BATH. KNIGHTS OF THE 



HATH, KNIGHTS OF THK 



loot 



bare counteracted the purposes to which the receptacle WH 

 applied, nothing contributing so much u tranquillity in UM water to 

 acquire all the advantages from UM influence of the nin it* aituation 

 would permit. When were wu no efflux from the inferior chambers. 

 there could be no demands for water from the receptacle, which would 

 hare been liable to overflow were there not an aperture in tie tide of 

 the ebtam, through which the water ran off in different direction. 

 from that which wa ueed for bathing. During all this time the water 

 in the receptacle would be in the moet perfect rtate of rest. The 

 Ksieni, therefore, answered two material purpoee*, a* it prevented any 

 agitation in the water of the receptacle, and likewise carried off what 

 wa niperfluoua. The twenty-eight vault**! ckunben, placed inituixli- 

 ately over UM hypooauitmn. would now begin to be heated, which heat 

 they would acquire to much the quicker, as only one of them hail any 

 communication with the external air by the aperture* c and K. They 

 thetelme evidently were constructed upon the same principle as 

 Papinius's digester, the strength of the walla and of the roof being 

 mMfitmi to resist the force of the rarefaction of the air in the water, 

 and consequently to prevent any loss from evaporation. Flues were 

 till neceeaary to give the water a heat sufficient for bathing. The 

 arched chamber* were also suppled with flues, s it, from the hypo- 

 caustum, and served as a reservoir of tepid water for those below. 

 The water they received was likewise heated by the sun. When the 

 time for bathing was come, the cocks were turned to admit the hot 

 water from the lower chambers into the labra of the baths, to which it 

 would run with great velocity, and ascend a perpendicular height in 

 the thermic, equal to the surface of the receptacle in the castellum. 

 The current would be accelerated by the great tendency the water 

 would have to expand itself after having been confined in the chambers. 

 The pressure of the column of tepid water was equal to, if not greater 

 than the diameter of the column of hot water which ran out from the 

 chambers below. To prevent the water cooling as it passed through 

 the tubes underground, they were all carefully surrounded with flues 

 from the pnefurniuni, so that these tubes were in the centre of a 

 funnel, and always considerably heated before the water entered them. 

 Each of these chambers was, within the walls, 49 feet 6 inches long, 

 by 27 feet 6 inches wide, and about 80 feet high ; the number of 

 superficial feet in the bottom of the rooms being 88,115. If we allow 

 SO feet for the mean height, the whole quantity of water in these 

 lower rooms will amount to 1,143,450 cubic feet, and the like quantity 

 must be allowed for the upper rooms ; allowing, therefore, 8 cubic feet 

 of warm water as sufficient for one man to bathe in, and that water 

 preserved in a bathing heat in the labrum half an hour, the whole 

 consumption of hot water in this given time, for 18,000 people, \vcmlcl 

 be 144,000 cubic feet. By this calculation there would be a sufficient 

 quantity of water for three hours, or until five in the evening, for 

 108,000 people. The water, however, would gradually cool as it flowed 

 in from the higher chambers. 



" We have no intimation from the ancients when they first fell upon 

 this expedient for heating such large bodies of water, whether it was 

 the invention of the Romans or brought from the East. We may 

 reasonably suppose, that an it was not necessary before the public 

 warm-batLs were built in Rome, it was not more ancient than the time 

 of Augustus, in whose reign we are told by Dion Cassius (lib. Iv.) that 

 Mectenas first instituted a swimming-bath of warm water, or a calida 

 piscina." (Cameron.) 



But few Roman citizens in easy circumstances were without the 

 luxury of a private bath, which was varied in construction according 

 to the taste or prodigality of the owner. " Amongst many articles of 

 luxury for which Pliny censures the ladies of his time, he takes notice 

 of their bathing-rooms being paved with silver. Even the metal flues 

 of the hypocaustum were gilt" (See Cameron 'On Roman Baths.' 

 For an account of the private baths, see ' Pompeii,' vol. i. p. 199.) 



The Persian manner of bathing, as described by Sir. R. KIT Porter, 

 U in some respects not unlike that adopted by the ancient Romans. 

 The Russian baths, as used by the common people, bear a close resem- 

 blance to the laconicum of the Romans. (See Tooke's ' Russia ; ' and 

 BATHIHO.) 



Ancient Roman baths have been found in several of the Roman 

 villas in England ; that at Northleigh in Oxfordshire, near Blenheim, is 

 UM most perfect. (See the account of the villa at Northleigh, 

 Oxfordshire, by Mr. Uakewill.) Baths have been discovered also at 

 Wroxeter in Shropshire, near Arundel in Sussex, and elsewhere. In 

 the former, the suspended pavement was very perfect ; in the centre of 

 a chamber in that near Arundel is an octagonal bath mink in the floor, 

 the pulvinus of which is quite perfect. There are also some curious 

 Roman baths at Vallngne in Normandy. 



(Xontfancon, Axti-/. t. iii. pi. 2; Cameron's Roman Batht; Cell's 

 Pompeii; Ifueo BarSmito, vol. ii.; Pompeii, by the Society for the 

 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; Eustace's Oamcal Tour; Becker's 

 OaOtu. vol. ii.) 



BATH, KNIGHTS OF THE, so called from the ancient custom of 

 bathing previous to their installation. The origin of this <ml. i of 

 knighthood has been described as of very remote antiquity ; but as 

 Camden and Belden agree that the first mention of an order of knight*, 

 distinctly called Knighu of the Bath, is at the coronation of Henry IV. 

 in 1399, there can be little doubt that this order was then instituted. 

 That bathing had been a part of the discipline submitted to by 



esquires in order to obtain the honour of knighthood from very early 

 times, is admitted; but it does (not appear that any knights wen 

 called Knight* of the Bath, till these were created by King ll.-m \ ! V. 



Kroissart (see Lord Bemers's 'Tranalat,' edit 181'.', vol. ii. , 

 speaking of that king, says : " The Saturday before hi* coronation In- 

 departed from Westminster, and rode to the Tower of London uith a 

 great number; and that night all such esquires a* should be made 

 knight* the next day, watched, who were to the number of forty-six. 

 Every esquire had his own bayne [baiii] by himself; and the next day 

 the Duke of Lancaster made Uiem all knight* at the mass-time. Thru 

 had they long coata with strait sleeves, furred with mynevc-r like 

 prelates, with white laces hanging on their shoulders." 



It became subsequently the practice of the English kings to create 

 Knights of the Bath previous to their coronation, at the inauguration 

 of a Prince of Wales, at the celebration of their own nuptials or those 

 of any of the royal family, and occasionally upon other great occasions 

 or solemnities. Fabyan (' Chron.,' edit. 1811, p. 582) sap, that Henry V. 

 on 1416, upon the taking of the town of Caen, dubbed sixteen Knight* 

 of the Bath. 



Sixty-eight Knights of the Bath were made at the coronal: 

 King Charles II. (See the list in QuUlim's ' Heraldry,' fol. Loud. 1679, 

 p. 107) ; but from that time the order was discontinued, till it was 

 revived by King Oeorge I., under .writ of Privy Seal, dated Hay 25, 

 1725, during the administration of Sir Robert Wai pole. The statutes 

 and ordinances of the order bear date May 23, 1725 ; and by them tilt- 

 constitution of the order, with the rites and ceremonies of the order, 

 more particularly that of bathing, were entirely changed. By these it 

 was directed that the order should consist of a grand master and 

 thirty-five knights, a succession of whom was to be regularly con- 

 tinued. The order, besides the grand-master, are the dean, the 

 genealogist and Blanc Coursier herald, the Bath king-at-arms, the 

 registrar and secretary, the gentleman-usher of the scarlet-rod and 

 Brunswick herald, and the messenger. The dean of the collegiate 

 church of St Peter, Westminster, for the time being, was appointed 

 f.r ojfcio dean of the Order of the Bath, and it was directed that the 

 other officers should be from time to time appointed by the grand- 

 master. 



On Jan. 2, 1815, the Prince Regent, being desirous to commemorate 

 the auspicious termination of the long and arduous contests in which 

 the empire had been engaged, and of marking, in an especial manner, 

 his sense of the valour, perseverance, and devotion manifested by the 

 officers of the king's forces by sea and land, directed that the order 

 should consist of three classes; and on April 14, 1817, it was further 

 enlarged by the constitution of it as a civil order. 



The first class consists of knights grand cross, which designation 

 was substituted for that of knights companions previously used. The 

 knights grand cross, with the exception of the sovereign, princes of 

 the blood-royal, and distinguished foreigners, who may hold rank as 

 honorary knights, are not to exceed fifty for the military service, and 

 twenty-five for the civil service. 



The second class is composed of knights commanders, who have 

 precedence of all knights bachelors of the United Kingdom : the 

 number, for the military sen-ice, not to exceed one hundred and two, 

 exclusive of foreign officers, who may be admitted into the second 

 class as honorary knight commanders, or fifty for the civil service : 

 but in the event of actions of signal distinction, or of future wars, the 

 number of knights commanders may be increased. 



The third class is composed of officers holding commissions in Her 

 Majesty's service by sea or land, to the number of five hundred and 

 twenty-five, and for the civil service of two hundred, who are styled 

 Companions of the said Order, to take precedence and place of all 

 esquires of the United Kingdom. No officer to be nominated a Com- 

 panion of the Order, unless he shall have been specially mentioned by 

 name in despatches published in the ' London Gazette ' as having dis- 

 tinguished himself. 



The badge of the order for the military classes is a gold Maltese 

 cross of eight points, enamelled an/en I. in each of the four angle* a 

 lion passant guardant or / in the centre the rose, thistle, and sham- 

 rock issue from a sceptre between three imperial crowns, surrounded 

 by the motto " Tria juncta in uno." Within a circle yula, surrounded 

 by two branches of laurel proper, issuing from an escrol argent, in- 

 scribed " Ich dien," in gold letters. It is worn by grand crosses 

 pendant from a red ribbon across the right shoulder ; by knights-com- 

 manders pendant from the neck ; and by companions at the button- 

 hole. 



The collar is of gold, weighing 30 ounces troy, composed of nine 

 imperial crowns, and eight roses, thistles, and shamrocks, issuing from 

 a sceptre, enamelled in their proper colours, tied or linked together 

 by seventeen gold knots, enamelled white, and having the badge of the 

 order pendant from it. 



The star is formed by a gold Maltese cross, around which are rays 

 of silver, and in the centre, within the motto, are branches of laurel, 

 ismiant as in the badge. That of the knights-commanders is in the 

 form of a cross patee argent, with the centre as in that of the grand 

 crosses, but without the Maltose cross or thereon. 



The civil Knights Grand Crosses bear the old badge and star of the 

 Order. The badge is of gold, and consist* of a rose, thistle, and sham- 

 rock, issuing from a sceptre between three imperial crowns, encircled 



