if he had been free to marry in accordance 
 with his inclination. About the year 1813, when the King was 
 not only blind but mentally feeble, Lady Sarah was at Court to 
 be presented on some occasion, and her sister relates that her 
 ' name was sent in, but a request came that if she had a second 
 name it might be used, as it was feared the name of Lady Sarah 
 Lennox, his first love, might have an exciting effect upon the 
 poor King. Lady Sarah, however, had no other name, and the 
 King was informed she was to be presented. He immediately 
 inquired if she was pretty, and, on being answered in the 
 affirmative, he further inquired if she was like her namesake and 
 great-aunt, the Lady Sarah Lennox of his young days, and he 
 was told that there was said to be a resemblance. When the 
 evening came, Lady Sarah was taken up to the King, and to her 
 great surprise and consternation he begged her to allow a blind 
 old man the privilege of passing his hand over her features ! 
 this he did, making no remark. Lady Sarah afterwards said she 
 could not refuse, knowing the reason for his request, but she found 
 it a very embarrassing position.' "
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 267 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 PART I. 
 
 Bath was chosen by Walter Savage Lanclor as his place of 
 residence for many years in consequence of its remarkable 
 beauty. Himself endowed with good health, always robust 
 and vigorous, he had no special need either of its fine air or 
 its healing waters. Although a keen politician like his friend 
 Colonel Napier, he had not the same strong sense of duty as 
 to mixing with the people and joining his voice with theirs. 
 Interested in music he would sometimes look in at the Pump 
 Room Concerts, but it was not in his nature, as it was in 
 Dr. Harington's, to take advantage of a congenial soil and do 
 what he could to promote and elevate the art. Pre-eminent 
 as a literary man, he would still have nothing to do with the 
 literary societies of the city ; public life of any kind he never 
 cared for ; he had gone to live at Florence simply because it 
 was beautiful, and when he was driven from it by domestic 
 troubles he knew no place that would suit him so well as 
 Bath. 
 
 TheLandor family were long of much consideration in Stafford- 
 shire. They could trace their ancestry in that county through 
 three or four hundred years. The father of Walter Savage 
 Landor was a physician at Warwick who twice married 
 heiresses, the author being the eldest son of the second wife 
 whose maiden name was Savage. From her he inherited a 
 handsome fortune, and he was proud of his descent on her 
 side, though, as in the case of Sir Arnold Savage of his 
 Imaginary Conversations, the Speaker of the House of 
 Commons, his pedigree was somewhat shadowy. His father
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 was said to have been " a polished, sociable, agreeable, but 
 rather choleric gentleman, more accomplished and better 
 educated than most of his associates, but otherwise dining, 
 coursing, telling his story and drinking his bottle among the 
 rest." Thus is Dr. Landor described by Sidney Colvin in 
 Morley's Series of English Men of Letters. To this charming 
 little volume and to John Forster's copious biography I owe 
 much of the information I have to give. Having known 
 Mr. Landor many years I have been interested in 
 collecting materials for this sketch and grateful for the 
 renewal of my recollections. It should here be mentioned 
 that Dr. Landor had another son, Robert, and five daughters. 
 The son was an amiable, accomplished, and literary clergyman ; 
 he and his brother selected the titles in their father's epitaph, 
 " Lepidus, doctus, liberalis, probus, amicis, jucundissimus." 
 Walter's boyhood was happy. He always looked back on 
 his holidays with especial affection. They were spent partly 
 in Warwick and very much at one of the two country houses 
 on the Savage estates. There he first acquired the love for 
 books, trees, flowers and country places which be cherished 
 through the chequered years of his future life. At ten he 
 was sent to Rugby, becoming soon one of the best Latin 
 scholars. He also enjoyed good English books, and has 
 recorded his delight at his first purchase of two with his own 
 money, Drayton's Polyolbion and Baker's Chronicle ; also 
 that the writer who first awoke in him the love of poetry was 
 Cowper. Always physically strong, the bookish boy held his 
 own well in the playground. His strength made him 
 victorious in boxing, cricket and football. The rivers of 
 Warwickshire had great charms for him ; the Avon, of course, 
 stimulating poetic thought In one of his Latin poems he 
 laments that his eldest son, born in Italy, would not know
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 269 
 
 and love the English streams which were the joy of his own 
 youth. On leaving Rugby Landor was placed under the 
 charge of Dr. Langley, at the village of Ashbourne, in 
 Derbyshire, whose good qualities he immortalises in the 
 Conversation of Izaak Walton, Cotton and Oldways. He 
 writes of " the good parson of Ashbourne who wants nothing, 
 yet keeps a grammar school, and is ready to receive as private 
 tutor any young gentleman in preparation for Oxford or 
 Cambridge, but only one. They live like princes, converse 
 like friends, and part like lovers." 
 
 The " good parson " had to prepare his charge for Oxford. 
 In what fine soil he worked is shown by Landor's mention of 
 his acquisitions at Ashbourne. " There," he says, " I made 
 better acquaintance with the Greek writers, especially Pindar 
 and Sophocles, and turned several things of Cowley into Latin 
 Sapphics and Alcaies." He also translated into verse the 
 Jepthah of Buchanan, a poem afterwards destroyed, but of 
 which he himself had so high an opinion that he said he 
 could not have improved upon it even after he wrote Gebir. 
 He was eighteen when he entered as a commoner at Trinity 
 College, Oxford. It was the memorable year of 1793 which 
 had opened at Paris with the execution of Louis XYI. 
 Landor, though sharing greatly the excitement of the time, 
 was less interested in the French Revolution than in the 
 American Rebellion. " He was a Jacobin," says Forster, "and 
 with exulting satisfaction saw the conquests of democracy ; 
 but pantisocracy and golden days to come on earth were not 
 in his hopes or expectation." Still he had sufficient sympathy 
 with the overthrow of monarchy in France to be affected 
 seriously in his studies and position at Oxford. It was at the 
 critical time when many of the best men of the Liberal party 
 were driven to the opposite side by the excesses of the French.
 
 270 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 Those who refused to be so driven became marked men ; at 
 Oxford there were two undergraduates in the list, Southey of 
 Balliol, and Landor of Trinity, who made themselves 
 obnoxious by appearing in hall and elsewhere with their hair 
 un powdered, the direct advertisement of revolutionary 
 sentiments. Though he and Southey were thus brought 
 together and afterwards became great friends, they were not 
 then intimate, Southey stating that he " would have tried to 
 cultivate his acquaintance if, like himself, he had been only a 
 Jacobin, but he was a mad Jacobin." Landor did some good 
 work as a student in his eighteen months at Oxford, and used 
 to call the hours passed with Walter Birch in the Magdalen 
 Walk (of which Addison was so fond) the pleasantest as well 
 as the most profitable he could remember. The " madness," 
 however, of which he was accused caused many social scrapes 
 and one of them led to his rustication. The President of his 
 college was compelled to investigate a charge against him of 
 firing into the rooms of one of the men. Landor was defiant, 
 refused all explanation and received sentence accordingly. 
 One of the worst effects of this was the anger of Dr. Landor, 
 with whom he had not previously been on good terms. Soon 
 after his return home passionate words were exchanged ; and 
 the son quitted his father's house, as he declared and believed 
 " for ever." 
 
 Landor had many changes in the next few years. From 
 Warwick he went first to London where he worked hard at 
 French and Italian. He had then an idea of settling in Italy, 
 but this was abandoned in consequence of efforts by his family 
 to arrange his affairs and obtain a reconciliation with his 
 father. Although heir to a large fortune he cculd only receive 
 a slender income during the life of his mother, to whose 
 impartial justice towards all her children he bore ample
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 271 
 
 testimony, and for whom his feelings were always those of 
 gratitude and affection. In London at this time (1795) he 
 brought out his first book, a small volume of poems, now very 
 rare. Another literary venture was a satire against Pitt in the 
 form of A Moral Epistle in heroic verse addressed to Earl 
 Stanhope. On leaving London he spent three years in Wales, 
 chiefly at Swansea, the neighbourhood not then being defiled, 
 as now, by mining and smelting operations. Here he studied 
 indefatigably ; among the writers whom he read and pondered 
 were Pindar and Milton ; both contributed to the formation 
 of his mind, but it was for Milton as Republican, poet and 
 prophet, he conceived the enthusiastic reverence which after- 
 wards inspired some of his writings. Mr. Colvin adds that 
 " at twenty and a few following years Landor's life was well 
 suited to the training of a poet. He made his own all that 
 was best in the literatures of ancient and modern Europe, 
 except indeed in that of Germany, which had then been 
 barely discovered in England by a few explorers like 
 Scott, Coleridge and William Taylor of Norwich, but to which 
 Landor neither now nor afterwards felt himself attracted." 
 There must have been something however in Gebir, his next 
 important work, that was akin to the spirit of German poetry, 
 for the German scholars, Taylor especially, were all warm in 
 its praise. What is noticeable here is that Landor's poem 
 was written and his studies carried on when he was in 
 immediate communion with nature. To this he thus alludes, 
 contrasting the influences on his own mind with those on his 
 friend Moore : 
 
 " Alone I spent my earlier hour, 
 
 While thou wert in the roseate bower, 
 
 And raised to thee was every eye, 
 
 And every song won every sigh.
 
 272 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 One servant and one chest of books 
 Followed me into mountain nooks, 
 Where sheltered from the sun and breeze 
 Lay Pindar and Thucydides." 
 
 It has been remarked that Landor's avoidance of "the 
 roseate bower" was not constant. His biographers mention 
 various attachments, chiefly formed in Bath, up to the time 
 of his marriage. Some of them, though short-lived, were 
 strong enough to inspire his muse and bring him often to 
 the city of the springs. Forster says that " on his accession 
 to the paternal estates in 1805, his younger brother found 
 him at Bath with the reputation of very great wealth and 
 the certainty of still greater on his mother's death." His 
 establishment, with carriage and horses, men servants, books, 
 plate, china, pictures ; his successive flirtations with " lone," 
 "lanthe" and Rose Aylmer, were all much talked of in the 
 city and regretted by those who knew the better parts of his 
 mind and character. Happily his eldest sister, who was his 
 constant correspondent, had some influence over him It 
 was probably Miss Landor who caused the wasteful outlay at 
 Bath to cease and induced him for a time to live much on 
 his estate at Lanthony, where, however, expense was equally 
 disregarded. Having formed magnificent plans of a mansion 
 and actually begun to build, he determined to clothe the 
 slopes with woods and to cover the sides of the valley with 
 the cedars of Lebanon. " For this purpose he bought 2,000 
 cones, calculated to yield 100 seeds each, intending to do 
 ten times as much afterwards and exulting in the thought of 
 the two million cedar trees which he would thus leave for the 
 shelter and delight of posterity." Nor was his private 
 enjoyment as a landowner his chief object. The only means 
 of communication in the district were by rough bridle paths
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 273 
 
 and fords, so he set gangs of men to make roads and bridges. 
 Agriculture was miserably primitive and he imported sheep 
 from Segovia, applying to various friends to help him to find 
 tenants who would adopt and teach improved modes of 
 cultivation. As to the population of Lanthony, they were 
 drunken, morose, and impoverished. Why should he not do 
 all in his power to reclaim and civilise them ? 
 
 Alas ! he little knew what he undertook. Repeated 
 disappointments on every side attended his efforts. In 
 social matters he was especially chagrined ; there was 
 scarcely a public authority against whom he had not a 
 grievance ; even his tenants and labourers turned against 
 him. Summoned on the grand jury of his county, he got 
 into collision with the judge ; and, wanting permission to 
 restore for Divine service a part of Lanthony Priory, lie 
 quarrelled with the Bishop. One means of relief he had 
 from all these troubles ; it was to go to Bath, to mix there 
 with an entirely different set, and renew intercourse with 
 people whom he liked. The attractions of " the roseate 
 bowers" of the Assembly Rooms were especially strong for 
 him and destined now to influence his future life. It was in 
 1811 he met a young lady at a ball, Miss Julia Thuillier, the 
 daughter of a banker at Banbury, descended from an old 
 Swiss family. Greatly struck, he exclaimed, with all the 
 impetuosity of his nature, " By heaven ! that's the nicest girl 
 in the room, I'll marry her." And this time there was no 
 long wooing, no misunderstanding, no apologetic retreat us 
 in former instances ; marry her he did with little loss of time. 
 But the adage " marry in haste and repent at leisure " would 
 have been applicable here. The little wife was sixteen years 
 younger than her husband and at first, with her bright smiles 
 and lively spirits and golden hair, she did very well ; they, 
 S
 
 274 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 therefore, both went to Lanthony and hospitably received 
 visitors including his mother and sisters and Southey and 
 his wife. But Lanthony was rapidly ruining him ; he soon 
 discovered it, went for a time to Jersey, and resolved to live 
 in France, to which, however, Mrs. Landor strongly objected 
 and in a temper developing too surely. Arguing one evening 
 with more than usual petulance she taunted him before her 
 sister with their disparity of years. His pride took sudden 
 fire ; he rose at four the next morning, crossed the island on 
 foot and was soon under weigh for the coast of France in an 
 oyster boat alone. 
 
 But neither the joyful nor sorrowful incidents in Lander's 
 life prevented literary work. In 1810 he printed two Latin 
 odes and began two important works, his Idyllia Heroica, 
 also in Latin, and his Count Julian, an English tragedy, 
 published by Mr. Murray. In 1811 he wrote another tragedy, 
 Ferranti and Giulio ; but a discouraging letter from 
 Longman's caused him to put it into the fire, and he told his 
 friend Southey that in future whatever verse he was foolish 
 enough to write should have the same fate. In 1812 Mr. 
 Murray brought out another very different production, A 
 Commentary on Memoirs of Charles James Fox, in answer 
 to Trotter's Memoirs and setting forth the author's views on 
 books, mankind and government. Towards the close of 1813, 
 about the end of the Lanthony period, he published a comedy, 
 called The Charitable Doivager, the proceeds of which he 
 destined for the relief of an old acquaintance in Spain to 
 whose hospitality he was indebted when visiting that country. 
 
 Here I cannot do better than introduce Mr. Sidney Colvin's 
 retrospect, after detailing the troubles at Lanthony and the 
 departure from Jersey. "Up to the date we have now 
 reached, 1814, Lander's career seems to present a spectacle
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 275 
 
 of almost as much futility as force. His resplendent gifts 
 and lofty purposes had been attended with little solid result 
 either in the practical or the intellectual sphere. In the 
 practical part of life he had thus far conspicuously failed. 
 The existence he had planned for himself was one totally 
 different from that which had fallen to his lot. Bent upon 
 walking in the paths of serenity he had nevertheless trodden 
 those of contention. With a high standard of intercourse 
 and behaviour he had been involved in ignominious 
 wranglings with his neighbours. Born to wealth and eager 
 to employ it usefully he had experienced nothing but 
 frustration and embarrassment. Tenderly chivalrous towards 
 women, he had turned his back in anger upon his young wife. 
 Neither in the other sphere of human activity, the intellectual 
 and imaginative sphere, which to him was in truth the more 
 real and engrossing of the two, had Landor as yet done 
 himself anything like justice. Posterity, if his career had 
 ended here, would probably have ignored his writings, or 
 have remembered them at most as the fragmentary and 
 imperfect productions of a powerful spirit that had passed 
 away without leaving any adequate memorial. Several years 
 had still to elapse before he addressed himself to that which 
 was destined to be his great and vital task in literature, the 
 writing of the Imaginary Conversations. His life until then 
 had been continually unsettled and his efforts uncertainly 
 directed." 
 
 From the coast of Brittany, after leaving his wife, Landor 
 made his way to Tours. He found a resource at once in 
 composing a Latin mythological poem, in which some of his 
 Welsh tormentors were pilloried. "Of his quarrel with his 
 wife," says Colvin, " he writes like a gentleman, doing justice 
 to her conduct during the trying experiences at Lanthony.
 
 276 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 He even proposed to hand over to her all his remaining 
 fortune, reserving only <M60 a year for himself, but adding 
 that ' every kind and tender sentiment towards her was rooted 
 from his heart for ever.' " Hearing, however, after a while, 
 that she was very ill, his natural good feeling returns, he loses 
 his resentment entirely, and writes to comfort her. The 
 result, with the aid of friends, was reconciliation; Mrs. 
 Landor joined him at Tours early in 1815, and they proceeded 
 later in the year to Como where they lived three years. At 
 Como their first child, a boy, was born and christened Arnold 
 Savage, after the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lander's 
 supposed ancestor. Within a few years a girl and two more 
 boys were added to the family. One of the father's brightest 
 features was his constant interest in his children ; his love for 
 them as they grew up was intense ; no sacrifice was too great 
 to be made for them ; no companionship preferred to theirs. 
 But again his evil genius unsettled him ; he was compelled to 
 quit Tours in consequence of a quarrel with an Italian poet 
 who summoned him before a magistrate for some opprobrious 
 verses. In vain did the magistrate try to do impartial 
 justice ; Landor insulted him, threatened him with a 
 thrashing, and was ordered to quit the country. 
 
 Then, after spending two months at Genoa he settled at 
 Pisa, remaining there till the summer of 1821. Shelley and 
 Byron were both in the same town about that time, but he had 
 then no personal acquaintance with either. For other 
 eminent English poets, Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth and 
 Walter Scott, he had much admiration, and though he never 
 liked Byron he afterwards formed a high opinion of Shelley. 
 But it was in the political opinions of the period he now took 
 the deepest interest. The great Continental upheaval of 
 1821-22, the struggle against tyranny in Greece, Spain,
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 277 
 
 Naples, Lombardy, and Vienna had his warmest sympathy. 
 Never did he write nobler verse ; all domestic disquietude, all 
 pecuniary anxiety became merged in passionate love for the 
 cause of freedom. To Italy he addressed a stirring oration 
 on representative government ; to Corinth, a poet's eulogy on 
 the defeat of its Turkish oppressor ; to Albion, degenerate 
 Albion, an Englishman's reproaches for 
 
 ' Mocking at the thirst of Holy Freedom in its agony." 
 
 Expelled from Pisa he took refuge at Florence and worked for 
 many years at his Imaginary Conversations ; but yielding at 
 length to what he deemed unbearable family troubles he fled 
 back to England, renewed old friendships a short time in 
 London, and eventually settled in Bath, a period which, with 
 some account of the Florentine life and of the more immediate 
 cause of its termination, I reserve for another chapter.
 
 278 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 PABT II. 
 
 Lander's sympathies with the insurgent populations of 
 Southern Europe extended beyond his residence at Pisa ; 
 they were cherished also at Florence where some of them 
 found expression in the Imaginary Conversations. There 
 was much now in outward circumstances to favour his 
 literary work ; he loved the city and its surroundings, he had 
 his home in the beautiful palace of the Medici ; and he 
 found in his children inexhaustible sources of enjoyment. 
 
 His occupations at Florence were diversified by that of a 
 picture collector. Soon after his arrival he began to avail 
 himself of the opportunities afforded him. " He formed," 
 says Colvin, -'his own opinions in connoisseurship as in 
 other things and acted upon them with his usual confidence 
 and precipitancy." He was one of the earliest modern 
 admirers of the pre-Raphrelite masters, whose works were 
 then in no demand, and innumerable specimens, with those 
 of other schools, passed through his hands. " He liked his 
 rooms to be denuded of nearly all furniture except pictures, 
 covering the walls with them from floor to ceiling. A 
 generous giver, especially in later years, he was fond of 
 sending away a guest the richer for a token from his 
 collection." 
 
 Landor was visited at Florence and afterwards at Fiesole 
 by many friends whose companionship he valued. One of 
 the most welcome was Francis Hare, with whom an encounter 
 of wit was always a great delight. " Both men of amazing
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 279 
 
 knowledge and memory, their self-confidence was about 
 equal ; they often disputed but never quarrelled. In one of 
 his letters to his mother, who continued to write affectionately 
 to him up to the time of her death, he remarks how often he 
 had been applied to for introductions since he published the 
 first volume of the Conversations. His biographers mention 
 Hogg, Kirkup, Leckie, Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Crabb Robinson, 
 Lord Houghton, and many others as being courteously 
 received and highly gratified. Those who visited him when 
 lie lived in the Medicean palace could not fail to associate 
 him with that historic edifice, which however the poet had 
 ere long to quit in consequence of a rupture with the 
 landlord, the living representative of the Medici family. He 
 had accused this gentleman, whose reputation was not high, 
 of tempting his coachman to leave him ; on which the 
 Marquis called, entered the room where Mr. and Mrs. Landor 
 and Mr. Kirkup sat and strutted in without removing his 
 hat. He had scarcely advanced three steps from the door 
 when Landor walked up to him quickly, knocked off his hat, 
 took him by the arm and turned him out. " You should 
 have heard," said Kirkup, " Landor 's shout of laughter at his 
 own anger, inextinguishable laughter, which none of us 
 could resist." It was followed by a letter to the Marquis 
 announcing that he should quit the house at the end of the 
 year. 
 
 We next find the poet at the charming villa Gherandesca, 
 which he had bought at Fiesole. It had been the home of 
 Boccaccio, whom he considered " the greatest genius of Italy 
 or the Continent." The years he spent there seem, on the 
 whole, to have been the happiest of his life, so great was his 
 enjoyment of his children and his classic grounds. His love 
 of animals had now full play ; besides the great house-dog
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 Parigi we hear of the cat Cincerello, a tame marten, a tame 
 leveret, and all manner of other pets. Amid the groves of 
 olive and cypress within his gates he loved to look down 
 along the sweep of Valdarno, or towards the distant woods 
 of Vallombrosa, or the misty ridges above Arezzo. His own 
 means would not have sufficed to buy this beautiful place, 
 but he had a generous friend at Florence, Mr. Ablett, who, 
 knowing his wish for it, insisted on advancing the required 
 amount ; he would take no interest, and only consented to 
 be repaid after some years when Landor had saved the 
 amount out of his annual savings. In writing to his sister, 
 telling her the story of Mr. Ablett's unexpected kindness, 
 and of the roses, arbutuses and bay trees he was planting, he 
 says : " My country now is Italy, where I have a residence for 
 life and may literally sit under my own vine and my own fig 
 tree, having some thousands of the one and some scores of the 
 other." But though all this made him happy for a time, and 
 the outbursts of passion became more rare with advancing 
 years, he was still subject to them. He had a quarrel with 
 the police about some plate of which he had been robbed ; he 
 thought the men inefficient, his language was so violent that 
 he was ordered to leave Tuscany, and he did actually retreat 
 as far as Lucca. But a courteous letter to the Grand Duke, 
 with the intercession of Lord Normanby, the English 
 Ambassador, and other friends, cleared up the matter ; the 
 order was revoked and the offender returned in triumph. 
 
 Lander's letter to his sister was written on New Year's Day, 
 1 830. .It was just after the death of his mother who had died 
 at the close of her eighty-fifth year. " Her great kindness to 
 me," he says, " throughout the whole course of her life made 
 me perpetually think of her with the tenderest love." She 
 had told him that she hoped he would come to live at Ipsley
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 281 
 
 after her death, enjoy the place as she had done, and lead the 
 life of an English country gentleman. But he insisted now 
 on his sisters continuing there, and declining to allow the 
 place to be let or the contents to be sold for his own benefit. 
 He was satisfied to remain for a time at least in his Italian 
 home. His manner of life was favourable to the composition 
 of his great work and that of other minor works. He was to 
 be met at all seasons rambling alone in old clothes and 
 battered straw hat upon the heights around Fiesole, repeating 
 audibly what was in his thoughts. In 1831 he brought out 
 a revised selection of his earliest poems. In 1832 he came 
 to England after an absence of eighteen years, enjoyed the 
 visit himself and gave pleasure to many friends. Crabb 
 Robinson entertained him hospitably in London, taking him 
 to see Flaxman one day, Charles Larnb another, and Coleridge 
 a third. He next went to Cambridge to make the personal 
 acquaintances of Julius Hare, and agreed to contribute to a 
 new periodical, the Philological Museum. His sisters, of 
 course, claimed him at Ipsley, as did his friend Ablett at 
 Lanbedr, with whom he paid flying visits to Southey and 
 Wordsworth. Returning home by Belgium, the Rhine, the 
 Tyrol and Venice, he saw many other friends, and early in 
 1833 was back again among his children, his pet animals, and 
 his pictures at Fiesole. His thoughts of the poets he had seen 
 in England found vent in an ode to Wordsworth, and stanzas 
 on the death of Charles Lamb addressed to his sister. The 
 ode begins : 
 
 " We both have run o'er half the space 
 
 Listed for mortals' earthly race ; 
 
 We both have crost life's fervid line 
 
 And other stars before us shine ; 
 
 May they be bright and prosperous 
 
 As those that have been stars for us ! "
 
 282 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 The three last stanzas to the mourning sister have a 
 truthful beauty : 
 
 " His gentle soul, his genius, these are thine ; 
 For these dost tliou repine ? 
 He may have left the lowly walks of men ; 
 Left them he has, what then ] 
 Are not his footsteps followed by the eyes 
 Of all the good and wise ? 
 Though the warm day is over, yet they seek 
 Upon the lofty peak 
 
 Of his pure mind the roseate light that glows 
 O'er death's perennial snows. 
 Behold him ! from the regions of the blest 
 He speaks and bids thee rest." 
 
 The short remainder of Lander's life at Fiesole was fruitful. 
 His Examination of Shakespeare, his Pericles and Aspasia, 
 and his Pentameron and Pestalogia formed a trilogy of books 
 of much value. "The last was published in 1837, when a 
 great change had come over his life ; he had said farewell to 
 his beautiful home ; he had turned his back upon his wife 
 and children; and returned to live alone in England. To 
 this he had been driven by renewed dissensions. The house- 
 hold, below the surface, had long been inharmonious and ill- 
 ordered. A husband absorbed in his own imaginings ; a wife 
 agreeable to anyone but him ; children devotedly loved but 
 allowed to run wild. If Lander's bursts of passion were 
 violent, they met with more than their match in his wife's 
 persistent, petulant opposition. The immediate cause of his 
 departure appears to have been the language addressed to 
 him by Mrs. Landor in the presence of their children, 
 notwithstanding all his remonstrances. This he felt to be 
 demoralising to them and humiliating to himself, and, 
 resolving to endure it no longer, he left his home in the 
 spring of 1835, spent the summer by himself at the baths of
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 283 
 
 Lucca, and then came back to England." Two years which 
 elapsed before his settlement at Bath he gave chiefly to 
 London, Clifton and Lanbedr. His pen in the interval was 
 as busy as ever ; the Conversations, an Irish squib in verse, 
 a political pamphlet addressed to Lord Melbourne, and last 
 touches to Pericles and Aspasia fully occupied him. Friends 
 on both sides of the family endeavoured to bring about some 
 kind of arrangement between the husband and wife, so far at 
 all events as to give Landor intercourse with his children. 
 At one time it was proposed they should meet him in 
 Germany, and he travelled to Heidelberg expecting to see 
 them there ; but they never came, nor were any of the other 
 plans found practicable. Letters and presents were exchanged 
 occasionally between the father and children ; twice or thrice 
 in the coming years they came to visit him in England, but 
 henceforth they were practically lost to him. With his wife's 
 relations living in this country he continued on perfectly 
 cordial terms. His wanderings after his return to England 
 ceased with his final settlement at Bath in October, 1837. 
 
 He lost no time in making generous arrangements for his 
 family. His estates of Lanthony and Ipsley were yielding 
 ^OOO a year, of which, however, mortgages absorbed 
 1,400. On leaving Fiesole he settled it with farms and 
 gardens, which were almost sufficient for the support of the 
 family, on his son Arnold. To Mrs. Landor he made over 
 two thirds of the income he had been accustomed to spend 
 while they were all under one roof, reserving to himself only 
 about o200 a year. Finding this, after a year or two in 
 England insufficient, he increased it with another ) 200 from 
 savings he had accumulated, and on this income he was 
 perfectly content to live in the solitary home which he made 
 for himself in a Bath: lodging.
 
 284 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 After stating these facts Mr. Colvin proceeds to show that 
 his solitude was not morose or devoid of consolations. In 
 Bath, foremost among the friends whom he found after his 
 own heart was Colonel William Napier, with whom for years 
 he spent part of almost every day. He enjoyed the tender 
 devotion of his wife's niece, Miss Stopford, afterwards Lady 
 Charles Beauclerk, as well as of another young lady, Miss 
 Paynter, now Lady Sawle, a relative of the Aylmer family to 
 whom he was attached. As time advanced he valued the 
 society of new friends, especially those, who like Mr. Empson, 
 Mr. Frederick Shum, Mrs. Lynn Linton, and others, were 
 interested in art ; one feature of such friendships being its 
 constancy ; and although at times he was dictatorial there 
 was generally an innate courteous gentleness which made his 
 society extremely agreeable. To this the present writer can 
 testify as the poet's conversation through many years was a 
 privilege he can never forget. Biographers have placed on 
 record the annual visits to Lander's Bath home of his literary 
 friends ; they occurred chiefly on his birthday, when Dickens, 
 Forster, and Carlyle cheered him together or alternately with 
 their company. His hospitable nature is shown in an 
 invitation to Tennyson : 
 
 "I entreat you, Alfred Tennyson, 
 
 Come and share my haunch of venison. 
 
 I have, too, a bin of claret, 
 
 Good, but better when you share it. 
 
 Though 'tis only a small bin, 
 
 There's a stock of it within. 
 
 And as sure as I'm a rhymer, 
 
 Half a butt of Kudesheimer." 
 
 Quite as characteristic this as Sir Walter Scott's invitation 
 to his son-in-law, Mr. Lockart, who was staying near and
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 285 
 
 writing an article for the Quarterly Review, Sir Walter 
 happening to have some Whig visitors at Abbotsford. 
 " Irrecoverable sinner, 
 
 Work what Whigs you will till dinner, 
 
 But be here exact at six 
 
 Smooth as oil with mine to mix. 
 
 Sophy may come up to tea, 
 
 Our table has no room for she. 
 
 Come the gum within your cheek 
 
 And help old Peveril of the Peak." 
 
 Landor's favourite place of habitual exercise was the Bath 
 Park. Living in S. James's Square, or one of the adjoining 
 streets, the access was easy. Day by day he and his clever 
 dog, Pomero, were seen in the pleasant grounds taking their 
 accustomed morning walk. No one thought the majestic old 
 man less impressive because " muttering his wayward fancies 
 he would rove," dressed in a rusty brown suit, bulged boots 
 and battered hat. And everyone noticed the "noisy, soft- 
 haired, quick glancing, inseparable Pomeranian companion, 
 though few knew he had been one of his master's favourite 
 pets at Fiesole, and was now really the delight of his life. 
 " With Pomero," we are told, " he would prattle in English 
 and Italian as affectionately as a mother with her child ; " he 
 would tell you that the dog had the brightest eyes and most 
 wonderful tail ever seen, that he was the wisest and most 
 beautiful of his race. Believing this, Landor spoke of him 
 jocosely as a kind of sagacious elder brother, whose opinion 
 had to be quoted on all occasions before he would deliver 
 his own ; and the visitor, who saw the sensible creature 
 curled up in his basket . till his master began to laugh, and 
 then spring up and bark to show his sympathy, would half 
 believe in the brotherhood. In the afternoon, the poet, accom- 
 panied by Pomero, having had his simple dinner on viands 
 often procured and sometimes cooked by himself, walked
 
 286 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 several miles in all weathers, having especial preference for 
 the suburb of Widcombe, in whose beautiful churchyard he 
 resolved to be buried. From seven in the evening, after the 
 simplest possible tea, he generally read till late at night. 
 If he went into society at all, it would be to meet a party of 
 three or four at dinner at the house of some old friend, 
 where he was sure to be seen and heard to the greatest 
 advantage. I remember on such an occasion being delighted 
 with his response to some praise of a poetess whose writings 
 were better known at the beginning of the century than now, 
 Mrs. Barbauld. He repeated whole stanzas from memory, 
 and asked joyously what modern writer had produced 
 anything better. 
 
 At intervals Landor continued to use his pen with much 
 vigour. One of his employments was to assist his friend 
 Forster in bringing out a complete edition of his works. 
 Much time was occupied by his correspondence with the 
 Literati who have been mentioned, and with such friends as 
 Lady Blessington, at whose house he was a frequent guest. 
 The cessation of intercourse with Southey when his mind 
 gave way in 1839 was a great grief to him. Francis Hare he 
 had lost previously. Then followed in quick succession the 
 death of his generous admirer, Ablett, his affectionate brother 
 Charles, and his greatly attached friend Lady Blessington. 
 " All these deaths," Mr. Colvin writes, " would naturally have 
 prepared Lander's mind for his own had he stood in need of 
 such preparation. But he had long faced that contingency 
 with the same composure with which others are encouraged 
 to face it in his own tender and heroic admonitions." Of 
 each successive birthday as it came round he felt as though 
 it might naturally be his last. It was on the morning 
 after his seventy-fifth that he wrote and read aloud before
 
 WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 287 
 
 breakfast those lines which he afterwards prefixed to the 
 volume called Last Fruit off an Old Tree. 
 
 " I strove with none, for none was worth my strife, 
 
 Nature I loved and next to Nature Art. 
 I warmed both hands before the fire of life ; 
 It sinks and I am ready to depart." 
 
 But the patriarch lingered on. He had passed eighty when 
 a dangerous illness came, and at his request I called upon 
 him. He then told me with infinite pathos how much he 
 longed to be released. I said what I could to comfort him ; 
 other friends did the same, and he rallied sufficiently to write 
 and talk much as usual. Alas ! if the future could have 
 been foreseen, continued life in his case would have been 
 considered anything but a blessing. The tale is too sad to 
 be told here minutely ; enough that other writers have 
 detailed the melancholy incidents. I need only add that he 
 quarrelled with a lady, wrote verses which were deemed 
 libellous, left Bath to avoid the consequences of an action at 
 the Assizes, and actually returned once more to Florence. 
 
 Thus ended a residence in Bath of twenty-two years. He 
 found his wife and children at the villa in Fiesole, of which 
 he was so fond. At first there was contentment, but dark 
 clouds soon came again. Some of his old friends looked 
 coldly upon him in consequence of the Bath scandal, among 
 them the English Minister, Lord Normanby, which wounded 
 him to the quick. Time had not lessened former domestic 
 incoinpatabilities, and in addition there were now pecuniary 
 hardships which disabled him from living elsewhere. Mr. 
 Browning the poet, then at Florence, exerted himself to 
 interest friends and relations in England to meet the difficulty. 
 It was met ; five years more of life were granted ; his children 
 tended him at the last, and in September, 1864, "the 
 indomitable spirit was spent, the old lion was at rest."
 
 288 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 
 PART I. 
 
 Among the sales of English Libraries recorded in literary 
 history, one of the most remarkable was that of Mr. 
 Beckford at Hamilton palace in the year 1882. The books 
 were for a long time in spacious rooms in Lansdown Crescent, 
 Bath, sharing with the choice pictures the admiration of the 
 visitors who were generously allowed to see them. They 
 were bequeathed by the owner to his son-in-law, the Duke of 
 Hamilton, and on his death in 1844 were removed to 
 Scotland to be added to another collection of considerable 
 value, all being sold by auction forty-two years afterwards. 
 The sale attracted much attention in consequence of the 
 beauty and rariety of many of the lots and the high prices 
 they realised. In Bath it formed a subject of conversation 
 at the Literary Club, several of the members having, like 
 myself, often seen the well-filled shelves in Lansdown 
 Crescent, and it occurred to me that an evening of the Club 
 might be given to a paper on some of the incidents in 
 Mr. Beckford's life. 
 
 The suggestion was adopted ; I wrote and read ; and the 
 substance of my contribution is in the following chapters, 
 very much as it was then given. My chief sources of 
 information were a biography in two volumes, believed to be 
 by Mr. Cyrus Redding, and some articles in the Athenceum 
 and the Gentleman's Magazine for 1844. Why the biography 
 was anonymous cannot be easily understood ; Mr. Redding 
 was well known in Bath as the editor of a local newspaper,
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 289 
 
 the Bath Guardian afterwards the Bath Express and the 
 author of a book of some repute on wines. He knew Mr. 
 Beckford, and his collections, and the memoir, though not of 
 a high class, appears to be trustworthy. The recent memoir 
 in the National Biography is a good condensation of what 
 had been written previously, but contains no new facts. It 
 states justly that the catalogues of Beckford's library and his 
 Fonthill collections contribute much to the knowledge of his 
 tastes and character. It also refers to the remarkable 
 criticisms in Lockhart's review of his letters in volume iv. of 
 the Quarterly and an article by Tiffany in volume xc. of the 
 North American Review. 
 
 Beckford's education and early circumstances had of course 
 much influence on his mind and character. The son of the 
 celebrated Lord Mayor of London, he was only eleven years 
 old when his father died, leaving an immense fortune. To a 
 good private tutor, appointed by his mother, he owed much 
 sound knowledge of the classics with other acquirements 
 intended to fit him for a high position. The strong individu- 
 ality of his future life was shadowed forth by various decided 
 tastes, notably a love of Eastern fiction so absorbing that by 
 the advice of his father's great" friend, his own god-father, 
 Lord Chatham, the Arabian Nights were hidden from him. 
 Another incident also indicates a favourite study. When 
 he was in his fifteenth year he spent a month with Lord 
 Chatham at Burton Pynsent in Somersetshire. The evening 
 family parties included the future statesman, William Pitt, 
 then of the same age as William Beckford, and those parties 
 were enlivened by recitations. On one occasion Beckford was 
 asked to recite a speech of considerable length which he had 
 translated from Thucydides and learnt by heart. He obeyed 
 with great readiness, excelled both in action and emphasis, 
 T
 
 290 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 and delighted his venerable host, who laid down his crutch 
 (having then a fit of the gout) and embraced him, saying to 
 his son, " May you, my boy, some day make as good a speaker." 
 What the son became all the world knows, how brilliant in 
 the Senate, how commanding in the Cabinet ; but it is said 
 of the two youths at this time that while quietness, discern- 
 ment, and accuracy were with Pitt, genius, imagination, and 
 energy were with Beckford. Fortunately for the young orator 
 he was not always flattered. In the same year he visited his 
 relations, the Duke and Duchess of Queensbury, in Wiltshire. 
 There also he displayed his oratorical powers, but the 
 Duchess a very stately old lady thought him deficient in 
 etiquette. Once he failed so lamentably that her Grace rang 
 the bell and ordered the servant to bring the family Bible, 
 where she found a passage applicable to the case, which she 
 requested him to read, saying, " There it was young man that 
 I learnt my manners." 
 
 Mrs. Beckford having a prejudice against the English 
 Universities, sent her son for his further education to Geneva. 
 He lived there with her relation, Colonel Hamilton, his studies 
 being still directed by the wise tutor who had been with him 
 from the beginning. In addition to a course of lectures on 
 civil law, mention is made of some lessons in riding and 
 fencing. But the chief good of his residence in Switzerland 
 was in the companionship of a few able and eminent men. 
 He learnt much from Saussure, one of the earliest Alpine 
 explorers and from Bonnet the great naturalist. With a 
 literary family named Huber, who were fond of falconry, he 
 contracted a great intimacy. Noteworthy visits of the period 
 were to the Grand Chartreuse, of which he wrote an admirable 
 account, and to the philosopher of Ferney then in his 
 eightieth year.
 
 MR. BECKFOBD. 291 
 
 Prominent among young Beckford's educational influences 
 was the noble gallery of pictures formed by his father. The 
 interest he took in them and the knowledge he acquired of 
 their merits, were shown by the first book he wrote. This 
 was A History of Extraordinary Painters, the exact date 
 cannot be ascertained, but it was before he went to Geneva, 
 when he was about seventeen. The more immediate cause 
 was that the pictures at Fonthill were shown by an ignorant 
 woman who made all kinds of strange blunders. He there- 
 fore wished to provide, first an accurate catalogue, and then 
 some account of the masters ; in connection with which he 
 largely indulged his sarcastic humour. He had followed the 
 housekeeper in her rounds with strangers ; he had chuckled 
 while she dilated before a picture by Rubens on what she 
 called " the skill of Og, of Basan " or the colouring of 
 " Watersouchy, of Amsterdam ; " and Beckford, in this book, 
 while giving really admirable descriptions of the masters, 
 made great fun of the stories swallowed by the rustic 
 sight-seers. 
 
 Returning from Switzerland in 1778 he visited various 
 relations. One was Lord Courtenay at Powderham Castle, 
 near Exeter, who had built a tower in his park which Beckford 
 admired, and was probably suggestive to him in future years. 
 Another relative was the Hon. George Hamilton, then member 
 for Wells, who lived at Bath in the Royal Crescent, and was 
 celebrated for his love of planting. Some months having 
 been occupied in seeing a succession of great houses, old 
 castles and fine scenery, and the traveller not being yet of 
 age, he was advised by Lord Chancellor Bathurst, under 
 whose legal care he had been placed, to take the grand tour. 
 Accordingly he and his tutor proceeded to the Continent, 
 where his mind was greatly impressed by much that he saw.
 
 292 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 Not, however, in the Low Countries nor in Germany did he 
 chiefly find congenial objects ; they awaited him in the 
 classic beauties of Italy. To friends in England the tutor 
 reported that, do what he would, he could not restrain his 
 pupil's love of eastern lore ; stolen moments were constantly 
 given to it, and all possible objects were made subservient. 
 Then was it that the thoughts and images accumulated which 
 found expression soon afterwards in Vathek, though time 
 was also found for the preparation of another book, Dreams, 
 Waking Thoughts and Incidents. Thus before he was 
 twenty-two he may be said to have been the author of three 
 remarkable works, an instance noteworthy in the early life of 
 a man of large fortune. 
 
 On Mr. Beckford coming of age after his return from the 
 grand tour, the event was celebrated with great rejoicings at 
 Fonthill. His Oriental tastes were gratified by adding to the 
 plans for feasting all classes a brilliant illumination of the 
 house and grounds. Thousands of lamps were lighted on the 
 lawn, in the wood, and along the banks of the river ; fireworks, 
 bonfires, and musical entertainments provided regardless of 
 cost. Lord Byron, in Childe Harolde, had called Beckford 
 "England's wealthiest son," so by the poet at all events 
 these rejoicings would not have been thought strange. Soon 
 afterwards the rich man came to Bath again, and like Walter 
 Savage Landor met his future wife at a ball. The attraction 
 was Lady Margaret Aboyne, an amiable woman, who died 
 within three years, leaving two daughters. Beckford felt the 
 loss so acutely that his friends advised him to enter political 
 life and follow his father's example by strengthening the 
 popular Chatham party. His tastes were altogether different ; 
 he cared nothing for party struggles and distinctions, yet at 
 length he consented to sit for Wells, succeeding his relative,
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 293 
 
 Mr. Hamilton of Bath, from 1784 till 1790, when he was 
 returned for Hindon. This seat he resigned four years 
 afterwards by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds, thus 
 terminating finally what had been the mere semblance of 
 political life, and leaving more time for the enjoyment and, 
 as he thought, the improvement of his property. We shall 
 see that if he succeeded in one object he failed in the other. 
 
 Prior to his marriage Mr. Beckford took another journey 
 on the continent with equipments such as are now never 
 heard of. In addition to his old tutor and a staff of servants, 
 he engaged an artist, a musician and a medical man, three 
 carriages and several led horses and out-riders ; accordingly 
 while the cavalcade was sometimes supposed to belong to one 
 imperial personage and sometimes to another, the hotel bills 
 had everywhere an imperial complexion. But what is most 
 remarkable as bearing on his future life is that notwith- 
 standing all this luxury of travelling his mental aims were 
 always prominent and his love of nature supreme. Never 
 neglecting opportunities of acquiring knowledge, they were 
 all the more welcome if, as in the case of an ancient palace 
 or a venerable monastery, they gave scope for historic 
 research or poetic feeling. Nothing, however, delighted 
 him like fine scenery ; he revelled in the glories of the Alps 
 and the Tyrol. While other companions took long rides he 
 drew Cozens the artist into the woods to admire the wild 
 flowers and sketch the huts of the peasantry. Though 
 charmed with much that he saw in the Italian cities ; the 
 missals at Siena, the sculptures at Florence, the ruins at 
 Home ; finding at Venice especially abundant gratification of 
 his Oriental taste ; he yet turned incessantly to nature for 
 refreshment and inspiration. At this time he wrote several 
 poems, far inferior to his prose it is true, but proving his
 
 294 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 sincere love of country life. In some lines on leaving 
 Fonthill, after describing the changes of the seasons and 
 various rural objects he says : 
 
 " But though the scenes you now deplore 
 With heart and eye be your's no more, 
 Though now each long-known object seem 
 Unreal as the morning's dream, 
 Yet still with retrospective glance 
 Or rapt in some poetic trance, 
 At will may every charm renew, 
 Each smiling prospect still review, 
 Through memory's power and fancy's aid 
 The pictured phantoms ne'er shall fade." 
 
 The departure from Fonthill would remind those who are 
 old enough of the celebrated sale which took place more than 
 seventy years ago. ]t had been announced a year previously, 
 but postponed in consequence of the purchase of the Abbey 
 and domain by Mr. Farqhuar for ^330,000. A guinea 
 catalogue was issued, of which it was stated in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine 7,200 copies were sold ; other writers 
 give the number as high as 10,000. The sale occupied 
 thirty-seven days, though it did not include many things 
 which Mr. Farqhuar had arranged to take and many more 
 which Mr. Beckford had reserved for the house he had 
 bought at Bath. It was attended by a great concourse of 
 people from all parts of England, from various European 
 capitals, and even from the United States ; a large number 
 with no intention of buying, but merely desirous of seeing 
 the place. 
 
 Who can now realise what it was ? As a private residence, 
 is there anything like it in our own country or any other ? 
 Perhaps those who know York Minster and Westminster
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 295 
 
 Abbey can form the best idea of the exterior. Standing on 
 more ground than either, yet presenting the grandest features 
 of both ; with magnificent woods as a background, its size 
 alone was impressive. In the interior, the central saloon 
 occupied a space of 330 feet, as great a distance as can be 
 seen at once in Westminster Abbey the lofty windows, 
 arches and pillars relieved by every imaginable means. It 
 was worth a long journey to see the stained glass in the 
 windows when the sun threw their colours on the crimson 
 carpet, contrasting them with the vivid green of the lawn 
 seen through the open doors, doors as high as a moderate 
 sized house Looking up you saw galleries a hundred feet 
 above, leading to what were called nunneries. Looking 
 around, mirrors in all directions reflecting the landscape for 
 miles, and amplifying the vistas of the saloon itself. At 
 every step the attention was arrested by choice books, china, 
 paintings, cabinets, natural curiosities, silk hangings and 
 costly furniture. While enjoying all this Beckford's mental 
 sources were ample and varied ; music had been one of them 
 from childhood, and he continued to cultivate it. His 
 improvisations on the piano delighted his visitors, and he 
 rarely went to London without enjoying a good concert. 
 Reading occupied a large part of every day, enabling him to 
 form a judgment of every new book worth attention. Of 
 planting he was passionately fond, ample scope being found 
 in his broad acres, nineteen hundred within the park wall 
 and three thousand around it. His gardens testified alike to 
 his love of botany and his excellent taste, for whatever he 
 did was accordant with nature. A great employer of labour ; 
 to him innumerable families owed their means of subsistence. 
 If he spent money lavishly on the Abbey, he did not waste it 
 on the turf or at the gaming table.
 
 296 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 Among the thousands who flocked to Fonthill for the sale 
 in 1 822 many asked why it was sold. It was known generally 
 that there had been a great loss of property somewhere, but 
 it was thought that vast wealth remained. The truth is that 
 Beckford had spent as if his wealth had been absolutely 
 inexhaustible. On his father's death he came into possession 
 of an income exceeding one hundred thousand a year, and 
 an accumulation amounting to nearly a million. One tower 
 employed four hundred and sixty men, day and night, 
 through an entire winter, the torches used by the workmen 
 being visible to travellers for a long distance. When, in 
 consequence of such foolish haste, this tower fell, another was 
 ordered, which soon shared the same fate, the owner, it is 
 said, regreting that he had not been present to see the sight. 
 Not content with his Wiltshire erections, he built a palace at 
 Cintra, " that glorious Eden of the South " eulogised by 
 Lord Byron. 
 
 " There thou too, Vathek ! England's wealthiest son, 
 Once formed thy paradise, as not aware 
 When wanton Wealth her mightiest deeds hath done, 
 Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever wont to shun. 
 Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan 
 Beneath yon mountain's ever beauteous brow, 
 But now, as if a thing unblest by man, 
 Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as thou." 
 
 The building at Fonthill alone cost 273,000, exclusive of 
 the stone and timber from the estate and of the wonderful 
 wall around the park, seven miles in circumference and twelve 
 feet in height. But neither this outlay nor that required for 
 the roads and plantations would have compelled the sale. 
 Very early his property began to suffer from two causes : 
 great mismanagement and adverse Chancery suits. A large
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 297 
 
 West Indian estate which had been in his family sixty years 
 was taken from him in consequence of defective title, while 
 he had to pay the heavy costs of long litigation. The success 
 of the plaintiff in this case led to other attacks of the same 
 kind, some of which he consented to terminate by buying off 
 the litigants at enormous sacrifices. Then came the great 
 fall in West Indian property generally, involving a rapid 
 diminution of income several successive years. While the 
 earlier losses were going on he was yet able to maintain a 
 princely establishment, including a physician, a professor of 
 music, and other gentlemen of education. He also gave 
 great regal entertainments, the most notable being occasioned 
 by the visit of Lord Nelson and Sir William and Lady 
 Hamilton, and he could still keep open house for half the 
 county. But when the heavier trials came he bowed to 
 necessity, considered for some time whether to live in a 
 smaller house at Fonthill or seek a suitable one at Bath, and 
 eventually decided on Bath. Some of the incidents of his 
 residence here will be related in the next chapter.
 
 298 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 ME. BECKFORD. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 The paper for the Literary Club adverted to in the first 
 part of this sketch was entitled " Recollections of Mr. 
 Beckford." Although he had brought from Fonthill the 
 exclusive tastes and habits which had grown upon him, yet 
 glimpses were caught in Bath of what he was and did after 
 his removiil. Pedestrians would meet him in quiet places, 
 sometimes walking, often on his pony, and various people had 
 to communicate with him on matters relating to books, 
 pictures, furniture, gardening, planting and building. His 
 remarkable individuality naturally made such means of 
 knowledge more thought of than they would have been in 
 ordinary cases. 
 
 I first saw Mr. Beckford's house in Lansdown Crescent in 
 the year 1833. He had then lived there ten years, during 
 which he had built the tower on the adjoining hill. He had 
 also bought most of the land between the Crescent and the 
 hill, a distance of about a mile, in order that his grounds 
 might be as spacious as possible. Here he resumed his love 
 of planting, for which the neighbourhood became indebted to 
 him, there being a great want of trees and his selection 
 always such as the soil and situation required. His love of 
 pure, natural beauty extended to the smallest objects. Along 
 the private walk which led up to the tower he produced a 
 great variety of picturesque effects. At one turn you came 
 upon thickets of roses, at another beds of thyme, marjoram 
 and other aromatic herbs, interspersed with ferns and wild 
 flowers The immediate approach to the tower was marked
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 299 
 
 by trees and shrubs suited to its architectural character, in 
 which his Italian and Oriental tastes were obviously blended. 
 Mr. Beckford greatly enjoyed the air and views of 
 Lansdown. Riding or walking he was attended by his 
 favourite dogs and two grooms, intelligent elderly men. At 
 intervals he was seen in the Bath Park, to which at that time 
 I gave much attention as one of the committee of management. 
 My employment then was that of converting an exhausted 
 stone quarry into something like a dell by planting Conifers. 
 It was the only thing of local public interest for which 
 Mr. Beckford was known to care ; every afternoon while the 
 work lasted he came to see what progress had been made. 
 In reply to some pleasant remark on what I was doing I said 
 how glad I should be to receive any advice from him. He 
 was by no means unwilling to give it, although at first his 
 manner was reserved. He spoke of the effects of contrasts 
 in similar situations, not so much in the trees themselves as 
 with reference to the line of sky and the surrounding objects. 
 On one occasion he asked if I had seen his plantations 
 around the tower, adding that he thought the library would 
 interest me. " Pray go," he said, " at any time ; you will 
 forgive me if I don't offer to meet you; my heakh is 
 uncertain, and I shrink from some states of temperature ; 
 besides you probably know that the world and I have taken 
 leave of each other." 
 
 It was easy to conjecture why Mr. Beckford forsook the 
 world. Until he came to Bath he had lived in a sphere 
 different from any he could find within a large radius here. 
 Never accustomed to mere local society, never prone to 
 cultivate friendships, he only accepted the acquaintances 
 which his birth and position brought him. They were 
 generally people distinguished by rank, either in this country,
 
 300 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 as in the case of the Hamiltons, Queensburys, Effinghams, 
 Dorchesters and Chathams, or in Portugal where his 
 intercourse with the royal family was frequent. He was 
 remarkably proud of his own descent from royalty ; it was 
 shown in a genealogical tree in the vestibule of his house in 
 Lansdown Crescent, which, if I remember rightly, began 
 with Edward III. He could put up with the loss of Fonthill ; 
 he could submit to a great reduction of his establishment ; 
 he could reconcile himself to the impossibility of more regal 
 entertainments; but he could not form fresh ties altogether 
 different from those of a long life; and, having great 
 resources in his own mind as well as in the costly and 
 beautiful things which he retained, especially his books, he 
 preferred seclusion. This may be understood without being 
 defended ; those who have right views of social duty would 
 assuredly not defend it. On the other hand we may think of 
 the peculiar circumstances of such a life, the training, the 
 education, the early indulgence ; and the result of those 
 considerations would probably be the question, how should 
 we ourselves have acted if we had lived under similar 
 influences ? 
 
 On availing myself of Mr. Beckford's invitation I was a little 
 disappointed in the plantations around the tower, although if 
 I had known the hill before they were made I might have had 
 a different feeling. A dull, flat piece of ground, open to the 
 west wind ; nothing but a careful selection of trees would have 
 made it interesting or answered the owner's purpose. But the 
 building and its contents were well worth many a visit, showing 
 the most exquisite taste in all respects, as well as the most 
 thorough provision for intellectual enjoyment. It is pleasant 
 to remember the various rooms ; some full of books ; others 
 of vases, pictures, and cabinets ; everything in the best Italian
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 301 
 
 style, harmonising with the architecture. There was a room 
 called the chapel ; bouquets of the loveliest flowers were on the 
 tables, a few choice pictures adorned the walls, while upon a 
 pedestal of Siena marble, in a niche panelled with Egyptian 
 porphyry and lighted by a dim cupola, was a delicate piece of 
 sculpture, St. Anthony with the infant Saviour in his arms, 
 and the Oxford motto " Dominus Illuminatio Dea." All this 
 is gone ; no trace remains within the building of what the 
 owner did ; but the view from the top is still as glorious as 
 when he enjoyed it ; reaching to Fonthill in one direction, 
 and the Welsh mountains in another ; the waves of the 
 Severn, some fifteen miles off, sparkling when the sun shone, 
 and the Greville monument close by telling its tale of the 
 Great Rebellion ; all as if to show how enduring nature is, 
 how evanescent the work of man. 
 
 In my conversations with Mr. Beckford he was by no means 
 reticent on topics mutually interesting. From the work of 
 planting and landscape gardening we were led to authors on 
 such subjects and thence to other paths of literature. He 
 mentioned the kind of books I should find at the Tower, and 
 on my first visit I made myself acquainted to some extent 
 with their general character. Although not numerous they 
 were rare and elegant ; binding, paper and type vying with 
 the contents. Spanish and Portuguese books abounded ; of 
 French authors there were some choice specimens ; and I 
 wondered what many an English Divine would have thought 
 of the theology in all languages. A writer in the Times, after 
 relating how Mr. Beckford's books " followed him from Font- 
 hill to Bath," and how they crowded every room of his house, 
 none but the owner knowing where to find them, adds " but 
 he always knew ; his memory was as wonderful as his judgment 
 and he was a buyer till he died." The book he was reading
 
 302 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 at the time of my first visit was Wiseman's Lectures 
 on Natural and Revealed Religion. It was open on the 
 table at which I sat and had marginal notes in Mr. Beckford's 
 writing on almost every page. This was the habit of his life. 
 At the sale at Fonthill in 1823 large prices were obtained for 
 books thus enriched. And at the Hamilton sale in London 
 a volume of Beckfordiana, being a transcript of the various 
 notes on margins and flyleaves in his library, sold for 156. 
 To all book collectors the interest was so great that every 
 work was examined with a view to the discovery of manuscript 
 notes, and any that contained them sold for as many pounds 
 as, if unannotated, they would have produced shillings.* 
 
 It has been said that with all Mr. Beckford's lavish 
 expenditure he was not a bad man of business. To what 
 
 * One of the most interesting of the lots at the Sale was the 
 quarto Gibbon, in six volumes, containing ten pages of M.S. notes 
 by Mr. Beckford, who thus concludes his criticism : 
 
 "The time is not far distant, Mr. Gibbon, when your almost 
 ludicrous self-complacency, your numerous, and sometimes 
 apparently wilful, mistakes, your frequent distortion of historical 
 truth to provoke a gibe or excite a sneer at everything most 
 sacred and venerable, your ignorance of the Oriental languages, 
 your limited and far from acutely critical knowledge of the Greek 
 and the Latin ; and in the midst of all the prurient and obscene 
 gossip of your notes, your affected moral purity perking up every 
 now and then from the corrupt mass, like artificial roses shaken 
 off in the dark by some prostitute on a heap of manure ; your 
 heartless scepticism, your unclassical fondness for meretricious 
 ornament, your tumid diction, your monotonous jingle of periods, 
 will be still more exposed and scouted than they have been. Once 
 fairly kicked off from your lofty, bedizened stilts you will be 
 reduced to your just level and true standard. W. B."
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 extent this is true of the general management of his property, 
 either English or West Indian, we have few means of judging. 
 With regard to works of art whatever he did was marked by 
 great decision ; he would not haggle with others nor would he 
 allow others to haggle with him. That he knew the real 
 value of things may be fairly inferred by his great knowledge 
 and experience ; that he did not hesitate to make a fair profit 
 especially when he parted with anything he prized, was well 
 known. His Letters on Italy he sold to Mr. Bentley the 
 bookseller for 500, 4-00 in cash and the remainder in a 
 bill. The bill he passed to his agent ; the cash he invested 
 in a sweet picture by Gerard Dow ; but soon, not liking the 
 high finish, he sold it for 500. His biographer states that 
 the National Gallery paid him 800 for a Perugino which 
 only cost him 50 guineas. More than forty years ago I received 
 a call from the Marquis of Lansdowne, who told me he had 
 come to Bath on behalf of the Government to see some 
 pictures in Mr. Beckford's collection. He had in view more 
 particularly the St. Catherine by Raphael, and the Doge of 
 Venice by Bellini. There was this remarkable circumstance : 
 the owner had no other specimen by the same masters ; the 
 National Gallery was without one of either. No one, there- 
 fore, would blame Mr. Beckford for asking from the Govern- 
 ment much larger sums than he gave ; and they were given 
 without any of the long negotiations he disliked. Knowing 
 now as we do the increased value of such works, there is no 
 doubt that the Government on this occasion made a good 
 investment. 
 
 I remember another instance of Mr. Beckford's decision. 
 At one time he had serious thoughts of leaving Lansdown 
 Crescent. He had increased his collection so largely that 
 even his two houses united by the arch became insufficient.
 
 304 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 But perhaps a still stronger reason was that he allowed 
 himself to be worried by grievances unavoidable with other 
 houses near. The evil now, in his own words, was that he 
 was "perpetually annoyed by the ticking of some cursed 
 jack, the jingling of some beastly piano, bells of horrid tone 
 perpetually tinkling, and so on." It happened that the 
 owner of the neighbouring Summerhill property, Dr. Parry 
 was then willing to sell it, and, although less secluded than 
 he wished, yet as the grounds reached nearly up to his 
 own plantations around the tower, he proposed to buy it. 
 Mr. English, of Milsom Street, who told me the story, was 
 commissioned to offer a certain price and to obtain an answer 
 within twenty-four hours ; Dr. Parry, however, asked for 
 longer time for consideration and the matter dropped. 
 
 Whether it was before or after this that Mr. Beckford 
 added the third house I fail to remember. At first he did not 
 intend to use it, saying that his object was merely to secure 
 greater quiet, but it soon became full of costly and beautiful 
 things. He also made openings in the walls of the drawing- 
 room story which showed a fine vista extending the entire 
 length of the three houses and the arch. The grandeur of 
 these rooms, quiet as it was, contrasted with the simplicity of 
 others for his private use, especially his bedroom, with its 
 little narrow uncurtained bed, reminding one of the Duke of 
 "Wellington's answer at Apsley House with regard to his own ; 
 on hearing the remark that there was no room to turn, he said, 
 " Turn, turn, when one wants to turn it is time to turn out." 
 
 Another contrast was of a different kind but not less 
 striking. It was the ugly dwarf Pero stationed in the 
 vestibule of the house with no apparent duty whatever. The 
 visitors were admitted by the hall porter and passed on to a 
 servant in the interior, while this wretched looking object sat
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 305 
 
 in his armchair grinning. One explanation of the incongruity 
 was that Mr. Beckford's taste was in many respects Oriental, 
 and that he liked to perpetuate as much as possible the 
 customs of feudal times and ancient families. Among the 
 strange characters in Vathek is the dwarf Bababalouk, a 
 combination of Caliban and Sancho Panza, if such can be 
 imagined, uniting immense conceit with a hideousness of 
 person less than human. In Portugal the author was 
 intimate with a distinguished family, the Marialvas, relations 
 of Don Pedro, who took him one evening to the theatre where 
 he saw in the stage box the light-complexioned Countess of 
 Pombion with a black dwarf negress on each side of her, as 
 if to show how very fair she was. 
 
 I conclude with a rapid survey of Mr. Beckford's achieve- 
 ments in authorship. His Memoirs of Extraordinary 
 Painters have been mentioned. The Quarterly Review, 
 Vol. li., says of them that " they would have excited 
 considerable attention under any circumstances, as a series of 
 sharp and brilliant satires on the Dutch and Flemish schools, 
 the language polished and pointed, the sarcasm at once deep 
 and delicate." In his twenty-second year came the tale of 
 Vathek. Originally written in French, editions were published 
 both in Paris and Lausanne. Translations appeared in 
 successive years in England, some for which he was not 
 responsible. Lord Byron says of it that for correctness of 
 costume, beauty of description, and power of imagination it 
 is unsurpassed. " As an Eastern tale," the poet adds, " even 
 Rasselas must bow before it ; the Happey Valley will not bear 
 a comparison with the Hall of Eblis." Then came the book of 
 travels written in one of his journeys. Of this the world was 
 almost entirely ignorant until fifty years afterwards Mr. 
 Beckford reprinted it with additions in two volumes under 
 u
 
 306 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 the title of Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal. One 
 object of the reprint was to vindicate his claim to certain ideas 
 which had been adopted by other authors, consciously or 
 unconsciously, to whom he had allowed a perusal of the 
 unpublished work. Rogers is said to have read it before he 
 wrote Italy ; Thomas Moore to have been indebted to it while 
 writing Rhymes on the Road, and even Lord Byron to have 
 had it in his mind when he formed the general plan of Childe 
 Harolde. 
 
 In 1796 and 1797 Beckford wrote two novels for the purpose 
 of satirising the fictitious literature of the day. First, The 
 Elegant Enthusiast with the interesting emotions of Arabella 
 Bloomville. By the Right Hon. Lady H. Marlow. Then 
 A mezia, a Descriptive and Sentimental Novel. By Jacquetta 
 Agneta, Mariana Jenks of Bellegrave Priory in Wales, with 
 criticisims anticipated. Though full of sparkling humour it 
 would be impossible to appreciate these clever " Burlesques " 
 without some knowledge of the absurd romances they were 
 intended to cut up. 
 
 The author's genius always appeared to the greatest 
 advantage in works descriptive of nature and art. As in his 
 early books on Italy, so in his later eloquent account of his 
 Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalha the 
 ruling passion is manifest Those works also furnish the best 
 clue to the character of his mind and the philosophy by which 
 he was governed. The Quarterly Reviewer, writing in 1834, 
 speaks of " His spirit so capable of the noblest enthusiasm 
 and so dashed with the gloom of over-pampered luxury yet 
 ever and anon stooping to chairs and china with the zeal of an 
 auctioneer, reminding one of the Lord of Strawberry Hill ; 
 though here all we have is on a grander scale. The Oriental 
 prodigality of his magnificence shines out even in trifles ;
 
 MR. BECKFORD. 307 
 
 Beckford buys a library where Walpole cheapens a missal ; 
 one is as superior to the other as Fonthill with its York-like 
 tower embosomed among hoary forests was to the silly band 
 box on the road to Twickenham." " Beckford," adds the 
 writer, "is a poet and a great one, although we know not that 
 he ever wrote a line of verse. His rapture amidst the sublime 
 scenery of mountains and forests, in the Tyrol especially and 
 in Spain, is that of a spirit cast originally in one of nature's 
 finest moulds ; and he fixes it in language which can scarcely 
 be praised beyond its deserts simple, massive, nervous, 
 apparently little laboured, yet revealing in its effect the 
 perfection of art. Some immortal passages in Gray's letters 
 and Byron's diaries are the only things in our tongue that 
 seem to us to come near the profound melancholy and yet 
 picturesque description of these extraordinary pages." Long 
 before this passage was written Beckford had composed 
 the lines on quitting Fonthill, given in a former chapter, and 
 long afterwards some verses were published entitled A Prayer 
 ivritten at Fonthill. Short as it is it yet reveals something 
 of the inner life of the author. The last three lines are given 
 in the inscription on his tomb in the Lansdown Cemetery. 
 " Like the low murmur of the secret stream 
 
 Which through dark alders winds its shaded way, 
 My suppliant voice is heard : ah do not deem 
 
 That on vain toys I throw my hours away ! 
 In the recesses of the forest vale, 
 
 On the wild mountain, on the verdant sod, 
 Where the fresh breezes of the morn prevail, 
 
 I wander lonely, communing with God. 
 When the faint sickness of a wounded heart 
 
 Creeps in cold shudderings through my sinking frame, 
 I turn to Thee ! That holy peace impart 
 
 Whicli soothes the invokers of Thine awful name.
 
 308 MR. BECKFORD. 
 
 Oh, all pervading Spirit ! sacred beam ! 
 
 Parent of life and light ! Eternal power ! 
 Grant me through obvious clouds one transient gleam 
 
 Of thy bright essence in my dying hour ! " 
 
 That hour came at length, in J 844, after eighty-five years of 
 life. His illness was short ; it found him at home, comforted 
 by his favourite daughter the Duchess of Hamilton. Long 
 before his death he ordered his tomb of Aberdeen granite and 
 directed that the coffin should be placed within it so as to be 
 above the ground. He wished to lie under the shade of his 
 tower near a favourite dog, but the dog being there and the 
 ground unconsecrated the interment took place at the Abbey 
 Cemetery, and the tower and its grounds were sold by auction. 
 Then the Duchess of Hamilton, shocked at hearing that her 
 father's beautiful little domain was to be perverted to tea 
 gardens bought it back, gave it to the parish of Walcot for a 
 cemetery, obtained the Bishop's consecration after the removal 
 of the dog and ordered the remains of the former owner back 
 to the spot he loved. There he lies amidst the trees and 
 shrubs he planted, surrounded also now by the fellow men 
 from whom in life he was divided. There they all sleep side 
 by side, the same sun shining upon the quiet graves in 
 summer's heat and winter's cold ; and there the visitor who 
 wishes to see the last resting-place may see the fervent 
 aspiration, 
 
 " Eternal Power ! 
 
 Grant me through obvious clouds one transient gleam 
 Of thy bright essence in my dying hour ! "
 
 MISS LIN LEY. 309 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 MISS LINLEY. 
 
 I had written the last line of the sketch of Mr. Beckford 
 and supposed I had fairly completed the series when I thought 
 of some regretable omissions. Pondering once more on 
 what had chiefly conduced to the reputation and prosperity 
 of Bath in the Eighteenth Century it occurred to me that I 
 had not done sufficient justice to Music and the Drama. 
 Probably I mentioned the Miss Linleys and Mrs. Siddons in 
 connection with the lives of men like Ralph Allen and Dr. 
 Harington, patrons of whatever elevated mankind, but I was 
 then too intent on such luminaries of the Bath firmament 
 as they were to write about the bright particular stars, 
 Miss Linley and Mrs. Siddons. 
 
 And yet these were undoubtedly for a considerable time 
 very prominent influences as Bath Celebrities. That I should 
 even seem to underrate the share which eminent women had 
 in building up the fame of the city would be unpardonable. 
 No one should forget that, if Society here took its tone chiefly 
 from bright and beautiful leaders of fashion, it was also 
 elevated by literary ladies who made the city classic ground, 
 and still more by musical and dramatic ladies who raised 
 its enjoyments to a high level That Miss Linley and 
 Mrs. Siddons belonged to Bath there can be no doubt ; in 
 the second and third decades of the century few families were 
 better known here than that to which the eminent vocalists 
 belonged, and a life-long boast of the great actress was that she 
 was " a child of Bath." My task in connecting them with 
 my local roll will be lightened, as in the case of many others,
 
 310 MISS LIXLEY. 
 
 bv the work of those who have gone before me. Every 
 good biographical dictionary for many years has contained 
 information respecting the ladies who, trained in Bath, charmed 
 large audiences in every part of the kingdom. 
 
 At an early period Miss Linley was associated with her 
 sister Mary at public concerts. Thomas Linley, their father, 
 was the son of a carpenter, and born at Wells in 1732. As a 
 lad he was sent to Badminton, the seat of the Duke of Beaufort, 
 to do some work in the way of his father's calling. There he had 
 much pleasure in the singing and playing of Thomas Chilcot, 
 the organist of Bath Abbey Church, which led him to resolve 
 to become a musician. Chilcot, struck with his ability, 
 undertook to teach him the elements of the science, and 
 afterwards got him sent to Naples to study under Paradies, a 
 man eminent at that time. On his return he settled in Bath 
 as a singing master, soon gaining the position, as we find 
 from Parke's Musical Memoirs, of being " almost unrivalled 
 in England." In addition to the work of teaching a large 
 number of profitable pupils, he gained the post, then very 
 enviable, of Director of the Public Concerts of Bath, in which 
 his daughters aided him considerably, the eldest, Eliza, 
 afterwards Mrs. Sheridan, being his prima donna. He had 
 a large family, most of whom were eminently musical, so that 
 they were called by Dr. Burney in one of his published letters 
 " the nest of nightingales," and as their fame spread through 
 the country they were in request for concerts, oratorios, and 
 musical festivals in all directions. 
 
 The two sisters were especially popular at Oxford ; both 
 beautiful and much attached to each other, there was an 
 inexpressible charm in seeing and hearing them together ; 
 and while country squires and their families poured in from 
 the surrounding country whenever their coming was
 
 MISS LINLEY. 311 
 
 announced, the members of the University dons, tutors, 
 professors, undergraduates fairly lost their heads. Both 
 sisters were charming, but Elizabeth, or Eliza, as she was 
 commonly called, was distinguished by her exceptional 
 beauty of person and rare sweetness of voice. An interesting 
 memoir in the fourth volume of The English Illustrated 
 Magazine contains the following passage : 
 
 "Her beauty has been immortalised by the genius of Gains- 
 borough and Reynolds, and chronicled by many and divers pens ; 
 from Horace Walpole who spoke of it as being ' in the superlative 
 degree,' to John Wilkes who called her, 'the most beautiful 
 flower that ever grew in Nature's garden.' Whilst even the 
 birds bore their testimony to the unrivalled sweetness of her 
 voice, as is shown by the following anecdote taken from a 
 newspaper of the year 1770: 'At a Salisbury music meeting 
 the beginning of this month, while Miss Linley, a young lady 
 from Bath, was singing the air in the oratorio of The Messiah, 
 1 1 know that my Redeemer liveth,' a little bullfinch that had 
 found means by some accident or other to secrete itself in the 
 cathedral, was so struck by the inimitable sweetness, and 
 harmonious simplicity of her manner of singing, that mistaking 
 it for the voice of a feathered chorister of the woods, and far 
 from being intimidated by the numerous assemblage of spectators, 
 it perched immediately on the gallery over her head, and 
 accompanied her with the musical warblings of its little throat 
 through a great part of the song.' " 
 
 About this time the father received his title of Doctor, which 
 probably helped him to gain a footing in London, where in 
 1774 he became joint-manager of the Drary Lane oratorios. 
 Still, he retained his home at Bath, where all his twelve 
 children were born, Eliza having first seen the light at No. 5, 
 Pierrepont Street. At the time of the London engagement
 
 312 MISS LINLEY. 
 
 she was probably married ; Sheridan is spoken of as his son 
 in-law in the following year, when Linley composed the music 
 to " The Duenna." It was produced at Drury Lane and 
 obtained the then unparalleled run of seventy-five nights. 
 Such great success and the general prospects of the family 
 induced Sheridan to urge their removal to London, and they 
 quitted Bath in 1775. Linley joined his son-in-law soon 
 afterwards in buying Garrick's share in Drury Lane, the 
 music of which he directed fifteen years. All contemporary 
 writers concur in giving him a high position as an English 
 composer. Dr. Busby, in his Concert Room Anecdotes relates 
 a striking instance of the correctness of his judgment in vocal 
 matters. Dr. Burney calls him " a masterly performer on 
 the harpsichord," and says "his style of composition was 
 formed on the melodies of our best old English masters." 
 His works were very numerous, some of the most popular 
 being music to songs and airs of Sheridan's, notably in " The 
 School for Scandal," "The Beggar's Opera," and "The 
 Monody on the Death of Garrick." 
 
 It is obvious that Linley had some fine qualities which were 
 inherited by his children, but there were the usual shadows 
 of human imperfection to chequer his path and provoke 
 adverse criticism. I shall presently have to refer to a 
 mercenary spirit shown in connection with Miss Linley's 
 matrimonial affairs, which caused much excitement in Bath, 
 but the troubles he had to contend with at the close of 
 his life were numerous. His health was undermined by 
 monetary difficulties complicated with those of Sheridan. 
 Though he lived to see several of his children attain 
 eminence, he lost nine out of the twelve before his death. 
 His eldest son, Thomas, a pupil of Dr. Boyce, was celebrated 
 as a violinist and composer, leader of his father's orchestra in
 
 MISS LINLEY. 313 
 
 Bath, and a charming solo player. His anthems are very 
 beautiful. There is one, "Let God arise," with orchestral 
 accompaniment, written for the Worcester Festival of 1773, 
 which has extraordinary merit. This son was drowned in 
 1778 whilst on a visit to the Duke of Ancaster at Grimsthorpe, 
 and buried in the Duke's vault. A portrait of him, together 
 with his sister Mary, Mrs. Tickell, by Gainsborough, is at 
 Knole, in the gallery of Lord Sackville. Dr. Linley died in 
 1795 and was buried in Wells Cathedral, where a handsome 
 monument also commemorates his two celebrated daughters, 
 Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Tickell, and a grandchild. 
 
 The family particulars now stated may aid the reader to 
 realise the circumstances in which Eliza Linley was placed 
 prior to her marriage. She was about sixteen when the 
 Sheridan family came to settle in Bath ; the houses were not 
 far apart and similarity of tastes and pursuits soon led to 
 intimacy. Sheridan's parents possessed considerable ability ; 
 his father, greatly interested in the drama, was the competitor 
 and even rival of Garrick ; his mother wrote pamphlets, 
 novels and dramas of much merit. One of her comedies 
 " A Trip to Bath," never either acted or published, is said to 
 have "passed with her other papers into the hands of her son 
 Richard, and after a transforming sleep like that of the 
 chrysalis, to have taken wing in the brilliant form of ' The 
 Rivals/ " The first friendship was between Miss Linley and 
 Miss Sheridan ; they became inseparable companions and 
 then the two brothers of the latter, Charles and Richard, 
 both fell in love with the great attractive power without 
 knowing the sentiments of each other. Charles failed to 
 make a conquest ; Richard succeeded, partially at first and 
 subject to many anxieties. Mr. Penley in his work on the 
 Bath Stage says: "He constituted himself a sort of guardian
 
 314 MISS LINLEY. 
 
 over his enamorata, presuming to advise and direct her 
 in various matters in which she was nearly concerned. 
 They used to meet in what are now the Institution 
 Gardens, where Sheridan appears to have warmly protested 
 against any encouragement being given to a certain Captain 
 Mathews, who persecuted her with his attentions and worked 
 upon her feelings by threatening to destroy himself 
 unless she listened to his suit. As a matter of fact this 
 Mathews was a married man and a thorough scamp ; 
 Sheridan proved to Miss Linley what his true character was 
 and as danger seemed imminent proposed that she should 
 fly to France with him and take refuge in a convent till it 
 was overpast. Though the flight appears to have been 
 conceived and carried out in a platonic spirit there was 
 nevertheless a ceremony of marriage gone through at Calais, 
 Miss Linley remaining in the convent until she was taken 
 away by an English doctor from Lisle who placed her under 
 his wife's charge. There her father found the fugitives ; he 
 appears to have taken the matter more coolly than was 
 expected, while even in Bath though it was the veritable 
 * School for Scandal * the story of the runaways was fully 
 believed ; on which Mrs. Oliphant pertinently remarks, * We 
 doubt whether such faith would be shown in the hero and 
 heroine of a similar freak in our own day.' " 
 
 But the end was not yet. Sheridan had to face both his 
 own and Miss Linley's relatives. His father was strongly 
 opposed to the engagement and his brother Charles thought 
 he had been shamefully treated. The greatest difficulty was 
 with the latter, whose anger was so great that a duel was 
 expected and, it is believed, only prevented by the interposition 
 of the sisters. Strangely, however, the brothers were reconciled 
 by the attitude of a common enemy, Captain Mathews, who
 
 MISS LINLEY. 315 
 
 assumed a position of deadly antagonism on hearing of the 
 success of one of his rivals. He inserted an advertisement in 
 a Bath newspaper posting Sheridan as " a liar and scoundrel 
 for having insinuated charges derogatory to his character and 
 that of an innocent young lady." On seeing this Charles and 
 Richard forgot their enmities, started for London to send a 
 challenge to Mathews and met him in Hyde Park, but being 
 interrupted adjourned to a tavern where a fight with swords 
 took place in which Mathews was vanquished, begged for his 
 life and obtained it. Some altercation caused a second duel 
 on-Kingsdown near Bath ; after a few passes the combatants 
 both fell and both swords were broken, but Mathews, having 
 the advantage this time, required Sheridan to ask for his life 
 and on his refusal gave him wounds which at first appeared 
 fatal but only confined him for a time to his bed. Many months 
 passed before the formal marriage in 1773. To this Dr. Linley 
 consented, but Sheridan's father objected. The bride's father 
 atoned in some measure for his conduct in regard to his 
 daughter's matrimonial affair with Mr. Walter Long, an elderly 
 gentleman in Wiltshire, to which 1 have referred, and about 
 which Bath Society were greatly exercised. Dr. Linley had 
 encouraged the wealthy suitor in spite of many offers from 
 younger men ; Miss Linley was strongly adverse and at length 
 persuaded her admirer to relinquish his suit. This so enraged 
 her father that he threatened the gentleman with an action for 
 breach of promise of marriage and would have had it tried at 
 the Assizes but for the generous conduct of the disappointed 
 lover who at once settled 3,000 on the lady he had lost All 
 this took place some time before the affair between Sheridan 
 and Mathews on which the play of" The Rivals " was founded 
 and of which a permanent memorial was given in the 
 characters of the comedy. " It was Miss Linley," Mr Penley
 
 316 MISS LIN LEY. 
 
 says, " who supplied the idea of the romantic Lydia ; Captain 
 Pauraier, Sheridan's second in the duel on Kingsdown, was 
 Sir Lucius OTrigger ; Mathews the original Bob Acres ; Mrs. 
 Malaprop some ignorant, pretentious person frequenting the 
 Pump Room ; Sir Anthony Absolute the elder Sheridan, and 
 Faukland the hero himself." The play was first produced at 
 Covent Garden in January, 1775, three years after the 
 marriage, and at Bath in the following March. 
 
 Of the married life of Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan little is known. 
 What he was as a public man ; how soon he rose to fame, if 
 not to fortune, is fully recorded. Very early he distinguished 
 himself as described by his friend Moore : 
 
 " The orator, dramatist, minstrel, who ran 
 Through each mode of the lyre and mastered them all." 
 
 Within seven years of the flight to Calais and the duels which 
 followed, his wife was seen among the brilliant crowd in 
 Westminster Hall, immortalised as Reynolds' s St. Cecelia, 
 " the beautiful mother of a beautiful race," listening to her 
 husband's wonderful speech at the trial of Warren Hastings. 
 Her letters in Moore's Life show that she entered with true 
 wifely feeling into Sheridan's various pursuits, though by no 
 means sympathetic with him in the tastes and habits which 
 his friends regretted. There was a purity and elevation in her 
 character which he admired but failed to imitate. In all the 
 sisters of the Linley family a vein of sincere, unpretending 
 religiousness raised them above the temptations and 
 difficulties of their lot and gave them a simple dignity which 
 the world might envy. One of them who has not yet 
 been mentioned, Maria, was a striking instance of this; 
 she also had an exquisite voice, and excelled particularly 
 in sacred music. She died early, and shortly before her
 
 MISS LINLEY. 317 
 
 death, after a touching conversation with some of the family, 
 gave vent to her " strong aspiring hope " by raising herself 
 in bed and singing with all the sweetness of former years a 
 portion of the anthem, " I know that my Redeemer liveth." 
 The physician who attended her was so overcome that he 
 left the room, saying " She is, indeed, an angel." 
 
 But it was Mary Linley, afterwards Mrs. Tickell, who also 
 died comparatively young, to whom circumstances gave her 
 elder sisters choicest love. They were more together in the 
 bringing up, generally inseparable on public professional 
 occasions, and always thoroughly sympathetic. Mr. Tickell, 
 who lived some time at Beanlieu, Newbridge Hill, near Bath, 
 was grandson of Addison's friend, Thomas Tickell, and one 
 of his daughters became the mother of John Arthur Roebuck. 
 The strength of the attachment of his wife was shewn by 
 Mrs. Sheridan's adoption of the children, and her beautiful 
 care of them until her own death, which occurred after a long 
 illness in 1792, at the age of thirty-eight. She left some 
 lines on the death of her favourite sister which, while 
 characterised by much intellectual grace, reveals what 
 deserves to be well remembered of her inner life. The 
 writer, after dwelling on her beloved sister's high qualities, 
 concludes by invoking her spirit to aid in the training of the 
 eldest daughter 
 
 " And, oh, let her, who is my dearest care, 
 Thy blest regard and heavenly influence share ; 
 Teach me to form her pure and artless mind, 
 Like thine, as true, as innocent, as kind ; 
 That when some future day my hopes shall bless, 
 And every voice her virtue shall confess, 
 When my fond heart delighted hears her praise, 
 As with unconscious loveliness she strays.
 
 318 MISS LIN LEY. 
 
 ' Stach,' let me say, with tears of joy the while, 
 ' Such was the softness of my Mary's smile ; 
 ' Such was her youth, so blithe, so rosy sweet, 
 ' And such her mind, unpractis'd in deceit ; 
 ' With artless elegance, unstudied grace, 
 ' Thus did she gain in every heart a place ! ' 
 
 ' Then, while the dear remembrance I behold, 
 Time shall steal on, nor tell me I am old, 
 Till, nature wearied, each fond duty o'er, 
 I join my Angel Friend to part no more ! ' " 
 
 The chapter in Moore's Life of Sheridan relating to the 
 death of his wife contains valuable testimony from one who 
 knew them both. It is followed by some of Mrs. Sheridan's 
 letters to her life-long friend, Mrs. Lefanu of Dublin, first 
 mentioned in this sketch as her husband's eldest sister, then 
 unmarried, at Bath. But long after the publication of Moore s 
 Life, so recently as 1887, other letters have come to light still 
 more illustrative of the mind and character of the charming 
 vocalist. Many of them are given in an interesting article by 
 Miss Matilda Stoker in the volume of the English Illustrated 
 Magazine, already quoted, preceded by an account of the 
 preservation of the letters : 
 
 " When the fire broke out which destroyed Drury Lane Theatre 
 in 1809, all the papers which could be found in Sheridan's private 
 room were hurriedly packed into barrels, and carried away. Some 
 of these barrels were, in the confusion, thrust into neighbouring 
 cellars ; where they remained undisturbed for over sixty years 
 after which lapse of time they were brought to light and examined 
 in the hope of their containing documents of interest. This hope 
 proved to be well founded, for amongst the heterogeneous mass 
 of papers was discovered a series of most interesting letters 
 addressed to Sheridan by his first wife, the beautiful Eliza Linley.
 
 MISS LINLEY. 319 
 
 " There is a special fitness in their appearance at the present 
 time. A statement made long ago, and perhaps forgotten, has 
 been repeated and endorsed by a recent biographer of Sheridan 
 to the effect that by his conduct he succeeded in completely 
 alienating the affections of his wife. Such a statement, if made at 
 all, should have been supported by the most indisputable 
 authority, and in the absence of such authority we offer the 
 testimony of Mrs. Sheridan herself, which will be found wholly 
 inconsistent with the sinister suggestion. 
 
 " The letters cover a period of twenty years commencing at 
 the time the young couple returned from France after their secret 
 marriage there in 1772, and ending at the date of Mrs. Sheridan's 
 untimely death in 1792. Those which we especially put forward 
 in support of our opinion belong to the last ten or twelve years 
 of their married life, when surely, there would have been some 
 indication of such a change of feeling as that alleged, had it 
 taken place." 
 
 I now introduce Moore's testimony in writing on the death 
 of Mrs. Sheridan : 
 
 " There has seldom, perhaps, existed a finer combination of 
 all those qualities that attract both eye and heart than this 
 accomplished and lovely person exhibited. To judge by what we 
 hear, it was impossible to see her without admiration, or know 
 her without love ; and a late Bishop used to say that ' she 
 seemed to him the connecting link between woman and angel.' 
 Jackson of Exeter, too, giving a description of her, in some 
 Memoirs of his own Life that were never published, said that to 
 see her, as she stood singing beside him at the piano-forte, was 
 ' like looking into the face of an angel.' 
 
 "The devotedness of affection, too, with which she was 
 regarded, not only by her own father and sisters, but by all her 
 husband's family, showed that her fascination was of that best
 
 320 MISS LINLEY. 
 
 kind which, like charity, ' begins at home ; ' and that, while her 
 beauty and music enchanted the world, she had charms more 
 intrinsic and lasting for those who came nearer to her. We have 
 already seen with what pliant sympathy she followed her 
 husband through his various pursuits identifying herself with 
 the politician as warmly and readily as with the author, and 
 keeping Love still attendant on Genius through all his trans- 
 formations. As the wife of the dramatist and manager, we 
 find her calculating the receipts of the house, assisting in the 
 adaptation of her husband's opera, and reading over the plays 
 sent in by dramatic candidates. As the wife of the senator and 
 orator we see her, with no less zeal, making extracts from state- 
 papers and copying out ponderous pamphlets entering with all 
 her heart and soul into the details of elections, and even 
 endeavouring to fathom the mysteries of the Funds. 
 
 " They had, immediately after their marriage, passed some time 
 in a little cottage at East Burnham, and it was a period, of course, 
 long remembered by them both for its happiness. I have been 
 told by a friend of Sheridan, that he once overheard him exclaim- 
 ing to himself, after looking for some moments at his wife, with 
 a pang, no doubt, of melancholy self-reproach, ' Could anything 
 bring back those first feelings ? ' then adding, with a sigh, ' Yes, 
 perhaps the cottage at East Burnham might.' In this, as well 
 as in some other traits of the same kind, there is assuredly any- 
 thing but that common-place indifference which too often clouds 
 over the evening of married life. On the contrary, it seems 
 rather the struggle of affection with its own remorse." 
 
 The first four of the following extracts are from letters to 
 Mrs. Lefami and selected from those given by Moore ; the 
 remainder are to Sheridan himself, and published with others 
 by Miss Stoker : 
 
 " LONDON ; June 6. 
 
 " I suppose we shall not leave town till September. We have 
 promised to pay many visits, but I fear we shall be obliged to
 
 MISS LINLEY. 321 
 
 give up many of our schemes, for I take it for granted Parliament 
 will meet again as soon as possible. We are to go to Chatsworth, 
 and to another friend of mine in that neighbourhood, so that I 
 doubt our being able to pay our annual visit to Crewe Hall. I am 
 glad to hear my two nephews are both in so thriving a way. Are 
 you still a nurse 1 I should like to take a peep at your bantlings. 
 Which is the handsomest 1 ? have you candour enough to think 
 anything equal to your own boy ? if you have, you have more 
 merit than I can claim." 
 
 "PUTNEY; August 16. 
 
 " My sister desired me to say all sorts of affectionate things to 
 you, in return for your kind remembrance of her in your last. I 
 assure you, you lost a great deal by not seeing her in her maternal 
 character it is the prettiest sight in the world to see her with 
 her children they are both charming creatures, but my little 
 namesake is my delight 'tis impossible to say how foolishly fond 
 of her I am. Poor Mary ! she is in a way to have more and 
 what will become of them all is sometimes a consideration that 
 gives me many a painful hour. But they are happy, with their little 
 portion of the goods of this world then, what are riches good for ? 
 For my part, as you know, poor Dick and I have always been 
 struggling against the stream, and shall probably continue to do 
 so to the end of our lives, yet we would not change sentiments 
 or sensations with .... for all his estate." 
 
 "DELAPRE ABBF.Y; December 27. 
 
 " I am still a recluse, you see, but I am preparing to launch for 
 the winter in a few days. Dick was detained in town by a bad 
 f ever you may suppose I was kept in ignorance of his situation, 
 or I should not have remained so quietly here. He came last 
 week, and the fatigue of the journey very nearly occasioned a 
 relapse, but by the help of a jewel of a doctor that lives in this 
 neighbourhood, we are both quite stout and well again (for I 
 took it into my head to fall sick again, too, without rhyme or 
 V
 
 322 MISS LINLEY. 
 
 reason). We purpose going to town to-inorrow or next day. 
 Our own house has been painting and papering, and the weather 
 has been so unfavourable to the business, that it is probable it 
 will not be fit for us to go into this month ; we have therefore 
 accepted a most pressing invitation of General Burgoyne to take 
 up our abode with him till our house is ready." 
 
 " LONDON ; May 23. 
 
 "I hope in a very short time now to get into the country. 
 The Duke of Norfolk has lent us a house within twenty miles of 
 London ; and I am impatient to be once more out of this noisy, 
 dissipated town, where I do nothing that I really like, and am 
 forced to appear pleased with everything odious to me. God 
 bless you. I write in the hurry of dressing for a great ball given 
 by the Duke of York to-night, which I had determined not to go 
 to till late last night, when I was persuaded that it would be very 
 improper to refuse a Royal invitation, if I was not absolutely 
 confined by illness. Adieu. Believe me, truly yours." 
 
 Miss Stoker's selection from the recovered letters is preceded 
 by an account of what she terms " the enviable position of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan soon after their settlement in London 
 his intimacy with the Prince .Regent and the foremost 
 statesmen of the day, and her cordial reception by the leaders 
 of society " : 
 
 " We now see by his side a gifted wife, endowed with every 
 charm which could adorn society, or make a home happy. They 
 were no longer the unknown couple whom, a short time previously, 
 the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire hesitated about asking to 
 her house. She was now to find that even the brightest star of 
 rank and beauty was doomed to pale before the sun of wit and 
 genius. 
 
 " In the midst of this whirl of success and dissipation however, 
 we find those feelings still fresh and warm, which time and
 
 MISS LINLEY. 323 
 
 circumstances too often dull. The following few letters of hers to 
 him the earliest of which was written after years of married life, 
 the last, almost on her death-bed speak for themselves on that 
 point. The tender familiarity of expression j the small details of 
 her everyday life which abound, show that she felt she was 
 writing to one who returned her love, and for whom the most 
 trivial incidents which concerned her had an ever-new interest." 
 
 " MY DEAREST LOVE, 
 
 " I shall call at the office for the chance of seeing you, tho' 
 I am afraid it will be in vain. But I write again to beg you 
 would come to us in the Evening, for indeed, my dear Shery, I 
 am never so happy as when you partake my amusements, and 
 when I see you cheerful and contented with me. Your note had 
 a tinge of Melancholy in it that has vex'd me, because I know my 
 own heart, and that it has not now a thought or wish that would 
 displease you, could you see it. I shall not, therefore, enjoy this 
 party to-night unless you are of it. We shall not go from Mrs. 
 Nugent's till half-past ten, I dare say. The girls are to come in 
 the coach to me there by ten to go with us, and I shall direct them 
 to call at the House of Commons for you. God thee bless my 
 dear one, believe that I love thee, and will love thee for ever." 
 
 The following letters were written when she was expecting 
 her last child, whose birth only preceded her own death by a 
 short time, and which seems not to have very long survived 
 her. Her failing health hud for some time been a cause of 
 much anxiety to her family and friends : 
 
 "Friday evening. 
 
 "I HAVE been so engaged, dear S., with Mons. Valliant's 
 Travels into Africa to-Night I quite forgot the hour, and now it is 
 too late for the post, and to-morrow there is none, and I am afraid 
 you will be frightened, so I send this by the coach to tell you that 
 I had a better Night last Night than I have had a great while,
 
 324 MISS 
 
 and have been finely all to-day. So don't neglect Business of 
 Consequence to come sooner than you intended. 
 
 " God Bless you, dear S., 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 E. A. S." 
 
 " Sunday morning. 
 " DEAR S., 
 
 " I hope you received the letter I sent by the coach 
 Friday Night, which would prevent your anxiety about me, and 
 hinder you from leaving Town perhaps at a very inconvenient 
 time. I write this on the supposition, to assure you that I have 
 been better these last days than I have been a great while. 
 
 After all, dear S., however I may suffer, and certainly I do, and 
 must continue to do there is nothing to be alarmed at. It is 
 natural for my spirits to be weakened at times, but since the 
 cause is known it ought not to frighten you, or make you unhappy. 
 I have been particular in my account that you may be easy on 
 the subject." 
 
 Ill as she was at this time, she still took an interest in his 
 business, and knew all that was going on. In the same 
 letter she goes on to say : 
 
 " I see Mrs. Siddons is announced. Have you brought her to 
 reasonable terms ! Or is it enormous ? I want to know, too, why 
 Cymon is withdrawn, and how have you managed with the Duke 
 of Bd. about the opera 1 Tom is very well. Shoots gulls all the 
 morning, and has read aloud to us every evening, but, indeed, it 
 is not the life he ought to lead, and I am very uneasy about him 
 at times. Have you done anything about Dr. Parr ? God bless 
 you, dear S. 
 
 " Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 "E. A. S."
 
 MISS LINLEY. 325 
 
 The following letter possesses an additional and pathetic 
 interest asbieng most probably the last she ever wrote to him : 
 
 "MY DEAREST DlCK, 
 
 " I had a better night than usual last night, and Dr. Bain, 
 who has this moment left me, says my pulse is better to-day than 
 it has been these ten days. He confessed at last it was but 
 ninety-four. He was unwilling to tell me because he thought it 
 might make me too bold ; but you may depend on my prudence. 
 God bless you. I am happy to send you this good account, 
 and shall still be happier to see you and my dear cub to-morrow. 
 It tries me sadly to write. 
 
 " God bless you." 
 
 It may be thought that the saying " Whom the gods love 
 they take early " is applicable to Mrs. Sheridan. Certainly if 
 she could have seen or known all the miseries of her wretched 
 husband's later years her lot would have been terrible. But 
 there is reason to believe that if those miseries could not have 
 been averted by her influence in the management of his 
 affairs and the regulation of his conduct they might at all 
 events have been lessened. And could she have been 
 allowed a glance into the distant future ; could she have seen 
 how her darling " Tom " avoided the snares into which his 
 father fell and recruited the fame and fortunes of the family, 
 what a happy day it would have been for her. Mr. Thomas 
 Sheridan was universally liked ; and his son, Richard 
 Brinsley, of Frampton Court, Dorsetshire, long ranked 
 amongst the magnates of his county, sitting in Parliament 
 many years, first for Dorchester and afterwards for Shaftes- 
 bury. His son, Algernon Brinsley, succeeded to the estate. 
 
 Other descendants of the poor lady who in early life 
 rejoiced in the title of the " Maid of Bath," have occupied 
 high positions. Thomas, her only son, married Lady
 
 326 MISS LINLEY. 
 
 Elizabeth Callender (afterwards Campbell) by whom there 
 were four children. (1) Caroline, a woman of surpassing 
 beauty, who married first the Hon. Mr. Norton, and secondly 
 Sir William Sterling Maxwell. (2) Lady Dufferin, after- 
 wards Countess of Gifford, mother of the Marquis of Dufterin 
 and Ava, English Ambassador at Paris and Ex-governor of 
 Canada and India. (3) Lady Seymour, Queen of Beauty 
 at the Eglington Tournament, then Duchess of Somerset, her 
 husband being First Lord of the Admiralty, and a very able 
 though eccentric man. (4) Richard Brinsley, mentioned in 
 preceding paragraph, who married in 1835 the only child 
 of Sir Colquhon Grant, of Frampton Court, and died not long 
 ago. A more remarkable list of grandchildren it would be 
 difficult to produce. There must have been something very 
 good in the stock from which they sprung. If it be true that 
 the good qualities in families may, generally be traced to the 
 mother there is much to take note of here.
 
 MRS. SIDDONS. 327 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 MBS. SIDDONS. 
 
 I have remarked that the great tragic actress was 
 accustomed to call herself a " child of Bath." Of course she 
 did not mean that she was born in Bath ; her birth-place was 
 Brecon, in South Wales, in the year 1755. Her father was 
 Roger Kemble, the progenitor of a distinguished race and 
 the manager of a respectable dramatic company. Beginning 
 chiefly as a vocalist, Sarah Kemble soon found she was fitted 
 for a more serious line and resolved to attempt tragedy. At 
 eighteen she married Mr. Siddons and appeared with him. at 
 various places in the North of England, obtaining 
 considerable reputation. 
 
 Two years afterwards she was invited to try her powers at 
 Drury Lane. Her first part was Portia to Garrick's Shylock, 
 but her reception was not flattering. " She is certainly very 
 pretty," said one who saw her, " but then how awkward and 
 what a shocking dresser." Mr. Penley remarks " this would 
 have been dispiriting to most beginners, but it only moved 
 Mrs. Siddons to greater care and more persistent efforts." 
 In 1778 she and her husband left London and were 
 engaged for the Bath Theatre, her debut being as Lady 
 Townley in "The Provoked Husband," and her second 
 appearance as Mrs. Candour in " The School for Scandal." 
 John Palmer was then manager ; at first he was not very 
 favourable to her, and she complained that she had not 
 sufficient scope, the fact being that comedy was not her forte, 
 and the leading parts were as usual given to the lady on the 
 staff who had prior claims. By degrees, however, her 
 abilities were recognised. She worked herself steadily into
 
 328 MRS. sroDONS. 
 
 good repute and was allotted a succession of important 
 characters. Twice she delighted the audience by repeating 
 Sheridan's Monody on Garrick. Her salary was the modest 
 amount of three pounds a week, which was considered 
 respectable in those days though the labour was so great. 
 For not only were the duties at Bath very onerous and 
 exhausting in consequence of the number and variety of 
 plays performed, Palmer was also proprietor of the Bristol 
 Theatre, and the company had to go to and fro, meeting 
 constant demands for freshness and energy with little time 
 for rest. The author of the History of the Bath Stage adds, 
 "It was a hard though good school, but Mrs. Siddons's heart 
 was in her work and she heroically laboured to gain success 
 by hard study, striving both to satisfy the public and make 
 progress in her profession." 
 
 Through four successive seasons Mrs Siddons continued at 
 Bath. When we look at a list of her performances the 
 prevailing feelings are admiration and astonishment. There 
 would be also pain and sorrow if it were not known that the 
 public gradually appreciated her powers and that they were 
 rewarded substantially as well as by popular applause. She 
 had also an opportunity of bringing out her sister, 
 Miss Kemble, who then became another " child of Bath " and 
 whose first appearance was long remembered in the city. 
 Mrs. Siddons took her benefit soon afterwards when a great 
 crush occurred. The performances were " Jane Shore " and 
 " All the World's a Stage," with a concluding address to the 
 audience. Room was found by " laying the pit and boxes 
 together and reserving the front rows of the gallery for the 
 gentlemen of the pit, an innovation for which the actress made 
 the most humble apologies." On this occasion she realised 
 o^l 24, and on a similar one at Bristol a few months afterwards
 
 MRS. SIDDONS. 329 
 
 <100. Again in the following year, 1782, when her benefit 
 night came round at Bath, the same arrangements for 
 accommodation were necessary, and the profit was 14:6 
 with an additional sum of twenty guineas presented as a 
 compliment at the box office. 
 
 These proofs of public favour, together with the great 
 improvement in acting which her experience was known to 
 have produced, led to overtures from London. Mrs. Siddons 
 attributed the invitation in a great measure to the celebrated 
 Duchess of Devonshire, whose acquaintance she had made at 
 Bath, and who always spoke highly of her. " At all events/' 
 she said, " it was a triumphant moment to me when I was 
 invited to Drury Lane, remembering, as I did, my dismissal 
 some years before." The truth is that her fame had reached 
 London from various sources, and her engagement was largely 
 due to the influence and exertions of the elder Sheridan, 
 whose son had become proprietor of Drury Lane. It will be 
 remembered that Richard Sheridan had a sister for whom 
 Miss Linley had great regard and to whom, as Mrs. Lefanu, 
 she, when Mrs. Sheridan, wrote the letters from which I have 
 given extracts in the preceding sketch. A daughter of Mrs. 
 Lefanu thus describes in after years the part her grandfather, 
 old Mr. Sheridan, took in bringing Mrs. Siddons to London. 
 The description appears in Mr. Penley's History of the Bath 
 Stage : 
 
 "While at Bath for his health, Mr. Sheridan, senior, was 
 solicited to go to the play, to witness the performance of a young 
 actress, who was said to distance all competition in tragedy. He 
 found, to his astonishment, that it was the lady who had made so 
 little impression on him some years before in the ' Runaway ; ' 
 but who, as Garrick had declared, was possessed of tragic powers 
 sufficient to delight and electrify an audience. After the play was
 
 330 MRS. SIDDONS. 
 
 over he went behind the scenes to get introduced to her in order 
 to compliment her. He said : ' I am surprised, madam, that 
 with such talents you should confine yourself to the country ; 
 talents that would be sure of commanding, in London, fame and 
 success.' The actress modestly replied that she had already tried 
 London but without the success which had been anticipated ; and 
 that she was advised by her friends to be content with the fame 
 and profit she obtained at Bath, particularly as her voice was 
 deemed unequal to the extent of a London theatre. Immediately 
 on his return to London, he spoke to the acting manager of Drury 
 Lane, strenuously recommending her to him. Upon her being 
 engaged, he directed her, with a truly kind solicitude, in the 
 choice of a part for her first appearance. With the usual 
 preference of a young and handsome actress for a character of 
 pomp and show, she inclined to that of Euphrasia, in 'The 
 Grecian Daughter,' but the juster taste of Mr. Sheridan determined 
 her in favour of the far more natural and affecting character of 
 ' Isabella ; ' and the judgment with which the selection was made 
 was amply confirmed by the bursts of rapturous applause." 
 
 Mr. Palmer did all in his power to retain the Bath favourite. 
 Negotiations proceeded for some time but were finally un- 
 successful. Mrs. Siddons pleaded the duty devolving on her 
 of improving the circumstances of her family. She had three 
 daughters growing up, whom she pointed to when taking 
 an affectionate farewell of the Bath Theatre as her "three 
 reasons " for relinquishing an engagement which had been 
 so pleasant and useful to her. Her salary at Drury Lane 
 would be immediately ten guineas a week with a prospect not 
 only of speedy increase and excellent benefits, but good 
 engagements elsewhere in the vacations. Within two years 
 the salary was raised to nearly 25 a week, and applications 
 came to her from all parts of the kingdom for performances 
 whenever she was able to leave London. A writer in the
 
 MRS. SIDDONS. 331 
 
 Encyclopcedia Britannica remarks that on the night of her 
 re-appearance at Drury Lane, which was marked by the 
 greatest enthusiasm, she took possession of the tragic throne 
 on which for thirty years she reigned without a rival. To the 
 favourite characters in her early days were now added those for 
 which she gained most celebrity in after life. Portia has been 
 already mentioned ; in quick succession there were Constance, 
 Isabella, Rosalind, Hermione, Imogene, Desdgmona, and 
 above all Queen Catherine. Anyone who has seen the 
 engraving of a scene in this play from the painting by 
 Harlow, in which the magnificent figure of Mrs. Siddons 
 is seen surrounded by other members of the Kemble family, 
 can form some idea of the wonderful spectacle. No wonder 
 that the great intellectual variety thus afforded from month 
 to month and year to year commanded the admiration of all 
 ranks and classes from the throne to the cottage. George III 
 and Queen Charlotte often engaged the gifted actress to read 
 plays at Windsor a source of honour rather than emolument, 
 but still too rarely granted in those days. She was invited to 
 the houses of the nobility and gentry, partly for the same 
 purpose, but very much that they might enjoy her society, 
 and she was always gratified when she gave pleasure to the 
 humble audiences of country towns. On one occasion the 
 gentlemen of the long robe were so charmed with a classical 
 performance that they requested her acceptance of a purse 
 of a hundred guineas. Amidst all these gratifications she 
 never forgot that she was a " child of Bath ; " and that the 
 feeling was mutual was shown by the enthusiasm with which 
 she was received when she re-visited the scene of her first 
 triumphs several times towards the close of her career. In 
 1799, as soon as her coming was announced every seat was 
 taken in the Theatre for each of the six or eight performances
 
 332 MRS. SIDDONS. 
 
 in which she was to act, and on the night of her benefit, which 
 was graced by the personification of Zara in the " Mourning 
 Bride," the scene was unprecedented. People literary fought 
 for places ; the uproar was so great that hearing was impossible. 
 Mrs. Siddons therefore retired, and waited till some degree 
 of quiet was restored, when she returned and began again from 
 the beginning. Twice more at intervals she came to Bath and 
 played with great spirit, but the end was drawing near ; she 
 had realised a handsome fortune and enjoyed the satisfaction 
 of knowing that she had the love and respect of a large circle. 
 Her retirement was in 1812, but she lived till 1831. 
 
 Mrs. Siddons was as remarkable for her good judgment as 
 for her kind feeling, and long experience of dramatic life gave 
 great value to her opinion. An instance is given in 
 Donaldson's Recollections of an Actor where, after quoting a 
 statement by Gerald Griffin that Kean was going to America 
 and Macready talked of entering the Church, the author 
 writes : 
 
 " This idea was very probable, as Macready was educated for 
 the Church ; and it was owing to Mrs. Siddons's suggestion that 
 he embraced the stage. When the elder Macready was away at 
 Newcastle, his son was home for the holidays ; and Mrs. Siddons 
 was at that time on a starring visit to the north. The leading 
 actor of the theatre not suiting the Queen of Tragedy, she 
 requested the manager to allow his son to undertake the part of 
 Biron, in ' Isabella.' The anxious father was shocked at the 
 request, and replied with dignity that he intended his son for the 
 Church. ' The Church ! ' exclaimed the great actress : 'have you 
 any interest any patron ? ' ' None whatever,' answered Macready, 
 senior. ' Well, then, your son will live and die a curate, on 50 
 or 70 a year ; but, if successful, the stage will bring a thousand 
 a year.' The wily manager took the hint ; allowed William to
 
 MRS. SIDDONS. 333 
 
 appear; and from that period he got advanced, till, in 1817, he 
 burst on a London public, where a fortune has crowned his 
 efforts." 
 
 I have mentioned as one reason for writing on the 
 Miss Linleys and Mrs. Siddons that Bath owed much of its 
 prosperity at one time to Music and the Drama. It should 
 not be forgotten that other members of the Kemble family 
 enjoyed a large share of the reputation gained in the local 
 nursery. Both John and Charles often acted here and were 
 highly distinguished ; various circumstances combined to 
 give John the rank among his brother actors of " the noblest 
 Roman of them all." This title would be conceded by all 
 who knew the Kemble portraits, for while Gainsborough's 
 Mrs. Siddons in the National Gallery conveys a just idea of 
 her commanding qualities, Sir Thomas Lawrence's John 
 Kemble, reproduced in so many engravings, gives the true 
 conception of him. His education was excellent, his 
 knowledge of French particularly good, he surpassed all his 
 brethren of the stage in dignified bearing and distinguished 
 manners, making him a welcome visitor to men like Talma 
 in Paris and the elite of London society. " In private life," 
 says Donaldson, " his costume, his fine Roman head, his 
 clerical proclivities, and his austere and stately manner 
 gained for him a position which no actor ever achieved before 
 or since ; and when he appeared as Pizarro in 1798 his Holla 
 fairly stamped him the first tragedian of the age." The play 
 ran for thirty- two nights, the longest run then known, its 
 great popularity being mainly due to the combined talents 
 of the two brothers, and of Mrs. Siddons and Mrs. Jordan. 
 The "noblest Roman" retired in 1817. His farewell address 
 at Edinburgh was written by his friend and admirer, Sir 
 Walter Scott. He lived till 1823, and his career was closed
 
 334 MRS. SIDDONS. 
 
 at his villa on Lake Leman at the age of sixty-six ; " thus," 
 says Donaldson, " was the stage deprived of Coriolanus, 
 Brutus, Cato, Rolla and Zanga, for all those parts died with 
 him." 
 
 To return to Mrs. Siddons, if her brother's noble figure 
 could not be forgotten neither could her own. Those who 
 are acquainted with Crabb Robinson's Diary know what 
 impression it produced, together with her acting for many 
 years on minds of the highest intellectual culture. The more 
 marked characteristics are thus described by her biographer 
 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica : 
 
 " The symmetry of this great actress's person was most 
 captivating. Her features were strongly marked, but finely 
 harmonised ; the flexibility of her countenance was extraordinary, 
 yielding instantaneously to every change of passion ; her voice 
 was plaintive, yet capable of firmness and exertion; her articulation 
 was clear, penetrating and distinct ; above all she was completely 
 mistress of her powers, and possessed that high judgment which 
 enabled her to display all her other qualifications to the greatest 
 advantage. One of Mrs. Siddon's highest, if not her very highest 
 endowment, was the power of identifying herself with the 
 character which she personated. The scenes in which she acted 
 were to her far from being a mere mimic show ; so powerfully did 
 her imagination conjure up the reality that the tears which she 
 shed were those of bitterness felt at the moment. From her frown 
 of proud disdain and scorn the very actors themselves shrank 
 witlx something like terror. Her greatest characters were 
 Katherine in ' Henry VIII,' and Lady Macbeth, in which she 
 manifested a dignity and sensibility, a power and pathos never 
 equalled by any female performer. Lastly, Mrs. Siddons was 
 truly an original ; she copied no one, living or dead, but acted 
 from nature and herself. In all the relations of life her conduct 
 was most exemplary."
 
 MRS. SIDDONS. 335 
 
 Many of the present generation can testify to the esteem in 
 which Mrs. Siddons was universally held. In former years 
 one often heard from those who kneiv her not only of the 
 unrivalled charm of her acting but of the never-ceasing 
 kindness of her heart. In Bath sixty years ago, when I first 
 knew the city, her memory was cherished with remarkable 
 affection ; letters were shown, written when she was young 
 and handsome, full of the winning frankness which was 
 among her chief characteristics. That all parties respected 
 her is shown by her correspondence with Mrs. Hannah 
 More. The poet Campbell, who was well acquainted with her 
 and wrote her life, in doing justice to many noble qualities, 
 remarks, " She was more than a woman of genius, her 
 benevolence made her the pride of her sex and an honour to 
 human nature." Long will the memory of her life be green 
 with all who value the wide-spread elevating influences such 
 a life can give. 
 
 It can be easily imagined in what high estimation Sir 
 Walter Scott held the Kemble family. Especially must " the 
 noblest Roman of them all" have had a strong attractive force 
 for the immortal poet and novelist. What more natural there- 
 fore than that John Kemble should ask that his retirement 
 from the stage at Edinburgh should be honoured by the 
 address to which I have referred. 
 
 " As the worn war-horse at the trumpet's sound 
 Erects his mane, and neighs and paws the ground ; 
 Disdains the ease his generous lord assigns, 
 And longs to rush on the embattled lines, 
 So I, your plaudits ringing in mine ear, 
 Can scarce sustain to think our parting near, 
 To think my scenic hour for ever past, 
 And that these valued plaudits are my last.
 
 336 MRS. SIDDONS. 
 
 But years steal on, and higher duties crave 
 
 Some space between my acting and the grave ; 
 
 That, like the Roman in the Capitol, 
 
 I may adjust my mantle ere I fall. 
 
 My life's brief act in public service flown, 
 
 The last, the closing scene must be my own. 
 
 Here then adieu ! while yet some well-graced parts 
 
 May fix an ancient favourite in your hearts 
 
 Not quite to be forgotten even when 
 
 You look on better actors, younger men ; 
 
 And if your bosoms own this kindly debt 
 
 Of old remembrance, how can mine forget 1 
 
 Oh, how forget how oft I hither came 
 
 In anxious hope ! how oft return'd with fame ! 
 
 How oft around your circle this weak hand 
 
 Has waved immortal Shakespeare's magic wand, 
 
 Till the full burst of inspiration came, 
 
 And /have felt, and you have fann'd, the flame ! 
 
 By mem'ry treasured, while her reign endures, 
 
 These hours must live, and all their claims are yours. 
 
 O favour'd land, renown'd for arts and arms, 
 
 For manly talent and for female charms, 
 
 Could this full bosom prompt the sinking line, 
 
 What fervent benedictions now were mine ! 
 
 But my last part is play'd, my knell is rung, 
 
 Whene'er your praise falls falt'ring from my tongue, 
 
 And all that you can hear, or I can tell, 
 
 Is friends and patrons, hail, and fare ye well ! "
 
 FRAGMENTS OF LOCAL HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 II. THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 III. OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 IV. THE ROYAL LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 
 V. THE UNCOVERING OF THE OLD ROMAN BATH. 
 
 VI. THE NEW BATHS OF 1868 AND 1889. 
 
 VII. THE THEATRE ROYAL. 
 
 VIII. THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 W
 
 FRAGMENTS OF LOCAL HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL 
 
 From various causes the charitable institutions of Bath are 
 among its objects of foremost interest. Their number is 
 large and altogether they are well managed, well supported 
 and extremely useful. Two are of considerable antiquity ; 
 St. John's Hospital dates back to the twelfth century and 
 St. Catherine's to the fifteenth. One, the Mineral Water 
 Hospital, is almost, if not quite, unique ; I am not aware of 
 any similar establishment connected with the Continental 
 spas, and certainly none in England can be compared with it 
 as to the large utilisation of mineral springs. 
 
 These institutions have been fully described by various 
 competent writers, but in much of the work of which I 
 propose to treat Bath Celebrities were largely concerned. I 
 wish to show in connected form the direction taken by their 
 public spirit and its effect upon the character of the city. 
 With respect to a few recent matters of local history, personal 
 knowledge may possibly enable me to place on record a few 
 things which, though comparatively unimportant now, will be 
 regarded with interest in future years. 
 
 The institution now before us is not a solitary instance of 
 old English philanthropy. Venerable as St. John's Hospital 
 is, there were organisations in Bath for the relief of the sick
 
 340 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 poor of even an earlier date. Traces of them may be found 
 in various ancient " Fragments " from the first dawn of 
 Christianity in Roman and Saxon times down to its fuller 
 development in these latter days. Mr. Hunter, in his treatise 
 On the connection of Bath with the Literature and Science 
 of England, relates a tradition that the poor were especially 
 cared for in the earliest official administration of the waters. 
 Pious and benevolent women are said to have devoted 
 themselves to the work of attending upon them, and it is 
 matter of history that in the seventh century King Osric 
 founded a nunnery near the springs. 
 
 Another Saxon king, the warlike Offa, has the credit of 
 establishing a Xenoclockium, or hospital for the reception of 
 discharged strangers who had travelled to Bath for the 
 benefit of the waters. We are told that it may have been 
 from a desire to make some practical atonement for pouring 
 his troops into Somersetshire that he provided the curative 
 asylum. Oifa's institution, however, disappeared prior to the 
 twelfth century, which was marked in Bath by the erection 
 of a building near the hot bath for seven lepers. It is 
 scarcely probable that they lived permanently on that spot 
 for two reasons : lepers were generally forbidden to live 
 within the boundaries of towns, and the Bath sufferers 
 certainly had a chapel, if not a house, outside the walls in 
 Holloway. An ancient record designates it the chapel of 
 " St. Mary extra muros," in the parish of Widcombe, which 
 was not then a part of Bath. The hospital was maintained 
 for this and other purposes more than six hundred years. 
 It ceased to exist in 1786 ; how the funds were appropriated 
 for a long time does not appear, but in 1825 the Court of 
 Chancery decreed that they should be handed over to the 
 Mineral Water Hospital.
 
 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 341 
 
 We now come to the establishment of St. John's. So many 
 narratives of this have been written that another may seem 
 superfluous. Here, however, it is peculiarly desirable to 
 connect the oldest charitable institution in Bath with the 
 Celebrities of the time of its foundation. It originated with 
 Reginald Fitz-Jocelin, the fourth in the list of Bishops of Bath 
 and Wells at a period when local government assumed a more 
 definite and practical shape than it had known under the 
 Norman regime. Reginald succeeded the celebrated Bishop 
 Robert after an interregnum in the See of nearly nine years, 
 caused by the unsettled state of ecclesiastical affairs. To 
 Robert, a man of extraordinary ability and energy, the 
 County of Somerset was chiefly indebted for its two noblest 
 churches, St. Peter's at Bath and the Cathedral at Wells. He 
 appears to have had much influence with King Stephen, 
 gaining his assistance in important measures for the organisa- 
 tion and endowment of the diocese, and giving in return 
 powerful political support, Mr. Hunter, in his notes to his 
 translation of the History of the Bishopric of Welts, referred 
 to in a former page, gives an idea of the troubles as well as 
 the successes of Bishop Robert. On one occasion he was 
 seized in his palace in Bath by a party of the adherents of the 
 Princess Maud, who had come from Bristol for the purpose, 
 and carried him off to that city ; soon, however, to come 
 back again. 
 
 Reginald succeeded Robert in 1174, founded the hospital 
 shortty afterwards, and dedicated it to St. John'the Baptist. 
 No such useful and generous act would have been possible 
 but for the successful administration of his predecessor. 
 Robert had not only settled satisfactorily the grave official 
 questions in dispute between Bath and Wells, but made the 
 revenues of the See partly available for charitable objects.
 
 342 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 Accordingly, Reginald Fitz-Jocelin endowed his new 
 Hospital, St. John's, with certain defined property in lands 
 and houses, and with a tithe of the hay of so much of the 
 domain of the monastery as was under episcopal control. To 
 these endowments the then Prior Walter, added a tithe of the 
 remainder of the hay and of all the bread, cheese and flesh 
 produced by the lands in the possession of the monks, who in 
 return for their liberality were allowed the control of the 
 Institution. But a time came when succeeding bishops found 
 the pecuniary arrangements inconvenient, so in the fourteenth 
 century the original grants were quashed and a definite sum 
 of one hundred shillings was ordered to be paid to the master 
 and brethren from the bishop's bailiff. 
 
 A little more must be said of Fitz-Jocelin. In some respects 
 he was one of the most remarkable men of the century, Not- 
 withstanding his foreign name and his Italian education he 
 was English by birth, connection and position. His father was 
 Jocelin de Bohun, Bishop of Salisbury ; his own first appoint- 
 ment was that of Archdeacon of Salisbury, and through life he 
 filled high offices in Church and State. Strongly devoted to 
 Henry II, he was employed by him on various important 
 missions, in one of which he pleaded before the Pope the 
 king's innocence as to the murder of Thomas a Becket. 
 Unfortunately it was alleged that he himself had persecuted 
 the Archbishop, against 'whom he was known to have had 
 feelings of resentment because his Grace, for some insufficient 
 reason had excommunicated his father, the Bishop of Salisbury. 
 The charge of persecution was brought prominently forward 
 when it was proposed he should be made Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells ; also another charge which, if true, would have been his 
 misfortune rather than his fault, that he was the son of an 
 ordained priest, an idea that greatly scandalised the high
 
 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 343 
 
 churchmen of the day. But as he was able to trace his 
 parentage to a period anterior to his father's ordination and to 
 clear himself from the other offence the king succeeded in 
 gaining the Pope's consent to his appointment. 
 
 No sooner was he enthroned at Wells than he took vigorous 
 steps for the benefit of the diocese. One striking feature of 
 his administration was his energetic treatment of temporal as 
 well as spiritual matters. To those who knew his personal 
 proclivities, how he mingled with the laity and shared their 
 amusements, this was not surprising. A man who in early life 
 had distinguished himself in hawking, .and, at a later period, 
 obtained " a royal charter granting to him and his successors 
 the right of keeping sporting dogs throughout all Somerset," 
 such a man was not likely to be a one-sided ecclesiastic. 
 Another charter obtained by him made Wells a free borough. 
 That he long continued a favourite at Court was evident from 
 the fact that at the coronation of Richard I (1189), he walked 
 on one side of the king when he ascended the throne, the 
 Bishop of Durham being on the other. But what is most 
 noteworthy here is his care as to the foundation of St. John's 
 Hospital. It was one of his first works after his consecration ; 
 he drew up wise and generous rules for its management ; and 
 he endowed it with what at that time was considered a liberal 
 sum. The vital power it has had is seen in the fact that 
 although it has suffered from an amount of wrong doing which 
 would have wrecked many charities it is now, after seven 
 centuries, more useful than ever. The founder's intimacy 
 with State affairs caused his frequent absence from the 
 diocese, and in 1191 he was elected to succeed the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, but died before the appointment could 
 be completed. He had gone down to Wells to secure the 
 election of his kinsman, Savaric, as his successor, and in
 
 344 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 returning received a stroke of apoplexy at a manor in Hamp- 
 shire, belonging to the Bath Monastery. His interment took 
 place near the high altar of the Abbey Church of Bath. 
 
 On the dissolution of monasteries there was a great change 
 in St. John's Hospital. For some reason it was not subject 
 to the dissolving act and became vested in the Crown. 
 Queen Elizabeth being on the throne, then consolidated all 
 the churches of Bath into one rectory and granted the 
 presentation of them together with the patronage of St. John's 
 to the Mayor and chief citizens, subject however to the rules 
 and orders of Reginald Fitz-Jocelin. 
 
 Alas, for human nature and the honour of the old city this 
 led to a deplorable state of things. The revenues had now 
 increased greatly ; a strong temptation was offered to the 
 civic governors, who shamefully fell into it. First they 
 appointed the Mayor for the time being Master of the 
 Charity ; then successive Mayors divided the greater part of 
 the proceeds amongst themselves and the Corporation. Small 
 indeed was the portion that went into the hospital chest; 
 hence the paupers were discharged, divine service was discon- 
 tinued, and the Chapel became, first a Post-office and 
 afterwards an ale-house. Such was the state of things when 
 Queen Elizabeth, amongst other good deeds on behalf of the 
 city, ordered a brief to be issued for raising money "to 
 rebuild the ruinated Hospital of St. John." 
 
 Meanwhile, there were further changes. One year the 
 speculators carelessly omitted to present to the office of Master 
 which caused the patronage to lapse to the Crown. This 
 was shortly after the restoration of Charles II, but the king 
 did not long retain it, though he lost no time in presenting 
 his chaplain, John Rustatt, who soon died, and Charles, glad 
 to find favour with the Corporation in those troubled days,
 
 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 345 
 
 gave them back the patronage. But they proved as corrupt 
 as ever ; no pity moved them for the poor brothers and 
 sisters whom they had dislodged, and, believing they were now 
 safe from all attacks, they continued their iniquitous embezzle- 
 ments. Dishonest men, however, often fall out ; they did so ; 
 and the old adage was verified though in unforeseen ways. 
 Sundry quarrels caused the office of Master to be taken from 
 the Mayor and become elective. One of the Chapman family 
 being chosen under the new regime required the Mayor to 
 account for certain fines and rents. And more than this ; 
 John Chapman, Master, filed a Bill in Chancery against John 
 Clement, Mayor, demanding full particulars of the Charity 
 and the production of all deeds and writings concerning it. 
 
 Here we have the turning point of the lamentable story. 
 The case was argued fully in 1713 before Sir John Trevor, 
 Master of the Rolls, who at length gave an important decree 
 reversing all recent proceedings. He ordered that the 
 interests of the brothers and sisters should be clearly 
 recognised and that the master with their consent might renew 
 leases on lives, the fine not to exceed one year's value for each 
 life. The proceeds were to be divided in fair proportions ; 
 two-thirds to the Master for his own use and for certain 
 specified repairs ; the remainder to the inmates in equal shares 
 distributed monthly. The judge also directed authoritative 
 surpervision ; the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, 
 the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and others, or any two of them 
 were to be visitors and the chapel was to be immediately 
 rebuilt. This was done at a cost of 540 and the edifice 
 dedicated to St. Michael. Much care was taken to define the 
 duties and privileges of the Master. He was to have the 
 power of nominating and putting in poor brothers and sisters, 
 but only in strict accordance with the judge's decree as to
 
 346 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 qualifications. The following masters have been appointed 
 since the death of Rustatt, the chaplain of Charles II : 
 
 Joseph Gl anvil ... 1666 
 
 William Peake ... 1680 
 
 William Clement ... 1683 
 
 John Chapman, D.D. ... 1711 
 
 William Chapman, D.D. 1737 
 
 John Chapman, D.D. ... 1791 
 
 James Phillott ... 1816 
 
 W. J. G, Luckman ... 1865 
 
 R K Whittington ... 1892 
 
 This outline of the history of St. John's Hospital might 
 have been filled. in with innumerable details. But enough 
 has been said to show how great were the evils of irresponsible 
 government in unprincipled hands through several centuries. 
 That similar tales might have been told of corporate bodies 
 in every part of the kingdom was one strong reason for the 
 comprehensive Municipal Reform Act of 1836. But even 
 that did not secure to the poor, for whose benefit Fitz-Jocelin 
 founded his Hospital, all they could fairly claim. The 
 system of granting leases on lives for limited fines failed to 
 allow the full value of the property to be realised. Once 
 more, therefore, the Court of Chancery was appealed to ; 
 another Bill was filed praying for a better scheme of 
 administration, and arguments were heard on four following 
 days before Sir George Turner and Lord Justice Knight Bruce. 
 On the twenty-second of December, 1864, Sir George Turner 
 gave the decision of the Court. "It is in evidence," he said, 
 " that the annual value of the property, if in hand, would 
 amount to about 12,000 and that under the present system 
 it does not yield more than sufficient to pay the yearly sum 
 of about '27 to each of the twelve poor brothers and sisters, 
 a system which, as producing such results, ought not to be 
 allowed to continue. Therefore the prayer of the citizens 
 must be granted ; none of the property must be let in future
 
 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 347 
 
 on the payment of fines as at present, but only on the best 
 terms which can be obtained." At the same time equitable 
 arrangements were made with the existing holders of leases ; 
 their respective interests were fairly valued, each was to pay 
 a moderate rent for a fixed number of years and then the 
 property was to revert to the Trustees of the Charity. 
 
 Little remains to be said. Details were wisely arranged. 
 No difficulty arose as to religious distinctions. Candidates 
 of all persuasions being eligible as recipients the same 
 principle was declared applicable to Trustees. In this spirit 
 the affairs of the Hospital are, it is believed, consistently 
 worked with corresponding success. As in the year 1851 the 
 Hospital was decreed by Lord Chancellor Truro to be a 
 municipal institution, the patronage, by an order dated 1853, 
 was vested in Trustees of the Municipal Charities of Bath. 
 That their work in future with regard to this ancient 
 institution will be heavy is obvious from the fact that, 
 according to Vice-Chancellor Malins, in 1876 the houses 
 alone belonging to it then numbered more than two hundred. 
 
 On the first of July, 1878, it was my duty to officiate, as 
 Mayor of Bath, at the re-opening of the Hospital after a 
 closure for repairs. A goodly company assembled at the 
 Guildhall and proceeded with civic ceremony to the 
 unassuming building near the Baths. It was interesting to 
 contrast the strong feeling of responsibility which then 
 prevailed with the indifference of some former periods and 
 the scandalous perversions of others. A prominent part in 
 these opening proceedings was taken by the clerk to the 
 Trustees, Mr. Edward Turner Payne, on whose death 
 Mr. E. Newton Fuller succeeded to the office. From him I 
 learn that the Rev. W. J. G. Luckman resigned the office 
 of Master in July, 1892, and the Rev. R. E. Whittington
 
 348 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 was elected to succeed him. I find also that six men and 
 seven women are now inmates of the house, being provided 
 with all that is necessary, and eighteen men and seventeen 
 women receive ten shillings per week each as out pensioners. 
 The qualifications of candidates in both cases are that they 
 have attained the age of fifty-five, that they have resided or 
 paid rates in Bath for at least three years immediately prior 
 to the date of election, and that they have not been in receipt 
 of parochial relief for the twelve months also immediately 
 preceding that date. 
 
 The reader has seen that at the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century the Master of the Hospital filed a Bill in Chancery 
 to compel the Mayor of Bath to render a financial account 
 and produce books and papers relating to the foundation. 
 There happens to be a curious record showing that at a much 
 earlier period, so far back as that of Edward VI, a system of 
 unworthy concealment was practised too powerful even for 
 a body of Royal Commissioners. The record is contained in 
 a handsome volume by Mr. Emanuel Green, printed for the 
 Somerset .Record Society, and entitled, Survey and Rental 
 of Chantries, Colleges and Free Chapels. Subjoined is a 
 facsimile of the page in which the incident of 1 548, the fruitless 
 visit of the Commissioners to the Hospital, is given in the 
 quaint words of the time, which are a "Fragment of 
 Local History " significant as to the difficulties the Reformation 
 Government of the day had to contend with.
 
 ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. 349 
 
 At 
 
 garotte of Jtoforfe picftcU by tto 
 tlu $iti* of gattte, 
 
 frrmibgb to'in the parwshe rhurdte ther. 
 
 One annuall rent to be levied and receyued of the Issues and 
 Revenues of a tent w* thapptennces scituate in Walcote strete 
 w*in the saide Citie nowe in the tenure of William Abyam . vjd. 
 
 Jttcmorb. 
 
 Ther is an hospitall callyd Saincte Johans Hospitall w*in the 
 saide paryshe, having landes, tentes and hereditam'es thervnto 
 belonging of the clere yerely value of xxvli. xiijs. \i\jd. ob. 
 
 The hospitall was erected (as y* is saide) for the relief of vj 
 poore men, and one priest or maister to sve them, havinge their 
 contynuall lyving upon the same. 
 
 This hospitall is annexed to the paryshe churche of saincte 
 Michelles aforesaide and the pson of the saide churche is maister 
 of the same Hospitall. 
 
 The residue of the pffectes ar imployed and receyved by the 
 saide Maister. 
 
 The ornamentes of the Hospitall ar estemyd wo'the, xvs. ijc?. 
 
 No fundacon shewed, neither wolde the Maister appere.
 
 350 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 This Institution was founded in 1736 with the title of "The 
 Bath Hospital." It was called either by that name or " The 
 Bath General Hospital" until the middle of the present century. 
 " General " was a misnomer as the cases under treatment were 
 limited to those which required the Bath Waters, although 
 patients from all parts of the kingdom were eligible. Another 
 hospital had arisen and gained the name of " United ; " 
 several small institutions for a variety of complaints having 
 been blended. Hence the designation Mineral Water was given 
 to the older hospital, the term " Royal " being prefixed to both 
 by authority, and in recognition of the support they had 
 received from various members of the Royal Family. 
 
 In the first chapter of these Fragments I mentioned what 
 had been done for the sick poor of Bath prior to the establish- 
 ment of St. John's Hospital. We may now glance at the 
 organisations which came into existence between the twelfth 
 century when St. John's was founded, and the eighteenth to 
 which we are now come. The chapel in Holloway, intended 
 for lepers, of which notice has been taken, appears to have 
 been succeeded by another, the donor being one Walter 
 Hoseate, who also gave an endowment for its support. About 
 this time some connection seems to have been formed with 
 an institution for idiot children by whom Hoseate's chapel 
 was used, and for whom an asylum was built near it. 
 
 In the fifteenth century a worthy Prior of Bath, John 
 Cantlow, built a third chapel on the same spot, and in the 
 nineteenth a worthy Rector of Bath, Charles Crook, enlarged
 
 THK ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 351 
 
 it. It was to this chapel Leland, the traveller, thus drew 
 attention in his Itinerary, " Or ever I came to the bridge over 
 the Avon I descended a rocky hill full of springs, and on this 
 hill is a long street where is a chapel of St. Mary Magdelene." 
 Mr. Wood, in his history, mentions the asylum for idiot 
 children which was probably always small, but is represented 
 by him as in his time only a poor cottage kept by a nurse 
 with a stipend of 15 per annum. The number of inmates 
 seems to have corresponded to the dimensions of the dwelling ; 
 in 1863 it was only one. But about twenty years afterwards 
 a successful effort was made to connect it with another having 
 the same object, also a considerable endowment. The Bath 
 Charity Trustees concurred in an arrangement by which both 
 the houses were given up and thirteen children located in one 
 more healthy on Combe Down, the funds of the institutions 
 being equitably adjusted. These appear to have been consider- 
 able, consisting of much valuable land and 1 0,000 consols, 
 three-fourths of the latter having belonged to the Bath 
 Asylum in Belvedere. In order to place the United Charity 
 on a permanent basis the Trustees secured twenty acres of land 
 on Claverton Down for the erection of a house. The institution 
 is made in some degree self-supporting by a small payment 
 from the friends of the children. 
 
 The next hospital in chronological order has two names, 
 "St. Catherine's" and "The Black Alms." The first is 
 probably due to the fact that St. Catherine was the patroness 
 of the whole city of Bath. The other owes its origin to the 
 colour of the garment ordered to be worn by the inmates in 
 memory of the death of the founder, Edward VI. In former 
 years there was a third name, "The Bimberries," the house 
 being in Bimberry Lane, in which two sisters called Bimburie 
 were said to have founded an older hospital.
 
 352 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 Edward VI was undoubtedly the founder of the institution 
 now in question. His endowment was for two objects : a 
 Grammar School and " the maintenance of ten poor folk for 
 ever." Certain " messuages, tenements, lands, rents, &c.," 
 formerly belonging to the Monastery were made over to the 
 Corporation for both purposes. In 1872 the government of 
 the two institutions was changed ; that of the school 
 devolved on the Charity Commissioners and that of the 
 Hospital on the Bath Charity Trustees. It was then arranged 
 that the Governors of the school should receive the entire 
 income derivable from the property of the old foundation and 
 pay a fixed annual sum of 280 to the Trustees of the 
 Hospital. For a long time the living of Charlcombe was held 
 by the Master of the school, but the Corporation Reform Act 
 required that it should be sold and the connection dissolved. 
 
 It appears that the same fraudulent spirit as we have 
 noticed with regard to St. John's Hospital also affected the 
 Grammar School and St. Catherine's. The strong arm of 
 the law was necessary to restrain and punish the offending 
 Governors, but at length, the reforms of modern times and 
 the appointment of responsible boards produced a good 
 effect. When the Royal United Hospital was built in 1825 
 the old building of St. Catherine's Hospital was pulled down 
 and the present structure erected. At present there are 
 fourteen inmates, all women, each receiving five shillings per 
 week. The traditional black cloak is given to every inmate 
 on her election with the understanding that when needful it 
 must be renewed at her own cost. The weekly allowance of 
 money is five shillings, and to this is added annually coal to 
 the value of fourteen shillings. At the back of the Hospital 
 there is a garden and much care is taken to make the abode 
 conducive to the comfort of the inmates.
 
 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 353 
 
 There is yet another ancient foundation which ought to be 
 included in these narratives, Beliefs Hospital, but it must be 
 reserved for a future page ; the more immediate subject of 
 the present chapter is the Mineral Water Hospital. This was 
 founded to meet the wants of the poor in all parts of the 
 kingdom whose cases required the use of the waters, but at 
 the beginning the poor of Bath were not admitted, it being 
 supposed that they could go to a free bath from their own 
 homes. For a long time indigent men and women afflicted 
 with disease were accustomed to flock to the springs with 
 no means of paying either for any modes of cure or even for 
 food and lodging. So grievous was the state of things that 
 Parliament interfered and passed an Act requiring Justices 
 of the Peace to give licenses to poor people to travel to Bath 
 and have the use of the waters gratuitously. The result was 
 that the city became inundated with beggars; fortunately 
 the Act was only for a limited time and when it expired 
 in 1714 was not renewed; still the evil continued and both 
 residents and visitors were " at their wits end " to find a 
 remedy. 
 
 Then was conceived the idea of a Refuge. A few benevo- 
 lent persons formed the plan of a temporary home near the 
 springs. Beau Nash and Dr. Oliver were especially prominent 
 in their advocacy of the scheme. It was also taken up by 
 some distinguished visitors, notably Lady Elizabeth Hastings, 
 Sir Joseph Jekyll and Mr. Henry Hoare. But many years 
 elapsed before the object was accomplished; contributions 
 were few and small ; many people thought that the parishes to 
 which the poor belonged should care for them ; and when 
 objections of this kind had been met, others arose as to the 
 site and plans for a building. At length, in 1739, these also 
 disappeared ; Mr. Gay, whose name is perpetuated in the 
 X
 
 354 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 well-known street, gave the site; Mr. Wood the eminent 
 architect undertook to give, free of cost, the plans and 
 superintendance ; and Ralph Allen promised ^1,000 and all 
 the stone required for the building. 
 
 Much was done to interest the wealthy and influential 
 classes of the kingdom in the undertaking. It had gradually 
 assumed a national character, promoted for the benefit of a 
 wider and more deserving section of the poor than the 
 travelling beggars who infested Bath. Eminent medical men 
 gave their best aid towards the cure of the patients, and a 
 large business-like Committee attended to various practical 
 matters. One thing was to arrange that Beau Nash should 
 submit the plans for the inspection of George III and the 
 Eoyal Family ; another to obtain from Parliament an Act of 
 Incorporation. In July, 1 738, the foundation stone was laid 
 by the Hon. William Pulteney, afterwards Earl of Bath. 
 Twelve months afterwards the first officers of the Hospital 
 were appointed, consisting of Mr. Thomas Carew, President ; 
 Dr. Oliver, Deputy President and Physician ; Dr. E. Harington 
 and Dr. Rainey, additional physicians ; and Mr. Pierce, Surgeon. 
 Meetings of the Subscribers for this and other purposes were 
 held at the "Rummer Tavern" until January, 1741, when the 
 building was so far completed that the Governors assembled 
 in it. But it was not until May 1742 that it was opened for 
 the reception of patients. 
 
 The Charity was incorporated by the Act of Parliament 
 under the name of the President and Governors of the 
 Hospital or Infirmary at Bath. Ninety-one Governors were 
 originally named, who were to be succeeded on their decease 
 or resignation by others elected at a General Court. Besides 
 these any persons might become Governors by contributing 
 -*40. Thus constituted, the Institution prospered. The
 
 ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 355 
 
 medical men spared no professional effort, and other influential 
 citizens collected money largely. Oliver Goldsmith's Life of 
 Nash bears testimony to his unwearied efforts. In six years, 
 besides his own gift of <>100, he paid 2,100 to the 
 Treasurer, collected by him. Ralph Allen also added con- 
 siderably to his original gifts. 
 
 In 1795 two additional wards were built which enabled the 
 Governors to meet for some time the applications for 
 admissions, and later a great advantage was gained by the 
 construction of baths in the house. Previously the patients 
 had been conveyed to the public baths in a kind of Sedan 
 chair ; now they had the means of cure almost at the bed- 
 side. For this it was necessary to obtain a special Act of 
 Parliament allowing pipes to be laid in the streets for conveying 
 the water from the springs. 
 
 Many years afterwards when sanitary matters were better 
 understood it was considered that the recovery of the patients 
 would be quickened and their comfort greatly increased by the 
 addition of day rooms. The limited site on which the 
 Hospital was built, no more land being then obtainable, had 
 not only caused the confinement of the patients to the rooms 
 in which they slept, but compelled those who could take 
 exercise to find it in the streets. The premises adjoining the 
 Hospital were the house and garden of the Bath Rectory, and 
 the Governors considered that if a more suitable residence 
 for the Incumbent could be obtained, and the site utilised for 
 the requisite additions, there would be great mutual benefit. 
 Negotiations with this view were commenced in 1840, when it 
 was understood the property was for sale, but they failed ; they 
 were renewed in 1846 and were again unsuccessful, nor was it 
 until 1856 that all difficulties were surmounted. Meanwhile 
 the Governors had deliberated frequently on a proposal to
 
 356 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 remove the Hospital to an entirely new site ; suggestions of 
 several were fully discussed, and one of them, a part of the 
 Freeman's Estate in the Lower Common, appeared desirable. 
 But before deciding it was deemed right to obtain professional 
 opinions as to the effect of the transit of the water to a 
 considerable distance upon its temperature and quality, also 
 as to the respective merits of different sites. Professor 
 Maskelyne, of Oxford, reported on the first question, and Mr. 
 Mitchell, Civil Engineer, of London, on the second ; the result 
 being that the Governors considered that the risk of failure in 
 various respects would be too great to justify them in taking 
 a step of such magnitude. 
 
 The course was now clear. No time was lost in proposing 
 extensive additions. A special committee were appointed to 
 act with the energetic President, Mr. Long, and the public 
 responded promptly. The cost of the new building, together 
 with that of the Rectory premises, amounted to <'20,000 ; it 
 was defrayed chiefly by donations, but to some extent by a 
 sacrifice of capital. The addition comprised spacious Day 
 Rooms for the patients of both sexes, a commodious and 
 beautiful chapel, for which special gifts were made, a Board 
 Room, a Dispensary, and, in the rear, an Exercising Ground. 
 The largest benefactor was Mr. J. Brymer, who gave JP 1,000 
 for a Ward in memory of his brother, to be called Archdeacon 
 Brymer's Ward, and .500 for the chapel, in addition to ^250 
 to the building fund. Mr. Brymer died suddenly before the 
 completion of the building. His great interest in the Hospital 
 received honourable mention in a copious historical narrative 
 by Dr. Falconer, who says " It is impossible to mention his 
 munificent donations without expressing deep sorrow at the 
 loss which not only this, but numerous other valuable charities 
 of Bath have sustained by his sudden decease. The warm
 
 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 357 
 
 interest he felt in the object and his large-hearted liberality 
 in connection with it will be long and gratefully remembered." 
 
 Dr. Falconer records that 
 
 " The Committee to whom the ordering and management of all 
 matters relating to the new building and the alterations in the 
 old one were delegated, consisted of the following Governors : 
 
 The President for the time being. 
 
 James S. Brymer, Esquire. 
 
 David Johnston, Esquire. 
 
 James Heywood Markland, Esquire, D.C.L. 
 
 Jerom Murch, Esquire. 
 George Monkland, Esquire. 
 
 Kandle Wilbraham Falconer, Esquire, M.D., and 
 William Long, Esquire. 
 
 The Physicians and Surgeons of the Hospital were as follows : 
 
 Physicians Thomas Sanden Watson, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Kandle Wilbraham Falconer, Esq., M.D. 
 Charles Coates, Esq., M.D. 
 Surgeons Richard Francis George, Esq. 
 George Leighton Wood, Esq. 
 John Stothert Bartrum, Esq." 
 
 The foundation stone was laid on the 4th of June, 1859, 
 by Viscount Portman, Lord-Lieutenant of Somersetshire, 
 assisted by Lord Auckland, Bishop of the Diocese, Mr. Long 
 being President of the Hospital, and Dr. Falconer, Mayor of 
 Bath. In addressing the audience Lord Portman trusted 
 that donations to the object would not be confined to the 
 counties which chiefly benefited by the Institution, 
 Somerset, Gloucester and Wilts, but that the more distant 
 ones from which patients came would do their part. The 
 Mayor, Dr. Falconer, remarked that though a national 
 charity it had its claims upon every citizen of Bath, inasmuch 
 as it was the public and faithful exponent of the virtues and 
 efficacy of the springs to which the importance of the city was
 
 358 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 mainly attributable. And the President, Mr. Long, stated 
 that since the Hospital was opened in 1742 nearly 40,000 
 patients had been received, of whom 11,535 had been restored 
 to their homes cured and 19,293 relieved ; adding that by 
 means of the new erection 20 additional beds would be 
 supplied, and if the liberality of the public were continued 1 00 
 more patients could be passed yearly through the Hospital. 
 A large social gathering on the invitation of the President 
 concluded the great interest of the day. 
 
 Two years passed and Bath had another Hospital festival. 
 The building was completed in July, 1361, and a distinguished 
 company assembled at the opening. There had been a change 
 of President and Mayor, but the Lord- Lieutenant and the 
 Bishop were the same, and repeated their valuable assistance. 
 With regard to the President it was considered b} T the Governors 
 at the beginning of the undertaking that instead of adhering 
 to the custom of electing a new one annually, it would be 
 well to have the office filled for a longer period during the 
 work and what related to it. Mr. Long was therefore chosen 
 the three first years for the first half of the period, and the 
 writer of the present pages the three next for the second. 
 Mr. Thomas Jolly now filled the office of Mayor. As at the 
 former ceremony of laying the stone a large number of 
 citizens met at the Guildhall and walked in procession to 
 the site, headed by noblemen and gentlemen of the county 
 with the Corporation and City Magistrates. After the presen- 
 tation by various ladies of valuable and suitable offerings, 
 divine service was celebrated, including an impressive sermon 
 by the Bishop ; then a handsome collection was made and 
 the congregation, the general public and the patients, to 
 the number altogether of about a thousand, met in Archdeacon 
 Brymer's Ward to hear the addresses. Finally there were
 
 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 359 
 
 many congratulations at the luncheon party of the President 
 in the new Board Koom on the great forward move which the 
 Institution had made. 
 
 That there was good ground for these it is scarcely 
 necessary to show. Not only had health, comfort and con- 
 venience been largely promoted ; room had been made for 
 twenty additional beds. Thirty-three years have now passed 
 since the new wing of the Hospital was opened, during which 
 it has been found that all the pleasant anticipations then 
 formed have been realised. The record of cures has been 
 highly satisfactory, while the pecuniary [support has not been 
 diminished either by the lapse of time or the other very 
 numerous appeals for charitable objects. Fulfilling predictions 
 made at the opening ceremony that other advantages would 
 be gained from time to time, the Governors have built a house 
 in the exercise ground for cases requiring separate treatment. 
 Twenty-five beds have been added since 1885, making the 
 number altogether 171, being 101 for men and 70 for women. 
 The expenditure of the last year was .4,977 3s. 8d., which 
 was somewhat higher than that of average years in consequence 
 of various alterations and improvements, including the intro- 
 duction of the electric light. Towards the annual cost of the 
 Hospital a comparatively small amount is contributed in 
 subscriptions; in 1892, though larger than formerly, it was only 
 672 ; the deficiency being met as usual by the income from 
 endowments. The annual subscriptions would probably be 
 greater if, as in the case of most other Hospitals and Charities, 
 the admission of Patients was obtained by the recommendation 
 of subscribers; here it is only necessary that certificates 
 should be furnished of the fitness of the case. 
 
 The last Report of the Hospital compares its operations at 
 different periods. In the first five years of the Institution the
 
 360 
 
 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 total number of patients was 636; fifty years later, 1793 to 1797, 
 in the same period, 1,617 ; after another fifty years, 1843 to 
 1847, 2,789 ; again in the five years from 1888 to 1892, 5,875. 
 In the first period the patients cured or benefited were 62 
 per cent, of those admitted ; in the second, 72 per cent ; in 
 the third, 79 per cent ; in the last nearly 93 per cent. 
 
 The following statement shows the national character of the 
 Charity : 
 
 Counties from which Patients Jiave been received during 
 the past Six Years: 
 
 Middlesex ... 
 
 Somerset ... 
 
 Gloucester.,. 
 
 Surrey 
 
 Wilts 
 
 Hants 
 
 Berks 
 
 Glamorgan 
 
 Kent 
 
 Monmouth 
 
 Devon 
 
 Dorset 
 
 Oxford 
 
 Sussex 
 
 Essex 
 
 Hereford ... 
 
 Bucks 
 
 Warwick ... 
 
 Herts 
 
 Worcester... 
 
 Stafford ... 
 
 Brecon 
 
 York 
 
 Cornwall ... 
 
 Ireland ... 24 | Scotland ... 10 | Jersey ... 3 | Guernsey ... 2 
 
 1382 
 
 747 
 
 Northam pton 
 Salop 
 
 
 33 
 23 
 
 723 
 
 Norfolk ... 
 
 
 20 
 
 659 
 
 Lancashire 
 
 
 20 
 
 475 
 
 Suffolk ... 
 
 
 18 
 
 353 
 
 Leicester ... 
 
 
 17 
 
 313 
 
 287 
 
 Montgomery 
 Lincoln 
 
 
 15 
 14 
 
 270 
 
 Radnor 
 
 
 13 
 
 264 
 
 Bedford ... 
 
 
 13 
 
 231 
 
 Cambridge 
 
 9 
 
 219 
 
 Durham ... 
 
 9 
 
 137 
 122 
 
 Derby 
 Denbigh 
 
 8 
 8 
 
 106 
 
 Huntingdon 
 
 7 
 
 94 
 
 Carmarthen 
 
 6 
 
 91 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 6 
 
 72 
 
 Cardigan ... 
 
 4 
 
 64 
 
 Cheshire ... 
 
 4 
 
 55 
 
 Pembroke... 
 
 3 
 
 49 
 
 Northumberland ... 
 
 2 
 
 42 
 
 Carnarvon ... ... 2 
 
 35 
 
 And 1 each from 4 other Counties. 
 
 34 

 
 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 361 
 
 THE PRESIDENTS OF THE HOSPITAL FROM ITS 
 FOUNDATION. 
 
 1739) Thomas Carew, Esq., First 
 1740 1 President 
 
 1741 Hon. General Wade 
 
 1742 Ralph Allen, Esq. 
 
 1743 The Bishop of Bath and Wells 
 
 (Dr. Ed. Willes) 
 
 1744 The Earl of Chesterfield 
 
 1745 Francis Colston, Esq. 
 H.R.H. Prince of Wales 
 
 1746 The same 
 
 1747 The same 
 
 1748 The Duke of Beaufort 
 
 1749 The Duke of Bedford 
 
 1750 The Lord Viscount Palmerston 
 17-n The Lord Viscount Dupplin 
 
 1752 The Duke of Devonshire 
 
 1753 Nathaniel Curzon, Esq. 
 
 1754 The Marquis of Rockingham 
 
 1755 The Hon. Sir John Legonier 
 
 1756 The Lord Ilchester 
 
 1757 The Duke of Kingston 
 
 1758 The Right Hon. Wm. Pitt 
 
 1759 The Marquis of Carnarvon 
 
 1760 The Archbishop of Canterbury 
 
 (Dr. Seeker) 
 
 1761 The Lord Chancellor (Lord 
 
 Henley) 
 
 1762 The Duke of Marlborough 
 
 1763 Sir John Sebright, Bart. 
 1761 Walter Long, Esq. 
 
 1765 The Earl of Lincoln 
 
 1766 The Duke of Beaufort 
 
 1767 H.R.H. Duke of York 
 
 1768 The Duke of Montague 
 
 1769 Sir Lawrence Dundas, Bart. 
 
 1770 The Earl of Kerry 
 
 1771 John Smith, Esq. 
 
 1772 Rev. Mr. Hethrington 
 
 1773 Rev. Dr. Domville 
 
 1774 The Duke of Devonshire 
 
 1775 The Duke of Leeds 
 
 1776 Henry Hoare, Esq. 
 
 1777 The Lord Clifford 
 
 1778 The Bishop of Bath and Wells 
 
 (Dr. Chas. Moss) 
 
 1779 The Earl of Guildford 
 
 1780 The Earl of Spencer 
 
 1781 The Earl of Ailesbury 
 
 1782 The Earl of Camden 
 
 1783 The Lord Rodney 
 
 1784 Abel Moysey, Esq. 
 
 1785 The Hon. J. Jeffreys Pratt 
 
 1786 The Lord Vernon 
 
 1787 The Earl of Mansfield 
 
 1788 The Earl of Nugent 
 
 1789 The Lord Primate of Ireland 
 
 (Lord Rokeby) 
 
 1790 The Marquis of Bath 
 
 1791 The Lord Harewood 
 
 1792 The Earl of Chesterfield 
 
 1793 The Bishop of Durham (Dr. 
 
 Shute Barrington 
 
 1794 The Lord Viscount Weymouth 
 
 1795 Sir R. P. Arden, Knt. 
 
 1796 The Duke of Northumberland 
 
 1797 H.R.H. Prince of Wales 
 
 1798 H.R.H. Duke of York 
 
 1799 The Lord Gwydir 
 
 1800 The Marquis of Stafford 
 
 1801 Wm. Gore-Langton, Esq. 
 
 1802 Wm. Dickinson, Esq. 
 
 1803 The Lord Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells (Dr. Beadon) 
 
 1804 The Lord John Thynne 
 
 1805 John Palmer, Esq., M.P. 
 
 1806 The Earl Manvers 
 
 1807 The Earl of Pembroke 
 
 1808 T. B. Letbbridge, Esq., M.P. 
 
 1809 Wm. Dickinson, Esq., M.P. 
 
 1810 The Earl of Bridgwater 
 
 1811 The Duke of Leeds 
 
 1812 The Earl of Guildford 
 
 1813 Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Bart. 
 
 1814 Sir James Mansfield, Bart. 
 
 1815 Lieut.-Colonel Palmer. M.P. 
 
 1816 The Lord Bishop of Gloucester 
 
 (The Hon. H. Ryder) 
 
 1817 John Parish, Esq. 
 
 1818 Sir T. Shelley, Bart., M.P. 
 
 1819 Lieut.-General Popham 
 
 1820 Chas. Knatchbull, Esq. 
 
 1821 Sir Walter James, Bart. 
 
 1822 Charles Phillott, Esq. 
 
 1823 The Earl of Brecknock
 
 362 
 
 THE ROYAL MINERAL WATER HOSPITAL. 
 
 1824 The Earl of Liverpool 
 
 1825 The Lord Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells (Dr. G. H. Law) 
 
 1826 E. B. Portman, Esq., M.P. 
 
 1827 Sir William Draper Best 
 
 1828 John H. Smyth-Pigott, Esq. 
 
 1829 The Marquis of Lansdowne 
 
 1830 The Lord Bexley 
 
 1831 E. A. Sanford, Esq., M.P. 
 .1832 John Wiltshire, Esq. 
 
 1833 George E. Allen, Esq. 
 
 1834 Wm. Miles, Esq., M.P. 
 
 1835 The Earl Manvers 
 
 1836 The Lord Carrington 
 
 1837 The Lord Jas. O'Bryen 
 
 1838 The same 
 
 1839 The same 
 
 1840 Joseph Neeld, Esq., M.P. 
 
 1841 Sir Orford Gordon, Bart. 
 
 1842 Sir W. B. S. Cockburn, Bart. 
 184:3 The Ven. W. T. P. Brvmer 
 
 1844 The Duke of Beaufort " 
 
 1845 The Lord Wm. Powlett 
 
 1846 The Lord Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells ( Dr. Bagot) 
 
 1847 The Marquis of Thomond 
 
 1848 G. W. Blathwayt, Esq. 
 
 1849 Philip Bury Duncan, Esq. 
 
 1850 The Lord Viscount Midleton 
 
 1851 Major-General Daubeney 
 
 1852 William Sutcliffe, Esq. 
 
 J. H. Markland, Esq., D.C.L. 
 
 1853 The same 
 
 1854 The same 
 
 1855 Thomas H. King, Esq. 
 
 1856 The same 
 
 1857 William Long, Esq. 
 
 1858 The same 
 
 1859 The same 
 
 1860 Jerom Murch, Esq. 
 
 1861 The same 
 
 1862 The same 
 
 1863 The Lord Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells (Lord Auckland) 
 
 1864 Major Thomas R. Baker 
 
 1865 David Johnstone, Esq. 
 
 1866 The same 
 
 1867 The Earl of Cork 
 
 1868 The Rev. H. M. Scarth 
 
 1869 Henry Duncan Skrine, Esq. 
 
 1870 The Lord Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells (Lord Arthur 0. 
 Hervey) 
 
 1871 The Duke of Beaufort 
 
 1872 The Rev. C. Kemble 
 
 1873 Major Ralph S. Allen. M.P. 
 
 1874 The Marquis of Bath 
 
 1875 G. D. Wingfield Digby, Esq. 
 
 1876 James Watson, Esq., M.D. 
 
 1877 The same 
 
 1878 The same 
 
 Jerom Murch, Esq. 
 
 1879 Major Ralph S. Allen 
 
 1880 The same 
 
 1881 The same 
 
 1882 The same 
 
 1883 The same 
 
 1884 The Lord Brooke, M.P. 
 
 1885 Major Ralph S. Allen 
 
 1886 Major-Gen. J. Gordon Jervois 
 
 1887 The same 
 
 1888 Major-Gen. R. Q. Mainwaring 
 
 1889 The same 
 
 1890 The same 
 
 1891 The same 
 
 1892 The same 
 
 1893 The same
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 363 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 BELLOT'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 We have now to go back to the seventeenth century to pick 
 up a Fragment relating to Thomas Bellot and his Hospital. 
 If strict chronological order had been maintained, this subject 
 would have been treated in the last chapter, but the stream of 
 local history will not suffer from its introduction here. The 
 circumstance that Bath, like most old places, had two kinds 
 of hospitals in former times, one for the cure of disease and 
 another for the relief of poverty, prevents an unvaried adherence 
 to the chronological rule. 
 
 Thomas Bellot's name has been well-known in Bath nearly 
 three hundred years. He lived at the time when many old 
 institutions either assumed a new form or vanished altogether. 
 Himself, one of the middle classes, though steward of the 
 Queen's household, Bellot so far partook of the spirit of the 
 age as to promote various large-hearted undertakings. We 
 have seen what he did for the Bath Abbey Church ; we shall 
 now see how he founded a Hospital, and can appreciate the 
 lines written by Sir John Harington in his punning epistle to 
 Bishop Montague : 
 
 " Hospitals, baths, streets and highways 
 
 Sound out the noble Bellot's praise, 
 
 'Cause he was pious aud hath given 
 
 Much, whose reward shall be in Heaven, 
 
 Let bounteous Bellot take the palm 
 
 And after age his name embalm." 
 His position at Court brought him into intercourse with Lord
 
 364 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 Burleigh from whom he received both sympathy and co- 
 operation in his objects at Bath. In the year 1 609 he bought 
 an estate in Wiltshire for 3QO, endowing with it his Hospital 
 in Bell Tree Lane, at the corner of the " Bymburye " lands, for 
 twelve of the poorest strangers who should be in Bath for the 
 benefit of the waters. We have seen that the national interest 
 in the Springs was indicated by the act passed in the reign of 
 Elizabeth giving the free use of them to strangers who should 
 travel to Bath, and who flocked thither in great crowds to the 
 annoyance of the inhabitants. It was to provide a home for 
 some of the most destitute of these that Bellot founded his 
 Hospital ; for although the parishes through which they 
 passed were compelled to relieve them on the journey, their 
 lot on their arrival was most deplorable. Another benevolent 
 person, Viscountess Scudamore, followed up Bellot's action by 
 bequeathing an annuity of .8 in trust to the Corporation 
 for the payment of a physician to advise poor patients who 
 used the baths gratuitously. 
 
 The original building continued until 1859 when, after the 
 winters of two hundred and fifty years, it was taken down 
 and replaced by the present structure. A drawing of the 
 extremely picturesque gateway of 1609 is given in Mr. Peach's 
 Rambles about Bath, and suggests many a " longing, lingering 
 look behind " on other similar relics, but the comforts of the 
 present abode are undeniable. An attempt was made about 
 the time of the rebuilding to incorporate the charity with the 
 Mineral Water Hospital, but resulted in its continuance with 
 larger aims as a separate institution, under the management 
 of the Municipal Trustees. The annual income is about 
 220 ; the Hospital is open for the reception of patients from 
 Lady-day to Michaelmas, or longer if the funds permit, and 
 each inmate, of whom there are eleven when the house is
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 365 
 
 full, receives a weekly payment of two shillings and sixpence. 
 A new bath has lately been erected within the Hospital for the 
 benefit of the patients ; they have also the use, in common 
 with other poor persons who obtain orders from the Mayor or 
 any medical man, of the ancient bath appropriated to the 
 lepers. 
 
 ROYAL UNITED HOSPITAL. 
 
 It is remarkable that generous as were some of the endow- 
 ments in Bath prior to the middle of the last century no 
 one seems to have contemplated organised relief for cases of 
 casual illness or accident. Lepers were provided for ; Idiots 
 had a home and a nurse ; Strangers needing the waters were 
 assisted ; Poverty in its ordinary phase was lightened by 
 weekly allowances ; but the sickness that, sooner or later, 
 visits every poor man's dwelling was uncared for. Even from 
 what was then the new " Bath Hospital " where a hundred 
 patients were to be admitted for such relief as the waters could 
 give, even from this the inhabitants of Bath were excluded, 
 and it was not until after many years that the exclusion was 
 removed. With the increase of the population, came greater 
 heed to the varied wants of the indigent. It was seen that 
 surgical and medical aid ought to be provided for labouring 
 people disabled by illness. Then in 1 747, just nine years after 
 the Mineral Water Hospital was opened, a scheme was 
 commenced for supplying "the villages of Walcot and 
 Widcombe with medicine gratis." Probably the city parishes 
 were omitted as being better cared for ; at all events this was 
 the first of the various movements which after many years 
 culminated in the United Hospital. It was regularly 
 designated " The Pauper Scheme," not contemptuously, but 
 as showing the real object, the term giving less offence then
 
 366 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 than it does now. Captain Eowlancl Mainwaring, to whose 
 Annals of Bath I am indebted for information at this part of 
 my narrative, states that " afterwards the scheme increased 
 very much, in consequence of which, not only many sick 
 persons were restored to health but often preserved from 
 distress and ruin." 
 
 A certain amount of good fellowship has always been useful 
 in promoting charitable objects. In the earlier days of the 
 Mineral Water Hospital the Governors partook monthly of 
 "a friendly dinner" at an adjoining hostlery at three o'clock, 
 much to the advantage of the institution. In like manner the 
 friends of the new " Pauper Scheme " met once a month at 
 the Bear Inn, " when and where," as the notices expressed, 
 all well wishers were invited to "attend and give their 
 assistance towards promoting the design." Mr. \Varnergives 
 an account of the origin somewhat different from that of 
 Captain Mainwaring. He does not mention the " villages of 
 Walcot and Widcombe," but says that a hospital was founded 
 for the diseased poor of the parishes of St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 St James, Walcot and Bath wick. As, however, the date is 
 the same, 1747, it is probable that the efforts were contem- 
 poraneous, some difficulty having been found in including at 
 first all the poor of the rapidly increasing city, though 
 eventually the whole benefited. The words "founding a 
 hospital " cannot mean here providing board and lodging, 
 because for many years nearly half-a-century relief was 
 given to the sick only, either at the counter of a dispensary or 
 at their own houses. Probably the labour of visiting from 
 house to house was one of the chief reasons for hiring or 
 buying a house in 1792, and opening it with plans enlarged 
 in other respects under the name of the Bath City Dispensary 
 and Asylum. It had been a tavern, was situated on the Lower
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 367 
 
 Borough Walls, and being now, as Warner says, " fitted up 
 commodiously for the excellent purpose," helped to concentrate 
 the benevolent efforts which had been previously disunited. 
 For the first seven years, from 1793 to 1799, the number of 
 out-patients increased steadily from 638 to 1,536, the in- 
 patients being in the former year 140, in the latter 113. 
 
 But very useful as this City Dispensary was, it yet failed to 
 meet a great want. There was no provision for the case of 
 serious accidents which, as the city increased, became, like 
 other claims on public benevolence, more numerous. Amongst 
 the eminent surgeons by whom Bath was raised to a high 
 position in the last decades of the last century was Mr. James 
 Norman, father of Mr. George Norman, who contributed still 
 more largely to the surgical reputation of his native town, and 
 it is remarkable that, whereas the father projected the Casualty 
 Hospital in 1788, and was its sole professional support for 
 many years, the son largely originated and through a very 
 long period was the most important medical officer of the 
 United Hospital, so called because thirty-six years afterwards 
 the Casualty was united with the Dispensary and one building 
 erected for both. The building secured for Mr. James 
 Norman's project is said to have been "a comfortable house 
 in Kingsmead Street, where the sufferers from accidents had 
 good surgical assistance and the necessaries of life afforded 
 them till they recovered." Here the good work was carried 
 on with varying support, often saving the lives, and always 
 lessening the sufferings of the inmates, until the great increase 
 of cases and the dilapidated state of the house, suggested an 
 effort for a larger building and the union of both institutions. 
 Happily Mr. James Norman lived to see this accomplished. 
 Captain Mainwaring in his Annals of Bath thus mentions what 
 he did. " By great zeal in the discharge of his duties toward
 
 368 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 the inmates of the establishment, aided by economy in its 
 management, effectual relief was afforded to all casualties 
 occuring in Bath and its vicinity, at a period when from the 
 extensive buildings in progress, dangerous cases were of 
 frequent occurrence. His active benevolence also subsequently 
 established the Puerperal Charity which affords to numerous 
 poor women able assistance in the time of their utmost need. 
 He had long retired from active life, but retained to the last 
 the respect of all who knew him." 
 
 It was in 1822 that the union of the "Infirmary" and the 
 " Casualty " was fully discussed. Early in 1823 it took place, 
 the trustees and subscribers of both having consented. One 
 great object, in addition to better accommodation for the 
 poor, was the more effectual advancement of medical and 
 surgical knowledge. There were many reasons why there 
 should be virtually a school in Bath in which young students 
 and the profession generally might gain knowledge and 
 experience. That this would be made a great point of might 
 be inferred by all who knew Mr. George Norman, his own 
 love of his profession and his generous wish to impart to 
 others what he knew himself. With reference to his share in 
 the preliminary arrangements, he spoke thus on the presen- 
 tation of a testimonial thirty years afterwards. The " Hospital" 
 he said, " in which you have placed this memorial of me 
 (his bust), is dear to me from the circumstance that I was 
 appointed by the representatives of the Casualty Hospital to 
 meet the late Mr. Hastings Elwin, on behalf of the Infirmary, 
 to discuss and recommend the terms on which the two should 
 be united. The result was submitted to general meetings of 
 the subscribers of both charities ; it was substantially adopted, 
 and soon afterwards the public caused the erection of the 
 building we are now in, with an establishment which has
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 369 
 
 afforded an amount of benefit we could scarcely have antici- 
 pated." The sum required for the new building was estimated 
 at .5,000, exclusive of the cost of the ground and furniture. 
 The -Corporation contributed dPJ.OOO, the members for the 
 city 100 each, and the public generally in proportion to their 
 means. Timely aid was given by a special sermon at the 
 Abbey, and a grand musical festival in the same building ; 
 the collection after the sermon by the bishop was 1121, and 
 the proceeds altogether oC*419. The first stone of the new 
 building was laid in August, 1824, and the Hospital was 
 opened for patients in June, 1826. 
 
 More than three-score years have since passed, and what is 
 their history? Not very eventful, but one of constantly 
 increasing usefulness. This might have been expected if 
 only from the character of the medical and surgical staff. 
 Amongst Mr. Norman's pupils was Mr. Gore, a name always 
 to be honoured in Bath, who, at an early period, assisted his 
 teacher at the Hospital, and ultimately succeeded him, 
 devoting his best energies to the close of a long life. With 
 them were associated Dr. Barlow, Dr. Falconer, Mr. R. Wilson 
 Browne, Mr. Soden, and others of much reputation in former 
 years all now gone. Nor have those who followed and are 
 now living, whom it would be invidious to specify, failed to 
 sustain the high reputation of the Hospital. A succession 
 of able committees, fortunate in the rule of their presidents, 
 have introduced from time to time various improvements, 
 especially in the character of the nursing. Of the great value 
 of Mr. Norman's services through more than half a century, 
 evidence was given in 1857 by two remarkable presentations 
 one, a silver salver, from the working classes, value forty 
 guineas, subscribed for chiefly in pence ; the other, a beautiful 
 marble bust, by Behnes, with a purse of ^200, from other 
 Y
 
 370 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 classes. The salver was presented at a crowded meeting at 
 the Guildhall, when the sons of labour poured forth their 
 gratitude to their benefactor for his ever kind attention, and 
 Mr. Norman spoke of the interest he had always felt in his 
 poorer patients. Thirty years afterwards the bust was 
 presented at a large gathering of citizens in the Hospital ; 
 on the pedestal it is stated to be the gift of Mr. Norman's 
 friends as a public and lasting testimony of their admiration 
 and gratitude for his eminent services to the poor of the city, 
 first at the Bath Casualty Hospital, and then at the Bath 
 United Hospital during a period of fifty years. 
 
 The next noticeable event is the erection of the Albert 
 Wing in 1864-5. On the death of the Prince there had 
 been a strong wish that Bath should possess some suitable 
 memorial of him. After much discussion no plan seemed 
 better than an enlargement of the Hospital, which had been 
 long urgently required. One statement by the president, 
 Mr. Kemble, will give some idea of the want : " Fifty years 
 ago 170 patients were received within the Hospital, and 
 externally 1,522 attended to ; whereas last year the in-patients 
 numbered 1,025, and the out 11,151." "But," he added, 
 " we wanted more than a wing, we wanted the light and air 
 of heaven to cheer our patients, we wanted to clear the 
 ground on which the old houses around were standing. In 
 order to do this we had first to deal with the owners of the 
 property, and then to solicit the aid of the Corporation, who 
 unanimously consented to accept for their large piece of 
 ground the moderate sum of 2,000 ; honour therefore to 
 that body from all who have at heart the welfare of the 
 suffering poor." This was said at the ceremony of laying the 
 foundation stone a beautiful spectacle on a May morning. 
 Flags waved from the houses, the Abbey bells rang out
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AXD DISPENSARIES. 371 
 
 merrily, Freemasons assembled in large numbers with full 
 craft adornments, headed by the Provincial Grand Master of 
 Somerset, Major Adair ; the Corporation, the clergy and 
 Nonconformist ministers, the principal citizens were there as 
 part of a long procession, while the poorer classes showed 
 immistakeable interest in the scene. Having the honour to 
 be Mayor, I gave utterance to the general hope " that, in 
 erecting the building and obtaining more space for light and 
 air around it, we were showing in the best manner our respect 
 for the memory of a truly benevolent man." It was pleasant 
 to find that the Queen appreciated the feeling of her subjects 
 in Bath ; the committee were allowed to adopt in future the 
 designation of the Royal United Hospital ; and her Majesty 
 graciously suggested the inscription on the plinth of the 
 handsome marble bust of the Prince in the entrance hall of 
 the new building : " His life sprung from a deep inner 
 sympathy with God's will, and therefore ivith all that was 
 true, beautiful and right." 
 
 Every history, great or small, has its lights and shadows. 
 In this instance the shadows came, not at once, but too 
 surely. When the new building was advocated, some feared 
 it might entail serious pecuniary anxieties. They thought 
 that though the first cost might possibly be met, the annual 
 income would be inadequate to the additional expenses. 
 And so it proved; indeed the income had itself been 
 diminished by drafts on the capital to make up deficiencies 
 in the fund for the building. Thus in 1865-6, the committee 
 had to make urgent appeals, and these not succeeding to the 
 requisite extent, fetes, concerts and other amusements also 
 falling short, a bazaar was held on a large scale. It was m 
 April 1866, and proved successful; the Lord -Lieutenant 
 presided at the opening; the Jadies of the city attracted
 
 372 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 crowds to their stalls ; and the public bought with a liberality 
 which added 2,000 to the exchequer. When, however, the 
 work was over, a few friends pleaded that now was the time 
 to see whether the income and expenditure could not be 
 brought into accordance. A committee of investigation were 
 appointed who sat many weeks, obtaining the cost of every 
 article of consumption and comparing it with returns from 
 other hospitals. At length they issued an elaborate report 
 recommending certain economies, which were adopted, but 
 too soon the funds again proved inadequate, showing that 
 such an institution, liable to so many claims, at uncertain 
 times, cannot expect to be long free from financial anxiety. 
 
 There was a striking instance of the claims in the memor- 
 able Widcombe Bridge accident in 1877. A somewhat slight 
 wooden structure crossed the river Avon, near the Old bridge 
 in Bath, shortening the distance from the adjoining Great 
 Western Railway Station to the showyard of the Bath and 
 West of England Society, then 'holding its hundredth 
 anniversary meeting. A train had arrived from Salisbury 
 bringing a large number of passengers who crowded upon the 
 bridge. If they had passed on without interruption they 
 would probably have been safe, but there was a stoppage at 
 the exit end, the weight was concentrated in the centre and a 
 deafening shriek proclaimed what had happened. All were 
 immersed ; a few nearest the banks struggled out ; and fifty 
 were rescued, but five were drowned. Nearly all the rescued 
 were taken to the hospital, where most of them remained and 
 received the greatest skill and kindness until removed to 
 their homes. Four, however, succumbed to the injuries they 
 received, making the fatal cases nine. I had occasion to visit 
 the Hospital daily and could testify to the admirable treat- 
 ment. Looking back after an interval of sixteen years I feel
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 373 
 
 that if those who distinguished themselves in those wards were 
 not among the Celebrities of Bath they were certainly among 
 its foremost worthies. 
 
 The progress of the Hospital in recent years has been 
 considerable. Patients have increased, curative processes 
 have been improved, and additions to the wards and alterations 
 of the building have been carried out. As the result of a 
 fund commenced by a member of the medical staff, a house 
 opposite the hospital has been taken for cases requiring 
 separate treatment. The Rev. E. Handley, having succeeded 
 to the office of President, exerted himself successfully to 
 establish a Nurses' Institute ; guarding against any additional 
 charge to the Hospital, and hoping for an improvement of its 
 funds by the earnings of the Nurses. His anticipations have 
 been realised and the other results are satisfactory. Very 
 obvious also has been the gain of the addition of a spacious 
 children's ward. Built at the top of the house, and reached 
 by a lift, it commands an extensive view of the surrounding 
 country, and in various ways fully answers the benevolent 
 purpose. There have been frequent additions by generous 
 contributors of means for the improved treatment of various 
 cases. A kind-hearted naval officer, Captain Murray Dixon, 
 lately bequeathed 1,000 for the foundation of an Antiseptic 
 Ward and a lady gave ^900, the interest to be spent on 
 orthopaedic appliances. 
 
 It is not generally known that this Institution is open not 
 merely to the poor of Bath but to those of a very large district 
 around the city, including a radius of twenty miles, the benefit 
 being recognised by special collections in Churches and 
 liberal annual subscriptions. While I am writing a pleasant 
 instance of rural recognition come from the village of 
 Brinkworth near Chippenham, as the result of the annual
 
 374 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 Harvest Thanksgiving in the Parish Church. It is thus 
 announced in the Bath Herald : 
 
 " The gift from Brinkworth this year was larger than ever. It 
 filled the accommodation provided by three vans, and the 
 procession of assistants engaged in unloading what appeared to be 
 about a hundred packages. They reminded one of a scene in the 
 Arabian Nights. Waist high were stacked baskets of rosy 
 apples, pears, plums, melons, &c., neatly packed with flowers. 
 The list of the unusally fine vegetables was remarkable. There 
 was also a liberal supply of poultry and game." 
 
 Doubly acceptable was this generous present in consequence 
 of the accession of patients caused the week previously by a 
 terrible disaster in the Box Tunnel. Probably the sympathy 
 of the Brinkworth villagers with the work of the Hospital had 
 been strengthened by hearing that nine sufferers had been 
 conveyed there and were receiving every possible attention. 
 
 The last return (that for 1892) of the number benefited by 
 the Hospital amounted to 1,158 in-patients and 9,813 out- 
 patients, total 10,971, being an increase on the year of 1,473. 
 
 PEESIDENTS. 
 
 W. Gore Langton, Esq., M.P. ... 18031847 
 
 P. B. Duncan, Esq., M.A 18481862 
 
 Eev. C. Kemble, M.A 18631873 
 
 K. W. Falconer, Esq., M.D. ... 18741881 
 
 Col. J. Handle Ford 1882 
 
 Eev. J. Murray Dixon, M.A. ... 18831885 
 
 John Stone, Esq 18861888 
 
 Eev. J. Murray Dixon, M.A. ... 1889 
 
 Eev. E. Handley, M.A. ... 1890
 
 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 375 
 
 HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL. 
 
 First established as a Dispensary in 1849, this Institution 
 became a hospital for the reception of patients ten years 
 afterwards. Its objects are the medical relief of the sick poor 
 on Homoeopathic principles, both out-door and in-door cases, 
 also the training of nurses. The earliest physicians of the 
 Dispensary were Dr. W. Luther and Dr. D. C. Laurie ; the 
 chief founder of the Hospital Mr., afterwards Dr., Newman, 
 who had been some time settled at Weils. The first locale of 
 the Hospital was Chapel House, Queen Square, which was 
 furnished with ten beds, but in 1870 the Midland Kailway 
 Company required the premises, and in 1872 No. 1, Duke 
 Street was acquired. At the time of a recent report the 
 number of in-patients was 85, and the attendances on out- 
 patients were 6,167. There is also " The Hahnemann Free 
 Dispensary " in Abbey Street, where attendance to the sick 
 poor is given daily. Nor must "The Hospital for Women," 
 a useful institution of recent origin and on the same lines, be 
 omitted. It has six beds, the occupants of which pay some- 
 thing towards the expenses. 
 
 In conclusion, we glance at the other Dispensaries which 
 follow the older lines. There are three for ordinary cases : 
 the Eastern, the Southern and the Western. There is also 
 one for complaints of the Eye and Ear, established in 1837, 
 and another for diseases of the skin, of the date of 1861. 
 Besides these are several institutions for lessening the effects 
 of accidents, and illnesses or infirmities, such as the Bath 
 Cr6che, the Convalescent Home, and the Humane Society for 
 cases of drowning.
 
 376 OTHER HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES. 
 
 The Eastern Dispensary is the oldest of the three first 
 mentioned. It was established in 1832, and draws its 
 numerous patients from Walcot, Lansdown, St. Saviour and 
 Bathwick. The Western Dispensary meets the wants of the 
 populous parishes of Weston, Trinity and part of St. Paul's, 
 while the Southern supplies Lyncombe, Widcombe, Combe 
 Down and other parts. With regard to all these institutions 
 the tribute of an old resident is due for the earnestness with 
 which they are worked and their unspeakable usefulness to 
 the poor.
 
 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 377 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC 
 INSTITUTION. 
 
 As the traveller enters Bath from the Great Western 
 Station one of the first buildings which attracts his eye is that 
 of the Institution. Its handsome classic portico is not 
 crowned by an elevation of corresponding dignity though the 
 interior is spacious and convenient, but the scene that opens 
 on the view is striking. The public gardens immediately 
 around, the Italian fa$ade of the North Parade on one side, 
 and the sketch of hill, wood and sky beyond the slowly 
 winding Avon, make up a charming landscape on a bright 
 sunny day. "Beautiful for situation" would the traveller 
 say of the building, " but an unfortunate mistake " would a 
 citizen reply ; for if it had been in the centre of the city 
 instead of on the verge, a brighter tale might have been told 
 of the Institution. The situation has been decidedly adverse 
 to its prosperity. 
 
 How the mistake was committed will be related presently ; 
 first as to preliminary points. The Institution originated in 
 the third decade of the present century with a few gentlemen 
 whose tastes differed from those for which Bath was chiefly 
 noted. Not that the city had been devoid of literary and 
 scientific ornaments; these pages have testified to the 
 reputation of many at various periods. And it can be 
 imagined how glad some of them would have been, literary 
 men like Harington and the elder Falconers, scientific men 
 like Herschel and William Smith, if they could have had the 
 meeting place of more recent times. The women, too, 
 Mrs. Piozzi with her wit, Lady Miller with her Frascati vase,
 
 378 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY 
 
 Jane Austen, Madame d'Arblay, Frances Burney, Harriet 
 Bowdler, Mrs. Radcliffe, Helen and Sophia Lee, what a 
 pleasure it would have been to all of them if such a centre 
 had existed. 
 
 The Founders had chiefly in view a high class library and 
 a good room for lectures. They also made a point of space 
 for a museum, for antiquities and for works of art. In 1820 
 an event occurred which turned their thoughts definitely to 
 the object ; the original Assembly Rooms which stood on the 
 sight of the present building were burnt down. They were 
 the property of Earl Manvers to whom application was made 
 as to whether he would be willing to erect such a building as 
 was needed, and if so on what terms. The result was a 
 liberal proposal by his Lordship to devote the sum of 4,000 
 which he had received for the insurance of the premises 
 together with the value of the old materials, estimated at 
 1,000 towards the required suite of rooms. He also con- 
 sented to grant a lease at what was then considered a moderate 
 rent for a long term of years. This induced the promoters of 
 the undertaking to decide on the spot. Probably they did 
 not fully consider how inconvenient it would be in future 
 years when popular support would be needed more than it 
 then was. The situation was healthy and respectable, the 
 terms were regarded as liberal and practicable, and, foreseeing 
 difficulties as to other localities, they resolved to proceed. 
 
 Subscriptions were invited and terms of membership agreed 
 upon. But before entering into financial particulars let us 
 glance at the earlier steps. Of these an interesting account 
 is given by the Rev. Joseph Hunter in his lecture on the 
 Connection of Bath loith tJie Literature and Science of 
 England. He appears to have drawn up a scheme for a 
 minor Institution so far back as 1812 ; the chief object of
 
 AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 379 
 
 which was the formation of a good public library ; he 
 " mentioned it to a few friends but it was thought by them 
 impracticable and nothing more was heard of it." The next 
 movement was in 1819 by Dr. Barlow, who had recently 
 settled in Bath and contemplated a grand scheme to be 
 carried out by raising ^30,000 in proprietary shares of 50 
 each and incorporating the holders under a legislative charter. 
 Mr. Hunter of course thought the plan too magnificent to 
 succeed, but joined Dr. Barlow and a few other gentlemen, 
 in asking public attention to it. They met once a month 
 for some time, but dropt off one by one, so that before the 
 close of 1820 it was seen that nothing so costly could be 
 accomplished. Then Dr. Barlow proposed another scheme 
 on the basis of a 0,000 subscription, and Mr. Hunter, a 
 third, limiting the capital to ^4,000, the site to be at the 
 end of Johnston Street, Mr. Hunter going so far as to have 
 " plans and elevations prepared by a skilful architect." At 
 this stage of the affair the destruction of Lord Manvers's 
 building occurred; the Rooms had not been popular as a 
 place of public amusement, and those in the upper part of 
 the town were considered sufficient; but the noble owner 
 possessed so much good property near that he was willing to 
 consent to a handsome edifice for a good public object. 
 
 Added, however, to the terms I have mentioned, were the 
 reasonable conditions that he should approve both of the 
 Design and the Trustees. The term for which the building 
 was to be held was forty years, from June 24th, 1825, subject 
 to the annual rent of 250 for the first twenty years and 
 300 for the remainder of the term. The Trustees were 
 Sir John Kean, Bart., Sir John Coxe Hippisloy, Bart., Sir 
 John Palmer Acland, Bart., Hev. Thomas Lemon, Francis 
 Ellis, Esq., Hastings Elwin, Esq., and Charles Dumblcton, Esq.
 
 380 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY 
 
 They proposed raising " a sum of eight thousand guineas, 
 by the sale of four hundred shares of twenty guineas 
 each for the purpose they had in view." Of the sum thus 
 raised 1,000 was to be a perpetual reserve fund, partly as 
 a guarantee for the payment of rent ; the remainder was to 
 be expended in books, maps, apparatus, furniture and other 
 requisites. Each proprietor was to make an annual con- 
 tribution of two guineas ; strangers were to be admitted for 
 the same payment, and it was hoped that these payments, 
 aided by the interest on the reserve fund with the rent of 
 the vaults under the rooms and the profits of courses of 
 lectures, would be sufficient. But with regard to the amount 
 of capital it was soon seen that the promoters would be 
 disappointed. At the end of six months only one hundred 
 and sixty shares had been taken, and a few friends became 
 responsible for the remaining forty. The Corporation of 
 Bath gave a hundred guineas. The Marquis of Lansdowne 
 was elected President, and several literary men Vice- 
 Presidents. 
 
 The Committee chose as their first Chairman the Rev. 
 Thomas Watson. With him were associated for the special 
 purpose of forming the Library, the Rev. Joseph Hunter, Dr. 
 Davis, Mr. P. B. Duncan and Mr. Wilkinson. The sum of 
 < 1,200 was allotted for the work ; some time was occupied 
 in spending it, and meanwhile the building was opened to the 
 members: This took place in January 1825; an inaugural 
 lecture was delivered by Sir George Gibbes in the presence of 
 Lord Lansdowne, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and other 
 persons of distinction ; and a dinner which followed was 
 graced by speeches from three poets of the neighbourhood, 
 Thomas Moore, George Crabb and William Lisle Bowles. 
 
 Much judgment was shown by the Library Committee in
 
 AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 381 
 
 the purchase of books. Their chief desire was to obtain those 
 which had gained a place in the literature of Europe. 
 Dictionaries of high character were bought, and preference 
 was given, in many cases, to rare and costly books rather 
 than those which members might have in their own houses. 
 The fine set of the French Transactions .was secured at the 
 sale of Mr. Beckford's library at Fonthill ; Lord Lansdowne 
 obtained valuable Parliamentary publications, and among 
 the welcome presents from various quarters were choice folios 
 of the Greek classics and a magnificent Virgil printed on 
 vellum. Beginning with 1,800 volumes the Committee soon 
 found the number amounted to 2,000. MSS. and autographs 
 of considerable value, the transactions of learned societies, 
 ordnance maps on rollers and even a curious collection of 
 oriental books were added. Good country histories and other 
 works of the same class would be a prominent object with 
 antiquaries like Sir Richard Colt Hoare and Mr. Hunter. In 
 after years contributions of scientific books were numerous. 
 One donor gave Soicerly's Botany, another the series of 
 Annales Des Sciences Naturelles, another a valuable 
 Herbarium and a collection of good botanical works. As 
 time passed and members of a somewhat different class joined 
 the Institution it was found that the wants of the general 
 reader had not been sufficiently met. A Reading Society 
 therefore contributed annually the books which passed 
 through it, thus filling a set of shelves with the current 
 literature of the day. But the most important accession was 
 in 1869 of the scientific library of the Rev. Leonard Jenyns, 
 1,200 choice volumes, together with his Herbarium of British 
 plants, forty volumes in folio, all being generously offered on 
 the simple condition that a separate room should be devoted 
 to the -gift. The Committee gratefully added a room to the
 
 382 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY 
 
 building for its reception, with others for objects which 
 had long claimed more space. Year by year the Jenyns' 
 Library has received valuable additions from the generous 
 donor. 
 
 Since the above was written the benefactor has passed 
 away at the great age of ninety-three. The prominent 
 position he filled in the scientific circle at Bath induces me to 
 add a few particulars of his life. His surname was Jenyns 
 until about 1874 when he took the name of Blomefield on 
 inheriting some family property at Fersfield in Norfolk, 
 which formerly belonged to the author of the history of 
 Norfolk. His father was the Rev. George Leonard Jenyns 
 of Botisham Hall, Cambridgeshire, son of John Harvey 
 Jenyns, an alderman of Eye, Suffolk. Botisham had been 
 the property of the celebrated Soame Jenyns, and the inheri- 
 tance gave Mr. Blomefield's father a good position in the 
 county. His son's scientific tendencies came from ancestors 
 on the mother's side. She was the daughter of Dr. Heberden, 
 Physician to the Royal family, and the sister of another 
 medical man also of high rank in the profession. The elder 
 married a sister of Dr. Wollaston the eminent astronomer, 
 one of whose sons, Dr. William Wollaston, a great friend of 
 Sir Humphry Davy, and often at Bolisham was known by his 
 researches in optics and chemistry. Although Mr. Blomefield 
 traced his love of science generally to frequent intercourse 
 with these relatives he states, in an autobiography from which 
 I gain much information, that his fondness for Natural Histoiy 
 was due to a great uncle named Chappelow. Both at Eton 
 and Oxford Nature appears to have had more charms for him 
 than Greek and Lntin. He says that " even in early life his 
 habits were studious and he was fond of solitary walks, 
 wrapped up in observing, admiring and reflecting." His first
 
 AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 383 
 
 settlement as a clergyman was near Botisham, but he was 
 compelled after a few years to relinquish his living in conse- 
 quence of the continued illness of his first wife. After a short 
 visit to the Isle of Wight he removed to Bath, where Mrs. 
 Blomefield died. This was in 1854 ; and here he spent the 
 remainder of his life, thirty-nine years. 
 
 On leaving Cambridgeshire he gave part of the scientific 
 collections he had formed to Museums at Cambridge and 
 Ipswich. His Herbarium and a large Cabinet of British 
 Shells he took with him to Bath, interesting himself at once 
 in the Natural History of the neighbourhood. In 1855 he 
 succeeded in establishing a Field Club, of which he was 
 President at the time of his death ; six volumes of its 
 Proceedings are found to contain about twenty communi- 
 cations from himself. In 1864 he caused a Meteorological 
 Observatory to be set up in the Institution Gardens, and 
 from that period a register has been regularly kept under 
 arrangements for preserving its utility and permanent 
 scientific value. To the interests of the Institution he 
 devoted a large portion of his time, attending its committee 
 meetings regularly, taking special interest in all that related 
 to the Museum and often spending a quiet hour with the 
 books he had given. The value of these can only be known 
 by those who are acquainted with them ; some are bound up 
 with MS. letters from the donor's intimate friend Mr. 
 Darwin ; one has a copy of verses written by himself, at 
 Eton, on an Arctic Expedition, and all are indicative of that 
 innate love of neatness and order which marked his life. 
 Mr. Blomefield was twice married; his second wife survives him. 
 
 His more important works were : A Manual of British 
 Vertebrate Animals, published at Cambridge by the 
 Syndicate of the University Press, 1 836 ;
 
 384 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY 
 
 Observations on Natural History, ivith a Calendar of 
 Periodic Phenomena, 1846 ; 
 
 A Memoir of Professor Henslow, brother-in-law of the 
 -author, 1861 ; 
 
 He also published a Report on Zoology read to the British 
 Association in 1864; and one in the Westminster Review 
 on Yarrell's British Birds, 1840. 
 
 Mr. Blomefield belonged to the following societies : 
 
 Linnean Society (1822) ; father for many years. 
 
 Cambridge Philosophical Society (1822). 
 
 Zoological Institute 1826 (original member). 
 
 Entomological Society 1834 (original member). 
 
 Ray Society 1844 (original member). 
 
 British Association (1832). 
 
 Geological Society of London (1835). 
 
 Boston Natural History Society U.S. (1839). 
 
 Royal Zoological Society of Ireland (1841). 
 
 Ipswich Museum (1849). 
 
 Bath Institution (1854) ; Vice President and Trustee^ 
 
 Bath Field Club (1855); President. 
 
 Anthropological Institute (1863). 
 
 Mr. Blomefield was present at the great dinner at the Free- 
 masons' Tavern, in 1828, in commemoration of the birth of 
 John Ray, Sir Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal Society, 
 being in the chair. 
 
 The original formation of the Museum of the Institution 
 was undertaken by Mr. Lonsdale, who generously worked 
 there day by day for years with great skill and success. He 
 laid the foundation of a geological department " by furnishing 
 a local suite of rocks " with corresponding fossils and added u 
 series of British laud and fresh-water shells. A nucleus 
 being thus formed, donations rapidly accumulated, making it
 
 AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 385 
 
 a geological focus all the more interesting from the discoveries 
 made near Bath by Dr. William Smith. Nor was the 
 Museum deficient in the departments of Botany and Miner- 
 alogy ; but a collection was soon to be deposited which was 
 probably without a parallel in the kingdom the magnificent 
 Roman Remains found in Bath. The most important were 
 arranged in the vestibule entered from the classic Portico ; 
 others in the corridor leading to the Reading Room. In one 
 of the smaller rooms is a series of Roman coins presented by 
 various friends ; another cabinet contains a collection of 
 English coins and medals. 
 
 At the earlier periods of the Institution courses of lectures 
 were frequent. Books were then less cheap and accessible 
 than they are now ; and people liked to hear able men and 
 meet good audiences. The large room was well- filled when 
 Noad lectured on Chemistry, Adams on Geology, Hay den on 
 Painting, Webster on Comparative Anatomy, James Mont- 
 gomery on Poetry, and Dr. William Carpenter on Physiology. 
 But times gradually changed in this respect; even so 
 competent a Bath citizen as Mr. Cogan with all his knowledge 
 of the Steam Engine and the Electric Telegraph could not 
 long maintain good classes. The large room therefore being 
 disused, proposals were made to devote it to an extension of 
 Geological specimens. It was known that Mr. Charles Moore 
 was forming a remarkable collection and that he would bo 
 willing to place it there and add fresh discoveries from time 
 to time on the conditions which I have mentioned in the 
 sketch of his life. The Committee gladly consented and 
 suitable cases were provided. Ere long, however, the space 
 though considerable was insufficient, and Mr. Handel Cossham 
 erected a gallery round the room at a cost of -C500. Another 
 instance of liberality was the gift of a Zoological collection 
 z
 
 386 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY 
 
 consisting of eleven hundred cases of stuffed birds a great 
 attraction always to the visitors who crowd the Museum on 
 public holidays. 
 
 Notwithstanding these favourable circumstances the Institu- 
 tion was never financially prosperous. Year by year for a 
 long time the income was much below the expenditure. 
 Attributing this very much to the burthen of rent the 
 Committee appealed to Lord Manvers, who kindly reduced it 
 to the extent of 100. For a little while the relief appeared 
 sufficient, but the cost of books, papers, officers and repairs 
 was still too large for the income. At length in 1858 a 
 crisis came ; the lease was about to expire and the question 
 arose whether it could be renewed ; the reserve fund was 
 nearly exhausted and even if it were probable to raise another, 
 would it be wise ? 
 
 After much deliberation it seemed more desirable to make 
 an effort to purchase the building and thus be free of rent. 
 As Chairman of the Trustees I was requested to communicate 
 with Lord Manvers who was naturally surprised that tenants 
 who could not pay the rent should propose to buy the building. 
 But on looking into the matter his Lordship consented to sell 
 it for the sum of 2,000. Steps were at once taken to obtain 
 the money, with the result that 1,200 was given by members 
 of the Institution and ^800 lent on mortgage, thus reducing 
 the rent from ^150 to 32. In a few years the mortgage was 
 paid off", and the members had the satisfaction of meeting in 
 their own building under easy financial circumstances. They 
 did not however expect to be free from anxiety in the future ; 
 they knew how precarious support is in such cases ; other 
 societies had been formed in more central situations with 
 better chance of success ; especially did the Bath and County 
 Club in Queen Square gain many of the class who would have
 
 AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 387 
 
 joined the Institution ; still this was The Literary and Scientific 
 Institution ; it kept no common lamp burning, though with 
 varying brightness, and maintained a work that could not be 
 spared in Bath. 
 
 Although the additions to the building on several occasions 
 were considerable, more have been lately needed. Two 
 auxiliary societies had long possessed a home at the 
 Institution, "The Literary and Philosophical" and "The 
 Bath Field Club." Some others, also claiming kindred, 
 desired a similar advantage ; numerous gifts of various kinds 
 also needed consideration. It was therefore proposed to 
 remove the Geological part of the museum to a room to be 
 built in the upper story and to erect a corridor for the General 
 Museum. The kindred societies were to have the use 
 alternately of the large room for meetings and accommodation 
 for books and other things in smaller rooms. This was carried 
 out at a cost of about 1,200. 
 
 The Institution has a few ornaments besides its books and 
 antiquities. There are portraits of Sir W. Herschell and the 
 Rev. J. Hunter in the two lower libraries and of Mr. J. S. 
 Duncan and Mr. P. B. Duncan in the vestibule of the Reading 
 Room. Here also are busts of a Duke of Bedford and Sir B. 
 Hobhouse, deposited by the Bath and West and Southern 
 Counties Society, whose library is also deposited in the 
 Institution on separate shelves. Within the rooms are busts 
 of Mr. Hastings Elwin, Mr. Isaac Pitman and the present 
 President, two small classic busts, two casts of Venus and 
 Apollo from the antique, and a cast of the sitting figure of 
 Dr. Johnson in Lichfield Cathedral. On the ceiling of the 
 lecture room are four beautiful paintings of the seasons, 
 which were bought at the sale at Fonthill Abbey. 
 
 On the death of Mr. P. B. Duncan, friends far and wide,
 
 388 THE BATH ROYAL LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 
 
 especially those in Bath and Oxford, wished to perpetuate the 
 memory of the brothers in some useful way. A sum was 
 subscribed and invested for the benefit of the Institution, 
 as recorded in the subjoined inscription on a brass plate 
 under the portraits of the two brothers which are mentioned 
 in page 12, the portraits having been presented by Mrs. Fraser. 
 wife of the Bishop of Manchester : 
 
 "In Memory of Two Brothers, 
 JOHN SHUTE DUNCAN, D.C.L., 
 
 and 
 
 PHILIP BURY DUNCAN, D.C.L., 
 
 Of New College, Oxford, and the City of Bath, 
 
 Who with large minds and liberal hearts 
 
 Did good continually, 
 
 Winning the Gratitude and the Love of 
 their University, their Fellow Citizens 
 
 and their Friends. 
 
 " While many of the societies which they generously aided 
 might claim the honour of perpetuating their names, here at 
 least let it be recorded that they were among the chief Founders 
 and supporters of this Institution. 
 
 " As a small tribute of respect to their memories the sum of 
 500 has been subscribed in various parts of the kingdom and 
 vested in trust for the promotion of the objects to which they 
 were especially devoted, the Library and Museum."
 
 THE UNCOVERING OF THE OLD ROMAN BATHS. 389 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 THE UNCOVERING OF THE OLD EOMAN BATHS. 
 
 A short account of this work may be appropriate amongst 
 these "Fragments." I therefore propose to give the substance of 
 some documents which appeared at the time. They relate 
 unavoidably to various matters in which the writer was much 
 concerned. It is so likewise with other narratives in various 
 parts of this book, though the aim has been to elerninate 
 personal considerations as much as possible while recording 
 facts that may be interesting to inquirers in future years. 
 
 It is known that the existence of the Remains of large 
 Roman Baths had been ascertained a long time. Plans had 
 been published showing very nearly their precise locality as 
 well as their great extent. But how they were to be reached, 
 what depth of soil had to be removed, and other important 
 particulars, no one knew. At length in 1878 there were 
 unexpected discoveries in the course of some drainage work 
 which had been committed to the architectural and engineering 
 skill of Major Davis, the City Surveyor of Works. 
 
 The chief object was the construction of a sewer nearly on 
 a line with one which conveyed to the river the water over- 
 flowing from the great spring. In doing so Major Davis 
 found basements of pillars and other things of Roman 
 workmanship, corresponding as to locality with the traditions 
 of the Roman Baths. He made known what he had found to 
 the Society of Antiquaries, to some of whom I was known and 
 who requested me to add any information I could obtain. 
 My correspondent, a Yice -President, stated that the Society 
 would be glad to assist in any well-considered scheme for 
 uncovering the remains.
 
 390 THE UNCOVERING OF THE 
 
 Much interest had already been excited in Bath by the 
 excavations for the sewer. Tons of lead had been discovered 
 and removed, a fine arch found in one place and masonry for 
 the enclosure of the hot springs in another. One of the 
 incidental works was the restoration of an Old Roman culvert 
 of considerable size which had been closed for thirteen 
 centuries. Through this culvert and other subterranean 
 abysses I penetrated with Major Davis to gain the informa- 
 tion the antiquaries required as we found our way through 
 the dirt and darkness. It was difficult with our flickering 
 candles to obtain light enough to see all we were in search of ; 
 but it was evident that near us were the hidden treasures. 
 When I emerged it was with the belief that what had been 
 little better than dreams for many hundred years would now 
 be realities, and my companion was still more sanguine. I 
 informed the Yice-President of our joint opinion, promising 
 to communicate at once with friends in Bath who might be 
 disposed to help. Then to request a public meeting of the 
 citizens and generally to obtain as much co-operation as 
 possible. 
 
 My first letter was to the Duke of Cleveland, one of the 
 largest owners of Bath property. His Grace answered kindly 
 that if we would make an effort to have the remains uncovered 
 he would give 100. An anonymous friend, hearing what 
 was proposed, immediately gave a similar sum through the 
 Town Clerk. I also received encouraging answers from the 
 then Mayor of Bath, from the Earl of Cork, from Lord 
 Portman and many others. The next step was to request 
 a public meeting, to which I was able to state that between 
 .400 and .500 had been promised. We had now to 
 obtain the aid of owners of the houses which, having been 
 built over the baths, had to be taken down. Some belonged
 
 OLD ROMAN BATHS. 391 
 
 to the Corporation; one, a large public office, was the 
 property of the Board of Guardians, their place of meeting ; 
 and it would be necessary to obtain an order of the Town 
 Council to close an adjoining thoroughfare. The commu- 
 nications with both bodies were satisfactory. Then and on 
 all future occasions the Council took a right view of what 
 the interests of the city required, consenting to the removal 
 of houses and the adoption of ail needful facilities. At 
 this time, Major Davis's estimate for uncovering the Remains 
 was about 500. Subsequently it was found that nearly 
 ^1,000 would be required, and the Antiquities Committee 
 appointed by the Council undertook to obtain the amount in 
 voluntary subscriptions. 
 
 The course of acting being then cleared the Society of 
 Antiquaries kindly sent a donation of .50. An estimate of 
 84:7 as the cost of uncovering was accepted from Mr. Mann, 
 though with a prospect of some further expenses. Public 
 interest increased as the houses were removed, the immense 
 deposit of former ages carted away and the magnificent 
 basement of the ancient structure gradually revealed. This 
 work occupied considerable time, during which circumstances 
 occurred causing some anxiety to the Committee. A trades- 
 man in one of the adjoining streets complained of injury to 
 his business from obstruction of the traffic and brought an 
 action for damages. The Committee had of course 
 endeavoured to protect the interest of all parties concerned 
 and, believing they had succeeded, resisted the action and 
 obtained a verdict in their favour. The Lord Chief Justice, 
 however, while admitting that the Committee, engaged in a 
 great public work, had done all in their power and that the 
 verdict was substantially right, considered also that the 
 conduct of the plaintiff had been bond fide and advised that
 
 392 THE UNCOVERING OF THE 
 
 he should only pay his own costs. This involved a liability 
 of 250 to the Committee, whose pecuniary calculations 
 were upset to that amount ; they felt they could not make a 
 further appeal and therefore settled the matter themselves. 
 As the task of uncovering proceeded the extent of the old 
 Roman establishment became more evident. One important 
 discovery is unfortunately again hidden from public view, a 
 large circular bath adjoining the rectangular bath. There 
 was undoubtedly some convenience in building the new 
 Massage establishment where it is, but a fine opportunity was 
 lost of shewing the grand range of Roman foundations at a 
 glance. Unfortunately the circular bath can now only be 
 seen by those who take the trouble to search for it. Recent 
 proceedings of the Town Council are likely to meet the 
 general wish for the careful preservation of the Remains. 
 It has been resolved to protect them from the weather by a 
 building to be connected with a much enlarged Pump Room 
 establishment. They will probably form the principal 
 contents of an archaeological museum in a spacious corridor 
 surrounding the rectangular bath. Meanwhile an efficient 
 committee have been arranging the fragments of figure 
 sculpture and architectural ornament so that they may be 
 seen to the best advantage. They have wisely adopted a 
 distinctive plan of keeping the Classical Remains in the centre, 
 the Ecclesiastical Remains at one end and the Roman bricks 
 and similar antiquities at the other. In the preceding 
 chapter I have mentioned the valuable collection at the 
 Institution ; if this could be added to the recent discovery 
 and placed in the proposed building there would be the great 
 advantage of having all the antiquities under the same roof. 
 
 A few extracts from newspapers of the day will convey some 
 idea of the interest excited by the discoveries. The first is
 
 OLD ROMAN BATHS. 393 
 
 from a Canadian paper, The Montreal Witness, containing a 
 letter dated April, 1881, by an inhabitant of that province 
 who was visiting Bath : 
 
 " Prince Bladud, said to have been eighth king of Britain some 
 800 years B.C., may have been altogether a myth, and the story of 
 his recovery a pious fraud, but at any rate the old Romans knew 
 and valued the Aquce Solis. For here, just outside what may be 
 called the mediaeval bath, is the veritable aquarium into which 
 Roman governors of Britain must have descended 1800 years ago, 
 and to which pilgrims from Rome itself may have come for healing. 
 How grandly those old fellows built. Every stone of the bath 
 proper and of its steps is intact, and also about ten feet in height 
 of the moulded bases of the pillared arches which once formed the 
 surrounding arcades and supported the roof. The leaden lining 
 is there also, a good half-inch thick, and the bronze sluice door by 
 which the bath was emptied. These remains, although long 
 suspected to exist, have only lately been uncovered, and are even 
 now in process of excavation. They lie some 20 feet below the 
 present surface. Bath must have been a place of importance in 
 those days of the Romans. Later on it must have lain desolate, 
 perhaps for centuries ; a wild duck's egg found as it was laid by 
 the bird in a corner of the ruins seems to attest this. And I 
 suppose the history of Bath and of Britain may still run on 
 together till the New Zealander shall come and make a new 
 excavation of the ruins of the Victorian age." 
 
 From the Bath Journal, May 7th, 1881. Referring to a 
 motion in the Town Council that a house over the Remains 
 should be given up and pulled down, which was carried by a 
 large majority. Two years later, March 1883, another motion 
 for aid of a similar kind, promoting the object more largely 
 was carried with only three dissentients. 
 
 " Seldom has a subject been approached by our Town Council 
 with more attention, discussed at greater length, or decided upon
 
 394 THE UNCOVERING OF THE 
 
 after more careful deliberation than was the request urged by 
 Mr. Murch at Tuesday's meeting. It seemed a small matter to ask 
 the Council to relinquish their right to an old tumbledown house 
 that was shown to be a nuisance to the bathers and which would 
 entail a considerable outlay to put in repair, but the contingencies 
 attaching to its surrender surrounded the question with importance 
 far greater than would otherwise have attached to it. The shades 
 of the antique Romans who once trod the roads and ways of A([U(x 
 Soils and bathed in the perennial springs that then as now gave 
 life to the city seemed to be in presence as the speaker pleaded 
 for light to be thrown in upon the newly discovered, architecture 
 and told what long buried treasures the recent labours have 
 revealed. He appealed to the scanty allusions made once and 
 again by the Latin writers as to the importance of the thermal 
 springs and the general idea of their ancient dignity that was 
 conveyed by the notices of oral tradition among mediaeval authors. 
 But he showed that no actual proof of this appreciation had ever 
 been possible. No works such as the Romans always erected for 
 their use or enjoyment under similar conditions could be pointed 
 to as evidence of their high estimation of these waters, and 
 although many discoveries showed they valued the neigbourhood 
 for its beauty and the springs for their qualities, the last convincing 
 proof was still wanting, the one link in the chain was yet missing. 
 The remains now being unearthed are the very constructions of all 
 others most apposite to the point and are made at a juncture 
 most suitable for their preservation. To have such remains 
 placed on view in our midst must redound to the benefit of Bath. 
 They are not matters of ephemeral interest only, but will continue 
 to attract the savan, the archaeologist and the ordinary traveller, 
 and will increase in value as persistent study and research throw 
 from time to time a more distinct light upon all portions of 
 ancient customs and modes of life. To the unlettered these 
 massive blocks of masonry point to a people strong in purpose and 
 r eady in design who spared no pains to protect the waters they
 
 OLD ROMAN BATHS. 395 
 
 held so dear ; while to the scholar they bring into strong relief a 
 refinement of taste and luxuriousness of indulgence in strange 
 contrast to the stern military character of the nation." 
 
 From a letter to the Times, by Major Davis, F.S.A. Soon 
 after it was written the offices of the Poor Law Board to which 
 it refers were removed : 
 
 " The Roman Baths of Bath that have during the last five years 
 been partially exposed to view are the most remarkable relics of 
 the occupation of Britain by the Romans hitherto discovered. 
 
 The hot springs themselves were found to be protected by an 
 octagonal wall built of massive blocks of stone and cased on the 
 inside with lead of an average weight of 381b. to the foot 
 (exceeding half an inch thick). A great deal of this lead had been 
 broken down by the falling in of the columns and roofs, indeed the 
 whole area of the springs was filled in with Roman tiles and 
 masonry, sand, and organic remains, on which rested the mediaeval 
 floor of the bath known as the King's Bath. Excavations have 
 been made beneath the Pump Room opening out the Roman 
 drains, which are now again utilized ; these run among masonry 
 of almost Cyclopean character. 
 
 The greatest discovery has been that of a large bath 81ft. in 
 length, by 38ft. lOin. in width, with steps complete on its four 
 sides, floored with blocks of masonry, on which still remains the 
 original coating of lead. This bath was supplied by the hot 
 mineral water, and had a hatch or sluice of bronze (now deposited 
 in the Pump Room) for conveniently emptying it. The bath is in 
 the centre of a large hall with scholce all round, in length (it is 
 anticipated) 110ft., by an ascertained width of 68ft. Gin. The 
 excavation of this great hall is now in progress, large buildings 
 have been acquired and removed for the purpose, but unfortunately 
 the offices of the Poor Law Board which occupy a portion of the 
 site remain, having been under-pinned and arched under. As the
 
 396 THE UNCOVERING OF THE OLD ROMAN BATHS. 
 
 floor of the bath is at a depth of 20ft. below the neighbouring 
 streets, the existence of this building does not prevent the opening 
 out of the bath, although it interferes with the view and prevents 
 the completion of the excavations. 
 
 The hall consists of three aisles, the centre being the width of 
 the bath, vaulted by a barrel-vault. This vault sprang from an 
 arcade of clustered pilasters, giving seven arches on either side. 
 The pilasters, 2ft. in diameter, of solid block, stand on Attic 
 bases and plain pedestals, the side aisles or scholce were arched 
 and groined, with attached pilasters along the walls and three 
 recesses (exsdm or stibadia) 15ft. wide, on each side the hall, two 
 being semicircular, and the third and central, square. In the 
 centre bay of the northern arcade is a defaced piece of sculpture, 
 through which ran the water. Underneath the sculpture is a 
 recess in the steps marking the position of a large sarcophagus 
 (now lost), into which the water was first poured and so over- 
 flowed into the bath. The entrance to the great bath is at the 
 western end, by a doorway from a large hall, the precise extent 
 of which is unknown, although I believe I saw its western wall 
 during some excavations I made in 1869. 
 
 In the progress of the excavations besides the fine fragments of 
 architectural sculpture we found a metal mask somewhat similar 
 to those discovered by of Dr. Schliemann, several patens and ewers, 
 also of metal, and an engraved tablet, read in one way by Professor 
 Sayce, and in another by Professor Zangemeister of Heidelberg 
 (the greatest European authority on Eoman inscriptions), also 
 another tablet in cursive character, not yet satisfactorily 
 deciphered, a large number of coins, bones, and pottery, and last, 
 not least, a teal's egg, evidently in the position laid by the bird 
 against one of the ruined pilasters of the bath in the decayed 
 vegetation that covered the scholce, satisfactorily proving that the 
 city of Aqiue Solis (Bath) continued for a lengthened period a 
 deserted ruin after its destruction A.D. 577 by the Saxons."
 
 THE NEW BATHS. 397 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE NEW BATHS. 
 
 If this volume should be honoured in future years by the 
 perusal of inquirers into matters of local history, some 
 " Fragment " may be looked for on the recent revival of the 
 use of the Bath Waters. It is well known that in early times 
 they caused successive races to settle here, that then after a 
 long and dreary period Fashion produced a great revival and 
 that another dark cloud in recent times of shorter duration has 
 been followed by the present signs of prosperity. All this is 
 well known, but perhaps fifty years hence some information 
 may be desired as to the prominent circumstances of the 
 present time and the more immediate causes of the 
 improvement ; to give some idea of these is my object in 
 this chapter. 
 
 It was through the middle decades of the present century 
 that the dark cloud to which I have alluded overshadowed 
 the city. Uamistakeable signs of depression were visible on 
 all sides, in every institution and in almost every business for 
 a considerable time. The Baths and Pump Room especially 
 presented a melancholy spectacle to those who were 
 acquainted with the traditions of former years. Not a few 
 citizens remembered how different was the scene as lately as 
 the second decade of the century, when royal and noble 
 visitors had not ceased to come to the springs. At the time 
 in question the Corporation were so discouraged that they 
 offered to let the most valuable property of the city 
 containing its staple commodity, the source of all its historic 
 reputation, the Springs with the Baths and Pump Room, 
 to the highest bidder. T\vo citizens were found to undertake,
 
 398 THE NEW BATHS. 
 
 with a courage rare in those days, the task of reviving the 
 fame of the Bath Waters ; but although the rent was moderate 
 they found that private enterprise was little more successful 
 than public management ; the short lease was not renewed 
 and the Civic Committee once more did what they could, 
 but in vain. 
 
 A similar tale, though perhaps not quite so mournful, could 
 be told of the Public Balls and Concerts. Nor is it necessary 
 to go so far back as the time of Beau Nash for a contrast. 
 My Sketches of Celebrities have given glimpses of what the 
 Assembly Rooms were when Mr. Bsckford and Walter Savage 
 Landor at different periods met their future wives in that far 
 famed rendezvous. But the time had now come when it 
 was necessary to dispense with a Master of the Ceremonies, 
 notwithstanding two or three spasmodic efforts, after the retire- 
 ment of General Jervois, to continue the office and maintain 
 the ancient prestige. So as to the Concerts and the Theatre ; 
 it is true that there were no Miss Linley and no Mrs. 
 Siddons to draw country squires and their families into the 
 city, and perhaps no Sheridan or Harington or Gainsborough 
 to lighten up society with their genius and wit. But what 
 may be called the occasional residents in Bath were mainly 
 of a different class from that of thirty, forty and fifty years 
 previously ; people of distinction who now suffered from 
 rheumatism, sciatica and gout went elsewhere to be cured ; 
 and though the waters were really as efficacious and the city 
 was as beautiful as ever yet Fashion had set up her throne in 
 other places and thither her votaries nocked. 
 
 Strange as it may seem, even the introduction of the 
 railway was prejudicial for a time. Bath had been noted for 
 its large amount of coaching and posting business ; the finest 
 teams and the smartest equipages had been seen in its
 
 THE NEW BATHS. 399 
 
 streets. No hotels had been better known and frequented ; the 
 York House for its quiet dignity and the White Hart for its 
 picturesque servants had been in great repute throughout the 
 country. Nevertheless stagnation came with the railway; 
 temporary of course but still desolating; part of the York 
 House was converted into a post office and the White Hart 
 was closed, what had so long been the scene of so much 
 animation became devoid of all interest except to those who 
 liked street cries and idle-looking groups. 
 
 It need not be supposed that in that dreary time nothing 
 was done to lessen the cloud. To the great credit of the 
 city the Park was made ; one of the last visits of royalty 
 that of the Princess Yictoria and the Duchess of Kent being 
 marked by the opening in 1 832. And from that time to the 
 present an energetic committee, have been supported by 
 the Public with more or less success in maintaining this 
 great attraction. Nor were other efforts wanting ; although 
 when the Theatre was burnt down, its interest had long been 
 sinking, a Company was yet formed to rebuild it, an account 
 of whose proceedings will be found in a future chapter. 
 Justice also should be done to the trading classes of Bath, 
 who undiscouraged by adverse times continued to excel their 
 brethren of other places in matters of taste and quality ; 
 for many years few streets in the West of England were 
 more attractive for the beauty of their shops than those in 
 the city of the Springs. 
 
 Still the Springs were comparatively deserted, and the city 
 failed to regain its reputation. At length the questions were 
 asked why it was so ? Could nothing be done to bring about 
 a better state of things ? Had not the baths become old and 
 shabby and unattractive ? Were they such as would allow 
 the variety of treatment required by modern medical science ?
 
 400 THE NEW BATHS. 
 
 And was it practicable to facilitate the use of them as had been 
 done at the Mineral Water Hospital by constructing new 
 ones within easy reach of the patients ? Eminent members of 
 the medical profession expressed strong opinions on all these 
 points, and partly on their suggestion the subject was discussed 
 at a meeting of the Town Council. Several circumstances were 
 then favourable. One has been referred to; the disuse of the 
 White Hart premises. Not only were those premises disused ; 
 they were an emblem of desolation unworthy of the city. As 
 they belonged to the Corporation it was thought there would 
 be little difficulty in obtaining consent to utilise the site for a 
 new bathing establishment. A great recommendation of the 
 plan was that the situation was close to the springs, immedi- 
 ately opposite the old baths and the Pump Eoom, of great 
 value for such a purpose, of jittle for any other. 
 
 At an early period of this discussion it was proposed 
 that either a boarding house or an hotel should form 
 part of the plan. Perhaps it will be allowable to repeat 
 here what was said by the Mayor at a meeting of the Town 
 Council in 1864 after notice had been duly given that the 
 subject would then be introduced. "Having thought much 
 lately," said the Mayor, " of the change Bath has undergone 
 I have come to the conclusion that we ought to make a 
 vigorous effort to revive its prosperity and that we cannot do 
 better than follow the old lines. They consist of making the 
 springs a more prominent feature, turning what is in fact our 
 staple commodity to larger uses, and increasing by every possible 
 means the number of visitors who come to be cured by them. 
 It seems to me that one of our great wants, next to a better 
 bathing establishment, is a building or range of buildings, 
 adjoining the springs so that invalids may enjoy their full 
 benefit. In the palmy days of our city the chief medical
 
 THE NEW BATHS. 4Q1 
 
 men made a great point of having their patients close to 
 the baths ; we read of Dr. Peirce's lodgings and Dr. Mayhow's 
 lodgings, which possessed this advantage, the doctors them- 
 selves living in them and giving constant attendance. It is 
 not expedient now to go into details ; but at our next 
 meeting I shall propose the appointment of a committed to 
 consider the subject fully and bring up a report ; now 
 I merely add that I hope the utilisation of the White 
 Hart premises will be a prominent feature and that what- 
 ever is done may be on a scale and in a style worthy of 
 the city." 
 
 This was in June, 1864. In July the Committee were 
 appointed and in August they brought up their report. 
 The recommendations were similar to those shadowed by the 
 Mayor and the discussion that followed was marked by much 
 unanimity. On a vote being taken thirty were in favour of 
 the scheme and only five against it, the minority arguing not 
 so much that nothing should be done as that other measures 
 were more needed by the city. But as in all similar cases 
 an opposition was soon organised outside the Town Council 
 by those who were unaccustomed to take large views of public 
 affairs. Especially were they alarmed at the proposed 
 expenditure of 0^30,000 for carrying out the scheme of new 
 baths and an hotel. For the Council considered that an 
 hotel would be preferable to mere boarding houses, and, if 
 of a high class, would be more conducive to the general 
 prosperity of the city. The opponents certainly urged with 
 considerable force that an hotel was too speculative an object 
 to be promoted by the Corporation out of the rates, although 
 the new baths might be legitimately within their province. 
 If I remember rightly the Lords of the Treasury on being 
 appealed to were of the same opinion. At all events the 
 A*
 
 402 THE NEW BATHS. 
 
 result was that a company was formed to carry out the hotel 
 part of the scheme and the Council voted the funds necessary 
 for the baths. Their Lordships sanctioned a loan of 10,000 
 towards the latter purpose, the estimated cost being 12,160 
 and the company agreed to raise a capital of 25,000 for the 
 erection and establishment of the hotel. 
 
 It was at first proposed that the hotel should be called 
 Bathforum House. The object was to link the present with 
 the past, the old Eoman Forum having been in the locality. 
 But the practical conclusion arrived at was that the title of 
 Grand Pump Room would be more appropriate as indicating 
 the object more completely. It can be easily imagined that 
 notwithstanding the favourable circumstances which have 
 been mentioned, there were many difficulties to be encountered 
 before progress could be made. Among them was the 
 restricted site ; large as it was, more space was required for 
 the two objects, and the Company had to purchase the 
 property between it and the corner of Westgate Street at a 
 cost of about 5,000. The Corporation had generously 
 appropriated for the hotel as much of the site of the old 
 premises as could be spared from the baths, on the principle 
 that such a building would increase the value of their 
 surrounding property and the general prosperity of the city. 
 Other difficulties as to the hotel scheme were connected with 
 the slow process of obtaining the requisite capital. Plans 
 had been adopted, architects appointed, property agreed 
 for, but at the end of a year only 15,000 out of the 
 .25,000 had been subscribed. After a little while, however, 
 more shares were taken and the deficiency was obtained, in 
 the usual way, by a loan on mortgage to be gradually paid off 
 at the rate of 150 per annum. 
 
 Three years had now passed since the subject was first
 
 THE NEW BATHS. 403 
 
 mooted in the Town Council. Not until August, 1867, were 
 the Public assured by the demolition of the White Hart that 
 the work would be really begun. Through the long interval 
 the Press of the city had been earnest and unanimous in 
 advocating the onward movement, and there is so much of 
 historic interest in an article of the Bath and Cheltenham 
 Gazette, referring to the demolition, that I introduce extracts 
 from it : 
 
 " A tangible step lias at length been taken towards carrying out 
 the long-talked-ofand much-agitated scheme for the erection of the 
 Grand Pump Room Hotel on the sifce of the old White Hart. Such 
 an intimation will be received with satisfaction by every burgess 
 who is capable of taking an enlarged view of the requirements of 
 the city, Nor will this satisfaction be less, when it is remembered 
 that the vexatious and disappointments experienced by the 
 promoters, almost from the outset, have been enough to dishearten 
 the most enterprising, or to cool the ardour of the most sanguine. 
 Their progress, if such it may be termed, has been indeed of a 
 Sisyphean character, for no sooner had they got their undertaking 
 to the top of the hill, than the machinations of their opponents 
 sent it tumbling to the bottom. Undaunted, however, by 
 difficulties, they persevered again and again, until they have 
 triumphantly planted their flag on the crumbling walls of the old 
 White Hart. 
 
 "The destruction of a familiar object like this is suggestive 
 of many considerations, and particularly of those that relate to the 
 past. A long and ncient history is attached to these premises 
 a history that carries us back to mediaeval times, and even to an 
 earlier period 1 Of all the vicissitudes which marked the progress 
 of the city, from time immemorial, the White Hart, or the Hart, 
 has been the silent witness. Changing itself with the requirements 
 of the times, it seems to have undergone various modifications, 
 until it became a building of mark in the city. In a survey made
 
 404 THE NEW BATHS. 
 
 in the latter half of the seventeenth century, the " Hart Lodgings " 
 is among the principal buildings delineated. It was then a three- 
 gable structure, quaint and picturesque-looking, much more 
 pleasing as seen on paper than the plain, formal elevation which 
 fe so familiar to the present generation. Nearly facing it stood 
 the church of St. Mary-le-Stalle, and between Cheap Street and 
 "VYestgate Street the thoroughfare was completely blockaded by 
 the Bear Inn, whose premises covered nearly the whole of the 
 present Union Street. This obstruction between the upper and 
 lower town, into which the city at a later period was divided, 
 occasioned great inconvenience, to which allusion is made in 
 Smollett's Humphrey Clinkei: In 1791, the Commissioners under 
 the Act which had been obtained for improving the streets and 
 thoroughfares, entered into negotiations with Mr. H. Phillott, the 
 owner of the Bear, for the purchase of these premises, and 
 eventually they agreed to give him the sum of 13.500 for the 
 same. Under this arrangement the Bear was swept away, Union 
 Street was built, and thus a direct communication was obtained 
 between the ancient and modern portions of the city. 
 
 " But this was only a fragment of the beneficial changes effected 
 by the Commissioners. After the Grand Pump Eoom had been 
 erected, it was found that the White Hart projected too far to give 
 anything like an adequate breadth to the thoroughfare, which was 
 now often occupied by the carriages of the gentry who frequented 
 this great focus of fashion. Hence arose the necessity of coming 
 to some terms with the owners of the White Hart by which 
 that building should be set back, and likewise made to harmonize 
 somewhat with Bath Street, then in course of section. The old 
 gabled front disappeared, as a necessary consequence of these 
 arrangements, and was succeeded by the one now in course of 
 demolition. 
 
 " This then became the second hotel in the city, and an object of 
 general pride to the citizens. The stage coaches, from far and 
 near, all stopped at the White Hart, and the whole establishment
 
 THE NEW BATHS. 405 
 
 presented a scene of great animation. Only those can realise it 
 who can look back to the time when might be seen the gaily- 
 painted coach, with its three or four reeking horses, sweeping 
 across the Old Bridge and rattling through the streets, the guard, 
 conspicuous by his scarlet uniform, blowing away lustily at his 
 horn. All was commotion in the hotel then ; previous arrivals 
 peered from the windows to see if they could recognize some friend 
 or acquaintance, while from the upper stories looked down the 
 domestics, with their clean Avhite caps, and snowy kerchiefs 
 crossed across their breasts, which made them look like members 
 of some charity school. But with the adyent of the railway all 
 was altered, and the magnitude of this change the proprietors 
 failed to realise. No effort was made to adapt the establishment 
 to the altered circumstances of the times ; it became more and 
 more deserted ; its management worse, and at length its doors 
 were finally closed. 
 
 "Everybody knows the subsequent history of the building what 
 a desolate, in-Chancery looking place it became how it was 
 regarded as a by-word and reproach and bow many were the 
 uses to which it was suggested it might be applied : but none of 
 which found general favour. The sole practical step taken was 
 that by which the Corporation obtained possession of the whole of 
 the premises, the Charity Trustees and the Batchellor family 
 giving up their portions in exchange for other property. 
 Unchanged, however, in its cheerlessness it still remained. The 
 only life in all the vast pile was the little that pulsated in that 
 small cavern called the coach office. And how long this dismal 
 state of things would have lasted had not the mind of the 
 Mayor suggested the advisability of utilising the site for the 
 erection of an addition to the city bathing establishments, in 
 conjunction with a modern first-class hotel, it would have been 
 difficult to say ; but this idea, when propounded, met with general 
 approval, and after undergoing various modifications to suit the 
 exigencies of circumstances, it was finally adopted. There is now
 
 406 THE NEW BATHS. 
 
 every probability of our having an hotel of which the citizens may 
 justly be proud, and a bathing establishment adequate to all 
 requirements." 
 
 The building was commenced in May, 1867, and opened 
 within two years. It had been found as the scheme advanced 
 that the proposed accommodation would be insufficient ; 
 the Company therefore resolved to enlarge it. For this 
 purpose the capital was increased to ,30,000 ; and two 
 subsequent enlargements of the building requiring a further 
 outlay were made, exclusive of a considerable expenditure by 
 the lessee at his own risk for houses in the adjoining street. 
 These were connected by corridors with the hotel and hand- 
 somely fitted up and furnished. Various circumstances had 
 induced the Company to grant a lease of the establishment 
 after some years of unsatisfactory experience of the original 
 plan. Whatever the qualifications of the succession of early 
 managers may have been they had failed, notwithstanding 
 a steady influx of visitors, to produce adequate pecuniary 
 results ; the dividends were small and uncertain and, although 
 quite the same could not be said of the attractions, it was 
 seen that they might be considerably improved. The 
 appointment of Mr. Radway as Manager was followed by 
 greater success, and after steady progress for some time he 
 proposed to take a lease on terms which, while enabling 
 him to work the hotel in a liberal spirit, would insure a 
 regular dividend to the proprietors. Those of the founders 
 who survive have the satisfaction of seeing their original 
 anticipations realised ; not only is the hotel with all its 
 enlargements and annexes constantly occupied but the flow of 
 visitors to the city, steadily increasing year by year, has 
 greatly revived its reputation. Nor has the gain been 
 confined to the spirited lessee; all the best hotels have
 
 THE NEW BATHS. 4Q7 
 
 profited by the improved state of things ; another of much 
 repute has been opened in a good situation ; private family 
 hotels have multiplied; houses and lodgings have been 
 better let. 
 
 Undoubtedly the new baths have conduced largely to these 
 results. But they were always an essential part of the plan 
 of revival. It was by combining the two objects of good 
 domestic accommodation and improved curative processes 
 that success was aimed at. Everyone who sees the beautiful 
 suite of baths adjoining the hotel, erected by the Corporation 
 in 1867, sees also what the city has gained in this respect. 
 Conveyed by a lift from the bedroom floors, the patient is 
 not subject to hazardous and comfortless exposure, while the 
 variety of baths, suited to various forms of complaint, is a 
 great advantage. An eminent physician acquainted with all 
 the best establishments in Europe states that he does noc 
 know one which equals this in comfort and efficacy. To 
 the range of ordinary baths, at the end of a spacious 
 corridor, was added a swimming bath of magnificent propor- 
 tions surrounded by dressing-rooms ; the architecture of the 
 entire building being worthy of the ancient city. 
 
 When two decades more had passed and faith in bathing 
 had kept pace with the discoveries of science another set of 
 baths was required to meet the new wants of the time. Two 
 members of different professions who knew those wants: 
 Mr. Freeman of the medical who had made the subject his 
 peculiar study, and Major Davis, the City Surveyor, greatly 
 devoted to it, both of whom had visited Foreign Spas were able 
 to give excellent advice. The result was an additional 
 building on the opposite side of the road for baths of the 
 Aix-les-Bains class, baths which are justly said to vie with 
 that famous establishment "in completeness, luxury and
 
 408 THE NEW BATHS. 
 
 modern appliances." This building was opened in June 
 1889, during the Mayoralty of Mr. Freeman by Her Royal 
 Highness the Duchess of Albany. An extract from Mr. Peach's 
 useful book Bath: Old and New, published the year 
 previously will show what was then intended and ultimately 
 accomplished : 
 
 " The system of continental treatment to which we have referred 
 is in connection with the "baths, known as the King's and Queen's 
 Baths. It will constitute an. entirely new department, the 
 approach to which will be from the old circular lobby by a 
 curved corridor leading into a cooling room, 42 feet long by 16 
 feet wide, lighted from the top. Out of this there are two baths 
 for the process known as the Aix-les-Bains Douche, 14 feet by 
 10 feet each, having two dressing-rooms attached, so that 
 bathers will not have so long to wait as in the old arrangement, 
 when there was only one dressing-room attached to each bath. 
 Also from this cooling room leads the Berthold Vapour Bath, 15 feet 
 by 11 feet, having two dressing-rooms attached, lighted above. 
 Also an Inhalation-room, 20 feet by 19 feet; a Pulverization-room, 
 18 feet by 19 feet. These rooms are lighted high up under arched 
 ceilings, and are tiled round, having handsome Eoman Tesserse 
 as flooring. The fittings and appointments are luxurious. A 
 staircase leads from a corridor out of this large cooling room, down 
 to the excavations of the old Eoman baths, the covering over of one 
 of which has been the subject of so much angry discussion. From, 
 this last-named Corridor there are four new Reclining Baths, each 
 about 10 feet square, and a Wildlad Bath of approximating 
 dimensions, and also two deep Baths, approached by steps similar 
 to those in the Royal Baths attached to the Grand Pump Eoom 
 Hotel." 
 
 It will be seen by the following list of Annual Receipts at 
 the Baths and Pump Room at intervals of five years how
 
 THE NEW BATHS. 409 
 
 greatly the use of the Bath Waters has increased in conse- 
 quence of the efforts for revival described in these pages. 
 Does it not also give ground for hope that the same policy, 
 contemplated with regard to the enlargement of the rump 
 Koom establishment, may be likewise followed by results 
 satisfactory to the city ? 
 
 1865 ... ... 1,668 9 10 
 
 1870 1,854 18 5 
 
 1875 2,699 14 9 
 
 1880 ... ... 2,717 17 
 
 1885 ... ... 4,970 3 6 
 
 1890 ... ... 7,117 18 8 
 
 1893 , 7,353 18 1
 
 410 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 
 
 No provincial theatre has been more remarkable than that 
 of Bath as a nursery for the best dramatic talent of the 
 country. It began to acquire this character after the middle 
 of the eighteenth century when the city was rapidly gaining 
 its high modern reputation. People of ample means came to 
 settle here in large numbers, wanting the amusement of the 
 theatre, some as a relief from ennui, others as a change from 
 the ballroom and the card table. Hence latent ability was 
 awakened ; encouragement was given to those whom nature 
 had endowed with special gifts, and while they by this 
 means rose to fame and fortune, local and national interests 
 Avere promoted. 
 
 At first one essential was sorely needed. Everywhere the 
 theatres of the day were of the most miserable description. 
 In Bath there was nothing worthy of the name until the 
 Palmers, father and son, exerted themselves to meet the want. 
 From the time of the Miracle Plays performed in the Churches 
 in the middle ages, lovers of the drama had struggled on with 
 no respectable place to meet in. 
 
 What was called a Play Room existed in Bath as early as 
 1705, but it is surprising that even then the place was 
 tolerated. It was under a ballroom, situated on the site of 
 the present Mineral Water Hospital and belonged to a certain 
 Lady Hawley who shared the profits after paying for "hand- 
 bells, music, attendants, performers and tallow candles." 
 But if the usual accessories were wanting, if there were no 
 proscenium or artistic scenery there were some aristocratic 
 pretensions ; the armorial bearings of the principal subscribers
 
 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 41 1 
 
 were painted on the walls, and it was found that people who 
 could sit in a cellar with their heads only four feet below the 
 ceiling could also endure the noise of dancers above and the 
 smell of tallow candles below. 
 
 At this time the Bath Corporation, with a view to insure 
 some respectability, undertook to grant licenses for rooms. 
 But when strolling companies came unexpectedly or special 
 application was made by citizens they were sometimes so 
 much at a loss as to allow part of the Guildhall to be fitted up. 
 This being found incompatible with civic dignity the lower 
 Assembly Rooms, which stood on the site of the present 
 Literary Institution, were utilised for performances until a 
 large room was found in Kingsmead Street and dignified 
 with the name of the New Theatre. 
 
 This ultimately became the Jews' Synagogue and continued 
 so until recent times, but before being so used the Bath 
 Journal of February 17th, 1747, announced that the "great 
 room of the Globe Inn, without Westgate, having been 
 made very commodious had been taken by the Bath Com- 
 pany of Comedians." It was there that an illustrious party 
 assembled in 1750, as reported by the same journal: 
 " Thursday in the evening their Royal Highnesses the Prince 
 and Princess of Wales, having drank tea at Ralph Allen's, 
 Esq., went to the Play and saw the Tragedy of Tamerlane 
 performed by Mr. Sinnett's company, at the command of 
 the Princess Augusta." 
 
 The Messrs. Palmer endeavoured to provide something 
 better than " the great room of the Globe." It happened 
 that a Mr. Hippisley, a London actor of some repute, died 
 soon after issuing proposals for the erection of a respect- 
 able house in Bath. The Palmers adopted his scheme, 
 built the theatre in Orchard Street, and opened it in 1751
 
 412 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 
 
 with the play of Richard III, but their rivals in " the great 
 room of the Globe " improved it and the amusements 
 so successfully that it was impossible to keep up the 
 competition. Much loss was sustained by both parties, and 
 in the end John Palmer bought up the shares of his 
 opponents in their undertaking, and secured the interests of 
 both houses for himself. Mr. Penley, to whose work on 
 the Bath Stage I owe these particulars, shows that there was 
 much encouragement to Palmer in the brilliant audiences 
 of the two preceding seasons at the two theatres, though 
 they were not large enough separately to make both succeed. 
 The record states that among the names of the visitors in 
 December, 1749, were "ten peers, nine peeresses, five earls' 
 daughters, fifteen baronets and knights, and altogether a 
 greater number of distinguished people than had been 
 known at any previous season," which is mentioned as a 
 proof that Bath was in a state to insure success to spirited 
 and well directed efforts. 
 
 And the Orchard Street Theatre did nourish through fifty 
 years. It was the first scene of that successful nursing of 
 dramatic talent to which I have alluded. There Mrs. Siddons 
 and her brothers first developed their powers ; also Henderson, 
 Elliston, Cooke and many others. There Sheridan met the 
 Linley family, for although the chief arena of the beautiful 
 sisters was the concert room they were always warmly devoted 
 to the drama. Within those walls the future orator learnt 
 many a lesson and not far from them he wrote his famous 
 comedies illustrative of the social life of Bath. That 
 John Palmer spared no effort to deserve success we have 
 seen in reviewing his life. As the audiences increased he 
 made additions to the theatre, and at the close of his career 
 the internal decorations had greatly improved. In his
 
 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 413 
 
 annual journeys to strengthen his company his judgment and 
 experience enabled him to select actors and actresses of 
 character and ability for the audiences at Bath and Bristol. 
 In those journeys it will be remembered his celebrated mail 
 coach scheme originated; the scheme itself, with all the 
 labour it involved, causing him eventually to relinquish his 
 connection with the drama and remove to London. 
 
 Towards the close of the century the accommodation in 
 Orchard Street was found very insufficient. There were times 
 when if the house had been twice the size it would have been 
 filled. As early as 1796 the erection of a larger building and 
 the removal to a better situation was seriously considered. 
 But the plan did not assume a practical shape until 1803-4 
 when a company was formed, the capital raised and Beauford 
 Square chosen as the site. It was carried out on the Tontine 
 principle, the subscriptions being readily taken up ; some by 
 the Prince of Wales, the Princess Charlotte of Wales and the 
 Duke of York, the Duke and Duchess of York being regular 
 annual visitors to Bath. Mr. Palmer had obtained a patent 
 for the Orchard Street Theatre some years before, which gave 
 it, amongst other privileges, the title of Royal, which was 
 transferred to the new building on the opening in 1805 ; so 
 that by means of good management, eminent performers and 
 a careful selection of plays, prosperity was again achieved 
 and the full credit of the " nursery " maintained. 
 
 After the varied fortunes of another half-century the 
 calamity, too common with many such buildings, befel the 
 Bath Theatre. On the 18th of April, 1862, the morning of 
 Good Friday, at half-past ten o'clock, smoke was seen to issue 
 from the roof and in less than an hour the entire premises 
 were burnt down. The present writer, walking into Batli 
 from the upper part of the town, and not knowing what had
 
 414 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 
 
 happened, reached the top of Gay Street to see the flames 
 rising fiercely above the houses below. People going to their 
 places of worship had a strange turn given to their feelings, 
 and many like myself could not be satisfied without stopping 
 to see whether total destruction was inevitable and how far 
 the adjoining property would be affected. Happily this was 
 very little injured ; nor was any life lost ; but the lessee was 
 uninsured, and the proprietors suffered considerably, having 
 had the policies much reduced two years previously. All 
 the attempts to ascertain with any certainty the cause of the 
 fire were unsuccessful. On the previous Wednesday night 
 the drama, " Peep o' Day," had been played, and it was at 
 first imagined that some wadding fired during the piece had 
 been left to smoulder among some dresses. But it was found 
 that all the dresses had been removed to Bristol immediately 
 the performance was finished, leaving, as the only other 
 ground of conjecture, the contiguity of a beam of an adjoining 
 brewery which might have ignited. 
 
 The prevailing feeling amongst the citizens of Bath was 
 one of doubt as to whether rebuilding was probable. Times 
 had changed ; Bath was not what it used to be, the Continent 
 with all its attractions had been opened, and many English 
 cities were now rivals of the Queen of the West. In addition 
 to these causes there was the later dinner hour, indisposing 
 people for evening entertainments, and, still stronger, the 
 altered religious proclivities of the age sternly forbidding any 
 countenance of the theatre. Still the intelligence and public 
 spirit of Bath, the belief that the drama ought to be, and 
 might be an elevating and purifying agency, would not allow 
 inaction at such a crisis. A public meeting was convened 
 by the Mayor, well attended, and addressed with much 
 earnestness, though for some time the practical results were
 
 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 415 
 
 tardy and insufficient. Then another meeting was called, 
 which, together with individual efforts, proved more successful, 
 so that the requisite capital, about 1 2,000 was subscribed, 
 the interests of the owners of the shell of the old theatre 
 purchased, and competition invited for the erection of a 
 new one. In this, it is well known Mr. Phipps succeeded, 
 gaining thereby a reputation extremely well deserved and 
 amply justified by the structures he has since built in almost 
 every part of the country. The new Bath Theatre was 
 opened on the 6th of March, 1863, with a very beautiful 
 presentment of the Midsummer Night's Dream, leading 
 parts in which were taken by the two Mr. Rignolds, Mr. 
 Robertson, Mr. Marshall, Miss Ellen Terry, Miss Madge 
 Robertson, and Miss Henrietta Hodson ; the lessee and 
 manager being Mr. Chute, who had been lessee and manager 
 of the old theatre, and filled the same offices at Bristol. 
 
 Mr. Penley has done such ample justice to the recent as 
 well as the former History of the Bath Stage that I need not 
 add particulars of the thirty years since 1863. This general 
 remark, however, may be added that the Theatre, in 
 common with other institutions, has profited by the revived 
 prosperity of the city, noticed in a former chapter, as the 
 consequence of public improvements. And having myself 
 filled, through the entire period since the rebuilding of 
 the Theatre, the office of Chairman of the Company, I 
 cannot withhold an expression of what is due to the present 
 lessee, Mr. Lewis, who has co-operated with the Directors 
 in every effort for maintaining the reputation of the 
 Theatre. Liberal in all that relates to decorative skill, 
 his aim as to the entertainments has been ever high and 
 pure ; he has spared no pains to engage attractive talent, and 
 while giving great variety he has shown his preference for the
 
 416 THE THEATRE ROYAL. 
 
 best ideals. In this respect he shares the feeling of the 
 great leader of dramatic taste, Mr. Irving, with whose words 
 at a recent Theatrical Fund Dinner I close this chapter : 
 
 " Surely, we have a drama which in its highest expression cannot 
 be charged with lack of humanity. It is the greatest glory of our 
 dramatic literature that it is the most broadly humanising 
 influence in the world. Sympathy, tolerance, serene and sustaining 
 wisdom are preached in the plays of Shakespeare as they have 
 never been preached in the pulpit. It was a wise man who said 
 that the professional moralist was moral by the strength of his 
 antipathies, but that Shakespeare was moral by the strength of his 
 sympathies. And the poet himself has put his gospel of humanity 
 into words which wear the stamp of immortal truth : ' The web 
 of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together ; our virtues 
 would be proud if our faults whipped them not, and crimes would 
 despair if they were not cherised by our virtues.' That is the 
 profound and intensely human lesson which is taught by the 
 drama, even in its humblest endeavour. And though it may not, 
 like the sister arts, be encouraged by subvention and charter, 
 though it may have still to contend against dulness and prejudice, 
 the stage will continue with ever-increasing dominion to play a 
 conspicuous and an honourable part in the history of civilised 
 mankind."
 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 417 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 In a former chapter on civic government it has been shewn 
 that there was a " Grieve " of Bath as early as the year 907. 
 It is believed that, notwithstanding the changes wrought by 
 the Norman Conquest, the Corporation, in some form, may be 
 traced back to that period. As the chief officers in Saxon 
 times presided over local courts of justice and the coinage of 
 money they must have had a building in which to transact 
 the necessary business. Mr. Irvine, whose knowledge of 
 Bath antiquities is considerable, mentions a tradition of a 
 mediaeval hall and suggests that what in later times was called 
 the Old Town Hall might have been added to it. This 
 building is said to have stood in the middle of the street, 
 nearer the Abbey Church than the present building, and to 
 have been surrounded by houses of which some idea may be 
 formed by those who have heard of the adjoining Wade's 
 Passage, which was demolished in the third decade of the 
 present century. 
 
 The Old Town Hall is sometimes called Inigo Jones's. 
 Mr. Earle thus designates it and gives the date of erection 
 A.D. 1625. But there are doubts as to whether the eminent 
 architect designed it, and certainly the drawings still to be 
 seen do not indicate his taste and skill. There is less 
 uncertainty respecting the origin of the present building 
 which succeeded it after a lapse of a hundred and fifty yews. 
 Great delay was caused at first in consequence of objections 
 to the plans. For nine years, from 1766 to 1775, a succession 
 of architects, including the younger Wood, who competed 
 twice, failed to satisfy the Corporation. Even Atwood, the 
 B*
 
 418 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 city architect, was set aside after having actually had his 
 plans adopted and receiving an order to carry them out. 
 Then came Baldwin, a man of undoubted genius ; in vain 
 did the economists of the day enter the lists against him on 
 the ground of increased expense ; in vain did they oppose 
 the sacrifice of houses which would have spoilt the site and 
 blocked the thoroughfare ; the Corporation were true to their 
 trusts of a city then becoming every year more beautiful. 
 Disregarding even the reproach of previous costly blundering, 
 which was fairly hurled against them, they earned the 
 gratitude of future generations and appointed Baldwin for 
 the work. 
 
 Both externally and internally there was much to commend 
 it The front facing the road is classical and handsome, in 
 harmony with the general architecture of the city. The 
 other fa9ade, adjoining the market, is more simply elegant, 
 but being obscured by surrounding buildings has never been 
 sufficiently appreciated. Of the interior the best that can be 
 said is that it fully answered the purposes of the time when 
 there was comparatively little work to be done and yet a 
 large amount of feasting. The most prominent features 
 are the entrance hall and the staircase leading to the 
 banqueting room and council chamber. The size, propor- 
 tions and decorations of the banqueting room make it one 
 of the most beautiful in the West of England. Mr. Baldwin 
 doubtless knew that the Bath Corporation were celebrated 
 for their civic dinners, and occasionally entertained the 
 highest personages of the land. It was soon after a banquet 
 given to the Prince and Princess of Wales that His Royal 
 Highness presented to his hosts the silver gilt cup and salver 
 which have graced their table ever since. To drink out 
 of the loving cup is still a ceremony duly honoured on
 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 419 
 
 important occasions, while the other presents of plate and 
 the fine historic portraits keep up the remembrance of former 
 times. The council room adjoining is also handsome and 
 well proportioned, but too small for a much enlarged 
 Corporation. 
 
 These rooms and the hall and staircase will remain 
 untouched in the new erection. The council room will be 
 used for committees and a larger built for the meetings of 
 the City Fathers. It has been the want of sufficient space in 
 all those parts of the Guildhall devoted to public business 
 which has rendered the new additions necessary. The work 
 of the Corporation, Magistrates, and other public officers has 
 increased very largely since Baldwin completed his structure. 
 There were then no County Courts, no Quarter Sessions, no 
 School Board meetings; the Corporation, the Magistrates, 
 the Committees, all had much fewer duties ; the Town Clerk, 
 the City Treasurer, the City Surveyor, the Watch and Police 
 Authorities have suffered, especially in recent years from 
 stinted accommodation. In January, 1891, the Magistrates 
 passed a resolution calling the attention of the Council to 
 the necessity of a better court for the administration of 
 justice. The Mayor in bringing the subject forward dwelt 
 on other great needs, caused by the increase of public 
 business, and proposed the appointment of a committee to 
 consider and report upon the various requirements. These 
 were found to be so numerous that after much deliberation 
 through several months, the Council resolved, with very little 
 difference of opinion, to build two wings, one for municipal 
 offices and another for technical education classes, provision 
 for whom had been lately entrusted to local bodies by the 
 Government. 
 
 The adoption of the plan of two wings was in accordance
 
 420 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 with special advice. At an . early period it was deemed 
 desirable to obtain the opinion on various points of some 
 architect of experience and reputation. The choice fell on 
 Mr. Young who had lately completed new Municipal Buildings 
 at Glasgow. Having visited Bath to inspect the site and 
 confer with the Committee he suggested two schemes. No. 1 
 provided Municipal Buildings on the south side of the 
 Guildhall, and Technical School Rooms on the north ; 
 No. 2, a block of buildings on the north to include both 
 objects and extending the entire length of Bridge Street. 
 The sites on both sides were in the hands of the Corporation 
 to a great extent, though neither would have been large 
 enough without some addition. Scheme No. 1 was adopted 
 as being preferable both on architectural grounds externally 
 and with regard to interior accommodation. 
 
 It has been stated that the Government had entrusted to 
 Town Councils the duty of providing for Technical Education. 
 Fortunately it had also granted means of meeting the expense 
 by a provision in the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) 
 Act, 1890, and the Bath Council had resolved to appropriate 
 its share of the funds to Technical Education. This would 
 meet gradually the cost of one of the wings, and was a great 
 inducement to the adoption of Mr. Young's more advantageous 
 scheme. Plans were then advertised for ; the competition 
 was to be open to architects generally, and the usual 
 premiums were to be awarded for the three best. Nineteen 
 were received and three selected, one as superior to any ; but 
 before the name of the successful candidate was ascertained 
 this motto only being known) it was necessary to learn the 
 cost of carrying out his plan. The estimate for the south 
 wing, which was to be the first proceeded with, was ^22,500, 
 exclusive of the architect's commission, also of properties to
 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 421 
 
 be acquired and of various contingencies, which it was 
 calculated would bring the amount up to 3 1,000. The 
 Council then finally resolved that the work should be 
 undertaken. The envelopes containing the mottoes were 
 opened ; Mr. Brydon of London was found to have earned 
 the first premium, Messrs. Burgess and Oliver of Bath the 
 second, and Mr. Silcock of Bath the third ; Mr. Brydon was 
 appointed. 
 
 The next step was to obtain the sanction of the Local 
 Government Board to the required loan, which was granted 
 after a visit of their agent to make due inquiries at a public 
 meeting. Much time was now required for specifications, 
 quantities and tenders, so that it was not until September, 
 1892, that the tenders could be opened. They ranged from 
 .27,823, by a distant firm, to ,22,253, by Hayward and 
 Wooster of Bath, and the lowest was adopted. The latter 
 sum was subsequently increased by .272 in consequence of 
 alterations. 
 
 At first an impediment arose which threatened much 
 trouble and delay; it was contended by those who had 
 opposed the scheme from the beginning, that the building 
 would be too near the Abbey and that the roadway would 
 be inadequate. The Council, though not seeing sufficient 
 force in the objections, endeavoured to meet them by 
 arranging that the wings should be set back several feet from 
 the line of the Guildhall, which was generally accepted at 
 the time as satisfactory. But the final result was that in 
 consequence of a wider dissatisfaction the plans were altered 
 to this extent, both wings were to be diminished in length and 
 the accommodation, which the abstracted space would have 
 given, was to be provided by a curtailment of those parts of 
 the market where the necessary projections would be made.
 
 422 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 The altered contract was signed in March, 1893 ; the 
 demolition of the old houses on part of the site was soon 
 effected, the strong foundations were put in by an army of 
 workmen, and the memorial stone duly laid by the Mayor on 
 the first of June. 
 
 The time seemed long between January, 1891, when the 
 Mayor introduced the subject to the Town Council and June, 
 1893, when the stone was laid, but compares favourably 
 with the nine years occupied in deciding on plans, &c., for 
 the existing building. The inscription on the stone is as 
 follows : 
 
 THESE MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS 
 
 WERE RENDERED NECESSARY 
 
 BY THE LARGE INCREASE OF PUBLIC BUSINESS 
 SINCE THE ERECTION OF THE CENTRAL BUILDING, 
 
 THE GUILDHALL, 
 
 ANNO DOMINI MDCCLXXV1I. 
 
 AND THIS MEMORIAL STONE WAS LAID 
 
 ON THE 1ST JUNE, MDCCCXCIII. 
 
 IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MAGISTRATES, 
 
 CORPORATION AND CITIZENS 
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CITY 
 
 BY JEROM MURCH, ESQUIRE, J.P., D.L. 
 
 SEVENTH TIME MAYOR OF BATH. 
 
 J. M. BRYDON, F.R.I.BA., 
 
 ARCHITECT. 
 
 JESSE HAYWARD AND EDGAR WM. WOOSTER, 
 CONTRACTORS. 
 
 JOHN STONE, 
 
 TOWN CLERK. 
 
 Here I could wish that this narrative should end. Some 
 
 personal considerations would certainly induce me to close it. 
 
 But the speaking in connection with laying the stone can 
 
 hardly be left unnoticed. It expressed what was felt by 
 
 he chief representatives of the city and county on an event
 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 423 
 
 of unusual interest and importance. And if I omitted certain 
 complimentary allusions I should lose an opportunity of saying 
 what is much in my mind at the close of life. It is this : 
 Any services I have been able to render have been amply 
 rewarded by the kindness of the citizens, their prompt and 
 generous support of some public objects, and their patient, 
 earnest co-operation through years of difficulty in others. 
 Let me merely add that there is no common satisfaction in 
 remembering how heartily and successfully men who differ 
 widely on other public questions have worked together in 
 whatever promoted the welfare of Bath. For these reasons 
 I subjoin a few extracts from the local journals describing the 
 proceedings of a memorable day : 
 
 " It was a brilliant day for the ceremony, and the scene was 
 animated. Round the boarding of the site fluttered flags and 
 bannerets, flags were on the churches and public buildings, and 
 the Abbey bells pealed. On the level of the stone was erected 
 a large platform, and there was space on the lower level of the 
 enclosure for several hundreds, which as soon as the public gate 
 was opened rapidly filled. Sightseers gathered outside the 
 boarding to watch the passage of the procession from the Guildhall, 
 and from surrounding windows and roofs, particularly the battle- 
 ments of the Abbey, others looked down upon the whole scene. 
 The Bath Military Band played for half-an-hour previous to the 
 arrival of the procession, and its music was an effective finish to 
 what may be called the ensemble. 
 
 The Mayor was punctual. The Alhalie processional march was 
 struck up just on the stroke of noon, showing that the procession 
 had left the Guildhall, where the invited guests had met. . 
 reached the site by a kind of triangular route, Guildhall sergeants 
 with the ancient staves in front, then the Mayor's officer, then 
 the robed mace-bearers with the gleaming maces, nexl 
 Mayor, in scarlet gown and gilt chain and the cocked hat of a
 
 424 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 deputy lieutenant of the county, after him the Town Clerk, the 
 Recorder, Judge Caillard, and Mr. Watts as Clerk of the Peace 
 all robed, the two judicial functionaries in full-bottomed wigs 
 and the last with the smaller wig ; next the Lord-Lieutenant of 
 the county, the City Members, the Mayors of Bristol and 
 Chippenham, wearing their chains of office; Canon Brooke in 
 black gown ; and then a line of Aldermen, Councillors, 
 Magistrates, officials and citizens. 
 
 " As soon as his Worship had taken up his position opposite 
 the stone, he was approached by 
 
 " Aid. Marshall, who, as senior Councillor, said : It having 
 been decided after full consideration to provide the necessary 
 accommodation for the transaction of our municipul business, by 
 the erection of additional buildings, I, as the senior member of 
 the Council, on their behalf, have much pleasure in asking your 
 Worship to lay the memorial stone. 
 
 " The ex-Mayor, Mr. J. S. Turner said : The privilege of being 
 associated with the senior member of the Council in seconding his 
 request that your Worship should proceed now to lay the 
 memorial stone of the New Municipal Buildings, is one I highly 
 appreciate, especially when I bear in mind the arduous, untiring 
 and unremitting attention with which you have pursued the 
 accomplishment of this object mainly one of your own 
 conception during a period extending over two years. You saw 
 the necessity caused by the greatly increased wants of the city and 
 remembered that at no distant date an extension of our municipal 
 boundaries might render the present structure still more 
 inconvenient. To no living person are the citizens of Bath more 
 indebted than to yourself for the true development of her 
 municipal institutions, for the advancement of her material 
 interests and the assistance given to all movements having for 
 their object the promotion of her social or literary prosperity. It 
 is therefore appropriate that your name should be indissolubly and 
 for all time connected with this historic event in our city's annals,
 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 425 
 
 which you are now requested on behalf of the Council and the 
 citizens to undertake. 
 
 " Then the ceremony took place. The great block of stono was 
 hanging by a pulley, the stone beneath containing a cavity for the 
 deposit of a sealed bottle, in which were copies of local papers, 
 with a programme of the intended proceedings, and an account of 
 the reasons for erecting the building engrossed on a parchment 
 scroll. The latter statement was prepared by Mr. B. H. Watts, 
 and also contained a list of the Corporation and the City officials. 
 The Mayor was presented by the architect with a silver trowel, 
 hammer, and spirit level, with which to perform the ceremony. 
 The trowel, which was the gift of the architect, Mr. J. M. Brydon, 
 had an ivory handle and enclosed within a beautifully engraved 
 border were the city arms and a conventional inscription. The 
 level made of ivory and mounted in silver was also engraved 
 with the Bath arms and the date of the ceremony and on the 
 polished ebony head of the mallet (which had an ivory handle), 
 was a silver plate with the city arms. These were presented by 
 the contractors. His Worship proved himself to be no dilettanti 
 workman, but spread the mortar with vigour, the onlookers 
 watching the process with interest. When sufficient cement had 
 been laid down the stone was slowly lowered, and came down true 
 to the building line. ' I declare this stone to be well and truly 
 laid,' said the Mayor, after giving it the customary taps with the 
 mallet, and then the Abbey bells rang out a brief and joyous 
 peal. This, over, the Mayor resumed : 
 
 "My Lord Cork, the Kecorderof Bath, his Honour Judge Caillard, 
 Col. Murray, Mr. Wodehouse, ladies and gentlemen, and my 
 fellow citizens, in addition to the very simple formula which I 
 pronounced just now, that this stone was 'well and truly laid,' 
 I beg to add a few words. I wish to say I believe the entire 
 foundation of this building to be thoroughly good and true. I 
 have observed it from the beginning with great interest and 
 satisfaction. I have seen the wise care of the architect, the
 
 426 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 substantial work of the contractors, and the constant industry of 
 the workmen. What has been already done appears to me a 
 ground of reliance for the good completion of a noble structure, 
 worthy in all repects of this ancient city. Bath has long needed 
 more space for the transaction of public business ; better courts for 
 the administration of justice, and freer scope for various objects in 
 which the citizens are concerned. I remember also that we build 
 not only for the present, but for the future ; we care for those 
 who will come after us ; they will inherit our great trust of 
 those wonderful springs which are still flowing undiminished 
 either in quality or quantity. By means of these springs, Bath 
 has no common place in English history. By their means it 
 became what it now is, and may become still more important. 
 For 2,000 years they have been known as a precious gift from the 
 Giver of all good, and so long as He continues the blessing ought 
 those who have the charge of it to make their civic policy corres- 
 pond to it. Let that policy, gentlemen, be wise and generous ; 
 let human skill and public spirit come in aid of the bounties and 
 beauties of nature ; then who shall assign a limit to the prosperity 
 of Bath 1 I rejoice that I have lived to see the day when this 
 responsibility is more deeply felt. I take the part in the present 
 ceremony with which the Corporation have honoured me, sincerely 
 thankful for the great privilege I enjoy. I rejoice to be surrounded 
 by those who have worked, and will, I am sure, continue to work, 
 faithfully for the public good ; and I trust that through many far 
 distant years the building we now begin will conduce largely to 
 the welfare of our beautiful city. 
 
 " Mr. Folkard, the Recorder of Bath, said he was very pleased 
 to have the opportunity of being the first to congratulate the 
 Mayor on the successful manner in which he had performed the 
 task of laying the foundation stone of the new Municipal Buildings 
 and he was glad to see so representative and distinguished a 
 company to give countenance to this ceremony. It was an event 
 that would mark a new epoch in the history of the city. He had
 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 427 
 
 no doubt that when the Guildhall was first erected it was found 
 to be sufficient for the requirements of the Corporation in those 
 days. But times had changed. Having referred to the crowded 
 state of the Sessions Court at present when any sensational case 
 came on, the bad ventilation and the almost intolerable condition 
 of the atmosphere, the learned Recorder said this new building 
 would, he hoped, be one worthy of the city. A building, he 
 trusted, that would be well-ventilated, and one that would not 
 have the banqueting room at the top of the Sessions Court, for 
 this was the chief error in the present one. He hoped, in this 
 new building, all these evils and these difficulties would be 
 removed, and that they would have a convenient and well 
 ventilated building, suitable for all purposes of the administrative 
 duties of the Corporation. The administration of justice was of 
 the highest importance, and they ought to have a fitting court for 
 the magistrates and those whose duties required them to attend 
 the Quarter Sessions. He hoped, in conclusion, that this building 
 would be worthy of the city, and that it might remain for ages 
 to come a memorial of the wisdom and foresight of the Mayor 
 and Corporation of this city. 
 
 " The Earl of Cork, Lord-Lieutenant of Somerset, hoped on the 
 present occasion to have remained a silent witness to one of the 
 most interesting ceremonies in which he had ever taken part. It was 
 something like thirty years ago when he had the pleasure of 
 sitting side by side with their worthy Mayor to welcome the British 
 Association into this city. That was, he believed, the first occasion 
 on which he (the Mayor) held that high position, which lie had 
 filled so worthily as to have been elected to the office no less than 
 seven times. To Mr. Murch he thought they were very much 
 indebted for the present prosperity of the city. He was the 
 originator of those magnificent new baths, the leading spirit in 
 bringing forward once again before the public those monuments 
 of the skill of ancient Romans, and also, as his reference to the 
 subject showed, the Mayor hoped to see a day when this city as 
 a health resort would become more frequented than ever.
 
 428 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 
 
 " His Honour, Judge Caillard, went straight to his own depart- 
 ment of the new building, and tersely expressed the three desiderata 
 of the new court to be as follows to be able to see clearly, to 
 breathe freely, and to hear easily. But he did not linger over the 
 subject, and the rest of his remarks he devoted to a warm 
 commendation of the city : 
 
 " I have seen three beautiful cities Florence, Edinburgh, and 
 Bath each differing from the other two, each with lovely beauties 
 of its own, and I think I am not saying too much if I say that even 
 against the other two Bath fully holds her own. There is another 
 city which it has not been my good fortune to see of which the 
 imaginative Italian had said ' See Naples and then die.' I 
 should say the motto more applicable to Bath is ' See Bath, taste 
 its healing waters, and then live and do well.' One word only 
 will I add. Those engaged in the administration of justice are 
 anticipating that they will enjoy a better court, but I think I may 
 say, as one amongst others^ that when the time comes for us to 
 remove into the new courts we will still have a good feeling for 
 our old friend the Sessions Court in which we have worked for 
 many years. We will say, ' Good-by, we have done a good work 
 together ; now we go to a better place.' 
 
 " Mr. Wodehouse, M.P., said : In the presence of so many 
 gentlemen whose time and thought and labour have been directly 
 and lavishly devoted to the subject which is the occasion of this 
 ceremony, I feel how slender are my own claims to speak a word. 
 But I may be allowed to congratulate the Mayor and Corporation 
 and the Citizens of Bath generally upon the interesting and, from 
 a civic point of view, upon the memorable and historic character 
 of the proceedings in which we are engaged. Finis coronal opus 
 ' the end crowns the work,' and if in one sense the laying of this 
 stone is only the beginning rather than the end, yet in another 
 sense it is an end. Because it is the practical end of the stage of 
 deliberation and discussion upon places and sites and schemes, 
 and it marks the transition from the province of thought and 
 speech to the province of art and execution. There has been much 
 discussion in the past as to this particular scheme, and I would say
 
 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 429 
 
 this to the citizens of Bath, who have shown how critical they may 
 be that when there is a question of adding an ornament, either 
 of art or of architecture, to their city, they do well to be critical 
 and fastidious. For this reason, that the beauty of their city, 
 naturally and architecturally, is one of their most precious 
 possessions, and they are bound, equally by gratitude to former 
 generations who have made this city beautiful, and by regard 
 for generations who will come after them, to take every 
 precaution that the fair lineaments of the Queen City of the 
 West are not disfigured or spoiled. Because after all a thing 
 of beauty is a joy for ever only on condition that it be not 
 spoiled, and I therefore congratulate you all upon the prospect 
 of possessing a building which critical eyes may contemplate with 
 pleasure while it will greatly facilitate the transaction of your 
 public business and promote the comfort and convenience of all 
 who may be engaged in the transaction of your common civic 
 affairs. Your Municipal Buildings are the outward and visible 
 sign of the continuity of your civic life, and I say that a city which 
 has, I believe, been in possession of a Municipal Charter from the 
 time of Eichard I ought to mark its pride in the inheritance of 
 ancient rights and liberties by the grace and dignity of the 
 structure that is at once both the shrine and the emblem of its 
 ancient privileges. One word more and only one. We all know 
 the city of Bath has had many ups and downs since King Bladud's 
 time, and all who have studied its records are familiar with the 
 fact that after periods of decline and depression the revival of the 
 city has been due to the energies and exertions of individual men, 
 public-spirited citizens of Bath. For instance, I may mention the 
 names of Ralph Allen, the great architect Wood, whose works of 
 genius delight us every day when we walk through this city ; and 
 to the name of a celebrity of a different kind, and that is the 
 name of Beau Nash. And I say with regard to the race of public- 
 spirited citizens who in their day have contributed largely to the 
 prosperity of the city, that they are not extinct at this hour, and 
 you can have no better or more striking illustration of that race 
 of men than the present Mayor of Bath. On various grounds no
 
 430 THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS.- 
 
 man can have a better claim to lay the memorial stone of this 
 building. He has that claim not only in virtue of the energy and 
 zeal with which he has conducted this particular work an energy 
 and zeal never slackened by the weight of four score years, nor 
 even by the heavier and more depressing burden of domestic 
 sorrow but over and above that the honour and privilege of 
 laying this stone are due to him by the long and most honourable 
 record of all his previous services to the city of Bath. Therefore, 
 it is most fitting his name should be associated with this work 
 which in a human sense is for all time. As a last word I would 
 simply express the hope that all who have been connected in any 
 way with this building, from the Mayor, the architect, and the 
 contractors, down to the lowest and youngest workman or manual 
 labourer will have the reward of feeling that they have contributed 
 to a good and long enduring work which will entitle them to the 
 respect and gratitude of future generations. 
 
 " Colonel Ford said, as senior magistrate, he was glad to have 
 the opportunity of making a few remarks on that occasion. He 
 referred to the inconvenience and discomfort of the present 
 Sessions Court, spoke of the time when the magistrates brought 
 the matter under the notice of the Mayor, and thanked his 
 Worship for doing what he had for the magistrates. 
 
 " Canon Brooke then offered up a special prayer, asking for a 
 blessing upon the work, and that the building now commenced 
 might grow to a perfect completion, with safety to all who should 
 labour in the work and for the lasting benefit of those for whom 
 it was designed. He further prayed that a spirit of wisdom and 
 a sound mind might be granted to all who should therein direct 
 the municipal affairs of the city, and that the law of justice might 
 ever be faithfully and rightly administered in the new buildings."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX TO PAGE 43. 
 
 ADDITIONAL EARLY MAYORS. 
 
 In my sketch of the Early Mayors I was glad to express my 
 obligations to Mr. Austin J. King and Mr. B. H. Watts for their 
 valuable book, The Municipal Records of Bath. The debt has now 
 been increased by the kindness of Mr. Watts in giving me the 
 results of more recent researches in the Muniment Room at 
 the Guildhall and the discovery of many Mayors not previously 
 mentioned. It is remarkable that Mr. Warner who gave many 
 proofs of painstaking in his history should have overlooked the 
 documents containing the information. By him, however, the 
 innumerable musty Leases and Conveyances would not be opened 
 with such keen Interest as they were by Mr. Watts. There were 
 some points of chronology on which even the Deputy Town 
 Clerk could not satisfy himself without consulting authorities, and 
 we are both indebted to the learning and courtesy of Mr. Martin 
 of the Record Office for solving the difficulties. 
 
 Mr. Watts has also discovered additional early members of 
 Parliament and corrected a few other mistakes in Warner's 
 history. One of these was the insertion of Thomas Ash and 
 John Court as Mayors in 1583 and 1587, they having filled the office 
 of Recorder. It has been a question whether AVilliam Sherstou 
 served so often as his son-in-law, William Prynne, states eight 
 times, the common idea being that it was only seven. The latter 
 number accords with the discoveries of Mr. Watts, four years being 
 accounted for in the subjoined list and three in the list at the end 
 of my chapter on the Early Mayors. Prynne's calculation may 
 have been based on the idea that the nomination in the Charter of 
 Elizabeth, 1590, and the subsequent election by the burgesses 
 involved two distinct services, which was not the case. May I
 
 432 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 add, however, that sensible as I am of the honour of frequent 
 re-election I could have gladly yielded the palm to so patriotic 
 and persevering a citizen as William Sherston. 
 
 It may be remembered that Warner's list of Mayors begins 
 with the year 1412, and ends with 1799, two years before the 
 publication of his book. But between 1412 and 1615 there are 
 frequent omissions ; Mr. Watts, while supplying not a few of 
 these, gives many names with dates so far back as 1280, and 
 seven without dates from deeds of about the same period. His 
 additions are 92 ; at the head of the dated names I have 
 placed John Duport, discovered by Mr. Eiley and referred to in 
 my sketch in Mr. Eiley 's words as " the very earliest mention of 
 a Mayor of Bath," though it does not appear in Mr. Warner's list. 
 These additions make the total number of years accounted for 
 382 ; the former time of municipal government in Bath, of 
 which there are no definite records, having been traced back to 
 the Saxon period. 
 
 MA TOES OF BATH. 
 
 Dates not known but supposed to be late in the thirteenth or 
 early in the fourteenth century. 
 
 Stephen de Devysea 
 Thomas Sweyn 
 William Sleh 
 William Serrel 
 
 Nicholas the Clerk 
 Gilbert the Tailor 
 Roger de Dichegate 
 
 NAMES WITH ASCERTAINED DATES. 
 
 John Duport 
 
 
 .. 1230 
 
 Roger Cole 
 
 
 133G 
 
 Henry the Tailor 
 
 
 . 1280 
 
 Roger Oft 
 
 
 1339 
 
 William the Cook 
 
 
 .. 1293 
 
 Roger Oft 
 
 
 1340 
 
 William Serrel 
 
 
 .. J305 
 
 Roger Oft 
 
 
 1341 
 
 Adam Wytsone ... 
 
 
 .. 1310 
 
 William Cubbel 
 
 
 1342 
 
 William the Cook 
 
 
 .. 1310 
 
 John de Wyk 
 
 
 1343 
 
 John the Fisher 
 
 
 .. 1316 
 
 William Cubbel 
 
 
 1344 
 
 Richard Wytesone 
 John Cole 
 
 
 .. 1317 
 .. 1326 
 
 Alexander le Deyghar .. 
 Alexander le Deyghar .. 
 
 
 1345 
 1346 
 
 JohndeWyke 
 
 
 .. 1327 
 
 Thomas Scote 
 
 
 1351 
 
 Roger Cole 
 Roger Cole 
 
 
 .. 1330 
 .. 1331 
 
 Walter le Carpenter 
 John Gregory 
 
 
 1353 
 1354 
 
 William Swayn 
 
 
 .. 1332 
 
 Robert le Deyhar 
 
 
 1359 
 
 Roger Cole 
 
 
 .. 1333 
 
 Walter le Carpenter 
 
 
 1360 
 
 Roger Cole 
 
 
 .. 1335 
 
 John Gregory 
 
 
 1361
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 433 
 
 John Gregory 
 Robert Wattes 
 John Nation 
 William Rous 
 Robert Westpray 
 Thomas Plomer 
 Roger Testwode 
 Ralph Hunt 
 Richard Wydcombe 
 William Hogekyn 
 
 ... 1362 
 ... 1371 
 ... 1379 
 ... 1392 
 ... 1393 
 ... 1398 
 ... 1406 
 ... 1408 
 ... 1418 
 ... 1435 
 
 John Sachfild 
 John Walley, jun. 
 William Sherston 
 William Sherston 
 Thomas Fytche 
 John Sachenld 
 William Chapman 
 William Heathe 
 William Moreford 
 John Sachfilde .. 
 
 ... 1587 
 ... 1588 
 ... 1589 
 ... 1590 
 ... 1591 
 ... 1592 
 ... 1593 
 ... 1594 
 ... 1595 
 ... 15% 
 
 Robert Rogers 
 
 ... 1474 
 
 William Heath 
 
 ... 1597 
 
 John Davys 
 
 ... 1553 
 
 William Sherston 
 
 .. 1598 
 
 Mr. Trauncys 
 George Pearman 
 
 ... 1^68 
 ... 1571 
 
 John Chapman ... 
 John Sachfeild 
 
 ... 1599 
 ... 1600 
 
 John Wyatt 
 
 ... 1572 
 
 Thomas Power 
 
 ... 1601 
 
 William Cavell 
 
 ... 1574 
 
 William Heath 
 
 ... 1602 
 
 Thomas Turner 
 
 ... 1575 
 
 William Sherston 
 
 ... 1603 
 
 George Pearman 
 
 ... 1576 
 
 Christofer Stone 
 
 ... 1604 
 
 George Pearman 
 John Wyatt 
 
 ... 1577 
 
 ... 1578 
 
 Walter Chapman 
 John Parker 
 
 .. 1605 
 .. 1606 
 
 Thomas Bushe 
 
 ... 1579 
 
 Thomas Wiatt 
 
 . 1607 
 
 William Shareston 
 
 ... 1580 
 
 William Clifte 
 
 . 1608 
 
 William Waley 
 
 ... 1581 
 
 John Sherston 
 
 . Ki09 
 
 George Perman ... 
 
 ... 1582 
 
 John Sachefield 
 
 . 1610 
 
 John Chapman ... 
 
 .. 1583 
 
 Christopher Stone 
 
 . 1611 
 
 William Shareston 
 
 ,. 1584 
 
 John Wood 
 
 .. 1612 
 
 John Walley, senr. 
 Thomas Fitche 
 
 ... 1585 
 ... 1586 
 
 Richard Gay 
 John Cutt 
 
 .. 1613 
 .. 1614 
 
 From such Council minutes as are extant it appears that the 
 Mayor, who was, under the Charter of Elizabeth, elected in 
 September, was considered to remain in office until his successor 
 had been sworn in. 
 
 The year in the above list, so far as regards the Mayors from 
 1553 downwards, is the year in which they were elected. It 
 would seem from the Chamberlain's accounts that the Charter of 
 Elizabeth, which is dated 4th September, 1590, changed the date 
 for the election of Mayor. Down to 1592 the Chamberlain's 
 accounts appear to have been made up to Lady-day and were 
 presented in May or June. In 1593 a year and a quarter's 
 accounts to Midsummer were passed on 10th September. In 
 subsequent years the accounts were presented in October, 
 apparently on the day when the newly-elected Mayor was sworn 
 in. If the practice which was followed from 1 594 obtained before 
 that date it would seem that the Mayor was elected in May, all 
 the Chamberlains accounts except one-that for 1572-3, which 
 C*
 
 434 APPENDIX. 
 
 was passed on 20th May, 1573 having been presented in June. 
 The list of Mayors before 1553 has been compiled from deeds in 
 the possession of the Corporation, and all that can be said is that 
 the Mayors were in office the years stated, but whether elected or 
 retiring in such years cannot be determined It will be noticed that 
 there are two Mayors entered for the year 1310 Adam Wytstone 
 was in office in February of that year and William the Cook in 
 December of the same year. 
 
 MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT 
 
 Mentioned in early Corporation Deeds and Minutes. 
 
 1573. George Peannan. 
 
 Edward Babor. 
 1583. George Peannan. 
 1590. John Walley, Senior. 
 1593. William Sherston. 
 
 Mr. Price. 
 1598. William Sherston. 
 
 Mr. Heath. 
 1602. Ditto. 
 
 APPENDIX TO PAGE 384- 
 
 MR. WILLIAM LONSDALE, 
 The First Curator of the Bath Museum. 
 
 While this last sheet is passing through the Press, a relative of 
 Mr. Lonsdale inquires whether that gentleman will be included 
 in my " Sketches." Unfortunately the plan of the book was not 
 sufficient for the purpose, but on referring to what was said in my 
 account of the Literary and Scientific Institution I feel that in 
 aiming at brevity I failed to do justice. For certainly such 
 valuable services as the first Curator of the Institution rendered to 
 the city demanded more than the^mere passing mention which 
 they received in that chapter.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 It is some satisfaction that more was said in a chapter on 
 " Science in Bath," which I contributed in 1888 to the Handbook 
 published for the use of the British Association on their visit 
 here. The following is an extract : " In connection with the 
 department of Natural Science at the Institution, the name of 
 William Lonsdale ought always to be honoured. He worked 
 unceasingly several years, first in founding the collection by large 
 gifts of his own specimens and then in accurately arranging them. 
 In 1825 he presented to the Institution 1159 specimens, including 
 290 fossils and 69 land and fresh-water shells. While the nea 
 labels are interesting souvenirs of Lonsdale's personality, the 
 names on them indicate an important stage in Geological science." 
 
 I am now enabled, by the kindness of Major Lonsdale, a 
 great nephew, to add a few particulars of personal history. 
 William Lonsdale was born in Bath, September 9th, 1794, 
 baptised in St. James's Church, and probably educated in the 
 city. At the age of fifteen he received a commission in the Array, 
 and subsequently fought in two memorable battles, Salamanca in 
 1812 and Waterloo in 1815. Keturning home in 1816, he was 
 placed on half-pay, and devoted himself, at his mother's house at 
 Batheaston, to the study of Geology. There is a family tradition 
 that the impulse was given by a conversation which he heard in 
 a public library in Bath between two ladies on the discovery of a 
 remarkable stone. From that time until 1826, when he became 
 honorary curator of the Bath Museum, he was engaged in studying 
 the science and in forming the collection which he presented to 
 the Institution. 
 
 His energetic and self-sacrificing work soon interested the most 
 eminent Geological leaders ; especially were Professor Sedgwick 
 and Sir Roderick Murchison desirous of obtaining for the nation 
 the benefit of his services. By their influence he was invited to 
 transfer them to the rooms of the Geological Society in London, 
 which induced him to break away from the ties he had formed at 
 Bath. In his new sphere he continued many years till his death,
 
 436 APPENDIX. 
 
 collecting, studying, arranging, writing ; and every year he gained 
 fresh accessions to his list of distinguished friends. Still his 
 habits were so retiring and his health, in later years, so precarious 
 that he was little known either in social circles or at public 
 gatherings. Not even when the British Association came to Bath 
 in 1864 could he be persuaded to visit the scene of his early 
 labours and mingle with his friends. 
 
 The regard which was widely cherished for him is happily 
 shewn by some interesting letters preserved by his family, which 
 I have been kindly allowed to read. Those of Sedgwick, 
 Murchison and Charles Darwin reveal not only their high opinion 
 of Lonsdale's scientific acquirements but their sincere friendship 
 and personal sympathy. For Murchison he would have the 
 charm of being to the last greatly interested in military matters, 
 delighting to " fight his battles o'er again," and show the medals 
 he had won at Salamanca and Waterloo. How Darwin valued 
 him may be seen in two characteristic notes which I am allowed 
 to introduce. Unfortunately the years are not given ; they were 
 probably in the seventh decade of the century. 
 
 "DOWN, BROMLEY, 
 
 "KENT; May 6th. 
 "My DEAR LONSDALE, 
 
 " I received your letter with as much surprise as from one 
 dead ; for it so happened that 3 or 4 nights ago I was thinking 
 about you and I saw you as plainly as in the old days in your 
 little room at the Geolog. Soc. I was thinking how I could 
 learn any news of you. I am sorry at the poor account that you 
 give, and I know how long and how much you have suffered. I 
 had quite forgotten about the coral, but I now remember its 
 appearance. Your MS. is arrived and I am fairly astounded at 
 the labour you have bestowed on the subject. It seems a very 
 great pity that such labour should be wasted. Had I not better 
 send the specimen and MS. to the Geolog. Soc. to be printed or 
 kept in the archives 1 It might be of extreme use to any one 
 working on the subject.
 
 APPENDIX. 437 
 
 " I have myself been ill for the last 9 months, but am slowly 
 recovering and hope still to do a little work in Nat. History. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Lonsdale, I shall ever remember your 
 uniform kindness to me in old long past days, and our many 
 pleasant conversations. 
 
 " I remain yours 
 
 " Very sincerely, 
 
 "CHARLES DARWIN." 
 
 "DOWN, BROMLEY, 
 
 " KENT, S.E. ; Feb. 1st. 
 i( MY DEAR LONSDALE, 
 
 "It was very kind of you to send me such hearty 
 congratulations and the newspaper. Our son's success, as you 
 may believe, has delighted us. It was a pleasure to me to see 
 your handwriting again and it is very little altered from old times. 
 I am very sorry to hear so poor an account of your health. What 
 a life of suffering you have led ! You speak of Sedgwick in your 
 letter ; I hear from my son that though he looks extremely old, 
 he seems cheerful, and talks to a wonderful degree. He has at 
 last given up lecturing, and it is a pity, from all I hear, that he 
 did not take this step earlier. 
 
 "My own health is considerably better, and though not free 
 from discomfort I am able to do a fair share of work in Natural 
 History. I have just published a rather large book on the 
 variation of domesticated animals and plants ; but I do not think 
 it would interest you, even if you had strength to read it. 
 
 " I shall always retain very pleasant recollections of our former 
 intercourse, and I earnestly hope that your health may cause you 
 less suffering. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Lonsdale, 
 
 "Yours very sincerely, 
 
 "CHARLES DARWIN."
 
 438 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Aberdare, Lord 255, 258, 262, 263 
 
 Beckford 
 
 288, 322 
 
 Ablett 28 
 
 0, 281, 286 
 
 Bellott 
 
 50,51 
 
 Albany, Duchess of ... 
 
 ... 408 
 
 Birch, Walter 
 
 ... 270 
 
 Accoucheurs 
 
 ... 131 
 
 Birde, Prior ... 
 
 49 
 
 Adrian, Cardinal 
 Adelard 
 
 ... 50 
 ... 31 
 
 Bishops of Bath and Wells ... 33 
 Bladud, Prince 2 
 
 Agricola 
 Akemannesceastre 
 
 10,28 
 6 
 
 Blessington, Lady 
 Blometield, Rev. L. (see 
 
 ... 286 
 Jenyns) 
 
 Allen, Ralph 
 
 89,178 
 
 Boccaccio 
 
 ... 279 
 
 yElphege 
 
 18, 21, 23 
 
 Bonner 
 
 ... 112 
 
 yElsig 
 
 ... 28 
 
 Bonnet 
 
 .. 290 
 
 Alwood 
 
 ... 417 
 
 Boroughs, Origin of ... 
 
 35 
 
 Amelia, Princess 
 
 ... 84 
 
 Bowles, W. L. 
 
 . 380 
 
 Ancaster, Duke of 
 
 ... 313 
 
 Boyce, Dr. ... 
 
 .. 312 
 
 Anstey, C. ... 
 
 .. 242 
 
 Bradshaw 
 
 65 
 
 Antoninus 
 
 6 
 
 Brewster, Sir D. 
 
 .. 160 
 
 Armstrong, Archy 
 
 ... 64 
 
 Brinkworth ... 
 
 .. 373 
 
 Arthur (King) 
 
 ... 17 
 
 Britten 
 
 46 
 
 Athelstane ... 
 
 2025, 34 
 
 Broadhurst, Rev. T. .. 
 
 . 151 
 
 Athenaeum 
 
 ... 227 
 
 Brooke, Canon 
 
 .. 430 
 
 Atterbury, Bishop ... 
 
 ... 207 
 
 Browne, R. Wilson 
 
 .. 369 
 
 Auckland, Lord 
 Augusta, Princess 
 Austen, Jane 
 
 ... 32 
 .. 411 
 ... 243 
 
 Bruce, John 
 Bruce, Knight 
 Brydon, J. M. 
 
 55 58, 61 
 . 346 
 .. 421 
 
 
 
 Brymer, Archdeacon ... 
 
 .. 356 
 
 Baines, Bishop 
 
 .. 215 
 
 Brymer, James 
 Buller, Charles 
 
 . 356 
 .. 262 
 
 Baines of Liverpool 
 Baldwin 
 
 ... 112 
 ... 418 
 
 Burgess and Oliver 
 Burke, Edmund 
 
 .. 421 
 10 
 
 Barbauld, Mrs. 286 
 Barbara, F. ... .. ... 205 
 Barker, Benjamin .. ... 199 
 Barker, Thomas ... ... 192 
 Barker, T. Jones ... ... 201 
 Barlow, Dr 140, 369, 379 
 Barrett, Dr. ... ... ... 238 
 
 Burleigh, Lord 
 Burnet, Bishop 
 Burney, Dr. ... 
 Burney, Frances 
 Busby, Dr. ... 
 Byron, Lord ... 
 
 50, 51 
 ... 121 
 ... 312 
 ... 243 
 ... 312 
 276, 292, 296 
 
 Bartolozzi 
 
 ... 194 
 
 
 
 Barton House 
 
 ... 39 
 
 Caillard, Judge 
 
 .. 428 
 
 Bath Abbey Church ... 
 Bath Abbey Library 
 Bath and W. of E. Society 
 Bath Artists ... 
 
 44,49 
 ... 67 
 133, 138 
 .. 202 
 
 Calphurnia ... 
 Campbell, Lord 
 Campbell, Sir W. 
 Campbell, Thomas 
 
 ... 15 
 .. 112 
 ... 265 
 ... 335 
 
 Bath, a Saxon Burg 
 
 ... 35 
 
 Canute 
 
 26,27 
 
 Bath Concerts 
 
 149, 159 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas 
 
 ... 284 
 
 Bath Corporation 
 
 ... Ill 
 
 Carlton, Sir D. 
 
 ... 204 
 
 Bath, Marquis of 
 
 ... 52 
 
 Carte, Rev. T. 
 
 206, 215 
 
 Bath Mint 
 
 20, 25 
 
 Csesar 
 
 8 
 
 Bath Monastery 
 Bathurst, Lord 
 
 ... 20 
 ... 291 
 
 Carpenter, Dr. W. B. 
 Carteret, Sir P. 
 
 .. 385 
 61,62 
 
 Baue, Dr. 
 
 72, 151 
 
 Chaucer 
 
 ... 39 
 
 Bear Inn 
 
 ... 464 
 
 Chandler, Mary 
 
 ... 124 
 
 Beauclerk, Lady 
 
 ... 284 
 
 Chandos, Duke of 
 
 ... 180 
 
 Beaufort, Duke of 
 
 ... 310 
 
 Charles II 
 
 56, 344 
 
 Beau Nash ... 21, 
 
 8088, 354 Charlotte, Princess . 
 
 266, 413
 
 INDEX. 
 
 439 
 
 Chatham, Lord 289 
 Chandler, Rev. H. ... ' 207 
 Chapman family ' 345 
 Chesterfield, Lord ... '. 88 
 
 Empson ... ^ 
 Errington, Archbishop 
 Essex, Earl of 47 
 Ethelreda \ 
 
 Cheyne, Dr. 121 
 Chilcot, T. ... ... ".' 310 
 
 Ethelred '.'.'. .".', [\\ 2(5 
 
 Chillingworth .. 204 
 Claudius ... 8 
 
 Falconer, Dr. R. W. .. 128 356 
 
 Clarendon, Lord 
 Clarke, Sir Andrew ... "237 
 Cleveland, Duke of 390 
 Clifford, Bishop ... ... 223 
 Cogan, Dr 130134 
 
 Falconer, Dr. T. ' i'>7 
 Falconer, Dr. W. 
 Falkland, Lord '.". 72 
 Fielding ... . 89,221,243 
 Fitzgerald, Lord E. .. . 255 
 Flaxman ... ... i$4 t 281 
 
 Cogan, Rev. E 134 
 Coke, T. W ,. ]66 
 Coleridge ... ... 271 276 
 Colvin, Sidney 268, 271, k74, 284 
 Collingridge, Bishop ... ... 220 
 Conybeare, Professor ... 25 
 Cossham, Handel ... ..385 
 
 Fleming, Canon ' 939 
 Folkard, Mr. (Recorder) .'.' 426 
 Fonthill ... 292, 294, 2%, 307 
 Ford, Col .. 430 
 Forster, John 268, 269, 272, 284 
 Fox, C. J. ... ... 255, 274 
 Fox, Hon. H. 257 
 
 Cork, Earl of ... 390,424,427 
 Cowper ... ... ... 194 
 Courtenay, Lord ... ... 291 
 
 Fraser, Mrs. ... '". 12, 386 
 Freeman, Mr. (Bath) ... ... 407 
 Freeman, Professor ... ... 22 
 
 Crabb, George ... ... 380 
 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver ... ... 65 
 Cruttwell, R.... ... 126, 249 
 
 Gainsborough .. 182 
 Garrick ... ... 312 
 
 Cunningham, Allan ... 182, 186 
 Cunliffe, Sir F 197 
 
 Danish Invasions ... ... 24 
 Darwin, Charles ... ... 436 
 
 Gay, Mr. (Gay Street) ... 353 
 Geoffery of Monmouth ... 2 
 George III 156, 266, 331 
 George IV ... .. 136 
 Gibbes, Sir G. ... 135, 380 
 
 Davis, Major 5, 389, 395, 407 
 
 Gibbon ... 302 
 
 Davy, Sir Humphry ... 382 
 De Ros, Lady .. 265 
 
 Gibson, Milner ... ..135 
 Gilbert, Sir Davies 384 
 
 Dickens, Charles 243, 284 
 
 Gilpin, W 248 
 
 Disraeli, B. ... 135, 201, 233, 235 
 
 Gladstone, Mr. ... ... 228 
 
 Dispensaries, Bath ... ... 375 
 Divines, Four ... 203, 286 
 Dixon, Captain 373 
 
 Glastonbury ... ... 22, 29 
 Glory of Regality 21 
 Godfrey, Bishop ... ... 29 
 
 Dixon, Rev. J. M 374 
 Donaldson. Walter ... ... 332 
 
 Gore, R. T 142,369 
 Gough, J. B 239 
 
 Donors to Bath Abbey ... 50 
 Donne, Dr 57, 58 
 
 Goulburn, Dr. 230 
 Graves, Rev. R. ... ... 194 
 
 Domesday Book ... ... 27 
 
 Gray 245 
 
 Duncan, P. B. ... 10, 388 
 Duncan, J. S. 12, 388 
 
 Greaves, Sir E. ... 70, 71 
 Green, Emanuel 348 
 
 Dunstan 18, 21, 23 
 
 Griffin, Gerald 332 
 
 Dunster Castle ... ... 65 
 
 Grimthorpe, Lord 177 
 
 Dyrham 17 
 
 Guidott, Dr 6878 
 
 
 Guilds, Ancient ... ... 35 
 
 Earle, Professor 3, 10, 18, 35, 247, 417 
 
 Gurney, Russell 185 
 
 Eastlake .. 194 
 
 
 Edward I ..38 
 
 Hadrian 13,28 
 
 Edward III .. .. 300 
 
 Hales, John 203 
 
 Edwards, R. P. ... ..240 
 
 Hamilton, Duke of 288 
 
 Eleanor of Provence ... .. 38 
 Elliott, Mrs 52, 213 
 
 Hamilton, Duchess of... 
 Hamilton, Col. ... 290,291,293 
 
 Elwin, Hastings ... ... 368 
 Elyot, Sir T. ... ... ... 77 
 
 Hamilton, Lady 
 Handley, Rev. E. ... 373,874
 
 440 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Hare, Francis 
 
 278,286 
 
 Jomini 
 
 ... 259 
 
 Hare, Julius ... 
 
 .. 281 
 
 Jones, Dr. J. 
 
 69 
 
 Harington, Sir J. 
 
 40, 53 
 
 Jorden, Dr. E. 
 
 71,72 
 
 Harington, Dr. H. 
 Harington, Sir E. 
 Hartley, Dr. 
 
 143, 249 
 ... 193 
 ... 119 
 
 Kelston 
 Kemble Family 
 
 . 145 
 327-336 
 
 Hastings, Lady E. ... 
 Hawkins, Sir Caesar ... 
 
 ... 353 
 . 145 
 
 Kemble, Rev. C. 
 Kenrick, Rev. J. 
 
 210, 216, 370 
 ... 252 
 
 Hawarden, Viscount ... 
 
 97, 222 
 
 Kilvert, Rev. F. 
 
 ... 98 
 
 Hawley, Lady 
 Hay ward, Dr. 
 Havward & Wooster ... 
 
 ... 410 
 ... 254 
 ... 421 
 
 King, Austin J._ 
 King, Bishop Oliver ... 
 King Edward's School 
 
 37, 178, 431 
 49,50 
 ... 352 
 
 Hazlitt, W. 
 
 ... 279 
 
 Kingsley, Rev. C. 
 
 ... 232 
 
 Hedley, Dr 
 
 225, 226 
 
 Kirkup 
 
 ... 279 
 
 Henry VIII 
 Henrietta, Queen 
 Herschel, Caroline 
 Herschel, Sir W. 
 
 41, 146, 221 
 59 
 ... 158 
 152157 
 
 Lamb, Charles 
 Landor, Charles 
 Landor, W. S. 
 
 .. 281 
 ... 286 
 177, 267 
 
 Herschel, Sir J. 
 Hervey, Lord A. 
 Hill, Commissioner ... 
 Hill, Rowland 
 Hippisley, Mr. (London) 
 Hoare H. 
 
 ... 161 
 ... 33 
 .. 168 
 . 116 
 .. 410 
 353 
 
 Lanfranc ... ... ... 'f 
 Langdale, Lord 259 
 Langley, Dr. 269 
 Lansdowne, Lord ... 196 380 
 Lanthony ... ... ... 273 
 Laud ... 33. 56-64, 206 
 
 Hoare, W. 
 
 ". 188 
 
 Lawrence, Sir T. 
 
 191, 201, 353 
 
 Hoare, Prince 
 
 ... 190 
 
 Lear, King 
 
 4 
 
 Hoare, Sir R. C. 
 Hogarth 
 
 ... 254 
 183 
 
 Leckie 
 Lefanu, Mrs. ... 
 
 ... 279 
 318, 320, 329 
 
 Horner, Sir J. 
 Hospital, St. John's ... 
 St. Catherine's 
 
 ... 145 
 38,339 
 ... 351 
 
 Leicester, Earl of 
 Leighton, Sir F. 
 Leinster, Duke of 
 
 ... 47 
 .. 202 
 ... 255 
 
 Mineral Water 
 Bellott's 
 
 ... 350 
 353, 363 
 
 Leland 
 Lennox, Lady Sarah . . 
 
 2, 21, 30 
 255, 266 
 
 Royal United 
 Homoeopathic 
 Casualty ... 
 Houghton, Lord 
 Howard, Cardinal 
 Hugelinus . ... 
 Humane Societies 
 
 ... 365 
 ... 375 
 367, 370 
 ... 279 
 .. 226 
 31 
 .. 132 
 
 Leofric 
 Leo XII 
 Leo XIII 
 Lewis, William 
 Linacre, Dr. ... 
 Linley Family 
 Linley, Miss 
 
 ... 18 
 217, 219 
 .. 236 
 .. 415 
 .. 76 
 .. 310 
 .. 309 
 
 Hunter, Rev. J. 
 14, 228, 252, 340, 341, 378 
 Hunter. Dr. Julian ... ... 254 
 Hunt, Leigh ... ... 279 
 Hyde Serjeant ... ... 66 
 
 Lockart 
 Long(R.A.) ... 
 Long, Walter 
 Long, W. 
 Lonsdale, W. (Bath) ... 
 Louis Philippe 
 
 .. 284 
 .. 202 
 ... 315 
 253, 356, 358 
 384, 434 
 ... 201 
 
 Institution, Bath 
 
 11, 377 
 
 Louis XVIII 
 
 ... 258 
 
 Irving, J. T. 
 
 416 
 
 
 
 Irvine 
 
 ;" 417 
 
 Macaulay, Lord 62,177 
 
 , 215, 219, 243 
 
 
 
 Macready 
 
 ... 332 
 
 James I 
 Jardine. Rev. D. 
 
 51,52 
 .. 252 
 
 Magee, Archbishop ... 
 Mail Coaches ... 
 
 .. 229 
 ,. 101 
 
 Jay, Rev. W. 
 
 .. 208 
 
 Mainwaring, Capt. R. 
 
 .. 366 
 
 Jekyll, Sir Joseph 
 
 .. 353 
 
 Malins, Vice-Chancellor 
 
 ... 347 
 
 Jenyns, Rev. L. 
 
 .. 381 
 
 Malone 
 
 4 
 
 Jernegan ... ... .. 208 
 John de Villula 2632, 33, 34, 40 
 
 Manvers, Earl 
 Maplet. Dr. .. 
 
 378, 379, 386 
 70 
 
 Johnson, Dr. ... 
 
 75 Marshall Alderman ... 
 
 .. 424 
 
 Jolly 
 
 40, 358 Martin (Record Office) 
 
 ... 431
 
 INDEX. 
 
 441 
 
 
 PAGE. ( 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Maskelvne, Prof. 
 Masters of St. John's . 
 
 ... 356 
 ... 346 
 
 Pelhain Family 
 Periley, Belville 105, 
 
 ... 189 
 :J13, 327, 412 
 
 Mathews, Capt. 
 
 ... 314 
 
 Pepya 
 
 
 Mayhow, Dr. 
 
 74, 401 
 
 Phipps, '. J. 
 
 '.'. 415 
 
 Mayors of Bath 
 
 . 32-43, 431 
 
 Pierce, Dr. ... 
 
 74, 401 
 
 Medici, Marquis de 
 
 270 
 
 Pierrepont ... 
 
 ... 114 
 
 Melbourne, Lord 
 
 '.'. 283 
 
 Pilling 
 
 73 
 
 Members for Bath 
 
 ... 38 
 
 Piteairn. Dr. 
 
 ... 121 
 
 Memorial Stone 
 
 ... 422 ! Pitt. Elder and Yomi-ei 
 
 
 Mendip Mines 
 
 ... 52 91, 95, 96, 107, 
 
 183,271, 2S!> 
 
 Miller, Lady 
 
 ... 245 Pius IX 
 
 -2i> 
 
 Mitchell (C.E.) 
 
 ... &56 j Plautius 
 
 ~15 
 
 Moore, Charles 
 
 169, 385 Ponipeia 
 
 8 
 
 Moore, Gen. Sir J. 
 
 2-i5,257 Pope Alexander 
 
 97, 121 
 
 Moore, Thomas 
 
 . 316, 318, 380 Powlett, Lord 
 
 ... 193 
 
 Monkland 
 
 . 136, 148, 243 
 
 Poynton, Rev. J. J. ... 
 
 48, 49, 145 
 
 Montague, Bishop 
 Montague, Sir H. 
 
 . 4452. 213 
 ... ' 50 
 
 Priestley, Dr. 
 Prior Park 
 
 .. 126 
 219, 221 
 
 Montaigne 
 
 ... 240 
 
 Princess of Wales 
 
 4 
 
 More, Hannah 
 
 ... 335 
 
 Pring, Dr. ... 
 
 ... 143 
 
 Municipal Records 
 Munk, Dr. ... 
 
 37, 431 
 ... 137 
 
 Prynne, W 
 Pultenev, Hon. W. . 
 
 39, 40, 54 
 ... 354 
 
 Murch, Arthur 
 
 5 Puritan Divines 
 
 ... 57 
 
 Murray, Col. 
 
 ... 425 i 
 
 
 Murray, John 
 Murray, Sir G. 
 
 ... 274 
 
 ... 260 
 
 Queen Elizabeth 37, 46-48, 101 
 Queensbury. Duchess of 84. 290 
 Queen Charlotte ... 200,331 
 
 Napier, G., C. and H. 
 Napier, Lady 
 
 .. 265 
 
 . 260,263,265 
 
 Queen of George II ... 
 
 ... 207 
 
 Napier, Sir C. 
 
 ... 264 
 
 Radcliffe, Dr. 
 
 . 83 
 
 Napier, Sir VV. - . 
 Nash, Beau ... 
 Nelson, Lord... 
 Newman, Cardinal 
 
 255, 284 
 21, 80, 178, 180 
 ... 297 
 .. 226 
 
 Had way, Mr. 
 Redding, Cvrus 
 Reginald Fitz-Jocelin ... 
 Iteinbrandt 
 
 .. 40fi 
 .. 288 
 341-344 
 .. 197 
 
 New Municipal Buildings ... 417 
 Nicolai, Monsignor ... ... 219 
 Normanby, Lord ... .280, 287 
 
 Revnell, Sir R. 
 Richmond, Duke of ... 
 Riley, H 
 
 . 73 
 
 255, 257 
 30,37 
 
 Norman, George 
 
 . 142, 367369 
 
 Robert, Bishop 
 
 29, 341 
 
 Norman, James 
 
 ... 367 
 
 Roberts Dr. ... 
 
 ... 244 
 
 Norman Period 
 
 ... 26 
 
 Robinson, Crabb 
 
 279, 281, 334 
 
 Nugse Antiquse 45, 47 
 Offa 
 
 48, 51, 145, 151 
 18, 20, 340 
 
 Roebuck, J. A. 
 Rogers (Cannington) ... 
 Rogers, Lady 
 
 ... 261 
 ... 146 
 
 4(5, 49 
 
 Olaf 
 
 , 24 
 
 Rogers, Rev. S. 
 
 ... 148 
 
 Oliphant, Mrs. 
 Oliver, Dr. W. 
 
 .. 314 
 ". 123,224,227 
 
 Rosebery, EarJ of 
 Royal Visits to Bath ... 
 
 ... 103 
 76 
 it 
 
 Orators, Noble 
 
 ... 240 
 
 Rufus 
 
 ... J* 
 
 Oriel College 
 Orlando Furioso 
 Osric 
 Ostorius 
 Overstone, Lord 
 
 '.. 55, 56, 57, 67 
 ... 46 
 .. 18, 19, 340 
 15 
 135, 354 
 
 Sackville, Lord 
 Salisbury, Marquis of 
 Saunders, E. 
 Savage, Sir Arnold ... 
 Sayce, Professor 
 
 .. 313 
 ... 236 
 
 ... 239 
 
 284 
 
 Palmer, John 
 Parr, Dr. S. ... 
 
 . 101, 327-330 
 251, 324 
 137 
 
 Sawle, Lady. 
 Saxon Chronicle ... 
 Scarth, R*v. H. M. ... 
 
 37 
 
 iMMi 
 
 Parry, Dr. ... 
 Parry, Dr. C. H. 
 
 .'.'.' 139 
 
 i < t 
 
 Schliemann, Dr. 
 
 ... tftjD 
 
 Parry, Sir E. _ 
 
 loy 
 
 a K ono O-<ft 9.1fi 
 
 25, 48, 271, 
 
 276, 284, 335
 
 4i2 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Scribonius ... ... ... 9 Truro, Lord ... 
 
 ... 347 
 
 Scudamore, Lady ... ... 364 Tunbridge Wells 
 
 84, 87 
 
 Sed*wick, Professor ... ... 167 Tun Moot 
 
 ... 37 
 
 Shaw, Col 204 Turner, Dr. W. 
 
 68, 78 
 
 Sharpe, Samuel ... ... 135 Turner, J. S. ... 
 Sheridan Family Turner, Sir G. 
 
 ... 41'4 
 ... 340 
 
 114, 188, 243, 312, 325, 326, 412 
 Sherston, W.... 39, 55, 50, 431 Vathek 
 
 .. 305 
 
 Shockerwick ... ... 185 Vaughan, Rev. R. A. 
 
 211 
 
 Shum, F. 78, loo, 188, 193, 199, 284 Vespasian 
 
 10 
 
 Sibthorpe, Dr. ... 129 
 Sidnev, Lady ... 45 
 Siddons, Mrs. ... 324, 327 3SG 
 
 Victoria, Princess 
 Vivian (Claverton) 
 
 5,399 
 ... 98 
 
 Silcpck,T.B. ... 4-21 Wade, General ... 90.91.92 
 
 Sknne.H. D. 98 Waller Prior 
 
 3*2 
 
 Smith, Ur. W . ... ... 163 Wilier. <; w 
 
 7'} 
 
 Smith, Rev. Stafford ... ... 97 
 
 Walker, Dr. 
 
 /O 
 
 237 
 
 Smollett ... ... ... 243 
 Soden, J. ... ... 141, 369 
 
 \Valmesley, Dr. 
 Walpole, Horace 
 
 ... 228 
 245, 311 
 
 Solsbury .. ... ... 2 
 Somerset, Lord Fitzroy ... 258 
 Somerschall, Dr. ... ... 74 
 
 Warburton, Bishop 89, 91, 97 
 Warner 9, 14, 35, 30, 
 Watson, Dr. J. 
 
 , 99, 222 
 247, 366 
 
 1 19 
 
 Southey 197, 198, 270, 274, 270, 281 
 South, Sir James 161 
 Soult, Marshal ... 257, 2o9 
 Spackman ... ... ... 192 
 Sparke, Michael ... ... 59 
 Stafford, Lord ... ... 63 
 Stanley, Dean ... ... 162 
 Stanhope, Earl ... ... 271 
 Star Chamber ... 49, 5963 
 Stoker, Miss ... 3J8, 322 
 
 Watts, B. H. 37, 178, 425, 431 
 Webb, Mr 16 1 
 Webster, Capt. ... 82 
 Wells 28,29,30 
 Wellbeloved, Rev. C. ... ... 252 
 Wellington, Duke of 
 257, 260, 263, 264, 05, 304 
 White Hart ... ... 400 
 Widcombe Bridge ... ... 372 
 Wilberforce '>m 
 
 Stone, John 52, 422 
 Swainswick ... ... 6, 55, 65, 67 
 
 Wild, Cardinal 
 William III 
 
 .. 224 
 81,82 
 
 Sweyne ... ... ... 26 
 
 William of Malmesbury 
 
 30 
 
 Tacitus ... 10, 19, 80 
 Tavistock, Lord ... ... 245 
 Taylor, Jeremy .. 206 
 Taylor, W. (Norwich) 271 
 Temple. Lord ... ... 189 
 Tennyson, Alfred ... ... 284 
 Thackeray ... ... ... 247 
 Theatre Royal ... 101, 105, 410 
 Thicknesse, Philip ... 183, 187 
 Thierry ... ... ... 28 
 Thomas a Becket ... ... 342 
 Thomas (Prior Park) ... ... 222 
 
 Willis, Dr 83 
 Wiltshire (Shockerwick) ... 185 
 Winwood, Rev. H. H. 169, 171, 172 
 Wiseman,' Cardinal .. 217, 219. 302 
 
 Wodehouse, E. H. .. 
 Wolsey, Cardinal 
 Wollaston, Dr. 
 Wood, The Elder .. 2, 
 Wood, The Younger .. 
 Wordsworth, W. 
 Wren, Sir C. ... 
 Wyfofhiath 
 
 ... 423 
 32,77 
 ... 382 
 177,223 
 ... 177 
 276, 281 
 ... 181 
 ... 39 
 
 Thompson i Prior Park) ... 222 
 Thompson, Archbishop . 231 
 Thuillier Miss . 273 
 
 Xenoclochium 
 Xenophon 
 
 ... 340 
 ... 265 
 
 Tickell, Mrs 313-317 
 
 Yates, Rev. J. 
 
 52 
 
 Times ... ... 229, 230, 23:1 
 
 York. Duke and Duchess of 
 
 ... 413 
 
 Tottenham, Rev. E. ... ... 232 
 
 Young, Mr. (Architect) 
 
 ... 420 
 
 Trevelyan, Sir J. ... ... 96 
 
 
 
 Trevor, Sir J. ... ... 345 Zangemeister, Professor 
 
 ... 396
 
 BATH: 
 
 I'HIKTED AT THE HERALD OFFICE, 
 XORTH GATE.
 
 A 000034880 5