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King's Bath to the houses in York Street. The Roman drain from the 

 Institution beneath York Street, as they were aware, was a very fine 

 work, large enough for them to stand up in. It left York Street at an 

 obtuse angle and came across Kingston Buildiugs ; then it went west- 

 ward under the Public Library as far as Mr. Davies' library, then it 

 turned as he had previously described. Eeturning to the leakage of 

 which he had spoken, going still westward and then south he found 

 the partly discovered apse shown on Mr. Scarth's plan, and a few feet 

 east of the niches in tlie King's Bath a veiy fine Roman arch, and as 

 the volume of hot water increased as they went farther, the Baths 

 Committee authorised him to drive a shaft in the direction of the 

 King's Bath. He did so and found some splendid masonry, which he 

 at first thought was an octagon enclosing a Roman Bath beneath the 

 King's Bath, but proceeding farther it proved to be an enclosure of 

 octagonal form roughly measured at 50ft. ; a chamber built by the 

 Romans to protect the springs from any contamination, its irregular 

 form was rendered necessary to enclose all the sources of the Hot' 

 Water. Cut in this masonry was an overflow channel filled with a 

 piece of oak, and lower down another outlet also plugged with oak, 

 and still lower a third. The Romans seemed to have found that this 

 latter outlet was liable to be flooded when the river rises very high, 

 and so they had blocked it up and tiled above it a margin to the well. 

 This plug of oak was lift, below the level of the King's Bath. The 

 builders of the Grand Pump Room were unaware of the existence of 

 the masonry he had come upon, for they had put in baulks of timber 

 to support their wall, and though the wall of separation of the King's 

 and Queen's Baths was actually upon the line of the Roman enclosure, 

 the builders knew nothing of it, for there was a layer of earth inter- 

 vening between the two except at one point. In fact it was impossible 

 that this work could be found before, for until the water was drained 

 off as they were now doing, it was impossible to excavate the spot. 

 He considered that the enclosure was the first work of the Romans, 

 preliminary to the forming of baths. The walls were encased in lead 

 half-an-inch thick, and although its upper edges had in part been re- 

 moved, our needy mediaeval ancestors had failed to discover the wealth 

 beneath. When he found the octagonal form departed from he con- 

 cluded that the object was to include some spring which rose near the 

 spot, and so he found it. The fact was there were springs bubbling up 



