411 



was Mayor, but in the next year, 1541, he is gone, and there 

 appear Alice Chapman, widow, in Stalles ; and Agnes Chapman, 

 widow, in St. Mary's within. It was then, after the year 

 1541 that Leland's record was made. The position can be 

 further seen by an Act of the year 1540, 32 Henry VIII., 

 passed to compel the rebuilding of several decayed towns, Bath 

 being one where the houses had fallen down and so " do lye 

 as desolate and vacant groundis, many replennyshed with 

 unclennes and filth." Bath, however, was not alone even locally, 

 as Leland also tells us the same of Keynsham ; and at Bridgwater 

 two hundred houses, he says, had decayed within the memory 

 of man. Not omitting the earlier decay noted from 1449, 

 although Bath is not mentioned, we have again to ask what 

 cause could have produced this change 1 The deaths of three 

 such men as those named would be no doubt a great loss, but it 

 is clear they must have felt the change before their deaths. 

 Such decay could not have come suddenly. Perhaps a further 

 examination of other documents, bringing an accumulation 

 of detail extending over many years, may help towards a 

 satisfactory conclusion. 



The Divining Rod. By Thos. Forder Plowman. 



(Bead 6th February, 1889.; 



In view of the attitude assumed by scientists generally 

 towards the subject of this Paper — a not altogether unnatural 

 attitude under the circumstances — I feel that I need some 

 justification for bringing it under the notice of a scientific 

 society. I venture to hope that an excuse for my temerity 

 C 



