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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
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THE 
 
 CONNECTION OF BATH 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 LITERATURE AND SCIENCE 
 OF ENGLAND: 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 READ BEFORE THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 
 
 ASSOCIATION OF THE BATH INSTITUTION, 
 
 ON NOVEMBER B, 1826. 
 
 BY THE REV. JOSEPH) HUNTER, F.S.A 
 
 l^\ 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE INSTITUTION, 
 AND NOTES ON THE PAPER, 
 
 WRITTEN IN 1853, BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 " Et nos aliqiiod nomenque decusque 
 Gressimus."— ViBG. 
 
 BATH : R. E. PEACH (POCOCK'S LIBRARY), 8, BRIDGE STREET. 
 LONDON : J. H. PARKER, 377, STRAND. 
 
 1853. 
 

 TO 
 
 JAMES HEYWOOD MAKKLAiND, Esq. 
 D.C.L., F.R.S. AND F.S.A. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT OF 
 
 THE BATH LITERARY CLUB, 
 
 THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS INSCRIBED 
 
 IN RECOGNITION 
 
 OF HIS MANY VALUABLE SERVICES TO LITERATURE, 
 
 A FRIENDSHIP WITH THE AUTHOR WHICH WAS BEGUN AT BATH, 
 
 \ND HAS CONTINUED UNDISTURBED 
 
 THROUGH MORE THAN FORIV YEARS. 
 
 m3680?5 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/connectionofbathOOhuntrich 
 
LIST OF THE MEMBERS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE BATH LITERARY CLUB, 
 
 FOUNDED 1852. 
 
 James Heywood Markland, Esq., President. 
 
 Handle Wilbraham Falconer, Esq., M.D. 
 Vice-President and Treasurer. 
 
 Ralph Allen, Esq 
 
 Thomas Brabazon Aylmer, Esq. 
 
 Robert H. Brabant, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Philip Caddell, Esq. 
 
 Major Frederick Clerk. 
 
 William Davies, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Rev. John Bathurst Deane, M.A. 
 
 George Drury, Esq. 
 
 Rev. Francis Kilvert, M.A. 
 
 William Long, Esq., M.A. 
 
 John Finch Mason, Esq. 
 
 Charles T. Maud, Esq. 
 
 Cteobge Monkland, Esq. 
 
 David Richard Morier, Esq. 
 
 John Morris, Esq. 
 
 Rev. Jerom Murch. 
 
 Rev. William Luke Nichols, M.A. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 William Maynard Pinder, Esq 
 
 Rev. Edward Duncan Rhodes, B.D. 
 
 Harry Ralph Ricardo, Esq. 
 
 Captain W. W. Ross. 
 
 Philip C. Sheppard, Esq. 
 
 Rev. Harry Mengden Scakth, M.A. 
 
 John Smith Soden, Esq. 
 
 John Soden, Esq., Jun. 
 
 James Watson, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Thomas Sanden Watson, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Andrew Kippis Watson, Esq. 
 
 HONORARY MEMBERS. 
 
 The Yen. the Archdeacon of Bath. 
 Charles Hall Clarke, Esq., M.D. 
 Philip Bury Duncan, Esq. 
 The Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A. 
 Thomas Jeans, Esq., Jun. 
 George Yivian, Esq. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I. The Royal Literary and Scientific Institution of 
 
 Bath, its Origin, &c. ..... 1 
 
 II. A Paper on the Connection of Bath with the 
 Literature and Science of England, read before 
 the Literary and Philosophical Association in 
 1826 21 
 
 III. Annotation on this Paper, written in 1853 . 69 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Fifty copies of the Paper which must be 
 considered as the leading portion of this tract 
 were printed, when it had been newly read, for 
 presents to members of the Institution and other 
 friends of the Writer. They were then eagerly 
 sought after, and soon distributed. But it has 
 happened to them, what often happens to small 
 impressions of small tracts, that they have nearly 
 passed out of sight, so that it was with difficulty 
 one was discovered in Bath by a gentleman who 
 wished to peruse it, and who had previously been 
 obliged to be content with the account of it in 
 the pages of venerable Sylvanus Urban, and the 
 copious extracts which were there made from it. 
 
 Six-and-twenty years have since passed, and I 
 
 am invited by the members of the Bath Literary 
 
 Club to prepare another Edition. As I consider 
 
 this a testimony, which no one should regard 
 
 b 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 without satisfaction, to tlie interest of the subject 
 and to some degree of success in the manner in 
 which it is treated, I yielded to the proposal a 
 ready assent. 
 
 At the same time I obtained leave to annex a 
 small amount of Annotation, to supply names 
 which could not well be spoken on such an 
 occasion, to introduce other names which perhaps 
 ought not to have been overlooked in the first 
 instance, and to present a few facts in the Literary 
 History of Bath derived from founts of historical 
 knowledge not yet made vulgar. Let it not, 
 however, be supposed that any attempt is made 
 in a small book like this to collect, even with 
 the slightest possible notice, every name which 
 is found in the records of human progress in 
 science, or which is found impressed on books 
 in the vast field of our nation's literature, which 
 Bath may claim as belonging to her, either from 
 birth, or education, or long residence (for I say 
 nothing of the mere casual visitant); and still 
 less that any attempt is made at any detailed 
 account of their lives, at any complete catalogue 
 of their writings, or at any specification of the 
 particular advances made by any one in that 
 peculiar species of investigation which it is cus- 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 tomary to call scientific. An Athence Batho- 
 nienses — let Oxford and the sliade of Anthony 
 k Wood pardon this presumption — may not be 
 imdeserving the labour of another hand. I also 
 obtained permission to prefix an account of the 
 foundation of the Literary and Scientific Insti- 
 tution of Bath, within whose walls the Paper 
 was read, and of the Association formed out 
 of members of the Institution to whom it was 
 addressed; for, in those incipient days of the 
 Institution, the practice had not been adopted 
 of admitting all its members, and any friends 
 whom they might bring with them, to the 
 readings and discussions of the Association. Per- 
 haps if this Paper had not been intended for 
 what was a very select circle of friends, some 
 few passages would not have been found in it, 
 or some expressions would have been modified. 
 I flatter myself that the account I propose to 
 give of what was done previous to the actual 
 opening of the Institution, will not be thought 
 incongruous to the subject of the Paper which is 
 the main part of this Tract, but to be in fact a 
 part of the literary history of Bath; and even 
 that, proceeding as it does from one w^ho was 
 intimately acquainted with the whole of those 
 
XU PREFACE. 
 
 proceedings, it will be received hereafter as being 
 authentic information concerning an honest and 
 honourable effort at continuing, and extending, 
 and raising the reputation of the city, always 
 more or less literary and scientific, while it per- 
 petuates the names, memories, and services of 
 persons who devoted themselves to the work, 
 and persevered in it through some discourage- 
 ments, till it was brought to so happy a com- 
 pletion. 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION 
 
 ITS ORIGIN, ETC. 
 
The want of a central point for intercommunica- 
 tion among studious persons, and of a library in 
 which books, not the mere current literature, but 
 the works of the great authors of by-gone times, or 
 those which contain the materials which the student 
 ought ever to have at hand, was less felt in Bath 
 than in many other places, in consequence of the 
 roomsj the clubs, and the booksellers' libraries. The 
 latter were at once places of resort and places where 
 books were to be found of a very different character 
 from those which form the circulating libraries of 
 the watering-places in general. 
 
 Still Bath was very far from being what it ought to 
 have been in both these respects : and many must 
 have been the persons who, from year to year, felt 
 the want of both. If I may be allowed to speak of 
 myself, I can remember the time when I have tra- 
 velled to Bristol for the sole purpose of consulting 
 books which were in the public library of that city. 
 Copies of those very books are now in the Institution 
 library, accessible to any one who can make a pro- 
 fitable use of them. 
 
 b2 
 
4 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 I became an inhabitant of Bath in 1809 ; one in 
 the succession of pastors of the persons whose ances- 
 tors had separated themselves from the Church in 
 the time of King Charles the Second, and who were 
 taken under the protection of the law by one of the 
 first Acts — the Act of Toleration — of King William 
 and Queen Mary. I find amongst my papers a 
 scheme which I drew up as early as 1812 for a kind 
 of minor institution, contemplating, however, no 
 more than the formation of a better public library 
 than any then existing. I mentioned the design to 
 a few friends, but it was thought by them impractic- 
 able, and nothing more was heard of it. 
 
 It was not till 1819 that any movement was made 
 in this direction. 
 
 This movement originated with Dr. Edward 
 Barlow, a physician then lately settled in Bath. 
 His name must not be mentioned without, as Fuller 
 quaintly says, " an asterism of regard " for this and 
 many other services which he rendered to the place 
 during a pretty long residence there, terminated only 
 by his too early and lamented death.* He found 
 means to assure himself of the support of a few 
 
 * On one occasion only had I reason to offer a serious oppo- 
 sition to any project of Dr. Barlow. He was the originator 
 of the great change in the constitution of the General Hospital, 
 by which it was thrown open to residents of Bath, who were 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION. 5 
 
 friends ; but a few, I believe, at first ; for, when the 
 design was made at all public, no name appeared but 
 his own as the secretary of an association which had 
 been formed. 
 
 On the 14th of April in that year he addressed a 
 printed circular letter to such persons in Bath as he 
 thought might be disposed to join with him in carry- 
 ing on the design. One of these was directed to me, 
 who had before some acquaintance with Dr. Barlow, 
 but had never had any communication with him 
 respecting this project. 
 
 This letter contained an outline of the scheme: 
 persons were invited to offer suggestions. It was 
 also intended to ascertain the feeling which existed 
 in Bath respecting such a design, and the amount of 
 support which might be expected. 
 
 The scheme partook of the somewhat sanguine 
 temperament of Dr. Barlow's mind. The institution 
 
 already sufficiently cared for in various other ways, especially by 
 the United Hospital and Dispensary, and by the privilege, 
 usually granted by the corporation to poor inhabitants, of the 
 use of the waters without payment. The General Hospital was 
 especially founded for the purpose of receiving strangers for those 
 maladies from which relief might be expected from the waters of 
 Bath. Tliere was a disinterestedness, a generosity, and a beauty 
 in this, an argument for those to use who had from year to year 
 to recommend it to the liberality of wealthier strangers who 
 resorted to the healing springs, of which I must confess I was 
 exceedingly sorry to see the hospital deprived. 
 
6 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 was to comprise, (1.) a Library and Reading-room: 
 (2.) a Botanic Garden: (3.) a Museum of Natural 
 History: (4.) a Cabinet of Mineralogy: (5.) a Cabinet 
 of Antiquities: (6.) a Cabinet of Coins and Medals: 
 (7.) a Hall for Lectures, witli suitable apparatus for 
 the courses in chemistry and other branches of 
 natural philosophy: and (8.) a Gallery for the Exhi- 
 bition of Sculpture and Paintings. 
 
 For executing this design it was proposed that 
 thirty thousand pounds should be raised in pro- 
 prietary shares of 50Z. each. The money was to 
 be thus appropriated: 20,000^. in the purchase and 
 fitting-up of suitable premises; 10,000Z. to remain 
 a reserved fund, the interest of which was to 
 support the annual expenses. It was further pro- 
 posed that the proprietors should be incorporated 
 under a " legislative charter ; " the management to 
 be vested in a board of directors. 
 
 No steps were to be taken till 300 shares were 
 subscribed for. 
 
 I hailed the announcement with great satisfac- 
 tion ; though not without misgivings that the scheme 
 was too magnificent, or rather that 30,000?. was a 
 larger sum than would easily be raised in such a 
 place even as Bath, where live so many persons of 
 easy and independent fortunes: nor could I think 
 that our own deficiencies were likely to be suf- 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION. 7 
 
 ficiently supplied by assistance from the neigh- 
 bouring gentry. I immediately however sent my 
 own adhesion, and on the 6th of May information 
 was sent me that I was elected " a member of the 
 Board of Directors of the Bath Institution." 
 
 We met for some time once a month in a room 
 at the bank of Messrs. Cavenagh and Brown, the 
 Treasurers. Dr. Barlow was the most active and 
 most efficient member. The Rev. Mr. Haviland was 
 Chairman of the Board. Other members of the 
 Board of Directors in this early stage were Sir John 
 Keane, Messrs. John and Philip Duncan, Mr. ConoUy 
 of Mitford Castle, Mr. Erskine of Sydney Place, and 
 the Reverend Mr. Mangin. There might be one or 
 two others. But of those above-named, Mr. Mangin 
 very soon fell off: Avhile the rest continued to the 
 last, and one of them is still living, the only one 
 who is so, the steady and most liberal supporter of 
 this design, and of every thing that is good within 
 the wide limits of his influence. 
 
 Every thing was done that could be done to gain 
 attention to the project, by private communications 
 and by notices in the newspapers. As time went on 
 two or three other gentlemen were added to the 
 Board. Amongst them were the Reverend Thomas 
 Eroadhurst of Belvedere House, and Mr. Hastings 
 Elwin. The last-named gentleman was a most 
 
8 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 valuable addition, as was proved by the whole 
 course of subsequent events. He was the author 
 of the pamphlet, printed in 1820, entitled Reasons for 
 establishing an Institution in the City of Bath. I was 
 present when Mr. Haviland proposed him as a director 
 from the chair. 
 
 Before the close of the year 1820, it was become 
 evident that the scheme in the form in which it was 
 first proposed could not be executed. In fact, shares 
 had not then been taken to the amount of even 
 4000?. The hopes of its friends died away: the 
 attendance at the Board was greatly reduced : indeed 
 all were by that time convinced that the public 
 would never support a scheme so magnificent, and 
 that, if any thing of the kind could be carried out in 
 Bath, it must be in some much contracted form. 
 
 To this then the attention of the friends of the 
 measure was now directed. Dr. Barlow presented a 
 scheme on the basis of a 6000Z. subscription. I had 
 one more contracted still : the basis to' be a capital 
 of 3000Z. or 4000Z : the site the end of Johnston 
 Street. With the assistance of a skilful architect I 
 had plans and elevations prepared. It was, however, 
 too contracted for the ambition of others. It con- 
 templated little more than a library of reference and 
 a reading-room. 
 
 While things were in this almost hopeless state, a 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION. 9 
 
 casualty happened in Bath which tended greatly to 
 facilitate the execution of the design. Besides the 
 Assembly Eooms in the upper part of the town, there 
 were other rooms of the same kind called the Lower 
 Rooms. These rooms were destroyed by fire at 
 Christmas time, 1820. They were not popular as a 
 place of public amusement, so that there was little 
 hope of their being rebuilt for the purpose to which 
 they had formerly been devoted. Yet it was of im- 
 portance to Earl Manvers, the proprietor of them 
 and of the ground on which they stood, to have some 
 kind of public building on that site, which was 
 surrounded by houses most of which were his 
 property. The site was, in some respects, not an 
 eligible one for the Institution. It was too low in 
 the town, and therefore too remote from the better 
 parts, from whence the supporters of the Institution 
 would, for the most part, be drawn. On the other 
 hand it was perceived by the Board that there was 
 more difficulty in raising a capital sum than there 
 would be in raising annual subscriptions, and that 
 as tenants to Earl Manvers at an annual rent a 
 building might be obtained adapted to our purposes, 
 and Lord Manvers's object be eiFected of raising upon 
 the burnt ruins of the rooms an edifice which would 
 be an ornament to that part of the town in the pros- 
 perity of which he was more especially interested. 
 
10 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 Much of the year 182 L was spent in correspond- 
 ence with the agents of the Pierrepoint property, 
 and with Lord Manvers himself. In the August of 
 that year it was ascertained that his Lordship was 
 quite disposed to enter into an arrangement with us ; 
 and it was understood, nor did the event prove the 
 contrary, that he was also disposed to conduct the 
 business in a spirit of liberality, seeing that there 
 was nothing of private interest in the design, but 
 only the general benefit of the place in which he had 
 inherited so valuable a property. 
 
 In all these negociations the friends of the Insti- 
 tution were greatly indebted to the tact and skiU 
 and business power of Mr. Elwin, without whom a 
 negociation not without its difficulties would hardly 
 have been brought to a successful issue. And if in 
 the far distant land to which he has removed this 
 page should ever fall under his notice, let him see 
 that there are those still living in England who 
 retain grateful remembrance of the zeal and energy 
 which he then, and ever after, manifested in favour 
 of this important public object. 
 
 Dr. Barlow now set himself to arrange another 
 financial scheme on the basis of not having a capital 
 to be expended in a building, but an annual income 
 to meet an annual rent and the ordinary expense of 
 such an establishment. It was now proposed that 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION. 11 
 
 300 proprietary shares should be issued at 12/. each. 
 This it was calculated would raise a capital quite 
 sufficient for the purchase of books, apparatus, fur- 
 niture, and such other outfit as did not fall within 
 the province of Lord Manvers, who had undertaken 
 to provide a building on a plan prepared by the 
 Board and suitable to their purposes. Expectations 
 of public support had become less sanguine than 
 they had been. The calculation then was, that, of 
 the 300 shares, 200 would be taken, and that 100 
 persons might be expected to come in as annual 
 subscribers. The 1 00 were to pay three guineas a 
 year, the 200 two guineas, making a total of annual 
 income of 735/. 
 
 But this was only one of the abortive schemes. 
 Another, of which I think it probable that Mr. 
 Elwin was the prime originator, was on a more 
 liberal scale. It was thought that 8400Z. might be 
 raised in proprietary shares of 20 guineas each. Of 
 this 1000/. was to be a perpetual reserve fund; the 
 rest was to be expended in books, maps, apparatus, 
 furniture and other requisites. Each proprietor was 
 to make an annual contribution of two guineas, and 
 strangers were to be admitted for the same payment. 
 This it was hoped would enable the Institution to 
 proceed in a satisfactory manner, aided by the 
 annual proceeds from the reserved fund, the rent of 
 
12 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 the vaults under tlie rooms, and the profits of any 
 courses of lectures which might happen to be suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 Some friends of the project were not so sanguine 
 as to believe that 400 proprietary shares would be 
 taken ; and yet that number was requisite to raise the 
 capital of 8400Z. But, while past experience had 
 led them to doubt whether so many persons would 
 be found as were required to take up 400 shares, 
 yet it was thought that if half the number were 
 taken in the first instance, the work might then be 
 begun, and that a sale, slow but certain, might be 
 expected of the remaining shares, which would serve 
 to increase the annual income, and therefore the 
 means of making the Institution more attractive. 
 
 It was now resolved that this should be the scheme 
 which the friends of the Institution should lay before 
 the public ; and that if only 200 shares were taken 
 the business should be commenced and the experi- 
 ment made. This resolution may be regarded as the 
 actual beginning of the present Institution. 
 
 Early in 1823 the number of persons in Bath and 
 its immediate vicinity who enrolled themselves as 
 proprietary members of the Institution on these 
 terms was about one hundred and thirty. Some 
 addition was made by noblemen and gentlemen 
 residing at a distance. Sir John Cox Hippesley at 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION. 13 
 
 this period lent important aid. The Duke of York 
 accepted the office of Patron, the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe of President, and several noblemen consented 
 that their names should appear as Vice-Presidents. 
 The Corporation of Bath gave a donation of 100 
 guineas. Several of the more zealous friends of the 
 design took two, three, four, and even five shares. 
 
 This was the state of things early in the year 
 1823. At a general meeting of subscribers it was 
 announced that the number of shares actually taken 
 was one hundred and sixty. An announcement more 
 gratifying followed, — namely, that a few gentlemen 
 who were anxious for the completion of the design, 
 and desirous that the building should be proceeded 
 with in the course of the then ensuing summer, were 
 willing to engage themselves to take the remaining 
 forty shares, provisionally that these shares should be 
 the first disposed of when there was any call for them. 
 This completed the preliminary arrangements, and 
 the agents of Lord Manvers proceeded at once to the 
 erection of the building. 
 
 A trust-deed was now prepared giving all neces- 
 sary security to the subscribers : and a lease of the 
 premises was granted by Lord Manvers to Sir John 
 Cox Hippesley, Sir John Palmer Acland, Sir John 
 Keane, the Eeverend Thomas Leman of the Crescent, 
 Mr. C. Dumbleton, Mr. Francis Ellis, and Mr. 
 
14 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 Hastings Elwin. These gentlemen it will at once be 
 concluded were amongst the more zealous friends of 
 the Institution in its early stages. Mr. Ellis deserves 
 particular notice. 
 
 A clause in the trust-deed authorised the sub- 
 scribers to elect out of their body a committee of 
 thirteen persons to be chosen annually to assist the 
 trustees in the execution of their duties. The old 
 direction had by this time silently dissolved away. 
 Their last meeting was held at Messrs. Cavenagh's 
 on the 4th of March, 1824, when the surplus of the 
 deposit money was returned to the persons who had 
 subscribed the original trust-deed. On the 21st of 
 February the subscribers to the new design pro- 
 ceeded to the election of their committee. 
 The following were the persons chosen : 
 Dr. Barlow, . Alex. Erskine, 
 
 Dr. Crawford, Sir George S. Gibbes, 
 
 N. Cavenagh, Rev. J. Hunter, 
 
 C. Conolly, Rev. T. Watson, 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Cooper, J. Wiltshire, 
 
 Dr. Davis, T. Wilkinson, 
 
 P. B. Duncan, 
 And these at their first meeting chose Mr. Watson 
 for their Chairman. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the harmonious spirit in 
 which all was conducted, for never was there any 
 
i 
 
 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 15 
 
 scheme in which any private or by-interest less 
 interfered with the desire and effort to promote in 
 the best manner possible the interests of the public ; 
 nor did any jealousy spring up between science and 
 literature, philosophy and philology. 
 
 The Committee usually met at the house of Mr. 
 Upham, the respectable and intelligent bookseller on 
 the Walks, before the building was in a state to 
 receive them. The Institution received in other ways 
 useful assistance from him. Mr. Wilkinson had the 
 chief share in the selection of the furniture. Sir 
 George Gibbes superintended the fitting up of the 
 laboratory. 
 
 The formation of the library was committed to 
 Mr. Watson, Dr. Davis, Mr. P. B. Duncan, Mr. Wil- 
 kinson, and myself. We met at the house of Mr. 
 Wilkinson. We had about 1200Z. to lay out. The 
 fine set of the French Transactions had already been 
 bought by the trustees at the sale of Mr. Beckford's 
 library. The Parliamentary and Eecord publica- 
 tions were obtained for us by the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe. We had presents of books from various 
 persons ; and here honourable mention ought to be 
 made of the Eev. H. H. Hayes, of Swainswick, who 
 presented to the library many volumes of great 
 curiosity and value, and made a deposit of others 
 for the use of the members. 
 
16 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 The principle upon which the Sub-Committee 
 proceeded in the selection of books to be purchased, 
 was that only those which might be said to have 
 established for themselves a place in the literature of 
 Europe should be bought ; that Dictionaries of high 
 authority should be gathered together; and that the 
 leaning should rather be to works large and expen- 
 sive than to those which it might reasonably be sup- 
 posed the members would have in their own houses. 
 
 Presents in the departments of Geology, Zoology 
 and Botany showed the interest which was taken in 
 the scientific department ; and here it must be added 
 that the Institution at its beginning received the 
 most valuable assistance from two gentlemen, Mr. 
 Woods, the eminent naturalist, and Mr. Lonsdale^ 
 who was afterwards the Curator of the Museum of 
 the Geological Society, The last-named gentleman 
 for a long time devoted almost every day to the 
 business of arranging and cataloguing the things 
 contributed to the museum. 
 
 The casts of the Apollo and Laocoon were the gift 
 of the two Mr. Duncans; and Mr. Elwin presented 
 the other casts, which were procured by the assistance 
 of Lord Burghersh in Italy. 
 
 At length on Wednesday, the 19th of January, 
 1825, the rooms were opened to the subscribers. On 
 the Friday following an inaugural lecture was de- 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION. 17 
 
 livered by Sir George Gibbes, in the presence of the 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, the Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, and many other persons of distinction. At 
 the dinner the three poets of the neighbourhood, 
 Bowles, Crabbe, and Moore, honoured the Institution 
 with their presence. 
 
 For one week the rooms were open to the public 
 at large. The business of the lecture department 
 was begun by a short course on the steam-engine, by 
 Mr. Webster. 
 
 It is not my intention to proceed further. I have 
 traced the Institution from its first rude beginning to 
 its completion. I leave to others to speak of its sub- 
 sequent history during the twenty-eight years of its 
 existence, and to show how far it has satisfied or 
 fallen short of realizing the expectation of its friends, 
 who looked upon it as a means of keeping the lite- 
 rature and science of Bath at a point at least as high 
 as it had attained in earlier days, and of leading 
 some perhaps to prefer to the frivolous and enervating 
 amusements of the place the higher delights, the more 
 solid and lasting pleasures, which attend those who 
 have the love of literature and science in their hearts, 
 and who are placed in circumstances favourable to 
 the indulgence of it. But I cannot forbear from so 
 far trespassing beyond the limits I had proposed to 
 myself as to speak in the briefest manner of the more 
 c 
 
18 
 
 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 remarkable of the benefactions whicli the Institution 
 has received. The foundation of its Cabinet of Coins 
 was laid by Mr. Wiltshire, of Shocker wick, and to 
 his collection was soon added the numerous consular 
 and family medals, the gift of the Rev. Dr. Nott, who 
 happened to be an invalid visitor of Bath soon after 
 the opening, if not at the time of the opening. The 
 remarkably curious collection of foreign matrixes of 
 seals was the gift of the Eev. Mr. Battell: it may 
 be added as a fact in their history that they were 
 bought by him at the sale of Mr. Tyssen's museum. 
 Mr. Leman, the eminent student in the Eoman 
 Antiquities of Britain, bequeathed to the library his 
 annotated Horsley and other topographical writings, 
 as well as a large collection of manuscript county 
 genealogies. The library also contains two quarto 
 volumes of Annotations on Shakespeare, by Dr. Sher- 
 win, the adventurous defender of the authenticity of 
 Rowley. 
 
 Add to these, that the remains of Bath in the 
 time of the Romans, an extraordinary collection for 
 England, are now deposited within the walls of the 
 Institution. 
 
THE BATH INSTITUTION. 19 
 
 THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 For the right understanding the occasion on which 
 the ensuing paper was composed, it is expedient to 
 mention that very soon after the opening of the Insti- 
 tution a small body of the members associated them- 
 selves for the purpose of mutual communication on 
 subjects of literature and science. The meetings 
 were held monthly, and a paper was usually read by 
 some member of the Association. The following w^as 
 one of these papers. The persons to whom in this 
 department the Institution, and indeed after a time 
 the whole population of Bath, were chiefly indebted, 
 were Sir George Gibbes, Dr. Davis, Dr. Langworthy, 
 the Kev. Mr. Kilvert, Mr. Philip Duncan, Mr. S. P. 
 Pratt, Mr. T. S. Davies, Mr. Spender, Mr. Saumarez, 
 Mr. Prebendary Dennis, and Colonel Page, w^hom I 
 name last on this occasion, but who was one of the 
 most zealous and liberal promoters of the design. 
 There may have been one or two other contributors 
 whose names do not occur to me, nor am I able to 
 state the subjects of each member's communications. 
 As to myself, beside the one which is now printed, 
 I read papers on English Diplomas ; on the Personal 
 Nomenclature of England ; on Armorial Insignia as 
 used in England ; on the nature and resources of 
 c 2 
 
•20 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 
 
 English Topography; on the state of the received 
 text of a great Poet (Shakespeare); on the Super- 
 stitions of the modern Sciots; and on the Roman 
 Antiquities of Bath. I prepared also a syllabus of 
 the inscribed stones, which I believe my friend 
 Mr. Lonsdale, who thought no trouble too great to be 
 taken for the Institution, transcribed in the book of 
 its proceedings. 
 
II. 
 
 THE CONNECTION OF BATH 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 LITERATURE AND SCIENCE 
 OF ENGLAND. 
 
At the opening of the second session of this Asso- 
 ciation, it is gratifying to observe that we may con- 
 gratulate each other on the favourable circumstances 
 under which we are again assembled. 
 
 That the city of Bath has ever had, and deserved 
 to have, a name in the literature and science of 
 England, Avill, I trust, be demonstrated in the course 
 of this evening. But when first the Institution was 
 projected, there were too many who, overlooking this 
 fact, or imagining that the literary character of Bath 
 was not sustained by the existing race of its inhabit- 
 ants, regarded as hopeless the attempt to interest any 
 considerable number of persons in a design which 
 appealed only to the literary taste or the scientific 
 spirit of those who patronized it. The city, which 
 at its first foundation had been placed, like Athens 
 herself, under the peculiar tutelage of Minerva, whose 
 temple was in early times its chiefest ornament, and at 
 whose altar a perpetual fire was burning; [1] which 
 to this day, beyond any other city of the empire, is 
 rich in its own remains of Roman art ; which is 
 believed to have produced the father of English his- 
 
24 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 toiy; which reckons among its inhabitants him who 
 first introduced Arabian science to the knowledge of 
 our countrymen ; which through many ages had 
 within its walls a learned society of religious, with a 
 library peculiarly rich, extensive, and curious ; where 
 Harington and Daniel sung in the youthful age of 
 English poesy, and which is mixed with the fine 
 imaginings of Spenser and Shakespeare : a city 
 which, in later times, has given birth to some, and 
 residence to many, who have gained for themselves 
 deathless renown in the peaceful but honourable pur- 
 suit of literature and science: — Such a city they 
 dared not stigmatize as Boeotian ; but it was a 
 Corinth, where pleasure followed in the train of 
 riches, and where few would be found willing to 
 leave the delights of a refined voluptuousness for 
 the severe pursuit of science, or the laborious pro- 
 secution of historical or critical inquiry. 
 
 How much they overlooked in the past, or how 
 unfaiiiy they estimated the present, has now been 
 shown. That there are amongst us those who feel 
 that life has something better to give than the mere 
 pleasures of sense, or even than the most refined and 
 elegant amusements, is now made apparent amongst 
 us. It is no longer a question whether there are not 
 at the present day those who emulate, if they cannot 
 attain, the fame which is enjoyed by many to whom 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 25 
 
 once were familiar the native beauties of the scene 
 around us ; and one benefit most certainly redounds 
 to our whole city from the efforts of those who have 
 devoted themselves to the estabhshment of this Insti- 
 tution, that Bath is thus redeemed from the imputa- 
 tion of being only a place of pleasure for the gay, or 
 a cradle in which life may sink gently to its last 
 repose. The beautiful edifice in which we are now 
 assembled; the copies of the choice works of ancient 
 art with which it is adorned; the assemblage within 
 its walls of many rare productions of nature and of 
 art; and the library, rich in the choicest works of 
 the noblest minds, are a proof that there is another 
 class, that a better spirit lingers about these ancient 
 walls, and that there are those who forget not the 
 former honours of the city to which they belong. 
 But we may now go farther. It was first said that 
 such an edifice could not be raised ; next, that it 
 could not endure. The first was manifestly a mis- 
 take : to all human appearance, the second is equally 
 so. The crisis is past. The great utility of this 
 Institution is felt within its walls, and acknowledged 
 without. The facilities which are here afforded for 
 the mutual communication of persons engaged in 
 similar pursuits are now understood and valued. 
 Its library, its lectures, its museum, have already 
 stimulated to inquiry, and assisted the inquirer. The 
 
26 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 invaluable services which are so kindly rendered in 
 some of the departments are known beyond these 
 walls. The consequence is, that its friends and 
 benefactors have increased. During the period of 
 our recess the library and the museum have been 
 enriched by some most valuable donations. Great 
 have been the additions made in the department of 
 natural history ; but the antiquarian department, 
 which promises soon to become prominent in this 
 Institution, may be said to have been created. A 
 noble collection of medals and other matters of anti- 
 quarian curiosity has been sent to the museum by 
 one of the Vice-Presidents, who was also one of the 
 earhest friends of the Institution. This donation has 
 been followed by a similar present from a learned 
 stranger, whom the pursuit of health had led to our 
 healing springs, intrinsically of great value, but the 
 more valuable as being the testimony of a highly- 
 accomplished scholar to the utility of our design. [2] 
 And it will be heard with great satisfaction that 
 before long we shall probably receive under our roof 
 the numerous altars and inscriptions which have been 
 found here, the sacred monuments of the ancient 
 grandeur of our city. 
 
 That the Institution itself has now gained a perma- 
 nent establishment, no one can reasonably doubt; [3] 
 and engrafted upon it as is this Association, our 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 27 
 
 Stability may be so far regarded as secure. Should 
 the Institution fail, we must dissolve. But it is not 
 equally certain that if the Institution flourish we 
 must flourish also. The Institution will send forth 
 numerous branches, each of which may bear fruit to 
 its honour. Its stock shall, we trust, wax old in the 
 earth, but our little engrafted branch may dwindle, 
 wither, and die. This, however, depends very much 
 upon ourselves. Its fate is more in our own hands 
 than is the fate of the Institution itself in the hands 
 of those who have so carefully tended it. Wlien we 
 have received what the Institution so liberally sup- 
 plies us — its laboratory, its museum, its library, and 
 this convenient place of our assembling — we have no 
 more to ask. We want no patronage, we require no 
 presents, we accumulate no treasures. VvTliat we want 
 is the uncostly offering of literary effort; and this is 
 a species of sacrifice which draws down a blessing on 
 him that offers it ; which is blest, perhaps, more to 
 him that gives than to those who take ; for no fact in 
 the nature of mind is more evident than that the 
 communication of knowledge muitipHes it to him 
 that communicates, and that the orderly arrange- 
 ment of a subject necessary to him who would speak 
 or write upon it, gives a more perfect mastery of that 
 particular subject, and prepares for the more success- 
 ful investigation of another. 
 
28 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 At the beginning of this Association there were 
 some who doubted w^hether its meetings could be 
 made to conduce to any useful and valuable purpose. 
 Again was heard that Bath was a Corinth, not an 
 Athens. Experience has shown that the remark was 
 here as inapplicable as before. No one can have 
 attended the meetings of the last session, and not 
 acknowledge that the subjects brought before us 
 were worthy the attention of a company of literary 
 and scientific inquirers, and that the communications, 
 particularly those in the departments of science and 
 natural history, were fraught with much pleasant 
 and useful, and in many instances novel, curious, and 
 valuable information. 
 
 Let us, however, remember that our existence to 
 any good purpose is not to be maintained without 
 some effort. Our little engrafted branch may dwindle, 
 wither, and die. We must not press too closely upon 
 the zeal of a few contributors. We must seek for 
 that variety which only the co-operation of many can 
 ensure. There are amongst us those who possess 
 much valuable information, who have been content 
 to listen while they might have instructed. Let such 
 bear in mind what is said of celata virtus in a maxim 
 which was familiar to our youth; and let all come 
 forth, especially, with any new and curious results to 
 which their literary or scientific researches may have 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 29 
 
 conducted them, or with any unnoticed and remark- 
 able facts which chance may have thrown in their 
 way. 
 
 I would hope that, however little able I may be 
 to execute the design as it ought to be done, even 
 this attempt to show the connection which Bath has 
 had in times past with the literature and science of 
 England, and to recount those of its residents whose 
 names are to be found connected with our literature 
 and science, while it may assist in removing a 
 popular reproach from a city whose true character is 
 but imperfectly understood, may also serve to sti- 
 mulate our own exertions. Imagines Majorum ad 
 virtutem accendunt, is a sentiment of ancient wisdom 
 founded in a true knowledge of human nature. It 
 has not been my good fortune to have been a frequent 
 visitor of Oxford, but I have several times paced its 
 Picture Gallery, and never without feeling that to its 
 silent admonition we owe much of the genius and 
 fine spirit of our countrymen. But hiUs and woods 
 and streams, and even streels and houses, have their 
 very nature changed and become vocal, when they 
 are associated with the remembrance of the great 
 and good, and particularly of those who are seen but 
 indistinctly through the dark vista of time long past. 
 
30 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 The lore 
 Of mighty minds doth hallow in the core 
 
 Of human hearts the ruins of a wall 
 Where dwell the wise and wondrous. 
 
 The ground "vvhere such have trodden becomes 
 fertile of sentiment and feeling. Inspiration is 
 breathed around, and many a generous passion is 
 raised, especially in the youthful breast. On the 
 banks of the Isis and Cam are still living instructors 
 who are diffusing around the light of science and 
 learning ; but who can doubt that the very places 
 themselves raise a glorious emulation in the bosom 
 of youth! 
 
 Before such venerable and sacred seats of sound 
 learning and exact science all other places must bow. 
 They were of old the chosen seat of the Muses, and 
 from age to age they have continued to send forth 
 those who have supported the honour and advanced 
 the reputation of our country. But long before the 
 days of Alfred, whom the most ancient of them 
 boasts as its illustrious founder, we may discern 
 through the palpable obscure which involves the 
 origin of this and every other city, that the City of 
 the Sun was pre-eminent above all the cities of the 
 west. That here was a point about which the Bri- 
 tons had congregated may be proved without refer- 
 ence to what have been aptly termed the somnia 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 31 
 
 Camhrorum, in which we have the first rude attempt 
 to explain that still unexplained phenomenon, our 
 heated springs; and to bring into view that great 
 public benefactor who first taught to apply them to 
 salutary purposes, and who first collected in reser- 
 voirs the water which before his time must have 
 been spread over the valley, forming a useless and 
 perhaps pestilent morass. We are not prepared to 
 judge accurately of the degree of skill requisite for 
 this. But it was a bold undertaking, perhaps one of 
 most difficult execution ; and it is not to be wondered 
 at that, like other heroes in the infancy of society, 
 much of fable should have gathered about his name, 
 and that he should have come to be regarded as the 
 Dsedalus of the western world. 
 
 Soon as the Romans became possessed of the 
 southern parts of Britain, there arose around these 
 springs what may, without exaggeration, be called a 
 splendid and beautiful city. We know it, because its 
 remains are with us. When some one walking with an 
 Italian in the streets of modern Rome inquired for its 
 antiquities, the Roman stooped down and presented 
 him with a handful of dust. And we, whenever we 
 descend a few feet below the surface, — I speak of what 
 constitutes the city of Bath, not of that new and 
 beautiful suburb in which within the memory of 
 man she hath renewed her youth, — we never fail to 
 
32 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 meet with some relic of that all-conquering, refined, 
 and ever-to-be-honoured people. Two centuries ago 
 there was such a collection of the sculpture of Roman 
 artists as no other city in the kingdom could present. 
 Within the memory of man a portion of one of their 
 temples was still standing, making a part of a 
 Christian church, known as the church of St. Mary- 
 at-Stalls. These have perished. But enough of the 
 works of the people still remains to show that the 
 City of the Sun was adorned with obelisks and sta- 
 tues; that the sculptured tombs of its inhabitants 
 were placed along the sides of the roads which 
 pointed towards it ; that it had numerous altars ; and 
 that there arose at least two temples, of one of 
 which enough remains from which to delineate its 
 form, its extent, and its grandeur, and to show that 
 the architects of Bath had at least one model of just 
 proportions and beautiful design. 
 
 This then must be classic ground. It is remark- 
 able that there is no Romano-British literature. Did 
 such exist we should assuredly have found the name 
 of Aqu£e Solis, the city of Apollo, the city in which 
 a temple was dedicated to the Goddess of Wisdom. 
 As it is, we must content ourselves with the proofs 
 that the arts in those ages flourished at Bath. The 
 remains of the portico of the Temple of Minerva are 
 sufficient to show that there were those who could 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 33 
 
 design and execute according to the cliastest models 
 of Grecian art. Some of our inscribed marbles are 
 cut with peculiar delicacy and beauty. The bronze 
 head which is among the ornaments in the Guild- 
 Hall, part of a statue the remainder of which may 
 one day be discovered, is the work of no ordinary 
 hand. It may be questioned, indeed, whether it was 
 the performance of any resident artist. But that it 
 was so is rendered probable by the discovery that 
 the processes of metallurgy must have been carried 
 on in this place to a considerable extent, because that 
 here was a manufactory of the instruments used by 
 the Romans in war. From this it is inferred that 
 here were the furnaces necessary for the casting of 
 the bronze in question ; and some of the skill which 
 such a work required in those who had to shape the 
 ensigns or to form the devices on the shields of the 
 Roman warriors. [4] 
 
 With attention to the arts a literary spirit is 
 generally united. But the dawn of the literature of 
 England is to be fixed at a period after the retreat 
 of the Romans from Britain, and when the anarchy 
 which prevailed during the fifth and sixth centuries 
 had given place to settled and regular government. 
 Before England acknowledged only one sovereign it 
 had begun to have its national literature. Alcuin 
 and Bede, northern men, were among the most emi- 
 
34 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 nent authors of this time; but before their time 
 lived GiLDAS, a man inferior to them indeed, but who 
 is often called the father of English history, having 
 composed in his monastery at Bangor an account of 
 the wars of the sixth century, with along and tedious 
 lamentation over the sufferings of his country, the 
 first attempt at anything like historical composition 
 in Britain that has come down to us. It is here that 
 we read of Arthur and the great battle of the Mons 
 Badonicus. These continue to this day to attract to 
 Bath the attention of every critical inquirer into the 
 remote history of the country. With the name of 
 Gildas has descended the addition of Badonicus; 
 hence it is not very unreasonably inferred that he 
 was a native, or at least at one period of his life a 
 resident, of Bath. 
 
 Immediately after the second introduction of 
 Christianity into Britain, a company of religious 
 became seated near our heahng springs. There are 
 faint traces of a society of religious women in the 
 earhest ages, doubtless good and kind people, col- 
 lected for the purpose of administering assistance to 
 the multitudes of the sick and infirm who sought 
 the benefit of the waters. But under the patronage 
 of the kings of Wessex and Mercia there arose an 
 extensive and richly-endowed monastery, within 
 whose precincts we are at this moment assembled. 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 35 
 
 In the tenth century its constitution was reformed by 
 Elfege, a native of this district, for he was born at 
 the little village of Weston under Lansdown. In 
 the earlier part of his life he lived principally at 
 Glastonbury and Bath. Here he presided over the 
 monastery, the rule of which he had reformed. 
 From hence he was called on to preside over the see 
 of Canterbury. The history of his life is the subj ect 
 of a particular memoir by one of his contemporaries. 
 He appears to have possessed some great and good 
 qualities. He perished at last by the hands of the 
 Danes. 
 
 The monasteries were in those ages almost the 
 only seats of learning and science. We are not quali- 
 fied to judge how far the institutions of Elfege went to 
 form the mere devotee, or the far nobler character of 
 the religious man who endeavours to gain knowledge 
 for himself and imparts it willingly to others. But 
 soon after the Conquest another change took place in 
 the constitution of the monastery, which was highly 
 favourable to the introduction of the light of litera- 
 ture and science among us. To one member of its 
 body soon to be mentioned, or at least to an inhabi- 
 tant of Bath, Western science owes perhaps greater 
 obligations than to any individual from the fall to 
 the revival of learning ; and from his time to the dis- 
 solution of the house, there appear never to have 
 d2 
 
36 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 been wanting those who upheld the united lights of 
 literature and science in the midst of the population 
 of this city. 
 
 And here I wish that we could recall the spirit of 
 Thomas Chandler, who was Chancellor of the church 
 of Wells in the reign of King Henry VL ; or that 
 we could recover a work of his which existed in the 
 time of Leland, De Laudibus Baiarnm et Fonticulorwn 
 Civitatum. How much of the writings of the school- 
 men would we give for this curious and interesting 
 tract! How agreeable a picture it in all probability 
 presented of the state of the sister-cities at a period 
 of which we have so few memorials ; not inferior 
 perhaps in true and lively colouring to the descrip- 
 tion of London a few centuries earlier by Fitz- Ste- 
 phen. How many of the more distinguished inha- 
 bitants of the monastery of Bath may it have 
 recorded. For Chandler was one who delighted to 
 employ himself in maintaining the memory of the 
 wise and good. But, since his spirit will not come, 
 even though we invoke it in these which were pro- 
 bably once his favourite haunts, and since his work 
 is lost, it is to be feared irrecoverably, we must be 
 content with such imperfect hints as are to be col- 
 lected from other quarters. [5] 
 
 The change in the character of the inmates of this 
 monastery was produced by that remarkable person 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 37 
 
 called sometimes John de Villula, and sometimes 
 Joannes Turonensis, from Tours, the place of his 
 birth. This person came to England in the train of 
 the Conqueror, and seated himself at Bath for the 
 purpose of practising the healing art. William of 
 Malmesbury, who has written his life, speaks of him 
 as being Medicus prohatus usu non Uteris. But he 
 also speaks of him as an encourager of literature, as 
 possessed of great medical skill, and as outrunning 
 all the physicians of his age in profit and honour. 
 He purchased the ancient royal ferm of the city, and, 
 such was his influence, that he prevailed with the 
 King that the seat of the bishopric of Somersetshire 
 should be removed from Wells to Bath, and that he 
 himself should be made the bishop. The church of 
 the monastery then became the cathedral of the 
 diocese. He presided over the see with great dignity 
 for four-and-thirty years. At his death, in 1122, he 
 was buried in the church of the monastery, where 
 his tomb was still to be seen in the time of Leland. 
 It was then going fast to decay. Weeds were spring- 
 ing about it, and the church was unroofed. It was 
 the old church built by himself, superseded by the 
 present structure. '■ 
 
 The reigns of Rufiis and Henry I. form a brilliant 
 era in the history of Bath. Malmsbury expressly 
 informs us that Villula collected about him a society 
 
38 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 of religious, who were eminently distinguished for 
 their learning. Amongst them was Adelakd, a name 
 which deserves most especial notice. 
 
 We know that while learning and science were 
 nearly extinct in Europe, they flourished under the 
 Caliphs. Adelard having acquired what could be 
 learned at home, visited Spain, Egypt, and Arabia. 
 He made himself master of the language of Arabia, 
 and learned what the Arabian professors could teach 
 him. He brought from those countries treatises in 
 natural philosophy ; he is in fact the main link by 
 which Western science is connected with that of the 
 East. But he brought home a more precious volume 
 than any of the writings of the Arabian philosophers. 
 This is no less than the Elements of Euclid, not in 
 its original form indeed, but in an Arabic transla- 
 tion, from which Adelard made a Latin version that 
 continued to be used all over Europe till, some cen- 
 turies after, the Greek original was discovered. This 
 was a service such as few are able to render for 
 science ; and who shall attempt to calculate how 
 much is on this account due from all who love 
 science, and venerate those who advance it, to this 
 Athelardus Batlioniensis, who must a thousand times 
 have crossed the very ground on which, in these 
 later days, we have raised this temple to science. 
 But, besides having made himself master of Arabian 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 39 
 
 science, and in some measure of the science of a 
 still more enlightened people, he appears to have 
 been himself an inquirer into nature, and an original 
 discoverer. His writings are probably known to 
 very few, as they are to me, except by their titles. 
 He wrote on the Abacus and the Astrolabe, which 
 were the first attempts at making the skill of the 
 mechanic minister to the views of the philosopher ; 
 on the causes of natural compositions, in which it 
 may be supposed that some of the principles of 
 chemical affinities are to be found; and seventy-six 
 problems in natural philosophy, which Leland, no 
 incompetent judge, pronounces to be highly valuable. 
 An account of his travels was once to be read in a 
 manuscript preserved in the library of Corpus 
 Christi College, in Oxford. We must join with Dr. 
 Wallis in the regret which he expresses in the pre- 
 face to his Algebra, that some wicked hand has torn 
 away the precious leaves. [6] 
 
 Such a man as this must have given a character 
 to society at Bath. He could not but diffuse around 
 him a spirit of inquiry and research; and he who 
 could unlock the secrets of Arabian philosophy, then 
 known to few, must one supposes have attracted 
 hither a multitude of inquirers eager to sit at his 
 feet. We are not informed on whom the rich trea- 
 sures of his knowledge were more peculiarly poured 
 
40 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 forth ; but later in the same century Prior Walter 
 is celebrated for his science as well as for his piety. 
 
 In the next century there was one Eeginald of 
 Bath, a physician, who may be presumed to have 
 been eminent, as he was sent by King Henry III. to 
 attend a Queen of Scotland at Edinburgh. [7] Con- 
 temporary with him was Henry of Bath, a lawyer, 
 who is described by Pits as legum terrce peritissimus ; 
 and to about the same period is to be referred a 
 William of Bath, a divine, some of whose homilies 
 were collected, and the volume was still in existence 
 in the time of Leland. 
 
 That the Abbey of Bath contained no second 
 Adelard wiU easily be believed. But the spirit of 
 philosophical research was not extinct in it even to 
 the period of its dissolution. Alchemy is the parent 
 of modern chemistry — an ill-favoured parent of a 
 fair and beautiful daughter. Prior Bird, whose chapel 
 is still one of the graceful ornaments of the Abbey- 
 church, is reported to have spent much time in his 
 laboratory. It would have been strange if the inha- 
 bitants of the monastery had not fallen into this 
 delusion, one of the tenets of the sect being that the 
 temperature of our springs was nature's indication of 
 the heat under which the labours of the alchemist 
 could be prosecuted with the fairest chance of success. 
 This secret was communicated by Holway, Bird's 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 41 
 
 successor, or by Bird himself, to Charnock, another 
 adept, who has left upon record concerning the latest 
 of the Priors that, having wasted his substance in the 
 unprofitable labour, when the Abbey was suppressed, 
 he wandered about the country in blindness and 
 beggary, a living monument of the vanity of his 
 art. [8.] 
 
 A more extensive inquiry among the writers on 
 this subject would, I doubt not, show that Bath is 
 connected with other names which occur in the early 
 history of chemical science ; for the mystery hanging 
 over these waters peculiarly fell in with that spirit 
 of mystery in which they affected to conduct all their 
 inquiries. But I pass to a more pleasing subject. 
 The inhabitants of the monastery of Bath had the 
 benefit of a library, which was richly stored mth 
 works relating to the science of the middle ages. 
 John de Yillula was a benefactor to it. This library 
 excited the admiration of Leland, who was acquainted 
 with all the great libraries in the kingdom. There 
 were books in it, he says, which must have been 
 precious volumes, the gift of King Athelstan. There 
 were translations from the Arabic, perhaps the work 
 of Adelard himself ; there were poems of the middle 
 ages, the Roman classics, and the writings of the more 
 eminent physicians. There has been a time at Bath 
 when men conspired to abolish the memory of the 
 
42 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 things that had been. Not one of these books is now 
 known to be in existence. Maj the Hbrary which we 
 have formed on the same site meet a better fate. [9] 
 
 I must recall the assertion that every book which 
 once formed the library of Bath has perished. One 
 book remains : it is known as the Red Book of Bath, 
 and is now deposited in the library of that noble 
 family who derive their principal title of honour from 
 this place. [10] It relates to the possessions of the 
 Abbey. Few in these days have seen it ; and it is 
 said to be guarded with a watchful jealousy for which 
 there can now be no good reason, its contents, what- 
 ever they may be, having become, through lapse of 
 time, only matter of historical and topographical 
 importance, or perhaps the mere playthings of anti- 
 quarian curiosity. If it contain that Chronicle of the 
 Abbey which Leland consulted, — for the monks of 
 Bath, like those of other towns, had their historians 
 as well as philosophers, — the publication of that 
 portion of its contents would connect in a manner 
 not unworthy the name of Thynne, already established 
 in the curious literature of England, its noble pos- 
 sessor with the historical literature of the present age, 
 and add another flower to the literary garland of the 
 city with which they are so remarkably connected. 
 
 Perhaps I have delayed too long upon the literary 
 honours of Bath in the elder time. We now dismiss 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 43 
 
 these our reverend fathers, and speak of what their 
 successors have been. 
 
 The dissolution of the monasteries forms a grand 
 epoch in the political, religious, and literary history 
 of the country. From that event, rather than from 
 the invention of printing, I should be disposed tO date 
 what is called our modern history — I mean when 
 speaking of England. 
 
 Hitherto we have contemplated the current of our 
 literature and science as running in one stream. We 
 must now look upon the current as divided in dif- 
 ferent branches; for it vdll be found that there has 
 been a succession of persons in the various depart- 
 ments of literature — in natural philosophy, in morals, 
 in history, in criticism, poetry, and the Hghter 
 literature — some of whom may be said to have been 
 of the higher order of mind, and many of them eminent 
 in their day and worthy a lasting remembrance. 
 That there are still among the inhabitants of this 
 city those who will be regarded as links in this beau- 
 tiful intellectual chain, when hereafter some one in 
 this place shall speak in a manner more worthy of 
 the subject of what Bath has been in time past, no 
 one who knows the place would ventm-e to deny. For 
 myself, I shall trespass as little as possible upon the 
 modesty of any one living. The task I have under- 
 
44 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 taken is delicate ; but I trust that if there be treasured 
 in the affectionate remembrance of any one who now 
 hears me some other name which ought to be repeated 
 whenever we attempt to speak of those who by their 
 attainments in learning or in science have reflected 
 honour on the city of their birth or residence, that 
 the omission will be attributed to deficiency of 
 information, or to the well-known truth that what is 
 familiarly known is not always present, rather than 
 to any other cause. 
 
 1. The first place may here be given to those who 
 have contributed to the advancement of science, or 
 who have excelled in the different departments of 
 natural history. And on the first mention of these, 
 the recollection recurs how honourable a tribute has 
 already been paid to them by a distinguished member 
 of this Institution, whose name I trust it will be long 
 before we can add to the list of those who have 
 ceased to advance natural science amongst us. [11] 
 It is evident that Bath has never been without those 
 who have laboured, and laboured successfully, in this 
 department. That wonderful and still mysterious 
 phenomenon of our impregnated and heated springs 
 has contributed in two ways to give to Bath a certain 
 share of importance in the history of science : their 
 singularity has excited attention and stimulated 
 inquiry. The complete elucidation of all the circum- 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 45 
 
 stances attending them forms a prize as tempting to 
 the ambition of science as that which allures one of 
 the eminent natives of this city to dare the utmost 
 rigors of the northern sky. Bvit there is also a 
 healing virtue in the waters, which has drawn in all 
 ages the suffering and infirm to this which the Saxons 
 called emphatically the sick man's town. The natural 
 consequence has been, that here have been more than 
 the usual proportion of the ministers of health, with 
 whom in all ages has lain a large share of the science 
 of the time ; men who, coming from the great seats of 
 learning, by knowing what is known, are best qualified 
 to extend the limits of knowledge. It will not be 
 expected from me to discriminate the peculiar cha- 
 racter or the particular success of each member of 
 this learned profession who has devoted himself to the 
 advancement of his own profession, or of natural 
 science or natural history in the general. But we 
 find early in the seventeenth century the names of 
 Venner, and Jorden, and Peirce, all resident physi- 
 cians of Bath, who, with others, attempted to clear 
 away the mystery which hangs over our heated 
 springs, and by their -writings to advance our medical 
 science. There was also Dr. Mayow, who commu- 
 nicated to the world the result of his chemical 
 researches in ' a treatise upon nitrous salts, and Dr. 
 GuiDOTT, a man of various learning, who lived in close 
 
46 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 correspondence with the most emment physicians, 
 naturalists, and philosophers of his age, and Avho him- 
 self contributed to the advancement of science and phi- 
 losophy. That all or any of them were great original 
 discoverers can hardly be maintained ; but these were 
 men who fidly came up to the standard of philosophical 
 knowledge in their own age, who maintained in their 
 day the reputation of Bath for science, and who pre- 
 pared the way for their more able successors. [12] 
 
 At the beginning of the next century were Cheyne 
 and the elder Oliver, both Fellows of the Koyal 
 Society, and both contributing by their writings to 
 the advancement of knowledge in the profession to 
 the practice of which they were devoted. A second 
 Oliver succeeded, not inferior to the first ; and during 
 the whole of that century, among the medical prac- 
 titioners of Bath, were many who through different 
 channels communicated to the public curious results 
 of their professional inquiries, increasing in a greater 
 or less degree the medical information of the country, 
 and supporting through that century the reputation 
 of the city for medical science, [13] till at the close 
 of it we arrive at the names of Falconer and Parry, 
 who will probably be allowed to have surpassed all 
 their predecessors as well in medical science as in 
 polite and elegant literature ; both entering in early 
 life on the practice of the profession in this city, both 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 47 
 
 bringing with them from renowned seats of learning 
 abundant stores of all preparatory knowledge, both 
 devoting minds ardent and acute to the philosophy of 
 their profession, both dispensing health and strength 
 through a wide circle around them, both advancing 
 their profession by their valuable writings, both 
 sinking into the grave in a good old age at nearly the 
 same period, and both leaving behind them those who 
 will hereafter be regarded as among the ornaments of 
 their native city. [14] 
 
 A private feeling of regard might induce me to add 
 another name — one who did something for medical 
 science, and enough to show that more might have 
 been expected from him had a longer date been given 
 him. [15] But, while it is impossible to enumerate 
 all who have advanced the cause of science, and espe- 
 cially of medical science, we must not omit the mention 
 of one man whose own attainments were considerable, 
 and who is known by a few but curious and valuable 
 writings, but whose name becomes more particularly 
 connected with the science of Bath by the circum- 
 stance that for many years his house was the resort 
 of many of the scientific residents of Bath and of such 
 learned strangers as were visiting this city, I mean 
 Sir William Watson, at whose house and that of 
 another distinguished member of the medical profes- 
 sion still living amongst us and a member of this 
 
48 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 Institution, [16] there was for several years a weekly- 
 assemblage of men of science, for the purpose of 
 mutual communication and the free discussion of 
 philosophical subjects. 
 
 The remembrance of these meetings and of the 
 many eminent characters who were occasionally 
 present is fresh in the memory of some who hear 
 me ; but the name of Sir William Watson becomes 
 more honourably connected with the science of the 
 country, and through him Bath with that science, by 
 another tie. 
 
 In the band of musicians who performed at the 
 evening concerts was a young German who possessed 
 considerable skill in his own art, but who was ob- 
 served often to leave the room, and employ himself 
 during the intervals of his nightly performances in the 
 study of the heavens. This excited the curiosity of 
 Sir William Watson, who soon discovered that he 
 was no ordinary person, and who from that moment 
 extended his patronage to him, assisting him in his 
 studies, and introducing him to the acquaintance of 
 other persons engaged in the same pursuit. I need 
 not add that this was Herschel, who continued to 
 reside for many years at Bath, till, I believe, through 
 means of his first patron, he was introduced to King 
 George III., and placed in a situation more favour- 
 able for the prosecution of those observations which 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 49 
 
 finally produced such splendid results. While still a 
 resident of Bath, many of his more important obser- 
 vations were made. Here, it is said, he obtained the 
 first glimpse of the planet which bears his name ; and 
 here he constructed his first telescope, having been 
 led to consider the structure of that insti-ument by 
 having accidentally broken the mirror of a reflecting 
 telescope which he had borrowed in this city. [17] 
 
 In the department of botany, our old physician 
 Dr. Johnson is to be remembered as having published 
 the Herbal of Gerard, which long continued to be the 
 most popular and most complete work in that depart- 
 ment of natural history. In later and better times, 
 the work of Mr. Sole on the plants belonging to the 
 genus Mentha is supposed to have exhausted his 
 subject. But the name of Stackhouse stands eminent 
 among the cultivators of this attractive branch of 
 natural history, the translator of Theophrastus, and 
 the able delineator of the Fuci and other marine 
 plants found upon our shores, in the work to which 
 he gave the appropriate and classical title of Nereis 
 Britannica. Here, too, came to die the author of the 
 Flcyra Grceca, Dr. Sibthorp, whose beautiful monu- 
 ment by Flaxman adorns the walls of the Abbey. 
 
 Bath may justly be regarded as the cradle of 
 English Geology. This new science, indeed, may be 
 said to have had its birth in this place within our 
 
 E 
 
50 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 own tirae. Look into the encyclopcedias and diction- 
 aries published twenty years ago, and the word is hardly 
 to be found, nor any of the innumerable terms which 
 now form its extensive vocabulary. Observe, too, 
 how many persons in every part of the kingdom are 
 now engaged in the study of this science, and you 
 will see something of the importance in which it is 
 now regarded. The pecuHar disposition of the strata 
 in this neighbourhood gave the first hint. I wish 
 I could add that it was a native, or at least a resident, 
 who first observed it. That honour was reserved for 
 a humble and very modest man, an engineer, named 
 William Smith, who had been brought to Bath for 
 the temporary purpose of superintending the exca- 
 vations necessary in constructing the Coal Canal. 
 There had been before his time a Mr. Wolcot, who 
 had collected the various fossils which are to be 
 found in the vicinity of Bath, and who had published 
 delineations of them ; but Smith was the first to 
 observe how each layer has its own peculiar fossils, 
 and how the dispositions of the strata have coincided 
 with the dispositions in other portions of the island. 
 This was the first spark — this an original and grand 
 discovery. The whole science of geology, which has 
 opened so many new and curious views, is the mag- 
 nificent result. 
 
 Smith observed, and in part systematized; but in 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 51 
 
 theorizing he was indebted to two gentlemen, one of 
 whom is still living — an early benefactor to this 
 Institution; [18] and the other not long since de- 
 ceased, and taking a conspicuous place in the science 
 and literature of Bath. It was Mr. Townsend who 
 first felt the fuU importance of Smith's observations, 
 and who assisted him in methodizing his remarks. 
 Mr. Townsend was himself one of the earliest writers 
 in this science, and he has also enriched our literature 
 in the several departments of philology, foreign geo- 
 graphy, and practical divinity. [19] 
 
 And, lastly, better practical philosophers were, 
 perhaps, never collected into a society than some of 
 the early members of that Association which was 
 formed here for the purpose of encouraging the arts, 
 the agriculture, and the manufactures of the king- 
 dom; and the successive volumes of their Transactions 
 bespeak their ability to accompHsh the important 
 objects for which they are associated, and have exhi- 
 bited to the world a gratifying series of useful and va- 
 luable results, from the aplication of the principles of 
 science to the more ordinary businesses of life. [20] 
 
 II. The catalogue of those who have contributed by 
 
 their writings to enrich theological or moral science 
 
 would doubtless admit of increase, were not the 
 
 several histories of Bath so deficient in presenting 
 
 E 2 
 
52 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 US with catalogues of the incumbents of our several 
 churches [21 j We look into them in vain, also, for 
 the catalogue of Masters of the Grammar School, for 
 Bath has had the benefit of one of these foundations 
 almost from the time when it lost the advantage of 
 having a society of learned religious within its 
 walls. [22] There have been, however, some names 
 in those walks which well deserve to be remembered ; 
 and amongst them must be placed in the first rank 
 the name of John Hales, with whose name has 
 descended the epithet " the Ever-memorable," either as 
 expressive of the estimation in which he was held by 
 his contemporaries, or in respect of his preferment, as 
 being the Provost of Eton College. [23] Hales was 
 a native of Bath, and was justly considered one of 
 the great theological lights of an age which pro- 
 duced Andrewes, Hooker, and Taylor. The youth 
 of Dr. Samuel Chandler, [24] one of the ablest 
 defenders of revelation in the controversies of the 
 last century, was spent at Bath ; and it was here, or 
 rather in our immediate neighbourhood, that War- 
 BURTON produced the great work to which he chose to 
 give the title of The Divine Legation of Moses demon- 
 strated, a work which, however people -may incline to 
 trust or to doubt of the method of proof which the 
 writer has chosen to adopt, will ever command admi- 
 ration for its learning and its genius. 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 53 
 
 Of a gentler spirit than this Goliah of theologians 
 was Melmoth, whose elegant and beautiful trans- 
 lations would gain him the character of one of the 
 finest writers of his time, did they not place him in 
 the higher rank of those who raise the moral character 
 and the intellectual purity of the age in which they 
 live. In the same rank may be placed some of the 
 literate family of Bowdler, who belong peculiarly to 
 us, and in whom something of the spirit of their 
 illustrious ancestor, the founder of the Cottonian 
 Library, might reasonably be expected to survive. 
 But above all in this class for the soundest moral 
 instruction and the most sagacious remarks on man 
 — his frame, his duty, and his fature expectations — 
 may be placed the honoured name of Hartley, a 
 considerable portion of whose life was spent in this 
 city, as was also much of the life of his son, who is 
 known in poHtics, in science, and in literature. [25] 
 
 Here lived that somewhat irregular, but highly- 
 gifted person, the real writer of some of the most 
 celebrated, perhaps, of all the sermons which form 
 the Bampton Course. [26] And the mention of those 
 lectures suggests other names connected with Bath, 
 but especially one which we may be proud to have 
 associated with our city ; a name of which it is diffi- 
 cult to say whether it is more eminent in science, in 
 theology, in classical or in early English literature ; 
 
54 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 a name which will long be dwelt upon with fond 
 regret by many who now hear me as that of a friend 
 from whose presence few could depart without in- 
 crease of knowledge, and admiration of his simpHcity, 
 his modesty, and his worth. Multis ille bonis jlebilis 
 occidit. [27] 
 
 Here, too, the clear and vigorous mind of Jardine 
 was directed to the study of theology and morals. [28] 
 Here Maclaine found refuge when driven by an in- 
 vading enemy from the country of his choice. And 
 it was here that two of the gentlest and most amiable 
 of men prosecuted with unwearied assiduity the search 
 after truth ; one unfolding the nature of the human 
 mind, and displaying in a lucid manner the various 
 affections and passions by which human nature is 
 moved; the other seeking out the evidence of the 
 divinity of our holy religion, or ascertaining the 
 meaning of dark passages of Scripture, — two friends 
 during the whole period of their mortal lives, and at 
 their deaths not long divided : — 
 
 Quales neque candidiores 
 Terra tulit : — 
 
 With these, the names of Cogan and Simpson, [29] 
 I shall close this department ; and the next that may 
 be opened is that of History. 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 55 
 
 III. Nor let any one be startled if the first name 
 that presents itself is that of William Pryh^^e: for 
 although 
 
 Rege sub Augusto fas sit laudare Catonem, 
 
 I am not about to speak of him as the enemy of 
 royalty and prelacy, or even in his other character as 
 the castigator of the stage. I look upon this as a very 
 inferior part of a very extraordinary character, and as 
 in some measure belonging to the age rather than to 
 the man. I look upon him as the great historical 
 lawyer of his time; as acquainted, perhaps, beyond 
 all his contemporaries with the constitutional law of 
 England; as a man of immense industry; as the 
 devoted investigator of our diplomatic antiquities; 
 and as one who preferred a dark chamber in the 
 Tower before the most sumptuous and lightsome 
 apartment. I look upon him with great respect as a 
 man who has rendered accessible to the public much 
 of the contents of that great national repository of 
 records, and who has incidentally thrown light upon 
 almost every subject of English historical inquiry. 
 Prynne we may peculiarly claim as our o^vn, for he 
 was bom at the little village of Swainswick; his 
 mother was the daughter of Sherston, the first mayor 
 of Bath under the charter of Elizabeth ; he was the 
 recorder ; he was twice chosen Member of Parliament 
 
56 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 for the city; and in his Brevia Parliamenti there is, I 
 am told, the fullest account of the state of the question 
 which from time to time agitates this city respecting 
 the body in whom resides the high privilege of re- 
 turning the citizens to Parliament, and the most 
 complete demonstration of the right of those who 
 have so long exercised it. 
 
 If Prynne leaned too much to the republican part 
 of our constitution, we have Carte, the great his- 
 torical advocate of the rights of the monarch. Carte 
 was the lecturer at the Abbey. He wrote his History 
 while residing here, and he became engaged, in con- 
 sequence of it, in an historical controversy with 
 Chandler, another resident of Bath, the father of 
 Chandler before mentioned, respecting the Irish mas- 
 sacre. Carte is supposed to have been principally 
 concerned in that little ebullition of feeling in favour 
 of the exiled family which manifested itself at Bath 
 in 1715. 
 
 As if the Muse of History could never make her 
 appearance here without the ensigns of party, we have 
 next to speak of Mrs. Catherine Macauley. This 
 lady resided for many years at the house in Alfred- 
 street where there is still to be seen the bust of King 
 Alfred over the door, domesticated with her friend 
 Dr. Wilson, son to the truly amiable and excellent 
 Bishop of Sodor and Man. Here she j^rosecuted her 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 57 
 
 historical inquiries, wrote much of her History, and 
 made herself the centre of a little circle of politicians, 
 to whom she was accustomed to give lessons on gene- 
 ral politics and English constitutional history. 
 
 Bath has itself sufficient to tempt the curiosity of 
 the historical inquirer. Long before Mr. Warner so 
 well collected together most of what could be learned 
 respecting its history, one of its citizens, named 
 Chapman, wrote a short treatise on its antiquities and 
 history. Several of the writers Avho have treated on 
 its springs as a subject for philosophical research 
 have also spoken of the civil history of Bath. Wood, 
 an architect, to whom we owe much of the beautiful 
 architecture in and around Bath, aspired to the cha- 
 racter of its historian. Few have touched upon any 
 point in the Koman antiquities of Britain without 
 adverting to some of the many remains of the Roman 
 era that have been discovered here. The Britannia 
 Belgica of Musgrave relates especially to the Bath 
 antiquities ; but they have been illustrated most ftilly 
 by a very eminent antiquary of the present age, 
 whom we may claim as belonging to Bath, as many 
 of his early years were spent here, and he was trained 
 to learning in the Grammar School. He has also 
 dehneated them with great fidelity, and on a scale 
 worthy their curiosity and importance. I mean the 
 late Mr. Samuel Lysons, who projected and in part 
 
58 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 accomplished one of the most magnificent works to be 
 found in the literature of any nation, and who was 
 prevented from completing it only by a too early 
 death. There is a boldness of design about his 
 Reliquice Momance which excites the utmost respect 
 and admiration; a carelessness of expense; a de- 
 votedness of heart to a project, worthy of a great 
 mind to conceive ; and a taste and felicity in the 
 execution, which marks the native force and the cul- 
 tivated elegance of his mind. That the work is in- 
 complete arises from that which nothing can control. 
 But, while the fragment forms a splendid and suitable 
 monument to a truly illustrious man, it also stands to 
 the honour of Bath ; for it is to Bath, which has 
 treasured up so many of the remains of its former 
 magnificence, that the world owes the conception of 
 the grand design. May some other of our generous 
 youth, surveying beneath the roof of this edifice those 
 very remains which first struck the spark in the 
 breast of a Lysons, feel within him the ambition of 
 completing what has been so well begun! 
 
 Among the names by Avhich Bath becomes con- 
 nected with the historical literature of England must 
 not be forgotten that of Pownall. The curious and 
 minute inquiries of Mr. Luders into points of English 
 history and the origin of peculiar political institutions, 
 place his name in an honourable rank among the 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 59 
 
 cultivators of our national antiquities. And last, only 
 because he was the last who ceased to shed abroad in 
 the world the light of his antiquarian and historical 
 knowledge, must be named that careful investigator 
 of one very important branch of our national anti- 
 quities, the early roads and other earth-works which 
 are scattered in such rich abundance over the surface 
 of this island, the Rev. Mr. Leman, a founder and 
 original trustee of this Institution, who has marked 
 his sense of its usefulness and permanency by making 
 its library the depositary of many volumes of genea- 
 logical collections in his own neat and beautiful hand, 
 and many scattered but precious notices of various 
 English antiquities. Few are the works in English 
 topography that have appeared in his time that have 
 not owed something to the assistance, ever so kindly 
 rendered, of Mr. Leman. 
 
 IV. We proceed lastly to the class of those who 
 have contributed rather to the amusement than to the 
 solid information of the age, — those whose aim has 
 been rather to delight than instruct, or who have 
 instructed while they seemed only intent on delighting. 
 
 It was long ago observed that where the infirm 
 seek health, those who are well wiU seek amusement. 
 We see the truth of the observation. Bath has from 
 the earliest period to which we can ascend in our 
 
60 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 inquiries not been without those who could minister 
 to the amusement of the strangers who resorted 
 hither. It has ever had its musicians, from Lich- 
 field the lutanist to Queen EHzabeth, whose monu- 
 ment is in the Abbey, [30] to the modern Rauzzini. 
 Among its artists appear the distinguished names of 
 Hoaee and Gainsborough. [31] It had its theatre 
 from early times, in which have been trained some 
 of the most eminent in the histrionic art, including 
 Siddons herself. If this make not a part of the lite- 
 rature of the country, it will at least be allowed to be 
 nearly allied to it. [32] 
 
 For the theatre at Bath, late in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, or early in that of James I., Samuel Daniel 
 wrote his tragedy of Philotas, which gained so unfor- 
 tunate a notoriety. Daniel we may claim as one of 
 our own poets, for he was borrr in this neighbourhood, 
 spent great part of his life in rural retirement in this 
 part of the kingdom, and he lies buried in the church 
 of Beckington, where his bust may be seen, a part of 
 the monument erected to his memory by that Countess 
 of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery, who raised 
 the monuments to Drayton and Spenser: — Daniel, 
 whom a great critic of the present day calls " one of 
 the golden writers of our golden Elizabethian age," 
 and who further says of him that " his diction and 
 his sentiments bear no marks of age, that no fre- 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 61 
 
 quency of perusal can deprive the latter of their 
 freshness, for though they are brought into the full 
 daylight of every reader's comprehension, they are 
 drawn from depths which few in any age are privi- 
 leged to visit, into which few in any age have courage 
 or inclination to descend," [33] — Daniel, to whom 
 Spenser addressed this exciting stanza — 
 
 Then rouse thy feathers quickly, Daniel, 
 
 And to what course thou please thyself advance : 
 
 But more, meseems, thy accent will excel 
 In tragic plaints and passionate mischance, — 
 
 Daniel, who prefixed to his Philotas, when envy and 
 jealousy and unfounded suspicions compelled the pub- 
 lication of that which he had written but on a private 
 suggestion, a poetical dedication to the second man in 
 the realm, in which, in a manner which must be dear 
 to the mind of every votary of the Muse, he asserts, 
 the dignity of his art and the value of the rare inspi- 
 ration. [34] His name I could perceive was fixed 
 in the memory of an eminent poet, [35] who honoured 
 this Institution with his presence on the day when 
 first its doors were opened, when, unable to proceed 
 as he intended with speaking of the poets of the 
 purest age of English poetry, whose names were for 
 ever connected with this beautiful city, he sat down 
 in silence overpowered by his own feelings and the 
 kind plaudits of the assembly. [36] 
 
62 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 Contemporary with Daniel was Sir John Haring- 
 TON, himself a poet of no mean rank, and one to whom 
 England and English poesy owe nearly as much as 
 England and English science to Athelardus ; for to 
 him in a great measure is to be attributed the intro- 
 duction of that taste for Italian poetry and Italian 
 literature, which is one principal cause why the poetry 
 of the reign of Elizabeth is of so different a cast from 
 the poetry of the reign of her father. What is 
 Skelton, or even Surrey, when we speak of Spenser 
 and Shakespeare? and how much do Spenser and 
 Shakespeare, and even Milton, owe to the poetry and 
 literature of Italy! Harington translated the great 
 poem of Ariosto into English, and did everything in 
 his power to familiarize the English with the great 
 writers of Italy. He assisted also in drawing the arts 
 from thence, for he employed Barozzi to design for 
 him the house which he built at Kelston. 
 
 The notices of Bath in the poems of Sylvester 
 show that he had a personal acquaintance with the 
 country around us ; and it was here that a critic not 
 long deceased [37] proved his curious position that 
 the writings of Sylvester, neglected as they now are, 
 were much studied by Milton ; that many portions of 
 them dwelt on his memory ; and that he has inter- 
 woven in his great works many compound terms and 
 poetic phrases which he had found in Sylvester. 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 63 
 
 The little river Boyd, which flows into the Avon at 
 Bitton, is peculiarly celebrated by another poet of 
 those times, now as it seems undeservedly fallen into 
 oblivion, John Davors, who in 1613 published a 
 didactic poem on the art of Angling. He speaks of it 
 as if it were his native stream, and it certainly was 
 the favourite scene of his pastime. 
 
 It is pleasant to know and to remember that a place 
 which we value has been mingled with the poetic 
 imaginings of the great bards of our country. The 
 being, half man, half demon, who presents himself 
 under the name of Merlin from the utmost depths of 
 our history, and whose vaticinations, weak and foolish 
 as they are, have at different periods contributed to 
 shake the kingdom, had his mind directed upon our 
 heated springs, and he foretells that under the reign 
 of the Mouldiwarp they shall become cold. The Wife 
 of Bath will be known to the latest posterity in the 
 works of Chaucer, or the transversion of the story 
 by Pope, when the English language had become more 
 settled. Bath occurs several times in the Fairy 
 Queen ; and Shakespeare has this fanciful description 
 of what is its peculiar characteristic : — 
 
 The little Love-God, lying once asleep, 
 
 Laid by his side his heart -inflaming brand, 
 
 Whilst many nymphs that vowed chaste life to keep 
 Came tripping by : but in her maiden hand * 
 
04. CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 The fairest votary took up that fire 
 
 Which many legions of true hearts had warmed : 
 And lo the general of hot desire 
 
 Was sleeping, by a virgin hand disarmed. 
 This brand she quenched in a cool well by, 
 
 Which from Love's fire took heat perpetual, 
 Growing a bath and healthful remedy 
 
 For men diseased. 
 
 The lines of Dryden are inscribed upon one of the 
 many monuments in the Abbey Church ; and the 
 little village of Box contains a slab covered with the 
 verses of Waller. Garrick wrote the epitaph on 
 Quin. 
 
 In the early part of the last century arose a remark- 
 able character, whose name is never mentioned in this 
 place but with respect and honour ; and well does it 
 deserve to be cherished by us, for he possessed what 
 the inscription to his memory assigns to him the 
 praise of, virtutem verum et simplicem — Ralph Allen, 
 who having laid out and ornamented a piece of ground 
 in the vicinity of the city peculiarly favourable for 
 his purpose, and having built upon it a house beautiful 
 in its design and magnificent in its extent, was accus- 
 tomed to receive all the more eminent literary men of 
 his time, so that he became a centre around which 
 much of the wit and poetry of the age was gathered. 
 Pope especially was a frequent visitor at Prior 
 Park, [38] and there was laid the foundation of that 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 65 
 
 intimacy which has connected the names of Pope and 
 Warburton, so that they never will be dissevered. 
 There also was often to be found Fielding, whose resi- 
 dence, indeed, for many years was at Bath and in its 
 vicinity: [39] and there, too, Smollett, who thus 
 became acquainted with the local peculiarities of 
 Bath, which he has so humorously represented in 
 one of his most popular novels. 
 
 When Allen was gone, — Allen the kind and the 
 good, — the house of Sir John Miller at Bath-Easton 
 became the centre of the lighter literature of Bath. 
 But Lady Miller lived in perhaps the least fortunate 
 age of English poetry, and the contributions to the 
 Vase are now rather sought for as monuments of 
 a taste which happily soon passed away, than as 
 contributions of value to the literature of the 
 country. 
 
 And here a multitude of names crowd upon the 
 memory. But to enumerate all the inhabitants of 
 this gay and populous city who are connected with 
 the lighter and more elegant literature of England, or 
 all the playful works of which the peculiarities of this 
 city have been the theme, [40] would be a vain and 
 endless task. Nor would I occupy the time of such 
 an assembly as-this with any attempt at discriminating 
 the various and often striking merit of the Sheridans, 
 
 F 
 
66 CONNECTION OF BATH WITH THE 
 
 and LiNLEYS ; Thicknesse, or of Graves, Harington, 
 Lee, and Piozzi, who all belong to us, who have all a 
 name in the literature of England, and through whom 
 Bath becomes connected with some of the greatest 
 names and most interesting circumstances in modern 
 English literature. By Harington of course I mean 
 Dr. Harington, whom some one calls " the triple son 
 of Apollo," Music, Verse, and Medicine. 
 
 One name remains — a name that never vibrates 
 on the ear of one acquainted with Bath but pleasur- 
 ably — the name of Anstey, in whose poem, so truly 
 original, so truly comic, the peculiarities of our city 
 will descend to the latest posterity. [41] 
 
 With him let this catalogue be closed. Are there 
 many cities of the empire which can produce a file 
 like this ? But, beside those whom we have named, 
 how many have there been among the residents of 
 this city, men adorned by various learning, and able 
 to have instructed and delighted far beyond the limits 
 of their private circle ! How many others who have 
 poured forth the light of their knowledge or their 
 genius from this place, but who are rather to be 
 considered as visitors or temporary residents, than 
 as having made part of the settled population of this 
 city. It is gratifying to reflect that most of those of 
 whom we have spoken were good and amiable as 
 
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. G7 
 
 well as wise and skilful men; and we, who are bnt 
 shadows ourselves, may follow the beautiful shadows 
 that have flitted before us this evening to their 
 happier abode, the pice et discretce sedes heatorum — 
 
 Inter odoratum lauri nemus : unde supeme 
 Plurimus Eridani per sylvam volvitur amnis ; 
 
 where dwell 
 
 Quique sacerdotes casti dum vita manebat; 
 Quique pii vates, et Phoebo digna locuti; 
 Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes; 
 Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo. 
 
 Next to the cultivation of the devout and virtuous 
 aiFections is the cultivation of the intellectual faculty ; 
 and that these men were in the main good as well as 
 great is one proof amongst many that knowledge is 
 favourable to virtue. Nor can I, while this is the 
 case, persuade myself that I have departed from the 
 prosecution of the great objects which I am bound to 
 keep in view, by having lent my assistance in carrying 
 on a design which aims at the intellectual advance- 
 ment of our people. 
 
 In offering this tribute to the literary character of 
 Bath, I have not been swayed by any of the partiality 
 which is supposed to affect those who speak of the 
 F 2 
 
68 CONNECTION OF BATH, ETC. 
 
 place of their nativity. But nearly the half of my 
 life has been spent in this city ; for I fell early into 
 her lap. I have been treated by her with maternal 
 kindness ; and I rejoice in the opportunity which, 
 through your indulgence, I have this evening enjoyed 
 of rendering this tribute of filial gratitude. 
 
III. 
 ANNOTATION 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PKECEDING PAPEE, 
 
 WRITTEN AT THE EXPIRATION OF TWENTY-SIX 
 YEARS. 
 
[1] The authority here is the remarkable and 
 often quoted passage in Solinus ; but I do not pretend, 
 in a paper such as this, to cite authorities for every 
 statement, though I believe they exist, and may 
 easily be found by those who wish for them. 
 
 [2] The benefactors here spoken of are Mr. Wilt- 
 shire and Dr. Nott, of whom previously. Dr. Nott 
 was the editor of the works of Surrey and Wyat. He 
 spent some months at Bath and Clifton in the interval, 
 not a very long one, between his fall in the Cathedral 
 Church of Winchester and his death, the somewhat 
 remote consequence of that sad accident. 
 
 [3] So it then appeared. Six-and-twenty years 
 have since passed, and there is the building, the 
 library, the museum, the pubhc lectures, and there 
 are friends and supporters also, some of the old stock, 
 now the Nestors of the Institution ; others who have 
 since taken up their abode in Bath, and who show 
 themselves not inferior to the founders in the interest 
 
/ 2 AJNiNUTATION. 
 
 which they take in its prosperity; yet it is to be 
 wished, if for nothing else but for the honour of 
 Bath, that so valuable a gift, transmitted from a 
 generation almost passed away, should not perish in 
 the hands of a race less alive to its value and im- 
 portance. 
 
 [4] The proof of this is found in the Julius Vitalis 
 inscription, about which so much has been written. 
 
 [5] Following some indifferent authority, I had 
 before called this person John Chandler, but his 
 name was certainly Thomas. Since this paper was 
 written, I have had the good fortune to ascertain that 
 his treatise in praise of the cities of Bath and Wells 
 is not lost. Having occasion in 1834, soon after I 
 had left Bath, to search for historical manuscripts in 
 the libraries at Cambridge, I discovered in the library 
 of Trinity College a volume containing this treatise 
 and several others, all the work of Chandler. The 
 volume had belonged to Bishop Beckington, the 
 friend of Chandler, and is unquestionably the very 
 book which Leland saw in the library at Wells. 
 
 The press-mark of the manuscript in its present 
 depositary is E. xiv. 5. 
 
 There was a pleasure in the recovery of what, as 
 far as my knowledge had gone, was a lost historical 
 
ANNOTATION. 73 
 
 remain ; but there was a disappointment also. What 
 I have said of it is rather what one should have 
 wished it to be than what it is ; for in reality it 
 presents few very distinct ideas, and hardly any 
 curious points of any kind, being written in a jElorid, 
 verbose, rhetorical manner. Yet it might deserve to 
 be transcribed and printed, to which no doubt the 
 Master and the College would yield their consent, as 
 being so early a treatise expressly relating to the 
 sister cities, and so little known, or rather not known 
 at all. 
 
 [6] The name of Adelardus de Bada occurs in the 
 great Roll of the Pipe of the thirty-first year of the 
 reign of King Henry the First, the time when the 
 Adelard of science lived. A small payment was 
 made to him by the Sheriff of Wilts, for some service 
 probably which he had done for the King. I should 
 not easily be persuaded that this could be any other 
 person so named and so described than the famous 
 Adelard. If it was another, then there were two 
 persons both of some eminence, contemporaries, and 
 bearing the same name and addition. This is not 
 probable, and the improbability is not overcome by 
 the vague and shadowy reasoning by which it has 
 been attempted to show that the philosopher Adelard 
 was not the person spoken of in that noble record. 
 
74 ANNOTATION. 
 
 There was another person who ought to have been 
 mentioned when speaking of those by whom John de 
 Villula was surrounded. This was Hugelinus, or 
 Hugelo, who has in a charter the addition cum barba, 
 but in Domesday Book the addition is Interpres, a 
 man possibly of many languages, as Adelard and 
 doubtless the Bishop himself were. This Hugelo had 
 a beautiful estate at the time of the Norman Survey, 
 l3dng about Bath-Easton, Warley, and Claverton. 
 His lands came afterwards to the Monks of Bath. 
 He was of the class of tenants called the Taini Eegis. 
 
 [7] The physicians of Bath in early times seem to 
 have lived in the abbey. Prior Eobert, in a chapter 
 held April 5, 1328, granted " Magistro Johanni de 
 Bathonia, medico," a suitable chamber within the 
 gates of the priory, with free ingress and egress for 
 life, and he was to have daily a white loaf of the 
 larger size from the convent bakehouse, and another 
 of the smaller size ; also a gallon of convent-beer, 
 " cervisias conventualis," and a " ferculum" and a 
 " pitancia" from the kitchen, as well on flesh days as 
 on fish days, according to the exigency of each. 
 He was also to be provided every year with a robe, 
 such as their clerks wore. In return for these privi- 
 leges he promises to exercise care and due diligence 
 in everything belonging to his faculty about the prior 
 
ANNOTATION. 75 
 
 and the monks, when they were sick in the infirmary 
 of the monastery, whenever he was properly called 
 upon, the medicines to be provided at the expense 
 of the house. To this he affixes a seal not his own, 
 because his own seal is not well known, but the seal 
 of the mayor of the city. Copies of both instruments 
 are in the Eegister of the Priory of Bath, now in the 
 Library of Lincoln's Inn. 
 
 We may add that the convent had also at this time 
 their own " sculptor" living with them in the house, 
 and bound to perform their work rather than that of 
 any other employers. In 1337, Mr. Richard de 
 Farlegh undertook the duty. He was to have bread, 
 beer, meat, and lodging, and a robe " de secta Armi- 
 gerorum," which was all he was to receive for the 
 exercise of his art, according to his science, whenever 
 they required it of him. 
 
 [8] See Chamock's Breviary of Natural Philo- 
 sophy ^ written in 1557, and printed by Ashmole in 
 his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicunij 4to, 1652, 
 p. 291-303. But there is a little confusion in his 
 narrative, which makes it uncertain whether he is 
 speaking of Bird or Holway. 
 
 [9] The library of the monks of Bath contained 
 books the gifts of royal and episcopal benefactors; 
 
76 ' ANNOTATION. 
 
 nor were the monks unmindful of how much they 
 owed to these benefactors for this particular species 
 of gift, although those who gave them books usually 
 gave them ornaments for their church, and broad 
 lands for their support. We find the gifts of books 
 by the early Bishops chronicled in the Register of the 
 Abbey just spoken of. This is the Register which 
 contains the treatise on the Bishoprick of Somerset, 
 which I printed several years ago for the Camden 
 Society, in which is the long passage quoted frOm 
 Bishop Gyso, not before known to have been one of 
 our ante -Norman writers. It appears from the 
 Chronicle of Benefactors in the Register, that King 
 Athelstan gave the abbey Priston, Ayston, Olneston, 
 and Lincombe ; but nothing is said of any books 
 given by him ; so his claim to have been one who 
 enriched this library must rest on the testimony of 
 Leland. His anniversary was solemnly kept every 
 year on the return of the day on which he died, when 
 the table of the convent was more copiously served, 
 and one hundred persons were regaled by the cel- 
 larer. The anniversaries of King Edwy and King 
 Edgar were celebrated in the same manner. But the 
 Bishops were the great benefactors to the library, 
 and especially John de Villula, who, when he had 
 rebuilt the church, gave to it many ornaments and 
 the greater part of the library. So says the chro- 
 
ANNOTATION. 77 
 
 nicler in the old Register. His anniversary was 
 celebrated in the same manner as the anniversaries 
 of the Kings. Godfrey, the successor of John, gave 
 copes and mass-books. Bishop Reginald is cele- 
 brated for the number of volumes which he gave to 
 the library. I add what I believe is not elsewhere 
 noticed, that, according to the Chronicle of Bene- 
 factors, he gave a very remarkable relic, nothing 
 less than the entire body of Saint Euphemia, virgin 
 and martyr. We have next in this chronology of 
 benefactors what is a very interesting fact in relation 
 to the library. England was dreadfully exhausted to 
 raise the money for the ransom of King Richard the 
 First. In particular the treasury of this monastery 
 was emptied, and still the monks had not done all 
 that was required of them. They were about to sell 
 the things dearest to them, when their bishop Savaric 
 stepped in and bought of them " textus, cruces, et 
 calices nostros," which he immediately restored to 
 them. I can interpret " textus" in no other way 
 than as meaning not one particular book, in which 
 sense it is undoubtedly sometimes used, but the 
 whole of their manuscripts. This was a noble act, 
 worthy a Christian bishop. 
 
 Bishop Robert Burnel was an eminent benefactor, 
 and so were other bishops to the time of John de 
 Drokensford, where the Chronicle ends ; but there is 
 
78 ANNOTATION. 
 
 no proof that books were among the things given by 
 them. 
 
 [10] Registers and chartularies do not properly 
 fall under the description of manuscripts, when we 
 are speaking of a library. A manuscript properly 
 so called, which belonged to the library of Bath, is 
 not, I believe, known ; but beside the Red Book, now 
 at Long Lete, and once the property of Dr. Thomas 
 Guidott, and the Register at Lincoln's Inn, the volume 
 in Corpus Christi College Library, and another in the 
 Harleian Library, were doubtless once in the archives 
 of the monastery. 
 
 [11] Sir George Smith Gibbes, M.D^ who spoke 
 much at length on this part of the subject in the 
 inaugural lecture which he delivered on the day of 
 the opening of the Institution. He was not at that 
 time a young man, so that it will not be surprising 
 that in the six-and-twenty years which have passed 
 since the paper was written, he has been gathered to 
 his fathers. He left Bath some years before his death, 
 and his loss was sensibly felt by the Institution. 
 
 [12] Dr. Guidott printed in 1677 a tract which he 
 entitled The Lives and Character of the Physicians of 
 Bath, from the year mdxcviii. to this present year 
 
ANNOTATION. 79 
 
 MDCLXxvi. There are eighteen of them. Of three 
 who lived before Dr. Jorden he knew little ; but he 
 gives a good account of Dr. Jorden, of whom he says 
 that he was the first resident physician who wrote 
 on the Waters. He appears to have been a thoroughly 
 educated and accomplished physician, and a more 
 general and public benefactor by the labour which he 
 bestowed on the refining of alum, by which, however, 
 his fortunes were injured. He died in 1632. Of 
 Dr. Tobias Yenner, Dr. Guidott speaks but slight- 
 ingly. He also printed something about Bath. Sir 
 Edward Greaves, physician in ordinary to King 
 Charles the Second, practised for a while at Bath. 
 Next come Dr. Bave, a foreigner, and Dr. John 
 Maplet, a man of various literature, " a good physi- 
 cian, a better Christian, and an excellent poet." It 
 is remarkable how many of the old physicians of 
 Bath, including Guidott himself, ventured to attract 
 to themselves the reputation of the poet. Dr. Guidott 
 says that another of his eighteen, Thomas Leyson, 
 wrote a Latin poem in celebration of that most 
 remarkable place Saint Donat's, the seat of the 
 Stradlings, in Glamorganshire. It is useless to foUow 
 Dr. Guidott further. 
 
 In the parish register of Bath is the following entry 
 among the burials : — " 1617, July 26. William 
 Jorden, the sonne of Mr. Doct. Jorden : the said child, 
 
80 ANNOTATION. 
 
 by lamentable mishappe, being drowned in the 
 King's Bath." 
 
 [13] They are far too many for such a paper as 
 this, and the names would but have presented a 
 dense mass of persons useful in their day, but now 
 nearly forgotten, with little to distinguish one of 
 them from another. I cannot, however, but admit 
 that others may view this part of the subject in a 
 different light, and I am quite willing to allow that a 
 history of medical practice in such a place as Bath 
 might form the subject of a book of no mean interest ; 
 nor ought I, perhaps, to have passed over such names 
 as Charlton, Sutherland, Lucas, and Frazer, to say 
 nothing of Pring and other medical writers of the 
 present century. 
 
 [14] Dr. William Falconer left one only son, the 
 Rev. Thomas Falconer, a very eminent scholar, as 
 the publication of the Oxford Strabo shows, and 
 who is known also by his Bampton Lectures and 
 other valuable writings. I cannot name him without 
 expressing, in strong terms, my own regard and 
 veneration for his memory — justum et tenacem pro- 
 positi virum : but kind and benevolent withall, in 
 no common degree. But he was, perhaps, of too 
 independent a spirit for a world like this, and we 
 
ANNOTATION. 81 
 
 saw him officiating only occasionally or transiently 
 in the churches of a city where his fine powers, his 
 Christian zeal, and his public spirit ought to have 
 secured for him whatever station of ecclesiastical 
 eminence the city had to bestow. About 1828, 
 being then somewhat past the middle period of life, 
 he graduated as M.D. in the University of Oxford. 
 He left sons who are now fulfilling what I ventured 
 to predict of them six-and-twenty years ago, able, 
 useful, and honourable men in the higher walks of 
 active life, worthy descendants of those of whom I 
 have spoken. 
 
 Dr. Parry left two sons, both living: Sir Edward 
 Parry, the younger son, the famous Arctic navigator, 
 and Dr. Charles Parry, the editor of his father's 
 posthumous remains ; the author, also, of that valu- 
 able work The Parliaments and Councils of England, 
 chronologically arranged, from the Reign of William I. 
 to the Revolution in 1688. 8vo. 1839. I have de- 
 parted a little from my design in the notice of this 
 volume, because it appears to be far less known than 
 it ought to be, as a compendious and most accurate 
 digest of the history of Parliament, indispensable to 
 the inquirers into Parliamentary history, and highly 
 useful to the critical student in English history in 
 general. 
 
 G * 
 
82 ANNOTATION. 
 
 [15] Dr. Edward Percival, the worthy son of a 
 worthy sire, the eminent Dr. Percival, of Manchester. 
 
 [16] Dr. Haygarth, who settled in Bath rather 
 late in life, more, perhaps, as a place in which a man 
 may sink gently to rest after the fatigues of an active 
 life than as a field for professional exertion. His 
 son, Mr. William Haygarth, now dead, was the 
 author of a poem entitled " Greece." 
 
 [17] The only other resident of Bath contempo- 
 rary Avith Herschel who can be singled out as likely 
 to have encouraged and assisted him, as far as 1 am 
 informed, is Dr. Walmesley, a Roman Catholic bishop 
 and vicar of the western district, who lived much in 
 Bath , and died there in 1 7 9 7 . His house was destroyed 
 in the riots of 1780. He is said by Roman Catholic 
 writers to have been " very eminent as a mathe- 
 matician and astronomer." He vvas also a theological 
 writer; as was his successor. Dr. Baines, the first 
 superior of the great establishment at Prior Park. 
 
 A little before their time lived Ben.iamin Robins, a 
 self-taught man, but eminent as a mathematician and 
 Avriter ; and, since their time, Bath was the residence 
 for many years of Thomas Stephens Davies, who 
 attained a well-deserved reputation by his mathe- 
 matical investigations. 
 
ANNOTATION. 83 
 
 [18] The Rev. Mr. Richardson, of Farley. 
 
 [19] Mr. Townsend, the rector of Pewsey, a re- 
 markable person in several respects. The reader 
 will find in Mr. Warner's Literary Recollections an 
 interesting notice of Mr. Townsend, and notices also, 
 more or less complete, of several other persons whose 
 names occur in this paper. Mr. Warner's services to 
 literature in general, and especially to the illustration 
 of Bath, where he so long resided, can never be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 [20] Persons connected with this Society who 
 were also much connected with Bath, and are not 
 elsewhere named in this paper, were Sir Benjamin 
 Hobhouse, who was for many years the president, 
 Mr. Henry Wansey, one of the first English travellers 
 in the United States after the separation, who pub- 
 lished an account of their impressions of the new 
 country, and Dr. C. Wilkinson, whose name is a pro- 
 minent one in the history of galvanism in England. 
 
 [21] It is a great defect in any topographical 
 history when there is no account of the persons who 
 held that most important position in a parish, the 
 incumbency, whether rector or vicar. Even Webb, 
 who held the living for twelve years, till 1634, is not 
 G 2 
 
84 ANNOTATION. 
 
 named, thongli he was a writer, and at liis death an 
 Irish bishop. We may conclude, however, that few 
 of the Rectors of Bath made much impression on the 
 age, or left any permanent memorial of themselves. 
 Glanvile, who came in on a lapse in the latter half of 
 the seventeenth century, is an exception, and with 
 the name of Glanvile we must connect those of Crosse 
 and Stubbes, as they waged fierce war together on 
 the value of the Aristotelian philosophy, and other 
 things connected with the great changes which were 
 then going on in the minds of the philosophers of the 
 time. 
 
 [22] There is, I believe, a volume of Latin verses, 
 spun by the boys of former days in this school, 
 entitled Primitice Bathonienses^ but I do not recollect 
 to have ever seen it. 
 
 [23] " Ever-memorable " had been applied before 
 to one of his predecessors as provost of Eton — Sir 
 Henry Wotton. Hales is not likely to be forgotten 
 as long as any curiosity shall exist concerning the 
 progress of moral and theological science; so that 
 Dr. Farmer might have spared his sarcastic remark 
 on this Bath worthy, as one forgotten, though by his 
 contemporaries called the Ever-memorable. It is 
 only one of many things in that specious but most 
 
ANNOTATION. 85 
 
 entertaining essay of Dr. Farmer on Shakespeare's 
 amount of learning which will not bear examina- 
 tion. 
 
 In connection with the name of Hales might have 
 been introduced his contemporary, Dr. Humphrey 
 Chambers, who, according to Wood, was born in So- 
 mersetshire, but of whom I have somewhere read that 
 he was son of the worthy citizen of Bath who preserved 
 the two sepulchral remains which were found at 
 Walcot ; so that, probably, he was a native of Bath. 
 He had the living of Claverton. Like Hales, he was 
 a learned theological writer, but very different from 
 him in many respects, being an eminent Puritan and 
 Parliamentarian. 
 
 [24] Dr. Chandler was the son of Henry Chandler, 
 pastor of the Nonconformists of Bath at the beginning 
 of the last century. He was himself a Nonconformist 
 divine, and a man whose writings had no small influ- 
 ence on the age in which he lived. There is a volume 
 of verse by a sister of his who spent her life in Bath, 
 of which much cannot be said in praise. 
 
 [25] Of the Hartleys, who so peculiarly belong to 
 Bath, there is much pleasing information in Mr. War- 
 ner's Literary Recollections. He has not omitted to 
 notice Mrs. Mary Hartley, the daughter of Dr. Hartley, 
 
86 ANNOTATION. 
 
 who lived many years with her brother in the house 
 on Belmont. 
 
 [26] Of course Samuel Badcock is the person 
 intended. The share he had in the composition of 
 the Bampton Lectures, preached by Dr. White, has 
 been closely, and, I beheve, successfully investigated 
 since this paper was written. 
 
 [27] None would fail to recognize the unnamed 
 friend, the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, Professor of Anglo- 
 Saxon and of Poetry in the University of Oxford, 
 who was then too recently deceased to admit of the 
 actual mention of his name. He had lent some 
 assistance in the measures preparatory to the open- 
 ing of the Institution, and particularly in the forma- 
 tion of its library, Bath had not long the privilege 
 of accounting him as one belonging to it. He had 
 been presented to the vicarage of Bath-Easton ; he 
 found a parsonage-house in a dilapidated state, 
 which he restored, and in a great degree rebuilt on 
 an enlarged scale ; he married ; and he died ; and all 
 within the compass of about five years. Why has 
 no person done public justice to the memory of 
 this good and highly-accomphshed man ? 
 
ANNOTATION. 87 
 
 [28] The Rev. David Baddy Jardine, one in the 
 succession of pastors of the old Nonconformists of 
 Bath. He was the immediate predecessor of the Rev. 
 Thomas Broadhurst, who was an excellent scholar as 
 well as very worthy man, the author of the transla- 
 tions of the Greek panegyrists on the military heroes 
 of former days. Mr. Jardine died in quite early life, 
 leaving a son, the present Recorder of Bath, who is to 
 be reckoned among those who by their writings have 
 done honour to the place, by his critical inquiries 
 into various points of English history or constitutional 
 practice. 
 
 [29] Thomas Cogan, M.D., and the Rev. John 
 Simpson. Mr. Simpson was a Nonconformist minister, 
 and never quite laid aside the character, though, 
 having an easy fortune, he had for many years no 
 regular charge. But he bated not one jot of labour 
 in the higher duties of his profession, his whole time 
 being devoted to the critical study of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures and consideration of the grounds of the Christian 
 faith and hope, not for his own gratification only, but 
 for the benefit of the public to whom he preached by 
 the press. Dr. Cogan left the profession in early 
 life, and betook himself to medicine, which he prac- 
 tised in Holland for many years. The same political 
 changes which drove his friend Dr. Maclaine back to 
 
OO ANNOTATION. 
 
 England drove Dr. Cogan hither also. They both 
 fixed upon Bath for their place of residence, surely 
 one of the best places in the wide world for the worn- 
 out veteran to sink gently to his last repose. Mr. 
 Simpson died at Bath, but not so Dr. Cogan. I 
 remember his telling me, when he had numbered 
 more than seventy years, that he preferred change 
 of scene to the uniformity of a life of station and 
 repose ; and he gave this as the reason, that the suc- 
 cession of new objects seemed to lengthen the days, 
 and weeks, and years, so few of which remained to 
 him. These two friends concurred in the invitation 
 which brought me to Bath, and were themselves 
 " ensamples to the flock " of which I was the pastor 
 for four-and-twenty years. 
 
 [30] I am not, however, sufficiently acquainted 
 with the history of Lichfield to know whether he had 
 lived here, or only came here to die, as so many have 
 done. 
 
 [31] Of Gainsborough there is much said in the 
 memoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, who was him- 
 self born in Pierrepoint-street. I know not whether 
 it is anywhere noticed that there is a wild spot near 
 the head of the railroad by which stone is transmitted 
 from the quarries above to the Kennet and Avon 
 
ANNOTATION. -89 
 
 Canal, which used to be pointed out as Gainsborough's 
 study ; and certainly the old stunted trees, and the 
 scars which just showed themselves, seemed to group 
 themselves for the very service of the landscape- 
 painter. They were eminently picturesque when 
 looked at from several different points of view. 
 
 The two Barkers, and Hewlett, the exquisite 
 painter of flowers, were, I think, all alive when this 
 paper was read ; now all three are dead, and it is to 
 be feared no artist has yet attained the eminence 
 which they all deservedly reached. The elder Barker 
 found a valuable patron in the late Sir William 
 Cockburn, long a public-spirited resident of Bath. 
 
 Of Mr. Hoare's works there is one of the most 
 living groups that was, perhaps, ever painted, in the 
 board-room of the hospital : a physician and surgeon 
 examining patients, candidates for admission — Dr. 
 Oliver and Mr. Pearce. It is a pity that there is no 
 engraving of it. 
 
 [32] The theatre cannot be named without re- 
 calling to recollection three persons, none of them, 
 however, performers, who were all living at Bath at 
 the time when this paper was written, but who are 
 all now to be numbered with those who are gone — 
 Francis Twiss, the compiler of that work of great 
 labour The Concordance to Shakespeare. He lived 
 
90 ANNOTATION. 
 
 many years in Camden-place, as did also his excellent 
 wife, the sister of Mrs. Siddons, They were the parents 
 of the late Mr. Horace Twiss. The Rev. Edward 
 Mangin, author of one or more lively dramatic pieces, 
 and of various other works in the Hghter literature of 
 the age ; a friend of the Institution at the beginning, 
 but not persisting in his efforts to serve it to their suc- 
 cessful issue. Mr. Mangin was no common man, nor 
 is he to be estimated solely by his printed writings : 
 he was one of those quick to discern the earlier mani- 
 festations of genius, and assiduous in his endeavours 
 to bring it out of its obscurity. Few that have 
 written so much have written with so little acrimony. 
 The third inhabitant of Bath whose name is connected 
 with theatrical affairs is the Rev. Mr. Genest, a 
 clergyman who lived without any duty, a college 
 friend of Porson, and himself an eminent Greek 
 scholar, as I have been informed. But he was all 
 his life passionately fond of the theatre. I remember 
 his telling me that when he was a boy he has visited 
 the theatre, and when the performance was over cried 
 that it was not to begin again. His rooms, for I 
 believe he never rose to the dignity of a housekeeper, 
 were hung round with portraits of the most eminent 
 actors and actresses of his time, and he left completed 
 at the press of Mr. Cruttwell a work in eight volumes 
 octavo, containing the most elaborate account ever 
 
ANNOTATION. 91 
 
 prepared of all theatrical occurrences from the days 
 of King Charles the Second. 
 
 More immediately connected with the theatre at 
 Bath were Mr. Dimond and Mr. Elliston, both writers 
 as well as performers and managers. 
 
 [33] It will at once be perceived that the critic 
 here quoted is Coleridge. 
 
 [34] I must copy the passage: — 
 
 And know, sweet prince, when you shall come to know, 
 
 That 'tis not in the power of kings to raise 
 
 A spirit for verse that is not born thereto : 
 
 Nor are they born in every prince's days. 
 
 For late Eliza's reign gave birth to more 
 
 Than all the kings of England did before. 
 
 And it may be the genius of that time 
 Would leave to her the glory in that kind. 
 And that the utmost powers of English rime 
 Should be within her peaceful reign confin'd ; 
 For since that time our songs could never thrive, 
 But lain as if forlorn : though in the prime 
 Of this new raising season we did strive 
 To bring the best we could unto the time. 
 
 And I, although among the latter train, 
 And least of those that sang unto the land. 
 Have borne my part, though in an humble strain, 
 And pleased the gentles that did understand : 
 And never had my harmless pen at all 
 Distained with any loose immodesty. 
 
92 ANNOTATION. 
 
 Nor ever noted to be toucht with gall, 
 
 To aggravate the vv^orsl men's infamy : 
 
 But still have done the fairest offices 
 
 To virtue and the time ; yet naught prevails, 
 
 And all our labours are without success, &c. 
 
 [35] The Eev. Mr. Crabbe. 
 
 [36] The name of Daniel should have been ac- 
 companied with that of his friend Mr. Hoskins, 
 afterwards Mr. Serjeant Hoskins, but less known in 
 these days as a lawyer than as the friend of Daniel, 
 Jonson, Raleigh, Camden, Selden, Donne, Wotton, 
 and, indeed, all the persons who make the close of 
 the reign of EHzabeth and the commencement of that 
 of James the First one of the green spots in English 
 history which it is delightful to look upon. He was 
 the person whom Jonson called his father, and Wood 
 says of him, rather extravagantly, that " he was the 
 most ingenious and admired poet of his time." 
 
 In Wood's account of his life there are ten years 
 unaccounted for — 1591 to 1601, except that he seems 
 to have been living in Somersetshire, so far as Wood 
 knew ; and, finding this entry in the parish register of 
 Bath, that on August 1, 1601, Mr. John Hoskins 
 married Bennet Bourne, which was the name of the 
 poet's wife, I conclude that he spent some portion of 
 his residence in Somersetshire at Bath, teaching 
 
ANNOTATION. 93 
 
 school, perhaps, as we know he did for a year or 
 two at Ilchester. 
 
 [37] The Reverend Charles Dtinster, rector of 
 Oddingley, who came to Bath to consult his friend 
 the elder Dr. Falconer, who advised him to take up 
 some light literary occupation. He took the advice and 
 prepared his Considerations on Milton's Early Beading, 
 which he printed in 1800, and inscribed to Dr.- 
 Falconer. It is an ingenious and convincing piece 
 of criticism. The advice seems to have been good, 
 as Mr. Dunster lived many years after, and the vigour 
 of his mind may be presumed to have continued 
 unimpaired from the long list and varied character 
 of his later printed writings. 
 
 [38] A coolness grew up between Allen and Pope. 
 The Bath version of the story was this, that Pope 
 wished to introduce Miss Blount at Prior Park. It 
 was reported to Pope that Allen had said. If she come 
 as Mrs. Pope, she shall be most wx^lcome. 
 
 In the Bath Journal of May 21, 1744, is this 
 article of intelligence: — "The celebrated Mr. Pope 
 lies dangerously ill at Mr. Chiselden's house at 
 Chelsea." Pope left Allen 200Z., adding something 
 about its being a compensation for the trouble and 
 inconvenience he had occasioned to Mr. Allen by his 
 
94 ANNOTATION. 
 
 visits at Prior Park. Bath tradition says that when 
 Allen took the money of the executors, he remarked 
 that if Mr. Pope intended it as a compensation and 
 not as a compliment, he should have added another 
 cypher. The Bath Hospital received the benefit of 
 the bequest, for Allen immediately presented the 
 money to the hospital. The records of the hospital 
 prove this part of the story, it being expressly stated 
 that the 200/. presented by Mr. Allen was the money 
 bequeathed to him by Mr. Pope. 
 
 [39] Fielding lived at a house in the part of 
 Twiverton nearest to Bath. 
 
 [40] One of the best of these is entitled The 
 Wonders of a Week in Bath, anonymous, never owned 
 by its author, who is shrewdly suspected to be a man 
 of no small celebrity, and perhaps soon withdrawn 
 from circulation, as it is rarely ever to be seen. 
 
 [41] The Pleader's Guide shows that the son of 
 Anstey had much of the spirit and peculiar genius 
 of the father. 
 
 If I had meant to speak of every person who is 
 connected with Bath by any tie, who have also a 
 name in the literature of the country, I must have 
 
ANNOTATION. 95 
 
 made a very large addition to my list. Bates, 
 Webb, Brewster, Quin, Foote, Derrick, Pratt (the 
 author of the Gleanings, which had a short-lived 
 popularity), Lady Pennington, Mrs. Dobson, Mrs. 
 Eadcliffe, the romance-writer, when Miss Ward, 
 Miss Hamilton, who is said to have written her 
 Memoirs of Modern Philosophers in American Build- 
 ings, Haynes Bayly, Mr. Dorset Fellows, Mr. Cabanel, 
 Mr. Giles; the Rev. Archdeacon Daubeny, and the 
 Rev. Dr. Moysey, for their works in controversial 
 divinity ; and, more eminent than these, the Rev. 
 Mr. Hoblyn, the learned translator of the Georgics ; 
 and more eminent still the author of Vathek. Vathek 
 suggests Gebir ; and if I say that there still lives one 
 whose name Avill take a higher place in the history 
 of the literature of this century than any of those of 
 whom I have had occasion to speak, I confidently 
 presume that 1 am but anticipating the judgment of 
 a future age. 
 
 Note-making is such easy work, that he who 
 engages in it hardly knows when to stop. I could 
 willingly speak of others, and at least of one other 
 poet — Mr, John Edmund Reade, who are still sup- 
 porting the ' literary reputation of Bath. But this 
 must not be, and here I close. 
 
ERRATUM. 
 
 Page 64, /or verum read veram. 
 
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