MODERN BATH .267 



foreign spas instead ; Bath loolving idly on and letting 

 its customers go. 



It was some ten years later that Dickens visited 

 Bath. From what he saw there he drew his portraits 

 of place and persons in the " Pickwick Papers ; " and 

 the impression after reading them is undoubtedly one 

 of faded gentility. 



So it remained until after the visit of the British 

 Association in 1864, when the advice of the scientific 

 men to the Corporation— to bring back business by 

 providing more up-to-date accommodation — was laid 

 to heart, and improvements begun. Since then the 

 City has steadily climbed back again to the favour of 

 invalids and the medical profession, and new Baths 

 and all manner of modern appliances, a new railway 

 station, and an air of an enlightened modernity, bid 

 fair to keep Bath successful against all foreign com- 

 petition for a long time to come. 



Since this Renaissance of thirty-five years ago was 

 begun, many things have happened at Bath. Roman 

 remains, more extensive than ever the bygone gene- 

 rations suspected, have been discovered, and excava- 

 tions have lain bare baths long covered up by shabby 

 and altogether undistinguished buildinos. Judicious 

 restoration has preserved the great Roman Bath, long 

 a scene of wreck and shattered stones, and has 

 brought it into use ao^ain. This restored Bath affords 

 perhaps the most picturesque view in the City, for 

 from its margin one may gaze upwards and see to 

 great advantage the beautiful tower of the Abbey 

 soaring aloft ; its late Gothic architecture contrasting 

 piquantly with the classic elegance of that restored 



