g 
venture to think, a large amount of work yet to be done, in 
this department, towards elucidating the history of Bath. 
Warner did not exhaust the subject, it would be nearer the mark 
to say he only opened it, for since his day much more critical 
and scientific methods of studying the records of the past have 
come into use, and these afford unlimited scope for original 
investigation. One illustration will suffice to explain my 
meaning, the patient search by which Mr. E. Green exploded 
the accepted notion that Queen Elizabeth visited Bath in 1592, 
and showed that her visit was in 1574.* There are many 
other pleasant bye-paths of inquiry with regard to the people, 
the places, the buildings, the events and the institutions of the 
past, which may be followed with advantage; the facts lie 
scattered in different directions, and only require a little industry 
and perseverance to collect them together and add materially to 
our general store of knowledge. Moreover “’twere well ’twere 
“done quickly ;? the memorials and landmarks of the past 
disappear in these days with mournful rapidity, and what is 
here to-day is gone to-morrow. 
One such field of inquiry, which is at present almost virgin 
soil, is the literature of Bath. The special interest attaching for 
centuries past to the city and its springs has caused a remarkable 
number of works to be written about them, many by eminent and 
clever men, and in addition the list of books printed at Bath is 
not inconsiderable. A bibliography of Bath is, I believe, in the 
hands of one of the most valuable members of our club, and there 
is much that might be collected about Bath books and Bath 
authors by a local William Blades. One would like to see done 
for Bath what Mr. Robert Davies, F.S.A., has done for York 
in his “Memoir of the York Press with notices of authors, 
“printers and stationers in, the sixteenth, seventeenth and 
“eichteenth centuries.”t The paper which I offer to-day may 
* Proceedings of the Bath Field Club, vol. iv., p. 105. 
+ Westminster: Nichols & Sons, 1868. = 
